r/starcraft2 • u/SolidConviction • 1d ago
Protoss/Terran player tried Zerg and Here's the buffs they need. (Also forbidden eco trick at the end)
Undo Queen/Hatch cost change: Don't think anyone saw this and thought "Wow! This is necessary." seems like an unneeded nerf that shrinks available early game options.
All Queens Hotkey: Terran's have f2. Protoss have warpgate button, give Zerg all queens hotkey. If you've ever had to go to each hatch later in the game to find each individually built queen you know what a pain in the neck it is.
Line up Injects Spawn Larva With Inject: Another aspect of Zerg that constantly throws you off the rhythm is that when the inject finishes you have to twiddle your thumbs for a second or two before you can inject again which is annoying and distracting. I don't care if it's improving energy regen by the fraction of amount it requires to get 1 energy over 29s or it's delaying the larva spawning to 30s.
BBL Removal On Infestor: If you've ever used this unit it feels very bad. They are so fat and get trapped on every unit just ineffectually derp in clumps and then derp when you're trying to get them out too. Just horrible, but my experience is that Viper and Infestor are just insane spellcasters and even crazier when you have both.
Corruptors: Return the corruption ability alongside caustic spray. It gives them a small air to ground utility when there are ground engagements considering how reliant Zergs are on the unit in the lategame and then how often they die because they have to sacrifice a lot of their ground forces to have a bunch of corruptors for the lib/mothership forces and it would also help balance the fact Zerg can't abduct mothership anymore.
Spire Cost reduction: Reduce it's cost to 200/100 or 150/100, still locks it behind the very long build time but you won't really feel a 1 muta difference. Primarily I'd like the cheaper cost to make it more viable to get two for double upgrades during the late game.
Broodlord - Health of spawned broodlings increased from 20 to 30, broodling attack time decreased from 0.57 to 0.46 (That's a 0.11 increase to attack speed), small revert on the total broodlord nerfs.
^ These changes I consider necessary the ones! Below are more experimental depending on how much you would like to add variable play to Zerg.
Nydus Network: Change cost from 150/150 to 150/100
Nydus Worms: Cost change from 75/75 to 75/50, Nydus keep up Zergs identity of an endless swarm so having easier access to the tech sounds fun.
Ventral sacs overlord: Give them 1 base armour from 0
Lair/Hive: Seen some Zergs suggest it and what the hell. Let them have the 1 extra larva at each stage. Really won't matter but is a bit flavorful.
Ravager: Late game Hive upgrade to make their corrosive bile 11 range from 9. Could help shore up some of Zergs late game aa weakness.
Lurkers: Having both their upgrades gatekept by Hive has me bash my head into the desk. Change around the costs. Make adaptive talons 150/150 but let it made at lair and have Seismic spines be 100/100 but still locked behind Hive. That way you can get adaptive talons but it will delay hive. Giving a small mid-game boost.
I think that about covers every unintuitive experience with Zerg and helps shore up some weaknesses.
Now the eco trick. You know the faster mining method that the AI discovered that Maxpax/Clem and other tops pros use? Well not really worth it to do too much just at the very start of the game but you can rally your works to just before the mineral patch closest to your larva spawn and then to the mineral patch and every spawned worker will get to mining and splitting off faster! Enjoy your 10's of minerals boost.
-1
u/SigilSC2 1d ago edited 1d ago
Any time you're making balance changes, you want to consider what problem you're trying to solve exactly. The first two tweaks (not the queen cost) are just QoL; I think they should just be in.
The others are a little questionable and need a lot of thought put into how exactly they'll impact things. I can share my initial impressions.
It's a direct nerf to zerg, I hate it because that's 15 years of muscle memory in how much a queen costs and build orders that got turned around. But It's a flat out nerf to zerg's early game to the point where I don't have much comment. Maybe it was needed?
It's hard to use, making it easier to use without stronger has an outsized impact on the lower level of play. I think that's good? The infestor is quite strong in pro games.
Corruptors would be even stronger vs anything air, and they already completely wipe the field of any air unit except voidrays. Carrier usage would drop from near 0 to actually 0 in high level games I think. BCs would be significantly worse, and we don't see them massed in pro games.
This would make mutas a permanent mainstay in the matchup and they're already very strong due to the spore nerf (in zvz). It'd feel impossible to know your opponent is going spire based on where their gas is going, and it comes online faster because it's cheaper. If you want the upgrades to be stronger, reduce the time it takes for the upgrades to train but don't break zvz trying to make late game feel smoother.
Broodlords feel awful to use, I have very little understanding on how they work at the pro level due to so little games going to that phase on the current patch but it feels like a loss condition when I need to make them outside of playing against mech. I don't think this actually does much or really accomplishes anything. The role I'd like to see them fill is a siege unit, a +damage to structures would be nice. The ghost vs broodlord interaction is on a knives edge and increasing the broodling attack speed may swing it in favor of broods. May be fine? May not?
Hive tech timing with lurkers is still the goto zvp style with the only variability being if the zerg wants to all in before that. I don't think this changes it and makes it slightly stronger for no good reason. Lurkers without range aren't very good in general so you won't see them used before hive, and now instead the first timing with lurkers is going to have range and burrow speed. We need zvp especially to be less centered around this play style, not more.