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Campaign Overview

Story Prologue: This episode focuses on the Zerg between Brood War Episode VI (The Queen of Blades) and pre-StarCraft2 (Wings of Liberty).  Sarah Kerrigan, the self-called Queen of Blades, has just claimed the entirety of the Zerg Swarm to herself.  She has manipulated all the existing powers in the Koprulu sector to do this in order for them to battle each other for her.  Once they all realized her plans it was too late. The Dominion fleets were destroyed to nearly 80% of their original strength, the Protoss Shakuras' military fleet after Ulrezaj's attacks that Artanis sent against Kerrigan had fallen, and the massive UED armada Earth had sent to conquer the sector had been decimated.  If she so wanted, Kerrigan could finish them all off, enslave all Terrans and Protoss...but...something within her stayed her hand of execution.  She was worried if something worse than her enemies was just over the horizon or if something within her had conditioned her...   

In either case, she took her victory spoilers from the Omega platform over Char and began relocating her primary hive cluster from the ruined Terran homeworld of Tarsonis to Char itself.  She would need to rebirth a grand new Swarm, something much more powerful than the Overmind and its Cerebrates could ever build.  But first, she needed a new consort with Duran having abruptly vanished.  And her only other ally, her Cerebrate with her since her rebirth, was nearing its usefulness...

Hero Overview

Kerrigan                                     

Description - Current leader of the Zerg Swarm.  Kerrigan is rapidly growing to become one of the highest class psionic users known.  She commands potent abilities augmenting both her biology and psionics.

Can attack ground and air units.

Armament: Razor Claws, Psi Blast

During the Swarm's invasion of Tarsonis, as the Sons of Korhal withdrew, Lieutenant Sarah Kerrigan's task force was betrayed by Arcturus Mengsk and left behind. The Overmind sensed Kerrigan's formidable psychic powers and saw a great weapon against the Protoss and, perhaps, against the shackles placed on him by his Xel'naga master so long ago.  Kerrigan was captured and placed within a chrysalis, to be assimilated into the Swarm. Kerrigan was successfully infested and reborn, calling herself the "Queen of Blades".  Her psychic potential combined with the Zerg hyper-evolutionary virus transformed her into an incredible weapon against the enemies of the Swarm.

Following the Overmind's death on Aiur, Kerrigan was freed from its influence and began a series of manipulations against the Protoss on Shakuras and the Dominion on Korhal, including her old romantic partner, James Raynor, that ultimately crippled all opposition to her and allowed her to regain control of the entire Swarm.  By the time her intentions were made clear, it was too late and Kerrigan became the undisputed leader of the Zerg and supreme power in the Koprulu sector.

Mysteriously quiet recently, Kerrigan has been evolving the Swarm and herself, unlocking her true psionic potential.  She is poised to grow into a being far greater than the Overmind ever intended -  a being in which few could ever hope to match in power.

Unlike The Commander and Zeratul, Kerrigan is a hero not based on any existing unit.  She is completely unique.  Not entirely Terran, not entirely Zerg, and certainty not Protoss in any way, she is a hero that has incredibly powerful stats and abilities to complement those stats.  When we first see her in Starcraft and Brood War, she is recently reborn as an Infested Zerg so her stats aren't as powerful as we see her in Wings of Liberty.  It is a curious transition to how she can be killed so easily in several missions you play as her in Starcraft to how she is a demi-god in Wings of Liberty.  What's more interesting is that Duran realizes that he can use one of the Xel'naga pieces he just happens to have and modified to absorb energy to suck all that power to expedite Amon's arrival.  This campaign reveals not only how Kerrigan becomes powerful, psionically, but how Duran came up with this plan of his.  In essence, Duran "lets" Kerrigan collect power and use her like he uses everyone else and then manipulate others to find and construct the Xel'naga device with his own piece to set a trap...and funnel all that energy Kerrigan collected to release Amon.  It's a convoluted plot Blizzard came up with...but this campaign and parts of the Epilogue attempt to explain it better :)

Kerrigan can improve her stats and gain new abilities in two ways.  First, she needs to collect bio-essence.  Bio-essence can be found in several ways throughout missions.  The easiest most common way is for Kerrigan to personally kill Organic type units.  That means all Zerg units, Terran infantry units, or Protoss templar fit that bill.  This doesn't yield you much bio-essence but it is a regular stable amount.  You can also hunt critters that randomly found in maps, some that will attack you and others that won't.  These will yield more bio-essence.  The most yield for bio-essence is finding piles of organic material for her to use.  Once enough bio-essence is found, you are presented with the option of upgrading Kerrigan's Offense or Defense.  If you choose offense, she gets improved melee damage, attack speed, energy regeneration, and movement speed.  Also increases Leaping Strike effectiveness starting in Zerg02.  If you choose defense, she gets improved maximum life, regeneration and armor.  Also increases Mend effectiveness starting in Zerg02.  Each point in offense or defense can be spent however you like and can be upgraded a max of 5 times.  So you can upgrade offense 5 times first, or defense 5 times first, or stagger them.  Your choice.

You should be aware that each time you want to upgrade Kerrigan, you don't have to upgrade her right away, a flashing button will appear.  This is because it will cause her to morph into a cocoon that will take 60 seconds to upgrade.  If she dies while in this vulnerable and relatively weak cocoon state, you lose.  It is your choice if you feel you are safe enough to upgrade where you stand or if you want to go back to your base.  You should also be aware that when you morph into a cocoon you will lose a portion of your bio-essence dependent on the level you morph to.  The higher the level the more bio-essence it costs.  You can only gain 1 level per morph.  If you wish to hold onto bio-essence instead of upgrading Kerrigan, you can do so for an army bonus, which will be displayed at your Hatcheries.  (more listed below).  The choice is yours.   Fortunately, bio-essence is not limited, and similar to exp, can be farmed from killing organic units or repeated findings of bio-masses spread across maps which can be farmed over and over and your levels' gained from this can be kept to the next mission so long as you complete the current mission in which you are on.  Keep mindful there are upgrade caps per mission however.

In addition to Strength and Defense upgrades, Kerrigan can improve her psionics with collecting valuable artifacts or special materials that bolster her psionic powers.  These can be protoss relics, special minerals, or xel'naga artifacts.  Each mission is different and each relic provides a new total amount.  Once Kerrigan acquires a required amount of psionic artifacts, she automatically, without choice, gets improved maximum energy, regeneration, and psi blast damage (her ranged attack). Her starting psi blast damage is a pathetic 20 damage in order to boost this, each level increases the damage by +10.  Boosting strength only increases psi blast speed, not damage.  Starting in Zerg02 you can use Psi Blast on ground/air units instead of just air.  Or, if you prefer to use her claws, which will always be stronger even when psi blats is fully leveled up, you need to leap towards them in close melee range.  Also, and most importantly, she gains a new psionic ability.  

Initially in Zerg02 you get an "upgraded" form of Razor Swarm that damages buildings.  Your next ability is Implosion, seen in Wings of Liberty which is an instant death for mechanical type units (such as Battlecruisers or Carriers), no artifact ability is gained in Zerg03 which is explained later, then comes your A/B canon differences for Wild Mutation or Crushing Grip and then to summon a Leviathan or Drop Pods with enhanced Zerg reinforcements.  Finally if you manage to get all artifacts and have time to find a few more in the final mission, you can acquire her ultimate ability - Apocalypse, super useful to take out the final enemy base or defend against a particularly strong wave.

All in all, Kerrigan can improve herself very early on to have more overall health than either The Commander or Zeratul and nearly as much armor as the Commander has and her melee/ranged attacks can be devastating even by Zeratul's standards.   For all that strength, however, Kerrigan only has active abilities to use.  This takes a great toll on her energy consumption, even when fully upgraded.  Remember she hasn't gone through Primal transformation so her energy regeneration is slow and cumbersome.  She hardly used any skills against Raynor due to this except Razor Swarm and Implosion to save her strength.  You should be mindful of this as well.  Sometimes Razor Swarm is all you need to fend off an attack instead of summoning a much more costly ability.

As a final note, due to Kerrigan's powerful evolution stats, she will NOT receive any further bonus upgrades from her minion's evolution chamber as she did in BW.  She has evolved past such things...

 

Starting Stats - 

• Health - 400
• Health Regeneration - 0.379
• Life Armor - 2
• Movement Speed - 2.1992 meters per second
• Attack Damage (Melee) - 50
• Attack Damage (Range) - 20
• Attack Speed (Melee/Range) - 1.5 per second

Strength Level Up Potential:

• (50 bio-essence cost) Level 1: + 5 melee damage, +5% attack and movement speed, Improved damage, energy cost and range for Leaping Strike
• (100 bio-essence cost) Level 2: + 10 melee damage, +10% attack and movement speed, Improved damage, energy cost and range for Leaping Strike
• (175 bio-essence cost) Level 3: + 15 melee damage, +15% attack and movement speed, Improved damage, energy cost and range for Leaping Strike
• (225 bio-essence cost) Level 4: + 20 melee damage, +20% attack and movement speed, Improved damage, energy cost and range for Leaping Strike
• (300 bio-essence cost) Level 5: + 25 melee damage, +25% attack and movement speed, Improved damage, energy cost and range for Leaping Strike

Defense Level Up Potential:

• (50 bio-essence cost) Level 1: + 120 maximum health, +100% life regeneration, +1 armor, Improved heal for Mend
• (100 bio-essence cost) Level 2: + 240 maximum health, +150% life regeneration, +2 armor, Improved heal for Mend
• (175 bio-essence cost) Level 3: + 360 maximum health, +200% life regeneration, +3 armor, Improved heal for Mend
• (225 bio-essence cost) Level 4: + 480 maximum health, +250% life regeneration, +4 armor, Improved heal for Mend
• (300 bio-essence cost) Level 5: + 600 maximum health, +300% life regeneration, +5 armor, Improved heal for Mend

Psionic Level Up Potential:

• (Start at Zerg02) Level 1: + 70 maximum energy, + 40% energy regeneration, +10 psi blast damage and can toggle between air and ground units, Razor Swarm can damage buildings, gains the Deep Tunnel ability.
• (100 bio-essence cost +5 psi collection) Level 2: + 140 maximum energy, + 80% energy regeneration, +20 psi blast damage,  gains the Implosion ability.  Improves Razor Swarm damage and area of effect.
• (175 bio-essence cost +10 psi collection) Level 3: + 210 maximum energy, + 120% energy regeneration, +30 psi blast damage,  gains the Crushing Grip (A) or Wild Mutation (B) ability. Improves Razor Swarm damage and area.
• (225 bio-essence cost +15 psi collection) Level 4: + 280 maximum energy, + 160% energy regeneration, +40 psi blast damage,  gains the Leviathan (A) or Drop Pods (B) ability. Improves Razor Swarm damage and area.
• (300 bio-essence cost +20 psi collection) Level 5: + 350 maximum energy, + 200% energy regeneration, +50 psi blast damage,  gains the Apocalypse ability. Improves Razor Swarm damage and area.

Bio-Essence/Psionic Collection Caps:

Mission 1 - 150 bio essence cap.  0 psi to be found. STR Cap 2, DEF Cap 2, PSI CAP 0
Mission 2 - 250 bio essence cap.  5 psi cap. STR Cap 3, DEF Cap 3, PSI Cap 2.
Mission 3 - 350 bio essence cap. 9 psi cap.  NOTE - Kerrigan not available for evolution in mission.
Mission 4 - 500 bio essence max.  13 psi cap. STR Max 5, DEF Max 5, PSI Cap 3.
Mission 5 - 500 bio essence max. 17 psi cap. STR Max 5, DEF Max 5, PSI Cap 4.
Mission 6 - 500 bio essence max. 20 psi max. STR Max 5, DEF Max 5, PSI Max 5.

 

Bio-Essence Store Bonuses

 

In addition to gaining bio-essence for herself for upgrades, Kerrigan has the option of holding onto bio-essence instead of consuming them for upgrades.  As she maintains bio-essence, she will gain a bonus that affects her army in different ways.  She must, however, maintain that bio-essence level to keep the bonus, or it will be lost.  Once Kerrigan has maxed all her levels, she is thus then free to collect as much bio-essence as she wants to 500 and acquire all 4 army bonuses.  These are what you can get:

• 125 bio essence required. - Improved Overlords - 50% supply, 70% faster spawn (not instant)
• 250 bio essence required. - Malignant Creep - Increased life regeneration, 30% increased attack/movement speed while on creep.  (no colony/tumor bonus, the 30% movement brings all Brood War units to Wings of Liberty movement speed on creep mechanics)
• 375 bio essence required. - Twin Drones - Two drone spawns.  (standard/identical to HOTS bonus)
• 500 bio essence required. - Spawn Greater Nydus Worm - Creates a Greater Nydus worm unit anywhere on the map from one of your hives.  The worm spawned is not controllable or connected to your own nydus network once created but the units that are unloaded from it are.  A set number of zerglings/hydralisks/roaches/ultralisks are created initially based on difficulty and then a smaller subset of one of those 4 unit types randomly every 10 seconds.  Lasts up to 60 seconds or until killed.  Has a 300 second cooldown period between each spawn.  Incredibly useful for either a quick reinforcement boost for defense or a powerful sneak attack for offense.  Does NOT need creep to spawn, unlike regular Nydus worms or canals!

Abilities (ONLY FOR Zerg01):

 Lesser Razor Swarm

• Description: Summons a swarm of energy like zerg that deals 14 damage each second to enemies in a wide area.  Does not damage buildings.
  • Level 1 (Zerg01 - units only) - 14 damage x 7 times (98 damage) over 4 seconds, 2.25 radius
• Strategy: This is, for her BW version, Kerrigan's strongest ability.  It is identical in strength to the High Templar's psionic storm so it cannot hurt buildings yet but can hurt your allies, so use it against clusters of Zerg that comes your way.  This ability does more initial damage than she gets in Zerg02 (un-leveled up as she goes on) so use that to your advantage to shock a huge cluster of hydralisks or zerglings quickly.  But starting in Zerg02 this ability can hurt buildings making it hugely improved and when leveled up, can devastate entire enemy armies and bases, making it her essential ability to use.

 Cloak

• Description: Cloaks Kerrigan, preventing enemy units from seeing or attacking it.  A cloaked unit will only be revealed by detectors or effects.
• Strategy: As Kerrigan does not have burrow yet, cloak is her only means of hiding.  Use it for escape when low on health.  You can get off some attacks here while cloaked but as soon as you do assume the enemy will instantly send an Overlord to find you.  Still unsure how she can cloak if she's a Zerg...lets say her psionic powers lets her cloak from her own will, but only Dark Templar could do that.  And Blizzard never explained that from Brood War.  Oh well.  Cloak is OK...but you won't miss it as time goes on.  Kerrigan gets strong enough that stealth isn't her game anymore...power is.  And if you need to sneak attack burrow becomes more useful.

 Ensare

• Description:  Thick mucus that temporarily slows down all units in the target area.
• Strategy: This Queen ability slows down 50% of movement speed and 20% of attack speed, but honestly, is highly inefficient for Kerrigan to use.  She can catch up to her enemies quicker, true, but they can still outrun her claws.  The 20% attack speed reduction is OK, but nothing to win the day over.  It also hurts your allies making it in a mixed fight useless.  You won't really miss this ability on her at all and it'll make room for much more powerful abilities.

 Consume

• Description: Kerrigan feeds off of another Zerg unit, killing it and replenishing 50 energy.
• Strategy: The only real Brood War ability you'll miss...this defiler ability allows Kerrigan to kill a lesser Zerg such as a drone or zergling, or something with very low health, and always replenish 50 energy.  This is very useful in a pinch to get off more razor swarms than she has maximum energy for. 

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Abilities (POST Zerg02.  Cloak, Ensnare, and Consume are lost after Zerg01):

Razor Swarm

• Description: Summons a swarm of energy like zerg that deals 12 damage each second to enemies in a wide area.  Upgraded automatically when Psi is upgraded.
  • Level 1 (Zerg01 - units only) - 14 damage x 7 times (98 damage) over 4 seconds, 2.25 radius
  • Level 2 - 12 damage (14 damage to structures) x 12 times (144 damage to units, 168 damage to structures) over 7 seconds, 2.5 radius
  • Level 3 - 13 damage (16 damage to structures) x 12 times (156 damage to units, 192 damage to structures) over 7 seconds, 2.75 radius
  • Level 4 - 14 damage (18 damage to structures) x 12 times (168 damage to units, 216 damage to structures) over 7 seconds, 3.0 radius
  • Level 5 - 15 damage (20 damage to structures) x 12 times (180 damage to units, 240 damage to structures) over 7 seconds, 3.25 radius.
  • Level 6 - 16 damage (22 damage to structures) x 12 times (192 damage to units, 264 damage to structures) over 7 seconds, 3.5 radius.  Name changes to Greater Razor Swarm.

• Strategy: This is Kerrigan's primary attack ability.  It is nearly identical in usage to a High Templar's psionic storm - a large area is targeted and everything in the area is damaged.  However, for Kerrigan in Zerg02, now buildings are damaged.  In fact, buildings actually take a bit more damage, so its in your best interest to target them.  Works wonders against enemy towers like clustered photon cannons or bunkers.  Be warned as your allies can also be damaged, so use this before your melee units enter the fray.  NOTE - In Zerg01 a lesser version of Razor Swarm seen from Brood War is used that cannot damage buildings.  The Razor Swarm version gained in Zerg02 is after Kerrigan gains the power of the Cerebrate, and is seen in Wings of Liberty.

 Burrow

• Description: Allows Kerrigan to burrow underground indefinitely, becoming invisible but immobile.
• Strategy: Most Zerg ground units can burrow and Kerrigan is no exception now.  While she can't cloak anymore, this ability also costs no energy to cast and to maintain, so in a pinch to avoid heavy damage, burrowing her is a safe strategy.  You can even choose to Deep Tunnel your way back to your base manually if you so wish.

 Deep Tunnel

• Description: Allows Kerrigan to burrow and quickly travel to any point on the map that has vision.  Will automatically target the closest hive when near death.
• Strategy: An evolved burrow only Kerrigan has mastered she can essentially "teleport" to any point in the map that has vision but has an incredibly high cool-down.  While this ability can be used at any time when not near death, it would be foolish to do so unless you absolutely need Kerrigan to get to a point quickly.  When not in cooldown, this ability will activate when she is about to die and bring her to safety near your hive.  This acts as your pseudo "immortality" ability but Kerrigan receives no health benefits from this.  Still, while its available, Kerrigan is fully protected from death every 5 minutes starting in Zerg02 so long as there's at least 1 Hive, Lair, or Hatchery available on the map.

 Leaping Strike

• Description: Kerrigan leaps into the air and lands on a target position, dealing damage if landing on a unit.  Upgraded automatically when Strength is upgraded.
  • Level 1 - 6 Range, 150 damage. 50 energy. 
  • Level 2 - 6 Range, 200 damage. ''
  • Level 3 - 7 Range, 250 damage. ''
  • Level 4 - 7 Range, 300 damage. ''
  • Level 5 - 8 Range, 350 damage. ''
  • Level 6 - 8 Range, 400 damage. '' Changes name to Greater Leaping Strike.
• Strategy: This ability is auto-learned when starting Zerg02.  Seen in Heart of the Swarm, this is a core physical ability that Kerrigan's Zerg form can perform that is essentially a hostile blink.  She can jump from point to point and cliff to cliff, getting to places you normally can't walk.  This is useful to find items or secrets but can also be used for escaping.  It can also be used as a 1-time critical strike.  The more you level this up the farther you can go and more damage you can cause.

 Mend

• Description: Kerrigan focuses her essence onto her nearby Swarm, healing both them and herself.  Also improves HP regeneration for 15 seconds based on the total amount healed.
  • Level 1 - 50 unit heal, 150 Kerrigan heal, 50% of HP restored in bonus HP/regen for 15 seconds.
  • Level 2 - 60 unit heal, 175 Kerrigan heal, 50% of HP restored in bonus HP/regen for 15 seconds.
  • Level 3 - 70 unit heal, 200 Kerrigan heal, 50% of HP restored in bonus HP/regen for 15 seconds.
  • Level 4 - 80 unit heal, 225 Kerrigan heal, 50% of HP restored in bonus HP/regen for 15 seconds.
  • Level 5 - 90 unit heal, 250 Kerrigan heal, 50% of HP restored in bonus HP/regen for 15 seconds.
  • Level 6 - 100 unit heal, 275 Kerrigan heal, 50% of HP restored in bonus HP/regen for 15 seconds. Changes name to Greater Mend.
• Strategy: This ability is auto-learned when starting Zerg02.  Seen in Heart of the Swarm but at a higher cooldown/energy cost here, this is a defensive ability that Kerrigan's Zerg form can use to heal herself and her zerg allies.  It is extremely useful to keep them and her alive in the heat of battle since *most* Zerg cannot easily heal rapidly unlike Terrans with repairing and medics and Protoss with shield batteries.  The added brief but rapid HP/sec bonus is also useful before a battle as it keeps your zerg alive for longer.

 Implosion

• Description: Lifts a mechanical target in the air and instantly destroys it by crushing gravity.
• Strategy: An ability first seen in Wings of Liberty when Kerrigan annoyingly lifts your helpless Siege Tanks and Battlecruisers and crushes them mercilessly.  Well now you can too!  Can only be used on mechanical units which includes all non-zerg, aircraft, tanks, robotic units, etc.  Best used against higher capital ships and strong ground robotics like Colossus and Reavers.  Some mechanical heroes like the Tal'darim Mothership cannot be targeted for obvious reasons.

 Crushing Grip/Wild Mutation

• Description: Crushing Grip - Lifts enemies in a targeted area for a brief time, disabling them and dealing damage per second.
• Strategy: This A-canon ability allows Kerrigan to lift targets helplessly in the air as they are dealt damage.  It's like Vader's grip...but targeting a huge area and gripping A LOT of things!  While similar to the Heart of the Swarm ability, it has a much larger area of effect, damage per second and subsequent energy cost.  A very useful ability to stop enemies in their tracks, its a powerful offensive and disabling tactic.  Pairs well if you're soloing with Kerrigan to summon Leviathan while enemies are disabled.

• Description: Wild Mutation - Boosts a targeted area of ally Zerg with increased health and attack speed for a brief time period.
• Strategy:  This B-canon ability allows Kerrigan to use her psionics to manipulate her own Zerg's DNA on the fly causing them to go into a wild rage with increased health and attack speed.  This is a critical ability to be used before any battle as it dramatically improves your armies effectiveness but it can also be used as a defensive ability.  Unfortunately, the ability cannot be used on Kerrigan herself.  Nearly identical in usage to the Heart of the Swarm ability, this ability is a huge bonus to not only Kerrigan's regular minions but her Drop Pod elite Zerg as well.

 Spawn Leviathan/Spawn Drop Pods

• Description: Spawn Leviathan - Summons a mighty Leviathian to do your bidding.  Leviathans have high health, damage, and can birth free mutalisks and guardians for the duration of its life.
• Strategy: First seen as Kerrigan summoned a Leviathan in Wings of Liberty against Raynor, these massive beasts were captured into the Swarm and used as transportation command ships for the Queen of Blades but can also, rarely, be summoned to the battlefield as monstrosities capable of dealing incredible devastation to enemies.  They have a powerful air attack and multiple tendrils for a devastating ground attack.  In addition to a single bile nuke ability they have the ability to auto spawn Mutalisks and Guardians in airborne eggs.  These units are PERMANENT units to you and cost NO MONEY.  Due to this, create as many of them as you can while Leviathan is alive.  You should summon Levithan when you are ready to strike against your enemies.  Warning, creating a Leviathan just to spawn free Mutalisks and Guardians isn't a viable strategy as you don't get THAT many compared to buying with regular larva and the cooldown is too high for that to be beneficial.

• Description: Summon Drop Pods - Kerrigan summons drop pods from her personal Leviathan orbiting the area containing several "enhanced" Zerg strains acquired from fallen Cerebrates.
• Strategy:  'Member all those Devouring Ones, Hunter Killers, and Torrasques that bugged you in past campaigns?  Well now you can use them against your enemies for utter devastation!  Planting this down in the center of a battle for total effectiveness is bolstered even more when enhanced with Wild Mutation.   Unlike the units created from Leviathan, these units are NOT permanent.  Sorry...that would be widely unfair to the enemy.  The spawn rates of these guys vary by unit.  Torrasques will die first, followed by Hunter Killers, then Devouring Ones.  So its in your best interest to NOT be shy about deploying these guys.  Launch your Torrasques like battering rams straight at the enemy.

 Apocalypse

• Description: Targets an extremely large area then devastates it with pure psionic energy.
• Strategy: Kerrigan's ultimate demonstration of her power, apocalypse completely obliterates an area.  Unfortunately this extremely ridiculously powerful ability is only capable of being learned after acquiring every single psi pickup in the campaign and can only be acquired in the final Zerg mission, A or B.  However, for that mission, it can be useful to completely destroy the enemy base Kerrigan has to deal with and/or completely stop enemy waves against you as nothing should be able to survive its blast.  You can, however, also use this ability in the epilogue Zerg mission as well if acquired here, so it is well worth it to try.  Besides, if you're a completionist, don't you want her ultimate ability?  Yeah you do...

Kerrigan's Cocoon

When Kerrigan is ready to evolve her strength, defense, or psionics, she needs to undergo an evolution.  To do this she creates a cocoon shell on herself for a brief period.  While the shell is not exactly fragile to destroy it is not invulnerable in the least.  Your Zerg must defend it or Kerrigan will die within.  Sometimes it may be worth it to return to your base before you choose to evolve.  In addition, she will lose whatever bioessence it cost to level-up one of her strength/defense/psionic.  The higher the level the more bioessence it costs.  If you wish to keep your hive bonus instead of upgrading Kerrigan herself, you may wish to delay evolution on her until you see fit.

Plot Choices

There are several plot choices that will grant you additional units or missions in this campaign.  Here are some of the options:

• Zerg01 - Destroying Baneling Nests
  
  • Once Zagara is born several Baneling nests will be found as the source of the new creatures the Cerebrate is sending at you.  If you destroy them all you will gain the ability to build them yourself.  Once you build them, you can "build" banelings from here in queue form.  As these are proto-banelings, Zerglings cannot morph into them.  In order to mass produce them, build more banelings nests.

• Zerg02 - The Gray Tiger decision
  • Let the Gray Tiger go ->Allows SC1 version Infested Terrans, the suicidal fast moving-high damage versions to be produced by Infestors, starting in Zerg03 onward. For Zerg02, they will be available to build as a free infested Command Center ready to go from the Terran base, already gifted to you in addition to a large portion of the base being destroyed instantly.  While this seems like a no-brainer to choose this over your weaker marine, slow walking counterparts, keep in mind the energy cost to produce these guys goes to 75 from 25, and has a 5 second cooldown between egg charges, from 0.  That means you can launch no more than 1 per 5 second, and even then, its draining on the Infestor.  Still, if you're goal is for mobile destruction on base defense or heavy ground units, or if you forgot to pickup Banelings, its a nice bonus.
  • Destroy the Gray Tiger -> Allows SC2 version Infested Terrans, the slow-moving marine rifle versions to be produced by Infestors, starting in Zerg03 onward. For Zerg02, they appear from the hull of the Gray Tiger infinitely as allies that move forever towards the mercenary command center, destroying any enemies they find.  This itself is a fairly useful bonus to get, albeit only for this 1 mission.  However, choosing this will give Infestor's their standard "new" infested marine ability, which is useful for mass spawning clusters.  One thing to keep in mind, if you fail to destroy the Gray Tiger, the Infestor will not have this ability at all for the rest of the campaign! 
• Zerg02 - Secret Documents
  • Find Ethan Stewart's secret personal files in the trash to gain his personal notes, a bonus cutscene at the end of Zerg02, AND increased stats for his Zerg form in Zerg03+!

• Zerg03 - Plot Arc
  • Destroy Ulrezaj -> Moves onto plot A-canon.  Ulrezaj is weakened, allows Ramsey's team to escape, Stewart pursues Ulrezaj, Kerrigan returns to where Ulrezaj emerged from under Aiur and find Duran's Hybrid experiments.
  • Destroy Ramsey's team -> Moves onto plot B-canon.  Interrogates Ramsey's allies as Ulrezaj barrels toward them.  Ramsey still ends up escaping in the chaos but needs to escape as Ulrezaj is in full power.  Kerrigan/Ramsey pursue Ulrezaj together and find the Tal'darim.
• Zerg04a - The experimental zerg decision
  • Unleash the Brutalisk -> Gives 1 Brutalisk for use in mission and allows Ultralisks to evolve from them in Zerg05a+.  This is a pretty fun unit.  Brutalisks are an unnatural Zerg mutation, first discovered in experimentations here.  But Abathur will confirm next mission if you choose this that he can temporarily mutate the Ultralisk strain to evolve to Brutalisks, albeit a very weak version unlike some other highly beefy ones you encounter, especially in Episode 2.  Still a weaker Brutalisk for you is much stronger than a regular Ultralisk.  They have 650 HP from 400, and a slow but very powerful double 40x ground attack that can kill most units in one swipe as well as a single but fast 35 damage air attack, something the Ultralisk doesn't have.  It is also very costly to mutate to these guys, but if you have the money, well worth it.
  • Unleash the Aberrations -> Gives 3 Aberrations  for use in mission and allows unit to be built from larva in Zerg05a+.  These are the first seen types of this extreme mutation to Terrans.  Using the HOTS type versions that deal bonus damage to armored units and can walk over smaller units, Aberrations are mid-grade attackers that are a nice mix if you don't have the funds or supply for Ultralisks  They can also be built outright from larva in next mission, so they are a much faster (not to mention cheaper) alternative to choosing Brutalisks.
• Zerg04b - Power conduit decision
  • Evolve the Roach -> Allows Roaches to evolve into proto-Ravagers (no upgrades, long build time).  Ravagers are very useful unit due to their long range siege type ability.  A group of these to target another group of enemies can decimate an enemy force quickly.  They do lose some things like the ability to burrow, but their attack speed is a tad higher than a Roach if still the same damage.  As this is the first experiment iteration of a Ravager, they do cost a bit to morph and there is no upgrade potential for their ability.
  • Evolve the Hydralisk ->Allows Hydralisks to evolve into Impalers.  Choosing this allows you to create a devastating blend of damaging units against heavier units and buildings along with your standard Lurkers for smaller clusters of units.  You will need to upgrade your Hydralisk Den into an Impaler Den which will allow your Hydralisks to morph themselves at will to Impalers.  Dropping a cluster of Impalers/Lurkers into an enemy camp can usually decimate most, if not all, ground units nearby.

Mission Overview

Zerg01 - Chain of Command

• Max Biomass: 150
• Max Psi: 0
• Ally Heroes: Zagara (Mid-way)
• New Tech Available/Restraints: Partial BW tech to start, Full BW tech/upgrades available mid-way after optional objective completed)

• In this opening mission, you start with two mission types.  The first mission type is a survival the second is a destroy single enemy.  Let's start with the first one.  You must protect the new chrysalis project that your Cerebrate has recommended you start but he has asked you personally add your DNA which forces you to defend the area from the renegade Zerg which won't respond to your commands still since the UED's meddling.
• You have a decent area to start with, two-three hatcheries, two resource areas, but a wide 180 degree area to cover.  The enemies can come from the left, right, north right, or north left.   You can explore a tad with Kerrigan if you want to collect biomass to begin gaining "levels" for her but the map is partially restricted for now so its up to you.  If you collect enough you can level her up to improve her offense or defense slightly.  There are no psionic pickups in this mission.
• Build A LOT of colonies all around you.  If the enemy gets a whiff of that cocoon they will attack it.  Don't let that happen, especially if going for the achievement.  Kerrigan's razor ability will be useful against the clusters of attacks that come at you.
• You have a limited Brood War tech here, so no Ultralisks or Guardians to help you out, your best bet is a mix of Zerglings, Hydralisks, or Mutalisks with colonies, colonies, colonies.
• Once you have survived, your prize is revealed to be Zagara, the first Brood Mother.  Kerrigan will thank her Cerebrate for his participation in the experiment but reveal his time is now up.  Your Cerebrate will show his true colors and reveal he was controlling the renegade Zerg and will now through everything he has at you.  At this point the map fully opens up and you have to kill your Cerebrate...the last Cerebrate.  Aw
• You will learn the source of the bio-virus that is preventing your full BW tech, so take this out quick to get access back to your advanced Zerg tech ASAP.  Once this is done, start exploring with Kerrigan to get those biomasses to max out what you can get with this mission.  Then take out the smaller renegade Zerg north of you and expand there.
• Once you have a sizable force, move into the eastern Zerg base before you are ready to assault the primary Cerebrate base on the higher ground
• There is a bonus objective to take out Baneling Nests, a new strain it has developed against you.  If you take them all out hidden around the map you can build them for yourself throughout the campaign!  However, these are proto-banelings and cannot be morphed from Zerglings, they are instead "built" almost like infested terrans from infested command centers.  Until the future when Zerg queens evolve zerglings to morph into banelings this is the only way to "birth" banelings.
• When ready to attack the Cerebrate, you should have a slew of banelings ready to soften the area up because the Cerebrate will be ready for you with Nydus Worms.  You should take these out quickly then assault him as soon as possible.  When victory is assured the Cerebrate will impart some final warnings but Kerrigan will have none of it and absorb his ancient Zerg essence.  In doing this, she unlocks her psionic potential and thirsts for more power...
• Not long after, she comes across a feral creature.  Talking strangely, and stranger still....it can talk at all...Kerrigan learns this creature was the one who designed her own cocoon.  It had been wandering Char for nearly a year since the Overmind was killed, without purpose.  Kerrigan realized she could use the creature to design her new evolved Swarm, and perhaps, to fix her failing experiments on finding a consort.  The creature, Abathur, agreed to serve her as its master, and re-designed Amanda Haley into a successful Zerg creature to do Kerrigan's bidding - Izsha.

Zerg02 - Moth to the Flame

• Max Biomass: 250
• Max Psi: 4
• Ally Heroes: N/A
• New Tech Available/Restraints: Full BW Tech still with some new adjustments: Spine Crawler available, Roach available, Brood Queen available from Hatchery/Lair/Hive's (old BW flying Queen's now built only from same Hatchery/Lair/Hive and not from larva), Hydralisks now follow SC2 mechanics (+2 damage, WOL voice and attack spine sounds, require Lair), Kerrigan has WOL voice now, Kerrigan starts with +1 Psi evolution level - her Razor Swarm can target buildings now for bonus damage and has a slightly greater radius and damage over time than last mission.  Kerrigan's Psi Blast is now her primary attack as it can target ground units.  However, she will switch to her higher damage claws if they are within a short distance to her. (Psi Blast will nearly equal damage to Claws when psi is leveled)

• It has been three years from Zerg01.  Kerrigan has been learning, training, and evolving the Swarm.  She is ready to test her new strength in the Koprulu sector when a psionic disturbance catches her attention.  She begins to investigate it and goes to Deadmans Port.  In this mission you begin to start getting Wings of Liberty tech, but so does your enemy.  So you will come across Terran Marauders, Vikings, Banshee's, and Hellions as common enemies.  
• You will be presented with free Roaches, Spine Crawlers, Brood Queen's, and older flyer Queen's as intros to the new units Abathur has been making for you.  Early on, the Dominion will make their presence known and send their new Banshee models after you.  New strain Hydralisks will then unburrow and take them out with ease.  These are the SC2 version Hydralisks which attack stronger and have reverted to using all SC2 sounds, including "spines" instead of "bile", but now require a Lair to build with a tad more cost.
• Resources aren't minimal here, but they aren't exactly plentiful either.  You shouldn't waste units or you'll find yourself in a pickle.  There are some mineral and vespene pickups around the map however.
• There are several "gate control" stations located around the map.  Every so often, an SCV will attempt to "lock down" a gate.  If they succeed in doing so, one of the three gates around the map will become permanently locked, and Zagara will be unable to provide you with constant reinforcements.  For the reason stated above, you don't want that.  To stop the countdown on a lock, you can either destroy the gate or destroy the SCV, the later of which is useful if you have a minimal force about to die.  You can also destroy gate's well before an SCV locks them.   If you destroy a required number of gate controls, a particular gate will open, allowing Zagara's reinforcements to continuously spawn and attack towards your end objective.  If you manage to open all three gates, its essentially game over for the enemy.
• The Dominion on the south east doesn't have a large base, but it isn't weak.  The Gray Tiger is the main focus here.   Taking it out will present you with a decision point.  Allowing the admiral to leave will give you a free Infested Command Center (provided you didn't already take it out) and most of his base having been removed from the game.  This also alllows Infestors in Zerg03+ to launch suicidal Infested Terrans instead of marine rifle Infested Terrans, essentially making them mobile Infested Command Centers.  Note, however, that those Infested Terrans are timed, unlike standard Queen infested Command Center types.  They also are much more taxing on the Infestor in terms of cooldown and energy cost.  If you choose to kill the admiral, you will instead get the standard Infestor ability next mission, but in the current mission you are on you will be presented with a new unlimited spawn point of infested marines, which may be useful to you.
• There is a secret area not far from the end goal where Kerrigan can pick up "secret documents" Stewart threw in the trash, guarded by some Tauren Marines.  It's back a ways, but not too hidden.  It's well worth it to get as it will give you a brief insight into Stewart's perspective of the events leading up to this point, a brand new end cutscene at the end of this mission, as well as a bonus vitality for Infested Stewart in Zerg03+
• Note to win this mission you do not need to simply bring Kerrigan to the beacon, you must destroy the Command Center first, which can attack you.   Bringing an overwhelming aerial army (mutalisk/guardian) can do the trick and Overlord Kerrigan off, if you want to finish the mission quickly.

Zerg03 - Crossroads

• Max Biomass: 350
• Max Psi: 8
• Ally Heroes: Ethan Stewart, Zagara. 
• New Tech Available/Restraints: Kerrigan is unavailable for the entire mission!  Infestors are now available.

• This mission is quite unique in that prior to the past two campaigns and the rest of this campaign, you will not have access to your primary hero, in this case, Kerrigan as Queen of Blades.  Her motives for not attending is to continue to hide her presence against another likely Dominion incursion but the real reason for not including her is she remained on Char lore wise during this battle.  As hard as it was, we can't go against lore, and this battle is too critical not to include.  Stewart will act as your main hero in this mission.  He will be able to collect bio-essence and find Psi in the same manner Kerrigan can, but cannot evolve from it, or evolve Kerrigan.  The bio-essence collected can be stored to a max of 350 here, however, for Improved Overlords and Malignant Creep.  You can use it in future missions to evolve Kerrigan.
• You start the mission off as a short crawl->destination with your new side-hero, Ethan Stewart.  He is a powerful infested terran with a ranged bile attack or claws at close range.  He has all the abilities of a Defiler which is useful because "Consume" will be your best friend with him.  In addition to this, he has Corrosive Bolt which is a single nuke attack and causes more damage to be taken by the target (an ability Infested Stukov has also) as well as Corruption Bomb, which launches a timed bile surge in an area that grows for a few seconds then explodes, causing heavy damage in an area, double to structures.  Finally, Stewart has the ability to infest briefly any enemy he attacks such that when they are killed two broodlings are temporarily spawned.  However, if Ethan kills the unit outright, no broodlings are created.  These are useful for Consume.  As a bonus, if you found the secret in Zerg02, Stewart gains added health, armor, speed, and regeneration.
• You will gain the Infestor as your new unit in this mission.  It comes with the standard Neural Parasite and Fungal Growth but if you completed the decision in Zerg02, it will also have marine-wielding low energy cost Infested Terrans, or suicide bomber high energy cost Infested Terrans.  Both are timed, both are useful in their own ways.
• Once Stewart reaches his goal a length cutscene will play out.  As it seems victory was all too easy, the Dominion will come and crash the party, causing your prize to run to other side of the map and attempt to re-activate the warp gate to escape to Shakuras.  (Fun fact - This is indeed the same warp gate seen in "The Stand" Episode IV in Brood War and is modeled to look as the SCMR team designed it.  Lore wise, Raynor used his rifle to destroy the controls which is why it takes time to re-activate it).  To make matters worse, an old friend, Ulrezaj, is back and better than ever, and for some reason wants the preserver also.  You make your own escape back to your base at the other corner of the map and the real mission thus begins
• You control two bases, Zagara's and Ethan's, and have both as hero's.  Zagara has all the same abilities as a Brood Mother as she did in Zerg01, but now she has gained the ability to lay her own eggs without need for larva.  She can lay 2 types of her own unique zerg strain eggs, called "Zagara Strain's".  One is a zergling type, the other is a Roach type.  Both are stronger than their standard counterparts but take more money to produce.  In addition, her zerglings can leap towards their victims over the battle, causing faster damage (they cannot leap cliffs!) and her roaches can spit poison towards the enemy, greatly decreasing movement speeds and causing damage per second.  Consider birthing these powerful unit types from her base to get a leg up on the feral zerg bases.
• To win you can either defeat Ulrezaj by bringing his health down to roughly < 10% (A Canon), or bring Stewart to the Warp Gate beacon (B Canon).  As with most A/B splits, B canon is going to be easier to do than A, but A is lore.  Between you and either objective is a whole lot of feral Zerg.  To make matters worse, Ulrezaj slowly, and I do mean slowly, makes his way from the cavern entrance to the warp gate.  If he reaches the warp gate, its game over.  It takes roughly 30 or so minutes for him to do this so keep that in mind.  This depends on how distracted he gets with the Dominion or you constantly attacking him
• Ulrezaj is much much MUCH more powerful than last you saw him at Protoss06.  Beyond a huge increase in stats and regeneration, and a huge model to boost, he has a new damaging aura when you approach him.  Only Guardian's might be able to just outrange this, but everything else will slowly whittle away at health so be careful.  Ultralisks are the best at withstanding these effects but zerglings will die very quickly.  He has all the same abilities as last you saw him in addition to causing the LOTV new type of Mind Control and Confusion.  Lastly, his most potent ability is what we saw him do at the end cutscene of Protoss06, which is a massive energy nova.  Luckily, there is a countdown timer above his head that will count from 5,4,3,2,1 when this happens.  When you hear and see the countdown, RUN!  If you are within a fairly large area around Ulrezaj when the nova goes off, you will die.  Nothing can survive it.  The nova can only be used once in a while, so when he launches it, that is the time to bring your army back to attack him again.   If you deal heavy damage but run away for too long, his regeneration will rapidly bring his shields and health back up, so if you're ready to accomplish A canon, be sure to go all in with a massive army.  Stewart's corrosive bolt will work here to deal more damage to Ulrezaj.  
• To win B canon is a bit more straight forward, you simply need to take out the large feral zerg base blocking you from the gate and make sure you deal with the minor Protoss defenses around the gate itself and drop Stewart on the beacon.  Stewart has his own personal mutalisk he can use to fly around the map, making him very mobile.  However, the mutalisk is fragile, and can easily be killed by the spore colonies or photon cannons around, so a suicide run will only work if you are supported by other mutalisks.

Zerg04a - A Dark Path

• Max Biomass: 500
• Max Psi: 12
• Ally Heroes: N/A
• New Tech Available/Restraints: No hatcheries, only reinforcements available.

• In this mission, you are doing a dungeon crawl with Kerrigan, so reinforcements are scarce.  Lead with Kerrigan always unless she is in danger. Mend is your best friend here.  Use it always.  Watch out for its cooldown and energy cost, however.  You will also be using Leaping Strike a bit to get to hard to reach areas.  If you maxed out on bioessence last mission you likely will want to evolve Kerrigan first before heading out.
• After your cutscene with the AI, you will be presented with a few different paths to take.  Taking the east path will bring you to colossus hell.  However, a psi power artifact is there, so you need to go.  You must destroy the canister that contains it but colossi will continuously spawn from under the floor to attack you.  Use Implode here to quickly deal with them.  When Kerrigan's energy runs out use claw attacks for its superior damage supported by your units.  Watch out for the splash damage against your zerglings.  Once the canister is destroyed the room caves in and the colossi stop spawning
• Going south east next, you will be presented with a maze of de-activated bridges that need to be re-activated once per beacon.  Once you figure these out, you will find the artifact but a tricky Protoss will claim you are now trapped.  Too bad for him you have leaping strike.  Move south and leap from rock to rock, be sure to activate the beacon there to re-open the bridge if any of your units got stuck and the last bridge to the far east of the room.  Once you are back you can go over that bridge to open the final bridge which leads to you getting more reinforcements
• Going south west leads to an open very large area protected by a special Khaydarin monolyth in the center that will auto attack you anywhere you are.  You have to run in the U shaped path to reach the artifact which opens a bridge shortcut to get you back.  You can try to solo this with Kerrigan to avoid your own units dying too much here just be wary of the 100 damage the monolyth tower does in addition to the damage the enemies do.  You can leap over units as well to get through it quickly
• Once you have all three artifacts, head west from the center map and activate the beacon to get to a new area.  You can head north to find a new decision to be made.  Zerg are being experimented on, you can release 1 Brutalisk or 3 Aberrations.  In addition to this, this type of unit will be available to be built in future missions.  The Aberrations you should know, but the Brutalisk will be evolved from the Ultralisk, but will cost a hefty fee.  It's also much weakened than you saw in the last campaign, but still very powerful compared to a single Ultralisk.
• The final artifact is optional to gain Psi for Kerrigan, and has a line of deactivated photon cannons between you and it.  There are energy lines as well up and down the path.  If Kerrigan attacks the photon cannons or touches the lines, the photon cannons will activate and attack you.  You will need to use leaping strike and hold position to be sneaky about it...or simply bust through with Razor Swarm.  Your choice.
• Once you reach the main crystal chamber, Kerrigan will meet the 1st Hybrid - Maar.  It doesn't go well.  You will have to fight him with Protoss reinforcements attacking you.  If going for the achievement, use your allies to attack the reinforcements while Kerrigan focuses on Maar herself.  Mend again is critical and there are health pickups around the area too.  Use Leaping Strike for critical strikes against Maar whenever the cooldown is over.  
• When Maar is defeated he will leave and you will be able to go south to meet an old friend, or at least, his voice.  He will partially explain his evil plan, because that's what villains do, right after he awakens a powerful, near-invincible Hybrid of his.  Baring resemblance to "Piercing the Shroud" this Hybrid will relentlessly chase you will Kerrigan needs to leave the area.  The Hybrid can't be killed so don't try.  You can now go east to wrap around the north part of the map in order to make it back to your starting place on the map to victory.  
• Trivia fact - As you are running, you will come across a void-energy monolyth with an organic cocoon encased in void energy and Amon's "Dark Voice" will be heard (or read).  This is the early beginnings of Duran and his hybrids building Amon's host body under Aiur.

Zerg04b - Into the Void

• Max Biomass: 500
• Max Psi: 12
• Ally Heroes: None
• New Tech Available/Restraints: Corruptors, Brood Lords are now available.

• This mission you will find yourself needing to jump from "island" to "island" from a broken ship in space, which is mainly comprised of 4 "islands".  To that end, Overlords to carry your forces over are a must.  Kerrigan, however, is able to jump from island to island with her leaping strike ability, but soloing with her may not be a wise decision due to the heavy resistance you will have.  Consider also using Nydus Canals on each island to quickly funnel troops from your main starting position.
• There are numerous mineral and vespene resource pickups scattered around the map that any unit can acquire to give you more resources in a pinch.  Mineral/vespene mining patches are few in this mission, but not completely missing.  Still, be careful wasting your forces.
• When you destroy a Psi Conduit, Izsha will send down drop pod reinforcements from your Leviathan.  They don't appear all at once, but be sure you have cleared a landing zone for them or they will be killed on arrival.
• When you start the mission you will have a sizable aerial force including Guardians, Corruptors, Devourers, and Brood Lords, however, no base.  You will need to quickly use your drones to build a Hatchery or two and begin construction.  While you wait, use your starting forces to take control of your position.  There is a secondary expansion area north of your position with minerals, taking control of it now will be very beneficial to you.  You might also consider taking out the 1 or 2 Psi Conduits nearby you to gain additional reinforcements.
• When the Blue Protoss on your first island is destroyed, its time to move on to the next.  Carry your forces over after your Guardians/Brood Lords clear a path on the next area.  This island is small but contains a conduit to acquire more units.  There is also a "key" pickup south of here hidden, you should use Kerrigan to pick it up now.
• When ready, move onto the primary Orange Protoss to the 3rd island.  You should by this point have at least 150 food supply.  Be sure your Brood Lords are clearing a path before your ground forces mop up the rest.  Watch out for Psi Storm which can be devastating to you when you clump your forces up at this point.   Sentries often like to use Force Field which can disrupt your troop movements as well.
• On this island there is a beacon for Kerrigan.  Assuming you picked up the key earlier, go to it now to activate a decision dialog.  If you didn't get the key yet, you will be prompted to find it first.  Once the dialog is done, you can either allow Roaches to evolve into proto-Ravagers (no upgrades, higher cost than LOTV), or allow the Hydralisk Den to morph into an Impaler Den, which allows your Hydralisks to morph into Impalers (while still allowing them to morph into Lurkers if they so choose).  Decide which you feel is more your play style and gain the bonus
• Be sure you have mined all mineral patches at this point and acquired all 4 psi pickups.  When ready, move onto the final island, the Red Protoss.  These units contain more unique Tal'darim versions of Protoss and are more numerous.  In addition, there are 2 special "Slayn Particle Cannon" AA guns near Nyon's position that have a long range that will insta-kill any aerial unit too close, with splash damage as well.  So you will need to raid this island with ground forces.  Be wary of the Vanguard unit which can deal heavy splash damage to your units.
• Avoid attacking or going near Nyon's Mothership at this point as his shield regeneration is too high, and he will cast an ability to instantly restore them every so often.  However, if you have a massive amount of units, you can technically engage him now and finish the mission without needing the destroy all Conduits.  Of course if you have that many units, you mays well destroy the Conduits and get the achievement :)
• Once all Psi Conduits are destroyed a quick cutscene plays and the gate to Nyon and his warp gate he came from is lowered.  Nyon is now vulnerable to attack as his shield regeneration is now at a normal level and his ability to instantly restore them is gone.  He is still a deadly boss however, with a massively powerful attack, the ability to heavily disrupt your units with Black Hole, and the ability to warp in Destroyer Void Ray's at will.  If you have a massive near 200 army, simply unleash holy hell on him and he should go down quickly.  Kerrigan's Mend ability here will help immensely.  Razor Swarm not so much as it will likely just harm your forces. If you have Wild Mutation now, use that on groups of mutalisks or hydralisks to quickly cause mass DPS.

Interlude

• Max Biomass: N/A
• Max Psi:N/A
• Ally Heroes:N/A
• New Tech Available/Restraints:N/A

• This isn't so much a mission as it is one giant cutscene. At the beginning, you have the option of playing the full length interlude, a shorter version of it, or skip it altogether and proceed to the Zerg05 map.  However, it is highly recommended you watch either the full or short version of it as this will highlight some key background details on what is going on with important characters in the Zerg campaign which will provide a richer story as you finish the next two missions.
• Choosing the full length cutscene presents you with the full dialog, mostly word for word from the Dark Templar Trilogy novels but accompanied by in-game visuals.  The shorter version is the same cutscenes, but non-essential information has been cut out, dramatically decreasing the length of each cutscene. 
• Each cutscene can be skipped by pressing the ESC key, regardless if you choose full or short length
• Cutscenes 1/3/5/7 show Jacob Ramsey/Zamara as they make their way to try and locate a particular Dark Templar Zamara believes may help them - Zeratul.  After the events of the bonus mission in Brood War, Zeratul has seen the Hybrid first hand and now knows Duran is responsible for it.  This, along with the burden of the Matriarch Razagal and her dying words to have Zeratul lead the Nerazim, has left him to do much soul searching in solitude.  It is up to Jacob and Zamara to try and snap Zeratul out of his lethargy to not only help them but set Zeratul on his destined path.
• Cutscenes 2/4/6/8 show Rosemary Dahl trying to convince the Protoss council on Shakuras to mount a rescue expedition to find Jacob and Zamara.  The council, which is comprised of previous known heroes like Mohandar and Artanis, is willing to hear Dahl's plea but the rest of the Protoss are extremely distrusting of another Terran female after their encounter with the Queen of Blades.  After much bickering and politics, secrets will be revealed that will determine where they believe Zamara needs to go to be rescued.
• The final cutscene showcases Valerian Mengsk en route to pursue the Xel'naga vessel Ulrezaj left Aiur on, this time with a much larger fleet provided by his father, Arcturus.  Although not wanting to involve his father for what he would do to the Protoss in Jacob's head, or Jacob himself for that matter, he had little choice as his previous forces were destroyed.  If only Valerian could get ahead of his father's Dominion security team once they found Jacob, he might still have a chance to save the archeologist's life, and protect whatever secrets Zamara is hiding.

Zerg05a - Heart of Darkness

• Max Biomass: 500
• Max Psi: 16
• Ally Heroes: N/A
• New Tech Available/Restraints: Creep Tumors, Brood Lords, Corruptors are now available.  Creep Colony, Sunken Colony are removed.  Noxious Creep ability removed from Brood Queen, replaced by Spawn Creep Tumor.

• You gain a plethora of new units available to you here, including Corruptors and Brood Lords.  You also still have access to Brood War air units including Devourers and Guardians, so you have many options to use here.  This map has many paths as its a lab within an asteroid, but you may find these aerial units more useful to snipe Hybrid Containers as needed.
• The major new benefit here are Creep Tumors, and you get a few to start with.  Spread creep as much as possible here to sync with your Malignant Creep passive ability if you have enough biomass.  There are also several locked containers of Zerg units that you can get as allies if you spread creep to their control panels.  This can be done most effectively by tumors but can also be done by placing a Hatchery nearby. 
• There are several Hybrids (a mix of ranged and melee types) scattered around this lab and your objective is to kill them all.  They are all still in their containers, so if you find them fast enough you can destroy them without having to actually battle them.  If not, they will awaken 1 by 1 slowly throughout the mission time and seek you out.  These Hybrids are particularly powerful so you will need Kerrigan likely to support your army in taking them out.
• Resources are somewhat plentiful in this map, but not at strategic hidden locations.  Creep spreading will help move your Spine Crawlers in the proper position to protect your expansions.
• If you've been collecting psi thus far for Kerrigan, you will have the potential to get her penultimate ability here, Spawn Leviathan.  This massive beast complements your army in the best way possible and can lay waste to enemies but can be taken down with enough enemy AA focus fire, so careful.  The energy cost here is far greater than a Primal Kerrigan from HOTS, so it can only be used when she has enough to spare.  You can also use Leviathan's from Infested Kerrigan's version to auto-birth Mutalisks and/or Brood Lords, which will stay with you permanently after the Leviathan dies, so its highly useful to spawn this guy as often as possible to bulk up your air force with a few extra units as needed.
• Once you've taken out all Hybrid containers or Hybrids themselves, Kerrigan will push her luck too far as she taunts Duran.  He will respond by unleashing far more Hybrids off-map than she thought existed, so prepare your base for the onslaught for all the Hybrids coming at you at many sides all at once.  Towards the end of the final attack, a supreme Hybrid will be sent which has the highest stats of any Hybrid encountered thus far, so be sure you throw everything you have at it.  This will be the final battle to victory in this map.
• FUN FACT -> It is here that Duran realizes Kerrigan could have further use to him as she has acquired more psionic power than he thought possible.  While he wasn't planning on using his modified keystone piece on her to release Amon in that way, he now thought it possible, potentially speeding up his rebirth now instead of waiting for the Hybrids to complete their job.  (Discussed more in the Epilogue)

Zerg05b - Shadow of Darkness

• Max Biomass: 500
• Max Psi: 16
• Ally Heroes: Ethan Stewart
• New Tech Available/Restraints: Creep Tumors are now available.  Creep Colony, Sunken Colony are removed.

• While you already gained your new air units last map, you get a major new one here - Creep Tumors.  Spread creep as much as possible here to sync with your Malignant Creep passive ability if you have enough biomass. 
• As part of your mission objectives, you need to "disable" four locked controls to the Tal'darim fortress to gain and audience with the Highlord.  In order to do that, you need to spread creep to each lock.  This can be done most effectively by tumors but can also be done by placing a Hatchery nearby.
• Once you have cleared the lock free of Protoss enemies and infest it, expect the enemy to not take too kindly to that and start sending waves of enemies at you there.  Be sure you properly defend each lock with many defensive units.
• An eager Tal'darim you might know called Alarak is in the area and the Highlord has asked for a proof of his loyalty after some questionable actions he has done by destroying the Zerg.  To that end, Alarak will occasionally fight you in some waves and will always fight you upon infesting a lock.  He can quickly dispatch your forces in a variety of ways.  If you let him attack you while you focus on other enemies he can kill a wide array of enemies faster than you think.  Be sure you focus fire on Alarak when he approaches to remove that threat.
• The Protoss here now have learned how to harness a Warp Gate from their Gateways.  As you approach these units new enemies will be warped in from off-map.  It is in your best interest to target these Warp Gate's when you find them to prevent that from happening.
• As you begin to infest the final locks, expect stronger attacks from the north Tal'darim base to stop you from doing so.   They will throw everything they have at you, including most unique Tal'darim based units you saw from last mission.   Their Immortal and Colossus versions have nasty very strong attacks you want to avoid.
• Once all locks are opened, the Highlord will be defenseless to you...except...a certain ex-Zerg consort of yours will make himself known - Duran.  Having watched you since your attack on Nyon, he now wishes to test your strength by unleashing his ultimate experiment, the Hybrid.  You will have to, unexpectedly, defend against an onslaught of off-map Hybrids that will come seek you out.  Be sure you have a lot of extra units ready to go to fight them.  If your defensive positions near the locks are destroyed don't worry they don't matter anymore!  Towards the end of the final attack, a supreme Hybrid will be sent which has the highest stats of any Hybrid encountered thus far, so be sure you throw everything you have at it.  This will be the final battle to victory in this map.
• FUN FACT -> It is here that Duran realizes Kerrigan could have further use to him as she has acquired more psionic power than he thought possible.  While he wasn't planning on using his modified keystone piece on her to release Amon in that way, he now thought it possible, potentially speeding up his rebirth now instead of waiting for the Hybrids to complete their job.  (Discussed more in the Epilogue)

Zerg06a - Eternity's Void

• Max Biomass: 500
• Max Psi: 20
• Ally Heroes: Ethan Stewart
• New Tech Available/Restraints: Overseer is now available, Overlord loses detection but gains "Spread Creep" ability, as well as being able to morph into an Overseer.  Sight Radius is increaed

• This final mission of the zerg campaign challenges your ability to both play defense and micro-manage two bases at once, and multiple points of attack.   At your north base, you have Kerrigan fending off the last remnants of Duran's mercenaries.  At your south base, you have Stewart fending off the Dominion.  Your primary goal is to survive until the timer depletes, which also happens to coincide with how close Ulrezaj is to the temple.  
• What you need to defend is the temple itself while Zamara prepares her trap for Ulrezaj.  To that end, there are a number of ancient khaydarin pylon crystals which have their own energy barrier.  They will not only slowly destroy enemy forces that approach them, but yours as well.  Don't be fooled however, the life drain is enough to be concerning to your forces where you can't easily go up and down the temple grounds but it is not enough to halt enemy waves.  Eventually if left undefended, they will break through.  Once the generator's that power the pylons are destroyed, its game over.  So in short, you have to protect your own enemy while defending against other enemies!
• You do not need to destroy Ulrezaj, which is impossible to do.  He is merely a distraction for both bases that will send suicidal forces at him and your pseudo visual timer for how much time you have left.  When he approaches to your center entrance, you have to let him barrel through whatever defenses you have left, but be sure only Ulrezaj ends up destroying pylons if going for the achievement.  Rebuild some defenses behind him as he enters to prevent other enemies from accidentally getting through also
• Don't be shy about placing defensive structures.  Spread creep all around the temple entrances and lay down a plethora of Spine Crawlers and Spore colonies.  Lurkers are especially helpful here against the Terrans you have to fight.
• While you absolutely should play defense with Stewart's base and not take to the fight to the Dominion (they are far superior in numbers) it is in your best interest to instead play offense with Kerrigan's base and pursue the mercenaries across to their base.  There are still a few psi artifacts here for Kerrigan to find, so when there is a lull in the attacks, move out and find them.  If you've collected every psi artifact thus far, you will have the option of Kerrigan's final Psi mutation which grants her the ability Apocalypse.  Combining this along with your Leviathan will put Kerrigan as a superior hero, near identical stats to where you see her in Wings of Liberty.  She can easily go toe to toe solo against most of the enemies here.  But be careful not to get careless, she can still be killed.  
• There are a limited number of expansions pursuing east before you get into a no man's land for Stewart, but consider building a wall of defensive structures to secure it.  You need a steady supply of funds to keep defending
• While you can't easily cross north or south to reinforce, you can use Nydus Tunnels.  You can also use the ever vital Greater Nydus Worm ability at your Hive if you have managed to keep 500 biomass.  This worm can't be used as transport but will give you a random amount of zerg units for free at any location.  Keep it handy to bulk up any section under serious threat.
• Towards the end of the timer as Ulrezaj is nearly at the temple, the final push comes.  The Dominon (and whatever mercenaries are left north) will unleash everything they have at you.  While everything may come to a head here, remember if either the north or south generators go down, you will lose, even if Ulrezaj is fighting them also.  While he is a useful distraction to them, he will also fight you if you get too close.  You need to ensure it doesn't come to that and prevent any enemy from climbing the stairs to the temple.

Zerg06b - Eternity's Void

• Max Biomass: 500
• Max Psi: 20
• Ally Heroes: Zagara
• New Tech Available/Restraints: Overseer is now available, Overlord loses detection but gains "Spread Creep" ability, as well as being able to morph into an Overseer.  Sight radius is increased

• This final mission of the zerg campaign challenges your ability to both play defense and micro-manage two bases at once, and multiple points of attack.   At your north base, you have Kerrigan fending off a Tal'darim fleet that pursued you as you left Slayn.  At your south base, you have Zagara fending off the Dominion.  Your primary goal is to survive until the timer depletes, which also happens to coincide with how close Ulrezaj is to the temple.  
• What you need to defend is the temple itself while Zamara prepares her trap for Ulrezaj.  To that end, there are a number of ancient khaydarin pylon crystals which have their own energy barrier.  They will not only slowly destroy enemy forces that approach them, but yours as well.  Don't be fooled however, the life drain is enough to be concerning to your forces where you can't easily go up and down the temple grounds but it is not enough to halt enemy waves.  Eventually if left undefended, they will break through.  Once the generator's that power the pylons are destroyed, its game over.  So in short, you have to protect your own enemy while defending against other enemies!
• You do not need to destroy Ulrezaj, which is impossible to do.  He is merely a distraction for both bases that will send suicidal forces at him and your pseudo visual timer for how much time you have left.  When he approaches to your center entrance, you have to let him barrel through whatever defenses you have left, but be sure only Ulrezaj ends up destroying pylons if going for the achievement.  Rebuild some defenses behind him as he enters to prevent other enemies from accidentally getting through also
• Don't be shy about placing defensive structures.  Spread creep all around the temple entrances and lay down a plethora of Spine Crawlers and Spore colonies.  Lurkers are especially helpful here against the Terrans you have to fight at the south, less so against the Protoss up north.  However, if you have Impalers available, they will be helpful here.
• While you absolutely should play defense with Zagara's base and not take to the fight to the Dominion (they are far superior in numbers) it is in your best interest to instead play offense with Kerrigan's base and pursue the Tal'darim protoss across to their base.  There are still a few psi artifacts here for Kerrigan to find, so when there is a lull in the attacks, move out and find them.  If you've collected every psi artifact thus far, you will have the option of Kerrigan's final Psi mutation which grants her the ability Apocalypse.  Combining this along with your elite Spawn Drop Pods will put Kerrigan as a superior hero, near identical stats to where you see her in Wings of Liberty.  She can easily go toe to toe solo against most of the enemies here.  But be careful not to get careless, she can still be killed.  
• There are a limited number of expansions pursuing east before you get into a no man's land for Zagara, but consider building a wall of defensive structures to secure it.  You need a steady supply of funds to keep defending
• Zagara has the ability to birth her own unique zerg here, you should take advantage of that whenever she has the energy and you have the funds.  Don't waste them!
• While you can't easily cross north or south to reinforce, you can use Nydus Tunnels.  You can also use the ever vital Greater Nydus Worm ability at your Hive if you have managed to keep 500 biomass.  This worm can't be used as transport but will give you a random amount of zerg units for free at any location.  Keep it handy to bulk up any section under serious threat.
• Towards the end of the timer as Ulrezaj is nearly at the temple, the final push comes.  The Dominon (and whatever protoss are left north) will unleash everything they have at you.  While everything may come to a head here, remember if either the north or south generators go down, you will lose, even if Ulrezaj is fighting them also.  While he is a useful distraction to them, he will also fight you if you get too close.  You need to ensure it doesn't come to that and prevent any enemy from climbing the stairs to the temple.