Guardian

The guardian is a zerg long-range bomber.

Overview
The guardian is evolved from the mutalisk and thought to be based on the nesting form of the mantis screamer. It possesses a thicker carapace than its counterpart and attacks by lobbing explosive globs of acid. The guardian is much slower than the mutalisk however, and is often designated to guard larvae.

Despite being devastating in terrestrial combat, guardians are next to useless in space combat.

StarCraft
The guardian is converted from an existing mutalisk. It has an anti-ground attack that out-ranges almost all ground-to-air weapons, and in large groups can be particularly devastating as a bomber unit. While the guardian has a respectable attack of 20 (26 when fully upgraded), it has no defense against enemy air units and is vulnerable to ground-to-air units when on the run. The slow speed of the guardian also renders it vulnerable to area-of-effect spells such as psionic storm and irradiate.

StarCraft II
In StarCraft II, the guardian has been replaced by the swarm guardian and later the brood lord.

Special Guardian Strains

 * Feral Guardian
 * Kukulza
 * Zergrinch Gargoyle

Images
Image:Guardian SC1 GameAnim1.gif|left|thumb|StarCraft unit Image:Guardian SC1 Head.png|thumb|StarCraft profile Image:Guardian SC1 Rend1.gif|thumb|Guardian stat profile Image:Guardian SC1 Art1.jpg|thumb|A guardian </gallery