Okay, so first of all, how exactly does Zszarr work ?
--> At level 1, instead of usual talents, you get to choose the main evolution of Zszarr (like the Monk, but way deaper) : you can either become an Hydralisk (~ranged assassin), an Ultralisk (~warrior tank or bruiser), or an Infestor (~specialist).
Great, I chose what I wanted to be, but I only have one ability, why is that ?
--> Well, here's a thing about the Swarm; when you first see it, it's dangerous, but you can manage. The problem is that it's just the vanguard, a lot more will come later on, when they evolve and become much more deadlier. It's the same here, instead of talents at level 4 and 7, you'll get to choose your W and E abilities.
Abilities instead of talents ? What is that ?
--> Usually you'll get 4 or 5 choices of talents to improve your existing abilities, basic attack, survivability, trait or utility. That's great, but that's not really how Zszarr works. You'll get to choose what he needs in this specific game with your specific team and opponents.
You need more escape or gap closer ? Deal.
You lack some burst potential ? No problem.
Your team can stall, but all out teamfights seem not to be in your favor, so you'd like to split push ? Sure.
Zszarr can adapt to a lot of situation if you make the right choices at the right time. In fact, he's got 18 different possibilities of QWER for each evolution, so that's 54 really different Zszarr here !
But does that mean he won't get 3 abilities before level 7 ?
--> Well yeah, that's where the catch is, you can't have that much versatility right off the bat, to compensate, he needs to be weaker than the other heroes in early game. And that's also why only one ability of the Infestor's Neural Parasite is available at level 1.
0) Basic Kit
Talent : Creep. Well I didn't inovate too much on this one, it's similar to Zagara's, because they're both zergs you know. The difference it propagates when you cast abilities, it can't be removed, but it lasts only 40 seconds.
The Hyralisk and Ultralisk will be able to put some during combat without having to think too much about it, and the Infestor will be able to spread it from afar.
Mount : Burrow. Of course it'll be burrow ! Tell me you're not happy about it. Burrowing units is awesome, and there's a lot that can be done with it. Burrow isn't as fast as other mounts, but it also regenerates your health. As a mana free hero, Zszarr is really happy about it. It'll allow him to stall a bit in early game aswell.
I) Hydralisk
The Hydralisk version of Zszarr is an easy to play ranged assassin, with low health, good damage, a steroid and a range a bit superior to other ranged heroes, much like Raynor.
As your
W, you'll get a choice between :
-an escape tool that can become a gap closer later on
-some burst capability
-a way to lower target defense, less bursty but better for longer fights
As your
E, you'll get a choice between :
-being able to damage enemies in a line while using basic attack, you'll need good positionning
-some utility / survivability
-a capacity that'll slow targets, great for chasing and 1v1 other AA based heroes
If you think your front line is weak, take some survivability and/or escape tools.
Long teamfights coming ? Dealing lots of damage over time would be good, grab Acid and Spine for example.
It'll be all about skirmishes ? Those Broodlings and Vile could work wonders.
There's a lot of narrow passages like the Curse/Tributes map ? Take Viper to block the enemy team !
Zszarr Hydralisk personal ultimate
Natural Evolution is Hunter Killer. Taking this ultimate will allow you to deal splash damage, which is good for teamfights in narrow places and depushing. It's also great with Impaler.
II) Ultralisk
The Ultralisk version of Zszarr is a melee fighter with high health, OK damage that cleave, and good presence/disrupting abilities. You can orientate his build to be like Diablo or Tyrael for example.
As your
W, you'll get a choice between :
-a long distance charge
-a way to block skillshots
-an ability that increases your damage output and lowers enemies defense
As your
E, you'll get a choice between :
-a stun
-some utility / crowd control
-some more damage + slow
Zszarr Ultralisk's form is a real good tank / off-tank / bruiser, with a lot of possibilities to wreak havoc in the enemy team's ranks.
You think you'll need to engage because noone else can ? Take Karak and Vile to stick to the enemies and push them with your Q.
Need to take care of that Nazeebo / Hammer / KT at the back of the enemy team ? Why not take Impaler ?
The fight will be long and hard, and you'll need all the tools you can get to survive ? Broodlings can be the way to go.
You can also take some damage if you need to soften the enemy team.
Zszarr Ultralisk personal ultimate
Natural Evolution is Torrasque. You all know what it does : resurrection on the spot if the enemy team can't take care of your egg. This can turn around close fights, so take it if this game seems really balanced.
III) Infestor
The Infestor version of Zszarr is a long range specialist with low damage and low health, but a huge pushing AND annoying capability. He's pretty unique, but shares similarities with Abathur through his Neural Parasite ability.
Even if some of his abilities can be used in a physical way during teamfights, it's not the main purpose of the Infestor. He's better off going where there's noone, to push hard lanes and destroy structures.
What's Neural Parasite ?
-->Neural Parasite works like Abathur's Hat, but on enemies you can see, and not on allies. You'll be able to directly harass them from afar, gaining vision through creep, and push lanes when noone's there.
Infestation is pretty weak against heroes but gives some free harass. It's what will make you a scary pusher, as it'll turn enemy minion waves into allies if you manage your abilities well. Don't forget that DoTs give vision when they're active. After the 4 seoncds DoT, you'll loose the Neural Parasite connection if the enemy's smart, but you'll be able to put some creep around before that.
Fungal Growth is your nuke for softening minions waves, zone enemies, and grant you vision over medium areas.
Viscous Fluid is what you'll need to micro-manage a lot to get the most out of Infestation in order to turn waves, and then wreak forts. It deals pretty much no damage, but is on a 2 seconds CD, so use and abuse it !
As your
W, you'll get a choice between :
-an escape tool, similar to Abathur's
-an automated nest, again similar to what Abathur's get later on
-a way to destroy structures really fast, but directly, so that means danger, and no tunnel to get out quickly
As your
E, you'll get a choice between :
-a turret mode that'll allow you to snipe structures and enemies from afar, but again, taht means you'll need to put yourself in danger, so use it wisely
-a great crowd control, a bit similar to Stitches' hook
-a stackable slow that works on abilities, especially good on Infestation and Viscous Fluid
So you chose the Infestor, which is the most complicate of the 3 Evolutions, but what now ? What's your plan ?
If you want to split push on large map with unavoidable objectives, like the Desert Shrines or Tributes, then Acid can works wonder.
If the map is small and teamfights take place all the time, then Broodlings and Vile would be great to help your team while pushing a bit.
Again, if you want to make the enemy team play YOUR game, forcing them to defend their structures, take Tunnel and Impaler.
You can do a lot, but you can't do everything, it's up to you and your team to decide what'll be the best scenario to play.
Zszarr Infestor personal ultimate
Natural Evolution is Choker. It's a more teamfight oriented ability than anything else, that work well with Tentacle. It's good to bring support to your team when the enemy isn't expecting it, like on Dragon Shire, Eternals or Punishers. You'll probably want Tunnel to back though.
IV) Other abilities and talents
Now that we've looked at each evolution's abilities, let's take a look at the other talents and abilities.
First of all,
Hatchery, the second Ultimate is the same for all the evolutions. It'll spawn zergs that'll help taking down heroes and/or push lanes. To be honest, it's great if you're playing as the Infestor, or if you're a bit ahead of the other team, since it'll allow you to split push and still fight as 5. It's like Azmodan rain of fire.
You'll be able to improve it at level 20, to give it more health and more pushing capability, which is good enough.
Level 13 talents are passive boosts : damage reduction, damage bonus, movement speed bonus and vision bonus. That's not game breaking, but that's good enough for a level 13 talent imo. Of course, any comment is welcomed, so tell me if it's not.
Level 16 talents are improvements for Burrow. You'll be able to get better tanking / survivability / engage / regeneration from it, which is great, since it gives you a lot of options to sharpen your strategies.
For example, you could engage burrowed as an Ultralisk, get back and regen after trading as an Hydralisk and then go in again, take this vision for more safety as a split-pushing Infestor, or not having to care much about those mount-breaking minions.
Infest Building as a level 20 talent is a good way to (de)push lanes with unused forts ammo. It's clearly situational, but can works wonder with Hatchery before a teamfight.
Finaly,
Reincarnation is awesome (maybe a bit too awesome ? Dunno if it needs longer CD ?), because it allows you to change ALL your build, starting from scratch.
You've been split-pushing all game and need to win this last teamfight ? Then restart as an Ultralisk or Hydralisk to do so !
I think it's great, but it means you need to die somehow, which isn't good during endgame at all. You could be giving the opportunity the enemy team was waiting for. That's why I think it's fine, even if it looks really powerful (and it is for sure).
Heroes of the Storm Build Guides
So:
Frenzy (Q Ability for Hydralisk) has too short cooldown for it's duration. It's like a +25% to attack speed passive. It should either have longer cooldown or shorter duration to make it more like an ability.
Hydralisk also has probably too high dps ith his attacks alone (even greater than Raynor :O)
Ultralisk deals probably too much damage with his attacks comparing to other warriors.
Also, Brutal buff also lasts too much for it's cooldown (either cooldown should be prolonged or the duration shortened).
Infestor is too fragile to be take part directly in combat (counting he is worth 1 takedown)
Unstable Brooding deals a bit low damage as a spell that can be so easily countered.
Siege from Below - try to precise, what you have in mind. The damage is based on range, attack speed and attack damage? Or there is something else that it basing on these stats? How exactly do this base?
Tentacle seemse to be weak. Compare it with Kerrigan's pull. Also note, that you made it pull to your location AND it's location. So for as long as it isn't supposed to tear appart heroes damaged, you should choose one of the locations where this should pull.
Torrasque - This reincarnation requires oto much time to revive (as for me) - 40% health and 8 seconds of reviving - it's 1224 health at level 10, 2104 health at level 20 and 2984 health at level 30. Counting that full Spell Power Kael can take it down with single Pyroblast, the health should be increased (or revive time decreased).
Burrow: It gives too much health regeneration. The other thing it would be if he was a mana champion - but he is manaless champion, that can dig in for a few seconds and restore vast amounts of health. Such health regen buff should last for certain duration (not long, but also not short). Note also that Warriors with Regeneration Master would have the same Health Regen as Zszarr (counting they've stacked it). Also it should have a cooldown. And this cooldown shouldn't be low. And it should start after burrowing out.
---And talents:---
Upgrade Sight: I'm not sure if 50% sight radius can be compared to other benefits available at this level. I'm not sure if it's too good or too bad, but it's just "Out of place" I could say.
Landslide: This seems to be weak for me - only 1 second of root? Without any damage or any other benefits? Well, I would for sure take the latter perk:
Hibernate: +800% health regeneration is just... well, it might make you regenerate 80% health per second with just digging in at level 16 - some warriors with stacked Regeneration Master doesn't have that much health regen. So this is *strong*.
Ok, I think it's all for now, you might want to try check this one and do something there. I liked the idea of evolving, you did great job there. Try to make it even better, good luck I wish! :P