The latest StarCraft 2 patch, 5.0.12, has landed, bringing with it a plethora of changes that seek to reshape the competitive landscape. In an effort to maintain balance, the game’s Community Balance Council has carefully curated a set of updates that tackle early-game Protoss stability, mid-late game army composition variety, and offer clarity on important unit visibility.
Below you can find the patch notes
En Taro Adun
With the new Patch 5.0.12 released today, we’ve tried to the accomplish the following goals,
- Make Protoss more stable on a professional level in the early game vs Raven pushes and more able to fight Terran mid-late game armies without solely relying on Disruptors.
- Increase the variety in the mid game and late game army compositions by reducing the strength of massed Ghosts, Banelings, and Disruptors.
- Make over specialized units (Cyclones, Mothership, and Infestors) viable throughout more stages of the game.
- Bring more visual clarity to important units on the minimap, as well as relevant abilities like Widow Mine targeting, and Disruptor’s cooldown indicator.
- Promote more interaction in late game scenarios, by making units such as Tempest, Mothership, and Brood Lord more maneuverable.
-StarCraft II Community Balance Council
StarCraft 2 5.0.12 – September 20 – Patch Notes
BALANCE UPDATE
Terran
Cyclone
- Cost reduced from 150/100 to 125/50.
- Tech Lab requirement removed.
- Health reduced from 120 to 110.
- Armor reduced from 1 to 0.
- Supply cost reduced from 3 to 2.
- Auto attack range increased from 5 to 6.
- Lock On now uses the Cyclone’s auto attack damage, and no longer ignores armor.
- Auto attack damage/attack speed now 11 (+3 vs mechanical), 0.481 cooldown, +1 damage per upgrade.
- Lock On cooldown removed.
- Lock On no longer has a delay before first shot, and maintains weapon cooldown between lock ons.
- Lock On cast range reduced from 7 to 6.
- Lock On max range reduced from 15 to 9.
- Multiple Cyclones will now auto-cast Lock On onto the same target.
- Mag-Field Accelerator upgrade removed.
- Move speed reduced from 4.73 to 3.94.
- New upgrade, increasing move speed to 4.73 (Cost: 100/100, 100 seconds, Researched at the Factory’s Tech Lab).
Community Council Comment: Rework of the Cyclone to make it into a more all around unit in all matchups. Aims to increase the viability of mech based gameplay against Protoss, while promoting more active engagements with mech based armies note Cyclone still will not auto-cast Lock On on buildings, using it’s basic attack if no other enemies are nearby.
Ghost
- Snipe damage reduced from 170 to 130 (+40 vs Psionic).
- EMP radius reduced from 1.75 to 1.5.
Community Council Comment: Reducing the radius of EMP will encourage Protoss to use Psi-Storm in the PvT matchup and help Protoss in straight up engagements vs Terran armies. Snipe will no longer 1 shot units such as Zealots and Roaches, as well as requiring an extra shot to kill Ultralisks in the late game vs Zerg, generally reducing their cost-efficiency over time, while still being able to kill important spell casters such as Vipers.
Widow Mine
- Drilling Claws now also makes the Widow Mine unburrow twice as fast.
Community Council Comment: Returns some of the strength to active Widow Mine micro in the mid game vs Zerg that was lost after the Drilling Claws burrow speed nerf, while not significantly increasing the power of Widow Mine drops.
Medivac
- Speed upgrade replaced with Caduceus Reactor – Increases Medivac’s energy regeneration rate by 100% (Cost: 100/100/53.57 seconds, Upgraded from the Fusion Core).
- Minimap radius increased from 0.75 to 1.
Community Council Comment: Replaces the current unused Medivac upgrade with an upgrade which could be used in active games with a large Medivac count that run out of energy.
Standardizes minimap size of Warp Prism/Medivac/Overlord. Previously Medivacs could appear smaller on the minimap on large maps.
Raven
- Interference Matrix now requires a research (Cost: 50/50, 57.14 seconds research time, Researched at the Starport’s Tech Lab).
Community Council Comment: A single Raven opening can currently disable multiple key defensive units in early pushes against Protoss. The cheap cost of the upgrade still allows for multiple Raven play in TvT and specialized builds in TvP.
Hellbat
- Damage bonus per upgrade reduced from +2 (+1 vs light) to +2.
Community Council Comment: Will no longer 1 shot Zerglings with +3 attack and Infernal Pre-Ignitor.
Zerg
Lurker
- Adaptive Talons move speed bonus removed.
- Adaptive Talons cost reduced from 150/150 to 100/100.
Community Council Comment: As some of the main counters to the Lurkers are getting nerfed, reduce the speed of repositioning Lurkers in the late-game.
Infestor
- Pathogen Glands upgrade removed.
- Infestor starting energy increased from 50 to 75.
- Fungal Growth cast range reduced from 10 to 9.
- Fungal Growth damage reduced from 30 to 25.
Community Council Comment: Since the Infested Terran ability was removed, the Infestor has no utility until reaching 75 energy. Fungal damage and cast range is reduced to prevent Infestors from killing Marines with 2 consecutive Fungals, and as a tradeoff to the EMP radius nerf in the TvZ lategame.
Viper
- Consume damage reduced from 200 to 150.
Community Council Comment: Reduces the attention required for gathering Viper energy.
Brood Lord
- Move speed increased from 2.24 to 2.62.
Broodling
- Broodling move speed reduced from 5.37 to 4.13.
- Broodling health reduced from 30 to 20.
- Broodling attack speed reduced from 0.46 to 0.57.
Community Council Comment: Continuing in the direction of the last balance update, further increasing Brood Lord mobility, while further reducing the strength of Broodlings to compensate. Should allow for more active play in the late game.
Overlord
- Deceleration speed increased from 1.49 to 2.28.
- Generate Creep delay reduced from 1.43 to 1.07.
Community Council Comment: Reduce the amount of time it takes for Overlords to stop and begin dropping creep, to allow for more active usage of Queen drops.
Overlord (Transport Upgraded)
- Deceleration speed increased from 1.49 to 2.28.
- Generate Creep delay reduced from 1.43 to 1.07.
- Move speed increased from 0.9023 to 1.099.
- Move speed with Pneumatized Carapace increased from 2.62 to 2.83.
Community Council Comment: Non transport-upgraded Overlord’s move speed are unchanged.
Allow for more active drop usage. In combination with the Baneling damage nerf, should not increase the overall strength of Baneling harass against Protoss.
Ultralisk
- Cost reduced from 300/200 to 275/200.
- Burrow/Unburrow time reduced from 1.43 to 0.89.
Community Council Comment: Lurkers and Broodlord are generally favored over Ultralisks in the lategame, as Ultralisks have poor cost efficiency over time. Should make them more used throughout long games while not greatly reducing the initial investment.
Hydralisk
- Speed upgrade research time reduced from 71 to 64 seconds.
- Range upgrade research cost / time reduced from 100/100 / 71 seconds to 75/75 / 50 seconds.
Community Council Comment: Increase the speed at which Hydras come online in the midgame, for more quickly responding to enemy air switches such as Mutalisks and to supplement weaker Banelings against ground based armies.
Baneling
- Damage bonus per upgrade reduced from +2 (+2 vs light) to +2.
- Centrifugal Hooks cost reduced from 150/150 to 100/100.
- Centrifugal Hooks research time reduced from 79 to 71.
- Centrifugal Hooks health bonus removed.
Community Council Comment: Will no longer 1 shot Probes or Drones with +2 attack.
Reduce some of the strength of mass Baneling armies in the mid game, and reduce the volatility in defending Baneling runbies by requiring multiple Banelings to kill workers. The speed upgrade will require less of an investment, to maintain a similar balance for 2 base Terran Marine Tank based all-ins.
Spire
- Air Armor upgrade cost reduced from 150/150, 225/225, 300/300 to 100/100, 175/175, 250/250 (Same as Air Weapons).
Community Council Comment: Air Armor is generally considered less useful than the Air Weapons upgrade despite being more expensive.
Evolution Chamber
- Armor upgrade cost reduced from 150/150, 225/225, 300/300 to 150/150, 200/200, 250/250.
Protoss
Forge
- Shield upgrade cost reduced from 150/150, 225/225, 300/300 to 150/150, 200/200, 250/250.
Cybernetics Core
- Air Armor upgrade cost reduced from 150/150, 225/225, 300/300 to 100/100, 175/175, 250/250 (Same as Air Weapons).
Community Council Comment: Air Armor is generally considered less useful than the Air Weapons upgrade despite being more expensive.
Warp Prism
- Minimap radius increased from 0.875 to 1.
Community Council Comment: Standardize minimap size of Warp Prism/Medivac/Overlord. Previously Warp Prisms could appear smaller on the minimap on large maps.
Disruptor
- Supply cost increased from 3 to 4.
- Model scale reduced by 9%.
- Radius increased from 0.5 to 0.625 (does not affect collision with buildings).
Community Council Comment: Reduce the power of mass Disruptor in the mid-late game vs Terran without significantly affecting the ability to build Disruptors early for pressure builds or to defend enemy aggression.
Tempest
- Acceleration increased from 2.1 to 4.2.
- Radius/Model scale reduced by 10%.
Community Council Comment: Improve the feeling of actively microing Tempests, as the slow acceleration makes them feel slow to respond when not already moving.
Mothership
- Cost reduced from 400/400 to 300/300.
- Supply cost reduced from 8 to 6.
- Build time reduced from 114 to 79.
- Speed increased from 2.62 to 2.83.
- Lateral Acceleration increased from 1.93 to 2.88.
Community Council Comment: Lateral Acceleration is the how fast the unit changes direction while moving. Increasing this will make the Mothership no longer lag behind other army units of similar speed.
- Health/Shields reduced from 350/350 to 250/250.
- Radius/Model scale reduced by 10%.
- No longer has energy (Spells are now cooldown based and require no energy to cast).
- Recall now has a 89 second cooldown.
- Recall radius reduced from 6.5 to 5.
- Time Warp now has a 60 second cooldown.
- Time Warp slow reduced from 50% to 40%.
- Time Warp radius reduced from 4 to 3.75.
- Time Warp cast delay reduced from 1.79 to 0.71.
- Cloak Field is no longer passive. It is now an activated ability which lasts for 20 seconds, with a 50 second cooldown.
Community Council Comment: Reduce the investment and increase the maneuverability of the Mothership, and prevent it from being hard countered by EMP. Should allow for earlier Mothership builds in all matchups as well as more active usage of the Mothership.
Sentry
- Guardian Shield duration increased from 10.71 to 12.86.
Community Council Comment: Allows Guardian Shield to be pre-cast before engaging Terran armies involving Ghosts, lasting longer into the fight.
Oracle
- Stasis Ward sight range increased from 4 to 7.
Community Council Comment: Allows Stasis Wards to be used for more central map vision with Stargate based openings.
Immortal
- Barrier will now also block the first instance of damage which triggers the Barrier.
Community Council Comment: Counts towards the 100 damage blocked by the Barrier.
Currently EMP hitting an Immortal will drain all of the Immortal’s shields as well as activating the Barrier, which will generally expire before the Immortal ends up receiving other damage, making the ability lose value in the mid game against Terran.
Void Ray
- Fixed an issue where the move speed of Void Rays with Flux Vanes while Prismatic Alignment was active was 2.62 instead of 2.89.
Community Council Comment: This was introduced in Patch 5.0.2 when Void Ray move speed was increased from 3.5 to 3.85, increasing the move speed while Prismatic Alignment was active from 2.62 to 2.89, but the move speed after Flux Vanes was upgraded was unchanged.
BUG FIXES
Terran
- Fixed an issue where Battlecruiser’s Tactical Jump could place it outside map boundaries.
- Fixed an issue where building previews were invisible or incorrect.
Protoss
- Fixed an issue where Shield Battery’s Stop command did not cancel Recharge.
MAP POOL
1v1
- Goldenaura LE
- Site Delta LE
- Oceanborn LE
- Hecate LE
- Solaris LE
- Hard Lead LE
- Equilibrium LE
- Alcyone LE
- Radhuset Station LE
2v2
- Divergence LE
- Dusty Gorge
- Efflorescence LE
- Sludge City
- Snowy Mesa
- Polka LE
- Magma Mines
3v3
- Descent LE
- Black Site 2E
- Snowbound Colony
- Augustine Fall LE
- Rosebud LE
- Jungle Depths LE
- Nephor I
4v4
- Sunset Valley LE
- Primeval Wilds
- Old Estate
- Mementos LE
- Last Remnant
- Kimeran Refuge
- Hidden Caves
