We finally get an answer to the long standing topic of armor and damage types. Thanks to Karune again for the info.

At the moment, there is 'light' and 'armored' armor classes. Buildings also fall under the 'armored' armor class.

Attacks on the other hand are a bit more varied. There is bonus damage towards, 'light, armored, biological, and massive.' Knowing a unit's damage bonuses will be very important in knowing what to use to counter certain units.

Biological units usually just mean they are not mechanical. Marines, Zerglings, and Zealots are biological. Non-biological units does not however mean they fall under the 'armored' class though and vice-versa.

For instance, Marauders are biological units but are armored. Nullifiers are mechanical units, but have light armor. Ultralisks, would fall under massive, biological, and armored. Though Battlecruisers would be massive, mechanical, and armored. These new categories also allow for many more soft counters in the game as well, giving slight bonuses to units against a certain type, but not have it as an overwhelming hard counter, where one unit wins the game easily.

Source: Battle.net

this sounds interresting, marines should get a grenade launcher upgrade!

Awesome, I really had no idea with the armored types and the biological thingy. I know from starcraft they had concussive, normal, and explosive damage types, and small, medium, and heavy armor types. But this whole thing about bonus things and such had me totally bugged. Now that I know though I personally think this is an awesome addition to the game, totally going with the WC3 armor and attack types.

Yey we haz some answers, so know we know armor types nice post thx

Nice to finally have a real information on the armor types. I have been wondering about these for quite a while.
I find them very logical and easy to discern one from the other. Which i hope is good thing. Nice to have more materials for contemplating. They will be as Karune pointed out a critical factor to consider when fighting a particular enemy.

Btw is Karune's post rate increased lately or is it just me? =)
Either way it is good to hear something refreshing considering the long period of drought. It feels like it's gonna rain soon ^_^

Sounds neat, I wonder on how large of a bonus to give each category. I am really interest what they will give against the immortal, considering the shield ability. Then there is the Thor and its flak canons. Either way it should be a welcome change.

Raspy said...
Nice to finally have a real information on the armor types. I have been wondering about these for quite a while.

Actually, the information in this post isn't quite new.
We've known there were fewer armor types than in SC1 for quite a while now, and we've known weapons would do the same damage against all unit types but be differentiated through a bonus system for just as long.

The only real new information here is about the massive units I think.
Still, this is by far the most unambiguous and clarifying newspost about the damage system as of yet.
And it's nice to hear something come out of Blizzard that doesn't involve unit names.

Dragg said...
this sounds interresting, marines should get a grenade launcher upgrade!

God that was random.

Hanging said...
...totally going with the WC3 armor and attack types.

Nah, not really. The bonus system is unique in SC/WC. WC3 was much closer to SC concerning the damage system imho, though more advanced.

Nil said...
I am really interest what they will give against the immortal, considering the shield ability.

You can't give a bonus versus "the Immortal". That's not an armor or unit type. They won't single out specific units like that. Remember what Karune said, they're going for soft counters against units (slight bonuses), not hard counters.

I never meant against the particular unit Psyker, but what the bonus will end up being for that armor/classification group lol.

I would not think of the Immortal as a soft counter against siege tanks or ultralisks. The immortal is the only unit I can think of as a hard counter(unless my definition of hard counter is wrong), considering it can negate most of the damage from those units. On top of any possible damage bonuses it may or may not receive.

Even if Karune states there will be no hard counters, units like the Immortal can quickly change a situation against tanks. That is why I am wondering whether units like the reaper or zergling will be given a strong bonus against whatever the Immortal's armor classification will be. The difference between a 3 bonus versus a 2 bonus might be huge in the long run.

I agree that Immortals can be considered a hard counter versus tanks or ultralisks.

But a unit's bonus against the Immortal's armor classification is not going to change because of this.
It will be the same as the bonus versus every other armored unit in the game.

Blizzard isn't going to create a new armor type just for the Immortal, so basic units will be just as effective against the Immortal as against all other armored units.

If you "give a strong bonus against whatever the Immortal's armor classification will be", you just made an excellent anti-armored unit, that's all.

Raspy said...

Btw is Karune's post rate increased lately or is it just me? =)
Either way it is good to hear something refreshing considering the long period of drought. It feels like it's gonna rain soon ^_^

That is because he has some help now. Cydra (not the fake one) from Korea that helps him in his job. So he has more time posting than cleaning crap in a certain "cough" ....B... forums.


Regarding the Immortal armor type, I think it will be massive and armored. The special hardened shield is just a passive ability and not an actual armor type for the unit.

This post is way better than unit name changes.