Some brainstorming for Zagara’s honestly quite bland talent tree (c’mon Blizz, don’t be shy. Give our resident momma some new toys)
Level 1
- [Removed] Infest
- [Adjusted Functionality] Volatile Acid
Banelings deal 20% additional damage to Minions, Monsters, and Mercenaries. Enemy Heroes hit take 25 damage over 6 seconds. This damage stacks up to 4 times. - [New Talent] Apex Predator
Quest: Each Basic Attack against enemy Heroes increases Hunter Killer’s Health by 1.5 and Zagara’s Health by 3, stacking up to 150 times.
Reward: After reaching 150 stacks, Zagara’s and Hunter Killer’s Basic Attacks reveal enemies.
Comment: Infest is a rather bland talent so its PvE, split pushing capabilities are moved and front-loaded into Volatile Acid that’s been recently over nerfed. The damage over time effect is to add a little bit more spice to the talent against Heroes. Apex Predator is added to give Zagara an alternative build of Corpse Feeder for battle Zagara. The Health increase should help with Zagara’s squishiness especially if she’s going to be Basic Attacking a lot.
Level 7
- [Removed] Baneling Massacre
- [New Talent] Rupture
Increase Baneling’s splash radius by 25%. The primary target hit receives 30% more damage. Enemy Heroes that die within 1.5 seconds of being hit by Baneling Barrage explode to deal 80 damage to nearby enemies. - [Additional Functionality] Viscous Acid
If Infested Drop hits an enemy Hero Slowed by Baneling Barrage, they are Rooted for 0.75 seconds. - [Additional and Adjusted Functionality] Bile Drop
Passive: Increase the impact radius of Infested Drop by 20%
Quest: Enemy Heroes hit by Infested Drop’s impact increases its impact damage by 10, stacking up to 12 times.
Reward: Upon reaching 12 stacks, Infested Drop spawns an additional Roach
Comment: Baneling Massacre is a lackluster talent, especially after those nerfs. So instead of working around it, I opted to just remove it outright and replace it with Rupture. Rupture should help with Q build’s damage and poke output. The additional component of Viscous Acid is just to add more of a direct in-battle threat during fights if the enemies are not vigilant of her drop pods. Plus this gives her a modest CC to increase her utility in teams a bit. These 2 still compete with Bile Drop which has been given back its damage increase component just to make the progression more rewarding.
Level 13
- [Renamed and Adjusted Functionality] Brood Transfusion
Zagara’s Basic Attacks heal her for 10% of the damage dealt. Hunter Killer’s Attacks Heal Zagara for 1.5% of her maximum health. Roaches heal Zagara for 1% of her maximum Health. - [Adjusted and Additional Functionality] Protective Coating
Zagara gains 10 Armor. While on Creep, increase this Armor by 20 and Zagara regenerates 36 Health per second. - [Removed] Spell Shield
- [New Talent] Active - Mother of Construct
Cooldown 30 seconds. Activate to grant Zagara and her Summons a Shield equal to 20% of Zagara’s maximum Health and while Shielded, Zagara’s Basic Attacks extend her Summons’ duration by 0.125 seconds.
Comment: Spell Shield was a generic talent and I personally think generic talents should be reworked to suit the hero better. Mother of Construct is an homage to her co-op commander counterpart in SC2. This boosts battle Zagara and especially by giving her modest protection during fights. Protective Coating has been reworked to be less dependent on creep and has been given a passive regeneration component to boost Zagara’s sustain. Hydralisk Transfusion has been extended to cover herself and her Roaches as well and renamed accordingly. This tier should open up her survivability option a bit more.
Level 16
- [Removed] Jagged Barbs
- [New Talent] Impaler Strain
Zagara gains 0.5 additional Basic Attack Range, while on creep increase this by an additional 0.6 Range and Basic Attacks deal 25% more damage.
Passive: Upon spawning, Hunter Killer and Roaches are Stealthed and Unrevealable for the first 25% of their duration even if they attack enemies.
Comment: Jagged Barbs is too creep dependent, so I took this opportunity to introduce a brand new talent to bring a little bit more flavour and competition to Corrosive Saliva. The previous functionality of Jagged barbs has been fused partially and the Stealth component is so that it can compete with Corrosive Saliva.
Level 20
- [Removed] Broodmother
- [New Talent] Scourge Queen
Every 3rd Basic Attack launches a Baneling towards Zagara’s target enemy. Every 12th Basic Attack drops a Zerg Drop Pod on the targeted enemy.
Passive: Hunter Killer no longer expires, but is limited to only 1. Zagara and Hunter Killer gain 10% permanent Attack Speed.
Comment: Broodmother wasn’t terrible, it was just not fitting for a level 20 talent. This alternative would cater to Zagara players who want to feel even more Swarmy but still be contributing to fights.
Anyway, those are my ideas with little consideration for balance. I do think that Zagara needs a proper rework, but I’d settle for some talent adjustments. I’m interested to see what you all think?