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Hydralisk
Unit
Race	Zerg
Role	Ranged attacker
Armament	Needle spines
Properties
Transport size	2
Sight range	9
Production
Minerals	100
Gas	50
Control	2
Build time	33
Evolves from	Larva
Requires	Hydralisk den
Hotkey	H
Movement
Speed	2.25
Acceleration	1000
Lateral acceleration	46
Deceleration	0
Creep multiplier	x1.5
Collision radius	0.625
Protection
Hit points	80
Hit point regen/second	0.2734
Armor	0
Type	Biological Ground
Armor type	Light
Needle spines
Damage	12
Targets	Ground Air
Cooldown	0.83
Range	5 (6 with Grooved Spines)
Upgrade/level	+1
Scythe
Damage	12
Targets	Ground
Cooldown	0.83
Range	0.5 (melee)
Upgrade/levels	+1
Meta
Target priority	20
Kill score	200
Production score	100
Miscellaneous
Notes	Hydralisks gain greater speed from traveling on creep than most zerg ground units.

Contents 1 Tactics 2 Abilities 3 Upgrades 4 Heart of the Swarm 5 Development 5.1 Conception 5.2 Game Unit 6 Notes 7 Images 8 Videos 9 References

TacticsEdit

Hydralisks counter mutalisks and banshees. Hydralisks in large numbers also counter phoenixes. They are, however, relatively fragile and are not efficient against large numbers of armored units.

A combination of roaches and hydralisks can defeat a combo of zerglings and mutalisks.^[1] Hydralisks can excel against void rays, given the starship's weakness to mass units.^[2] Burrowing for a short time to cause the void ray's attack to lose its charge, then resume attacking is the best idea against void rays.

Hydralisks have a melee attack in addition to their normal ranged attack, but it does the same damage as the ranged attack.^[3] The melee attack is cosmetic, but has the advantage of not triggering point defense drone lasers.

AbilitiesEdit

Burrow
Acquisition Minerals 100 Gas 100 Evolution time 100 Evolved at Lair/Hive Hotkey B	Usage Activation/ Build Time 2 seconds to burrow, 1 second to unburrow Hotkey R
Notes
Many zerg ground units may burrow, become invisible and may be revealed primarily by detectors, and may not move or attack. Exceptions are the roach, who may move while burrowed, the infestor, who may move and cast Infested Terran,[4] and the baneling which can detonate while burrowed. Some units can unburrow via autocast, causing them to emerge and attack when an enemy moves into range. The ability is not smartcast.
Edit

UpgradesEdit

Grooved Spines
Evolved at	Hydralisk den
Hotkey	G
Properties
Minerals 150 Gas 150 Evolution time 80
Notes
Increases hydralisk range by 1.
Edit

Missile Attacks
Evolved at	Evolution chamber
Hotkey	A
Properties
Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 100 150 200 Gas 100 150 200 Evolution time 160 190 220 Required Lair Hive
Notes
Attack bonus for queens and zerg ground ranged units.
Edit

Carapace
Evolved at	Evolution chamber
Hotkey	C
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 ground units.
Edit

Heart of the SwarmEdit

	This article or section contains information from StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm.
	The content may change substantially over time.

In Heart of the Swarm, the hydralisk will have a speed upgrade available at the hive.^[5] It will increase their off-creep speed by 50% (so their speed on and off the creep match) and will cost 150 minerals and 150 vespene.^[6]

DevelopmentEdit

The following section contains information from a previous version of StarCraft II which is no longer valid.

ConceptionEdit

It was intended that the hydralisk make a return in StarCraft II from the outset. Some visual upgrades had to be carried out however—the in-game artwork of the hydralisk from the original game did not match the cinematic version, so adjustments were made to the StarCraft II hydralisk such as the tail spikes and head-gills used during the attack animations. Another visual update was the scything talons being increased from one to three to make the design dissimilar from other popular alien designs such as the tyranids.^[7]

The hydralisk was also iterated on several times. Earlier renditions were very accurate to Samwise Didier's concept and worked very well in-game. The cinematic department created a high-resolution version of the hydralisk which featured many stylized differences which became a visual disconnect between the cinematic and in-game artwork of the hydralisk. The final iteration of the hydralisk was done with the intention of applying more cinematic-influenced designs to the low-resolution Hydralisk while maintaining the bold Samwise proportions and style.^[7]

Game UnitEdit

Hydralisks have constantly moved in tier from 1.5 to 2 and back over the development of StarCraft II. In April 2009 the hydralisk has been moved back to tier 1.5, as part of an effort to prevent zerg vs zerg matches devolving into roach vs roach battles.^[8] In May 2009 they were moved back up to tier 2.^[9] As of June 2009 they were moved back to tier 1.5.^[10]

Hydralisks used to give extra damage to air units. ^[11]

Muscular Augments
Evolved at	Hydralisk den[12] Lurker den[12]
Hotkey	M[12]
Properties
Minerals 150[12] Gas 150[12] Evolution time 80[12]
Notes
Increases hydralisk movement speed.[12]
Edit

NotesEdit

The hydralisk's dance is based on Michael Jackson's Thriller.^[7]

ImagesEdit

See: the image gallery.

VideosEdit

ReferencesEdit

↑ Karune. 2008-08-18. StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 43. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-08-18. ↑ machinima. 2010-02-22. Machinima / Starcraft II Gameplay: Protoss Siege (Beta Game Footage Video). Youtube. Accessed 2010-02-26. ↑ Correct. It really is the melee attack animation. :) But the damage is the same with the range attack. Cydra. 2009-04-21. HYDRALISK HAS MELEE ATTACK!!! (seriously). Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2009-04-21. ↑ Blizzard Entertainment Staff. 2010-07-24. Infestor. Blizzard Entertainment. Accessed 2010-07-24. ↑ StarCraft Legacy staff. 2011-10-22. BlizzCon 2011 StarCraft II Multiplayer Panel. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed 2011-10-23. ↑ The Rusher. 2011-10-26. ​A complete list of all multiplayer HOTS changes/additions, now that Blizzcon is over. Reddit. Accessed 2011-10-29. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 2010, Starcraft 2: Zerg Hydralisk. Deviantart, accessed on 2011-07-20 ↑ Dustin Browder, Lipton, Karune. 2009-04-22. The Official STARFEEDER Starcraft 2 Q&A. Starfeeder. Accessed 2009-04-22. ↑ StarCraft Legacy staff. 2009-05-30. StarCraft II Impressions Translations - May 21, 2009. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed 2009-05-30. ↑ Terran: Ghost's EMP + Stim Packed Marines + Medivacs would do very well. Zerg: Similar to the original StarCraft, Hydralisks (since they have been brought down to tier 1.5) counter Archons well and Zerglings can be brought in to clean up the rest of the Stalkers. Positioning would also be important as well - making sure the Zerglings flank and are able to hit the Stalkers without going through the Archon attack zone. Karune. How do you beat Stalker + Archon combo? Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2009-06-15. ↑ Dustin Browder, Robert Simpson--Starcraft 2 Battle Report #2 [1] ↑ 12.0 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6 StarCraft Legacy staff. 2009-04-04. Zerg & Protoss Upgrades. SCLegacy. Accessed 2009-06-18

Zerg Units and Structures of StarCraft II
Land units	Larva · Drone · Zergling · Baneling · Roach · Hydralisk · Infestor · Ultralisk · Queen · Swarm host (HotS)
Air units	Overlord · Overseer · Mutalisk · Brood lord · Corruptor · Viper (HotS)
Spawned units	Broodling · Changeling (WoL) · Infested terran · Locust (HotS)
Basic buildings	Hatchery · Creep tumor · Extractor · Evolution chamber · Spawning pool · Baneling nest · Roach warren
Combat Buildings	Spine crawler · Spore crawler
Advanced buildings	Lair · Hive · Infestation pit · Spire · Greater spire · Hydralisk den · Nydus network · Nydus worm · Ultralisk cavern
Transition units	Egg · Baneling cocoon · Brood lord cocoon · Infested swarm egg · Overseer cocoon
Others	Creep
Campaign-Exclusive Units	Ground units Aberration · Brutalisk · Infested colonist · Infested marine · Omegalisk · Pygalisk · Pygalisk cocoon · Swarmling Air units Leviathan · Sac · Scourge · Swarm guardian Variant units Zergling (Raptor · Swarmling) · Baneling (Gorgeling · Splitterling) · Roach (Leech · Prowler)
Campaign-Exclusive Structures	Infested terran buildings (infested bunker · infested command center) · Spore cannon · Virophage
Canceled Zerg Units and Structures of StarCraft II