Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void cinematic, new multiplayer units and changes

Blizzard just unveiled the Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void cinematic and it looks every bit as awesome as I hoped it would. The epic conclusion of the trilogy will be all about the Protoss and their struggle to reclaim their home world of Aiur while also preparing for the impending return of the Xel’Naga Amon. The cinematic translates this perfectly and does an excellent job at putting us in the shoes of the Protoss when there’s so much resting on their shoulders. Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void will feature all of our favorite characters from the Starcraft universe, including Zeratul, Kerrigan, and Raynor, as well as Artanis who seems to play a crucial role in the events of the campaign.

As for the multiplayer component, Blizzard announced new units for each race along with several new additions and changes to the overall game. Among these we find the Archon game mode which allows two players to share control over a single base and Allied Commanders, a new campaign-style objective based co-op mode. Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void will also feature Automated Tournaments at long last. The tournaments will take place once a day at specific times and anyone can join the fray regardless of their league. Game modes aside, Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void comes with a couple of interesting changes to the multiplayer such as the fact that players will now start with 12 workers and you only need 12 workers instead of 16 to mine at maximum efficiency. Also, there are now only 1000 minerals per patch instead of 1500 which means that players are pretty much forced to expand faster than before.

While Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void is focused on the Protoss, they arguably got the short stick in multiplayer as only one new unit was added for them. This unit is called the Distruptor and acts like a mobile land mine that can become invulnerable for a few seconds. The Terran receive two new units in the form of the Cyclone and the Herc. The Cyclone is a very mobile unit that can lock onto a target in order to deal more damage to it. Also, it can shoot while moving. As for the Herc, this is a new Barack unit that can grapple onto a target to get into close range and deal splash damage over a small radius. The Zerg also get two new units in Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void and one of them is an old fan favorite that hardly needs an introduction: the Lurker. The other new unit is called the Ravager and is by far the strangest new addition. The Ravager morphs from a Roach and can literally call down fireballs to a specific area. This unit seems to have been build specifically to counter Protoss armies with lots of Sentries as it can destroy force fields thus rendering the Sentry all but useless.

Finally, Blizzard announced that Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void will be a standalone expansion, which means that you will not need Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm to play it. No news on a possible release date though. The Beta testing phase will begin very soon and Blizzard has already opened the registrations. You can sign up for the Starcraft 2: Legacy of the Void Beta here. Also, make sure you check out the game’s epic cinematic below.