In the beta phase, the new fighters could be put through their paces by test players and even co-developed. Over the half year of the beta, a lot has been done to balance the new units – new abilities have been tested and sometimes discarded, weak units have been polished up, and the overpowered ones have been trimmed down a bit. Below, we take a closer look at the final versions of the new Legacy of the Void units and reveal all the data that is worth knowing.

Adept (Protoss)

Adepts are the new ranged fighters of the Protoss and can be manufactured in the warp node. With their “powerful Gleven Cannons” they cannot reach air units, and on the ground they are also… let’s say “special”. In early combat, Adepts can hold their own very well, provided they are up against light units. With a fire rate of 1.61 they are not fast, but they have a decent range (4) and their base damage is more than doubled against light units (from ten points of damage to 23). The special feature of an Adept’s attack is a deadly shockwave that is triggered when an enemy unit dies from the attack. In this case, the damage continues to jump to two other units nearby. So in the fight against hordes of light units like marines, zerglings, workers, etc. they are extremely powerful.

Adepts are among the light units themselves. While they were relatively well equipped at the beginning of the beta, things are a bit different now due to game balance updates. Adepts now only have a standard value of 60 health and 60 shield points. This is still enough for light units, but everything else can easily counter Adepts (which is still more due to the low damage against units with armor than the low hit points).

The special ability of the Adept is the “Psi-Transfer”. In this, the adept creates a blue-transparent image of himself that is visible to all players, but cannot be attacked. The image itself can also not attack, but only command to places. It can move through other units, but is blocked by buildings or force fields. Regardless of the image, the adept can continue to act independently. After a few seconds, however, the psi transfer ends and the adept teleports to the last position of his image, which disappears at the same time.

The basic idea of the Adept’s purpose is relatively clear: as an early Harass unit, it is supposed to uncover the enemy’s base and annoyingly stick to its workers’ cheek. In the case of opponents without blockades by force field or building walls, it is hardly possible to prevent an adept from exploring the entire base and penetrating all the way to the workers. In addition, if the enemy’s expansion base is close to his main base, it is easy to run back and forth with the adepts and put the enemy under a lot of pressure.

Disruptor (Protoss)

Disruptors are a type of ground siege weapon manufactured in the robot factory. The spherical appearance (“rum sphere”) and its function are a hotly debated topic in the forums – the latter not entirely without reason. Disruptors have no automatic attacks and only one ability: the Psi Nova. When this is activated, the Disruptor changes to its energy form, in which it is invulnerable, and after a short time triggers an explosion that causes massive area damage and additional shield damage in its surroundings. The Disruptor is a rolling bomb, so to speak, which is extremely effective against hordes of weak units like workers and densely built-up areas.

The problem with the whole explosion thing is that if you’re not careful, you’ll quickly blow your own units to kingdom come, because like almost all siege units, the “rum ball” causes heavy friendly fire. The only exceptions are other disruptors. If you are always aware of this and combine the bomb with other Protoss abilities, they can reach their full potential. For example, enemy units can be trapped or slowed down with Time Bend from the Mothership or the new Oracle Stasis Trap so they can’t escape the bombs.

Furthermore, the disruptors can now be delivered behind enemy lines with the warp prism. The bullets are also quite good for defense. If your base is besieged by the new Zerg sneaks or hordes of cockroaches/hydralisks try to force their way into your base, a few Disruptors will be a good meal.

Cyclone (Terran)

The Cyclone was one of the strongest units in the beta. In the meantime, the factory-produced drone has lost a few feathers, but can still be very dangerous with good micromanagement. The Cyclone can reach both individual ground and air units with its missile launchers and does considerable damage, especially to strong units like Immortals, Ultralisks and Thors. It is quite fast on the move and has a long range. Its greatest strength, however, is its target acquisition ability.

When a Cyclone approaches an enemy, it can target them and bombard them with missiles (400 damage) over a period of 14 seconds. Once the target is locked on, the Cyclone or the enemy can move freely over a distance greater than the Cyclone’s normal weapon range without the bombardment stopping. The only time the attack stops early is when the target leaves the Cyclone’s range. Although the drone is quite well equipped with 200 health, it can be easily taken down with the right units (fast units like speedlings or units with teleport like rushers). In addition, the kite tactic hardly works in a larger force.

Falcon (Terran)

The Falcon is the Terran’s second new unit. Produced at the Spaceport, the mid-sized fighter is designed to provide both air defense and ground attack support with its two modes. In combat mode, the Falcon uses its twin missile launchers, which do decent area damage to hordes of flying units.

Alternatively, the Falcon can be put into siege mode and then serves as a heavy artillery platform, though it cannot directly attack ground units. Instead, the Falcon can target a limited area over a long distance with its heavy anti-ground cannon to inflict devastating damage on any unit that enters the area. Even heavily armored units are not safe from this.

The advantage of the Falcon is its versatility: air defense, ground combat support, siege, and thanks to good speed, it is also useful for disruptive maneuvers (e.g. raiding the enemy worker line from behind). Unfortunately, the Falcon is quite expensive and can be quickly blown out of the sky by the right anti-air units – especially heavy air units like carriers or battlecruisers. Even worse are fast anti-air ground troops that bypass the barrage area, or the Zerg’s new Devastators.

Devastators (Zerg)

This new Zerg ranged combat unit is morphed from cockroaches and can only attack ground units at medium range with its standard plasma attacks. In addition to this, however, the Verheerer also has the Corrosive Bile ability, which works like a type of mortar fire. It fires a projectile in a parabolic arc over a long distance (9, with upgrade 13) at the target, dealing 60 damage on impact to all units – even air units – in a small area. Corrosive Bile is particularly effective on the Terran’s new Falcons when they are in siege mode, or on Protoss forcefields, which are instantly destroyed.

Disadvantage of the projectile: it flies quite slowly (2.5 seconds until impact), so only inactive, immobilized or very slow units, workers (always moving in the same area) and of course buildings and Protoss force fields can be targeted. In addition, the Verheerer itself is quite slow moving, with 120 health points not particularly resilient and on top of that not exactly cheap. Without a protective escort, the Verheerer can be quickly dispatched by powerful units like Marauders.

Lurker (Zerg)

The Lurker will surely be familiar to some players from SC1 – now it’s back. It is morphed from Hydralisks as before and serves primarily as a ground siege unit again. Apart from that, it is also excellent for ambushes, blockades at ramps and bottlenecks as well as for fighting against many ground units. Lurkers basically cannot attack on the surface. To do so, they must first dig in. Once that is done, they inflict devastating area damage over very long distances with their cascading barbed volleys.

The lurkers’ greatest strength is their enormous range, which exceeds that of almost all other units and all defensive buildings in the game. The disadvantages are similar to those in SC1: long build times, high cost, units can dodge the barbed volley, flying units basically have nothing to worry about, and Terrans can easily move their units over lurkers with medivacs. In addition, Lurkers are vulnerable to other siege weapons like the new Protoss Disruptors or Terran Siege Tanks.