Mothership Core

Mothership Core

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Type	Air Unit
Built From	Nexus
Cost	100 100 30 2
Attributes	Mechanical,Armored,Psionic
Attack	Ground Attack:     8 (+1) Ground DPS:     9.4 (+1.2) Range:     5 Cooldown:     0.85
Defense	130 60 1 (+1)
Hotkey	M
Sight	14
Speed	1.875

Description

The Mothership Core is a flying support caster for the Protoss that can be built from the Nexus once the Cybernetics Core is finished. Its primary roles are base defence and army support. Like the Mothership, the Mothership Core is a unique unit that a player can only have one of at any time. It can be upgraded to a Mothership once the Fleet Beacon has been built.

Spells

Photon Overcharge

Caster: Mothership Core 100 Range: 10 Duration: 60s Hotkey: F Has to be cast on a Nexus. It grants the Nexus the ability to attack air and ground units and buildings for 20 damage and a range of 13 with a weapon speed of 1.25.

Mass Recall

100 Range: 500 Duration: 2 s Radius: 7 Hotkey: R Teleports the Mothership or Mothership Core and all nearby units owned by the player to the targeted Nexus.

Time Warp

Caster: Mothership 75 Range: 9 Duration: 30 Radius: 3.5 Hotkey: T Creates a temporal field that slows all ground units’ movement speed by 50%.

Abilities

Upgrade To Mothership

Caster: Mothership Core 300 300 Duration: 100 s Hotkey: U Upgrades into the Mothership. Can use Time Warp and Mass Recall. Cloaks nearby units and structures

Competitive Use

• The Mothership Core is occasionally used in All-Ins and 4-Gates.

• Time Warp gives Protoss more opportunity to attack and retreat from more mobile armies, like the Marauder's Concussive Shells ability. Previously Protoss did not have any straight forward abilities or spells to choose engagements beyond simple micro, but this and the Mothership Core's Mass Recall simplifies this task for Protoss in Heart of the Swarm.

• In early game PvP, the ability to use Photon Overcharge on the defending player's Nexus effectively means that the defender's advantage now exists in the early game of this match-up, which wasn't the case in Wings of Liberty because of the ability for the attacking player to warp in units inside (or very close to) the defender's base through the use of Pylons. Additionally, in Heart of the Swarm, the defender's advantage provided by High Ground is partially negated by the attacker's own Mothership Core, since the unit can see up cliffs.

• The Mothership Core is useful against Terran also in the early game and allows players to be much greedier, as Marine/SCV ground aggression and Widow Mine, Hellbat/Hellion or Marine/Marauder drops can both be defended quite well with the Photon Overcharge ability. Against drop play it is advisable to target the Medivac with the Nexus once Photon Overcharge is activated, as long as you have enough units to handle to units dropped, in order to prevent the Medivacs and their cargo getting away.

• Against Zerg the Mothership Core can be effective in early game defense as all Zerg tier 1 units (Zerglings, Roaches and Banelings) cannot attack air, and so the Mothership Core can attack such units with impunity. Queens are effective against the Mothership Core however they are very unlikely and impractical to use in early game aggression.

Patch Changes

Balance Update #2
Recall will now cost 100 energy. The mothership core will now start with 50 energy and when upgraded, energy will be set back to 50. The range of Purifier Beam has been increased from 7 to 10. Cost reduced from 100/100 to 50/50. (Undocumented)

Balance Update #3
The cost of Purify is now 100. The duration of Purify has been lowered to 25 seconds. The damage of Purify has been increased from 25 to 45.

Balance Update #4

Purify has been changed to the following: Purify can now only be cast on your Nexus at max 10 range. Once cast, the mothership core will attach itself to the Nexus, transforming into a weapon with range 10. While attached to the Nexus, the mothership core will be unable to cast abilities and regenerate energy. The damage of Purify has been lowered to 20 and can attack both air and ground units. Purify will last until cancelled. Recall has been changed to the following: Recall is now a simple cast-and-click ability on a player’s Nexus. Once cast, the mothership core and every friendly unit within a 7-range radius to the core will be recalled to the Nexus. A new ranged weapon called Repulsor Cannon has been added to the mothership core while in its mobile state. Repulsor Cannon deals 8 damage to ground units with an attack speed of 0.85. The cost of the mothership core has increased from 50/50 to 100/100. Movement speed has increased from 0.47 to 1.875.

Balance Update #5

This unit’s Purify ability has changed. When a player casts Purify on their Nexus, it grants the Nexus the ability to attack, no longer requiring the Core to attach itself. The Nexus weapon has a range of 13 and a damage of 20. Purify now lasts for 60 seconds and still costs 100 energy. The scale of this unit has been lowered to 0.8. This unit has had its shield/health lowered to 60/130. This unit now costs 2 supply.

Balance Update #6
When Purify is cast on a player’s Nexus, it now also grants detection to 13 range. Energize has been removed.

Balance Update #7
This unit has a new ability called Envision. This ability grants the Mothership Core detection for 30 seconds. This ability costs 50 energy to cast. This ability grants detection within the Mothership Core’s sight range (14). The Purify ability no longer grants detection to the Nexus. The Purify ability has been renamed to “Photon Overcharge”.

Balance Update #8
Mothership Core is no longer massive.

Balance Update #11
Envision The Envision ability has been moved from the Mothership Core to the Oracle. Time Warp The Time Warp ability has been moved from the Oracle to the Mothership Core and Mothership.