StarCraft 2 BALANCE PATCH 2026 - The biggest (proposed on PTR) SC2 patch of all time, effecting Terran, Zerg & Protoss. Less starting workers, Warpgate removed*, infestor attack and so much more. We break down the details and implications. Notes: https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/article/24276667/starcraft-ii-5-0-16-ptr-patch-notes Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/wintergaming Discord: https://www.discord.gg/wintergaming 0:00 What's Happening? 1:58 Economy Changes 4:12 Zerg Changes 11:19 Terran Changes 15:24 Protoss Changes 23:40 Bug Fixes & Quality of Life 29:02 Economy - Winter's Opinion 38:56 Zerg Buffs - Winter's Opinion 42:58 Protoss Changes - Winter's Opinion 47:25 Terran Nerfs? - Winter's Opinion 50:03 Final Conclusion Starcraft 2 is a Science Fiction Real Time Strategy & Tactics game by Blizzard Entertainment. -- Winterstarcraft, StarCraft 2, SC2 2026 #Starcraft2 #SC2 #Starcraft2patch
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Oh damn. Here we go.
Terran: Wait....we can turtle off 1-2 bases easier!?
Warpgates are only researched one time, and then applies to all subsequent gateways built. So it wont be 400/400 for 10 gateways>warpgates. It will only be the 50/50 and then each gateway built after will have the ability to switch between the modes for free. Freshly tested by yours truly.
Love it!!!
What are the odds that the 8 worker change actually makes it? Much much smaller changes have been discarded from PTR...
I will die on this hill. Zerg still needs buff for AA. Like, make swarmhosts' swarmlings be able to attack air! They're floating already! (only able to attack air while they are floating) Zerg just isn't good at ground or air. Zerg being caster heavy race doesn't make any sense thematically
Hyped and engaged
Apollo's "Working up from bronze league" is officially obsolete.
One thing you missed in the bug fixes, larva and map critters no longer block building placement and larva will now spread out along a hatchery if its above 3, this will actually make defending with zerg a slight bit easier as you can now have a free surround on enemies in your mineral line. So many small zerg qol changes that really add up
Ty buddy
This is game changing to the highest degree. Can’t wait to see the new Protoss build orders and styles
Love the warp gate change. I think they could buff some gateway units to compensate, but we'll see. Having to upgrade gateways to warp gates is sort of like building a reactor for Terran, which I think is nice You can also emergency morph warp gates to get a boost in production (1 unit building immediately per gate) at that 50/50 cost, and you get an ongoing benefit for morphing them
SC3 just got shadowdropped
This made me look up Starcraft 2's release date and it's hard to wrap my head around this game being released in 2010. Especially considering when remembering how long it was between SC1 and SC2. I thought it was at most late 20-teens but 2010 is insane. Also, dang, I didn't know you were up there in the Grandmasters. Your commentary is always detailed on WHY you think something does or doesn't work during games, but realize how intimate your knowledge really is when you talk about "you don't do X because of Y, it just doesn't happen (JJK cursed technique narrator: except for Serral)."
Play StarCraft ❌ Watch one hour video of patch notes and shake my head like it impacts me ✅
Absolute baller patch, amanda!
As a viewer who used to absolutely love GSL pre-covid and watched basically every match....as someone who hasn't checked anything Starcraft related in years. This does make me excited to check GSL once more if it makes it to the real patch. This is exciting. I love when not everything is fully explored and figured out yet. That's the viewer dream for me. Also I wouldn't be concerned about first few minutes of downtime because that used to be one of my favorite things to listen to when Artosis and Tastless would talk about random interesting things. And I am sure other casters are capable of that too! It's such a nice introduction into action you know. Also how funny it is that even Youtube knows I would be interested because after many years it suggested me Starcraft related video again which was your video today.
These changes seem like they will be fun to watch. It would be really cool if the Blizzard intern could add 5 new co-op maps and then drop the 2 at the end of the season that players veto. Just vibe code those maps and don’t add voice actors. If it were up to me, I would like to have the AI vibe code the scenario as I’m loading the games so that I get some random slop. That’s probably not what most people want though.
I've been on hiatus, but this patch looks Hella fun. Of course I always like it when things get shaken up.
The main advantage of Warpgate was always the fact that you pay for the units, get them, and THEN wait, as opposed to normal production. So you're fielding your entire money's worth of army, rather than having a bunch of it in queue. The secondary benefit of reduced time can really just be seen as a roughly equivalent to a minor reduction in cost of gateways - you can always just make a few more Gateways and keep your throughput... Anyway, this is always why Protoss Gateway units have been so weak on a per-resource basis - to deal with this discrepancy, as well as the immediate power spike that happens right after Warpgate is researched. Everything from slow pylon warp-ins, taking away the Templar energy upgrade, to increasing the overall time of warp-ins was attempts to deal with this fact. I can't help that feel that this change chips even more away at the Protoss identity and a really cool mechanic that makes playing them feel different from what I've seen across RTS. Obviously, the effects of something like the Protoss change can't possibly be fully predicted, and we'll have to see... But I image we'll be stuck wondering: Just why are Protoss Gateway units still so cost-inefficient.