Hello Everyone. In a series of upgrade articles, I'm going to show
off the true power of upgrades in Starcraft II. Start with the zerg as
our first. Here you go...
I was wondering if the weapon and armor upgrades are worth
upgrading? Here's what I found out, I hope you get a brighter idea after
reading this article!
Zerg weapon and armor upgrades:
The main point with these are: +1 armor gives you -1 incoming damage,
while +1 weapon gives you +attack damage (depending on the unit). The
weapon upgrades give + to the special attacks, and for bonus attacks as
well (for example bonus against light units). If you are wondering
about the usefullness of these, think about it this way: if you have and
upgraded ling to +1 weapon, it does 6 damage instead of 5. Every 5
zerglings are worth 6 now, if you count their attack power. The armor
makes your units to survive more, if that means 1 more shot from a given
enemy unit, that can make the difference in big battles. Try to get the
best upgrades for your army. Slow units need armor for easier close up
on enemy units, while ranged and faster moving units can benefit more
from the weapon upgrades.
Hatchery tech upgrades:
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Evolve Ground Carapace Level 1 - Upgrades the armor of all Zerg
ground units to level 1. Costs 150 mineral and gas. Ground Carapace
affects all zerg ground units |
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Evolve Melee Attack Level 1 -Upgrades all Zerg melee attacks to
level 1. Costs 100 mineral and gas. Melee Attack affects: Zergling,
Baneling, Drone, Ultralisk, Broodling |
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Evolve Missile Attack Level 1 - Upgrades the attack of all ground
ranged units to level 1. Costs 100 mineral and gas. Missle Attack
affects: Queen, Roach, Hydralisk, Infested terran |
Lair tech upgrades:
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Evolve Ground Carapace Level 2 - Upgrades the armor of all Zerg
ground units to level 2. Costs 225 mineral and gas. |
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Evolve Melee Attack Level 2 - Upgrades all Zerg melee attacks to
level 2. Costs 150 mineral and gas. |
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Evolve Missile Attack Level 2 - Upgrades the attack of all ground
ranged units to level 2. Costs 150 mineral and gas. |
After the two main parts of the ups, let's look at what we have in
other buildings!
Burrow:
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This upgrade is actually at lair tech, making it an option in
mid-game. Costs 100 mineral and gas. Roaches need this upgrade badly, as
their regeneration is much faster while burrowed. Nice baneling traps
can be set aswell, if you burrow them in chokes. I think you should get
this upgrade if you have the spare resources and not going air. Can save
your mineral line drones aswell. |
Hydralisk upgrades:
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Evolve Grooved Spines - A
vital upgrade to hydras. I would say, a must have! you have to pay 150
in minerals and gas, but the range of your hydras becomes deadly. It can
be a nice investment even if you are not massing hydras, you can still
get the upgrade to defend against air units (like void rays or banshees)
far more effectively. |
Roach upgrades:
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Evolve Glial Recontitution-
Increase the movement speed of roaches. For 100 mineral and gas, it can
be a nice upgrade when you do early game roach + ling combo. Your army
becomes far more mobile, and this can be a winning factor in bigger
maps. |
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Evolve Tunneling Claws - A
cheese ability. For 150 mineral and gas, your roaches become able to
move while burrowed. Also increases the burrowed regen rate to 10 from
5. This ability can be best used against players without detection in
their base. You can move to the mineral line and unborrow. This is one
of the biggest horror for the poor workers! Watch out for toss cannons,
terran missle turrets and zerg spore crawlers!
See the video for an in-game shot. Roaches with this upgrade can be
used as tanks in your front line with a little bit of micro. Roach regen |
Zergling upgrades:
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Evolve Metabolic Boost -
Increases the movement speed of Zerglings. For 100 mineral and gas, this
is one of the first upgrades you may want to get. It increases the
speed of your lings a lot and makes them more efficent against enemy
units ( they can surround units easily). This upgrade makes your
zergling into "speedlings." |
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Evolve Adrenal Glands -
Increases the attack speed of Zergligns by 20%. Requies Hive to upgrade.
For 200 gas and mineral, this upgrade is useful, when you are short of
gas and have a lots of minreals for lings. This upgrade makes your
zerglings into "cracklings". |
Baneling upgrades:
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Evolve Centrifugal Hooks -
Increases the movement speed of Banelings. This actually makes them
rolling instead of walking. This can be very effective, if you can sneak
into your opponent's base and kill either the mineral line, or tech
buildings. Your baneling will be more effective against ranged units
aswell. See the video below: Sneaky
banelings |
Ultralisk upgrades:
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Evolve Chitinous Plating -
Gives +2 armor to Ultralisks. For 150 mineral and gas, you want this
upgrade badly! Makes your ultras a lot tougher. Be sure to place them to
the first line when you attack. |
Infestor upgrades:
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Evolve Neural Parasite -
Target unit is controlled by the Infestor, until one of them dies,
either the unit or the Infestor, or until the Infestor rilinquishes
control. The Infestor cannot take another action while controlling an
enemy unit. It is now has to be upgraded, but can target air units.
Costs 150 in gas and mineral. Keep and eye on your infestor, because
it's vulnerable to all kinds of attacks while controlling the unit. Try
not to go first line while casting this spell, or get a high ground
advantage for extra safety. |
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Evolve Pathogen Glands -
Increases the starting energy of Infestors by 25. Costs 150 gas and
minerals. If you want to use the fungal growth excessively, don't wait
for that energy to recharge, get this upgrade, and your infestors will
pop out with their +25 energy ready to cast Fungal Growth immediately. |
Overlord upgrades:
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Evolve Pneumatized Carapace - Increases the movement speed of
Overlords and Overseers. Needs Lair tech. For 100 mineral and gas, your
overlords can move a lot faster, becoming great support for your troops.
You can use them to scout, block expansions with spawn creep and get
sight to high grounds. All units move faster in creep, so bringing OLs
to battle and spawning some creep could be very useful. |
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Evolve Ventral Sacs - Allows Overlords to transport units. Requies
lair tech. Costs 200 mineral and gas. The speed upgrade is a must if you
use this. In my opinion, a nydus worm can be used a lot better. |
These are all the upgrades you can get for your swarm. I hope it was
helpful, the next article will be about Protoss upgrades! Comments are
welcome!
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