Starcraft Buildings – Spiny Crawler

Spiny Crawler

The Spine Crawler is a Zerg static defense structure that deals 25 damage to ground units with a 5 point damage bonus to armored units. Although similar to the Sunken Colony, the Spine Crawler has the distinct ability to Uproot itself and Root in a new location, making it somewhat mobile and more flexible in use. The Spine Crawler can only attack with its Impaler Tentacle while rooted and is thus left defenseless while uprooted. If the Creep around the Spine Crawler is gone, the Spine Crawler will slowly lose hitpoints until Creep has been restored around it. Note that a Spine Crawler does not lose the hitpoints if it uproots, even when off Creep.

Capabilities

Against a Zealot rush you can expect it to succumb to 2 Zealots per Spine Crawler. So one Spine Crawler can hold off two Zealots and kill one of them before dying, and two Spine Crawlers can hold off 3 Zealots and dies if attacked by four of them (killing 3 Zealots before dying). Things improve if you can use them in natural Choke Points. Spine Crawlers have 1 more range than Stalkers’ 6 range and do heavy damage to Stalkers. The only advantage a Stalker has over a Zealot is range, and thus it can engage and do damage to the Spine Crawlers before a Zealot can, possibly negating some of the choke point advantage.

Against unupgraded Marines, one Spine Crawler roughly cancels out 6 Marines (the Marines will barely win if put in a formation such that they are all shooting on contact). Against Marines with just Stim Pack, one Spine Crawler can be barely defeated by 5 Marines, if Stim Pack is used just before the engagement. Against Marines with Combat Shield, but without Stim Pack, one Spine Crawler can be defeated by 5 Marines with two Marines to spare (one Spine Crawler will still defeat 4 Marines with Combat Shields).

Spine Crawlers (range 7) outrange Marines in Bunkers (range 6), and therefore can be used to defend against a Bunker Rush. But they do not outrange Marauders in Bunkers.

Against unupgraded Zerglings, one Spine Crawler can defend itself against up to 6 Zerglings. Even one additional Zergling will overwhelm a Spine Crawler without support or measures to minimize the available surface area that the Zerglings can attack.
Although it can only be burrowed on creep, there have been a few instances of offensive use, similar to a Protoss cannon rush. This is enabled by an Overlord generating creep near an opponents location or an expansion that is about to be taken by an opponent.

A Spine Crawler rush can be performed even earlier in a ZvZ due to the existence of creep in an enemy Zerg’s base. Spine Crawler rushes in ZvZ are most effective before the opponent has a Lair. This is due to the sight range of a Hatchery being slightly smaller than the creep range of the Hatchery. This gives a small area on the edge of the creep where a Spine Crawler can be placed outside the vision of the Hatchery. A Lair has greater vision than a Hatchery and does not have this blind spot.

ZERG – THE SPAWN OF THE SWARM

WILD. FATIGUE. FLEXIBLE.

Once artificially created by the mighty Xel`Naga, the Zerg would eventually lead to their demise and become a threat to the entire galaxy. Because of their collective consciousness, this species is often referred to simply as “the Swarm.” In their quest for perfection, the Zerg adopt advantageous and superior gene strands into their own gene pool, wiping out “inferior” species in the process.

Zerg Buildings

While the Protoss rely on technological superiority and the Terrans on their adaptability, the savage Zerg rely mostly on pure mass. The mostly lightly armored creatures usually pounce on their opponents from all sides on the battlefield, leaving only a picture of devastation in their wake.