{"id":990,"date":"2026-06-19T18:32:38","date_gmt":"2026-06-19T16:32:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goranked.gg\/en\/news\/blizzard-starcraft-ii-ptr-2-balance-update\/"},"modified":"2026-06-19T18:32:38","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T16:32:38","slug":"blizzard-starcraft-ii-ptr-2-balance-update","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goranked.gg\/en\/news\/blizzard-starcraft-ii-ptr-2-balance-update\/","title":{"rendered":"Blizzard updates StarCraft II balance on PTR 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blizzard released a second public test realm (PTR) patch for StarCraft II that retains an eight-worker start and implements balance changes for Zerg, Terran and Protoss while updating the tournament map pool. The patch follows a May overhaul that cut the standard starting worker count from 12 to eight and altered early-game pacing.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In PTR notes, the developer wrote, &#8220;Thank you everyone who participated and provided feedback during PTR 1. We have made adjustments based on your feedback and we have also updated the map pool based on community requests.&#8221; The team said the intent is to refine the new early-game baseline rather than return to previous settings.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Zerg received early-game adjustments to ease production pressure. Larva spawn interval was shortened from 10.7 seconds to nine seconds. Queen mineral cost was reduced from 175 to 150. Overlord speed was increased relative to PTR 1 values to improve survivability.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Terran changes were narrower. Ghosts had their damage output and movement speed reduced; the public notes did not list exact numbers for those reductions.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Protoss saw several reversions and tweaks. Warpgate Research moved back to the Cybernetics Core from the Gateway, and the cost to convert a single Gateway into a Warpgate was lowered from 50\/50 to 25\/25. Shield Battery energy was standardized to 75 points rather than differing by Nexus field position. Unit warp-in time increased from three seconds to four seconds. The production-time bonus for regular Gateways after researching Warpgates was raised from 35% to 40%.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The updated map pool and patch changes were released after PTR 1 feedback. Some players returned to the PTR to test new build orders under the lower worker count, while other players described the start change as jarring after years of consistent strategic frameworks.<\/p><p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Blizzard is collecting feedback through the PTR process and may issue further balance updates in coming months. Additional information about StarCraft II design plans could appear at BlizzCon in September.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PTR 2 keeps eight starting workers, adds Zerg buffs, a Terran Ghost nerf, several Protoss adjustments and a refreshed tournament map pool.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_opengraph-description":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-title":"","_yoast_wpseo_twitter-description":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-latest"],"newsroom_tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Blizzard Updates StarCraft II Balance on PTR 2<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Blizzard&#039;s StarCraft II PTR 2 keeps eight-start workers, adds Zerg buffs, nerfs Ghosts, tweaks Protoss and updates the tournament map pool; 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