Does This Mutation Make Me Look Fat? Let's Play Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm

[Techwarrior]

My problem with taking brood lords is that there isn't really a need for Brood Lords over Swarm Hosts for sieging. I'll vote Pressurized Glands, and I'll likely also be voting for Vipers when it comes.

[Traab]

The reason I dont like vipers is I dont like micro. While they are undoubtedly powerful and useful, i just dont like to have to focus on specific units to make them do the specific action at the right time and place. Im more a fan of attack move type playstyle. :p I dont mind throwing in controlling kerrigan in there but once you start adding in vipers and such, meh, too complicated for my enjoyment.

[Psyren]

I have a very limited mental budget for micro as well (which I suspect is tied to my ADHD.) And since the campaign usually forces you to use an extremely powerful hero unit, my playstyle is typically to devote my micro to that character, both because they do heavy amounts of damage on their own and because the penalty for getting them killed is either a big chunk of downtime while they respawn, or an outright loss in some missions. Ergo, I go for armies that don't need much micro so that the I maximize my attention to the hero.

And frankly, it's great practice for co-op too, where micro-ing Kerrigan (+Omega worms) far moreso than her other units is one of her better Brutation strategies.

[Tvtyrant]

Viper's are basically mini-heroes, which is great except you have Kerrigan already. I couldn't micro them seperately, if they were the only heroes like in Coop Abathur they would be fantastic but I prefer ctrl+A creatures and microing the hero.

[The Glyphstone]

Half the time I find myself not even microing Kerrigan. She can't fly, so if I have a mutaball running around the map I leave her home to run base defense solo. Probably won't be doing that as much in this playthrough though, so more hero screen time.

[Tvtyrant]

Either burrowing or pressurized glands seem best, but I would say burrowing is the better as an attack option and you won't have much of a defense needed until the last mission. Burrowing (I always took glands though )

[Thomas Cardew]

I'd think glands and brood lords are the superior choice. The campaign ai sucks at priority targeting and will happily focus on the locust spawns and broodlings, leaving the actual threats unharmed.

I'll abstain from voting though, it always ends up with tension between how I'd play and wanting to see someone play something different.

[The Glyphstone]

As far as siege units go, I'd forgotten about Impalers as well. They'll be a potential evolution pick after the upcoming mission.

[Traab]

As far as siege units go, I'd forgotten about Impalers as well. They'll be a potential evolution pick after the upcoming mission.

Ugh I hate all of that stuff. I honestly never bother upgrading my hydras in the campaign, (I do the upgrade quest, I mean I dont bother to evolve them during a campaign) its just not worth it to me. Yeah its fun in the upgrade missions themselves because its designed to show off how cool they can be, like by murdering swarms of light armor creatures, or mauling heavy defensive hardpoints from safety, but in practice they rarely get the chance to shine in the campaign. I suppose I would go impalers though as base defense rarely seems to be a thing you need to worry about. After all, my standard playstyle is constantly producing squads of roach/hydras, then when I get a decent horde, sending them to the front lines to join the rest while replacing them at home with the next batch so my base is always defended sufficiently to handle random attacks. So I guess choosing to use impalers to shatter the entrance to the enemy base rather than throwing an army of roaches at them where a couple might *gasp* die could work.

[Keltest]

IME you do actually want some solid base defense by the Korhal missions, because they all have several routes into your main base, and all three of them require you to have very solid zone control or suffer a loss condition.

[The Glyphstone]

That's usually a quick reaction force of mobile troops, I've found. Static defenses like crawlers are speed bumps at best, tarpitting the attacking wave until you can bring up the defense or return your army depending on how far away it is.

[Traab]

Like I said, I pretty much always have a mix of at least 9-18 roaches and hydras at my base at all times, with more in the queue as well, so im pretty set for all but massive overwhelming attacks. It may not always work on say, brutal difficulty, but for anything else its pretty solid. Im almost never not attacking after the first few minutes of ramp up time, so the avenues of attack I have to worry about start closing rapidly. Basically I build up my resource gathering, build a second hatchery, finish building my roach warren and hydra den and start producing units. Then once I have about 9 each of hydras and roaches to go with kerri, i start pushing forward. Break down the hardpoint with kerrigan plopping banelings into whatever is there, mop up the remains of the enemy troops, then while destroying every building methodically, my reinforcements start heading up to meet me. Lather rinse repeat till I have like 50+ units and everything but me is dying.

[Keltest]

That's usually a quick reaction force of mobile troops, I've found. Static defenses like crawlers are speed bumps at best, tarpitting the attacking wave until you can bring up the defense or return your army depending on how far away it is.

add a couple lurkers or impalers and a tarpit is really all you need.

[The Glyphstone]

Spoiler: Update 11: In Which Betrayals Are Sudden, Yet Inevitable

Show

Sarah – and it was nice being able to think of her like that again, assuming she didn't backslide into Crazytown again – disappeared off into the forests not long after. I went back up to the Leviathan where Zagara couldn't glare at me anymore, since it was getting uncomfortable. Ishah might know where Sarah had gone, but when I got to the command chamber, it wasn't empty. A primal Zerg was waiting there as well, just hanging out. It looked oddly lopsided for some reason.



“Who are you, and what are you doing here?”



“I am Dehaka. I will join this pack. Its leader is mighty. Much essence to be had in her wake.”

It stared, sniffing deeply as it leaned closer. I tried not to flinch, and mostly succeeded – primal Zerg were no less creepy than regular ones up close, even if they looked completely different.



“You are not Zerg. Your essence is weak. What is your purpose in this pack?”

I started to answer, then paused. Why was I here, actually? Old Kerrigan had said she wanted me around to witness her revenge, but she had mostly just ignored me. Plus, she was nuts so maybe not honest or reliable. Now I had no idea if Sarah would still be keeping me, or even if I wanted to go. That wasn't something I wanted to dwell on right now.



“I don't know. Maybe it's just that I remind her of what she's left behind and used to be.”



“She is foolish then. Past contains only weakness. Future is changing. Change is strength.”

Rather than have to answer any more awkward questions, I got Ishah to tell me where Sarah was, which turned out going to hunt the remaining pack leaders while their troops were depleted. Yaggdra hadn't been the only one who attacked us at the end, explaining why there had been so many primals in that last wave. Back in the shuttle, I fired up the parasite-cam – getting easier every time still – and sifted through channels until I found an Overlord shadowing Sarah through the jungle.



She had gone alone, naturally. Probably easier to move that way, and I got the feeling she was still feeling out what this new version of her could do.





A primal Hydralisk sat on the other side of a big crevice, spitting spines at her. I expected a psychic crunchy blast, but instead she jumped across, skewering the hydralisk on her wing-blades as she landed.



A weird glowing stone sat on an island behind the dead hydralisk. It looked like the Xel'Naga artifact, so I figured it must have been something they left behind all that time ago.



A few more jumps brought her to a swarm of primal Zerglings. Before she would have just lightning-chained them, but now she spread her wings out like swords and zoomed forward in a blur, slicing everything she moved past to ribbons.





A pack of primal roaches were battling some hydralisks further along. One of the two groups was the same color as the one named Dehaka, and after Sarah killed their enemies they fell in around her like a bodyguard. A few had gotten injured in the fight, but she released a burst of energy and their wounded sealed shut almost instantly.







Another Xel'Naga relic was sitting high up on a cliff. Turns out her new stabby-jump attack can go vertical as well as horizontal, thankfully, and the zoomy-slice attack cleaved through its guards.



Finally, she came to a wide clearing occupied by a giant creature, almost like a Nydus worm with claws. By the carapace markings, I guessed this was Yaggdra, and I was right. They traded the same ritual challenges – Sarah naming herself as 'Slayer of Brakk' – and the fight was on.





Yaggdra spat lava blasts from its mouth, forcing Sarah and her minions to dodge around constantly. Every so often it would burrow down and spew a bunch of eggs from the ground, forcing her to cut through them quickly.





The primal zerg got crispy and dead real fast, but one-on-one Sarah was more than a match for Yaggdra. It seemed to take forever with the big ugly worm tunneling around constantly, but eventually she got the last hit in and absorbed its essence.



Another group of Dehaka's warriors joined her as she moved on, hailing her like the others had. It was still odd for me to see Zerg of any kind acting as individuals, but Sarah didn't seem bothered at all.





The reinforcements came in handy before long, with dozens of eggs filling the path ahead. They had their hands full squishing as many as possible before any could hatch. A little one hatched here and there, but it only took one big egg popping out a primal Ultralisk for Sarah to target them above everything.



Another Xel'Naga relic was guarded by a whole pack of ultralisks, who shredded their way through her primal guards before she kiled them.



Luckily another pack was waiting close by, outside the entrance to a big crater, like a cave that had collapsed in on itself.



There was another pack leader here, who turned out to be named Kraith. Sarah – now slayer of both Brakk and Yaggdra – must have been impatient, as she leaped into the fight almost before finishing her challenge.





Kraith's main attack seemed to be running himself into walls, which seemed to me like a very poor way to fight. Even when the impacts started knocking primal Zerglings down from the edges of the crater, Sarah just zoomy-dashed her way out of his way and through the little ones, though again her own primal minions got trampled flat in short order.





This fight went much quicker than the first, ending the same with another pile of essence absorbed into her.



Yet another bunch of Dehaka's warriors appeared to escort her – he apparently had a very large pack, so I counted us lucky he hadn't thrown his lot in with the others during the siege of Sarah's cocoon.



The valley ahead was full of crawling green blobs, that looked suspiciously like primal Banelings of some kind. Having learned how quickly the primal Zerg stole any designs that could be useful, I guessed that was exactly what they were.



Sarah clearly thought the same, zoomy-slicing her way through them before they could explode on her.



Another relic was hidden away on a cliff-top, but by now it was old hat for her to leap from ledge to ledge while stabbing the primals in her way.



Past another valley full of primal banelings and some acid-spitting primals on clifftops, she found another pair of Dehaka's hydralisks waiting. They warned her that the last pack leader lay just ahead, one called 'Slivan The Eternal Mother'.



Slivan looked like nothing so much as a gigantic swarm host, and I couldn't help but be suspicious. Exactly how much had Abathur plagarized from the primals to create his own version of that design?



Stolen genes or not, Slivan pushed Sarah to her limits. What looked like an endless tidal wave of primal banelings flooded out of its body, liquifying Dehaka's poor warriors almost instantly. Sarah was zoomy-slicing her way through like a madwoman just to stay ahead of the swarm, chopping bits off Slivan almost as an afterthought where she could. I could barely keep track of the action between her blurring around and the constant explosions of acid.





Slivan died the death of a thousand cuts eventually, and Sarah claimed her essence.






Even as more friendly primals hurried up to protect her, I could see the ground shaking all around. Craters erupted everywhere, leaving Sarah standing on a giant pillar as the colossal Zerg-Man rose up from the hole, towering over her.



“Truly, you have proven yourself mighty. You stand alone as triumphant, ruler of all that Zerus has to give you. Your essence is formidable.”



“And you're here to try and kill me to claim it.”



“There will be no try. You are powerful, but a mere gnat in size; I shall devour you in one bite and evolve for the first time in millennia.”

He tried then, lunging downward with that gaping maw big enough to swallow siege tanks. She jumped clear, glowing with power and scoring the tiniest of scratches against his hide. It didn't look like much, but he reared back in shock as the tentacles around their makeshift arena thrashed madly.



“Your touch...it burns like fire, pierces to my core. What power have you hidden away even now, tiny pack leader, to hurt me so?”



“Because you look at me and see only my flesh. I am not simply the will of the Swarm – I am its heart as well. You call the hive mind Amon forced upon us a curse and corruption – perhaps, but without his influence it is a strength as well, for we all fight you here as one.



“Psionic combat then, a duel of the minds. I spoke in error, and though I know fear for the first time in memory I am also pleased to face an equal. I am Zurvan, slayer of thousands, all whom I have forgotten.”



“And I am Sarah Kerrigan, slayer of one who I will remember – Zurvan.”

Someday, I can only dream to come up with one-liners as good as her, really. Even Zerg-man/Zurvan seemed to smile at her boast, and the fight began in earnest this time.





It was almost anticlimactic by now to see the lesser primals get destroyed – Zurvan vomited up crowds of his own minions now, diverting Sarah's focus while lashing away at him every chance she got. Just like before, every hit she landed seemed to hurt him way more than it should have by looks alone,





Now it was her reatively small size that was an advantage. Zurvan could turn her into jelly a single hit, but she was just too fast for him. Tentacles like skyscrapers hammered down again and again, but she was never here when it landed and always darting in for a counter-attack. When he tried to pin her down with minions, she just zoomy-sliced out at the last minute and let him crush his own warriors.





Now reeling in obvious pain, Zurvan switched to spewing out torrents of psychic lightning, but if anything this was easier for Sarah to avoid now that she didn't have smaller primals to distract her.



“You...win. You...are...Zerus...now. Rule...it...wisely.”





With one final strike, she stabbed him right between those gigantic eyes, and the top of his head exploded like a volcano of meat and blood.

“I will rule as I see fit. No one tells me what to do, certainly not you.”

...Maybe old Kerrigan wasn't as far gone as I had hoped. I might have to stick around for a bit to make sure it stuck – I suspected Zagara would be eager to push Sarah the other way without a counterbalance. How had I ended up as the angel on the shoulder of a half-alien demigoddess, again? My life really sucked sometimes.

Well...that was an adventure to assemble. I think poor Kerrigan took a dive a few times just so I could get good photos of the boss fights before replaying in earnest.

It was worth it, though, because we get a simply massive number of things to vote on now. First, let's go through Kerrigan's powers, swapping out anything we want for a new option or voting to keep the current choice.

Tier 1:
(Current)Kinetic Blast Psychic Crunchy Blast: Our staple nuke, 300 single target damage.
Heroic FortitudeSpiky Chitin Armor: +200 life, +100% HP regeneration.
(New)Leaping Strike:Stabby-Jump Attack: Jump-attack for 150 damage. Also gives a passive +10 damage, but -3 range. Not quite a melee fighter but close enough.

Tier 2:
Crushing Grip: AoE stun and light damage.
(Current) Chain Reaction: Passive AoE damage on every attack.
(New)Psionic DashZoomy-Slice Attack: Dash forward in a line, dealing 50 damage to every enemy touched.

Tier 3:
Zergling Reconstitution: Respawn dead Zerglings for free.
(Current)Improved Overlords: Overlords morph instantly and give 50% more supply.
(New)Automated Extractors: Extractors harvest vespene gas automatically without needing drones.

Tier 4:
Wild Mutation: Short-duration AoE damage and health buff to friendly units.
(Current) Spawn Banelings: Deadly Green Landmines!
(New) Mend: Heal Kerrigan and nearby allies for 150, +75 over 10 seconds.

Tier 5:
(New) Twin Drones: Drones morph 2 per egg and require 1/2 supply each.
(New) Malignant Creep: Friendly units heal faster and deal 30% more damage on creep. Creep tumors spread faster and further.
(New) Vespene Efficiency: Extractors produce vespene gas 25% faster.

But wait there's more....

We also have a Hydralisk Evolution to choose:
1) Lurker Strain - Burrows and attacks with lines of spines, and deals bonus damage versus Light units. Good for shredding hordes of infantry.
2) Impaler Strain - Burrows and attacks with armor-piercing tentacles at long range. Good for bunker-busting and killing tanks/Thors.

And thats all for now...nope, just kidding. Time to pick a new destination:

1) Skygeirr Station: Will give us Infestors and Ultralisks, plus the Mutalisk evolution. Terran + Protoss enemies.
2) Space: No new unit unlocks, but will give us the Swarm Host evolution. Terran enemies.

[Keltest]

I vote we stick with the Current choices on Tiers 1-3, switch to Mend on Tier 4, because screw Kerrigan possibly dying, and on Tier 5 select Twin Drones. Economy boom FTW.

I also vote Lurker for the hydralisk morph, because its a classic, and Skygeirr as the next destination, because we pick up another hitchhiker there who is fun to have around, and also because I know certain things will happen on that arc that make me happy.

[Traab]

1) Psychic blast is still supreme, nuking the big dogs at an enemy base is always a good thing.
2) I like chain because the more hits everything takes, the faster they die
3)Overlords rules because being able to max out the supply line faster is ideal
4) Banelings, while heals are nice, zerg are expendable, and kerrigan shouldnt be in danger of dying anyways.
5)twin drones. If it was a pvp game malignant creep would be super tempting but how often in campaign do you get to spread creep everywhere other than the gorgon killing mission on char?

New strain, I dont really care, I guess lurkers to protect the home base, i never use either. And you have enough hard point wrecking skills already.

I love the station. Its a ton of fun and I love the whole infestor thing where they auto produce an army of units.

[The Glyphstone]

I vote we stick with the Current choices on Tiers 1-3, switch to Mend on Tier 4, because screw Kerrigan possibly dying, and on Tier 5 select Twin Drones. Economy boom FTW.

I also vote Lurker for the hydralisk morph, because its a classic, and Skygeirr as the next destination, because we pick up another hitchhiker there who is fun to have around, and also because I know certain things will happen on that arc that make me happy.

Mind specifying on the latter so I don't accidentally write them out/skip past them? Said hitchhiker isn't going anywhere, though, so no fear on that front.

[Keltest]

Mind specifying on the latter so I don't accidentally write them out/skip past them? Said hitchhiker isn't going anywhere, though, so no fear on that front.

Oh. You absolutely arent. Its a big cinematic thing at the end of the arc.

[The Glyphstone]

Oh. You absolutely arent. Its a big cinematic thing at the end of the arc.

It's a good thing I asked then, because I was considering skimming past that cinematic due to a lack of viewpoints for the narrator - Kerrigan is alone in that scene by all appearances.

[Keltest]

It's a good thing I asked then, because I was considering skimming past that cinematic due to a lack of viewpoints for the narrator - Kerrigan is alone in that scene by all appearances.

There is actually a single other zerg there: The Nydus Worm!

[The Glyphstone]

There is actually a single other zerg there: The Nydus Worm!

Yeah, I suppose that's true, though it only shows up halfway through....though actually I can tie that into something I had planned to develop anyways pretty soon, so that does work out after all!

[Lord Torath]

OK, here are my votes:
Tier 1:
(Current)Kinetic Blast Psychic Crunchy Blast: Our staple nuke, 300 single target damage.

Tier 2:
(Current) Chain Reaction: Passive AoE damage on every attack.

Tier 3:
(New)Automated Extractors: Extractors harvest vespene gas automatically without needing drones.

Tier 4:
(Current) Spawn Banelings: Deadly Green Landmines!

Tier 5:
(New) Twin Drones: Drones morph 2 per egg and require 1/2 supply each.


As for evolved hydralisks, I really like the range on the impalers. Plant 5 or 6 of those next to (minor spoiler) the bunker at Jim's base and not even the Odin will make it through. I also find them highly useful for guarding your right flank in the final mission.

There is actually a single other zerg there: The Nydus Worm!

Well, he's there for a bit. But he bites off a bit more thaw he can chew.

[Psyren]

Leaping Strike + Dash is my recommendation, simply because it will better prepare you to master her in co-op. If you don't plan on trying that mode then pick whatever, but I'd still recommend building muscle memory for those two moves just in case as it will give you a fairly easy entry. (Remember, she is completely free to play.)

Automated gas collection is definitely nice, but zerg have less of a problem here than the other two factions since they can pop out 6 workers simultaneously to instantly saturate their gas line anyway. I'd actually go with the Overlord one.

I forget, do you get Nydus/Omega worms in the campaign? If so, don't bother with the creep tumors, worms are a vastly superior way to spread creep.

[The Glyphstone]

Do people even play co-op anymore, since it went into maintenance mode? I wouldn't bet heavy odds on me doing so either way - after this will be, hopefully, LotV, and by then I'll have gotten bored of Starcraft again.

But no, you don't get Nydus Worms in campaign play. You also dont get Overlord transports, FWIW.

[Thomas Cardew]

While I used to play a lot of coop, say 5 ish matches a day, I started to stop playing blizzard games in general after the Hearthstone HK incident. I've finally quit entirely. Threads like these are nice for the nostalgia but I don't see myself starting again anytime soon now that I've kicked the habit.

[Keltest]

Do people even play co-op anymore, since it went into maintenance mode? I wouldn't bet heavy odds on me doing so either way - after this will be, hopefully, LotV, and by then I'll have gotten bored of Starcraft again.

But no, you don't get Nydus Worms in campaign play. You also dont get Overlord transports, FWIW.

Last i heard, it was more popular than the ladder.

[The Glyphstone]

How tolerant/toxic is the community, though? Trying to start this late would be really hard to pull weight compared to veterans with maxed XP and prestiges...

[Keltest]

How tolerant/toxic is the community, though? Trying to start this late would be really hard to pull weight compared to veterans with maxed XP and prestiges...

Hit or miss. As long as you dont just dive into the highest difficulty with a level 1 commander you arent familiar with, very few people will give you grief.

The in game coop channel is actually tolerable for finding partners too.

[Psyren]

The queue times are still pretty fast (at least Hard+; I haven't tried queuing on Casual or Normal) so take that for what it's worth. I don't know how that translates to Concurrent Player Numbers, but I haven't had any trouble hopping into a match or three in the evenings.

It's also worth noting that Blizzard has a slightly different definition of Maintenance Mode than some other companies. HOTS officially entered Maintenance Mode in 2018, yet it got a new event as recently as last month for its anniversary. I wouldn't be overly shocked if SC2 got something too. Blizzard considers the free data on player behavior to be well worth keeping the lights on I'd wager.

How tolerant/toxic is the community, though? Trying to start this late would be really hard to pull weight compared to veterans with maxed XP and prestiges...

What Keltest said, but from what I've seen a lot of people just assume Kerrigan, Artanis and (shudder) Raynor players are new since those are the ones you can max out without paying.

(It's usually safe to assume you'll need to carry a Raynor player unless you see them rushing MULES in any event.)

[The Glyphstone]

Is Raynor bad, or just the default "clueless noob" selection?