Izsha is one of the only major zerg characters left that has not been included in the game, serving as primary advisor to Kerrigan and the adjutant substitute for the Swarm. Izsha has been a hotly debated topic within the forum community, as she is attached to the leviathan. I wanted to find a way to make her “combat equipped” while not just giving her a serpent body.
In HotS, Izsha is a special defense based support, attaching to forts to heal them while sending out her mobile buildings outwards to hold down areas, or defend her attached fort. Izsha utilizes drones in her playstyle primarily, and brings the defensive zerg structures into the game in a unique, highly complex manner. Each of her talent tiers only upgrade a single ability, forcing diversity of her structure conformations.
Universe: Starcraft
Role: Support
Sensory Grafting
Z (Mount) – 360 sec Cooldown
Izsha starts the game grafted to the core. The fort, keep, or core she is grafted to heals by 0.5% of its maximum health every second, which quadruples to 2% after 4 seconds of not taking damage. If the structure that Izsha is grafted to is killed, so is Izsha. Izsha can manually control her grafted fort. Upon activation, Izsha chooses either a fort, keep, or the core and grafts onto it.(Drone/Crawler) When controlling a drone or crawler, using this ability instantly deselects the currently controlled unit.
Explanation: Sensory Grafting provides Izsha a body on the battlefield without making her like Abathur. She is far more structure based, and once she chooses a structure, she must stick with it.
Drones
Trait (Passive)
Every 10 seconds, Izsha spawns an egg at the base of her grafted structure which incubates over 4 seconds and then hatches into a Drone. This Drone can be controlled using the D, Q, W, or E keys. Izsha can have up to 4 drones at a time. While controlling a drone, Izsha’s abilities change and she can manually control its movement. Drones have 220 (+4% per level) health. Izsha will only start to spawn a drone egg when she has less than four drones and/or Crawlers active. While controlling a Crawler, Izsha can manually select their attack targets.
Explanation: Drones provide Izsha with punishment to being reckless with her structures, making it devastating to lose all of her structures. [b]Drones provide the core of her character. Drones and Crawlers give minor experience on death, and can soak experience at ¼ the rate.
Spine Crawler
Q (None)
Izsha commands her current drone to morph into a Spine Crawler at its current location after a 2 second morph time, which last infinitely. Selecting the Spine Crawler grants Izsha a new set of abilities. The Spine Crawler has 640 (+4% per level) health and attacks nearby enemies once every 1.00 seconds, dealing 110 (+4% per level) damage. Spine Crawlers have 5.5 range. While Spine Crawlers are near Izsha’s grafted structure, they gain 20 Armor.
Explanation: Spine Crawlers provide the frontline for Izsha’s structures, adding extra bulk over damage to soak up enemy minions and mercenaries. They have small ranges, and, being immobile, can easily be harassed from long range spells and heroes.
Spore Crawler
W (None)
Izsha commands her current drone to morph into a Spore Crawler at its current location after a 2 second morph time, which last infinitely. Selecting the Spore Crawler grants Izsha a new set of abilities. The Spore Crawler has 425 (+4% per level) health and attacks enemies once every 1.00 seconds, dealing 134 (+4% per level) damage in a 1.25 unit area after a 1 second delay. Spore Crawlers have 10 range. While Spine Crawlers are near Izsha’s grafted structure, they deal a baseline 168 (+4% per level) damage instead.
Explanation: Spore Crawlers provide zoning and damage, able to quickly clear waves and harass enemies from safety. Their attacks can be dodged with attention, similarly to Siege golems.
Spray Crawler
E (None)
Izsha commands her current drone to morph into an Spray Crawler at its current location after a 2 second morph time, which last infinitely. Selecting the Spray Crawler grants Izsha a new set of abilities. The Spray Crawler has 300 (+4% per level) health and sprays gas every 2 seconds, healing minions, mercenaries, Spine Crawlers and Spore Crawlers with 5 range by 85 (+4% per level). While Spray Crawlers are near Izsha’s grafted structure, they heal both Izsha’s grafted structure as well as all other allied structures in its area.
Explanation: Spray Crawlers provide the healing and assistance to her other Crawlers, allowing her to heal them up over time, as well as heal enemy minions to push a lane faster. This also provides her with potent structural healing, basically giving her a passive MULE if she posts herself at a structure.
(Crawler) Root/Uproot
Q (None)
Izsha commands her currently selected Crawler to either root while uprooted or uproot while rooted. While uprooted, the Crawler can move but cannot attack or heal. Rooting and Uprooting is a 1.5 second channel.
Explanation: Crawlers must take time to set up for an attack or hold an area, just like in the real game. Attacking them with they are uprooted can be advantageous.
(Crawler) Deconstruct
E (None)
Izsha commands her currently selected Crawler to begin to deconstruct over 3 seconds, ending its life after the 3 seconds. If it lasted the full three seconds, her next Drone’s delay before spawning is reduced by 3 seconds.
Explanation: Deconstruct allows Izsha to be flexible with her structures, but Drones limits her flexibility so that she can not just instantly change up her combinations.
Leviathan Bombardment
Heroic #1 (90 sec Cooldown)
Izsha calls upon Kerrigan’s personal Leviathan upon the battlefield, which targets all enemy heroes every 1.5 seconds for 12 seconds, shooting down a spine at the targeted location after a 1.5 second delay, dealing 115 (+4% per level) damage and slowing the enemy by 20% for 4 seconds, which stacks up to 80%.
Explanation: Since Izsha is immobile, both of her heroics are global. Leviathan Bombardment offers global disruption, forcing her enemies to stay moving or suffer constant damage and be slowed. If comboed with hard CC from allies, this can be disastrous.
We Are the Swarm
Heroic #2 (160 sec Cooldown)
Izsha calls upon the horrors of the Swarm upon the battlefield, causing the skies to blacken for 8 seconds, reducing enemy vision radius’s by 20%, and causing them to lose allied vision more than 40 units away from them. Izsha can secretly denote three target areas within the first 3 seconds and the shadows of Overlords will float overhead after a 3 second delay, dropping 6 Zerglings and 4 Hydralisks on the area which rush down the nearest lane, attacking nearby enemies and prioritizing enemy Heroes. If enemies are hit by the dropping of the zerg, they are feared for 2 seconds.
Explanation: We Are the Swarm offers Izsha a different route to her global pressure, allowing her to instead surprise enemies with a push on an unprotected base. If used while an objective is being contested, Izsha can assist her allies with reduced vision, and assault a base with her own little zerg rush.
Tier 1
• Organic Hunters: Spine Crawlers deal 50% increased damage to mercenaries and minions, and take 50% less damage from non-heroic sources. In addition, they can now capture mercenary camps, and are healed for 50% of their maximum health upon doing so.
• Debilitating Venom: Enemies damaged by Spine Crawlers are slowed by 25% for 1 second. This can refresh, but cannot stack.
• Abduct: This is an active ability in the W slot of the Spine Crawler. (Active) Lurch forward at a target enemy within 5 range, pulling that enemy back to the Spine Crawler. If it is a minion or mercenary, it is stunned for 5 seconds. 20 second cooldown.
Tier 2
• Infectious Bulbs: Spore Crawlers’ attacks have a 50% increased radius, and deal 100% of their damage again over 2 seconds.
• Aerodynamic Spores: Increases the range of Spore Crawlers by 3 and reduces the delay before the attack lands by .25 seconds. Spore Crawlers will now prioritize Heroes.
• Bile Shot: This is an active ability in the W slot of the Spore Crawler. (Active) Denote a .75 unit radius area within 18 range. After 1.5 seconds, any enemy in that area is dealt 425 (+4% per level) damage. 20 second cooldown.
Tier 3
• Terrazine Infusions: Allied minions and mercenaries hit by the Spray Crawler gain 10% increased attack speed, movement speed, and damage. This can stack three times.
• Reconfigured Transfusion: Spray Crawlers can now heal allied heroes as well.
• Biomatrix: This is an active ability in the W slot of the Spray Crawler. (Active) Grant all Crawlers within 6 units a 500 (+4% per level) health shield for 4 seconds. 20 second cooldown.
Tier 4
• Leviathan Bombardment: Izsha calls upon Kerrigan’s personal Leviathan upon the battlefield, which targets all enemy heroes every 1.5 seconds for 12 seconds, shooting down a spine at the targeted location after a 1.5 second delay, dealing 115 (+4% per level) damage and slowing the enemy by 20% for 4 seconds, which stacks up to 80%.
• We Are the Swarm: Izsha calls upon the horrors of the Swarm upon the battlefield, causing the skies to blacken for 8 seconds, reducing enemy vision radius’s by 20%, and causing them to lose allied vision more than 40 units away from them. Izsha can secretly denote three target areas within the first 3 seconds and the shadows of Overlords will float overhead after a 3 second delay, dropping 6 Zerglings and 4 Hydralisks on the area which rush down the nearest lane, attacking nearby enemies and prioritizing enemy Heroes. If enemies are hit by the dropping of the zerg, they are feared for 2 seconds.
Tier 5
• Infested Building: Izsha can now use Sensory Grafting on destroyed buildings, creating a 1200 (+4% per level) health building in its place. Every 12 seconds, three infested are spawned that will walk down the lane and push as if normal melee minions, being 50% stronger than melee minions.
• Spore Launchers: When Izsha uses Sensory Grafting on an allied structure, it’s vision range increases by 100% and it can see over terrain. In addition, it gains three independent spore launchers around its base at all times. These Spore launchers have 700 (+4% per level) health and fire upon enemies within the structure’s vision radius (acting as a Siege Ogre’s attack). These attacks deal 88 (+4% per level) damage to enemies hit.
• Reliving Structure: Izsha’s healing done by Sensory Grafting and Spray Crawlers to structures is increased by 100%. In addition, Izsha can use Sensory Grafting on destroyed allied forts and keeps, causing her to become vulnerable on the field with 300 (+4% per level) health. Every .5 seconds, the destroyed structure has its health restored by 2.5%, and upon reaching full health, it is reformed, and Izsha attaches to it normally.
Tier 6
• Terror Claw: Spine Crawlers are 20% larger, and all enemy minions and mercenaries around them are constantly taunted to them. For each Spore Crawler nearby, it slows the attack speed of enemy Heroes within 6 range by 10%, and for each Spray Crawler nearby, it heals for 15% of the damage it deals.
• Bleakened Skypiercer: Spore Crawlers gain 50% increased attack speed. For each Spine Crawler nearby, it deals 15% increased damage, and for each Spray Crawler nearby, it reduces hit enemy heroes’ damage dealt by 20% for 2 seconds, stacking up to 2 times.
• Fertile Blemish: Spray Crawlers can continue to heal while Uprooted, but the delay between heals is doubled. For each Spine Crawler nearby, allies healed gain a shield equal to 25% of the amount, and for each Spore Crawler nearby, it reduces the healing received of nearby enemies hit by 20% for 3 seconds, not stacking but refreshing.
Tier 7
• Drop Pods: When an enemy hero is successfully hit by Leviathan Bombardment, a drop pod is sent down at their location, which forms into a Spine Crawler. This Spine Crawler operates independently, and dies automatically after 8 seconds.
• We are Unending: We Are the Swarm permanently and passive causes causing enemy heroes to lose allied vision more than 40 units away from them. Izsha can still activate the ability to donate locations to place her zerg and reduce their vision radius, and it has a 15% reduced cooldown.
• Universal Presence: Sensory Grafting’s cooldown is decreased by 50%, and all Crawlers gain 10% increased movement speed.
• Queen’s Guard: (Active) Izsha summons a Spine Crawler, Spore Crawler, and a Spray Crawler at the target location in a triangular pattern, disregarding Izsha’s Drone limit. The summoned Crawlers operate independently, and cannot use their abilities. Every .5 seconds, the Crawler loses 5% of its maximum health, until destroyed. 90 second Cooldown.
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