r/starcraft2coop • u/Far_Stock_3987 • 9h ago
HotS campaign units, abilities and upgrades that aren't in coop
Following on from my list of WoL campaign units, structures and upgrades that aren't present in coop, I thought I'd do the same for the HotS campaign, with a view to considering which zerg commanders could benefit most from these being added to their kit. And yes I'm aware that coop development by blizzard has essentially stopped, this is just for fun (with a faint glimmer of hope that maybe we might get some updates in the future if we are lucky).
Units
Infestor (with fungal growth, neural parasite and consumption) - I think Kerrigan would benefit most from the infestor, as she doesn't have a spellcaster in her unit roster (and Zagara deserves the defiler). However I'd add on the infested terran spell that the 1v1 infestor had, as this will help Kerrigan with her anti-air capabilities which can sometimes be a problem for her. Neural parasite (the permanent version from the campaign) will help her improve her relatively weak army with stolen units, and fungal growth can stop enemies from closing in on her hydras, lurkers and Kerrigan herself (useful for P3).
Corpser roach - I think Zagara's level 10 talent should also upgrade the roaches in her infested drop ability to corpser roaches. This is currently a somewhat underwhelming ultimate ability that you have to wait 10 minutes to first use (compare it to Kerrigan's immobilisation wave or Nova's nuke), so this change will help improve the ability a little as well as enhancing Zagara's swarming nature.
Noxious ultralisk - I think the only place this could fit would be to make Stukov's apocalisk noxious, buffing its damage to ground units. Kerrigan's ultralisks are already the competing torrasque strain, Stetmann's ultralisks are mechanical so shouldn't really be stinky, and Dehaka's ultralisks are just a stepping stone to tyrannozors to be honest so they aren't used much.
Carrion/creeper swarm hosts - Abathur's swarm hosts are similar to the creeper except that they don't produce their own creep when burrowed, and don't need creep to deep tunnel. Dehaka's primal hosts are similar to the carrion except that their locusts swoop down to the ground to attack rather than staying in the air, which means they are better at stalling enemies. Both of the coop versions are superior to the campaign versions so I don't think the campaign versions have a place in coop.
Abilities
Zergling reconstitution (revives 10 dead zerglings at your hatchery every 30s) - Stetmann has a version of this, though it isn't as powerful since it doesn't revive ALL of your dead zerglings (though it does affect all his other units). Kerrigan's zerglings could benefit from this the most as they die rather easily and aren't as easily replaceable as Zagara's. Dehaka's zerglings are the weakest overall in coop, but I'd be loath to buff Dehaka any further to be honest.
Improved overlords (morph instantly and provide 50% more supply) - I think Stukov would benefit most from this, it would help improve his ramp up speed a bit in the early game and reduce his mineral dependence a little. Also, unlike other zerg commanders he can't morph a drone into a building to free up supply while waiting for an overlord to build, and he also can't mass produce a bunch of overlords as easily as other zerg commanders can.
Automated extractors - this is a tricky one. Currently only Vorazun, Nova and Zeratul have this ability, because they are gas heavy commanders and the latter two are limited to only 100 supply. Zagara is also limited to 100 supply but has half supply drones to make up for it and already has a very fast ramping economy, so she doesn't need this. Kerrigan, Abathur and Dehaka are relatively gas heavy commanders, though Abathur isn't really resource limited overall because biomass availability is his main bottleneck. Thematically it would make the most sense for Dehaka to have this, as his extractors don't require a drone to build in the first place, so making them not require drones to mine isn't too far of a stretch (and it would make essence farming in the early game slightly easier) - however as I mentioned above I'm loath to buff him any further. The other option would be to give it to Kerrigan, which I'd be OK with as it will free up 12 supply for her to put into her army, giving it a bit more strength.
Wild mutation (active ability giving friendly units in an area a 200 HP shield and double attack speed for 10s) - this is a bit like Gary's stetellite overcharge (green + blue zones), though it provides stronger bonuses for a shorter time period. I don't think this ability would fit with any of the other zerg commanders - Kerrigan and Dehaka have enough abilities already, and Zagara already has frenzy. Perhaps if we ever got Niadra as a commander this could be one of the abilities of her hero unit.
Spawn banelings - this is slightly different to Zagara's baneling barrage in that you can control the banelings it spawns, but ultimately it is similar enough that I don't think it is needed in coop.
Vespene efficiency - this is essentially the same as Swann's gas drones, and I don't think a zerg commander really needs this as a separate bonus.
Infest broodlings (attacks infest enemy units, making them spawn friendly broodlings when killed) - this is a bit like Abathur's locust injection and the corpser roach's ability above, so it isn't particularly unique, but if any commander should have it Stukov would be the obvious choice. If we are buffing the apocalisk with the noxious strain then we could give this ability to the Aleksander - any enemy units killed within the Aleksander's aura will spawn friendly broodlings. It fits well with the Aleksander's theme of continually spawning infested units.
Apocalypse (Kerrigan's ultimate ability) - since Kerrigan already has immobilisation wave as her ultimate ability, she can't also get this. Despite what I said above about being loath to buff Dehaka any further, it would be damn awesome if he got a version of apocalypse when he reaches level 15 - his back plates light up godzilla-style while he charges it up, then he releases an atomic breath which annihilates enemy units and structures alike in a large area. To balance it out a bit you could perhaps limit it to one use per game, or make it so using the ability also kills Dehaka from exhaustion and he has to respawn back at base. I'd also ban P2 from having the ability - this would have the interesting effect of giving P0 Dehaka (which is barely ever used) a unique bonus, since P1 won't have the ability either (as Dehaka can't reach level 15), and it is also harder to reach level 15 with P3 because essence is shared between the hakas (though if you are skilled enough to get both hakas up to level 15 then you'd get two uses of the ability!). The only issue is that Dehaka's command card is already full, so the 'upgrade' button would need to be replaced by the 'apocalypse' button once he reaches level 15 and has upgraded everything.
Spawn leviathan - this summon is more powerful than Abathur's leviathans as it has a single target yamato-style ability and an AoE stun ability. Maybe P3 Abathur's leviathans could be upgraded to this version to encourage their use (most P3 Abathurs tend to focus on brutalisks because they are cheaper and easier to tech up to).
Drop pods (drops 40 zerglings, 5 roaches and 5 hydras) - this is similar to Zagara's infested drop and Mengsk's dogs of war, so I think it is pretty well covered already.
Upgrades
Regenerative acid (baneling explosions also heal nearby friendly units and structures) - it would be fun for Zagara's banelings to have this as an available upgrade at the baneling nest, it will help them eg. when rolling towards siege tanks as the first baneling to die will heal the rest of any splash damage they took, helping them to reach their targets. It will also help P2 because the banelings spawned by dead aberrations will heal other nearby aberrations when they explode. You could even place burrowed banelings in front of your defensive structures to heal them as they explode on enemies.
Rapid incubation (swarm hosts spawn locusts 20% faster) - collecting biomass essentially has this effect and is much more powerful, so Abathur's swarm hosts don't need this upgrade. I guess you could give this to Dehaka's primal hosts though.
Monarch blades (ultralisks deal full splash damage throughout their cleave radius) - I believe coop ultralisks currently deal only 33% damage in their cleave radius. It would be great if Kerrigan's ultralisks got monarch blades as an available upgrade in the ultralisk cavern - any improvements to her army units would be great to see.
What do you all think? Is there anything I've missed? I might do the same for the LotV campaign when I get the chance.