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Hydralisk

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The Hydralisk is an Alien-like Zerg breed that can separate its head plating to fire needle-projectiles with incredible force, punching through the NeoSteel armour of the Marines and other plated units. Hydralisks can also mutate into Lurkers. A common player nickname for the Hydralisk is simply "Hydra".


Contents

Background

StarCraft II Unit [e]
Hydralisk
Race: Zerg, Tier 2
Role: Ranged Attack
Unit Statistics
Size: Medium
Type: Ground, Biological
Speed: Fast
Transport Slots: 1/8
Hit Points: 80
Plasma Shields: N/A
Energy Points: N/A
Offence
Armament: Spike Needles
Ground Attack: 12
Air Attack: 12
Range: 5
Defence
Armor: 0 (Light)
Sight: x
Cooldown: N/A
Special Abilities
Burrow
This unit can burrow
Production
Hotkey: H
Supply: Image:Control_SC1.png 2
Resources: class="infobox" 100 class="infobox" 50
Build Time: 33
Produced by: Larva
Prerequisite: Hydralisk Den
Hydralisk Portrait
The Zerg Hydralisk breed comes from the peaceful Slothien herbivores. After being incorporated into the Swarm genepool, however, it has been mutated and twisted into being one of the most fierce and sadistic of the Zerg breeds. Hydralisks often grow to 5.5 meters in length and when "standing up" can reach to over 2.4 meters in height. It is common for Hydralisks to burrow and await their prey to enter range before attacking, destroying their enemies in a deadly crossfire. Despite their relatively sluggish nature, Hydralisks can climb vertical surfaces and continued evolution of the strain through muscular augmentation has resulted in faster Hydralisks.
Large Zerg army on the march. Hydralisks among other breeds.
Hydralisks have been known to attack opponents directly with their scythe-like arms or strike from a distance with volleys of armor-piercing spines, the latter being the more common method of attack. The upper carapace plates of the Hydralisk can open to expose hundreds of spines that are projected with such force that they can penetrate 2cm NeoSteel even at maximum range, and in addition, these spines are slightly poisonous. This force stems from their incredible muscle structure (4,000 muscles compared to a Terran's 629). The spines evolved from the defensive stinging hairs of the Slothien and a Zerg Hive Cluster can evolve them further for increased range. The Hydralisk carapace takes a few seconds to fold back, and gives any enemy of the Zerg a few seconds to retaliate.

About the same time as the Brood War began, the Zerg evolved the Hydralisk to be able to mutate into a Lurker, being able to attack units while buried.

This species was been seen first by Terrans in a security camera footage discovered on a dead Terran cargo vessel. Current Terran tactics for dealing with the creatures stress the need for Siege Tank support.

Game Unit

Hydralisk in StarCraft II.
The Hydralisk is easily the most versatile breed for the Zerg. With the ability to strike both ground and air targets, Burrow, and regenerate health, the Hydralisk is a force to be reckoned with. With the ground/air strike capability, the Hydralisk is the best support unit in the Zerg race. Combine their attack with Zerglings, Mutalisks, Guardians (a.k.a. Swarm Guardians), etc. and the enemy will have a much more difficult time halting them.

To help increase production, be sure to build multiple Hatcheries whenever the opportunity arises. With a steady resource stream you should be able to pumping out the Hydralisks in a seemingly never ending stream.

Keep in mind, however, that although the Hydralisks are very useful, they are not the ultimate unit. Mass producing only Hydralisks can bring out their flaws and give a more well balanced enemy force a better chance of defeating them. Simple Psionic Storms can wipe out legions of Hydralisks and Terran Siege Tanks can make mince meat of oncoming Hydralisk hordes before they can even get within range to hit the Tanks.

It was found in Battle Report 2 that the Hydralisk also has a melee attack animation, however the new animation does not change any of the stats of the attack including damage and type of attack. It is merely eye candy.

StarCraft II Unit

StarCraft II Unit [e]
Hydralisk
Race: Zerg, Tier 1.5
Role: Ranged Attack
Unit Statistics
Size: Medium
Type: Ground, Biological
Speed: Slow
Transport Slots: 2/8
Hit Points: 80
Plasma Shields: N/A
Energy Points: N/A
Offence
Armament: Spike Needles
Ground Attack: 10 (Explosive)
Air Attack: 10 (Explosive)
Range: 4 (5)
Defence
Armor: 0
Sight: 6
Cooldown: 15
Special Abilities
Burrow
This unit can burrow

Lurker Aspect
Mutates into a Lurker
Production
Hotkey: H
Supply: Image:Control_SC1.png 1
Resources: class="infobox" 75 class="infobox" 25
Build Time: 28
Produced by: Larva
Prerequisite: Hydralisk Den


The Hydralisk has increased in power since StarCraft I and is now an early-mid tech creature, being pushed back by the Roach. The Hydralisks are now fast and versatile as ever before, but takes a little while longer to be able to create them. Hydralisks have also gained a melee attack animation when in close-combat that is functionally equivalent to their ranged attack.


Abilities



Upgrades



Strong Against




Weak Against





StarCraft I Unit

Hydralisks, with their short build times and relatively low cost, can be produced in mass numbers to overwhelm the enemy. Another excellent combination is using Hydralisks with Dark Swarm. Having your Defiler casting the spell over a large Hydralisk force can increase their lifespans by quite a bit and can be particularly useful against large ranged attack unit groups like Carriers, Dragoons, Goliaths, Vultures, Guardians, etc. Watch out for melee attack units (i.e. Zerglings, Zealots, Firebats) when using this combination since they will have the advantage in the dust cloud.

Abilities
Upgrades

Hydralisk Breeds


Gallery

Hydralisk StarCraft II ingame model.

Another picture of the model.

The Hydralisk StarCraft II ingame wireframe.

Screenshot featuring Hydralisks.

Another screenshot, Terrans attacking a Zerg base.

StarCraft I screenshot with Hydralisks.

SC2 Concept art.

SC2 Concept art.

Pre-StarCraft I concept art.

Hydralisk model from StarCraft: Ghost.

Hydralisk model from StarCraft: Ghost.

StarCraft I Hydralisk animation.



Zerg Units (StarCraft II) [e]
(i) = Infested (z) = Zerg-evolution (g) = Swarm Guardian spawn
Ground Units: Larva | Drone | Queen | Zergling | Baneling (z) | Roach | Hydralisk | Nydus Worm | Infestor | Ultralisk
Air Units: Overlord | Overseer (z) | Mutalisk | Corruptor | Brood Lord (z)
Additional Units: Broodling (g) | Infested Terran (i) | Infested Protoss (i) | Egg (z) | Lurker egg (z) | Cocoon (z)
Basic Buildings: Hatchery | Extractor | Creep Tumor | Spawning Pool | Spine Crawler | Roach Den | Baneling Nest | Evolution Chamber | Spore Crawler
Advanced Buildings: Lair | Hive | Hydralisk Den | Deep Warren | Spire | Nydus Network | Hive | Greater Spire | Infestor Pit | Ultralisk Cavern
Cancelled Units: Lurker (z) | Shrieker (z) | Swarm Guardian (z)
Cancelled Buildings: Sunken Colony | Spore Colony | Swarm Clutch


Zerg Units (StarCraft I & Brood War) [e]
(q) = Queen-infested (z) = Zerg-evolution
Ground Units: Larva | Drone | Zergling | Hydralisk | Lurker | Defiler | Ultralisk
Air Units: Overlord | Scourge | Mutalisk | Guardian | Devourer | Queen
Additional Units: Broodling (q) | Infested Terran (q) | Egg (z) | Lurker egg (z) | Cocoon (z)
Basic Buildings: Hatchery | Extractor | Evolution Chamber | Spawning Pool | Creep Colony | Spore Colony | Sunken Colony | Hydralisk Den
Advanced Buildings: Lair | Hive | Spire | Greater Spire | Queen's Nest | Nydus Canal | Defiler Mound | Ultralisk Cavern | Infested Command Center (q)
Hero ground units: Torrasque (ult) | Matriarch (qu) | Infested Kerrigan (it) | Unclean One (def) | Hunter Killer (hyd) | Devouring One (zlng) | Infested Duran (unk)
Hero air units: Kukulza (mut, grd) | Yggdrasill (ovl)
(ult) = Ultralisk -- (qu) = Queen -- (it) = Infested Terran -- (def) = Defiler -- (hyd) = Hydralisk -- (zlng) = Zergling -- (unk) = Unknown -- (mut) = Mutalisk -- (grd) = Guardian -- (ovl) = Overlord
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