Ever since Starcraft II: Wings of Liberty was released, there was speculation of what future expansions would bring to the current multiplayer experience. And to put an end to some of the questions, Blizzard has unleashed Heart of the Swarm demo stations at the MLG Spring Championship running from June 8-10. Let’s take a look at some of the new additions available:
Protoss Units
Mothership Core
Abilities: Purify (Base Defense), Mass Recall (Rescue Units)
– Mothership Core can attack both land and air units. Purify will help lend an extra hand to defend base or units while Mass Recall can provide a quick retreat or sneaky entry.
Oracle 
Abilities: Entomb (Slow Enemy Economy),
Cloak Field (Cloak Units and Structures)
– Known as the harassment specialist, the Oracle can cripple an enemy’s growing economy by utilizing Entomb. In addition, enemy forces will require some fast detection in order to unveil any cloaked units or structures due to Cloak Field.
Tempest
Abilities: Long Range
– One unit that would be ultimately desired would be similar to the Zerg’s Brood Lord but able to attack both air and ground. Prayers have been answered for the Protoss as the Tempest has long range and can attack both types of units. Must be a hefty price to get one of these.
Terran Units
Battle Hellion
Abilities: Transform (Tough Close Combatant)
– Transforming from a normal Hellion, the Battle Hellion can withstand quite a beating in close quarters. Instead of delivering a straight forward attack, these transformers adjust their flamethrowers radially. I think we just got back our firebats!
Warhound
Abilities: Missiles (Targets Mechanical Units)
– You might remember a similar creation in the original Starcraft. Welcome back the improved Goliath that uses its Missiles ability to target mechanical units in the area. The Warhound is useful for attacking both land and air units.
Widow Mine
Abilities: Large Explosion Radius
– When I heard that Vulture’s did not make a return, I could no longer harass players using Spider Mines. Well, the harassment is back with the new and improved Widow Mines. The best part about these suckers is that they can attach themselves to land and air units. Did I mention big explosions?
Zerg Units
Swarm Host
Abilities: Spawns Free Units (Endless)
– Okay, we all know that Brood Lords are quite nasty; however, you can substitute Swarm Hosts for some mischievous underground fun! Attacking both air and ground units, the spawned Locusts are an endless stream of gremlins popping out of their parent’s backside – disgusting but cool.
Viper
Abilities: Abduct (Captures Targets),
Blinding Cloud (Reduces Weapon Range)
– Your Terran base is all set up with siege tanks at the ready and bunkers blocking your entrance. Everything is fine, right? That’s when the Viper comes in to pull one of your tanks away for a merciless slaughter.
Ultralisk – Evolved
Abilities: Burrow Charge (Fast Assault)
– I realize you might think that Ultralisks take up too much of your army pool, but just imagine what could happen if your beasty animal could burrow. In the expansion, all you have to due is evolve your Ultralisk and burrow charge your way to your enemy’s doorstep. This proves mammoths are fast.
And that was just a quick explanation of some of the new features to be seen in Heart of the Swarm. Take a look at the video below to see all of this in action.
