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[Gfire]

Big patch today, I have been constantly F5ing the patch notes window waiting for the notes. The patch is actually so big it's been split into two parts, here, and here.

It has been two weeks since the last patch, so it's well overdue.

As always, please note that time in seconds is valued at standard game speed, but ladder games are played on faster game speed.

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[Terran]

First comes a Battlecruiser buff. This seems fitting, since I've actually never seen a BC in a game of my own, and very few I've watched. Perhaps they will be used more now. The battlecruiser build-time has been decreased form 110 seconds to 90 seconds. Every game I've watched where someone gets BCs they get a lot of starports to produce them. This should mean fewer Starports are required. The fusion core, which is a prerequisite to the Battlecruiser, has also had it's build-time decreased, from 80 to 65, so BCs will come out earlier and probably more frequently from now on.

The Hellion has also been buffed. It's range has been increased from 5 to 6. It does to straight-line area-of-effect damage, which means all units in a straight line in front of it are damage. This line is now %20 longer, so the Hellion will be able to attack more targets at once.

The Planetary Fortress's splash damage has been altered a bit. It now does splash damage around the target, rather than the point of impact. This is to make the splash more reliable. I'm not sure exactly what the problem was, and if this is a buff or a nerf, but I trust Blizzard knows what they are doing with this. It seems to make more sense.

The Raven's Seeker Missile has taken a nerf. It now is limited to a range of 6, as opposed to the original 9. It's radius has also been decreased from 2.4 to 2.0. However, it no longer requires a Fusion Core to research, so it will probably be used more even though it is not as powerful. In a way, this may be considered a buff, although the Fusion Core also builds more quickly now.

The Siege Tank has had it's hit-points increased from 150 to 160. They did seem to be a bit fragile before, so this buff makes sense to me. As with the Planetary Fortress, it's Splash Damage has been changed slightly.

The Thor has had a load of changes. It's anti-ground damage has been decreased from 45 to 30, but it's rate of fire has been increased from 1.93 to 1.28 (I believe this is seconds between each shot.) It's anti-air damage has been changed from 8 (+4 light) to 6 (+6 light.) This means it now does -2 damage to non-light air units, but the same to light air units. So it is a nerf.

The Thor's 250mm Strike Cannons (special ability,) now must be researched at the Factory Tech lab for 150/150, with a research-time of 110 seconds. The special ability's energy cost has been increased from 100 to 150.

As with the other splash damage, the Thor's Air splash damage has been changed to splash from the target.

Overall Terran seems to have been buffed, but a few things such as the Thor have been nerfed.

[Protoss]

The Splash damage of an Archon has been increased from 0.8 to 1.0. Really 0.8 isn't going to splash on many units, so I think this is a necessary buff. I've never actually seen the Archon be used at this point, however. The Splash has been adjusted in the same way as the previous Terran units.

The Colossus now does only 15 damage instead of 20, but it's attack rate has been increased from 2.2 to 1.65. It will no longer 1-shot probes, drones and zerglings.

The Pheonix can now attack while moving. This seems to increase the strength of it. Since it is so very fast, few air units will be able to run away from it now.

The Sentry's damage has been decreased from 8 to 6. Now it will have to be used more as a spellcaster and less for it's damage. I expect it will need to be teamed up with some Stalkers and/or Zealots to make a complete army now.

[Zerg]

The Brood Lord's Health has been decreased from 275 to 225, and it's armor decreased from 2 to 1. So a huge nerf there, it will now go down much more quickly. It does have a range of 9 though, and it's attack does block up infantry, so it is still fairly easy to keep alive against most ground units.

The Corruptor has taken some changes. It's damage has been changed from 12 (+10 massive) to 14 (+6 massive.) So it's not as good against massive units, but really there are very few massive air units, so this can be seen as a buff. It will do better against units like Vikings and especially Phoenixes, which it aught to be a counter to. The Corruptor's movement speed has also been increased from 2.75 to 2.9531. It will be able to keep up with the those Vikings and Phoenixes better now.

The Corruption Ability has been redesigned. I've never actually seen it used, so this is probably a good thing. For those of you who don't know, the Corruption ability was an ability that disables a target structure for a period of time. It can have a single target and increases the damage taken of the target by %20. It now lasts 30 seconds, costs 100 energy and has a range of 6, but it cannot target structures. So a completely new power, now targeting units instead of structures, and causing them to take %20 additional damage for 30 seconds, rather than disabling them for 10 seconds. Hopefully this new Corruption ability will actually be used.

The Infestor's Neural Parasite (AKA Mind Control,) now requires an upgrade from the Infestation pit, costing 150/150 and 110 seconds. Also, the ability can now target Air units, but takes 100 of the Infestor's energy instead of 50. Overall, it seems like a nerf, but the ability to target air units could certainly come in handy.

The "Root Time" of the Spine and Spore Crawlers has been doubled from 6 to 12. This means when you root your crawler back into the ground, it takes longer. So it's riskier to lift them up and move them around. This is an interesting change, but probably a good one.

The Ultralisk's damage has now been increased from 18 to 25. This is just the buff the Ultralisk needs, as they are hardly used because they are so weak. They were just not worth their price before, but now they should be.

[Hotkey changes]

Now, they have changed the Center-Camera hotkey from Shift+F to Ctr+F. This is a really great change in my opinion. I often hold the shift key when building structures with my workers, so I can then queue up another command of sending them back to the minerals or buildings another structure or something. However, I have trouble doing this when makign Forges because the Shift+F key just centers the camera and doesn't let me make the Forge. So now they've fixed that.

Other hotkey changes, bug fixes and UI adjustments have been made. Read about them here.

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Patch notes part 1, and part 2.