The Infinite Cycle (mission)

The Infinite Cycle is a mission in the campaign of Legacy of the Void, and the second mission in the Ulnar storyline.

Background
""It seems fate has drawn is together. We should not tempt it further."

- Artanis to Kerrigan

Artanis entered the Ulnar temple alone, and put Vorazun in command of the Spear of Adun. He discovered a wall carving, showing Zeratul, the destruction of Shakuras, and Kerrigan being uplifted by a xel'naga. Just then a wounded Kerrigan was thrown throw a wall will a dead hybrid reaver. Artanis prepared himself to fight Kerrigan, but she stated she was not his enemy. Another hybrid reaver attacked, and together the two of slew it. The two then went to explore the temple.

Mission
""Purity of essence and form, the zerg and the protoss. But if the xel'naga do not interfere... Then it was Amon who uplifted my people. All we thought was xel'naga was a lie."

- Artanis

As the two continued through the temple, Kerrigan revealed she had been fighting hybrid in the temple for weeks. Artanis stated that the prophecy said only when the two chosen races enter the temple and reach the Halls of Revelation will the means to awaken the xel'naga be made clear. On the descent they encountered guardian constructs, that fought against the two to prove their strength, as well as groups of hybrid. Xel'naga relics with solarite cores were also uncovered in the temple.

Artanis and Kerrigan arrived at the first shrine, which they attempted to activate. Moebius Corps and the Tal'darim breached the temple, sending in transports to attack the two and support the advancing hybrid. After Amon's forces were cleared, Artanis extracted the information he needed from the first shrine; the xel'naga were born in the Void. Their purpose was to seed life perpetuate the Infinite Cycle. If defeated, xel'naga are thrust back into the void.

The two approached the second shrine, and found the temple guardians fighting Amon's forces. The Tal'darim began to use displacement beams to breach into the Halls of Revelation. Artanis and Kerrigan fought through to the second shrine, revealing the xel'naga seeded the universe with life from Ulnar, just as they had with countless other universes. They observed the growth of these races, but never interfered. The Infinite Cycle predicted that a race purity of essence, great capacity for change, and one of purity of form, great psionic potential, will always come together. Artanis realized if the xel'naga never interfered, than it was Amon who uplifted the Protoss, and their entire conception of history was false.

The two entered the final hall, which had already been overrun by Amon's forces. The final shrine was under attack by a mass of hybrid, including a hybrid behemoth. Kerrigan and Artanis fought through to the shrine, and slew the hybrid destroying it. The shrine was still intact, and Artanis discovered that ahead of them was the Chamber of Ascension where the xel'naga slumbered. They were to awaken when the two destined races arrived, then the elder xel'naga would give their lives to transfer their essence to the new hosts. Pure of form and pure of essence would be reborn as xel'naga, shepherds of the infinite cycle.

Aftermath
""The xel'naga... no." "They're dead, Artanis."

- Artanis and Kerrigan

Artanis and Kerrigan entered the chamber, but found that all of the xel'naga had been slain. There would be no salvation from them. Amon spoke to Artanis, showing him that he had created a new host body on Aiur using protoss and zerg flesh and essence. Amon then opened a portal to the void, trapping them between his forces and void energies. Artanis shouted his will would not be broken; the Firstborn would fear Amon no longer.

Walkthrough
This mission is largely micromanagement based, as the player only controls two heroes. Artanis's Lightning Dash can be used to clear out clumps of light enemies such as the guardian orbs or reapers. I addition, Artanis's Astral Winds can heal both him and Kerrigan, and keep his shields topped off. Should Artanis take fatal damage, once every minute he will heal to full and blast everything around him for 100 damage. As such, Artanis should be the hero used to tank damage.

Kerrigan largely is a damage based hero, and has some of her old abilities from Heart of the Swarm. Her basic attack chains to other targets. She has Kinetic Blast, which does a large amount of damage to a single target. In addition, she can spawn hunter banelings in a target area, which can leap at targets. This should also be used to take out clumped up groups of units.

Use Kinetic Blast on hybrid and larger units like thors and colossi. At certain points of the mission, the enemy will spawn transports which can be destroyed before they offload units, so focusing them down should be a priority. Xel'naga relics are for the most part easy to spot and located one in each section.