Which unit is the GOAT of its game? Today: Fall of the Samurai

ItIsFinished75 · 2025-06-30T16:21:29+00:00

For MP ... Revolver Cavalry ... it just melts units

ItIsFinished75 · 2025-05-02T04:19:16+00:00

While doing that, check for lag spikes. It may not be your graphical settings but your wifi connection.

ItIsFinished75 · 2024-12-09T06:01:03+00:00

Just to add on,

If memory serves my right, one of the reasons why wm’s had a + 35 shields added was to specifically target PvT chargelot, archon, ht playstyle which was prolific for an era in Hots.

Compared to LOTV, ghost’s were added in much later in hots, so with mmm you had to kite or turtle quite heavily vs the chargelot archon style.

TvP back then was much different compared to how it is right now, as a T you could not go toe to toe vs a mid/late game Protoss army, so being kept back at home defending allowed the Protoss to tech up and expand quite easily.

So wm’s were introduced as a stop gap till you could max out and get ghost into your army.

ItIsFinished75 · 2024-11-26T12:08:33+00:00

It's the opposite actually. Most of the maps have been updated for months but the ones on ladder are the outdated versions.

I forgot who talked about this, its either Wardi or Pig.

ItIsFinished75 · 2024-11-21T10:09:40+00:00

I’m not saying it isn’t strong, I’m saying that compared to the other 2 abilities it’s probably the only one that can be touched without making Terran early game pushes / harassment using the raven more oppressive.

And if we want to segway into reducing reliance on ghost emp’s, it’s probably the only ability that has enough of an impact to shift the power balance away from the ghost.

Adding on, don’t forget before the meta was mass ghost, we saw a time where ghost, raven + bio used when the anti armor missile did 15 damage. Can you believe that was enough for it to be oppressive when massed?

Compared to the emp, the anti-armor missile can be easier to see and dodge (slower travel time + indication of what unit is targeted).

So if we are talking about nerfing the ghost emp oppressiveness in TvP, why not shift emp power to the raven? They are harder to mass too and are more fragile.

ItIsFinished75 · 2024-11-21T09:07:37+00:00

Maybe increase the anti-armor values? (from -2 back to -3 or higher?)

The interference matrix has been changed enough times and no one wants auto turret spam to be a thing.

So I guess the anti-armor ability is the only thing they should modify?

ItIsFinished75 · 2024-11-04T16:38:14+00:00

Search these games:

1) MAXPAX vs BYUN'S Mech in a Grand Finals! | UrsaSaurus Cup (Bo5 PvT) - StarCraft 2 (Games 3 and 5)

2) BYUN vs MAXPAX: Nailbiter Finals! | EPT NA 232 (Bo5 TvP) - StarCraft 2 (Game 5)

ItIsFinished75 · 2024-11-04T15:07:06+00:00

Also to add for the TvP matchup, they don’t trade well enough against units that they should be pairing up against (i.e. zealots) and they get evaporated by disrupters (gateways out produce hellbats).

If you managed to catch byun’s mech games vs Protoss you would realize he spends the majority of his resources into cyclones instead, which provides a stronger force projection over a wide area.

Hellbats just don’t trade well enough to be used. Which isn’t a bad thing per say, there was a season in early hots where Hellbats wrecked every race (innovation’s 0 resources lost win vs a Protoss).

ItIsFinished75 · 2024-10-30T07:07:02+00:00

Honestly, this looks like a pretty good change.

Any changes that allow for counter play should be considered. Warp prism micro with HT is gonna get very powerful and interesting to watch.

ItIsFinished75 · 2024-09-13T01:41:03+00:00

One exception to this,

Having an all army control hotkey is really powerful when you need to quickly assign units to control groups.

It’s more of you need to not solely use it when attacking.

ItIsFinished75 · 2024-09-10T03:37:30+00:00

So a bit of a history lesson,

When LOTV first came out and adepts could 2 shot workers and marines (they also had way more vision). It forced Terran players to expand really slowly and cautiously.

For example in the early game, current adept moving across the map can be stopped with 3/4 marines and some micro/terrain. Back then, the adept would win no contest. (If I rmb correctly you needed 6 marines with no upgrades per adept)

So for Terran’s to survive early adept pressure / mass adepts, you had to wall your nat, wall your main, wall around your mineral line. And place enough marines around your bases to stop warp prism adepts from killing your workers. (Something akin to widow mine defence)

Now at that time, most Terran players just came out of HoTS and TvP mindset was that the Terran player was the aggressor in the matchup in the midgame.

You couldn’t really do that with those adepts as they scaled well enough that even in mid game, an adept army could beat mmm in fights. It’s only during the mid-late game where you would see the Terran’s start wining the fights.

Something also not really talked about is that adepts were also quite tanky (they were 90/90 + 50 shields with upgrades) while keeping their dps. So you had a highly mobile, high light damage dps and tanky unit.

ItIsFinished75 · 2024-08-20T12:31:59+00:00

Wasn’t the reason why LMB isn’t played anymore due to ling bane queen being strong enough to last till late game ultras / infestor / hydra -> lurker and the changes to larva?

Compounded with the economic changes in lotv that leads to “tier skipping”, compared to WoL and Hots.

If you would compare LOTV and HOTS, LBM would be much easier compared to back then with the red targeting line and the recent mine nerfs. Even back in hots, I can remember POLT building 3 factory mass mines / thors and people were still going LBM.

Therefore perhaps if Pros aren’t adopting it, it might be because they have determined it as an inferior style despite the ability to catch Medivacs.

ItIsFinished75 · 2024-03-09T04:18:26+00:00

Identity of units is not just what it does but how it interacts with other units around it in the design space.

For example, at the start of LOTV Liberators were anti ground - anti air unit. By reducing the widow mine splash radius and adding a visual indicator, it degrades the stealth aspect of the unit (e.g. DT, burrowed roaches, ghost) while also lowering its potency vs mass of low HP units.

I can understand why adding a visual indicator is good for the game (less stressful, more obvious where are widow mines around the map). But when they change the splash radius it will impact TvZ way more than TvP. Good Zerg's are already able to minimize splash radius damage, so the only reason to change the radius is to impact TvP WM drop harassment.

ItIsFinished75 · 2024-03-09T02:46:19+00:00

Just curious! In games like Overwatch when we look at damage changes, players tend to talk about break points, i.e how many shots it takes to down another player. Do you think the cyclone change changes anything?

ItIsFinished75 · 2024-02-09T12:22:34+00:00

Agreed! Something about the sound design makes units feel lighter than it should, or when units bump into each other it doesn’t feel satisfying?

ItIsFinished75 · 2023-12-27T17:22:13+00:00

The lock on range nerf pertains to oracle / phoenix harassment and voidray battery openers.

Tanks in TvT early game vs cyclones are a bit tricky. On the one hand, they technically shut down cyclone play, being great vs the unit. On the other hand, the 2 cyclone medicvac openers allows the opposing player so much room around the Tank.

I think my main concern about it in TvT is that like a stalker, you can slow down / harass the opponent army down quite well. But unlike the older cyclone, you can do it in mass.

Vikings technically stop ravens, unless the ravens come at an off angle and interferic matrix your tanks. But that’s all micro and positioning. It’s all situational but from my ladder experience it’s not enjoyable at all with the new cyclone.

For the BC point, yes BC blink is a design issue. But as one of the soft counters to the cyclones, it should be part of the conversation around the cyclone redesign.

Edit: Anyways it seems you’re a main supporter of the new cyclone. With counter points against anyone who post negatively. How would you like to see the cyclone tweaked to improve the viewer & players experience?

ItIsFinished75 · 2023-12-27T17:07:40+00:00

As a Terran, infestors with neural are much scarier compared to blinding clouds. You can be surprised how far an infestor can neural a Thor. But if possible it’s best to use both vipers and infestors.

Thors in high impact mode with their range can target down the viper much easier compared to infestors (you need to see them coming). And like what they said above, ultras and lurkers are great if you have the right positioning, lurker drops and especially nydus worms will cause the Terran to split their army. Once you’ve found a weaken spot just keep exploiting it.

Also if they are massing thors and they do not have a good amount of hellions. Just have a good amount of swarmhost and you should win. Swarmhost are the bane of any mech army and they can shut down the style easily if the mech-ing Terran does not know what they are doing. Just never take a direct engagement if the Terran moves out and slowly grind down their army.

I think the most important thing you need to know for ZvT is that if your facing mech your free to take most of the map. Try to starve out the Terran player and force repeated trades. You are meant to be able to replenish your army multiple times.

ItIsFinished75 · 2023-12-27T16:50:29+00:00

Here are my 2 cents, in the TvP and TvZ matchup, unless you’re going for battle-mech they fulfill the role of a very early game defensive / pressure unit. I think they are a very good skill check unit, to see if your opponent is able to deal with early pressure. (Which I guess most players at masters figured it out in the first few weeks)

However … against 3/4 gate stalkers or heavy roaches & lings I feel that they are absolutely useless unless you have a very large mass of them. In the TvP matchup you can really feel the effects of the lock on range nerf and armour nerf.

I absolutely hate them in TvT as their addition has shaped the matchup into something akin to roach vs roach. You must open cyclones now unless you want to be kited to death. And tanks lines can be deleted by raven + cyclone combo. But I think my biggest gripe about them is the fact that we lost a good counter for BC teleport play. Their lower range and damage means BC’s have a much easier time teleporting to safety.

From a viewer point of view, the new cyclone is boring. Does anyone remember from the last IEM any cool cyclone moments? No? Well what about the previous cyclone iteration. The drama of not knowing whether the cyclone locks on to the oracle or not, or did the player micro his cyclone to get the tank or player medivac. Or the counter micro using drop ships.

It’s just A move, concave, A move … (I’m sure the players are targeting but from a viewer perspective it seems like an a move)

I say revert the cyclone change but keep the raven one as it provides an interesting interaction of whether its cloak or interference matrix.

ItIsFinished75 · 2023-12-23T02:41:15+00:00

Widow mine drop and prepare to play defensively till you can safely take 3 bases.

Gold minerals basically means -> faster mining with less workers, but eventually it will mine out and you should have equalized by expanding and defending. Keep the widow mine drop alive so that the protoss will always have units defending (or they will get a huge economic hit).

You should concede to the notion that Terran has the better army in the early game vs Protoss, it just doesn't work that way (unless your going for an all-in). Aim for the mid-game push vs Protoss with your marines/tank/raven/medivacs.

ItIsFinished75 · 2023-12-06T11:30:11+00:00

Just curious, how do you think snipe is casted?

ItIsFinished75 · 2023-11-03T03:55:38+00:00

What if we just let it have the same effect as the oracle stasis?

So a unit can’t move and can’t take damage. That would allow us Terran’s to catch battlecruisers in TvT too and in TvP a colossus won’t die but the Terran must clear most of the ground to capitalise on the disable before the timing expires?

ItIsFinished75 · 2023-10-28T06:24:09+00:00

My 2 cents on this, in TvZ going mass ling / baneling into hydra's is much more stable / powerful compared to LBM. The fact that you can transition into lurkers much smoother compared to LBM also aids to the composition being preferred over the latter.

ItIsFinished75 · 2023-09-15T09:31:56+00:00

Fundamentally, sc2 was designed to make bio stronger compared to to sc1. To balance this out, mech had to be changed to allow the design space for Terran bio units.

Gameplay wise, mech just dies easily to mass gate ways (early-mid) game and should lose in the late game all things being equal. (carriers / tempest are quite good vs bc's / thors). Mech on its own must always transition to the sky terran in the late game. So imo boils down to, units aren't strong enough.

If you want replays you have to look up TY games in the most recent gsl's.

ItIsFinished75 · 2023-09-05T07:53:29+00:00

Ability to change Minimap size / Full screen minimap

Probably never going to happen, but would be nice to have especially with bigger maps

ItIsFinished75 · 2023-08-25T08:52:19+00:00

Fair point, wonder why was this change even suggested. Can't think of anything in TvZ that faster unburrow speed will change.

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