EPT![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/xnsn9Qr.jpg)
(yes, this picture, again. I think it is relevant. White-Ra <3 to the end)
So as we have seen in the past couple of weeks, Skytoss is quite effective against zerg. I am a zerg player, so of course, I feel immense emotion towards this issue, and would like to see it resolved as quickly as possible. I am extremely happy that Blizzard noted that they think SkyToss is quite strong, although by the looks of it, it will be a while before they attempt to make changes. So here, I will present a couple of ideas which I have had in the past couple of weeks in ways of fixing not only ZvSkytoss, but making zerg a much more interesting race to play lategame as well.
The reason, as far as I can tell, that Skytoss is so strong against zerg, is because each air unit the Protoss has is capable of extremely effectively countering one of the anti-air units Zerg has. Phoenixes strongly counter Mutas, which would be fairly effective at countering air otherwise. Void Rays strongly counter Corruptors, which would be fairly effective at countering air otherwise. Oracles and Colossi strongly counter Hydras which would be pretty effective at countering air otherwise. Vipers are pretty useless against Skytoss anyways, because abducting units one by one is much too energy costly, and blinding cloud isn't very good against the more mobile Skytoss army, as opposed to Terran Mech. Infestors, having been nerfed heavily, only have fungal growth as their weapon of choice, but that alone is not able to kill an army. What is there to do to attack this unstoppable force, which may be as strong as Broodlord Infestor once was?
However, I would like to fix this without messing with the Skytoss army. I think personally that Skytoss is not OP, just strong. I think that instead, Zerg is extremely weak against air in general. Terran seems to be having no problems against Skytoss, after all. So these ideas are not debuffing the Toss units, but looking for ways to effectively change the Zerg units.
Idea #1: Allow Locusts to shoot air units.
I'm pretty sure that Swarm Hosts are pretty bad against air units. This is primarily because they cannot attack air units. I am sure that Blizzard intended Swarm Hosts to be 100% ground only when they came up with the concept of a midgame siege unit, and I think that really, they are correct in that choice, if they are trying to recreate the oh so fun lurker of BW. However, what would Locusts shooting air do to change early or midgame?
I don't think that they would do much. Theses units are not mobile enough to deny Oracle or Muta harassment attempts, unless they are placed in the proper locations, which would be better defended by a Spore Crawler. Fast 2-base Muta pushes may be slightly more ineffective if Swarm Hosts are out, but since an Infestation Pit would be out anyways, such pushes would be ineffective with Infestors on the field. But basically, early game would remain unaffected. The one issue I see with midgame is how this would affect Terrans, with their magical Medivacs. Those units could be focus fired pretty easily. However, again, if there is an Infestation pit already out, Infestors are the better choice there. For lategame, unless the enemy is going air, Broodlords are considerably better anyways.
However, how would these units do against a maxed Skytoss army? Here is where I am unsure. Locusts may be free units, but they still would be decimated in anything less than mass numbers by Oracles. Also, phoenixes can lift those suckers right out of their burrows. Still, free units are pretty good, and a toss would be an idiot to A-click right into 20 or so Swarm hosts. Additionally,Skytoss isn't too fast, so if the Toss army decided to try to attack somewhere else, if proper creep spread was utilized by the Zerg, defending shouldn't be too much of an issue.
But overall, I think this would be a nice addition to the Swarm Host. Right now, I think the Swarm Host has capability, but in general lacks capability. This buff would make it a better all around unit, one which fits into more scenarios, and gives the Zerg more reasons to use it. It is a good enough unit, but it can become better. By giving the Locust the ability to act as a free, slow Hydralisk, it gives the Zerg the ability to siege vs all types of deathball, not just a ground one.
However, Tempests. gg.
Idea #2: Add an upgrade to drastically change Mutalisks.
Here is a strange idea. Mutalisks have always been the sole light air unit (yes, Banshees and Ravens, but really?), and therefore, have always been decimated by Phoenixes. However, against other units, Mutalisks, while not being super strong or anything, still hold their own, especially with the new Muta buffs awaiting us. The "Light" classification only has ever effected Mutas against Thors and Phoenixes (well Ghosts, but since when do they kill mass numbers of Mutas? Oh right, Nukes.). However, what if we were to take the "Light" away?
That would be awful. Mutas would pretty much be ridiculously OP, and both Phoenixes and Thors would have very little use. Early/Midgame Mutas would have no counters, other than storms or fungals, but a massable unit cannot have its only counters as spells. Even in the lategame, Mutas would become the staple of the zerg lategame army. They would become the new BL-Infestor. We don't want that at all. Hell no we don't.
However, we can take a look at something which was utilized by Blizzard a long time ago. Cracklings. Effectively, these are mid-lategame units. They do well against most other ground units, with a couple major exceptions. And all they are are zerglings with an upgrade. They aren't OP at all, because by the time the Zerg player gets them, if at all (I usually forget), the opponent has the tech to hold them off better than early/midgame. However, Lings without Adrenal Glands lategame just don't perform up to expectations. Adrenal Glands overall are an effective way to buff lings lategame without making them too strong early/midgame.
So what if we did the same for Mutas, another one of the staples of the Zerg army, and another unit which come lategame comes somewhat useless in a straight on fight as well? Adding a Hive-only or Greater Spire-only upgrade to buff damage is definitely possible, and I think that perhaps it could work. However, therein lies the issue of Phoenixes still destroying Mutas. The damage output of Mutas cannot be buffed so high that they destroy Phoenixes, because then, they would destroy everything else. OP. What if instead, we tried removing what makes Phoenixes so strong? What if we removed the "light" from Mutalisks, or something?
I like where this is going. We remove the light characteristic from Mutalisks. Against the Skytoss army, this makes them pretty good in large numbers. However, what about against Thors? They have too much maneuverability then, with proper micro, they will be practically unsinkable. And their harassment potential never goes away either. So as a result, I feel like they would be buffed a bit too much. So I think that Mutas could be changed a bit more to completely change the role which they play.
What if we then decreased the movement speed of Mutas, as if they had fattened up? And also, to make them better in fights against other units, increased their health? This suddenly makes Mutas less of a harassment unit good for picking off mineral lines and siege tanks, and more of a unit which could fight in straight up battles. They would have less hard counters, but still have them, like Thors and Stalkers. And they still wouldn't be enough pure damage to mass alone, although the splash would be pretty scary as well. Basically, we created a unit like the Hellbat, one which is better in a straight up battle, but much worse for harassment and in general has much worse mobility. I don't know if this would prove to be OP vs armies, but I think it would work against Skytoss temporarily.
Idea #3: Add Scourge
This is a bold move. I highly doubt it would work too. However, I think it is at least worth noting. Scourge in BW was a fantastic unit, the Baneling of the sky. I personally loved watching it used in pro games, especially in ZvZ, and still love using it in Nexus Wars (mass scourge ftw). What if we added Scourge back into the game, as a unit that Zerg could get from Spire tech, or give it its own building, like the Baneling? This could get some interesting stuff going on.
Scourge could rape and pillage a Skytoss army, not on its own, but with the support of its Muta and Corruptor buddies. A flock of scourge can take out a hell of a lot of air units. I do not doubt the effectiveness of Scourge vs Air deathballs. However, I am extremely horrified at what scourge could do to the current metagame, and how it would change the way all races would have to play vs Z.
ZvZ I don't really care about here that much because it can't really be "balanced." However, I think that scourge would benefit ZvZ. Currently, the playstyle of ZvZ is Muta v Muta, and Scourge, although not killing off the usage of the Muta at all, would reduce it and make the matchup more interesting. For ZvT, I think that using Scourge to prevent drops could also be pretty cool. It would make the Afterburner buff actually useful! And for ZvP, it would serve a similar purpose, in preventing Warp prism and Oracle harass, for midgame. Overall, both mid and lategame, Scourge could add some flair to each matchup. It would give air something to worry about, be good for sniping important units like Medivacs, Ravens, and Colossi. It could be fun to have our beloved air suicide bombers back!
However, Broodlord + Scourge is perhaps one of the most OP things I have ever heard of. Seriously. And also, I'm sure there are other issues with adding in Scourge which I have not thought of.
Other thoughts?
There may be easier fixes to this issue. Perhaps debuffing the insanely strong Void Ray is in the near future. Perhaps Corruptors will be made slightly stronger. Yet for now, these are the main issues which have lingered in my head for the while. Who knows? The fact is that for now, Skytoss is a nearly unbeatable deathball. And I don't like deathballs very much.
I think that for now, the main way to prevent Toss from going Skytoss is by scouting it, and punishing it. Going Skytoss is a huge investment, and while that investment is going on, either the Toss turtles, or the Zerg destroys. Even if the Toss manages to turtle, hopefully by the time the Skytoss is ready to deploy, the Zerg has maxed and can kill everything. It takes a while for the Toss to build up a massive army, and during that time, the Zerg can shine. Even with photon overcharge preventing many ling attacks, do not underestimate the Zerg's ability to prevent the ZvP matchup from entering lategame with constant aggression.
However, I'm just a Gold league Zerg. What do I know?
-Snorlax
P.S. I am genuinely interested in what you have to think about my ideas. Post responses! Thanks!
P.P.S. Then, there is the power of the Immortal Sentry All-in with Mass Recall. IMO, this is extremely effective as well, and if I had more games to watch of it, I would write something about it.
