StarCraft/Zerg units

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Please refer to the Brood War units page for information on Devourers and Lurkers.

• Cost will be referred to as X/Y. X is the amount of minerals needed, while Y is the amount of gas.
• There are 3 damage types other than normal: explosive, concussive, and splash.
• Explosive does 100% to large units, 75% to medium, and 50% to small.
• Concussive does 100% to small units, 50% to medium, and 25% to large.
• Splash deals damage to all units in a certain radius (1/2 damage to units 1/4 pix away, 1/4 to those 1/2 away). Linear splash means that the attack travels in a line.
• Protoss HP will be referred to as X/Y. X is their hit points, which do not regenerate, and Y refers to their shields, which do regenerate.
• Some unit's damage will be referred to as X/Y, in which case it means the unit uses different weapons against air and ground. X will be the damage done to ground, and Y is the damage done to air.
• Some units' attacks are separated into two parts. That means that each hit from an attack gets some reduction from armor. Likewise, all air attacks get boosts from devourer acid spores.
• Zerg
  • None!

Note that except for the Infested Terran, Broodling, Guardian, Devourer, and Lurker, ALL Zerg units are created from eggs at a Hatchery (the Guardian, Devourer, and Lurker mutate from other units, Broodlings come from a Zerg Queen spell, and Infested Terrans can only be recruited at an infested Command Center).

Units will be listed according to the order they come in at the Hatchery. All units mutated from another unit will be listed under their parent unit.

Drone

The Zerg worker unit. They must sacrifice themselves to make buildings, unlike their Protoss or Terran counterparts. However, they can burrow, and therefore able to defend themselves from worker raids.

• Cost: 50/0
• Hotkey:  D 
• Ground attack: 5
• Air attack: None
• HP: 40
• Supply: 1
• Range: .5
• Build Time: 20
• Special Abilities: Burrow

Overlord

Ovie

Overlords are the single most important unit of the Zerg. They give 8 supply. They are also Detectors and Transports (after Ventral Sacs is researched at the Lair/Hive). Overlords have no attack abilities. The following is the space each unit takes up inside an Overlord:

• 1: Drone, Zergling, Infested Terran, Broodling
• 2: Hydralisk, Defiler
• 4: Lurker (Brood War only), Ultralisk

• Cost: 100/0
• Hotkey:  O 
• Ground attack: None
• Air attack: None
• HP: 200
• Supply: -8
• Range: N/A
• Build Time: 40
• Special Abilities: Overlord Transport, Detection

Zergling

Ling, Crackling

Zerglings are cheap and overwhelming to enemies. They're so good for flooding players they've given their name to a general battlefield tactic: the Zergling rush. They are melee units, and can be bred two per larva. When used in enormous numbers, they can nearly wipe out everything. 'Lings' are a common nickname for these, and 'cracklings' refer to their most upgraded form (+speed, +attack speed, +3 attack and +3 carapace). The most obvious downside to these is that any air unit can kill them easily, as Zerglings can't attack air targets. Also, Marines in bunkers, squads of Firebats, a lot of Zealots, or a larger number of Zerglings can be very efficient at wiping out Zergling hordes.

Some common strategies are rushing with 4 to 6 Zerglings in the first 2 or 3 minutes of a game, Mutalisk-Zergling rush within the first 7 minutes of the game, and using with Defilers and Ultralisks. These stronger units, if used correctly, will act as a sponge and allow these Zerglings enough time to cause some damage.

• Cost: 50/0 for 2
• Prerequisite: Spawning Pool
• Hotkey:  Z 
• Ground attack: 5
• Air attack: None
• HP: 35
• Supply: 1/2
• Range: 0
• Build Time: 28
• Special Ability: Burrow

Hydralisk

Hydra

Hydralisks spit hyper-velocity, super-dense darts at enemies, ripping them to pieces. They are general-purpose units that can be used for pretty much anything. Used in great numbers, they can annihilate nearly everything(both ground and air). Be wary of the general mob-killers such as Tanks, Reavers, and High Templar. Hydralisks are particularly vulnerable to Psionic Storm.

In Brood War...

Hydralisks can be mutated into Lurkers once the proper technology is researched.

• Cost: 75/25
• Prerequisites: Hydralisk Den
• Hotkey:  H 
• Ground attack: 10 explosive
• Air attack: 10 explosive
• HP: 80
• Supply: 1
• Range: 4 (Upgrade to 5)
• Build Time: 40
• Special Ability: Burrow

Mutalisk

Muta

A 'small' flying creature, the Mutalisk attacks by shooting worms that ricochets and hits other targets. They do fairly low damage, but are fast, and cheap for an air unit. Paired up with Zerglings, Mutalisks can overrun many positions. Also, they have the strange (and unintended by the developers) ability to stack together in a small area. Mutalisks are weak against spells and units that devastate tight, bunched-up groups, such as Archons (with their splash attack), Psionic Storm, Corsairs, and Valkyries. It can turn into a cocoon and burst out into a Devourer or Guardian.

• Cost:100/100
• Prerequisite: Spire
• Hotkey:  M 
• Ground attack: 9 (initially), 3 (2nd target), 1 (3rd target)
• Air attack: 9 (initially), 3 (2nd target), 1 (3rd target)
• HP: 120
• Supply: 2
• Range: 3
• Build Time: 40

Guardian

The Mutalisk can mutate into the armored, long-range Guardian. The Guardian can't attack air targets, but is incredibly effective against ground units. Guardians are the Zerg "siege" unit, able to attack defenses from beyond their range. They are fairly slow.

• Guardians are created in mutation from Mutalisk after researching them.
• Cost: 50/100 (in addition to the Mutalisks' cost)
• Prerequisites: Mutalisks, Greater Spire
• Ground attack: 20
• Air attack: None
• HP: 150
• Supply: 2
• Range: 8
• Build Time: 40

Scourge

Scourge are suicide units that crash into other air units and explode, dealing massive damage. Like Zerglings, they come two per egg. They are the infamous "Carrier Killers", as they are very effective against them. Five Scourge can demolish a lone Carrier, due to its slowness and ineffective attack. Battlecruisers require five to destroy as well, but the Battlecruiser's weapons will take out a Scourge without Flyer Carapace in one hit. A very effective technique in ZvZ is to use Scourge against your opponent's Overlords, because if your opponent doesn't have enough of them, his/her ability to produce an army will be severely hampered. Scourge especially shine when micromanaged (more specifically, cloned).

Scourge are also good against:

• Valkyries
• Devourers
• Guardians
• Science Vessels
• Arbiters

• Cost: 25/75 for 2
• Prerequisite: Spire
• Hotkey:  S 
• Ground attack: None
• Air attack: 110
• HP: 25
• Supply: 1/2
• Range: 0
• Build Time: 30

Queen

Queens are flying spell-casters that cannot attack. They have four abilities: Ensnare, Spawn Broodling, Parasite, and Infest Command Center.

Ensnare slows down enemy units' firing rates and movement speeds. It also detects Cloaked units for a short time. A good way to use this spell is bogging down enemy defensive troops so that your own units can file past them. Ensnare takes 75 Queen energy to use.

Spawn Broodling is an instant kill effect against all non-robotic ground units. Probes and Reavers are the only "robots" (meaning totally mechanical and not piloted by a live creature) in the game, and while Archons and Dark Archons aren't robots, their "Ephemeral" attribute makes them oblivious to the effect. Using this effect instantly kills the affected unit, and at the same time spawns two Broodlings (essentially weaker versions of Zerglings that die after a while) for you. Popular targets for using Spawn Broodling on are High Templars, Siege Tanks, and Ultralisks. Additionally, if a player is playing the campaign or a custom battle against computer units and has the invincibility cheat enabled, this attack from an enemy Queen can still kill the player's units. The effect takes 150 energy.

Parasite will allow the player to see what the infected unit sees (even if the unit is a Detector), and if a Cloaked unit is Parasited, all cloaked units within a certain radius will be revealed. This is obviously invaluable for spying on the enemy. Takes 75 energy.

Infest Command Center allows the Queen to infest a heavily-damaged Terran Command Center (HP must be below half). After the infestation, the Command Center can build Infested Terrans. An Infested Command Center can still fly, and does not need to be built on Zerg Creep. This ability is always available to Queens.

• Cost: 100/150
• Prerequisites: Queens Nest
• Hotkey:  Q 
• Ground/Air attack: None
• HP: 120
• Supply: 2
• Build Time: 50
• Special Abilities: Ensnare, Spawn Broodlings, Parasite, Infest Command Center

Ultralisk

Ultra

The Ultralisk is essentially a very tough biological tank, dealing much damage to ground units. It is most commonly used to absorb damage while other units deal it out, with large numbers of Zerglings following behind. This allows the Ultralisk to soak up fire from more powerful units - especially those with splash damage. However, Ultralisks can be fairly effective by themselves as well, with their 20 damage and fast speed (when upgraded). Although their large size means that they can block your own units preventing easy movement to the enemy base and more melee units can surround them and altogether do heavy damage to kill it real fast, making it useless and thus demolishes your economy by losing a large amount of resources that you spent for it. It is an advanced unit and careful use is recommended.

• Cost: 200/200
• Prerequisites: Ultralisk Cavern
• Hotkey:  U 
• Ground attack: 20
• Air attack: None
• HP: 400
• Supply: 4
• Range: 0
• Build Time: 60

Defiler

The Defiler is a spellcaster unit with three spells: Consume, Plague, and Dark Swarm.

Consume lets the Defiler "eat" a friendly unit to recover 50 energy, which makes restoring energy much faster than with other units. Zerglings are usually used as fodder for this ability, as they are cheap.

Plague deals one of the following amounts of damage: 295 points if the target has more than that amount, or all but 1 point left over otherwise. The ability may be cast on any unit or building. This is very useful against Terrans, due to the fact that their structures burn down once below 35% hp.

Dark Swarm covers a 6x6 matrix with microscopic insects. The end result is a huge orange fog covering up the ground. Units under the Dark Swarm cannot take damage from projectiles (this includes things like the Hydralisks' attacks). Archons, Reavers and Siege Tanks can still damage units under Dark Swarm only with their splash damage. This means that the initial attack damage that should have been inflicted to the original target will be reduced to 0. The Dark Swarm ability costs 100 energy.

• Cost: 50/150
• Prerequisites: Defiler Mound
• Hotkey:  F 
• Ground attack: None
• Air attack: None
• HP: 80
• Supply: 2
• Build Time: 50
• Special Abilities: Consume, Plague, Dark Swarm

Infested Terran

Once a Queen has infested a sufficiently damaged Terran Command Center, they are genetically modified into explosive suicide ground units. Infested Terrans run up to their target(s) and explode, dealing a whopping 500 damage to all targets within a large radius. Their relatively low hit points make it rare that these units actually make it to their targets on foot. But when loaded into Overlords, they can effectively carpet bomb an opponent's base.

• Created at the Infested Command Center.
• Cost: 100/50
• Ground attack: 500 Splash
• Air attack: None
• HP: 60
• Supply: 1
• Range: 0
• Build Time: 40

Broodling

A Queen can use Spawn Broodling to destroy a non-robotic unit and spawn two Broodlings from that unit. Broodlings can attack, but are pretty useless units, as they are pitifully weak and die after a short while.

• Cost: 150 Queen energy for 2
• Ground attack: 4
• Air attack: None
• HP: 30
• Supply: 0
• Build Time: N/A