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GameSpot's Guide to Starcraft

Devourer (new)

Overview
A large, heavily armored aerial support weapon whose slow but powerful air-to-air attack is designed not only to severely damage its target, but to coat all surrounding units in armor-eating acid that temporarily makes its targets suffer more damage each time they are hit.

How It Has Changed
The Devourer is a new, previously unavailable genetic strain.

Devourer

Recommended Uses
Supporting Mutalisks against all enemy air units. Screening Mutalisks from damage.

Further Detail
The Devourer is by far the hardiest Zerg flying unit, and is second only to the Ultralisk in sheer hit points. It is genetically engineered to support the Mutalisk in air-to-air combat, and is only marginally effective without its smaller cousin, because of its terribly slow rate of attack. The Devourer's corrosive acid has a long range and inflicts significant damage to the target, but the acid's true power lies with its ancillary effects. Although only the Devourer's target takes damage, it and all adjacent enemy air units are splashed with purple acid spores. Up to nine acid spores may be affixed to a target (use nine Devourers to attack at once), and each acid spore reduces the afflicted unit's armor rating by one, and reduces its rate of attack by one eighth. Armor may be reduced past zero. The combined effect is that, after nine acid spores, the afflicted targets will attack at less than half their normal rate, and will be dealt nine points of extra damage with every attack.

It just so happens that acid spores work very well in conjunction with the Mutalisk's Glave Wurm attack. The acid spore armor reduction affects all three hits, such that each Glave Wurm hit receives the damage bonus. Thus, with the Devourer's help, not only can Mutalisks deal tremendous damage to groups of heavily armored targets like Terran Battlecruisers, but they can also last a lot longer against them, thanks to the attack rate reduction. What's more, the Devourers themselves will ideally absorb the enemy's first wave of firepower, allowing the Mutalisks to close in for the kill unscathed. The Devourer and Mutalisk combination is made all the more effective by the Queen's Ensnare ability, and although this combination is somewhat difficult to coordinate, its effects are utterly devastating. Use this trio together with Guardians to mount an indefensible all-purpose aerial siege.

hit points (size)	250 (large)
build time	40
vision	10
cost (minerals / vespene gas / control)	150 / 50 / 2
damage (type) / bonus	25 (explosive) / +2
attack range / cooldown	6 / 100
armor / bonus	2 / +1

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Next: The Zerg Units, continued
 

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