OMG StarCraft.com

The following is a list of units that aren't making it into StarCraft II at this point in the development. Blizzard isn't even close to a Beta test and hasn't done extensive balance testing yet so some of these units may be resurrected and put back into the game and some of the units I've included in the various previews may be cut.

A few units that I believe are on the verge of being cut are the Thor and the Mothership. Both certainly need refining; especially the Mothership's spell abilities. Blizzard says they have toned down the shields and HP and made the Mothership's price relative to its endurance but with its spells unchanged the Mothership is still more or less an automatic "you win" unit.

Read on to find out what units won't be making the cut...

Protoss:

Soul Hunter: This was an infantry unit that is good vs. other infantry units. When it killed a unit its weapon became more powerful and the beam visually grew on screen. When its weapon reached maximum it devastated other infantry units. I guess Blizzard just couldn't find enough usefulness for the unit to keep it in the game. It's alright in theory, but probably better that it was cut from the game. When dealing with infantry you usually want something with a fast rate of attack or area effect damage.

Reaver: This is a sore spot for a lot of Protoss players. During Brood War the Reaver acted as the Protoss heavy artillery. Mini bombs with a mind of their own called Scarabs would be sent from the Reaver scurrying across the ground eventually finding the intended target and exploding on impact causing a lot of damage. The scarabs could be released from long range and thus the Reaver was a deadly ranged unit. It is being replaced by the massive Colossus unit which appears, for at least the time being, to be more ominous and deadly.

Tempest: This was more or less a dark carrier unit similar to the Protoss Carrier from the original games. The only difference was Blizzard made the Tempest's shields very strong against ground attacks but non-existent against air attacks and changed the name of the drones it launched from Interceptors to Shirkens. I don't think this unit will be missed at all since Blizzard is probably still keeping the original Carrier in the game. There is no need to replace it and certainly no need to have two of the same unit.

Photon Cannon: This Protoss defensive base structure fired balls of photon energy at both ground and air units but had fairly weak shields and armor. It is being replaced by the Phase Cannon which is similar only has the added ability of being able to morph into a ball of energy and relocate to anywhere within Protoss Psi energy fields. This gives the Phase Cannon the possibility of being used as an offensive as well as defensive weapon and is a welcome addition to the arsenal.

Terran:

Firebat: I know, I know, it's still a sore subject for you but give the Marauder a chance, maybe you'll like it, or who knows maybe Blizzard will hate the Marauder and resurrect the Firebat. A flame throwing infantry unit from the original games, the Firebat was a great tier 1.5 unit that helped support the popular Marine and Medic combo. Now being replaced with a unit called the Marauder, which boasts twin concussion grenade launchers that slow the movement of enemy biological units, the Firebat will be sorely missed.

Cobra: This is a Terran unit that was cool in theory but in practice just didn't hold its own. I believe the Cobra was to replace the Vulture from the original games since both units were extremely similar, perhaps the reason why the Cobra was inevitably cut was because of the similarities of the two. The Cobra was a hover tank that could fire on the move making it good at taking down slower units like Colossi and Thor, it could also fire ground-to-air to defend from air attack. I don't see this unit making it back into SCII unless the Vulture is removed first.

Predator: The Predator was going to be an air superiority fighter and possibly take the place of the Wraith, however I believe when Blizzard introduced the Viking into the mix they decided having the Predator and Viking both in the game was a bit redundant. The Predator was shown in a few Blizzard demos as a good unit to protect the slower Terran Battlecruisers from air-to-air attacks as well as ground-to-air since they had point defense lasers that would destroy most incoming missiles. The Wraith in all likelihood is still in the game; there has been no new information that would prove otherwise.

• << prev
• next >>