Roach

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Roach
Unit
Race	Zerg
Role	Assault unit[1]
Properties
Hit points	160[2][3]
Type	Ground Biological[4][5][6]
Armor type	Armored[4][5][6]
Production
Minerals	100[4][3]
Control	2[3]
Build time	27[3]
Produced at	Larva[4]
Requires	Roach warren[4][7]
Hot key	A[4]
Combat
Ground attack	11 (+3 vs light)[3]
Armor	1[4]
Attack range	3[4]

The roach is a zerg ground unit set to appear in StarCraft II.

Contents 1 Overview 1.1 Attacks 1.2 Abilities 1.2.1 Regeneration 1.2.2 Burrowed Movement 1.3 Upgrades 1.4 Strategies 1.4.1 Zerg vs Zerg 2 Development 3 References

[edit] Overview

The roach is a particularly tough zerg breed due to its high speed regeneration ability.

[edit] Attacks

Currently, the roach is a ranged unit, giving it added utility at choke points. It has possessed the ability of attacking both air and ground units in the past, though is currently ground only.^[8]

[edit] Abilities

[edit] Regeneration

Roach Regeneration
Notes
One-on-one, a roach will generally win in a fight against its enemies, as it regenerates very quickly.[9] As of August 2009 roaches only regenerated when burrowed[10] although by November 2009 they appeared to regenerate at all times, but about twice as quickly after burrowing.[2] The rate of healing increases with the Organic Carapace upgrade.[11] The regeneration doesn't stack with the medivac dropship's healing ability.[12]
Edit

[edit] Burrowed Movement

Burrow
Notes
The roach can burrow without research, but as of November 2009 can no longer move while burrowed.[13]
Edit

[edit] Upgrades

Glial Reconstitution[14] Evolved at Roach warren[15] Notes Increases roach speed.[14] Edit	Organic Carapace Evolved at Roach warren[16] Hotkey C[16] Properties Minerals 150[16] Gas 150[16] Evolution time 110[14] Notes Increases roach regeneration to about 10 hp/second.[17] Edit
Missile Attacks Evolved at Evolution chamber[16] Hotkey A[16] Properties Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 10[16] 150[16] 200[16] Gas 100[16] 150[16] 200[16] Evolution time 140[16] 170[16] 200[16] Required Hatchery[16] Lair[16] Hive[16] Notes Attack bonus for queen, roaches, hydralisks, and lurkers.[16] Edit	Carapace Evolved at Evolution chamber[16] Hotkey C[16] Properties Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 150[16] 225[16] 300[16] Gas 150[16] 225[16] 300[16] Evolution time 140[16] 170[16] 200[16] Required Hatchery[16] Lair[16] Hive[16] Notes +1 bonus to armor per level for drones, queen, zerglings, banelings, hydralisks, lurkers, infestors, roaches and ultralisks.[16] Edit

[edit] Strategies

A roach's regeneration is quite powerful, and it can often regenerate faster than it takes damage.^[18]

Roaches work well in small skirmishes rather than large encounters,^[19] because they are vulnerable to focus fire.^[9][19] A single roach can defeat a single stalker due to its high regeneration, for instance, but several stalkers can defeat several roaches with focus fire.^[19] Groups of marines can counter roaches as well.^[20]

Roaches are also vulnerable to sustained damage.^[21] Roaches are strong against opponents that attack slowly and do low damage per attack, such as zealots.^[19] Karune reports that "in theorycrafting, they seem stronger than they actually are, although specific units must be used to counter them, or additional micromanagement time be taken to defeat them. Siege tanks, stim packed marines, stalkers, immortals, dark templars, hydralisks, and any air to ground unit, are all effective at killing Roaches with a little micromanagement."^[22]

A roach/baneling combo is very powerful against terrans, as the roaches will soak damage, enabling the banelings to get close to the enemy and deal their high damage attacks.^[23]

[edit] Zerg vs Zerg

Roaches and zerglings are used early in zerg vs zerg matches. Compared to zerglings, roaches are a more defensive unit. Cost for cost, roaches win against zerglings in chokes but lose in open areas. Later in the game, numerous roaches can defeat numerous zerglings even in open areas.^[24]

As a game progresses, a roach/hydralisk combo can defeat a zergling/mutalisk combo.^[24]

[edit] Development

In April 2008 the roach regenerated at 15 HP per second^[9] (25 hp/second with Organic Carapace).^[25] A roach could heal fast enough to retain approximately 50% of its hit points if hit by a psi storm, and over 80% of its hit points after its regeneration has been upgraded.^[26] The roach's regeneration rate appears to have slowed as of April 2009.^[6]

As of May 2008, due to a bug roaches are not affected by the Dark Swarm's secondary ability of preventing units inside it from firing.^[27] Dark Swarm was later removed from the game by October of that year.^[28]

[edit] References

Zerg Units and Structures of StarCraft II
Land units	Larva · Drone · Zergling · Baneling · Roach · Hydralisk · Lurker · Infestor · Ultralisk · Queen
Air units	Overlord · Overseer · Mutalisk · Brood lord · Corruptor
Spawned units	Broodling · Mantaling · Changeling · Infested terran
Basic buildings	Hatchery · Creep tumor · Extractor · Evolution chamber · Spawning pool · Baneling nest · Hydralisk den
Combat Buildings	Spine crawler · Spore crawler
Advanced buildings	Lair · Hive · Infestation pit · Spire · Greater spire · Roach warren · Nydus network · Nydus worm · Ultralisk cavern · Lurker den
Transition units	Egg · Baneling egg · Overlord cocoon · Lurker egg
Others	Creep
Campaign-Exclusive Zerg Units and Structures of StarCraft II	Special Zerg Breeds	Brutalisk · Centaur · Sac
Scrapped	Removed Units	Infested protoss · Large Queen · Huge Queen · Morphalisk · Swarm · Swarm guardian
	Removed Buildings	Infested protoss buildings · Infested terran buildings · Shrieker · Spore colony · Sunken colony · Swarm clutch · Swarm infestation