New Starcraft 2: Heart of the Swarm units revealed

With StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm rapidly approaching beta later this summer, Blizzard showed off some of the game's potential new units.

The Heart of the Swarm focuses on the Zerg, and two new units were shown for that side: the Swarm Host, which sends out infinite waves of free locust units against the enemy, and a Viper unit, which can pull units to its location or blind other units. Two new Terran and three Protoss units were also on display.

A Zerg Viper

These new units are not final, and Blizzard is reserving the right to pull these units later should they "not work out" before the beta. Several units have already been in the game and removed for that reason.

Gamers at the MLG Spring Championship in Anaheim, CA had a chance to play with the eight new units. In addition to debuting the new units, the company also modified the abilities of several more, asking gamers to provide feedback. Many of the competitive players present at this tournament will be invited into the beta, a Blizzard spokesperson said, so that they can get a more extensive feel for how the units handle in competitive situations.

Protoss vs. Zerg on a jungle world map

In the image above, a wave of Protoss Tempests, with extremely long-range, advance on Zerg position. Notice in the top left a few shields are in place. A Protoss Oracle is using its shield ability on Zerg mineral harvesting to slow down the enemy's flow of resources.

Zerg vs. Terran on an ice world map

Here, an aerial Zerg Viper uses is "blind" ability (the green spray) to cut down on the sight range of some Terran units. Blinded units have a firing range of one. The Viper can also pull units closer to its position for other Zerg units to attack.

Terran vs. Zerg on a Lava world map

A couple of Terran widow mines explode, destroying the units they had attached themselves to. The mine attaches itself to the first enemy unit that crosses it, and blows up 10 seconds later, causing 200 points of damage to the unit and additional splash damage to surrounding units.

The video below shows off all the units on displays and some of the changes to existing units: