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Roach buff in HotS?
 

This is almost certainly a pointless discussion at this stage but hey I think its interesting to consider
So everyone knows about the new fancy stuff coming for multiplayer in HotS (im particularly excited for the viper ^.^) But I spent far too much thinking about ramifications of the new stuff.



First up the new zerg stuff - hey I'm a zerg player - is looking interesting. Not sure about swarm host tbh as it comes very late lair, costs a lot - thus delaying hive - and while locust are buff not sure how effective it will be as enemy can just kill them



So apart from swarm host all the new zerg stuff is Hive tech - hopefully this leads to more interesting late game especially ZvP but I digress.
If we look at what the protoss get for a moment you'll see that much of it is more accessible early on - mothership core is cyber core tech i believe. Most of it is harass based though having recall available together with gateways without need for stargate tech at all is scary but what I want to discuss is the oracle, specifically entomb.



So I think its fair to say the time is another resource in starcraft 2. Delaying an opponent, even if you are doing no direct damage is an effective way to get an advantage - like bunker pressure or pylon blocking hatches. This is where the oracle will come in. Entomb will do unstoppable econ damage to mining of 1 base per oracle built, cutting a players income. Each shield has 75hp - now think about how long it takes 3 drones to kill a marine (marines have 50 without combat shields) even if you catch it straight away there is still going to be a significant delay for the zerg player. zergs could invest in lings to shorten the delay but thats drones that you're not making and is also cutting into your econ.

Currently standard zvp usually involves fast 3 hatch and roach ling to hold any 2 base timing coming your way (if its coming). FFE into stargate play is common and a zerg can expect 1 voidray and maybe 3 pheonix. Against good zergs often they can't do much damage other than forcing couple of spores.
So what if the protoss makes 1 oracle. That takes less time than 4 units so less of your money is going into stargate thus allowing protoss to start other tech sooner. It is also guaranteed to do econ damage.
So this is going to delay timings, maybe you can't get your macro hatch up as quick as you like, you can't make as many drones/units as you'd like. It will also give you a glut of gas.

My thinking is that zerg will not be able to hold 2 base all ins going fast 3 base as the delay will mean less units to defend and even if the zerg cuts drone production earlier the protoss can simple recall if they get into trouble. Stargate tech will delay gateway pushes of course but the econ damage to the zerg will greatly affect unit production capabilities of the zerg. Or hell what if the protoss makes 2 oracles and takes third behind a gateway push? The potential problems it might cause zerg seem very scary especially as its harass that cannot be prevented by good micro.
Whats some other thoughts on this? Is it even possible to make the oracle worthwhile without making its indirect damage too strong?

With terrans new units being mech focused - the goliath seems to be a powerful anti armoured unit and roaches are armoured - is also worth thinking about. Usually zergs will want roaches against mech until they can get their tiear 3 out (usually broodlords). And already tanks and thors can tear through roaches if the zerg isn't careful... what will happen if the goliath is as good against armour as it appears? Roaches will melt TT
Now indeed mech play usually involves lots of turtling so the zerg should be able to get vipers out but I have 2 concerns; will swarm hosts do anything or is the mech army likely to pause for mere split seconds to wipe all the locust out? And even if the zerg can pull a few units whats stopping the terran army a-moving into the zerg ground army which I think will still be roach heavy?


Make roaches flying a possible solution?

Well my thinking is that roaches will get a slight buff. If zerg will have less units against protoss timings and die too easily to new mech zerg needs some help surviving to hive and being able to have a role in new terran mech.
So thats my theory anyway. Of course there is likely to be changes made to hots units before we see a beta and then even more changes once players start finding what is OP and UP when beta is made public so treat this like it is. A fun little discussion about possibilities for anyone who likes that kind of thing / is bored


YUMMY