Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm Change List and Gameplay Overview

Starcraft 2 Strategy Guide --> Heart of the Swarm Guide --> Overview (you are here)

In this article, I wanted to cover the basics of what we know about Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm. I will update this overview as more information is made publicly available.

Table of Contents

• New Heart of the Swarm Units
• Protoss Heart of the Swarm Changes
• Terran Heart of the Swarm Changes
• Zerg Heart of the Swarm Changes

All 3 races see major changes in Heart of the Swarm. Below, you will find a list of all the new units and their functions, as well as an overview of the other changes to each race. Click on the unit names to be taken to a full page with strategies for that particular unit. Videos featuring gameplay and strategies of the new units and changes can be found in the subsections mentioned above as well.

While this page provides a full list of changes to each of the races in Starcraft 2, if you click on the race-specific Protoss, Terran, and Zerg changes listed above, you will be taken to an article with a list of specific changes made to each race and the best strategies for taking advantage of these changes.

New Heart of the Swarm Units

Mothership Core - The Mothership Core is a powerful new Protoss flying unti for the early game. You can only create one of these and it has 3 very powerful skills. As a result, at some point in a game players will always add a Mothership Core to their army.

Oracle - The Oracle is a new Protoss flying caster. Currently, it has one ability that allows it to become a detector, another ability that grants an enemy unit's vision for 60 seconds, and another ability that gives it a powerful ground attack. However, all of these skills cost energy and the Oracle has no native attacks of its own. Its ability to become a detector however does allow Protoss to go early air without needing to build a Robotics Bay.

Tempest - The Tempest is a massive Protoss flyer that can attack both air and ground units. While its damage is not particular impressive, it does have two redeeming qualities. First, this unit's true strength is its range of 15 on both air and ground attacks rather than its damage. This is even longer than a Siege Tank; the Tempest can hit units literally across the screen if there is something to provide vision. Additionally, it does almost 3x damage to massive air units, allowing it to kill other Tempests, Colossi, Brood Lords, Carriesr, and Battlecruisers with ease.

Swarm Host - The Swarm Host is a new Zerg unit reminscent of the Lurker from Brood War. It has no attacks of its own when above the ground - it is only effective once burrowed. However, unlike the Lurker which just attacked, the Swarm Host instead spawns 2 Locusts every 25 seconds, which are ground units with a powerful 3 range ground attack. With upgrades, the Locusts can live 25 seconds before the die, allowing the Swarm Host to effectively siege enemy expansions 1/3 of the way across the map.

Viper - The Viper is a new Zerg flying unit. It requires Hive technology but is not associated with any building. This unit is a pure support caster with no damage-dealing abilities of its own. Instead, it has two support skills. The first is Abduct, which lets it pull an enemy unit to the Viper's current location. This is good for pulling Colossi and other powerful units into the midst of the Zerg forces. The Viper's Blinding Cloud ability allows units to only attack from melee range and is a good support skill for Zerglings and Roaches.

Hellbat - The Hellbat is both a new unit and a new form for the Hellion. The Hellbat and the Hellion are the same unit. Once you build an Armory, you can research the "Transformation Servos" upgrade at the tech lab on the Factory. With this upgrade, your Hellions can morph into Hellbats (and vice versa) for free. Hellbats have more health and do more damage, but have a shorter attack range and are slower than Hellions. Hellbats are essentially a good resource dump for Terrans in the late-game mech play, as at this point Hellions are not beefy enough to soak up damage for Siege Tanks and Thors.

Widow Mine - The Widow Mine is a new Terran unit which is produced from the Factory. It does not require a tech lab despite the gas cost. The Widow Mine is a mobile unit with no native attacks, but it can burrow into the ground over a 3 second period. Once burrowed, it will automatically attack an enemy unit in its range (you cannot select this unit) with a powerful missile attack that deals huge single target damage as well as moderate splash damage. It can only perform this attack every 40 seconds.

The Widow Mine is very similar to the Spider Mine, except that it does not get destroyed when it goes off and instead has a 40 second cooldown. It can also attack air units, move itself, and unburrow itself. Widow Mines also deal +35 bonus damage to Protoss shields.

Protoss Heart of the Swarm Changes

Full article: Protoss Changes in Heart of the Swarm

Outside of the new units, there are very few changes to the old Wings of Liberty Protoss units in Heart of the Swarm. There are really only three changes:

• Void Ray - Void Rays now cost 4 supplies and no longer charge their beam on targets. Instead, they have a new ability called Prismatic Alignment. When activated, the Void Ray's attack does +6 bonus damage to armored units. It costs no energy, lasts for 20 seconds, and has a 60 second cooldown. It seems to do similar damage to the old charged up Void Ray, but naturally the damage is lower over the course of a full minute.

• Phoenix - The Phoenix' range has been increased from 4 to 5. No upgrade required for this range boost. If you have not played in awhile, you should know that in February 2012, a new upgrade was made available at the Fleet Beacon called Anion Pulse-Crystals. This costs 150 minerals and vespene gas and takes 90 seconds to research. This upgrade increases the Phoenix's range by 2. This stacks with the new range increase, giving the Phoenix a potential range of 7. This allows them to thoroughly dominate any short-ranged flyer like the Mutalisk or an enemy's Phoenix without the upgrade. However, it does not seem that this upgrade increases the range of Graviton Beam, which means the Phoenix is still vulnerable when picking up enemy units.

• Mothership - The Mothership is no longer created at the Nexus but instead is upgraded from the Mothership Core. Its total cost (including Mothership Core cost) is still 400 minerals, 400 vespene gas, and 8 supplies. The Vortex ability has been removed and instead has been replaced by Time Warp. While Time Warp is a great skill, nothing is quite as game changing as Vortex was, making this a slight nerf.

• Sentry - The Hallucination ability no longer needs to be researched at the Cybernetics Core. Instead, Sentries will start with this ability. This improves the Protoss player's ability to scout early in the game, as a Phoenix Hallucination is an effective (and free) way to scout the map.

Terran Heart of the Swarm Changes

Full article: Terran Changes in Heart of the Swarm

While only two new Terran units have made it to near the end of the Heart of the Swarm beta cycle, Terran does have a significant number of changes and buffs to their old units:

• Reaper - Reapers no longer have a special building-only attack and no longer do bonus damage to light units. Reapers now have 60 HP and heal when out of combat. Reapers now also no longer require a Tech Lab. The speed upgrade has been removed and the Reaper's base speed has been increased. Reapers also produce in 40 seconds instead of 45 seconds.

• Raven - Seeker Missile costs 75 energy and no longer needs to be researched.

• Siege Tanks - The siege mode upgrade no longer exists. All tanks are able to go into Siege Mode without any research.

• Hellion - Can morph into Hellbats once an Armory has been built.

• Medivac - Now possesses the Ignite Afterburners ability. This is an energy-free ability with an 8 second duration and a 20-second cooldown. It increases the Medivac's movement speed by 70% while active.

• Ship & Vehicle Armor - Now a single upgrade benefits both types.

• Thor - The cannon ability has been replaced with High Impact Payload, a new anti-air attack. This ability is free to use and takes 4 seconds to activate. Once activated, the Thor's anti-air attack is replaced with a more powerful anti-air attack that does not deal splash damage and does not deal bonus damage to light units. It allows the Thor to be effective versus armored and massive air units. Thors no longer have energy.

Zerg Heart of the Swarm Changes

Full article: Zerg Changes in Heart of the Swarm

In addition to the new units available to the Zerg in Heart of the Swarm, there are some new upgrades and general buffs to the Zerg race in Heart of the Swarm. Here is the list:

• Burrow - Burrow can now be upgraded at the Hatchery and no longer requires Lair technology.

• Spore Crawler - No longer requires an Evolution Chamber.

• Hydralisk - Now have an upgrade at the Hydralisk Den which allows the Hydralisk to move 25% faster when not on creep. Note that this does not boost on-creep movement speed, whereas Zergling speed boosts the Zergling's speed on and off the creep.

• Mutalisks - Mutalisks now heal quickly. They gain back about 1 HP per second, both in and out of combat. Mutalisks also now move slightly faster, up to a movement speed of 4 from 3.75. 

• Infestor - Fungal Growth has been re-worked. It is no longer instant cast, but is a fast moving projectile. This makes it a bit harder to land, especially if you are using it in several spots at once. Fungal Growth's range is now slightly longer though. Its duration has dropped from 8 seconds to 4 seconds, but it now does 30 damage over 4 seconds, increasing its DPS noticeably.

• Ultralisk - Now deals 35 damage per swing to all unit types. In Wings of Liberty, Ultralisks dealt 15 damage per swing to light units and 35 damage per swing to armored units. This is a huge buff for Ultralisk damage versus light units like Marines, Zerglings, Zealots, and Hellbats.

• Overlord - Pneumatized Carapace (fast Overlord speed) is now available at Hatchery tech.

Heart of the Swarm Campaign Overview

Right now, only details about the single player campaign have been released. Personally, I thought the original Starcraft 2 campaign was quite enjoyable, so I am looking forward to this section.

Heart of the Swarm Plot

**If you haven't played the original Starcraft 2 campaign, you may not want to read on, as there are some spoilers below.**

Heart of the Swarm picks up where the Terran campaign left off, with Kerrigan becoming de-infested. However, it turns out that perhaps she is not completely de-infested, as she still retains her powers.

It has been revealed that much of the storyline of Heart of the Swarm involves Kerrigan fighting to regain control of the Swarm (seems similar to the major plotline in Brood War) as well as fighting off Terran and Protoss aggressors.

Much of the universe is an enemy of the Zerg and is not willing to ally themselves with the Zerg just because Kerrigan has been cleansed, and likewise many Zerg advisors are still interested in destroying all enemies.

I am sure some of the plot of Heart of the Swarm will also involve advancing the Xel'naga storyline, which seems like it will be the recurrent theme of Starcraft 2.

Heart of the Swarm Gameplay - Campaign

In the single-player campaign, Heart of the Swarm is said to differ significantly from the original Starcraft 2 campaign by incorporating "light RPG elements". In particular, this involves having Kerrigan as a playable character who makes a major difference in fights.

Kerrigan levels up as you go through the campaigns and evolves new abilities that you can choose between, much like the talent tree of a character in WoW.

The idea is that Kerrigan will be a playable hero in nearly all (if not all) the Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm missions and her abilities will make a major difference on the battlefield.

Hero units were a big part of the original Starcraft and were for the most part notably absent from the Starcraft 2 campaign, so this is a major change.

Players will also be able to upgrade their units, similar to the way that players were able to upgrade units and get new technologies at the Armory and Research Lab in the original Starcraft 2 campaign.

The primary difference is that the units seem to change more drastically, given the Zerg's ability to evolve. One example was that the Baneling will be able to evolve into either the Splinterling or Gorgeling; the Splinterling will split into multiple small Banelings upon death, whereas the Gorgeling will provide the Zerg player resources when it blows up against buildings.

It is unlikely that either of these units will be available in online play but rather be exclusive to the campaign, much like the Diamondback was for Terran players in the original campaign.

Starcraft 2 Heart of the Swarm Overview Conclusion

More details will be added to this Heart of the Swarm overview as they are released, so be sure to keep an eye on our Heart of the Swarm guide for updates!