What's up with the hydras?

In sc when you saw the horrible horrible sight of 50 hydras coming down at you and you were not terran (tanks/m&ms) it was ussually gg, since there'r not really lots of counters for hydra rush, arguably being the best in terms of costs/usefulness in the game.

So, what's up with hem on sc2? I mean, I have barely seem em.
I though a nice strategy would be roach/hydras, with roaches with its high regen rate taking the hits while the longer ranged hydras rape appart EVERYTHING AMG

So?

 

From what I've heard hydras are more of an air defence, but that was a while ago so I'm not to sure....

 

yeah hydras are lyk...the ownage for air. If you look at yellow/sonkie matches at blizzcon one can see....omgosh i cant believe i forgot his name...anwyayz yeah he said something along the lines of "hydralisks are really good against air"

 

well that sucks.
From being ubber to being... goliaths?

 

well, they do extra damage vrs armoured units. Mebe thats y he said they are good against air.

 

so what hydralisk is now aa, and roach is replacing it???

 

>.>
<.<
ask jon...cuz im not too sure myself.

 

Hydras deal more to Air targets, but they've still got a decent Anti-Ground attack. They've also got a bonus against Armoured units, which would probably heighten their Anti-Air superiority as a greater percentage of Air units than Ground units would be Armoured.

 

Hydralisks are more expensive and so less massable.

At BlizzCon '08, they did 10 base damage, +6 vs armored and air (16 vs battlecruisers, etc).

Karune suggested they got dropped in tier after BlizzCon, IIRC.

 

So that confirms it.. roaches are taking the place of hydras D:

 

no they are not, Hydralisks are still in the same Tier as they were in SC1, in fact, the Zerg has the most choices early game than the other races, after building a spawning pool they could then build a Roach Nest if they wanted Roaches, a Hydralisk Den if they think they needed Hydras, or a Banelings Nest if they want some explosive.

as for the damage of the hydra right now, its been split into 2 attacks(think SC1 Photon Cannons), 10 points of damage to ground (no bonus damage), and 10 points of damage to air with 6 points of bonus damage to armored units.

the difference between the Hydra and the Roaches right now, is that one cost gas(Hydra) while the other do not, one does more damage against bio units and cannot attack air(Roaches) while the other(hydra) can do more damage to none bio armored unit and can hit air as well have more range than the Roaches. the last difference is that Roaches have more health is an Arnored unit and has a faster regeneration, while the hydra is still an light armored unit.

 

thats lurking for you.

hydralisks will still very much be a staple, as it seems roaches won't be useful against anyone who can micro.

 

@ Lombar, its because i have a unit database that i do my best to keep up to date no matter how futile it is.

@ overmind, im not so sure about that, against Protoss they might only have limited uses as only being able to fair well against Zealots, against Terran i see potential as forcing the Terrans to make a choice to either FF on the Roaches leaving the zerglings to ravage your troops, or to take on the zerglings and let the Roaches do the damage. and Blizzard already said that against zerg Roaches are more defensive while Zerglings are more offensive at the beginning but once you gather enough Roaches they could match or even surpass zerglings in battle.

 

In my opinion, nothing should be able to surpass Zerglings in straight-out DPS. They should be the pinnacle of damage dealers.

As for the Roaches more specifically, I don't really see them as the sort of tanks or damage soakers that a lot of people seem to view them as. A lot of people describe them as early Ultralisks in regards to their damage absorbing capabilities, but I really don't see them being used like that at all. As either Lurker or Overmind said earlier, they're mainly there for the choice. They're practically a distraction. They'll still be taken out just as quickly as other units, but they'll draw the fire away for that time.

Don't get me wrong, they're still vital units, it's just that I don't see them as tanks like early UItralisks. They fill a different role because they just can't take that much damage.

That, and where they'll really shine is when struck by Colossi, Psionic Storms, etc, etc.

 

You can still make lots of hydras early on if you want. You just need new units to help back them up. If you think about it, it's not that surprising. They were tough in SC1, so maybe the Terran and Protoss decided build new units to help destroy them more easily.

 

Well yeah... gosh, I need to play that game D:

 

Yes what is with the hydras is everything becoming more rigged

 

rigged?
What the heck are you talking about?

 

Well they are evolving so it makes sense that the hydralisks have evolved since SC1.

 

yea hydralisk are mainly the first aa that zerg has. roaches are more to fight ground, and they are pretty good with that regeneration anyways.