Starcraft 2 Beta Patch 11

Blizzard releases Patch 11 to the Starcraft 2 Beta today, featuring a slew of various changes for all three races.

Balance Changes
* TERRAN
o Battlecruiser
+ The build time has been decreased from 110 to 90.
o Fusion Core
+ The build time has been decreased from 80 to 65.
o Hellion
+ The range has been increased from 5 to 6.
o Planetary Fortress
+ The splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.
o Raven
+ Seeker Missile range has been decreased from 9 to 6.
+ Seeker Missile splash radius has been decreased from 2.4 to 2.
+ Seeker Missile upgrade no longer requires Fusion Core.
o Siege Tank
+ Life increased from 150 to 160.
+ Siege Mode splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.
o Thor
+ Ground damage decreased from 45 to 30.
+ Ground rate of fire improved from 1.93 to 1.28.
+ Air damage changed from 8 (+4 Light) to 6 (+6 Light).
+ 250mm Strike Cannons are now an upgrade at the Factory Tech Lab.
+ 250mm Strike Cannons research now costs 150/150 and 110 seconds.
+ 250mm Strike Cannons energy cost increased from 100 to 150.
+ Anti-Air splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.

* PROTOSS
o Archon
+ The splash radius has been increased from 0.8 to 1.
+ Splash damage now originates from the center of the target, rather than the impact location near the unit in order to maintain more reliable splash damage.
o Colossus
+ The damage has been decreased from 20 to 15.
+ The rate of fire has been improved from 2.2 to 1.65.
o Phoenix
+ Can now attack while moving.
o Sentry
+ The damage has been decreased from 8 to 6.

* ZERG
o Brood Lord
+ Life has been decreased from 275 to 225.
+ Armor has been decreased from 2 to 1.
o Corruptor
+ Corruptor damage changed from 12 (+10 Massive) to 14 (+6 Massive).
+ Corruptor speed increased from 2.75 to 2.9531
+ Corruption ability redesigned:
# Single target.
# Increases damage taken by 20%.
# Lasts 30 seconds.
# Costs 100 energy.
# Range 6.
# Cannot target structures.
o Infestor
+ Neural Parasite is now an upgrade at the Infestation Pit.
+ Neural Parasite research costs 150/150 and 110 seconds.
+ Neural Parasite can now target Air units.
+ Neural Parasite energy cost increased from 50 to 100.
o Spine Crawler
+ The root time has been increased from 6 to 12.
o Spore Crawler
+ The root time has been increased from 6 to 12.
o Ultralisk
+ Damage has been increased from 18 to 25.

Terran definitely got buffed in

general with this patch with the Thor being an outlier, and this is especially encouraging for those who are looking for viable Mech builds for Terran. The Seige Tank HP increase, along with the Hellion range buff will certainly help Mech become a lot more cost effective and deadly. It seems as Patch 11 is egging Terran players onto more Tech oriented builds, as opposed to the overly standard MM army composition in all matchups.

Protoss had a few minor changes,

with probably the most significant, being the Colossus change; although the Phoenix's attack move could prove very deadly with proper micro. The Colossus' damage decreases from 20 to 15 damage, making armor upgrades more effective, however it's rate of fire increased fairly significantly, as it now attacks 25% faster than before.

*Also check out this video of the new Phoenix "Move attack":

Zerg players are in for a batch of changes as well. Broodlords, took a slight hit in HP and defense, and Spine/Spore Crawlers lost a little in terms of mobility to unroot and reroot, while the Ultralisk got a pretty hefty +7 increase in its attack. The biggest change is the alteration of Zerg spellcasters. Infestors can no longer be popped out on demand simply to deal with threats from large units such as Thors as Colossus, as Neural Parasite now requires an additional upgrade. However it has gained the ability to "mind control" air units, which could make for some extremely interesting play. (Mind controlled Motherships anyone?). The Corruption ability also took a hit, as it can no longer be used on structures, instead it focuses more on making single units more vulnerable.

Hopefully this batch of changes will make for some innovative and dynamic gameplay, as Zerg definitely got hit hardest, with Protoss having not too significant changes, and Terran tier 2 and 3 units getting a general buff.

- Also be sure to check out insight from Blizzard regarding the changes made in this patch in the StarCraft II Situation Report : Patch 11