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*Structure
 
*Structure
 
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|supply=2 (''[[WoL]]''/''[[StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm|HotS]]'')<br>
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|supply=2 (''[[WoL]]''/''[[HotS]]'')<br>
 
6 (''[[StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void|LotV]])''
 
6 (''[[StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void|LotV]])''
 
|costmin=300
 
|costmin=300

Revision as of 21:10, 30 November 2017

"The Hatchery is the heart of any Zerg colony. It spontaneously generates larva, which in turn are used to spawn your various warriors and minions."
Char SC2 Art3

A hatchery

The hatchery is the foundational structure for every zerg colony.

Overview

Hatchery SCR Art1

A hatchery

Hatcheries perform three vital functions that no colony can survive without: producing the creep, which most zerg structures require in order to be built, giving birth to larvae that can mutate into the various zerg breeds and digesting minerals and vespene gas to change into a nutrient form that zerg can use to feed their mutations. In addition, the hatchery is one of the only structures that can be built without pre-existing creep (the other being the extractor) and is therefore essential for any expansion attempt.[1]

Game Structure

StarCraft

Researched Abilities

Many zerg ground units may burrow, rendering themselves invisible but incapable of moving or attacking.

Allows most zerg land units--all but the massive ultralisk and primitive broodling--to burrow into the ground, rendering them immobile and unable to attack, but also safe from enemy fire unless the enemy has a detector nearby. Applies to: Drone, zergling, hydralisk, defiler, and infested terran

Usage
Hotkey U
Acquisition
Purchased from Hatchery/Lair/Hive
Hotkey B
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 80seconds

Building Abilities

The hatchery can mutate into a lair, and later into a hive.[1]

Lair SC1 icon
Mutate into Lair

Transforms a hatchery into a lair.

Usage
Hotkey L
Cost 150 Minerals 100 Vespene gas Hatchery
Duration 100 seconds
Acquisition
Required Spawning pool
HatcherySkin SCR Game1

Char hatchery skin in StarCraft: Remastered

StarCraft II

The zerg continue to use hatcheries in StarCraft II. Hatcheries continue to be able to create creep. Upgrades for overlords and overseers are researched at the hatchery and its evolved forms, but at least a lair is required first. This change allows the player to research the upgrades at any hatchery they control as long as they have a lair, rather than being limited to researching them at the lair itself.

If multiple hatcheries are selected, pressing the "S" hotkey will select all of the available larvae at all the selected hatcheries. The player must press a hotkey (or select a morph icon) once for each unit they wish to build.

Two rally points are able to be set on a hatchery; one ("G") for drones and another ("Y") for warrior units. The queen doesn't get a rally point.

Each individual egg can be separately rallied; this overrides rally points set for the hatchery.[2]

A hatchery spawns a new larva every 15 seconds if there are less than 3.

Researched Abilities

Many zerg ground units may burrow, becoming invisible and revealed primarily by detectors, and may not move or attack while burrowed.

Exceptions include:

  • Roach, which may move while burrowed
  • Lurker, which may attack while burrowed
  • Infestor, which may move while burrowed
  • Baneling, which can detonate while burrowed.

Some units can unburrow via autocast, causing them to emerge and attack when an enemy moves into range.

The ability is not smartcast.

Usage
Hotkey R
Cost 2 seconds to burrow, 1 second to unburrow seconds
Acquisition
Purchased from Hatchery/Lair/Hive
Hotkey B
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 71seconds
Required Lair (WoL)
Hatchery (HotS/LotV)
ve

Building Abilities

The hatchery can evolve into a lair.

SC2 Lair Icon
Mutate into Lair

Transforms a hatchery into a lair.

Usage
Hotkey L
Cost 150 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 57 seconds
Acquisition
Required Spawning pool
ve

Queen Abilities

SpawnLarvae SC2 Icon1
Spawn Larva

Queens can target a hatchery/lair/hive, causing it to eventually spawn four larvae. These join any already-present larvae. The larva-producing structure will not naturally produce any more larvae until the total falls below three. The larva count for any given hatchery/lair/hive cannot exceed nineteen, no matter how many times spawn larva is cast.

In Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm, four larvae are spawned. In Legacy of the Void, three larvae are spawned,[3] and multiple casts can be queued on a single base.[4]

Usage
Hotkey V
Cost 25 Energy 29 seconds
Cooldown 1.8 seconds
ve

Development

The following section contains information from a previous version of StarCraft II which is no longer valid.
Hatchery SC2 DevGameAnim1

A hatchery spawning extra larvae

As of February 2010, the hatchery no longer researched burrow.[5] This has since been reverted.

Trivia

A "hatchery petting zoo" features as an attraction in the Blizzard World map in Overwatch.

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 Underwood, Peter, Bill Roper, Chris Metzen and Jeffrey Vaughn. StarCraft (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998.
  2. "for zerg is it the same that the hatchery sets the rally, or can you rally for each individual egg?"

    You can do both. You can set a rally for your hatchery, but can then override it with manual orders per egg as well. Also don't forget, you can set a worker rally point for your hatchery, as well as a unit rally point. Karune, Rancid_death75. Another rally question for Kaurne! Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2009-02-18.
  3. 2015-09-03, Legacy of the Void Beta Balance Update -- September 3, 2015. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2015-09-09
  4. 2015-09-17, Legacy of the Void Beta Balance Update -- September 17, 2015. Blizzard Entertainment, accessed on 2015-09-30
  5. At this point you can research Burrow once you get Lair. Kapeselus. 2010-02-15. Is Zerg burrowing innate? Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2010-02-15.