Cloak is now available directly from Tech Labs attached to Starports. This change makes Banshees more akin to the Wraiths of SC 1, whose cloaking ability was available directly from Control Towers. This makes Banshees a much more viable option, and players who decide to get their cloak are no longer faced with the dilemma of leaving their expensive Fusion Core without further use, or building Battle Cruisers which may or may not be desirable. Be on the lookout for cloaked banshee rushes.

Reapers received several changes in these first two patches. Their build time has increased by 33%, and their speed boost researches slightly slower; however, their damage per second versus buildings has increased slightly. While their damage per attack is reduced by 25%, their attack delay is reduced by 28%, meaning that when they attack at their maximum rate they do more damage. This does also mean that darting in and out for attacks on buildings must be done more frequently to achieve maximal dps, which may or may not be disadvantageous depending on the situation.

Vikings received a slight reduction in armor while in their Fighter mode, however, their damage against light targets was greatly increased (by 66%). This makes them much more useful against Mutalisks, Banshees, and Phoenixes.

The Mothership has been nerfed across the board, which should not be a surprise to anyone. Most notably, Vortex has a higher energy cost and a smaller radius (17%). Further, Temporal Rift and Wormhole Transit have been removed. A new ability, Mass Recall has been added, which transports all friendly units in a location to the Mothership’s position. The Mothership has also become slower to produce, deals less damage, and has less health and shields, among other more minor changes. I expect it will still prove useful, but not to the extreme levels it was before.

The Phase Shift ability has been removed from this unit, which stands to reason, as it was not terribly useful. It has been replaced with an ability called Feedback, which removes all energy from a unit and deals damage equal to the energy removed. This should prove useful against Ghosts, Battlecruisers, Sentries, other High Templar, Infestors, and possibly even Motherships. I look forward to seeing this ability used cleverly.

The build time of the gateway has increased by 30%. This reduces the viability of proxy gateways somewhat.

The Colossus is now better able to path around buildings.

The changes to the Infestor are some of the most relevant and deserved of those present in these patches. Gone is its relatively useless leech ability, being replaced by the ability to spawn Infested Terrans one at a time for 25 energy. These little guys are slow, but deal significant damage and are excellent meat shields. Fungal growth now deals 36 damage, but is also able to bring burrowed units to the surface. Lastly, but not least, Neural Parasite can once more target any unit, but is now channeled for up to 10 seconds. The link can be maintained at any distance.

The Corruptor now deals 10% more damage to massive units such as Colossi, Carriers, Battlecruisers, and Motherships. This is needed, but it has still yet to be seen if this makes them a cost effective counter to Carriers, a unit that Zerg struggles to counter.