Brood Lord
Unit
Race	Zerg
Role	Heavy Siege Flyer
Armament	Broodling Strike
Properties
Sight range	12
Production
Minerals	150
Gas	150
Control	4
Build time	34
Evolves from	Corruptor Mutalisk (Heart of the Swarm Campaign)
Requires	Greater spire
Hotkey	B
Movement
Speed	1.4062
Acceleration	1.063
Lateral acceleration	0
Deceleration	0
Collision radius	1
Protection
Hit points	225
Hit point regen/second	0.2734
Armor	1
Type	Air Biological Massive
Armor type	Armored
Broodling Strike
Damage	20 per broodling (unleashes 1-2 broodlings per strike)
Targets	Ground
Cooldown	2.5
Range	9.5
Upgrade/level	+2
Meta
Target priority	20
Kill score	275
Production score	550

The brood lord is a powerful zerg flying unit derived from the corruptor.

OverviewEdit

Brood lords were massive manta-like flying creatures that were the Swarm's aerial siege units and used only in the largest conflicts. It was morphed from the corruptor. The brood lord released biological symbiotes on ground targets. They were not very durable, and were vulnerable against aerial-strike combatants.^[1]

The genetic templates for multiple strains were lost during the Second Great War when the Swarm fragmented after the Battle of Char, including those for the corruptor and the brood lord. The brood lord's template was reacquired from feral brood lords at Sigma Centari, a Terran Dominion defense platform. With the viper, it became one of the strains based on the mutalisk.^[2]

Game UnitEdit

Brood lords replace guardians as the zerg aerial bomber. Like the guardian, it has a long-ranged ground attack and no defense against air units. Brood lords launch broodlings; the broodlings do damage upon impact, and then act as separate timed-lifespan ground units. Brood lords can sustain a stream of single broodlings; the first attack after a break launches two broodlings.

AbilitiesEdit

Swarm Seeds
Notes
The Brood Lord shoots Broodlings at its target. A Broodling is a small creature that can attack ground units.
Edit

UpgradesEdit

Flyer Attacks
Evolved at	Spire Greater spire
Properties
Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 100 175 250 Gas 100 175 250 Evolution time 160 190 220 Required Lair Hive
Notes
Increases attack damage of mutalisks, corruptors, and brood lords.
Edit

Flyer Carapace
Evolved at	Spire Greater spire
Properties
Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 150 225 300 Gas 150 225 300 Evolution time 160 190 220 Required Lair Hive
Notes
+1 bonus to armor per level for zerg air units.
Edit

Brood lords are the only unit to gain an attack bonus from both Flyer Attacks and Melee Attacks upgrades. This is received indirectly through the broodlings being upgraded by Melee Attacks.

Heart of the SwarmEdit

In the campaign, the brood lord is one of the evolution choices for the mutalisk. Choosing the brood lord prevents the use of the viper.^[2]

DevelopmentEdit

During the development of StarCraft II, it replaced the swarm guardian.^[3]

The combat role of the brood lord fluctuated for a very long time. Many variations of the guardian were presented but the intention was always clear that the development team wanted more out of this new flyer. Finally out of the blue, Samwise Didier concepted the brood lord like a bolt of lightning and thus the design team created the 3D art in accordance to his concept. The head design was lifted from the scrapped morphalisk.^[4]

ReferencesEdit