Custom balance patch​

This map contains changes to the current melee patch from Grubby's patch suggestions. Changes are a mix of his original suggestions, community suggestions and blizzard PTR changes.

Below are the changes as proposed by Grubby. Some of the changes were not implemented and are removed or slightly altered.

Changelog:​

V1.0c:​

• Fixed Bulwark buffing the caster

V1.0b:​

• Fixed typo in map description
• Removed research of backpack from T1 main buildings

​

Balance Patch - Grubby suggestions; 02-May-2024​

Youtube Video on GrubbyTalks​

Goals:
- Give every race something fun and new to work with
- Rebalance a bit as per meta needs
- Enable Human 1-base play while reducing 2-base play overreliance. Enable Human Mirror to be more than just Spellbreakers Mirror.
- Enable Orc t1 Expansion
- Enable niche/underused/underpowered units for all 4 races if necessary
- Follow direction of changes Blizzard cooked up that were relatively positively received by community

Note: this is considered as a master patch log that combines the changes I agree with from the 1.36.2.21100 PTR 2 Patch Notes
These are all my change suggestions and are meant to stimulate discussion, bring ideas, and improve the game for all 4 races' balance and enjoyment. Everyone has biases and that's why many POV's are helpful. It is in my best interest to have a healthy vibrant game, rather than an advantageous situation for any race (even Orc). I am now a content creator, which means even if you don't know me very well or don't like me, you would have to admit that content creators generally enjoy a healthy game more than some kind of personal competitive advantage.

Human:
- Arcane Towers: hero feedback reduced from 16 to 14 (identical to PTR 2)
- Knights: Sundering Blades is simply a +1 attack upgrade that only works against Medium, researched from the Barracks instead of the Blacksmith. While not very exciting, the graphical effect is pretty cool and it'd be an design impoverishment to remove it altogether, especially this late in the life phase of WC3. Set the cost at 125/125, make it research in 30 or fewer seconds (I'd say 25s), and keep the Lumber Mill requirement for Knights (but don't require it for Sundering Blades). This should create as little friction as possible, and is not the first upgrade that can be researched before its units become available. Keeping Sundering Blades should help make it more viable in Human Mirror to go for Knights rather than Breakers.
- Flying Machines: Deal 6 instead of 7 damage to enemies within 75 range; 5 instead of 6 to enemies within 150 range and 4 instead of 5 damage to enemies within 325 range. Right now, Flying Machines are a little bit too effective at countering pretty much all Air in the game, creating a lopsided power situation. Flak Cannons are not the only part, but a big part of that.
- Fast Expansion: having one race be able to fast expand no matter the investment by opponent to try and stop it, and pull it off every time, does not feel like fantastic game flow. Early Human expansions should be possible off the back of some kind of tiny advantage but perhaps not as a default setting. Slowing down the powerbuild formula by some % or increasing Town Hall Build Time by 5 or 10 seconds might help.
- Riflemen: +10 HP (535->545)
- Castle (Tier 3) upgrade: Cost 300 gold instead of 320
- Bloodmage: Flamestrike Mana cost down from 135 to 125 mana. Channeling time down from 0.9 to 0.8 seconds.
- Dragonhawk Riders: +1 base damage
- Sorceress Polymorph: Can now target Heroes (PTR 2); now only lasts 1.5 seconds (new).
- Masonry Upgrades: Bring it down from 3 levels to 2 levels (same treatment Spiked Barricades received, which is working well and is finally a relevant upgrade). +10% for the first level, 15% for the second level (25% total). +1 armor per level (total bonus 2 armor). This is down from 30% max HP and 3 armor, and it removes Imbued Masonry from the game.

Spellbreaker needs his own bullet points:

- Control Magic as a Tier 3 upgrade is in a good spot. However, it is a little bit too effective against Witch Doctor wards, preventing WD usage in Orc vs Human.
- Currently, Control Magic uses 25 base mana + 0.45xHP of the summoned units.
- A Spellbreaker has a 250 max mana pool, and can therefore steal at most 500 HP worth of a summon.
- 250 mana - 25 upfront cost = 225. 225 / 0.45 = 500 HP.
- Goal is to keep average functionality of CM the same, while making it less effective against Healward.
- A Healward has 5 HP and therefore costs 25 + 2 mana to steal, at 700 range. This makes Healward unusable vs Humans in all matchups (1v1, FFA, 4v4)
- Increase the base mana cost of Control Magic to 45 and make the HP multiplier cost 0.40
- BEFORE: 5 HP unit costs 25 + (0.45x5) = 27 mana --- AFTER: 5 HP unit costs 45 + (0.4x5) = 47 mana
- BEFORE: 300 HP unit costs 25 + (0.45x300) = 160 mana --- AFTER: 300 HP unit costs 45 + (0.4x300) = 165 mana
- BEFORE: 400 HP unit costs 25 + (0.45x400) = 205 mana --- AFTER: 400 HP unit costs 45 + (0.4x400) = 205 mana
- BEFORE: 500 HP unit costs 25 + (0.45x500) = 250 (max) mana --- AFTER: 500 HP unit costs 45 + (0.4x500) = 245 mana
- Spellbreaker Feedback: Basic attack modifier "Feedback" does 20 manaburn + its mana lost in damage to caster unit or Hero. Bring this down to 16 units AND heroes or just 16 against Heroes.

Night Elf:
- Hippogryph Riders: Dismount / mount cooldown from 30 seconds to 5 seconds.
- Mountain Giants: Lose Taunt ability. Gain "Bulwark" ability; all non-MG units near Mountain Giant gain +2 armor and +15% Magic Resistance for 3 seconds (does not stack; repeated casts refresh duration).
- Glaive Throwers: Reduce build time by 4 seconds (new); increase move speed by 20ms (identical to PTR 2); Vorpal upgrade research time 60 to 30 seconds.
- Ancient Protectors: give 50 XP when killed down from current 60 XP
- Ultravision: Reduce research time from 45s to 30s (because it's T2 instead of T1 now).
- Chimaera: Feel a bit too rare, and come from a telegraphed Tier 3 building which makes them Tier 3.5++. Build time to 55s down from 60s.

Night Elf Hero changes
- Priestess of the Moon: Searing Arrows removed from the game, which does work well with her conceptual role as a typical 3rd hero to boost damage for larger armies, seeing as she'll be carrying Orb of Venom
Replaced by: Leap (like Mirana from DotA). Leap has 2 charges on 16 second cooldown 8 second cooldown and allows her to quickly traverse 400 range at 40 mana cost and gain 5/10/15 damage and 5/10/15% attack speed for 5 seconds.

- Scout Owl: Make Scout Owl blindable and rooted by opponent by clicking the Owl and pressing the Blind ability; this allows an opponent to counterplay the Owl (right now, there is no counterplay)


Orc:
- Great Hall: Build time down by 10s from 140s down to 130s. (TH: 180s; ToL: 120s; HGM: 110s). Tiny Great Hall build time up from 20s to 30s. This increases risk of plopping the TGH down in opponent's face, since it cannot be refunded. This also makes regular expanding not an entirely dead choice once T3 exists, as it offers some advantages of cancel-option and doesn't get economically destroyed by TGH.
- Tauren: are back to Tier 3
- Tauren: build time now 42 seconds (up from 39s).
- Tauren: gain 20% "slow resistance", a new stat that reduces the amount (though not the duration) of slow that can affect Taurens. A Sorceress slows for 55%; it'd be 35%. A Frost Wyrm, Nerubian Tower, Frost Nova and Frost armor all slow for 50%; now it'd be 30%. An ensare slows them by 100%; they're still rooted for the same duration and amount. cannot be slowed below 70% of its original movement speed.
- Tauren: attack range 128 up from 100 (matches Abominations)
- Demolisher: Increase projectile speed for attacks by 20%. Increase Demolisher move speed with 20ms, from 220 to 240.
- Troll Headhunter (not Berserker): base damage reduced by 1 (22-> 21)
- Berserker upgrade: +1 damage and the usual activatable
- Wind Rider: +1 armor to wind riders base line (opens up WR cheese in mirror; makes them die slightly less hard to Flying Machines; they still suck in almost all match-ups btw). Decrease WR damage by 2. Decrease Envenomed Spears duration from 25(1) to 20(1). Mass early WR's have a chance to snowball too much otherwise.
- Witch Doctors: Sentry wards from 10 minutes to 7 minutes (new)
- Witch Doctors: Healing Wards from 200 to 150 mana (same as to PTR 2)
- Witch Doctors: Stasis Wards stun time from 6s on units to 5s on units (Heroes remains at 2.5s).
- Witch Doctors: Stasis Wards arming time from 7s to 6 s. Detection radius from 175 to 200 (units need to be too close to trigger it).
- Shadowhunter: Serpent Wards level 3 from 48-52 to 46-50 damage

Undead:
- Nerubian Tower: Damage type changed from Normal to Piercing (PTR 2)
- Ghoul Frenzy: attack speed bonus reduced from 35 to 30 (PTR 2)
- Ghoul Frenzy: research time increased from 45 to 60 seconds (PTR 2)
- Banshee: Curse Duration reduced from 120/60 to 60/30 (PTR 2)
- Necromancer Cripple can now target mechanical units (PTR 2)
- Tomb of Relics: Scroll of Healing removed from the Tomb of Relics (forces map control competition like all the other races, which is a good thing. They have Ritual Dagger now).
- Wand of Negation: Purchasable in Tomb of Relics. Unlocked by Temple of the Damned building completion. Offers a Tier 2.5 alternative to Destroyer's Tier 3.5 dispell. Timing of availability should be about 6 mins to 6 mins, 30 seconds. Destroyer timing is roughly 9 minutes, 30 seconds. Cooldown between uses. 2 charges, 150 gold. 200 summon damage.
- Lich: Frost Nova slow duration reduced from 4/6/8 to 4/5/6 (units only - heroes remain unchanged) (PTR 2)
- Lich: Death and Decay mana cost reduced from 250 to 200
- Lich: Frost Armor's armor to 1/4/7 down from 3/5/7. The vast power of Frost Armor still comes from its Attack Speed slow and Move Speed Slow, which apparently are both hard-coded at 50% for all Undead cold slow effects. Therefore, more must be done to streamline the power level to make additional skill points feel meaningful and also necessary, as right now 90% of the power of the spell comes from Level 1 and virtually nothing from Level 2 or 3.
- Crypt Lord Impale mana cost reduced from 100 to 90. Strength +1 (from base line 26 STR to 27 STR).
- Fiend: Web upgrade cost reduced from 150/150 to 125/125
- Frost Wyrms: Feel a bit too rare, and come from a telegraphed Tier 3 building which makes them Tier 3.5++. Build time from 65s down to 60s. Greatly suffered from the nerf of 10s slow on Heroes down to 3s slow on Heroes.
- Boneyard: cost reduced from 175/200 to 150/200 (PTR 2)
- Frost Wyrm Freezing Breath lumber cost reduced from 275 to 225. Now additionally brings Hero slow back up from 3s to 4s.
- Meat Wagon: Movement speed up from 220 to 240ms. Increase attack projectile speed by 20%.
- Abominations: Abominations are mostly for spreading Disease Cloud. We see like one and then none. Which is a pity, because they're so pretty. Damage from 33-39 to 35-41.

Extra race-wide balance:
- All Master training research: Master Training for underused t3 casters to be 10s faster. Namely Witch Doctor (Healward), Necromancer (Cripple) and Sorceress (Polymorph), and Spirit Walker (Ancestral Healing). Possession, Blood Lust, Inner Fire, Bears, Cyclone shouldn't need buffs as they're already good at the timings they come out at.
- Backpack Upgrade: to be researchable from Shop. Right now we're missing out a lot of cool Backpack upgrade timings because it upgrades from the main, at exactly the moment you want to Tech to Tier 2 usually.

Neutral (PTR 2)

- Firelord Volcano building damage factor reduced from 3 to 2
- Firelord Soul Burn damage reduction increased from -50% to -75%
- Firelord Soul Burn hero duration increased from 7/8/9 to 8/9/10
- Naga Sea Witch Tornado speed base and Min Speed increase from 75 to 150

Items (PTR 2)
- Ankh of Reincarnation delay reduced from 7 to 5 seconds
- Revert all Rings of Protection to -1. Players are wrong; Rings were never weak. They are too strong now, and invalidate impacts of regular units vs Heroes. Players also used to think Periapt of Vitality or Talisman of Evasion or Ring of Regeneration or Wand of Mana Steal are/were weak. They never were.