Abathur (Co-op Missions)

"In creating Abathur, we wanted to provide a Commander for players who wanted to play Zerg without having to rely on a Hero unit being on the battlefield. Additionally, we wanted to ensure that we fulfilled the unique fantasy elements for which Abathur is so well-known. To do this, we’ve equipped Abathur with some very powerful abilities and upgrades that augment the strength of his units on the battlefield. In addition, we’ve added an entirely new Evolution mechanic that is available exclusively to Abathur. Through Evolution, Abathur can use the Biomass of fallen foes to spin new essences into his units to make them even more powerful. Thanks to this relentless pursuit of perfection, Abathur will give you access to the most powerful units you’ve ever used in Co-op Missions, and with them, you will wreak whatever havoc you deign necessary."

- Commander blurb

Abathur is a selectable commander in the Co-op Missions mode of Legacy of the Void. As the evolution master of the zerg, Abathur has been constantly spinning new essences to chase an ever changing vision of perfection. Unlike the other zerg heroes, he is not controllable in the field as a hero unit, but through his unique biomass evolutionary mechanics, he can mutate powerful zerg breeds to overwhelm enemies.

Unlike other commanders, a player must pay real money to purchase Abathur. He costs $4.95 USD.

Info

 * Recommended for players of all skill levels
 * Evolve your army by collecting Biomass from fallen enemies
 * Morph powerful Brutalisk and Leviathan units

Mastery
Anathur has the following masteries:


 * Power Set 1
 * Toxic Nest Respawn Chance (2%/level) +
 * Mend Healing (1%/level) +


 * Power Set 2
 * Symbiote Carapace Absorption (1%/level) +
 * Biomass Recovery Chance (3%/level) +


 * Power Set 3
 * Toxic Nest Maximum Charges (1/level) +
 * Structure Morph and Evolution Rate (2%/level) -

Abilities
Abathur has the following abilities:
 * Evolution

Units
Abathur has access to the following units and structures:

Talents
Abathur acquires the following talents as he levels up.

Evaluation

 * Offense
 * 1) Swarm queens and roaches provide excellent early game presence
 * 2) Brutalisks and leviathans provide excellent late game presence; mainly because nothing dies
 * 3) Siege capabilities with swarm hosts and guardians
 * 4) Toxic nests act as creep tumors with creep spreading
 * Defense
 * 1) Anti-air capabilities with swarm queens, devourers and vipers
 * 2) Excellent sustain and damage mitigation with swarm queens, mend and blinding cloud
 * 3) Slow startup; Swarm queens provide base defense without need for automated defensive structures
 * 4) Good map presence with deep tunneling brutalisks and swarm hosts; very rewarding mobility

New Specimen, Must Experiment
Abathur has incredible utility and can snowball into an extremely powerful late-game commander with proper army-management. His unique unit loadout equips him with a variety of anti-air options including ravagers, swarm queens, mutalisks, and devourers which can all become more powerful as they accrue biomass, or even morph into terrifying units like the leviathan or butalisk.

Design, Must Be Simple
In the early game, relying on toxic nests for defense is a crucial step towards getting a strong start in production. After having acquired a few units, it’s helpful to focus all the collected biomass into one unit so that it can evolve as soon as possible. In general, the impact of Abathur’s evolution mechanic is more substantial if it can be focused on biomass collection on few select units, thereby allowing them to evolve into brutalisks and leviathans sooner.

Sequences, Must Change
As the game continues, the total amount of biomass in Abathur's army can grow exponentially if units are prevented from dying. Building swarm queens to use rapid transfusion and using Abathur's mend ability will keep his units alive so that they don't lose the biomass they've collected. Abathur’s global presence is not necessarily as strong as some other commanders, but eventually his brutalisks and swarm hosts can use the deep tunnel ability to re-position and help imperiled allies or objectives while toxic nests can be used diligently to augment defenses around the map.

Essence, Is Evolution
Abathur’s endless pursuit of perfection causes his units to become stronger as they acquire the essence of fallen foes. When playing as Abathur, any time his forces or those of an ally slay a unit, that unit will drop its biomass onto the battlefield. This biomass can be collected by Abathur's units, and as they accrue more biomass they will change in both physical appearance and strength.

Eradication, Complete
Abathur's army requires only micro for the Vipers; otherwise, you can 1A your way through. Try to collect all the biomass on one roach at the beginning to fast-track a brutalisk. Abathur has lots of different options, but his truly overpowered ability is the Viper's Blinding Cloud. Vespene gas should be spent on devourers/guardians and the rest of the minerals in roaches.

Fear Response, Appropriate
If any unit manages to acquire 100 biomass, it will be transformed into an ultimate evolution of its former self. In this instance, ground units will evolve into brutalisks with substantial health pools and a ground-based cleave attack, while air units will transform into leviathans to wreak havoc on everything they touch. As Abathur's commander level increases, these units can become more powerful, even gaining a symbiote to help attack enemies while protecting their host with a damage absorbing carapace.

Synergies
Abathur has the following advantages:

Protoss Commanders
Artanis is an excellent teammate for Abathur. Shield overcharge and guardian shell will made Abathur units live little longer, decreasing the chances of a unit losing its biomass, especially in the early game. Artanis can also make up for Abathur's early lack of anti-air with dragoons.

Karax is has some ability synergies with Abathur, as his chrono wave can boost his research and production which is essential to Abathur's army strength. Toxic nests work well with Karax's static defenses, and the Spear of Adun's orbital bombardment abilities can help cover Abathur from air units in the early game.

Vorazun has very little synergy with Abathur. Having said that, Vorazun's black hole ability can trap enemies for the area of effect damage done my many of Abathur's mid to late game units. Emergency recall also works on burrowed units, so a well timed burrow can save some of the more expensive ground units Abathur uses.

Terran Commanders
Jim Raynor has some synergy with Abathur. Abathur's mend ability can aid in large engagements when used alongside Raynor's medics. Raynor's marines can also cover Abathur's lack of early game anti-air. In mid-late game, Abathur's heavy units and high area of effect damage goes well with heavy infantry support from Raynor.

Rory Swann is another good choice for Abathur. Vespene harvesters allow Abathur to gain much needed gas for later game units and high tier research. Many of Swann's units have high range, which allows Abathur's shorter ranged, high health ground army to create a buffer between the enemy and high priority targets like siege tanks.

Zerg Commanders
Sarah Kerrigan works well with Abathur. Kerrigan herself can cover the early game with little assistance from Abathur. This allows Abathur to spend resources on teching up rather then focusing on early game defense. Kerrigan's assimilation aura allows Abathur to gain a large resource boost. Malignant creep can benefit the overall speed and performance of Abathur's army, and allow him to respond to threats faster. In late game, Abathur can provide a frontline army while Kerrigan supports from behind.

Zagara has little to offer Abathur. Mass frenzy can serve as a useful buff, and Zagara's early units can aid Abathur's weak early game. Otherwise, Zagara's cheap expendable short range units overlap in purpose too much with Abathur's short range heavily armored army.

Development

 * During development, the team considered numerous different ways to make Abathur an evolution-focused commander. At one time he could have unit upgrades that went up to 10, allowing for roaches with 14 attack range and mutalisks with 500 HP. At another point biomass was a third resource exclusive to him that players would earn and spend. His Symbiote was originally a support unit that could be moved to different units to support them as it can in Heroes of the Storm where Abathur has a similar ability, but this was deemed too confusing to keep track of in large armies. There was also the option for him to have both vile and corpser-strain roaches at once.