The Terran Dominion captured a number of brutalisks—one was held at a bio-weapons lab orbiting Castanar[4] while another two were at Skygeirr Station. During her assault on Skygeirr, Sarah Kerrigan liberated these brutalisks and turned them against their Dominion captors.[5]
During the End War, a number of brutalisks were enslaved by Amon and incorporated into his brood. During Amon's attack on the Keystone on Aiur, a brutalisk stood guard over the zerg bases surrounding HierarchArtanis and his troops.[6]
While powerful, brutalisks have a very slow movement rate. Fast-moving units easily dominate brutalisks by utilizing hit and run tactics. Alternately, powerful weapons such as siege tanks, thors and battlecruisers make short work of brutalisks from afar. Every time they appear, brutalisks are optional research objectives that yield three points of zerg research in the Wings of Liberty campaign, and levels for Kerrigan in the Heart of the Swarm campaign.
In the Legacy of the Void campaign mission "Salvation" killing the brutalisk on hard awards an achievement. The best way to kill the brutalisk is with dark templars, immortals or void rays.
Co-op Missions[]
Brutalisks can be spawned by Abathur in the Co-op Missions mode of Legacy of the Void upon reaching level 2. They are spawned instantly when a ground unit such as roaches reaches 100 biomass. Abathur can field a maximum of three brutalisks.
2 Brutalisks are among Amon forces in the mission Rifts to Korhal at hard difficulty or above, in front of the palace gates.[8]
Upgrades and Abilities[]
Ultimate Evolution
Unlocks the ability for ground units with 100 stacks of Biomass to evolve into Brutalisks. Air units with 100 stacks of Biomass evolve into Leviathans.
Brutalisks and Leviathans gain Symbiotes that follow them, attacking enemies and protecting their host with the Carapace ability.
Usage
Notes
Damage: 20 Mastery: +0.66 attack damage per Symbiote Ability Improvement mastery point. Up to a maximum 40 attack damage Cooldown: 1 Range: 6 Carapace ability: when the Ultimate Evolution is taking damage, Symbiotes create a Carapace that can absorb 200 damage. Mastery: +6.66 absorbed damage per Symbiote Ability Improvement mastery point. Up to a maximum of 400 absorbed damage Carapace duration: 8 Carapace cooldown: 20
The brutalisk was designed initially as a unit for multiplayer in Wings of Liberty during its development. According to Phill Gonzales, the unit had gone through over ten iterations before being finally removed. Iterations included having a more snake-like body and being able to "swim" through the ground like a dolphin, and a mechanic where the brutalisk would gain an increase in attack speed and damage in proportion to how much damage it had recieved. The multiplayer brutalisk was much smaller than its campaign appearance.[9]
