When terrans first saw this queen, the universal reaction was that someone had taken a centaur from human legend, replaced the torso with a section of a centipede, and replaced the lower, equine part with a giant crab. Such evolution implied a widespread change occurred within the zerg hierarchy, a redistribution of power making them more difficult to combat. The new morphology of these queens hints at the incorporation of terran or protoss DNA, or perhaps even the zerg-altered genes of the Queen of Blades herself. At full height, they are roughly 1.5 times as tall as a terran wearing CMC armor.

These queens are tougher than their predecessors, including an armored skull. Queens have an ingrained matronly instinct, that even deep neurological restructuring is unable to eliminate. They are as able to hear, process and understand terran speech. Queens generally can't communicate verbally, but have been observed to converse with other species psionically. Queens can evolve and grow through experience, and can analyze and relay any tactical data fed to them by overlords. In leadership roles, they oversee hives and easily coordinate lesser strains. They play a limited command role in nurturing zerg nest sites. The queen's brain gives it great mental capabilities, but these queens have severe limits to their mental flexibility (unlike broodmothers), and have limited independent thought, analysis, and sapience. The queen's brain is encased in an armored skull, and connected to a set of nerve cords that bear resemblance to those possessed by protoss. Abathur altered the essence of an older breed of queen, and ultimately from the Arachnis brood-keeper, suppressing their ability to fly in order to improve their abilities to take care of the hive. The queens came into use after the Brood War, in use as early as 2501. The creation of this breed of queen was carried out at the behest of the Queen of Blades, in order to safeguard the future of the Swarm and act as its hive-masters.

Starcraft 2 swarm queen larva