It's no secret that StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm will likely be released mid-2012, and Blizzard can only hope it reaches the same acclaim as Starcraft 2: Wings of Liberty, which not only won our Best Multiplayer game of 2010 award, but took home a great review and became the fastest selling strategy game ever. Today, developers at BlizzCon revealed 8 new units for the expansion, all of which will change the face of the gameplay as we know it.

It's not all just additions, though - a few of the pre-existing units didn't make the cut, and have been removed from the multiplayer experience.

3 of the new Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm units were revealed to be for Terran, 3 for Protoss, and 2 for Zerg, whom will no doubt be featuring a plethora of new units throughout the campaign. Many new abilities and powers have been added and changed, meaning new strategies are out there to discover. The expansion will also hopefully bring a fresh batch of love and attention for the Zerg, who are often claimed to be 'underpowered' in competition ladders.

Without further ado, let's take a look at the goods Blizzard has brought out for us:

Terran Units

The Terran army is all about durable steel and flaming rubber, and the new units in their repertoire certainly reflect this fact. The changes to medium anti-mechanical area in the army are sure to reset terran strategies, and it'll be interesting to see how they intersect with the energy-type additions to the new Protoss and Zerg units.

Shredder

The factory-produced Shredder brings a lot of havoc into the battlefield, though it has no attack in mobile form. However, when put into Stationary Mode the Shredder lives up to its name by making a 'whirlwind of death,' which damages any units that move into the area around it. When a friendly unit stumbles into the danger zone, the shredder will automatically shut itself off, making it a unit which will require a lot of macro, but depending on how strong it finds itself against other units, a very versatile defense against zerg swarms.

Warhound

The Warhound is the much smaller cousin of the infamous Thor, which also went through some changes for Heart of the Swarm. Much smaller in size,the Warhound is a more mobile response to mechanical threats. Able to attack both ground and air, the Warhound will dispense area-of-effect anti-air missiles at a range a little smaller than its larger cousin. It seems this unit is mainly a tool to counteract Protoss and Terran threats, but will likely be easily overwhelmed by organic zerg units. As with the other new addition, it's built at the Factory.

The New Thor

Thor is here! And he's bigger and badder than he was before. The improvements come at the cost of anti-air capabilities, which were picked up by Warhound. Terran units will be limited to having one Thor at a time on the battlefield and he'll pound enemy units with a strong regular attack and the Bombardment power being readily available, though it'll take time to set up the attack and to dismount from it, much like a Siege Tank. With such a hefty piece of tech, you'll need both an Armory and a Fusion Core to build it.

Transformable Hellion (Battle Hellion)

The Hellion has received the option for a mid-battle transformation, where it goes from fast moving vehicle to a walking mech-like unit. When in Battle Hellion mode, the flames will arc over a shorter distance but will deal a bigger punch, making it useful at later points in the game against higher-tier units.

-

Changed Units and Abilities

Cloaking now functions completely differently, with the option to Clock no longer appearing as an on-and-off button. Players pay a one-time energy cost to activate the clocking shield for a specific time frame, during which energy will continue to be restored.

Battlecruisers, as powerful as they are, aren't the fastest ships in the air. You can now research a Redline Reactor, a cooldown-type upgrade that temporarily boosts the speed of battlecruisers, allowing for strategic maneuvering during attacks. That means when you use it, you have to wait a certain amount of time before it can be done again.

Reapers have been nerfed for their ability to attack buildings, losing the 'molotov'-like attack they defaulted to. Instead, they now have a health-regeneration ability which will come into affect when they're out of combat.

New Protoss Units in StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm...

Protoss Units

The Protoss receive a massive boost to their aerial presence, using many psionic abilities to their advantage and ditching the slow and bulky Mothership and Carrier combination for new, faster units. The Carrier was a largely ignored, mostly non-existent unit online, so it's no surprise to see it go. Let's see what the Children of Xel'Naga have prepared for the Heart of the Swarm:

Tempest

The Tempest represents the king of anti-air flyers, and will be filling the gap in the Protoss aerial force now that the Mothership and Carrier have been abandoned. The large flyer will deal massive area-of-effect damage to enemy flyers, as well as being capable to hit ground units with a strong beam.

Replicant

The Replicant is an impressive and unique Protoss unit that does exactly what it says - it replicates. It can turn into any unit that it targets, regardless of what race they are - all non-massive terran and zerg units are on the menu. While expensive, the Replicant opens up the option to have some unique units like Siege Tanks or Infestors to help aid the Protoss cause - and as an added bonus, you'll get any researchable upgrades for that unit as well.  Of course, it seems like you'll probably be able to replicate an SCV or Drone as well, just like back in Brood War with the Dark Archon. The Replicant will add a unique and dangerous edge to the Protoss race, and we may see some TLO-style crazy action in professional tournaments as a result.

Oracle

The Oracle is psionic aerial unit produced in the Stargate which uses many energy-specific attacks, much like the terran Science Vessel.  The attacks are as such:

  • Entomb: Temporarily blocks any mineral patch from being harvested.
  • Phase Shift: The targetting building hit will be blocked from being attacked, using abilities or granting technologies.
  • Preordain: Grants interior vision of a targets enemy building, allowing the player to see what units or technologies are being researched and produced.

This means that the Oracle can affectively disable anti-air turrets while the fleet moves into position or the ground army moves in. With such unique abilities, the macro-intensive Oracle is sure to be a great pestering tool for many players.

-

Changed Units And Abilities

The Nexus can now use its energy to call up an Arc Shield, which is a defensive maneuver which warps in an extra shield and a Photon Cannon-esque turret to help defend the building. While the turret will push out as much damage as the Photon Cannon, it will only damage light units, leaving it as a soft defense and one that should come with backup.

The Nexus now has the ability to perform a Mass Recall, which was spliced in from the dropped Mothership unit. The recall will warp in an area of friendly Protoss units from where you click, pulling them to the safety of the Nexus and out of the battlefield when need be. Note that your warped units will be stunned for a few seconds after being recalled, a change which was recently added to prevent lag online.

New Zerg Units in StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm...

Zerg Units

The zerg are the central species in the aptly titled Heart of the Swarm, and these creatures are confirmed for both single player campaign and multiplayer, though more campaign-specific units are expected to come. In the meantime, let's look at what the brood has cooked up for the Post-Queen era:

Swarm Host

The epitomy of the Zerg ideology, the Swarm Host is a dangerous beast which warrants extreme alarm from enemy forces. The slow moving, cumbersome unit ambles around with no attack, but becomes a powerhouse when burrowed into the ground. The husk of the creature will begin to pump out a non-stop, continuous stream of slow-moving zerg units called Locusts, which can begin laying down the pressure on enemy defenses. The Swarm Host is a great siege unit which will likely have a waypoint ability when burrowed, and the ability to apply constant pressure on enemy forces will no doubt be a great bonus to the Zerg swarm.

Viper

The Viper is an energy-attack flying unit which predictably is born from the Spire. It has three main abilities to utilize:

  • Abduct: The unique attack allows the Viper to pick up a victim and pull it to the Viper. You can do this to friendly or enemy units at your discretion.
  • Blinding Cloud: Temporarily reduces the attack range of all affected ground units to melee range while at the same time preventing energy-based abilities from being used. If timed correctly, this could devastate an army.
  • Ocular Parasite: The handy spy-attack can only be used once per Viper, which detaches its eye stalk and melds it onto any friendly, non-massive unit. This unit will now act as a mobile detector, and will no doubt be used often by Zerg players.

With the ability to essentially create one mobile detector per Viper, the flyer is no doubt going to be a popular zerg unit in the near future.

-

Changed Units and Abilities

The Overseer is the only Zerg unit to be cut so far, as its main purpose has been made redundant by the Viper's Ocular Parasite ability.

Banelings have now evolved tunneling claws and can now move whilst burrowed, just like the Roach. There's nothing more dangerous than an explosive patch of Banelings, and an underground mobile heard means bases will have to utilize detectors or face losing all of their mineral gatherers in one hefty explosion.

The Curruptor no longer, ironically, has the Corruption ability. Instead, it has gained the ability called Siphon, which will allow the Curruptor to slowly siphon health off of enemy buildings and turn them into mineral resources for the player. We're not sure how that works, but it's a handy tool for a handy unit.

Ultralisks are known to be a rather cumbersome, albeit powerful, unit. They now have a Burrow Charge ability, which lets them quickly dive underground and resurface a split second later at a nearby target, effectively rushing them without taking damage.

Lastly, Hydralisks receive a new upgrade which will allow them to move faster whilst not on creep.

-

The new changes are just the first of many, but you can already see how the face of the battlefield will be significantly changed by these new units. Each race in StarCraft 2 now has new counters and specialized attackers to aid the cause, while also losing a few unneeded units. With balance being such an important aspect in StarCraft 2, there's no question that Blizzard will be doing an enormous amount of testing and tweaks before the game is released to make sure the end result will keep fans happy. With some tasty looking unit changes and an exciting Campaign Trailer, we're eager to see what the expansion can bring to the series.

What do you think of the new StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm units? Which one is your favorite? Any major dislikes?

If you're still on the fence about Starcraft 2, the free Starter Pack will gave you a good taste of what it has to offer.