• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 06:41
CEST 12:41
KST 19:41
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2914Serral wins Maestros of the Game 243ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12
Community News
Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16)44Reynor: GSL Loss Wasn't About Preparation Format16[IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend!5Weekly Cups (July 6 - 12): Protoss strike back12BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion8
StarCraft 2
General
Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16) [D] Wireframe Casting Removed Clem: "I don't have that much hope in Blizzard" Reynor: GSL Loss Wasn't About Preparation Format Is the larve respawn broken?
Tourneys
Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) WardiTV Summer Cup 2026 GSL CK #5 Race War RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event HomeStory Cup 29
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 534 Burning Evacuation Mutation # 533 Die Together Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family
Brood War
General
ASL22 General Discussion BW General Discussion Pros Debate: Zerg Unfairly Nerfed? (ASL S22 map) Etiquete rules in Asl? Recent recommended BW games
Tourneys
Escore Tournament - Season 3 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Small VOD Thread 2.0 [IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend!
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile General RTS Discussion Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Beyond All Reason Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Power Rank NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI Russo-Ukrainian War Thread UK Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The HerO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread MLB/Baseball 2023 McBoner: A hockey love story Tennis[sport] Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Simple Questions Simple Answers FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard?
TL Community
Northern Ireland Global Starcraft The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Poker (part 2)
Nebuchad
The Experiences We Want and …
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 7766 users

Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16)

Forum Index > SC2 General
44 CommentsPost a Reply
1 2 3 Next All
SeaMonster1
Profile Joined July 2026
1 Post
July 15 2026 10:23 GMT
#1
https://news.blizzard.com/en-us/article/24291949/starcraft-ii-5-0-16b-hotfix-patch-notes


We are making changes based on player data and feedback. We are calibrating both Protoss and Terran to help deal with Zerg. We will continue to monitor and make changes if necessary.

Protoss
Colossus damaged increased from 10(+5 vs Light) to 12(+3 vs Light).
Adept damage modifier per attack upgrade increased from 1(+1 vs Light) to 2(+2 vs Light).
Gateway unit train time reduction bonus from researching Warp Gate increased from 40% to 50%.
Gateway/Warpgate transformation duration is now always 4s (reduced from 7s and 5s).
Disruptor phantom weapon range decreased from 11.35 to 7.

Terran
Command Center cost reduced from 400 to 300 minerals.
Planetary Fortress cost increased from 150/150 to 250/150.
Ghost Supply reduced from 3 to 2.

Bug Fixes & Quality of Life Updates
Load Nearby Transport ability reverted (we will look at re-introducing this at a later date).
Gateway train visuals will no longer trigger if 'Effects' graphics options are set to low.
Fixed an issue where workers interacted incorrectly with allied structures.
Warpgates now have selection subgroup priority over Gateways.
Warpgates and Gateways are now considered distinct units when issuing 'select all' commands.
Gateways and Warpgates can now be issued orders to transform regardless of which is the primary subgroup selection.
Reverted spawned Hallucinations inheriting their caster's order queue.
Selection radius color is now distinct for primary subgroup selection when Colorblind mode is enabled.
Fixed an issue in Team games where Cyclones could fail to deal damage to units detected by an ally.






Any thoughts on the current gameplay after this latest hotfix? What are some new metas coming out?
Facebook Twitter Reddit
Kreuger
Profile Joined October 2011
Sweden924 Posts
July 15 2026 10:50 GMT
#2
On July 15 2026 19:23 SeaMonster1 wrote:
Any thoughts on the current gameplay after this latest hotfix? What are some new metas coming out?


Do you have a list what changed?
Herringbone
Profile Joined February 2023
38 Posts
July 16 2026 23:32 GMT
#3
Protoss
Colossus damaged increased from 10(+5 vs Light) to 12(+3 vs Light).
Adept damage modifier per attack upgrade increased from 1(+1 vs Light) to 2(+2 vs Light).
Gateway unit train time reduction bonus from researching Warp Gate increased from 40% to 50%.
Gateway/Warpgate transformation duration is now always 4s (reduced from 7s and 5s).
Disruptor phantom weapon range decreased from 11.35 to 7.

Terran
Command Center cost reduced from 400 to 300 minerals.
Planetary Fortress cost increased from 150/150 to 250/150.
Ghost Supply reduced from 3 to 2.

Bug Fixes & Quality of Life Updates
Load Nearby Transport ability reverted (we will look at re-introducing this at a later date).
Gateway train visuals will no longer trigger if 'Effects' graphics options are set to low.
Fixed an issue where workers interacted incorrectly with allied structures.
Warpgates now have selection subgroup priority over Gateways.
Warpgates and Gateways are now considered distinct units when issuing 'select all' commands.
Gateways and Warpgates can now be issued orders to transform regardless of which is the primary subgroup selection.
Reverted spawned Hallucinations inheriting their caster's order queue.
Selection radius color is now distinct for primary subgroup selection when Colorblind mode is enabled.
Fixed an issue in Team games where Cyclones could fail to deal damage to units detected by an ally.
Herringbone
Profile Joined February 2023
38 Posts
July 16 2026 23:32 GMT
#4
I wish they'd just leave ghost supply at 3 and balance something else. Mass ghost late game is awful for the game.
THERIDDLER
Profile Joined July 2014
Canada136 Posts
July 16 2026 23:41 GMT
#5
On July 17 2026 08:32 Herringbone wrote:
I wish they'd just leave ghost supply at 3 and balance something else. Mass ghost late game is awful for the game.


well it was ghost lib when lotv came out and everyone was like lib OP so they gutted that. Then it was ghost raven and ppl was like raven OP and they gutted that too. Then ppl went only ghost and ppl were like its really hard to have a control group for ghost to fight queens and to fight ultras and to fight lings and to fight.....


Like what do u ppl want.
Please don't fricken hack, its just a game.
Herringbone
Profile Joined February 2023
38 Posts
July 16 2026 23:58 GMT
#6
Something similar to the other two races where it's not a viable strategy to mass a single unit that counters pretty much every opposing unit (referring to zerg) and doesn't have a strong counter. Doesn't seem too big an ask.
Yoshi Kirishima
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States10380 Posts
Last Edited: 2026-07-17 00:36:30
July 17 2026 00:30 GMT
#7
CC 300 minerals... dude, what the fuck are they doing LOL. At least they stated their patch goal. But why is Zerg so strong - is it not just the larvae change? If it's not the larvae change, then is it some of the unit changes that happened in LotV to keep the game balanced with the new 12 worker start? If so why not just look at reverting some of those changes?
Why not make Hatchery 300 minerals instead of 275?

On July 17 2026 08:41 THERIDDLER wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 17 2026 08:32 Herringbone wrote:
I wish they'd just leave ghost supply at 3 and balance something else. Mass ghost late game is awful for the game.


well it was ghost lib when lotv came out and everyone was like lib OP so they gutted that. Then it was ghost raven and ppl was like raven OP and they gutted that too. Then ppl went only ghost and ppl were like its really hard to have a control group for ghost to fight queens and to fight ultras and to fight lings and to fight.....


Like what do u ppl want.



Amen. Raven got way gutted so now Ghost has to do everything. (Besides TvT where mass disabling shit, including carefully positioned tanks and fortified positions on the map is toxic)

I hate hate hate the direction of the patches. When a patch makes a bad change, instead of reverting that change (partially or fully or looking at a slightly different alternative), they change something else so design of units just keep straying further and further from what they were supposed to be. Like, we're so lost in the sauce we don't even know how we got here, definitely not the balance teams since they've changed every few years in LotV. Like, the new balance team thought that the stupid +2 Building armor upgrade not applying to Auto Turrets was a bug rather than a (stupid) nerf the balance council did.

Like godamn I want to have the units and abilities I bought the game for!
Mid-master streaming MECH ONLY + commentary www.twitch.tv/yoshikirishima +++ "If all-in fails, all-in again."
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33660 Posts
Last Edited: 2026-07-17 00:36:00
July 17 2026 00:35 GMT
#8
Build diversity of 13, 14, and 15 CC, just like Brood War
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
Die4Ever
Profile Joined August 2010
United States17743 Posts
July 17 2026 01:48 GMT
#9
On July 17 2026 09:30 Yoshi Kirishima wrote:
When a patch makes a bad change, instead of reverting that change (partially or fully or looking at a slightly different alternative), they change something else so design of units just keep straying further and further from what they were supposed to be.

THIS! Reverts should almost always be a favored fix instead of piling on additional changes.
"Expert" mods4ever.com
BlackEyed
Profile Joined October 2024
24 Posts
July 17 2026 02:08 GMT
#10
So let me get this straight. A Zerg Hatchery costs 300 minerals, and a Terran Command Center also costs 300 minerals. As Zerg, you sacrifice a Drone (+50 minerals) and then have to build a new one (+50 minerals). As Terran, an SCV just stops mining while it's constructing the CC. Excuse me, what? Calling this patch nonsense would be an understatement.
WGT-Baal
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
France3507 Posts
July 17 2026 02:30 GMT
#11
300 minerals CC just feels wrong. I don't care how uou justify it.

Rest looked sensible too it s weird they d do something si drastic amidst the rest
Horang2 fan
BronzeKnee
Profile Joined March 2011
United States5225 Posts
July 17 2026 02:42 GMT
#12
On July 17 2026 10:48 Die4Ever wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 17 2026 09:30 Yoshi Kirishima wrote:
When a patch makes a bad change, instead of reverting that change (partially or fully or looking at a slightly different alternative), they change something else so design of units just keep straying further and further from what they were supposed to be.

THIS! Reverts should almost always be a favored fix instead of piling on additional changes.


If you change nothing, nothing will change. I applaud Blizzard for trying to make the game better with changes like this.
topgurugram
Profile Joined July 2026
India1 Post
July 17 2026 06:10 GMT
#13
--- Nuked ---
RavenAx
Profile Joined May 2026
2 Posts
Last Edited: 2026-07-17 07:46:07
July 17 2026 07:43 GMT
#14
300 minerais for CC is a hudge change. Now half the cost is worth for supply. So you only lose 150 mineral. Then you spend a 150 more mineral for OC and you then have a mule giving you 200+ minerals per cast.

Maybe they estimated a CC cost 550 since you always upgrade it ?
But the investment for having mule plus expand is now a lot reduced.

They said it will help TvZ. but it will also help TvP. I don't know about the state of TvP right now. Well they also upgradd protoss, so both up might leave the winrate the same.
deacon.frost
Profile Joined February 2013
Czech Republic12132 Posts
July 17 2026 08:10 GMT
#15
Isnt it right now better to almost ignore supply depots and just build CCs and have MULEs and scans for days? Basically the Maru style
I imagine France should be able to take this unless Lilbow is busy practicing for Starcraft III. | KadaverBB is my fairy ban mother.
CicadaSC
Profile Joined January 2018
United States1970 Posts
Last Edited: 2026-07-17 09:16:08
July 17 2026 09:11 GMT
#16
So... didn't I just see a post on here that "Protoss Strikes back" and won most of the online tournies this past week? I guess because Serral wasn't playing those results don't count? Are we just going to ignore all that and pretend it didn't happen? Gotcha.

Zerg didn't do terrible but is it SO OP that we can justify all these targeted buffs to the other races? I don't think so. I haven't seen that. https://tl.net/forum/starcraft-2/645717-weekly-cups-july-6-12-protoss-strike-back When the patch first dropped, sure maybe, but on the updated iteration "hotfix" y-yeah... idk... im skeptical. So we expect zerg to do even worse now yeah? It was nice for the race to be competitive outside Serral while it lasted.

2 supply ghost with un-cancellable snipes
Remember that we all come from a place of passion!!
_fool
Profile Joined February 2011
Netherlands683 Posts
July 17 2026 09:48 GMT
#17
Every once in a while there's a news item about a 6-year old taking their mom's Toyota and crashing into a lot of stuff on main street?

This balance patch is that.
"News is to the mind what sugar is to the body"
PremoBeats
Profile Joined March 2024
573 Posts
Last Edited: 2026-07-17 11:03:17
23 hours ago
#18
300 mineral CC for early, mid and late game as well as 2 supply ghosts for late?
I guess Z̶e̶r̶g Serral winning 2 consecutive tournaments (though one was on the old patch) / anything at all since EWC 2025 was too much. We'll just have to wait and see if Z̶e̶r̶g Serral is able to win anything with these changes.


Elentos
Profile Blog Joined February 2015
55587 Posts
23 hours ago
#19
CC first on 6 worker start: 14 supply

CC first on 12 worker start: 17 supply

CC first on 8 worker start with 400 minerals: 16 supply

CC first on 8 worker start with 300 minerals: 15 supply

David Kim you've done it again.
Every 60 seconds in Africa, a minute passes.
ejozl
Profile Joined October 2010
Denmark3518 Posts
Last Edited: 2026-07-17 14:04:19
20 hours ago
#20
So we have to buff terran and protoss so they can keep up with the new zerg, that was buffed because it seemed to trail behind. Was it not just chrono boost at minute 0 that was the issue then?, like how nexus had 0 energy on 6 workers.
Isn't it easy to see now why we have a pacing issue, not because of 6, 8 or 12 workers, but because of knee-jerk patching to fix things that probably wasn't an issue to begin with.
If we want a slower game, then 50% gate production, 7% larvae increase, or what it is, and cc at 300 minerals isn't the way.

It's funny because I talked about all these things before, we could've had:
12/17 supply start, with cc and nexus being their bw equivalent + 10, and zerg hatch could be 1 supply, and they could spawn with 2x overlords (aids 4-player maps).
Orbital and planetary at +100 minerals, nexus at +100 minerals, and terran barrack not requiring depot.
Queens start at 50e, but inject and creep costs 50e as well. And hatchery spawns larva every 9s.

This slows down the pacing and exponential growth into the late game, putting a bigger decision barrier behind every expo, keeps the sped up early game, and keeps early rushing more mineral focus which I actually like. Makes greed more powerful because of not needing a pylon for fast expanding, this encourages cheese and adds back the mind game element lost in HotS.
Zerg larvae being concentrated on hatch (cost percentage wise, hatchery is now as powerful as hatch + queen with perfect injecting), this makes zerg easier as it's less macro strict, needing to inject every 25e as opposed to T/Z at every 50e.

It keeps in check the balance of supply gained from depots vs. town halls, which encourages attacking, as opposed to having cc at 300 minerals and 13 supply, making it way worse to invest into depots = army. Here it would be good to see how TvT is changing, my guess is it becomes an actual turtle fest.
SC2 Archon needs "Terrible, terrible damage" as one of it's quotes.
1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
CranKy Ducklings
10:00
Master Swan Open #105
CranKy Ducklings23
LiquipediaDiscussion
RSL Revival
09:00
Season 6 - Group D
Clem vs Lambo
Scarlett vs Cure
Tasteless1352
Ryung 985
ComeBackTV 736
IntoTheiNu 237
Rex113
3DClanTV 88
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Tasteless 1352
Ryung 985
SortOf 158
Lowko115
Rex 113
MindelVK 20
BRAT_OK 5
StarCraft: Brood War
Rain 2498
Shuttle 1227
firebathero 742
Horang2 519
Jaedong 429
Larva 273
Hyuk 236
BeSt 222
Stork 184
Mini 143
[ Show more ]
Killer 138
Hyun 116
ZerO 114
Leta 102
Last 78
Pusan 69
sorry 63
Rush 60
Sharp 51
JYJ 37
ZergMaN 37
Free 35
yabsab 33
ggaemo 32
Aegong 32
Hm[arnc] 27
Nal_rA 18
HiyA 14
ajuk12(nOOB) 10
hero 9
JulyZerg 9
IntoTheRainbow 8
Dota 2
XcaliburYe209
League of Legends
Doublelift1098
JimRising 450
Reynor108
Other Games
gofns10614
singsing1683
Happy185
XaKoH 166
RuFF_SC220
ZerO(Twitch)11
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick2315
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH313
• LUISG 20
• CranKy Ducklings SOOP5
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• sooper7s
• Migwel
• IndyKCrew
• Kozan
• intothetv
• AfreecaTV YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
• Pr0nogo 3
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos1106
• Stunt590
Upcoming Events
WardiTV Invitational
1h 19m
Epic.LAN
2h 19m
IPSL
5h 19m
Dragon vs Hawk
RSL Revival
22h 19m
Classic vs Trap
herO vs SHIN
Sparkling Tuna Cup
23h 19m
OSC
1d 2h
IPSL
1d 5h
Bonyth vs Ret
WardiTV Weekly
2 days
Monday Night Weeklies
2 days
PiGosaur Cup
3 days
[ Show More ]
The PondCast
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
CrankTV Team League
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
CrankTV Team League
6 days
Korean StarCraft League
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S3: W3
HSC XXIX
Eternal Conflict S2 E2

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
YSL S3
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
SCTL 2026 Spring
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S3: W4
ASL S22 SEASON OPEN Day 2
Escore Tournament S3: W5
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E3
Logitech G Connect 2026
StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.