Hydralisk (StarCraft II)

The hydralisk is a zerg unit in StarCraft II.

Game Unit
Hydralisks counter mutalisks and banshees. Hydralisks in large numbers also counter phoenixes. They are, however, relatively fragile and are inefficient against large numbers of armored units.

Hydralisks have a melee attack in addition to their normal ranged attack, but it does the same damage as the ranged attack. The melee attack is not cosmetic, as it has the advantage of not triggering point defense drone lasers and not being affected by sentry's guardian shield.

Strategy
A combination of roaches and hydralisks can defeat a combo of zerglings and mutalisks. Hydralisks can excel against void rays, given the starship's weakness to mass units. Burrowing for a short time to cause the void ray's attack to lose its charge, then resume attacking is the best idea against void rays.

Hydralisks work well paired with roaches, the hydralisks dealing damage while the roaches absorb it.

Heart of the Swarm
In the campaign mode of Heart of the Swarm, hydralisks can transform into either lurkers or impalers after completing the appropriate evolution mission. Their visual design changes accordingly.

Legacy of the Void
In Legacy of the Void, hydralisks gained the ability to morph into lurkers once the hydralisk den is upgraded into a lurker den.

Co-op Missions
The hydralisk den and hydralisk strain are exclusive to Dehaka and Kerrigan in Co-op Missions. Kerrigan also has access to the lurker and lurker den. Additional upgrades for the hydralisk and lurker become available when Kerrigan reaches Level 6. Frenzy is also autocast.

Images

 * See: the image gallery.