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.
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The following section contains information from a previous version of StarCraft II which is no longer valid.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]
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]
↑ 7.07.17.27.31) 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.