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This article concerns StarCraft II gameplay. You may be looking for:

In StarCraft II, the overlord provides control but does not provide detection.

Overview

The overlord may evolve into the overseer which is a detector and spellcaster. Against protoss, it is recommended to keep overlords surrounded with strong anti-air defense as they are highly vulnerable targets for phoenixes used in the harass role.

Game Unit

Abilities

OverseerMorph SC2 Icon1
Overseer Morph

The overlord can morph into an overseer, which becomes a detector.

Usage
Hotkey V
Cost 50 Minerals 50 Vespene gas 12 seconds
Acquisition
Required Lair
ve
GenerateCreep SC2 Icon1
Excrete Creep

The overlord creates a 2x2 patch of creep through an activated ability, the radius steadily expanding.[1]

Usage
Hotkey Generate creep: G
Stop creating creep: C
Duration 11 seconds
Acquisition
Purchased from Automatically researched upon creation of lair
Required Lair
ve

Upgrades

SC2 KerrImprovedOverlords Icon
Mutate Ventral Sacs

Upgrades an individual overlord, allowing it to transport units. Increases movement speed to 1.099 (2.83 with Pneumatized Carapace).

Usage
Hotkey T
Cost 25 Minerals 25 Vespene gas 12 seconds
Acquisition
Required Lair
ve
PneumutizedCarapace SC2 Game1
Pneumatized Carapace

Increase speed of the overlord from 0.902 to 2.63, overlords with Ventral Sacs from 1.099 to 2.83, and the overseer 2.62 to 4.73.

Acquisition
Purchased from Hatchery (with at least 1 other lair or hive)/Lair/Hive
Hotkey P
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 43seconds
ve

Increases armor of zerg air units.

Acquisition
Purchased from
Level 1
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 160seconds
Effect +1 armor
Level 2
Cost 175 Minerals 175 Vespene gas 190seconds
Required Lair
Effect +1 armor
Level 3
Cost 250 Minerals 250 Vespene gas 220seconds
Required Hive
Effect +1 armor
ve

Heart of the Swarm

VentralSacs SC2 Game1
Ventral Sacs

The overlord can transport units.

This upgrade is removed in Legacy of the Void. Overlords must now be upgraded individually.

Acquisition
Purchased from Lair/Hive
Hotkey E
Cost 200 Minerals 200 Vespene gas 130seconds
ve

Heart of the Swarm Campaign

When Kerrigan reaches a certain level overlords provide more control and are spawned instantly. This ability is called Improved Overlords.

Upgrades

SC2 KerrImprovedOverlords Icon
Improved Overlords

Overlords morph instantly and provide 50% more control.

Usage
Passive
Campaign Acquisition
Acquired from Kerrigan reaches Level 10.
ve

Legacy of the Void

OverlordTransport LotV Game1

An Overlord with the ventral sacs upgrade

In Legacy of the Void, the overlord loses its ventral sacs upgrade. Instead, each overlord is upgraded individually to be able to transport units.[2] This upgrade requires an evolution chamber.[3]

Development

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

The reason for the changes and the split between the overlord and overseer in terms of detection was that the zerg "were somewhat 'detectorific'" in StarCraft.[4]

Overlords regained the ability to transport units as of December 2008.[5]

Overlord SC2 DevRend1

Early StarCraft II overlord

Overlords used to have a slime ability, but that has been removed from the latest build.[6]

  • Slime (also known as "Corrupt Minerals")
    • The overlord could drop a non-attacking slime creature,[7] temporarily disabling resource nodes and xel'naga towers.[8][9] The minerals can be covered as they're being harvested, enabling raids which slow down an enemy's economy.[7] The creature must be killed before the minerals can be accessed.[7][4]
    • This ability took some time to "cast" and had a small cooldown timer.[7]

Trivia

References

  1. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II Map Editor. (Activision Blizzard) (in English). July 27, 2010
  2. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named UpdateJune17
  3. 2015-09-17, Legacy of the Void Beta Balance Update -- September 17, 2015. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2015-09-30
  4. 4.0 4.1 INC Games: Zerg Q&A. Accessed on 2008-20-03 Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "INC" defined multiple times with different content
  5. Karune. 2008-12-17. StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 47. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-12-17.
  6. StarCraft Legacy staff. 2009-04-04. Zerg Unit Information. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed 2009-06-23.
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 7.3 1) The tier 1 Overlord is very slow and does not have detection, though still essential for scouting throughout the game.

    2) They are two different abilities. In generating creep, the Overlord essentially unloads a bunch of creep straight to the ground below it, which expands. Corrupting minerals takes some time to fully cast, but it creates a non-attacking creature that takes over that resource, and needs to be killed before those minerals are able to be gathered. Furthermore, you can corrupt resources that are already being mined, introducing potential Overseer raids to slow the enemy's production.

    3)Neither abilities require energy. Creep generation does not have a cooldown whereas corrupt minerals has a small cooldown timer.
    Karune. 2008-04-25. Overseers having Creep Drop, details?. Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-04-25.
  8. Burnes, Andrew. 2008-03-10. StarCraft 2 - Zerg Attack: New Screenshots, Unit Images & Unit Info! IGN.com Accessed 2008-03-10.
  9. Korda, Martin. Hands-on: Martin Korda gets to grips with StarCraft II and gets the lowdown on the newly evolved Zerg. CVG.com Accessed 2008-05-04.
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