Balance Council on 5.0.14

Greetings from the StarCraft II Community Balance Council! After around 7 months since the last patch, we are happy to present the next major multiplayer balance update, featuring changes for 14 units and 10 buildings, as well as two new abilities.

We feel that the previous 5.0.13 patch has mostly achieved its goals, fixing community pain points around Widow Mines and Cyclone, and slightly helping Protoss players in early and midgame against Terrans. However, the current patch has a couple of more ambitious goals outlined below:

• The first goal is to nerf defensive and camping playstyles for all races, both related to early and late game on the higher levels of play. We will target specific units, buildings and abilities suited for camping, to promote more active gameplay across all stages of the game.
• The second goal is to continue reshaping Protoss tools for high-level gameplay. We believe there is still a major gap between how Protoss race plays and feels on the highest level of play and the levels below – current set of changes aims to make Protoss race slightly more efficient with the strongest and smartest execution while helping Terran and Zerg players against Protoss on the lower levels.
• The third goal would be to provide strong playstyle alternatives for various matchups – Zergs might be now better equipped to use ground-based armies against mass air strategies, and some of the Terran mech units are now more efficient in harassment or certain straight-up fights scenarios.
• Lastly, we would like to continue adding overall gameplay and quality of life improvements viable across all levels of play.

We would like to thank everyone for providing your feedback for all previous community patches and we hope that the set of changes below will also be actively discussed and tested on the PTR server to help us evaluate their influence.

Protoss Changes

Nexus

• Shield Battery Overcharge ability removed.
• New ability added: Energy Overcharge. Energy Overcharge costs 50 Energy and recharges 100 Energy of the targeted allied unit or structure with a maximum range of 8.

Developer Comment: While being one of the most important tools in Protoss defenses, Shield Battery Overcharge is also one of the most frustrating abilities to play against – and it’s overall more efficient at the lower level of play, unlike other defensive techniques like Transfuse or Mass Repair. Instead of this ability, there is a new tool which can help empower Protoss support units like Sentry, Oracle or High Templar during defense. The ability can still be used to restore Shield Battery energy, but it is expected to perform much weaker in this scenario than Shield Battery Overcharge.

Shield Battery

• Shield and HP increased from 150/150 to 200/200.

Developer Comment: Considering this ability swap might be a direct Protoss nerf in a lot of early- and mid-game scenarios, Shield Batteries will now have increased survivability to slightly compensate for that, and the PTR games will be closely monitored to see if any additional buffs are required in this area.

Colossus

• Shield and HP changed from 150/200 to 100/250.

Developer Comment: With no Battery Overcharge, having more Shields is no longer crucial for key Protoss units like Colossus. Instead, having more HP will be helpful against EMP in Protoss versus Terran matchup and will also be more rewarding for Armor upgrade investments.

Tempest

• Supply Cost decreased from 5 to 4.
• Damage Point decreased from 0.119 to 0.0857 (28% reduction).
• Attack Range vs Air decreased from 14 to 13.

Developer Comment: Tempests are a very important lategame tool for Protoss players, but their high supply cost combined with an average damage output makes the ultimate Protoss army weaker in the head to head fight. This set of changes will help high-level Protoss players to fit a bit more power in their maxed armies and have more opportunities for micro while slightly decreasing unit’s maximum attack range to not strengthen mass-tempest armies.

Immortal

• Mineral Cost decreased from 275 to 250.
• Weapon Cooldown increased from 1.04 to 1.14 (9.6% increase).

Developer Comment: The damage output from Immortals seemed to be too high in the Protoss versus Zerg matchup across all levels of play. While Immortal’s Mineral Cost is slightly decreased to compensate for the DPS nerf, this set of changes should help Zerg survive against various Protoss midgame and lategame attacks.

Disruptor

• Purification Nova Radius increased from 1.375 to 1.5.
• Purification Nova Damage decreased from 145 (+55 vs Shields) to 100 (+100 vs Shields).

Developer Comment: Disruptors might be very difficult to play against on the lower levels, but on the highest level their efficiency dropped down significantly after the previous changes. This set of changes is aimed to bring back some of Disruptor’s old power, making avoiding any damage more challenging for the professional players, while at the same time making single Disruptor hits less punishing in the worst case scenario. With the new damage output, Disruptors will no longer one-shot units like Marauders, Roaches and Ravagers, while being more efficient against units like Marines, Ghosts, Banelings and Hydras, as well as having more potential in certain PvP scenarios.

Mothership

• Mineral, Gas and Supply cost increased from 300/300/6 to 400/400/8.
• Shield and HP increased from 250/250 to 350/350.
• Maximum damage increased from 6 (damage) x 6 (beams) to 6 (damage) x 4 (beams) x 4 (maximum number of targets), i.e. Mothership now targets up to 4 units at the same time.

Developer Comment: While we are happy with the previous set of changes which brought mothership back to Protoss versus Terran lategame and improved its efficiency in other matchups, we also appreciate the community feedback about this unit losing an important part of its identity. This set of changes brings back full mothership power with its widely known 400/400 cost, while also adding a unique ability to target up to 4 units at the same time: the single target DPS of the mothership is now reduced, but the overall damage output will be much higher.

Terran Changes

Bunker, Missile Turret, Sensor Tower

• Salvage ability added for Missile Turret and Sensor Tower (also returning 75% of their cost).
• Salvage process is now being canceled upon taking damage.

Developer Comment: This change will allow Terrans to be more efficient while moving from one defensive point to another, while at the same time increasing their overall investment in early-game attacks featuring Bunkers, as the Salvage is now much easier to counter.

Planetary Fortress

• Armor decreased from 3 to 2.

Sensor Tower

• Mineral & Gas Cost decreased from 125/100 to 100/50.
• Radar Range decreased from 27 to 22 (34% area size reduction).

Developer Comment: The combination of Planetary Fortresses and Sensor Towers is a very powerful camping tool in various lategame scenarios. This set of changes makes Planetary Fortresses slightly weaker against basic army units like Zerglings, Marines and Zealots, and making Sensor Towers much less efficient in covering the whole map. However, Sensor Towers might now be useful in earlier stages of the game, considering their majorly reduced cost and added salvage ability.

Orbital Command

• Extra Supplies Calldown now also increases the HP of Supply Depot to 500, immediately repairing it.

Developer Comment: Extra Supplies are rarely utilized in the higher level of play and are mostly considered to be an emergency tool in case of Supply Blocks. This change brings additional value to this ability, allowing it to become a niche defensive tool against various offenses and counter-attacks.

Hellion

• Blue Flame upgrade bonus damage versus Light increased from +5 to +9.

Developer Comment: As the Blue Flame upgrade is rarely utilized as a harassment tool, this change is added to allow Hellions with Blue Flame to 2-shot workers of all races. This might also help underused mech playstyles in all matchups and promote generally more active early and midgame from the Terran players.

Liberator

• Advanced Ballistics effect changed from providing +2 range in Defender mode to increasing the radius in Defender mode from 5 to 6.25 (56% area increase).
• Smart Servos upgrade is now also affecting Liberators. With Smart Servos, Liberator siege time is decreased from 2.89 to 2.12 (26.6% reduction) and unsiege time is decreased from 1.46 to 1.13 (23% reduction).

Developer Comment: Despite the previous Advanced Ballistics nerf, Liberator’s maximum attack range is still an important limitation for the mapmaking process, as well as a frustrating mechanic to play against. This set of changes is aimed to test a different approach for the unit, which further decreases its maximum range in line with the Tempest changes, but allows it to cover more area on the sides and underneath the Liberator in Defender mode.

Thor

• Explosive Payload (“splash mode”) Damage is increased from 6 (+6 vs light) to 8 (+4 vs light).
• Explosive Payload Splash Radius is increased from 0.5 with 100% splash damage to 0.5 with 100% damage, 0.75 with 75% damage and 1.25 with 50% damage.
• Explosive Payload Attack Range is decreased from 10 to 7.

Developer Comment: Thor’s Explosive Payload mode, while being default for the unit, is rarely utilized outside of TvZ against Mutalisk, and is overall much weaker than its High Impact counterpart. This experimental set of changes is aimed to test a very different approach for the Explosive Payload, allowing Thor to deal much more damage to all types of units in a cost of major attack range reduction.

Zerg Changes

Queen

• Mineral Cost increased from 150 to 175.

Hatchery

• Mineral Cost decreased from 300 to 275.

Spine Crawler

• Build Time decreased from 36 to 32.
• Damage increased from 25 (+5 vs Armored) to 30.

Spore Crawler

• Damage increased from 15 to 20.
• HP decreased from 400 to 300.

Developer Comment: Zerg playstyles against Terran and Protoss players on higher levels are mainly focused on defensive gameplay featuring mass Queens. The efficiency of such defensive styles with strong execution means that Terran and Protoss players might also prefer to stay passive, which doesn’t lead to active early game. This set of changes, while not majorly influencing Zerg openings with a limited number of Queens, is aimed to make mass Queens playstyles less affordable. Spine Crawler and Spore Crawler changes will help compensate for potentially smaller defensive impact from Queens – at the same time, Spore Crawler HP was still decreased to make sure Spore Crawler damage increase is not utilized for more efficient lategame camping.

Hydralisk

• Move Speed on Creep with Muscular Augments upgrade decreased from 5.11 to 4.83 (5.5% reduction).
• New ability added: Dash. Dash is researched in Hydralisk Den, requires Hive; the upgrade costs 100 minerals and 100 gas, takes 64 seconds.
• Dash is an active non targeted ability with 10 seconds cooldown. Upon its use, Hydralisk receives 60% move speed bonus for 0.71 seconds.

Developer Comment: The idea of this ability is to add more micromanagement potential for the key Zerg unit against mass area of effect damage spells like Psionic Storms and Purification Novas. Combined with other changes like Microbial Shroud, this ability might unlock alternative, ground-based Zerg playstyles against Protoss lategame army compositions without giving too much base power to the unit. Move Speed on Creep with Muscular Augments upgrade is slightly reduced to make sure Terran and Protoss harassment tools are not nerfed with this ability being added.

Infestor

• Microbial Shroud is now sticking to units, providing them with its effect for 3.6 seconds while off the Shroud.

Developer Comment: Despite being very strong on paper, Microbial Shroud is not widely used in Zerg versus Protoss lategame, mostly due to units under Shroud being vulnerable to area of effect damage spells. With Shroud sticking to units for 3.6 seconds outside of the actual Shroud area, Zerg players are now able to micro more freely while still enjoying the benefits of this Infestor ability.

Ultralisk

• While moving, Ultralisk is now able to push allied units.

Developer Comment: We feel that the previous Ultralisk size, attack and cost changes were all helpful to improve the state of the unit, but this additional change should help Zerg players across all levels to better utilize Ultralisk strengths, avoiding cases where Ultralisks were stuck behind other allied units.

Brood Lord

• Broodling HP is increased from 20 to 30.
• Broodling Weapon Cooldown decreased from 0.57 to 0.46.
• Fixed the bug which prevented Brood Lord from dealing full damage while shooting from the maximum distance.

Developer Comment: Brood Lord seemed to lose too much power in head to head fights after the previous set of changes – the broodling changes are now reverted which, combined with the bug fix, should help the unit to perform better in various lategame scenarios.

General

• Orbital Command Scanner Sweep visual now uses team color.
• Sensor Tower Radar minimap visual now uses team color.
• Command Center, Nexus and Hatchery now auto rally to mineral fields.
• Workers waiting for Refinery, Extractor or Assimilator to finish do not count as idle.
• SCV random delay between moving while building adjusted from 3.57- 7.14 to 4.64-6.07 (same average).
• Added icon to command card for Infestor, Hellion, Hellbat, Liberator showing unupgraded passive upgrades.
• Siege Tank and Immortal tracking change from previous patch reverted due to causing unintentional retargeting.
• Fixed an issue where blinding cloud caused certain melee units attacks to be more easily canceled.
• Fixed an issue where blinding cloud could cause Planetaries to not attack units at melee range in certain angles.
• Fixed an issue with issuing orders on certain types of rocks in fog.
• Fixed an issue with Changeling zealot move animation speed.
• Tweaked Hydralisk move animation speed to match it’s actual movement speed (art only).