The Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm closed beta has been live and in the hands of pro gamers for a few days now, and we’re already seeing some interesting builds and strategies being created as they experiment with the new units.
Just like when the Wings of Liberty beta launched, gamers are trying out strange and unconventional tactics to see what is and isn’t viable. While these strategies are still very much in flux and will change or even become obsolete as the beta continues to evolve, it’s always interesting and fun to see such dynamic and unconventional play. Lets take a look at 5 of my favourites!
1. Protoss - Mothership core 4gate
The 4gate rush has been a staple of Protoss players since the original WoL Beta. To those of you who don’t know, it’s a fast timing attack that revolves around getting up 4 Gateways and Warp Gate research from the Cybernetics core as quickly as possible so you can reinforce your initial ground army with wave after wave of warp ins right outside your opponent’s main base. This usually hits at around 6 minutes, making it hard to defend against if executed correctly. There are many variations on this build, but they all generally revolve around getting out as many units as quickly as possible.
Now, thanks to the new Mothership core unit, you can recharge your Nexus’ energy, allowing for far more Chronoboosts on your Cyber core and Gateways. Reinforcing your army once the attacks has started is now even easier, and some players are even claiming that with a bit of an adjustment to build order, they can get the 4 gate to hit even earlier. I’ve not seen that for myself yet, but if true it’s pretty scary.
2. Terran - Warhound rush
Warhounds are the new mechanical golden child of the Terran forces. Fundamentally, they’re designed as a fast, massable anti-mechanical unit to put a hurt on Tanks and the almost unstoppable maxed Protoss ground army. It hasn’t taken long for clever pros to find a new use for them, though. As it turns out, Warhounds are pretty easy to get, being quite low down on the tech tree, and by forgoing barracks units you can have one bouncing towards the enemy base in no time. Once they arrive, their speed and range make them ideal at picking off Queens, and their haywire missile auto-attack is devastating against Terran and Protoss worker lines.
This harrassment seems most useful against a greedy Zerg player, as you can attack his third with relative impunity and run away or reinforce with more Warhounds and Hellions if he starts to spend larva on Roaches and Zerglings. Either way, you’ll do significant damage and set yourself up nicely for a mech-style mid game.
3. Zerg - Swarm hosts, Swarm hosts, Swarm hosts
Swarm hosts are just downright cool, and Zergs have been finding ways to use them in almost any situation. The Locusts that Swarm hosts generate while burrowed may only live for half a minute or so, but they are completely free, do not use up supply and have a stronger attack than most tier one units. So far I have seen them used to hold off harassment, as part of a murderous mid-game army and even as a way of controlling space in the middle of the map. Swarm hosts excel at sieging poorly defended expansions while the main army attacks another location, forcing your opponent to split his forces and his attention.
Most impressively, with enough Swarm hosts you can actually hold off Brood lords, as the Locusts and Broodlings run into one another and cancel each other out. With no cost for either spawned unit, this can carry on indefinitely, leading to a stalemate unless someone is willing to take a risk.
4. Protoss - Mothership core ‘rush’
It’s hard to describe anything the Mothership core does as as a rush, considering that it even makes a Queen off of creep look like Usane Bolt, but some players have been experimenting with aggressive Mothership core play on maps with close spawn positions. By manoeuvring it behind your opponent’s mineral line and activating Purifier mode, the Mothership core can two-shot workers. This works particularly well when your main army is attacking them at the front of their base, as they will be out of position to defend and may not react in time to save all of their workers.
Another interesting possibility is to split your own forces by attacking at the front while simultaneously using Mass recall to teleport a number of units into the back of his base to pick off workers and tech structures.
5. Terran - Hellion and Widow mine traps
This is another fun one to use against Zerg during the early to mid stages of the game. Once enough Zerglings and Roaches are out, pure Hellion harrasment becomes a lot more precarious as you can get cornered and torn apart if you aren’t careful. This leads to a lot of micro-intensive darting about as you try to sneak past your opponent while he manoeuvres to block you. Now with the brand new Widow mines, you can set devious traps for him and use your Hellions as the bait. Zerg rarely have much detection in the early-to-mid game and you can exploit this by popping a few mines down near his expansion and then feigning like you’re about to go in for an attack with your Hellions. Once he has repelled them he will probably give chase, allowing you the perfect opportunity to lead him straight over your mines and into the arms of death.
A variation on this is to pop down a few Widow mines between an undefended expansion and his army and start roasting up the worker line. He will most likely march a good chunk of his army straight into the buried Widow mines as he tries to intercept you.
Do you have any favourite strategies you’ve seen or tried yourself in the Heart of the Swarm Beta? Let us know in the comments section below.
