StarCraft II 5.0.14 PTR Update

Greetings from the StarCraft II Community Balance Council!

First off, we would like to thank everyone for providing feedback on and testing the previously proposed changes. We would also like to reassure that the balance updates are a joint effort from the entiry community, and your feedback is very important for the direction the Balance Council is heading. Upon analysing the perception of the first iteration of this balance patch and the games played on the PTR server, we would like make the following adjustments for further testing.

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Battery Overcharge removal

Developer Comment: After receiving playtesting feedback, we see that many players have enjoyed the flexibility provided by the new ability, and we would like to continue testing this proposed change. However there has also been a strong concern about Protoss defense in the early game after losing the Battery Overcharge ability, specifically against Terran rushes. We will be testing the following changes to try and improve Protoss's ability to defend in these scenarios:

Cyclone

• Cyclone changes from 5.0.12 / 5.0.13 reverted.

Developer Comment: The Cyclone changes from 5.0.12, despite indeed bringing the unit back to play in all matchups as originally planned, have also led to reduced Protoss build diversity in the early game, as well as leading to certain troubles while defending rush builds in the Terran vs Protoss matchup. We think reverting to the old Cyclone, which was being requested from a major part of the community, can also improve Protoss early game build diversity and stability.

Stalker

• Stalker train time (Gateway) reduced from 30 seconds to 27 seconds.

Developer Comment: The Stalker build time change is added to help address builds such as proxy 2 Barracks Marauder, which were very difficult to defend even with the Battery Overcharge ability. We think that this change will allow Protoss to more comfortably defend similar rush builds, but we will also closely monitor the consequences of this change for aggressive Protoss builds.

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Late-game concerns

Ghost

• Ghost supply increased from 2 to 3.

Developer Comment: With the release of PTR, we've received additional feedback from the progamers and community members that Ghosts power level seems to be too high for their cost and supply, despite multiple targeted nerfs in the recent years. Following this feedback, we would like to directly adjust the Terran army's lategame strength through this change.

Mothership

• Mothership now can no longer be targeted by Abduct.

Developer Comment: We have received strong community feedback about this change, since the Mothership was made untargetable by Neural Parasite in the past. With the changes back to 400/400 cost/8 supply Mothership, we would like to test this idea to make the Mothership less fragile in the Zerg vs Protoss matchup.

Ultralisk

• Ultralisk Anabolic Synthesis bonus move speed reduced from 0.82 to 0.59.

Developer Comment: We would like to test a slight reduction in the move speed of Ultralisks, bringing it down to the same move speed as stimmed Marines/Marauders. This is to try and make Terran players feel more comfortable moving out on the map in the late-game, as well as balance out increases in strength from the push priority change.

Removed changes

• Brood Lord changes removed.
• Tempest damage point change removed.
• Liberator changes removed.

Developer Comment: We agree to feedback received that these changes could lead to more drawn out games, which this patch is trying to move away from, and these changes are no longer being tested. With Ghosts being weakened as well, we no longer believe that Brood Lords changes are needed to adjust the level of its power.

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Other changes

Hydralisk

• Dash (name is not finalized) speed bonus increased from 60% to 100%.
• Dash is now point targeted, giving the Hydralisk a move order to the target location.

Developer Comment: The previously tested functionality was too hard to make use of for many players, so we would like to make this adjustment to try and make the ability more functional and powerful.

Lurker

• Lurker health reduced from 200 to 190.
• Lurker sight increases from 10 to 11.

Developer Comment: As we continue to test the Disruptor changes, we would like to reduce the Lurker health to 190 so it will not survive 2 Purification Nova hits. The sight range is also being increased to fix an issue caused by the Lurker having identical attack and sight ranges, leading to its attack range having slight inconsistencies depending on angle.

Removed changes

• Missile Turret Salvage change removed.

Developer Comment: We agree with feedback that this change would be counter-productive to making less drawn out defensive games. We are continuing to test the addition of the Salvage ability to the Sensor Tower, as it should allow for more interesting usage of the Sensor Tower in accordance with the other proposed Sensor Tower changes.

• Blue Flame change removed.
• Spine Crawler changes removed.

Developer Comment: We believe that Spine Crawler adjustment is a risky change as it would lead to proxy Hatchery strategies in Zerg vs Protoss being significantly stronger, as well as increasing the strength of 12pool + Drone rushes in Zerg vs Zerg. With Spines back to their old power and Zergs being less reliant on Queens, we would like to also revert the Blue Flame change as in the current state of balance this might reduce Zerg's build order variety to only Roach-based openings.

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Full Updated Changelog

Protoss

Nexus

• Battery Overcharge removed.
• New ability: Energy Recharge (50 Energy / 60 second cooldown)
  • Recharges 100 Energy to any unit or structure within 8 range of a Nexus.

Shield Battery

• Shields/HP increased from 150/150 to 200/200.

Stalker

• Train time from Gateway reduced from 30 to 27 seconds.

Colossus

• Shields/HP changed from 150/200 to 100/250.

Tempest

• Supply Cost reduced from 5 to 4.
• vs Air attack range reduced from 14 to 13.

Immortal

• Cost reduced from 275/100 to 250/100.
• Weapon cooldown increased from 1.04 to 1.14.

Disruptor

• Purification Nova radius increased from 1.375 to 1.5.
• Purification Nova damage reduced from 145 (200 vs shields) to 100 (200 vs shields).

Mothership

• Cost increased from 300/300 to 400/400.
• Supply cost increased from 6 to 8.
• Mothership now can no longer be targeted by Abduct.
• Damage increased from 6x6 to 6x4x4 (36 damage vs 1 target to 24 damage vs 4 targets each).

Terran

Cyclone

• Reverted to patch 5.0.11 Cyclone.

Salvage

• Damage now cancels the Salvage process.
• Salvage timer is now visible to enemies.

Planetary Fortress

• Armor reduced from 3 to 2.

Sensor Tower

• Cost reduced from 125/100 to 100/50.
• Radar range reduced from 27 to 22.
• Can now be salvaged.

Orbital Command

• Calldown: Extra Supplies increases the target Supply Depot's current/max health to 500.

Ghost

• Supply cost increased from 2 to 3.

Thor

• Explosive Payload (splash mode) damage increased from 6 (12 vs light) to 8 (12 vs light).
• Explosive Payload splash radius increased from 0.5/100% to 0.5/100%, 0.75/75%, 1.25/50% (radius/damage %).
• Explosive Payload attack range reduced from 10 to 7.

Zerg

Queen

• Cost increased from 150/0 to 175/0.

Hatchery

• Cost reduced from 300/0 to 275/0.

Spore Crawler

• Damage increased from 15 to 20.
• Health reduced from 400 to 300.

Hydralisk

• Muscular augments creep speed bonus reduced from 1.03 to 0.74.
• New research: Frenzy (name is not finalized)
  • Cost: 100/100, 64 seconds. Requires Hive.
  • Increases move speed by 100% for 0.71 seconds.

Infestor

• Microbial Shroud now lasts for 3.6 seconds on units leaving the Shroud.

Ultralisk

• Increased allied push priority from 0 to 1 (now pushes allied units out of the way when moving).
• Anabolic Synthesis move speed bonus reduced from 0.82 to 0.57.

Bug fixes & Quality of Life changes

• Orbital Command Scanner Sweep 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 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 be 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.
• Fixed an issue where Gravaton Beam could be cancelled within 0.04 seconds of casting by teleport/transport abilities.
• Fixed an issue where Lurker's attack could be cancelled when the target leaves range/dies and no other unit is in attack range.