StarCraft II Patch 1.1: Balance tweaks inbound

If you’re like me and you have spent the last few weeks battling your way through your respective StarCraft II league divisions, then the announcement of an upcoming patch which will make some pretty significant changes various units should be of interest. 

Patch 1.1 is the first official StarCraft II patch, and we expect many, many more over the next few years. Not only does it make significant changes to the 3 playable races, but it also fixes bugs, introduces Nvidia 3D Vision support, and updates the keyboard payout. 

Maps

“We’re going to be adding destructible rocks to the Desert Oasis map to make natural expansions easier to protect. In addition, the center map watchtower area is being narrowed.”

Balance Changes

Protoss

“We have two key changes in mind for the zealot: the build time is being increased from 33 to 38 seconds, and the warpgate cooldown is being increased from 23 to 28 seconds. Zealot rushes are currently too powerful at various skill levels, particularly those that rely on rapidly assaulting an enemy base from nearby “proxy” gateways.

“We feel the window players have to scout for and fend off this rush is too small. We also want to address the problem of protoss being able to dump minerals a bit too quickly with the combination of warpgates and Chrono Boost.”

Terran

“There are several changes in the works for terrans. Reapers against Zerg are stronger than expected. Due to the zealot build time increase, reapers would be a bit problematic in combination with proxy barracks, bunkers, and/or marauders against protoss. Therefore, we have decided to increase the build time of reapers as well from 40 to 45 seconds.

 “Fast reaper + bunker, or fast marine + bunker rushes are problematic against zerg. Although this rush would never outright destroy the zerg player, we feel zerg suffers too much of a disadvantage from either having to cancel the fast expansion, or getting trapped inside the main base for too long, so we are also increasing the bunker build time from 30 to 35 seconds.

“Siege tanks in large numbers are performing too well in all matchups. In the mid- to late-game, siege tanks are too dominant against all ground units. We want a small set of light and unarmored ground units to perform better against siege tanks. With this in mind, we’re changing the Siege Mode damage of the siege tank from 50 to 35, +15 vs. armored; to correspond with this, damage upgrades will be changed from +5 to +3, +2 vs. armored. This change reduces the base damage of the siege tank against light and unarmored units, as well as the splash damage.

“Battlecruisers currently lack good counters from the ground and still perform very well against a wide array of unit types. We’re aware that it is not easy to get battlecruisers out for the cost, but at the same time, it is possible in both 1v1s and team games to create stalemate situations to bring them out.

“Overall, we feel that battlecruisers are too strong for their cost, and the terran-forced stalemate situations are causing less interesting gameplay. We will be lowering their damage against ground units from 10 to 8.”

Zerg

“Ultralisk damage is being decreased from 15, +25 vs. armored to 15, +20 vs. armored. This reduction is comparable to the changes being made to the battlecruiser and siege tank. Like the battlecruiser, ultralisks are simply too powerful for the cost, even though they are difficult to muster. Also, in combination with other units, ultralisks are difficult to counter from the ground.

“The ultralisk building attack (Ram) is being removed because the damage rate is too similar to its normal attack, which will be used against buildings instead. When ultralisks target tightly packed smaller buildings such as supply depots, the Ram attack is actually outputting considerably less overall damage than its normal attack, as Ram only hits a single target.”

Overall, the patch seems to be aimed at making it harder to pull of what are commonly referred to as “cheese” tactics. IE, Reaper rushes and Zealot rushes, although Zergling rushes will continue (in fairness, these are easy enough to counter). 

Terran are being nerfed hardest, with reductions being made to the Battlecruiser and Siege Tank – two of the race’s most powerful units. These moves should silence many rumblings that the human space marine race is, in its current form, unbalanced. 

The patch is expected to go live in the middle of September.

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