Lurker

The lurker is a zerg unit that may attack only when burrowed.

Overview
By the time of the Brood War, the zerg had evolved the lurker strain from the hydralisk. The lurker was first observed under the leadership of Kerrigan (although technically, it was their handiwork that was the first indication).

Lurkers serve as defense warriors for hive clusters and outlying zerg colonies. Lurkers emit waves of super-dense spines against their enemies, having a full width of damage of ten meters. However, lurkers must actually burrow underground to release these subterranean attacks. Any warriors on the surface who are caught by these spines are instantly impaled. These spines themselves are capable of tearing into flesh, steel, and even reinforced armor plating. The spines can even be directed downward into open spaces, provided the lurker is underground. The only weakness of the lurker is that it is virtually defenseless while above ground.

StarCraft
Lurkers must burrow in order to attack, rendering them invisible from enemy attackers.

Lurkers are particularly effective as a defense against enemy raids on workers. As long as the defenders can keep enemy detectors from penetrating, raiders deployed by air transport are at risk of being annihilated by pre-deployed Lurkers that they cannot see. Terrans are not as handicapped against lurkers because of the ComSat station.

The lurker's attack does linear splash damage to allied and enemy ground units, but not the player's other ground units, in its path. The lurker has no means of defending itself when not burrowed, and is vulnerable during the process of burrowing; this takes more time than for other units and enemy units can still attack them at that stage, possibly killing the lurker before it even has a chance to effectively become invisible to the enemy and attack.

StarCraft: Ghost


The lurker was to appear in StarCraft: Ghost. Its form underwent an extensive redesign from its Brood War incarnation during development.

StarCraft II
In the current version of StarCraft II, lurkers only appear in the Galaxy Map Editor.

Strategies
Lurkers countered roaches for cost, but roaches had the mobility advantage.

A theoretical lurker inclusion in the game would be useful for zerg players, as per their ability to attack while burrowed, and to push the zerg tech tree into tier 2.

Development
The lurker reappeared in StarCraft II, created from a hydralisk morph, but as of February 2010 and the release of the StarCraft II beta, is no longer in the game. Not long before this, internal testing had found that the lurker had been underutilized by players.

The lurker appeared at a higher tier than in the original game.

Some units get a hold fire command, however, as of March 2009 the lurker did not have this ability.

Lurker attacks were able to devastate groups of infantry. In addition, they could act as siege units, out-ranging conventional stationary defenses.

The lurker was removed because its role was taken up by the roach (which can move while burrowed) and banelings (which deal splash damage),

Its role was also supplanted by the infestor.

In terms of design, the lurker's form in StarCraft II was originally based on its appearance in StarCraft: Ghost. However, when the development team started their initial renditions, the lurker reverted back to a design more in sync with its form in StarCraft: Brood War. The design was established and a portrait model was generated, then the lurker was modified once again to match the portrait artwork more accurately. The final rendition made the lurker regain more similarities to the hydralisk while adopting the newer design elements established over the years. During development, some of its appearance was altered due to similarities from the roach.

Heart of the Swarm
The lurker is useable in the campaign as an evolution split from the hydralisk. It deals more damage and has more life than usual. The lurker strain was found in a feral hive cluster on the planet of Cavir, one of Daggoth's old birthing colonies. Its counterpart is the impaler.

In the campaign, the lurker is better defensively compared to the impaler, having less range but being more effective against zealots and marines thanks to its splash attacks.

Trivia

 * The lurker is often nicknamed "lurk" in online culture.