SC2: Die geplanten Spielbalanceänderungen für Zagara

Co-op Mission Update: Zagara Revamp

Hey everyone! Much like the changes we’ve made to other commanders, our goals with Zagara include providing buffs to some of her more underwhelming units. We’d also like to encourage a greater variety of playstyles beyond the “mass suicidal units” approach that is currently very popular among Zagara players. Before we get started on Zagara, though, we’d like to go over some changes will be making to Zerg Overlords.

Overlords: All Zerg commanders

• Pneumatized Carapace research cost decreased from 100/100 to 50/50.
• Overlords with the Ventral Sacs upgrade now drop their cargo if they are destroyed.
• After Pneumatized Carapace is researched, Overlord movement speed increased to 3.38, up from 1.88.
• After Pneumatized Carapace is researched, Overlord acceleration increased from 1.0625 to 2.125.
• Baneling Spawn cargo space reduced from 2 to 1.

These overall buffs to Overlords are primarily designed to encourage more drop play, especially in combination with Banelings. We imagine that this style can be especially useful when facing specific enemy compositions that are powerful against ground units, but lack significant anti-air capabilities. While we don’t imagine Drop Overlords will be as useful with other Commanders, we’d still like to extend the change to encourage drops overall.

Zagara

• Zagara’s Respawn time decreased from 120 seconds to 60 seconds.

We’d like to adjust Zagara’s respawn time to be consistent with other Commanders’ heroes.

Medusa Blades

• Medusa Blades damage increased from a flat 10 to 50% of Zagara’s weapon damage.

Medusa Blades was a bit underwhelming, previously dealing 10 damage to two targets. With this change, Medusa Blades will deal a minimum of 15 damage and will also scale with Zagara’s attack damage Mastery.

Mass Frenzy

• Sustained Frenzy Mastery replaced with Intensified Frenzy Mastery. Its new functionality increases the attack and movement speed bonuses granted by 1.5% per point, up to a maximum of 45%.
• Mass Frenzy Cooldown decreased from 120 seconds to 90 seconds.

We received feedback that the Sustained Frenzy Mastery wasn’t particularly useful in some cases because battles involving Zagara often did not go on past Mass Frenzy’s original 15 second duration. To remedy this, we’ll be adjusting this Mastery to increase the effectiveness of Mass Frenzy instead of increasing the effect’s duration. If players opt for this Mastery, they’ll feel extremely powerful when using it, as it will now have a much more noticeable effect. Not only will it help non-suicidal units shred their foes, it’ll also help your Banelings and Scourge close in on enemies.

Infested Drop

• Movement speed of Roaches from Infested Drop increased from 2.25 to 3.

We thought that Roaches coming from an “ultimate level” ability should have their speed upgrade built in.

Upgrades

• Zerg Melee Attacks upgrades renamed to Zerg Ground Attacks. This upgrade now benefits Zagara’s Queens, Hunter Killers, and Roaches, in addition to its current functionality.
• Banelings now receive +4 damage (+8 vs. Structures) with each Zerg Ground Attack, up from +4 (+5 vs. Structures).
• Scourge now receive +11 damage for each Flyer Attack upgrade, up from +5.

We’ll be adjusting upgrades so that Zagara’s ranged units also get benefits from her attack upgrades, allowing her to scale a bit better going into the late game. In addition, we’d like to uncap the bonuses Zagara’s suicidal units receive from attack upgrades, partially because some players felt that Flyer upgrades were not as effective as simply building additional Scourge.

Queen

• Zagara’s Level 1 talent, Relentless Swarmer, now reduces the supply of Queens from 2 to 1, in addition to its current functionality.

We felt that Queens were a bit too supply-intensive given Zagara’s 100 supply cap.

Zergling

• Zagara’s Zergling Evasion percent chance increased from 0.5% to 1.5%. Maximum bonuses increased from 15% to 45%.

Zergling Evasion Mastery felt underwhelming, so we’re hoping this substantial improvement helps it compete with Baneling Damage Mastery. We want this change to very explicitly highlight a key decision point for players: whether to go for a more suicidal army or a more sustainable one.

Abberation

• The Abberation’s Protective Cover has been reworked. Its new functionality reduces all damage dealt to units under its cover by 50%.
• Abberation now receive +2 damage (+4 vs. armored) with each Zerg Ground attack, up from +2 (+3 vs. armored).

The Protective Cover change will allow units underneath Abberations to not only better survive normal damage, but also splash and spell damage. It’s also a significant improvement from the previous iteration of the build, which merely granted +2 armor to units under its protection.

Corruptor

• Corruptor movement speed increased from 2.9531 to 3.375.
• Corruptor acceleration speed increased from 2.625 to 3.
• Corruptor Parasite Spore weapon damage point changed from .1670 to .0625.

First, we wanted to bring the Corruptor’s stats up to those found in the Versus mode. These changes allow the Corruptor to feel more responsive, and although we don’t think these changes will have as much of an effect in Co-op, it seems like a positive change overall.

• Corruptor damage changed from 14 (20 vs. Massive) to 14 (28 vs. Armored).
• Corruptors now receive +1(+3 vs Armored) damage for each Flyer Attack upgrade, changed from +1 (+2 vs. Massive).

In the versus mode, vs. Massive damage is significant because it allows Corruptors to be specialized and counter a very specific subset of units. In the Co-op mode, it’s more important to fulfill multiple roles, so we’ll be extending the Corruptor’s bonus damage so that it’ll be effective against armored units as well.

• The damage bonus provided by Corruption is increased from 20% to 35%.
• Corruption cooldown decreased from 45 to 15.

Corruption doesn’t translate well from Versus to Co-op because fights in Co-op are much more frequent. As a result, we’ve adjusted some of the numbers so that it fits the mode better.

• Zagara’s level 8 upgrade, Incubate Banelings, has been renamed to Incubate Banelings and Scourge. It now has the following additional functionality: Corruptors spawn 2 Scourge when killed.

And here’s the big one. Corruptors will now behave like an aerial version of Abberations in that they’ll now drop suicidal units on death. We hope this will increase the power level of Corruptors in a big way, while still feeling true to the Commander’s theme.

Bile Launcher

• The Bile Launchers‘ Bombardment ability has been reworked. It will now bombard a target area repeatedly instead of attacking it only once per command.
• Bile Launchers can now target areas in the fog of war.
• The Bile Launcher’s Artillery Ducts upgrade now provides 9 additional range, up from 7. Maximum range after the upgrade increased from 20 to 22.

The biggest complaint we heard about Bile Launchers was that, despite their power, they demanded an exorbitant degree of micro and attention to use effectively. We decided to add some automated functionality to the building in response to this. With this change, Bile Launchers should now work especially well on maps that continuously spawn hordes of infested units, such as Dead of Night and Miner Evacuation.

Going Forward

Whew! And with that, we’re done with all the Co-op balance changes we’re aiming to make in the upcoming patch. As always, let us know what you think; we look forward to chatting again soon!

Kevin Dong
Co-op Commander Designer