SC2: Die geplanten Spielbalanceänderungen für Abathur

 Co-op Mission Update – Abathur Revamp

It’s time for the first commander revamp post this round, this time featuring the master of evolution, Abathur! As always, among our primary goals with this revamp are to promote use of underused units and create more interesting decisions when selecting Masteries. In Abathur’s case, we’re also taking a close look at both the Biomass mechanic and the power of Ultimate Evolution Symbiotes. Now, onto the details.

Biomass

• Biomass pickups will now merge together when less than 4 distance apart, up from 1.9.

We considered many options to improve the quality of life associated with picking up Biomass. After this change, players will hopefully be able to spend less time picking up Biomass and more actually utilizing their high-Biomass units.

• Biomass now drops at a base rate of 5 per supply, up from 4 per supply on casual and normal difficulty.
• Biomass now drops at a base rate of 4 per supply, up from 3 per supply on hard difficulty.
• Biomass now drops at a base rate of 2.5 per supply, up from 2 per supply on brutal difficulty.
• Abathur’s Level 3 Talent, Virulent Nests, now allows Toxic Nests to drop 50% additional Biomass, down from 100%.

This set of changes is aimed at mitigating Abathur’s potential overreliance on Toxic Nests to ramp up his power. One consistent piece of feedback we’ve received is that, in order to gain Biomass, you must be able to predict enemy attack patterns, which can be difficult for newer players. In addition, players often complain about allies killing enemies before they can trigger Nests—possibly because they’re not familiar with how the mechanic works. Finally, we think that Toxic Nests in their current form give players who are able to place them perfectly too much of an early power spike in their ramp-up process, given that these players are often able to complete missions with Ultimate Evolutions alone.

After these changes, most players in most games will receive more Biomass than before. Meanwhile, the difference between killing units with or without the use of Toxic Nests will be less exaggerated.

Roach

• Tunneling Claws cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100.
• Adaptive Plating research cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100.
• Hydriodic Bile research cost decreased from 150/150 to 100/100.
• Adaptive Plating bonus armor increased from 3 to 6.

Roaches are Abathur’s cheap front-line forces, and one of their defining characteristics is that they cost no gas! Unfortunately, their upgrades are a bit expensive and lackluster, so we’re making a few minor tweaks in this department.

• Roaches now gain armor per point of Biomass, up to a maximum of 5 additional armor with 100 Biomass.

We didn’t want players to feel like picking up Biomass with their Roaches is a waste. This buff gives players more of an incentive to ration Biomass to their Roaches and reinforces their defensive role.

Ravager

• Biomass picked up by Ravagers will now decrease the cooldown of Corrosive Bile, up to a maximum of 50% at 100 Biomass.
• Ravager Corrosive Bile range increased from 9 to 12.

Likewise, we wanted players to feel more rewarded for picking up Biomass with Ravagers, so we’re allowing the cooldown of Corrosive Bile to scale with Biomass pickups, similar to how Abathur’s Swarm Hosts currently scale with their Locust ability. We’ll also be increasing the casting range of Corrosive Bile, because Ravagers in Co-op tend to trip over each other quite often.

Masteries

• Symbiote Ability Cooldown Mastery replaced with Symbiote Ability Improvement Mastery. This new Mastery increases the damage dealt and absorbed of Abathur’s Symbiote ability by 3.33% per point, up to a maximum of 100%.
• Double Biomass Chance Mastery increased from 0.5% per point to 1% per point. Maximum chance increased from 15% to 30%.

Abathur is designed to be the Evolution Master—he’s meant to grow in power as a match goes on. True to his name, he does indeed have one of the most powerful late-game armies among all Commanders. That said, with full points in the Symbiote Ability Cooldown Mastery, he can also potentially have one of the most powerful early-game armies, and this is something we’ve always seen as an issue. This newly-designed Mastery will improve Abathur’s Symbiotes by approximately 100%, versus the previous Mastery’s approximately 150%. In addition, the new Mastery will scale more linearly (the previous Mastery scaled exponentially), which could lead to situations where you might not want to go all-in on it.

Meanwhile, the Double Biomass Chance Mastery was looking a bit weak, so we’re increasing the numbers there a bit.

• Abathur’s Toxic Nest Damage and Respawn Chance Mastery changed to Toxic Nest Damage Mastery. It now no longer provides Toxic Nests with a chance to respawn.
• Abathur’s Level 3 Talent, Virulent Nests, now provides Toxic Nests with a 50% chance to respawn when they die, in addition to its current functionality.

The original Toxic Nest Damage and Respawn Chance Mastery was so good that players essentially didn’t a choice but to pick it. As a solution, we took the element that made it feel like a “must pick” and moved it into the base talent. Hopefully, the resulting Mastery will now be on a similar power level to the new Mend Mastery.

• Mend Heal Over Time changed from 50 health over 15 seconds to 50 health over 10 seconds.
• Mend Healing Mastery replaced with Mend Healing Duration Mastery. Mend Healing Duration Mastery increases the Heal Over Time duration of Mend by 10% per point, up to a maximum of 300%.

This new Mastery will allow Abathur and his allies’ forces to stay in combat for an extended duration and improves it in a way that allows for units with lower HP to benefit. It also encourages planning, as spamming Mend with the Mastery won’t net you as much of a benefit.

Weekly Mutations

Finally, we’re excited to announce that we’ll be introducing new weekly mutation combinations in an upcoming update—many of which will feature our most recent maps, including Cradle of Death, Part & Parcel, Malwarfare, and Scythe of Amon. We’d like to take some time to preview our first new Weekly Mutation: Bannable Offense.

Bannable Offense has you fighting on Malwarfare, an ancient Purifier facility where preserved Protoss personalities come to life. However, the personality of a Tal’Darim warrior has awakened, and this time, he’ll assault you with the unholy power of cheating. This Tal’Darim will attempt to glitch out his units using Evasive Maneuvers and enter the infamous “Power Overwhelming” cheat code from StarCraft I. Fortunately for you, Power Overwhelming doesn’t have the same potency it did in the original StarCraft, but you’ll still have to deal with evasive enemies that can cast random abilities.

Of course, cheating is a bannable offense.

Kevin Dong
Lead Co-op Designer