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. 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.

Units
Abathur has access to the following units and structures:

Talents
Abathur acquires the following talents as he levels up.

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 original 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.