Last week Gamestar published an exclusive interview with Dustin Browder, but the interview wasn’t the only exclusive to be found on the German website. They also have the only known screenshot of the new Zerg heavy flyer- the Brood Lord.

At first glance, it looks very similar to the Guardian of StarCraft 1. It is, in fact, the Devourers replacement, and what a vicious replacement it is. This hefty brute spawns a Broodling upon each attack. The Broodling deals 4 damage per attack, and can be upgraded in your Evolution Chamber. They are on a short timed life, so they are meant to assist the siege and help pick off the opposition’s weaker units. The torrent of Broodlings spawned with a mass Brood Lord attack can cause panic and mistakes by the opposition, leaving the Zerg’s ground units to kill the defenders.

As you can see, the Brood Lord is one nasty unit.

From Blizzard themselves:

Zerg has a new flying heavy assault unit known as the Brood Lord. This one is buff! Much more intimidating than the Guardian and will still be morphed from the Mutalisk. This unit will be replacing the previously seen Swarm Guardian and will have new art as well. This unit currently has 350 hit points and a large range of 9, doing 25 damage and spawning a Broodling upon each attack, which will live for a few short seconds, doing minor melee damage.

The Brood Lord could be a decisive unit in the late game, much like the Protoss Carrier was in StarCraft 1. I guess we will find out how vicious this unit is in the upcoming beta.

Source: Gamestar and SC2Pod ]]> http://www.starcraft2mania.com/the-zerg-brood-lord-accidentally-revealed/feed/ 2 http://www.starcraft2mania.com/mutalisk-%e2%80%93-zerg-unit/ http://www.starcraft2mania.com/mutalisk-%e2%80%93-zerg-unit/#comments Wed, 03 Dec 2008 11:31:33 +0000 Carla http://www.starcraft2mania.com/?p=225

This scaly dragonfly looking airborne unit is as formidable as it looks. With wide swooping wings this Zerg hybrid is capable of flight in space, which makes it a dangerous creature.

Half roving mantis half swarm, this unit attacks from above and is fast and efficient at what it does. Structures and troops are vulnerable to…

This scaly dragonfly looking airborne unit is as formidable as it looks. With wide swooping wings this Zerg hybrid is capable of flight in space, which makes it a dangerous creature.

Half roving mantis half swarm, this unit attacks from above and is fast and efficient at what it does. Structures and troops are vulnerable to its attack and as Mutalisks tend to be more effective in flocks, they make a great defense for your base –always on the look out in the skies.

The Mutalisk can attack the enemy on the ground as well, birthing a symbiote called a glave wurm that then proceeds to attack everyone in range before it disintegrates.

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It’s hard to believe that the Zerg Hydralisk is one part swarm one part assimilated Slothien herbivore, but there you are. This is one of Zerg’s most successful hybrids. Their frightful appearance is thanks to the caterpillar like body of the Slothien.

These units are vicious, powerful and merciless, using their spines to slice through any enemy put in front of them. Because of their insectoid genes the hydralisk can burrow into the ground and lie in wait for a passing scout or army. Usually they like top wait until the enemy is just close enough, and then surround and destroy them.

Though a Hydralisk is only a medium assault unit it is extremely strong and can easily pierce through armor plating. A small group of them will bring down a structure in an enemy camp.

The Baneling is a sickly greenish yellow color due to the fluid that clots its body. It has to roll to move around, pulling itself into a fluid filled ball and moving at surprising speeds.

The Baneling is the suicide bomber of the Zerg swarms. Its soul purpose is to die and take enemy units and structures down with it. Bred by the Zerg Queens to be able to contain devastating acid inside their bodies, they can travel alone or in a clutch, roll innocently into a group of troops and blow them all to smithereens.

A clutch of ten could seriously destroy an enemy base, or a good part of it. The Banelings are modified Zerglings, the most common Zerg subspecies. Because there are so many, the swarm has a virtually limitless source of suicide bombers.

• Queen of Blades
• 27 years old
• Leader of half the Zerg
• Terran/Zerg Hybrid
• Former Confederate assassin
• Former green eyes and red hair
• Former co leader of Sons of Korhal
• Likes Power
• Dislikes Daggoth and anyone who stands in her way

Born shy and taught to kill it’s no wonder Sarah became the traitorous, manipulative, vicious villain of Starcraft. In the beginning Arcturus Mengsk saved Sarah Kerrigan from a lifetime of scientific experiments that the Terran Confederate government performed on her. She joined Mengsk’s Sons of Korhal and became a prominent figure in the movement. Suddenly she was abandoned and left for the Zerg on Tarsonis.

The Overmind assimilated her, sensing her latent psionic ability and power and she became the Queen of Blades. Her power released, she commanded vast Zerg forces and won many battles. When Tassador killed the Overmind on Auir Kerrigan began her own collection of Zerg Broods. With no Overmind to control her she soon had the ambition to take command of all Zerg, using them for her own purposes.

The Xel’Naga were sentient beings who sought to create the perfect race with their proto-genetic sciences. Having already declared the Protoss a failed project, they moved on to a planet called Zerus that was mostly ash and had frequent fire storms.

There, they took the lowliest swarming insectoids known as Zerg and began to experiment with them, determined to evolve them into a sentient race of their own. Arguably their biggest mistake was that they concentrated on their purity of essence instead of their physical attributes, as this was the area they had failed in with the Protoss.

Because of these genetic alterations the Zerg flourished, developing the ability to burrow into flesh and feed off the spinal fluid of its prey. The little Zerg then learned how to assimilate their body with the body of their host, thereby controlling them in an all consuming, parasitic way. The Zerg’s new talents enabled them to affect the things around them, in a way that they had never had been able to do before.

Slowly, as the little Zerg stole over their planet assimilating various creatures into their swarm they began to absorb the genetic traits and talents of their host bodies. Mutation occurred and so every Zerg appeared different depending on what creature they had assimilated.

Inherently selective about which race they would assimilate, they only did so if they could become better and reach the top of the planetary hierarchy. The races who were not assimilated where destroyed.

The Xel’ Naga soon discovered that the races who were assimilated into the swarm could not be recognized after a few generations. The evolutionary process had sped up and they had all developed similar characteristics, hard carapaced skin, knife like limbs and spines. This united the Zerg as they now looked as if they came from one species not several. The ever increasing hunger of the swarm was a growing problem.

The ignorant Xel’Naga did not want differing of opinion to separate the Zerg and so bestowed upon them a collected conscious, the Overmind. The Overmind represented the drive, needs and wants of the swarm as a whole, each Zerg felt it and could not disobey it.

Eventually the Overmind became like a collective personality and adopted different traits as it saw fit. The Overmind had secondary agents, a solid and unshakable hierarchy of Cerebrates. These Cerebrates were made to be the enforcers of the Overmind’s plans.

Giant compared to their original form, they saw to it that every command was carried out for the good of the hive. Over time, their various commands became their personalities. Warrior Cerebrates would be killers, Scouts, constantly looking for other races to assimilate, each order designated by the Overmind became their only concern in life for the betterment of the hive.

Then the Cerebrates had secondary agents as the chain of command extended and other nests were built. The Queens and Overlords where created who watched over the drones who watched over the collective hive. It was a flawless system, where each was genetically unable to disobey orders, and so the Zerg grew.

The Overmind knew the planet was empty now and called to life forms in space that came and were immediately assimilated into the hive. Space ready, now the Overmind was set to take its swarm to the next world. The Zerg had survived and more, had fiercely possessed that purified essence the Xel’Naga had given them.

They destroyed the poor Xel’Naga soon after that, assimilating them just as they were made to do by their creators. With the knowledge of thousands of sentient species now in its conscious, the Overmind became unstoppable, powerful beyond anything it could have realized.

It knew of all the races who the Xel’Naga manipulated with their sciences, the most important, the closest being the Protoss. The Overmind hungered for the limitless power of the changing Protoss and set out to assimilate it.

The Zerg left Zerus, expanding their army as they devoured worlds along the path to the Protoss. But even with all its power, the Overmind knew it could not defeat the Protoss, not with their psionic ability, not when reality itself could be changed at there pleasure. While every race the swarm consumed held no answers as to how to defeat them, the Overmind grew more and more anxious.

Then they discovered humanity and its up and coming psionic abilities. The Overmind knew the human race was still vulnerable, weak, and that they were the answer to defeating Protoss. They just needed that psionic ability. It took them 60 years to get to the human worlds, and once there, they seeded a colonized planet to grow their nests and begin their attack.

While the hives were being built the Overmind quietly sent his minions to other worlds in secret, infecting them as the population of humans remained ignorant to it all. Protoss warships arrived and destroyed the first infected colony completely, they knew of the spores the Zerg had sent down to the planet. The Overmind withdrew, and watched the Protoss eager to learn anything it could about its most dangerous enemy and greatest prize.