The New Lurker!

They should fiddle around with the concept of the lurker to make it different... Maybe make the lurker's range up an extra 3 blocks, but those 3 blocks only do like 5 damage and the middle couple blocks do 10 and the last, closest blocks do 20.

 

Lurker should have the head like the hydralisk and not be so flat since lurker is made from hydralisk. Make him stand up just a little bit. Maybe add an extra leg with just a little thinner legs. Change the color its too light. One more thing they have to do is not make the roach look so alike to the lurker. The colors are too similar. Also but some black in the lurker since original was black :good:

 

Why do people keep on saying that the Lurker should look like the Hydralisk? No other evolutions look like their predecessor. Zerglings to Banelings, Mutalisk to Guardian and Devourer, Larvae to anything, and Hydralisk to Lurker. Forget about evolutions resembling their former unit because in short, they don't.

 

Yah. See my previous post for example.

 

Sorry, didn't mean to steal your thunder, it's just that people kept on bringing it up. I'll just add that I never heard anyone complain about the Guardian not looking like the Mutalisk, so why should Lurkers look like Hydralisks?

 

No problem. It's just annoying because people keep arguing about the same point when it's been refuted over and over again because either

A) They don't read the posts
-or-
B) They just don't care.

 

Allow me to just confirm (after reading 6 pages of this thread as all forum members should before posting...) that burrowed Zerg units are only visible to the owner of the unit. It is completely invisible to the enemy.

I don't know where the rumor started, but its completely false. We specifically tested this.

Also, the Lurker's attack is buffed a bit (it's stronger) but it was incredibly easy to dodge with Zealots.

 

Thanks for clarifying that. I think the rumour started from the screenshots were people could see the heads of the Burrowed Lurkers.
How is it easy for Zealots to dodge them? Is it because of their Charge ability or has its attack been buffed but slowed down a lot?

 

Zealots don't charge when ordered to move.
Also, I don't know how the damage could be buffed up because according to the detailed Zerg information, its attack is still at 20. Even if it got a bonus against infantry (which is likely) it'd be something like 25... not too much of a boost (although in groups it would add up to a nice sum).

 

I'm aware that they don't Charge when ordered to move, I meant that it could be that they're able to almost instantly Charge straight to the Lurker, assuming they've for a Detector, which allows them to dodge the Lurker's attack. If the Lurker attacks in a straight line, and the Zealot is basically able to skip over it, then it might not be as effected by the attack. I was just wondering how the Zealot was able to dodge the Lurker's attack so easily, and gave some theories.

 

Nevertheless, I still think the Zergs should have any unit able to cross cliffs. And that it should be the Lurker. Somehow they must get compensated for being so slow and able to be dodged, so why not give them the ability to further surprise the enemy by attacking from everywhere? Terrans have Reapers and Vikings, Protoss have Colossus and Stalkers, and Zergs don't seem to have any. Since Hydras have been moved to another tier, Lurkers are even later in the game, so I think that allowing them to climb wouldn't hurt the balance.

 

I don't reckon that Lurkers would be the best inter-tier units for the Zerg. The fact that they have to be Burrowed before they can attack and Unburrowed before they can flee makes them a bad choice. Not to mention that they're immobilised when able to attack, so workers, etc, can easily run out of range.
I reckon a much better option for the Zerg inter-tier unit would be the Roach. It's got a high regeneration rate to reduce downtime between raids, is fairly fast and has a decent ranged attack.

 

The idea is not to set foot inside the enemy base with it, but to stay out of range and attack from a safe distance. That's why being vulnerable until burrowed would match cliff-climbing: so that lurkers could go through safer routes until burrowed and so that they can choose the best spot to attack workers from up a cliff, unreachable until a cliff-crosser/air-unit with detection aid appears. Or even, attack a road surrounded by walls from above these walls. Don't forget that Lurkers can attack inter-tier too.

And roaches that have no obstacle would simply be a pain: they're already fast and can regenerate, so it would be a too sure way of killing workers. In other words: OP.

 

That means you could just attack up from the bottom of a cliff or down from the top of a cliff. There's no need for cliff jumping.

The workers and other units will just run away if they're being attacked by Lurkers. That way they'll either have to Unburrow and expose themselves to get within range or wait until a Detector arrives and be forces to flee.

There's not much point attacking a road from the surrounding walls. It just means that you're further away so they aren't in range for as long. It's better to just Burrow your Lurkers on the road, so they can all instantly do the most damage possible to as many units as they can. Having them further back only reduces the overlap of their attacks.

 

If you need to be in a different tier than your enemy, yes it does help. I remember the pain that was to take my lurkers to places by Overlord every time in irregular maps. Those are a kind of unit that should be able to go up and down on its own, specially to run away from fire until burrowing again.

The workers NEED the mineral spot for their economy and have low hit-points enough to be killed if surprise-attacked by 20dmg dealing lurkerS. So raiding their economy with Lurkers is indeed worthy in a way.

Not on narrow roads. On those you can convince the enemy to try and go around, falling into a trap in example. If you place them directly on the road, it is just a matter of finding a detector and killing it to clear the path. If they're above a cliff they're just a bother that you would have to go around to kill, and not every unit can. Therefore, either ignore them and proceed even with damage, take longer but bring certain units able to kill it (Reapers have too low HP, so they would die when setting foot on the same soil) or choose a different path, which could be interesting strategy-wise.

This isn't a common scenario, but it is a possibility, and as a player I would love to have an extra possibility, to have my lurkers escaping similarly to Reapers do with Jet-packs and not being followed, to have lurkers a true nightmare that nobody knows where he will come from. It is not a single occasion, but rather the mechanic possibility of further surprising that interests me.

 

Being on a different tier would also help with the Roach, so it's nothing that's unique to the Lurker. The Lurker is not the type of unit that should be able to run up and down cliffs, etc, etc, anyway. It's not meant to be a mobile unit, because it can only attack when Burrowed, meaning it's immobilised, meaning it's not mobile.

Players would easily prefer to stop their workers mining and run them out of range while they bring in the troops, than leave them mining, have them all be destroyed and have to build back every last one.

As long as it's an ambush, you don't need them to be cliff jumpers. The same result can easily be accomplished with Nydus Wyrms and Overlords. Also, as long as they're willing to take the risk of the damage, the damage dealt cannot be too severe. Not to mention that the same thing can be done with Roaches. Just have them Burrowed on top of the cliff, cascade down the cliff-side when the enemies are passing by, Burrow when on low-ish health to quickly regenerate health lost, pop up and keep attacking. It might require a bit more microing than letting the Lurkers do it themselves, but it will still be just as effective. Also, Roaches are able to attack air units as well which wouldn't leave them at risk of being attacked from the skies, which could easily happen to the Lurkers.

The exact same thing can be said about the Roach, but the Roach can have some added flare. An inter-tier Roach would still achieve the same 'nobody knows where it comes from' feel, but on top of that, it is freakishly hard to get rid of. All Zerg units are enigmatic, so none of them really need an extra 'nobody knows about them' feel. Also, I feel that it'd be better to have two surprising units rather than attempting to have one extra surprising unit. It'd work better that way, and you wouldn't have to put all your eggs into one basket.

 

If you dual drop, and attaxk the enemy, he will have a hard time microing all the places, and you will have an easy time. Ff he is concentrating on microing his workers away form 2 good placed lurkers, while you are attacking, you will be able to concentrate on the battle, and perhaps out micro him.

 

The Lurkers are supposed to be on another tier, and there aren't often places that have their mineral patches surrounded by cliffs or valleys. There isn't much microing involved with running your workers away. Just click away from the spines.

 

Are the lurkers visible when burrowed? I remember reading something about this topic

 

No they are not. Its a visual indication for the current player meaning the enemy doesn't see anything until they have a detector.