The second installment in a series of overviews covering the last few patches out for the SC2 Beta. Addresses the noteworthy and not so noteworthy changes, and provides insight into the likely causes and ramifications.

A huge change, this makes Stalkers better against the units they are most needed for countering early in the game: Reapers and Zealots. The loss of damage scaling when upgraded is a small price to pay for this boost vs. non-Armored units. It also makes them significantly better counters to aerial harassment by Mutalisks and Banshees.

I question the driving factor for this change, as I have yet to see High Templar, or any other tech unit (i.e. further in the Tech Tree than the Stalker/Sentry) overtake the Immortal and Colossus in terms of popularity. However, this is probably a good change: similar to the change to EMP, it makes blanketing an entire army less possible with few Templar, and on the upside for Protoss players, it makes Storming your own units easier to avoid considering the cast range, which often feels a bit short.

Perhaps intended to make these high value units more susceptible to being picked off by Hellions, Banelings, Phoenix, and other units which deal extra damage to Light type units. This may, at least in the case of High Templar, lead to players transporting them around in Warp Prisms and only unloading them when needed.

This change might seem insignificant, but this extra 50 health can have a big impact. All of the stationary defenses were a bit weak at the start of the beta, and only recently they have received some love. I have had success with SC1 style Forge → Fast Expand strategies versus Zerg using the new and improved Cannons, as they stand up noticeably better against Roaches now. This also has an impact on how Cannons perform against Mutalisks and Banshees later in the game.

A slight nerf to this Juggernaut; while both of the Combat units produced at the Robotics Facility have seen a lot of play, only the Colossus has been nerfed at this point. Expect to see a greater focus on Immortals as a result. Still, this is only a minor alteration, and Colossi will still fill their role nicely. Don’t neglect the threat they continue to pose, and look out for a nerf to Immortals on the horizon.

This change amounts to a slight nerf. While the Void Ray is now more useful against non-Armored units, it has also become more expensive, more fragile, and takes longer to gain a benefit from aligning its Phase Crystals. One of the reasons for this change is likely to give defenders more time to get counters into position before critical structures are destroyed. This change should not be overestimated, however. Void Rays still pose much the same threat as before.

Likely a response to the state of an early Observer or two being a no-brainer, this change not only significantly increases the gas investment, which reduces the amount of Sentries, Immortals, or other gas heavy units that can be produced subsequently to an Observer, it also slows down the production of the Robotics Facility, thereby delaying units being produced subsequently. This may make use of stealth units slightly more viable against the Protoss.

A questionable change, this seems to be an addition of insult to injury for the Dark Templar. While already marginalized by the popularity of the Detection providing Robotics Facility and the multi-purpose provider of on-demand detection (the Orbital Command Station), this change further detracts from the appeal of trying to use Dark Templar. That said, all in all this does not change Dark Templar in a very major way, and they will probably remain about as useful in the niches they have previously excelled in.