Lurker (unit)

Lurker (version 0.6)



Hit Points: 200
Armor: 1
Damage: 18(+2/+2/+2), (line splash), (only burrowed)
Range: 8
Type: armored - biological
Price: 265
Requirements: Tier 2

Pleas give feedback about price etc x)

this could be very overpowered, so I think that 150 would be a very decent price to start experimenting with.

Imo it should cost 200 at least...it does good damage, has 200hp, which is quite a lot and also is kind of invisible...maybe even make it 250. Nontheless I like zerg getting the option of an invisible fighting unit.

Heyho, first of all hello ds forums

i don't actually think this unit is needed,
if the enemy goes mass units, u can just get infestors,
sometimes banelings.
considering gameplay, they would be sort of a "siegetank-light"
(and i think the races should stay very different, not having complementary units all along)

if implemented the price should be somewhere around 230 imo.

so far,
ploed

It should cost 200 IMO.

But i'd modify the damage from: 15(+1)+15(+1) to 25(+2). Lurkers are not meant to counter armored masses (leave that to Ultralisk). They are a generalist stealth attacker.

Currently, this unit costs 300 and is t2. Compared to how much damage it does and that it can't move underground, this is far too expensive, considering what I've seen in games. It's cost should be 250 max, imo.

agreed
the lurker is really cool but it is waay too expensive for how useful it is
would be nice if there was a researchable upgrade that would let it move while burrowed

I tried the current lurker. It may be good for defending some incoming attacks, but seems to be severely lacking. First, it is pretty slow and rather dumb (my lurker unburrowed when there were units almost right on top of it). Second, the armored bonus damage for it just makes no sense. Ultralisk pretty much covers the armored splash damage, and does it better than the lurker (armored units rarely clump enough for the line splash to be effective). No wonder no one used this unit in Blizzard's alpha build, that armored bonus on such a narrow line splash is pretty useless.

The original SC1 lurker had 20 damage and 150 HP. SC2 lurkers can be a tiny bit more beefy, since SC2 DPS outputs are usually higher, that is why I still think 200HP 25 damage would be good enough.

Changes:
Attack: now 20 attack vs everything (ups: +3/+3/+3)
Can move slowly while burrowed
Cost: 235

It is a step in the right direction, but it still has the range bug, so it is useless vs anything that is not melee.

attack bugs fixed

Now they work great. I have not figured out how useful they are yet, but they seem to be a viable alternative to Infestors. They can massacre mass T infantry (a useful trait), and they are a joy to watch vs lings (to pwn noobs). Not very useful vs toss though, except vs zealot massing noobs maybe. Though they need to be excessively persistent with zealots to allow you to go T2.

Lurker are way overpowered, now. Some roach queen (till 3 gas) with 4-5 Lurker behind is unstoppable without T3 units or mass air. On top, the queens snipe the observer. Zerg is kinda broken right now. Definitely need to increase the cost - 275 seems the minimum.

changes: price: 265
upgrades from +3+3+3 -> +2+2+2

pls tell me if its still op, havent much time to play atm...

thx for your feedback x)

I have not found it overpowered at all, in fact it is mostly not worth it at all, and instead an infestor is much better cost wise. Toss can easily counter it with the usual Archon + Immortal midgame (if observer dying is a problem, get 1 scout, it will get focused instead of the obs, or just scan when your units are about to hit the lurkers). It is nigh-useless versus Terran (especially now with the cost increase), and moderately useful vs zerg (Infestors, which are a bit OP are still preferable).

Zerg is broken because of BL + Infestor + Queen. Protoss has no chance versus this due to BLs constantly spawning units and keeping the toss army immobile and wasting incredible amount of damage on them. Infestor on the other hand slaughters terran effortlessly, or hold toss some more in place.

I have only seen Lurkers really change the game once, when somebody tech-rushed for them (they are actually useful later on unlike DTs), but this can easily be countered by having a terran teammate and scanning, or techrushing yourself to T2.

I was just going to say before the patch that Infestors are still the much better choice versus anything. Now with this patch Lurkers will become really UP again.

i dont think lurkers should be an alternative too infestors.
lurkers work against units that have lower ange then themselves
(because of line-splash)

also: infestors are the choice against most things (i wouldn't actually mind if they were more expensive)
because fungal is damn strong, we dont need a unit that's as strong as infestors.

well the relation to dt's is flawed

dt's
-> have lower hp
-> fight in the first line
-> do no splash
-> don't actually outrange most t2 units

also lurkers burrow makes ur dps mor concentrated,
instead of stretched in a long line

Zee wrote:

Zerg is broken because of BL + Infestor + Queen. Protoss has no chance versus this due to BLs constantly spawning units and keeping the toss army immobile and wasting incredible amount of damage on them.

are u sure that this has nothing to do, with all toss air having a habbit fighting ground units asap?

(scouts messed up attackorder, voids by their nature, phoenixes by messed up casting behaviour)
if only scout phoenixe would focus down all air units like corrupters, it would be a pain to deal with.

and why out of all zerg units the queen? it's not like zerg has roach hydra which is very powerul throughout its entire buildup

i also consider zerg really strong, but that doesn't rely all on BL-infestor

i will add u, so we can do few rounds sometime this week.

Well I mostly found lurkers useful in ZvZ, as they are decent at killing both Roaches and Zerglings. Versus toss it is not really good vs anything. It has low DPS and toss units are large enough that the splash does not really matter. Immortals counter them harder than a rock, and Archons can be considered a soft counter. Now versus T, I actually found them useful when they costed 235, as they worked down infantry decently. I tried a few times if they come any close to the efficiency to Infestors, and the answer is a resounding no. This was the reason I compared them.

The problem it has is that the DPS is very low. It'd be useful if units would line up for the attack, but they don't usually do this. This is the same problem the Hellion has. The only unit that comes in the right formation for these is pretty much the Zergling, and there are a thousand other reasons why Zerglings are not even close to being useful anyway (besides as escorts for banelings)

About Queen: it is not broken by itself. Although it is kind of hard for Protoss to deal with them, it is still possible. Due to it's cost it is not useful as a starting unit. The problem with them, is their perfect synergy with the BL+Infestor combo, as they keep units away from the BLs, and heal BLs. This is why it is mostly a laughing matter when T tries to counter BLs with Vikings (besides Vikings being horribly cost-ineffective). Fungal + Queens will just eradicate them, and any damage they might do to BLs will be healed back.

Broodlord: the problem is that it constantly spawns units that are not ignored (like Interceptors are) without any mana cost or anything, from a whooping 9.5 range. While Terrans usually have marines/reapers that have smart firing and can relatively efficiently get rid of broodlings, Protoss has no such units, except the Carrier, which are now the least cost effective units in the game maybe. Getting an 590 unit to mitigate the damage from a 475 unit is anything but a good trade (and you need multiple Carriers to effectively clean up after Broodlords). The problem is, this, combined with fungal, which pretty much negates T infantry and stops any advance attempt on the Broodlords make for a very godlike army.

The new nerf seems ok to me. Now it is a true choice between Infestor or Lurker as support unit (If you do not want to go straight to BL). And it is enough time to counter them properly.
Before if you had enough queens in front even Immortals died to the Lurker cause queens survive too long.


OT: I don't think BL are op - key is to handle the Broodlings so some Colossi or Helions (if not enough marines) do the trick. Voidray/BC handle Coruptor efficient. If too mutch Queens High Templar or Gosts counter them.

having played some rounds since the nerf,
I'm having a few thoughts on the lurker:

general concept:
7 range +burrow +splash +200hp
it makes them the last to be focused in a zerg force,
that's when many high dps units allready died (marine, zergling, roach, zlot, ...)
-> i just cant come to like the concept
-> they're by any means not like infestors, they do damage over time

queen+lurker
have seen this pulled of quite often now,
and tbh ... its just ridiculous:
- it stops t1 rushes (i'm actually talking of none gas rushes here!)
- theres barely an efficient counter:
-> what is good at harming queens? marines, roaches, zerglings, ghosts, ... oh wait about all of them take splash from lurkers
- even if queens die, theres most likely the next wave allready close
-> lurkers stack incredibly well (thats an ability that usually t3 units have -> they are alive for 2 or 3 waves)
- it forces t2 due to burrow, thereby the t2-investment u did becomes negligibel

i never found zee's queen+bl to be scary, as the player pulling this,
will be pretty weak due to t3 and 2 pretty expensive units, lurker queen however is way faster
----------

tl,dr
lurkers concept should be rethought
how about giving queens the armored or light armor rating?
-> read my post then discuss :/

Actually i've also seen some nicely used lurker starters. They remind me of DT starters with toss, but actually they are useful unlike that. Also I came to terms with the nerf, as Lurkers gain critical mass FAST.

Lurker based strategies seem to mostly be dangerous versus standard terran. TvZ was already pretty Z favored, and while Infestor FG-s were partially beatable by massing medivacs, a critical mass of 5+ lurkers is quite a lot worse. Marauders are a solution, but they die to queens, and become useless with the inevitable approach of Broodlords (seriously NERF them).

What worked for me is the following:
- std marine+marauder(+reapers as necessary) opening. Scan to kill lurkers (20 mineral per wave is affordable to keep the middle income, they are behind anyway as they teched). Stim is not needed at this point.
- T2 quickly, add 1-2 Ghosts and Ravens with PDD. Ghosts to EMP queens. There will be a few waves when your ravens die to queens, scan to solve it. Stim soon becomes necessary to quickly get rid of queens before your infantry evaporates to Lurkers. Add medivacs (good extra targets), and research air armor +1 to give some extra survivability to infantry.

Toss seems to be partially immune to this strategy. Zealots are useless anyway (besides PvP), Stalkers do not get hurt much by the splash, and as soon as you see 1 lurker, you can insta-tech to T2 for Archons, Immortals and scan. Although you should just quit PvZ (as soon as you see BLs) since you cannot win vs well supported Broodlords unless you have a massive eco advantage (held the line for all game) and smart allies. You can hope for them to be stupid and go something EZPZ like Ultra+Ling, or add creep (it f*cks up queen+lurker big time).

ZvZ is pretty much the same deal as PvZ when countering Lurkers. T2 ASAP to get scan, and just hold the line with Roach+Hydra (beats Queen+Lurker any day). ZvZ is pretty much about whoever gets the first Broodlord while holding the line wins.

Sorry I whine so much about Broodlords, but I seem to be more and more put off from this game because of them (rather play Nexus Wars instead for fun). I play random and now I DREAD being a Protoss.

Back to topic:

I have no real good easy solution for the lurker problem. One could be to enable scans for everyone at the beginning with no unit requirement. The other could be a Queen/Hydralisk swap, but this could make ZvP even more imbalanced to begin with.

Zerg seems to be too powerful anyway, the only reason I dislike being rolled as Zerg is because my stupid Zerg allies get Overlords (if no Zerg ally, then it's EZ win time, unless both my allies are horrendous).

Quote :

Lurker based strategies seem to mostly be dangerous versus standard terran.

I quite disagree, terran is the only race which is not forced going t2 when they see lurkers,
therefor terran can take the middle.

Quote :

Although you should just quit PvZ (as soon as you see BLs) since you cannot win vs well supported Broodlords

Thats not an issue of the broodlords, its an issue of none toss air going for them
-> when does scout behaviour and phoenix behaviour get fixed?!?
i've seen equvivalent with vikings:
-theres broodlords, overseer and medivacs (both behind the broodlords!!)
->vikings go after the overseer then thee medivacs and expose themselfes to queens and hydras
->fix aswell pls.

actually i wouldn't mind seeing bl's nerfed slightly though...
still i think the idea with the queen armor class is more urgent. (currently i think they should be light)

Quote :

I have no real good easy solution for the lurker problem. One could be to enable scans for everyone at the beginning with no unit requirement.

I still think it's a problem eith the lurker itself:
one idea of mine was the following: reduce minimum range to 3 or 4 while splash goes till 5 or 6
->lurkers have fucking 200hp + burrow, why shouldn't they act as tanky line?
->their concept for ds is just not the one of a supporting unit, which u get in amounts of 3-4 (unlike infestors)

Quote :

as Lurkers gain critical mass FAST

thats what usually only t3 units do (including sieged tanks).
also lurkers do that with quite a small ground protection

Quote :

I dislike being rolled as Zerg is because my stupid Zerg allies get Overlords

be nice to them and ask to remove them, or tell them at the start to not get them
(that usually works, period).

That unit is killing game, making lame and abuse.

Do something, or many peoples will stop to play it.

Changes:
Damage 20-> 18
Upgrade fix (+4/+0/+0)-> (+2/+2/+2)
Attack Icon removed

i don' think a bit less dmg make a differents is like a stealth colosi an t2 for only 265 mins with even better features than a colosi.
with a good zerg shield with for a t1-T2 teran or toss as zerg unbeatable you can (try a mirror buildwth faster go for air then the other zerg )
air do not focus them ater they kill the attaking ati air units and queens are great anti air. besides the lurker yust go for your teammates army after they kill your ground supply


i would change a few things
1. make them a t 3 unit are only really can stoped wit t3 units
2, reduce the range so they are behind the roahes and zerg and infront of the hydras and queens so a strong ground army maybe get them before they are all in red hp
3 make them costy like a colos i would say around 400 mins
4. make them second prority for ground attaking air units after the anti air so voids, banschee etc attak them after the queens, hydras etc are down and not go for the ramain roahes

This unit is absolutely broken in ZvT. It stops any sort of marine opening and in combination with queens the terran actually has to tech to air, but the only useful air to ground unit in the midgame are banshees which in turn are easily countered by queens (which the zerg has anyway) and corrupters (which the zerg builds anyway because of the standard lategame air transition. There is absolutely nothing terran can possibly build to kill queen/lurker that is not air-based, but the only useful air unit gets shut down by queens and corrupters.

This unit is actually broken and no balancing in the world can fix a unit that is a: invisible and b: has ridiculous splash damage - not in a game like desert strike simply because units clump so much, especially terran units.

I mean are you guys never playing this game? Every zerg opens up queen/lurker and terran always loses, I played both sides and zerg practically cannot lose to terran if they do queen/lurker into broodlord/corrupter/infestor, there is just nothing terran can build and the only unit that could kill lurkers gets killed by queens (cheaper) and a unit zerg will build anyway (corrupters). It is absolutely absurd, by the way, banshees are absolutely useless aswell.

Here is why: They lose to most Tier1 ground to air units (stalkers, marines, queens) cost for cost and they can't shoot air which in turn results in them being absolutely useless in the lategame when its mass ground battles, they insta-die to thors, fungal or just about any other ground to air attack (incl storm, etc..). Banshees are bad early game, bad mid game and absolutely useless lategame. WHy would anyone ever build this unit? Absolutely stupid.

The balance of desert strike at this point is horrible, you should really consider removing the lurker and give zerg a different unit instead and fix the banshee in a way that its actually not useless..