Spine Crawler (Legacy of the Void)

• Sunken Colony

This article covers the current multiplayer version of this building. For another version see Spine Crawler (Wings of Liberty and Heart of the Swarm).

[e][h] Spine Crawler

Building Information

Cost:

 100  0  36

Hotkey:

B → C

Defense:

300 2 Armored, Structure, Biological

Ground Attack:

25

Ground DPS:

18.9

Bonus:

+5 vs Armored

Bonus DPS:

+3.8 vs Armored

Range:

7

Cooldown:

1.32

Requirements:

• Spawning Pool

Sight:

11

[e][h] Uprooted Spine Crawler

Unit Information

Unit stats

Defense:

300 2

Attributes:

Armored, Biological, Structure

Sight:

11

Speed:

1.4

Speed on Creep:

3.5

Description

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.

Abilities

Uproot

Duration: 1 s Hotkey: R Allows the Spine Crawler and Spore Crawler to Uproot and Burrow in a new location. While uprooted, the Crawler has a speed of 1 off creep and 2.5 on creep. Uprooted Spore Crawlers do not have detection.

Root

Duration: 9 s Hotkey: R Allows the Spine Crawler to root itself to the ground, gaining attack ability. Can be performed only on 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.

Offensive Uses

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.

Instead of an Overlord (requires Lair), creep for offensive Spine Crawlers may also be generated via the following procedure:

1. Move a Queen and a Drone to the desired creep location.
2. Start morphing a Drone into a Hatchery at the desired location.
3. Cancel the morphing Hatchery and immediately place a Creep Tumor on the creep left by the cancelled Hatchery.

VOD: Argos Zenith (Z) vs Chita Prime (P) on Metalopolis by BlizShouter

In ZvP, a common Lategame strategy is to build large numbers of Spine Crawlers to act as support for Brood Lords, the Spine Crawlers being positioned beneath the Brood Lords in order to deter Stalkers from Blinking underneath the Brood Lords and taking them out, since Spine Crawlers deal additional damage to Armored units (such as Stalkers) and are very potent against such units when in large numbers. In addition, Infestors can be used to root Stalkers in place (via the use of Fungal Growth) should they decide to Blink beneath the Brood Lords, preventing them from Blinking back and escaping the Spine Crawlers. Assuming the creep spread is sufficient, the Zerg player can slowly move the Spine Crawlers "wall" (by uprooting and rooting them) towards the opponent's base, along with the Brood Lords and the rest of the army, in a way that is somewhat reminiscent of a Terran player leapfrogging Siege Tanks towards the enemy's base.

Gallery

Quotes

• Spine Crawler's sounds (video and sound) - YouTube video.

Patch Changes

No patch changes so far in LotV.