Image: Blizzard and Helena Kristiansson
Every race has seen significant changes as Blizzard attempts to redesign certain parts of the game that weren't ticking the right boxes.
Terran:
Let’s start with Terran, who arguably received the highest impact changes.
These changes focused on making mech units more interesting to play as bio has been the Terran composition of choice since Legacy of the Void was released, with players only building mech in specific situations.
Siege Tank
Siege tanks have received some interesting changes. The first one I want to mention is probably the biggest change in the patch, tanks can no longer be lifted by medivacs. That’s right, the tankivac is finished (which is surely a relief to many). As well as this, siege tanks have been slightly buffed, with damage increasing from 35 to 40 and gaining an extra 15 health.
Cyclone
The Cyclone has undergone major surgery and has emerged an almost entirely different unit, gaining a massive increase to attack speed (from 0.7s to 0.1s) while its damage has been reduced from 18 to 3 (the net increase in dps is +17%).
Another important change is that the cyclone will no longer be able to target airborne enemies with its auto-attacks, but the 'lock on' ability will now only be able to target air units.
The final major change is that a tech lab is no longer required to produce cyclones, as they are now available from a regular factory or produced via reactor.
The cyclone has changed from a sharpshooting mobile unit into a machine gun with an ability that should continue to devastate those high value air targets.
Battlecruisers
The only change here is the removal of energy bars, now being replaced by a fixed 71 second cooldown on each of the battlecruiser's abilities.
Zerg:
The hive mind's main change is a buff to the Hydralisk, which Blizzard thought was being underrepresented against Zergling and Roach based compositions.
Hydralisk
The Hydralisk upgrade, muscular augments, has now been split into two separate upgrades, which have then been buffed.
Muscular augments now is a 150/150 upgrade taking 71 seconds and increases the Hydralisks’ speed by 25%.
In addition to this come Grooved spines, which costs 100/100, also takes 71 seconds, and increase the Hydralisks range by 2 (up to 7).
Swarm Host
Swarm hosts have also been changed pretty significantly, now costing only 100/75 to build. The ‘swoop’ range of locusts has increased from 4 to 6 but their damage has decreased from 12 to 10.
Infestor
The final Zerg change is to the Infestor, which can now cast all its abilities while burrowed.
Protoss:
For the natives of Aiur, the goal was to increase the strength of Stargate units as part of a standard composition.
Tempest
The most notable changes are to the Tempest, whose role vs ground units has changed significantly.
Range against ground units has decreased from 15 to 8, but damage has increased from 30 to 35. These large sieging flyers have now been given an ability called disruption blast, an AoE stun affecting ground units caught in its range, making them unable to move or attack. The ability has a 4 second cast time and a cooldown of 43 seconds.
The tempest's role against air hasn’t changed at all, but it now takes on a more of a ‘spellcaster’ position in fights against ground units.
Carriers
Carriers have lost the 'Release Interceptors’ ability, but the cost of each Interceptor has decreased from 25 minerals to 5, and will auto-cast by default.
Dark Templar
The final major change to Protoss will be made to the Dark Templar, who now has a researchable blink upgrade. Costing 100/100, the upgrade takes 121 seconds to research and gives the cloaked melee assassin units a teleport similar to that of a Stalker (although the cooldown is at a much higher 21 seconds).
On the Battle.net post, Blizzard talked about the reason for these drastic changes, stating:
'The intent behind these changes has been to bring the game to a place that is consistently full of diverse combat, strategically-rich choices, and balanced gameplay. As we continue down this path, changes to the game should become increasingly less-disruptive, allowing players to approach unprecedented mastery in various areas of the game.'
As the landscape of competitive play is looking quite unfamiliar, Blizzard hope to remedy this by making this season's map pool a set we might be more accustomed to. The complete map pool for 2016 season 6 is:
- Daybreak LE
- Vaani Research Station
- Echo LE
- Habitation Station LE
- Overgrowth LE
- Newkirk Precinct TE
- Whirlwind LE
Full patch notes are availaible at Blizzard's blog.
