Massive set of updates today for the StarCraft video game by Blizzard. Co-op content, multiplayer changes, free to play, and so much more! Check it out!
StarCraft II 4.0 Patch Notes
GENERAL
StarCraft II is now free to play!
The Wings of Liberty campaign is now free to all users.
The Unranked ladder is now free for all users.
The Ranked ladder can now be unlocked after achieving 10 “first wins of the day” or purchasing any campaign or War Chest (when available).
All Co-op commanders are now available to play up to level 5.
Raynor, Kerrigan, and Artanis are still free and can be played to max level.
Players who owned Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, Legacy of the Void, or Nova Covert Ops before October 31 2017 will receive an exclusive Ghost skin as well as three new portraits.
Learn more in our blog.
New Co-op Commander and Announcer: Han and Horner
The first duo commander, Mira Han and Matt Horner, combine the might of the Dominion military with the reckless and explosive power of Mira’s mercenaries.
Learn more in our blog.
New Co-op Mission: Part and Parcel
We’re proud to incorporate the winning map of the Rock the Cabinet 2017 contest into our official Co-op Mission rotation.
Collect parts to assist General Davis in rebuilding her war machine to destroy hybrid monstrosities.
Learn more in our blog.
The Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, and Legacy of the Void ladders have now been consolidated into a single ladder using units, balance, and data from Legacy of the Void.
The Expansion Level selection for Wings of Liberty or Heart of the Swarm balance games has been moved to Custom > Melee.
New players logging into StarCraft II for the first time will now be brought to a new Welcome experience.
Players can choose their RTS experience level.
Beginner level players will be guided through the in-game tutorial.
Players can choose to watch introduction videos or jump straight into Campaign, Co-op, or Versus mode.
The Profile has been refreshed and now includes information about Co-op Missions.
The Co-op section has been refreshed for improved UI clarity.
A new Random Commander option has been added.
Weekly Mutations can now be played at Commander Level 1.
The Multiplayer section has been renamed to “Versus.”
The new Versus screen has been updated and reorganized with new visuals and improved UI clarity.
2017 Ladder Season 4 has begun!
A new Siege Tank trophy top can now be earned from winning an Automated Tournament.
A new “Auto Join” button has been added to the Arcade subsection of Custom, as well as the Arcade map info panels.
Auto Join will search for an open lobby for the selected map, and if it cannot find one, it will open a new public lobby for that map with you as the host.
Use the pulldown next to the button to set the mode to search for.
The “Play Again” button has been brought back to the score screen for custom Melee and Arcade games. This button will search for an open lobby for the Map/Mode you just played. If it can’t find one, it will create a lobby for you.
The second set of portraits featuring remaining eight players who finished at the top of the WCS 2017 are now available to players who purchased War Chest: BlizzCon 2017.
BALANCE
General
Large mineral node values increased from 1500 to 1800. Smaller mineral node values remain the same at 900.
Vespene Geyser values increased from 2000 to 2250.
Terran
Raven
Removed Auto-Turret, Point Defense Drone, and Seeker Missile abilities.
Added Interference Matrix, Repair Drone, and Anti-Armor Missile abilities.
Interference Matrix
Disables a Mechanical or Psionic unit rendering it unable to attack or use abilities for 6 seconds.
Repair Drone
Deploys a drone that automatically repairs nearby friendly mechanical units for 90 seconds.
Repairs life at 12.6 life per second, drains 1 energy for every 3 life repaired.
Anti-Armor Missile
Deploys a Missile which activates after 2 seconds and pursues the target units, dealing 30 splash damage upon contact and reducing armor of affected units by 3 for 21 seconds.
New upgrade "Enhanced Munitions"
Research from Starport Tech Lab
Cost: 150 Minerals/150 Vespene Gas/79 seconds.
Increases the Anti-Armor Missile's explosion radius by 20% and its tracking range by 50%.
Liberator
No longer receives a sight range bonus after transforming into Defender mode but will receive vision of the targeted location.
Cyclone
First four shots will fire quickly for the Cyclone's Lock On ability.
New upgrade "Rapid Fire Launchers"
Research from Factory Tech Lab
Cost: 150 Minerals / 150 Vespene Gas / 79 seconds.
Increases the attack speed of the first 12 shots of the Cyclone's Lock On ability.
Ghost
Starts with the Cloak ability.
Starting energy decreased from 75 to 50.
New upgrade "Moebius Reactor"
Research from Ghost Academy.
Cost: 100 Minerals/100 Vespene Gas/57 seconds.
Increases starting energy of Ghosts by 25.
Factory Tech Lab
New upgrade "Smart Servos"
Cost: 150 Minerals/150 Vespene Gas/79 seconds.
Allows Hellions, Hellbats, Vikings, and Thors to transform quickly between combat modes.
Marauder
Marauder projectiles now have a blue trail after Concussive Shells upgrade is applied.
Widow Mine
Widow Mines are now revealed while Sentinel Missile is on cooldown.
Protoss
Mothership Core unit removed.
Nexus
Chrono Boost costs 50 energy and causes the target structure to operate 100% faster for 10 seconds.
Nexus now has energy, 200 maximum.
Nexus starting energy is 50.
"Mass Recall" ability recalls units owned by the player in the target area to the Nexus.
50 energy cost.
Warp out pause duration is 3.6 seconds.
Warp in duration is 0.4 seconds.
130 second global cooldown for all Mass Recalls across all Nexus structures.
New defensive structure: Shield Battery.
Recharges the shields of nearby friendly units.
Warped in by Probes.
Requires Cybernetics Core.
75 mineral cost.
28.6 second warp in duration.
200 Shields/200 Health/100 Maximum and starting Energy
Restores shields of a single friendly unit within 6 range.
Shields restore at 50.4 shields per second, drains 1 energy for every 3 shields restored.
Auto-cast affects units and Photon Cannons only.
Mothership
Mothership's "Mass Recall" changed to "Strategic Recall."
Strategic Recall will recall all player units in the target area to the Mothership.
Strategic Recall does not have a cooldown and does not share a global cooldown with Nexus Mass Recall.
Disruptor
Purification Nova will detonate when in contact with an enemy unit.
Damage remains at 145 (+55 shields).
Damage radius remains at 1.5
Detonation radius is 0.25.
Will not trigger on enemy structures or changelings.
Purification Nova cooldown reduced from 21.4 to 14.3 seconds.
Observer
New ability "Surveillance Mode."
Increases vision by 25% and immobilizes the observer.
High Templar
New weapon "Psi Blast."
Damage: 4.
Weapon speed: 1.25.
Range: 6.
Targets ground units.
Colossus
Thermal Lance base range increased from 6 to 7.
Thermal Lance damage changed from 12 to 10 (+5 light).
Protoss ground weapon upgrades will add +1 to base and +1 to light.
Extended Thermal Lance cost reduced from 200/200 to 150/150.
Range upgrade increased Thermal Lance range by +2 instead of +3.
Carrier
Interceptor cost increased from 10 to 15.
Stalker
Particle Disruptors weapon damage changed from 10 (+4 Armored) to 15 (+6 Armored).
Weapon speed changed from 1 to 1.54.
Receives +2 base damage per level of Protoss Ground Weapon upgrades.
Oracle
Revelation
Duration reduced from 43 to 30 seconds.
Stasis Ward
Will no longer affect Zerg larva or eggs.
Stasis Ward has a 170 second timed life duration.
Pulsar Beam weapon changed from Spell to Normal damage. Armor will now reduce the Pulsar Beam damage.
Adept
Shade sight increased from 2 to 4.
Warp Prism
Visual effect added for units picked up by the Warp Prism.
Zerg
Infestor
Undetected burrowed Infestors will be more visible on low graphics quality settings.
Infested Terrans
Infested Gauss Rifle damage reduced from 8 to 6.
Infested Gauss Rifle no longer targets air units.
New weapon "Infested Rockets."
Targets air units only.
Damage: 14
Period: 0.95
Range: 6
Prioritized over the Infested Gauss Rifle ground weapon.
Zerg missile attack and ground carapace upgrades will affect Infested Terrans.
Fungal Growth
Slows the target's movement speed by 75%.
Radius increased from 2.0 to 2.5.
Overseer
New ability "Oversight"
Increases vision by 25% and immobilizes the Overseer.
Viper
Parasitic Bomb
Damage increased from 60 to 120 over 7 seconds.
Damage no longer stacks.
0.7 second delay before Parasitic Bomb effects begin.
Swarm Host
Movement speed reduced from 4.13 to 3.15.
Lurker Den
Lurker Den is morphed from the Drone instead of the Hydralisk Den.
Cost: 100 Minerals/150 Vespene Gas/86 Seconds.
New upgrade "Adaptive Talons"
Reduces Lurker burrow time from 2 to 0.7 seconds and increase movement speed by 10%.
Cost: 150 Minerals/150 Vespene Gas/54 Seconds.
Hive requirement.
Overlord
Movement speed increased from 0.82 to .902. Afterwards, Evolved Pneumatized Carapace will increase the Overlord’s movement to the same value of 2.63.
CO-OP MISSIONS
Abathur
Brutalisks can now use Nydus Wurms.
Alarak
Army shield color is now red.
Dev Comment: Alarak and Fenix's shield color is now themed red for Tal'Darim and yellow for Purifier.
Vanguard
Now uses turret tracking.
High Templar and Archons
Plasma Surge research now increases Psionic Storm’s radius by 50%, range by 2, and restores 50 shields to friendly units.
Immortal
Now uses turret tracking.
Mastery: Speed Increases for Warped-In Units
Bug Fix: No longer causes buffs and debuffs to time out early.
Tempest
Bug Fix: Weapon upgrades now grant +5 damage (up from +3).
Dehaka
Tyrannozors
Unit collision size has been reduced to match a standard ultralisk.
Greater Primal Wurm and Primal Wurm
Bug Fix: Knockback effect on unburrow no longer affects air units.
Glevig:
Incendiary Acid ability is no longer on autocast by default. Changing the state will carry over to subsequent summons.
Fenix
Army shield color is now yellow
Fenix Armor Suits
Base offline energy regeneration for all suits increased by +25%.
All suits gained an addition +1 Armor and +1 Shield Armor.
All suits gained an additional 5 damage.
Purifier Armaments research now increases all Fenix Armor Suits weapon damage by +15.
Arbiter:
Made the stasis ability instant cast and castable while moving.
Praetor:
Whirlwind damage increased to 70 per second.
Now ignores enemy armor.
Research Costs
50% reduction to most research costs. Does not affect common shared standard protoss research (Colossus Range, Observer speed, warpgate, etc).
Remove gas cost on Kaldalis AI research. Total is now 100 minerals.
Champions
Champion AI transfer time reduced from 5 seconds to 1 second when killed.
Tactical Data Web
Change all bonuses to scale based on supply instead of unit count.
All buffs now stack up to 20 supply to reach max power.
Avenging Protocol
The upgrade has been reworked.
Champions gains attack and move speed (5% per supply) each time a host shell of their type is destroyed or a 25% speed increase when they transfer into new host shell. Speed increases can stack up to 100% and last for 10 seconds if not refreshed.
Masteries
New Mastery: Staring Supply: Increases the starting supply by 1 per point.
Removed research cost reduction mastery.
Carrier
Interceptors now cost 15 minerals.
Conservator
Increase radius of Protective Field By 1.
Increase duration of the field to 15 seconds (30 with upgrade).
Cooldown reduced to 20 seconds.
Phasing Mode
Channels a larger protective field centered on itself that lasts indefinitely.
Removed the ability to cast the field while in this mode.
Immortal
Now uses turret tracking.
Mojo
Tactical Data Web
Redesigned: Increase stun duration by up to 2 seconds (100%) at max.
Taldarin
Increase the radius of the graviton disruptor by 0.5 (to 2.5).
Talis
Shield Armor
Increased to 1.
Tactical Data Web:
Redesigned: Ricochet Glaive cooldown reduced by up to 5 seconds (100%) at max.
Warbringer
Basic Attack
Area of Effect length increased by 100%.
Tactical Data Web:
Redesigned: Purification Blast cooldown reduced by up to 5 seconds (100%) at max.
Karax
Immortal
Now uses turret tracking.
Carrier
Interceptors now cost 15 minerals.
Nova
Siege Tank
Now uses turret tracking.
Raynor
Battlecruiser
Tactical Jump now requires vision.
Siege Tank
Now uses turret tracking.
Mastery: Speed Increases for Drop Pod Units
Bug Fix: No longer causes buffs and debuffs to time out early.
Factory
Drop Pods are now more lenient on valid rallied drop locations similar to the barracks.
Stukov
Infested Diamondback
Caustic Mucus
Damage increased from 5 to 20 damage per second.
Tooltip now states the damage done.
Fungal Snare
Increase cast range to 8.
Now shows a range indicator.
Infested Siege Tank
Range while rooted increased from 13 to 18.
Siege Tank
Now uses turret tracking.
Hercules
Tactical Jump now requires vision.
Vorazun
Mastery: Speed Increases during Time Stop
Bug Fix: No longer causes buffs and debuffs to time out early.
Enemies
Bug Fix: Banelings should now properly trigger the following on death effects:
Drop Assimilation Aura resources (Kerrigan)
Drop Bio Mass (Abathur)
Spawn Locust (Abathur)
Drop Essence (Dehaka)
STARCRAFT II EDITOR
4.0 Galaxy Changes and Optimizations
The virtual machine has been heavily optimized and refactored.
Trigger specific loop optimization behavior has been modified in the following triggers:
ForEachInteger
ForEachInteger2
PickEachInteger
IntLoopCurrent
ForEachPlayerInGroup
PickEachPlayerInGroup
PlayerGroupLoopCurrent
ForEachUnitInGroup
PickEachUnitInGroup
UnitGroupLoopCurrent
switch/switchcase
These modifications include a modified code generation upon sc2maps being saved or resaved within the editor.
Maps that were made using the older Galaxy system are backwards compatible with the new Galaxy if they aren't resaved, but they won’t have loop optimizations.
The TriggerDebugInterface has been revamped to adhere to the new modifications.
UI Editor Changes
Removed the FrameView from the UI Editor.
Changed to always save your layout xml in whatever form it is in.
Added xml error message output during saving layout files when an error occurs.
Mod Changes
Moved Buildings, Effects, Portraits, Doodads, Units, and TerrainObjects from Liberty campaign mod to Liberty mod.
Interface Changes
Added Enable Dark Editor Theme general preference option checkbox.
This will currently toggle on and off a dark mode when editing xml.
BUG FIXES
User Interface
Fixed a display issue where certain sprays could appear as decals in game.
1v1 Teams with random race in the ladder summary now display the proper background image.
Fixed an issue where refreshing the open lobbies list in Custom would cause the list to stop applying map filters
Campaign
Wings of Liberty
Fixed an issue where in game cinematics could freeze.
Nova Covert Ops
Loading an auto save from Sudden Strike no longer causes the objective timer to gray out.
Co-op Mission
Commanders
Abathur
Devourer and Guardian now properly appear in the hotkeys menu.
Artanis
Artanis’ Tempests now properly receive 5 damage per upgrade.
Dehaka
Structures now play proper bleeding effect when reaching low health.
Dehaka’s portrait now properly appears when responding to attack waves and objective orders.
Swann
Updated a tooltip description for Swann’s Engineering Bay.
Map
Oblivion Express
Dehaka’s Tyrannozors can now path through narrow paths properly in Oblivion Express.
Rifts to Korhal
Fixed an issue where units could be spawned in unintended locations.
Gameplay
Fixed an issue where a queued Abduct command on a target unit would prevent other Vipers from being able to cast Abduct on the same target unit