[HotsContest] Power Rank: HotS Edition

Why it's awesome: It's not.

Concept issues: R.I.P. Carrier. Is the Tempest supposed to be serve as the Carrier's replacement? The problem with the Tempest is that its purpose is rather unclear. As a late game air unit (think Battlecruiser, Brood Lord, or Carrier), it seems mediocre for its high cost. Stats can be changed of course, but the only way to balance its huge range (10, with an upgrade that boosts it up to 22) is to make it attack as fast as Goody's APM. It could serve as an interesting way to weaken Brood Lord/Infestor armies from far away or force a Terran army to make an unfavorable engagement, but the usefulness of a late-game unit that has massive range but fairly low damage output is questionable. It's far too expensive and tech-heavy (requires Fleet Beacon) to act as a mid-game harassment or siege unit. When the end-game engagement actually happens, you'll probably be sad that you invested 1000 minerals and gas into 3-4 Tempests that aren't really doing much damage in the battle. But with high damage output already covered by Colossi and Storm, it might have some use. We'll see.

Verdict: The Tempest ranks in last place because it doesn't seem like an effective end-game air unit, which it pretty much has to be with its cost and tech requirements. To appease the fans, I'd say Blizzard should just bring back the Carrier with some tweaks. Even without many changes, I think people would prefer the Carrier to the Tempest.

Why it's awesome: Because having your Battlecruisers move as fast as Mutalisks is something Terran players have only dreamed of.

Concept issues: I assume this ability is supposed to increase the usage of BCs. It won't, for two reasons: TvP and TvZ. Unless you're MVP, chances are you've never used Battlecruisers in TvP, and for good reason. While they might be part of the ideal end-game Terran composition, most games end before they get to that point. And even if the game does reach that stage, the fact that this new ability costs energy means we'll probably never see it in TvP - not EMPing your own BCs means they'll be targets for Feedback. I guess it's possible that you could use this ability to spend energy before a battle while positioning your Battlecruisers more effectively, but it's still unlikely we'll see many BCs in TvP. As for TvZ, Battlecruisers are unused because a late game Zerg army is going to have tons of Corruptors to protect Brood Lords from Vikings. Secondly, Ravens with Seeker Missile are generally more useful. And lastly, even if for some reason you DO have BCs in late game TvZ, you'd probably much rather spend the energy on Yamato Cannon to kill Brood Lords/Corruptors than get a speed boost for a few seconds. I mean, Brood Lords are pretty damn slow. As for the mirror matchup, where BCs are most often seen, I still think using the energy for Yamato Cannon will trump the speed burst 99% of the time. BCs are useful in TvT to push back siege lines when you have air superiority or in the end game when crazy BC/Viking/Raven battles happen. In both these cases, you're going to want to save your energy for Yamato Cannon, killing Tanks/Thors/Vikings rather than getting better positioning or getting in and out of battle with this new Redline Reactor ability.

Verdict: It's cool, but doesn't actually make much sense because of the nature of TvP/TvZ and the fact that it takes energy and Yamato Cannon is far more useful in most situations.

Why it's awesome: Because everyone wants the Lurker and this is the closest thing we're gonna get (even though it's not the same at all). For real though, the Locusts are incredibly strong.

Concept issues: I'm not sure what to think about the Swarm Host. It'll be incredibly hard to balance the stats of the Locusts, the spawn time, and the cost of the Swarm Host itself. They definitely fit the "theme" of the Zerg race - endless waves of creepy bugs to overrun your enemy - but the purpose of the unit seems odd. It's been advertised as a way to pressure players who are turtling, but this doesn't seem to be a problem in the current metagame. The standard response of mass expanding/droning, getting Brood Lord/Infestor, and massing spines seems to beat turtling Protoss and Terran pretty handily. I guess it makes offensive pushes with Zerg stronger, giving Zerg more strategic variety and being an incentive to not just stay defensive until Brood Lord/Infestor. However, being really aggressive with Ling/Bling/Muta or even Roach/Ling/Bane already happens. Maybe I'm just biased because I don't want to see Zerg become more versatile, but with the current approaches to Zerg matchups working so well, I'm not sure how much we'll see the Swarm Host being used unless Zerg late game gets nerfed. The Swarm Host could also be used defensively, but with Infestors, Spine Crawlers, and Queens, Zerg has plenty of defensive capabilities already.

Verdict: Seems to be a way to allow Zerg to do stronger mid-game pushes, but it's a fairly heavy investment that will delay Hive tech. Allows for versatility but contradicts the strengths of the Zerg race (perhaps because of the metagame though). I'm not sure how frequently we'd be seeing Swarm Hosts in competitive play.

Why it's awesome: Because it looks hilarious. If you haven't seen it, basically everything that gets hit goes flying into the air. Also, it'll mean that Ultralisks beyond the 2nd or 3rd one will actually be able to do something rather than bump against each other until the ones in front die. As a Terran player this is rather scary since the only way to fight against Ultralisks is to find a ramp or use your buildings to create chokes. Being able to burrow charge right up in the middle of Terran or Protoss armies makes Ultralisks infinitely more powerful.

Concept issues: The concept is great, and I don't want to talk about balance too much but this ability pretty much removes one of the only weakness of Ultralisks - their clunky size and therefore inability to get a good attack angle.

Verdict: Besides balance concerns, not much to say. This might mean that we'll see Ultralisks more in ZvP though.

Why it's awesome: Reapers are a harassment/scouting unit, so taking away their out-of-place building attack and giving them this upgrade makes a lot of sense. As someone who Reaper expands often, it really sucks when your Reaper becomes useless after taking a few hits if you manage to make it out of your opponents base alive. I'm going to miss massing Reapers in team games and one shotting buildings though.

Concept issues: It's pretty perfect conceptually. The only issue is that as of now, it's an upgrade that costs 50 minerals and 50 gas, which is REALLY not worth it unless you're making multiple Reapers (which you generally don't in a Reaper expand build). I really don't think it would be imbalanced if Reapers started out with this ability, seeing as the recent Queen range buff makes Reapers pretty awful against Zerg anyway and they're generally only useful against Protoss if you catch them off guard. Reaper usage is also pretty map dependent. Nitro Packs seem to have been taken out too, but that won't really affect anything except speed-Reaper/Hellion builds in TvT.

Verdict: Awesome. I would put it higher up on the list, but it's not really an amazing or game-breaking change, just a nice addition.

Why it's awesome: It has the potential to become the new backbone of the Terran army against Protoss and Terran Mech. As a Bio player in all matchups, I'll never give up on my Marines and Marauders though.

Concept issues: It's hard to have a problem with the Warhound conceptually since it's just a vanilla factory unit that has good HP, good range, and deals a ton of damage, but costs a decent amount too. The autocast ability really increases damage output against Mechanical ground units, making it great against Tanks/Stalkers/etc. I didn't play around with it too much, but it would be a nice touch if there are ways to make Warhounds more effective with good micro of the missiles, especially since there is much less micro involved in playing Mech as opposed to Bio currently. On the negative side, we'll probably never see Warhounds in TvZ if they stay the way they are now (Thors are still in for anti-Muta, and the autocast ability only does extra damage to Mechanical units).

Verdict: Mech users rejoice! I feel like this unit will basically serve as the Marauders of Mech armies. They're like unsieged Tanks with a lot more damage against Mech units. They look kinda stupid though; Blizzard should make them more Goliath-like.

Why it's awesome: In a Mech army, Hellions serve as a buffer unit for Tanks/Thors (and now Warhounds) and also as a mineral dump. However, they're awful at tanking damage, and even though they do extra damage to light units, are pretty bad against Zealots and even Zerglings when surrounded. The Battle Hellion transformation will let Hellions fulfill this role much better.

Concept issues: Battle Hellions will allow for a tankier Mech composition against Zerg and Terran, but I think this change was primarily meant to make Mech viable against Protoss (along with Warhounds). Battle Hellions will now be able to tank a decent amount of damage against Zealots/Colossi/Storm while dealing decent damage to Zealots (because the spash is not in a line while in this form). The only issue I have with the current Battle Hellion is that they come out in this form from the Factory. It makes more sense to me that they should come out as regular Hellions so that you can use their speed to position them and reinforce, then either transform them to fight in a battle or just harass in Hellion form.

Verdict: The line-AOE and low HP of the Hellion has always made it less effective as part of an army and more of a harassment unit. Now, in Battle Hellion form, it will do a much better job of actually buffering for Tanks/Thors/Warhounds and also dealing decent damage. The additions of the Warhound and Battle Hellion are obviously intended to promote Mech play, which has always been lacking against Protoss. For this reason, these exciting changes rank in the middle of this list.

Why it's awesome: The Mothership Core has a ton of unique abilities with a lot of versatility. It's basically an immobile baby Mothership.

Concept issues: Besides being able to hop from Nexus to Nexus, the Mothership Core has three abilities: (1) Energize, which completely recharges a unit's energy, (2) Purify, which turns itself into a giant cannon, and (3) Mass Recall. The energy recharge ability could be useful for a lot of situations, such as when you need extra Force Fields to defend an all-in or to gain some instant Storms when your Templar come out (Amulet anyone?). It will be interesting to see how players come up with interesting ways to use it. The ability that gives the Mothership Core a powerful attack will be very useful for defending against drops and giving some home turf advantage like a Planetary Fortress. It could also make for some hilarious offensive manner Nexuses. Lastly, Mass Recall is much more powerful on the Mothership Core as opposed to the Mothership due to cost. The ability to evacuate your army nearly instantly in the mid-game means you'll be able to make an incredibly powerful 2-base attack, snipe some Drones and a Hatch (in PvZ for example), and be able to come back home without suiciding all those units. Balance could be difficult when you have a get-out-of-jail-free card in the mid-game when you get caught out of position or do some sort of all-in attack that no longer has to be all-in. The Mothership Core can also be upgraded into the classic Mothership once you have a Fleet Beacon.

Verdict: Seems extremely powerful and versatile, but we'll have to wait on the numbers to make balance claims. Having Mass Recall in the mid game seems rather scary to me; the other abilities are just icing on the cake. It ranks high as a game-breaker because it's possible we'll be seeing a Mothership Core in every game; it's not that expensive and is extremely versatile.

Why it's awesome: A caster unit that doesn't actually do damage but does a lot of other cool stuff, allowing for a lot of creative play.

Concept issues: The Oracle is an interesting unit. It costs a decent amount, so it's hard to judge whether they're going to be worth making. The Oracles first ability, Preordain, targets a structure and reveals it (and what units its making) and the surrounding area for a LONG time. This could be very useful for anticipating certain timing attacks, but will an Oracle even be out by then? It would be useful to keep tabs on when a Zerg's Hive tech if you use it on his/her Lair. It could also be very helpful to keep a constant watch on the front of an enemy's base if an Observer can't stick around due to a Turret or Overseer. The Oracle's second ability, Entomb, is the most interesting in my opinion. It creates force fields around a group of minerals, making them un-minable until the force fields are destroyed. This has the potential to have an extremely crippling effect on a player's economy, especially if they don't notice (for example, if you do this right before a battle happens - their mining might be hurt so much that they can't reinforce). However, depending on how easy it is to kill the force fields, this ability could be borderline useless if noticed. Still, it is really interesting to have a harassment/scouting/support unit that doesn't actually do damage. The Oracle's last ability basically gives it the Arbiter's cloaking field, cloaking everything around it except other Oracles for a period of time. This ability seems a little out of place since it seems you usually won't want to keep your Oracles with your army, but I guess it gives it more versatility too as you can bounce your Oracles from your army to their mineral line/base/buildings and back and still have it be useful.

Verdict: A very unique unit with a lot of interesting uses. I think this unit will really shine when used by creative players. Because of its potential, it ranks in at #4.

Why it's awesome: Because Hydralisks are a classic unit from the Brood War days and it's sad to see so little of them in SC2. And this upgrade makes them DAMN FAST off creep.

Concept issues: It's a Hive-tech upgrade, so there's really no way for this upgrade to be used for mid-game Hydralisk pushes (which used to happen from time to time against Protoss). It's mainly to encourage Hydralisks to be part of an end-game composition. However, once you're at Hive tech, it would seem silly to invest a lot of gas into Hydralisks when you could simply be building up your Brood Lord/Infestor/Ultra/Corruptor/Queen army. Still, with the Ultralisk Burrow Charge ability, it's possible that Ultralisk/Hydralisk compositions will become rather strong as Ultralisks can tank an incredible amount of damage and Hydralisks actually have some insane DPS if they don't die. If something can keep Tanks/Colossi/Storm away from the Hydralisks, they'll be able to deal a ton of damage. I'm skeptical that Hydralisks will become commonplace simply because Brood Lords are so strong, but when Zerg late game gets an inevitable nerf, maybe Hydralisks will be the answer. It's also important to note that against Terran, Hydralisks are actually good against the Thor/Hellion part of Mech. Hellions do a ton of damage to Hydralisks but it's impossible to get them close enough to be effective in an actual fight. With this speed upgrade, if a Roach/Hydralisk army can catch a Mech Terran unsieged, it should be game over.

Verdict: Zerg players have been asking for a Hydralisk buff for a long time, for good reason. Maybe this upgrade will have no effect on the game whatsoever, but the possibility of late-game Hydralisk-based compositions is very exciting. Just for that, it places in at #3 in the rankings.

Why it's awesome: These things are AWESOME. They really stuck out to me when I played Heart of the Swarm at Anaheim as a unit that would be impossible to balance. Even with the stats Widow Mines have right now, I'm not even sure if they're too good or not good enough. Oh, and they latch on to air units and even cloaked units, which is pretty cool.

Concept issues: As of right now, Widow Mines do 200 damage, but take 10 seconds to explode after latching on to a poor passing by unit. Here's the problem: the animation makes it really obvious what unit a Widow Mine is on (unlike Seeker Missile in a group of units), and 10 seconds is plenty of time to separate that unit from the rest of the army to minimize AOE damage. Even worse, 10 seconds is enough time for a battle to be decided in SC2. Even if your mines latch on to their whole army, you could lose everything by the time they explode and all you're doing is evening up the aftermath (which could actually be useful considering how Zerg and Protoss can remake their armies and reinforce much faster than Terran in the late game). The Widow Mines are relatively cheap and can be built two at a time with a Reactor, but they still cost more than a Marine and sacrificing Terran army size for a CHANCE to do significant damage is a huge risk. Still, Blizzard designers have stated that they wanted a form of space control (Spider Mines, Shredder), and it seems the Widow Mine is supposed to have that effect. If you think about it this way, it's pretty useful, as you don't want to run your army through areas that you know have mines without an Observer/Scan and some units to kill them.

Verdict: Widow Mines could potentially change the way Terran is played in terms of spacial positioning. With good usage, they could prevent counterattacks, allow for really well positioned slow-pushes, etc. They don't seem like they would be useful in straight up combat; it'll be interesting to see how clever players can incorporate them into their strategies, especially at pro-level.

Why it's awesome: The Viper stuck out to me as the most game-breaking new unit in Heart of the Swarm. Even though it's a Hive-tech unit, its abilities are rather ridiculous and make Zerg incredibly scary in the late-game.

Concept issues: The Viper has three abilities: (1) Consume, which allows it to gain energy by sacrificing HP from a Zerg building, (2) Abduct, the Pudge hook spell shown in the picture above, and (3) Blinding Cloud, a Dark Swarm-esque ability that makes Bio units have melee range. First of all, the ability to sacrifice building HP to gain energy seems a little unnecessary since the Viper's abilities are so strong. It would be well worth it to make extra Hatches in the late game to give all your Vipers full energy (and extra Hatches for Larvae is already good). The two combat abilties seem extremely powerful. If Abduct retains its long range, it could make Tanks useless in TvZ and Colossi useless in PvZ as they'll get pulled away and killed instantly. Infestors with Fungal Growth will prevent any Marines/Vikings/Stalkers from getting in and sniping the Vipers, so any high priority units are basically going to get pulled into the Zerg army and die, forcing a bad engagement or retreat. Perhaps I'm biased as a Terran player, but Blinding Cloud will potentially break late game TvZ, which is already difficult for Terran (even Zerg players can agree). The ability to make Marines/Marauders unable to attack except at melee range means an engagement against a Brood Lord/Infestor army with Viper support would be nearly impossible. Not sure what the logic behind this spell is, as its already difficult to engage late game Zerg armies.

Verdict: The Viper comes in at #1 because it just seems broken. Numbers can be changed, but conceptually it just gives Zerg an even scarier late game army when Zerg is already considered to have the strongest late game composition. I do like that it is a second caster unit for Zerg though, since besides Infestor control, there is not much to do in a fight besides a-move. High-level micro with Infestors and Vipers could be rather cool. Either way, we'll definitely be seeing a few of these in every late game Zerg army.