Recently I got Zagara to P3. And while I was leveling I was initially most excited to get Scourge Queen and Apex predator most. However when I got to P2, I found it substantially more powerful then I expecting even at max level with masteries maxed out. So powerful in fact that it seems to outshine P1 to a degree. Not by much, but enough that its noticable. However I was noticing that most people seem to prefer P1 over the other two prestiges. I saw a poll that showed most people prefer P1 here.
(Sourcelink)https://www.reddit.com/r/starcraft2coop/comments/r055i2/which_zagara_prestige_is_the_strongest/
More people voted P0 to be more powerful then P2 even. So I thought this would make for an interesting discussion. Here is my arguments for why I think P2 is more powerful then P1.
- Abberation Spam is better then mass baneling spam in (most) situations.
The thing about P2 Abberations is that they have about the same health as an ultralisk, move faster, have much better health regeneration, take up less space and only cost about a third of what ultralisks cost when using P2 and you can start making them as soon as you have a lair which.
- Being able to use Zagara makes up for the lack of extra 50 supply+free banes and scourge
Although its true with P1 you can get free banelings in scourge, with P2 you get access to Zagara which allows you to use banelings barrage and spawn hunter killers as well as frenzy. As well as the extra damage and tanking Zagara can do. If you do the math then with Zagara, you are generating more banes then you would with P1 and hunter killers can be used to make up for the lack of scourge. This is provided the one is actually using the abilities. Plus hunter killers can attack both ground and air. And frenzy means more banes will connect during engagements. Plus the banelings and hunters killers Zagara spawns don’t cost supply as well as Zagara herself.
- Corruptors are not as bad as they seem at first.
Especially with 50% extra health and regeneration. Now I will concede that scourge can kill clusters of air units faster. This is true, but you need to make more when die and you can use Zagara and hunter killers to help with air units in P2. Zagara’s corruptors can also apply a debuff that boosts damage vs targets. They may not be able to kill as fast, but they can do enough damage to be super good in sustained fights to not need to be replaced.
- Abberations and Corruptors drop banelings and scourge when killed.
This means that if you decide to mass a bunch of Abberations and Corruptors then you are looking at an extra 2 banelings and scourge per unit killed. Typically when playing P1 you don’t mass abberations and corruptors. So P1 players wouldn’t really benefit from this.
That sums up my reasons for why I think that Zagara P2 is generally better. Although with mutations like propagators is not a good idea to go that. In regards to Zagara P3. I haven’t used it enough to know how good it is, but I do know it has a much higher skill requirement then the other 2. I personally don’t think Zagara P3 fits well with Zagara as a prestige since its not very swarmy. To me it would fit Dehaka better. Tell me what you think about this.
2 Likes
The simplest answer is: P1 is simply the easiest prestige to play, build 5 hatch, bane and scourgenest, press f2 and repeat until mission is finished.
Is it the strongest?
It is strong on his own way, however Zagara is one of the commanders which the effectivity of prestiges is determined by the mutation.
2 Likes
If nothing else, some folk are more skittish at having permanent hero units. Nova and Dehaka can instant revive, but Zagara’s one of them that have a 1 minute cd. You can typically recover from that, but it can cost you in some cases
2 Likes
While I think thats a contributing factor, I think Scourge Queens popularity also has to do with just the playstyle. It very much fits Zagara’s swarmy commander playstyle. P2 does too though. Just in a different way. However you could also say the same thing about P2. With P2 pretty much all you have to do once you have an evolution chamber and lair is spamm abberations and corruptors as weell as use Zagara’s abilities. At least with general play. Of course for more advanced play there needs to be more thought put into micro.
If nothing else, some folk are more skittish at having permanent hero units. Nova and Dehaka can instant revive, but Zagara’s one of them that have a 1 minute cd. You can typically recover from that, but it can cost you in some cases
Yes. I know I have met people who would rather coop did not have any heroes and it just all be army based. I am not one of those people however I do think things were taken a bit to far with Tychus. Tychus feels so moba like because all his units are heroes units.
Also, P1 has the natural advantage of coming first. Not all players will be able to have the time to level through P3.
1 Like
Yea. Leveling can take a while. Plus if you are someone who can’t play often the thought of having to reset a character could be too inconveniencing.
I decided to give P1 a try again and yea. I strongly feel P2 is stronger then P1 definitely. The problem with pure mass banelings or scourges is that you have to very frequently replace them which gets very expensive. However P2 Abberations are tanky enough that I found I was able to swarm the enemy with abberations and often have many of them left over to live. Near the end game I was floating in resources. Any abberations I lost would get replaced quickly and since each of them drop banelings when killed I get some aoe too. On Rifts of Korhal I was even able to kill the Void shards faster with corruptors that apply the debuff then scourge. My guess is that a lot of people simply overlook just how powerful P2 zagara is because they want to play more of a swarmy style. However I’d argue P2 is swarmy too. Just you swarm the enemy with a bunch of big bug like creatures rather then small ones.
Of course it should be noted then it depends on the mutation, but for normal brutal with no mutators then P2 seems better in almost every situation. Even in those that require a lot of air.
P2 is my favorite. I like it because of the staying power it provides with the tanky Abberations and Corruptors but I do acknowledge it doesn’t have the raw power P1 has, but on standard brutal games it gets the job done. It also kinda sucks vs. air comps so prepare to budget for some scourge as corruptors get outnumbered and overwhelmed easily esp. against zerg air or a phoenix comp.
P.S. I know it’s the aberration and corruptor prestige but people forget that zerglings apply an armor debuff too and so having a few on your army is good. Also, making some banelings vs. terran bio and zerg ground is also a good idea in the mid to late game. Abberations are tanky but are also easily overwhelmed and need splash damage support.
I disagree with the part about it being weaker. I’ve tied P1 and P2 a fair bit and the problem with baneling and scourge spam is that you frequently have to spend large swaths of resources to replace the units you have lost. With P2 you don’t have to replace stuff as often. Plus you get access to Zagara which gives you frenzy, hunter kills, dark skies and free banelings as well as Zagara herself to help. And corruptors are pretty good. And I also find it works better for most most mutations. There is a few though that it doesn’t work as well:
P1 works better with
- Propagators
- Killbots
- Double Edged
- Fatal attraction
P2 works better with pretty much every mutator, but especially the following:
- Blizzard
- Lava Bursts
- Concussive
- Heroes of the storm
- Avenger
I think a better explanation on my thoughts on P1 vs. P2 would be:
Do you need burst damage? Go P1.
If you need consistent damage Go P2.
I guess if you do average it out in theory P2’s total damage would equal P1 but I don’t have the time to crunch numbers.
1 Like
It’s worth noting that you can make Abs and Corruptors on P1 anyways.
The former is nice to shatter Force Fields from enemy Sentries (since your Lings and Banalings are all melee. And Zagara and her HKs aren’t around to dole out ranged damage). Abs also tank damage for the Lings and Bans.
The latter is nice to apply their ability to add +35% damage to targets (IIRC, doesn’t work on buildings, but nice where it applies), which lets your scourges and ally’s attacks go even further. They otherwise stick around to mop up any remaining air units.
.
Although rare, I have made Banalings to help burst down large crowds on P2. Feels “icky” to actually have to make Banalings, but at least her Lings coming 3-per-egg makes it that much cheaper.
Although its true you can make Abberations and Corruptors on P1, one must not forget that they are much less tanky, more expansive and don’t have the same health regeneration. Plus there is no Zagara. With enough micro, you can get more value out of spawning hunter killers banelings. And since Frenzy is available you can push engage with a 70% boost to movement and attack speed. This is no joke especially since it affects the ally. Plus the hunter killers, banelings and zagara herself don’t cost supply.
I make banelings sometimes when using P2 as well. Its not a bad idea to have a few to help break into enemy lines and add bit of extra burst. Especially when dealing with enemy marine and zerg comps.
I just I make a couple of each. No need to go crazy with them
With P1, I’d say so yea. P2 though. You can flood the battlefield with these things and they will massacre ground objectives on pretty much every map with ground based objectives. And since theey drop banelings when they die there is some aoe. Mass corruptors do pretty good too.
