This patch goes live in Europe on Wednesday, July 13.

• The StarCraft II Ladder Revamp has arrived. Read on for a list of highlights!
  • Your matchmaking rating (MMR) is now displayed in various screens throughout the StarCraft II user interface.
    • A new Ladder tab has been added to the Score Screen that displays both you and your opponent’s matchmaking rating (MMR), as well as the changes in rating from the outcome of that ranked match.
    • A progress bar is also displayed on the Ladder tab that shows your progress towards promotion.
    • In addition to the new Ladder tab, MMR is also displayed on the Division screen in Profile > Ladders > Current Season > Legacy of the Void.
  • New League Tiers have been added.
    • Leagues are now divided into three tiers: Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3, with Tier 1 being the highest and Tier 3 being the lowest.
    • Your tier represents how you rank relative to other players within that league. For example, a player in Silver Tier 1 is closer to a promotion into the next league (Gold) than a player in Silver Tier 3.
  • The visual look and feel of the ladder system has been refreshed.
    • A new promotion screen with 3D fanfare has been added.
    • League badges and league portrait borders have been updated to display your current tier.
    • League badges and league portrait borders have new colors and animations to make them more visually distinct.
    • 4 new animated banners have been added to represent your standing within your division.
  • The mechanics of Grandmaster have been significantly overhauled.
    • Promotions and demotions in GM now happen daily at a scheduled time:
      • At 5:00 PM server time, the bottom 5% of GM players will be removed.
      • Players who are eligible for GM will be in the new Contender ladder.
      • Anyone logged into StarCraft II can view the players present in Contender ladder to follow along with who might be promoted. Navigate there via Profile > Ladders > Grandmaster > 1v1 Contender or Archon Contender.
      • At 8:00 PM server time, the top players of the Contender ladder will be promoted based on their MMR and activity eligibility for GM.
    • In order to emphasize the accuracy of GM, players are ranked based on MMR instead of division points. Bonus pool has also been removed.
    • Players who have not played a minimum of 10 games every 3 weeks will be automatically removed from GM.
    • GM will open one week after a new season begins.
  • Additional changes:
    • The new target league distribution breakdown is:
      • Master: 4%
      • Diamond: 23%
      • Platinum: 23%
      • Gold: 23%
      • Silver: 23%
      • Bronze: 4%
    • Improvements have been made to the estimated rankings of new and returning players. In the Score Screen’s new Ladder tab, this is described in the tooltip as “Provisional MMR”.
    • Bonus pool accrual rates have been tuned for team matchmaking modes to make them more competitive:
      • 1v1: no change
      • Random Team: 50% reduction
      • Arranged Team: 75% reduction
      • Archon Mode: 75% reduction
  • For more information on the StarCraft II Ladder Revamp, see the following:
    • [Patch 3.4: The StarCraft II Ladder Revamp]
    • [Reddit Q&A]
• New Portraits have been added to StarCraft II.

• New Emotes have been added to StarCraft II.

• A new Trophy Top, Nova’s Griffin, has been added to Automated Tournaments.
• Going forward, players in StarCraft II: Starter Edition must reach one of the following requirements in order to participate in chat and whisper other players:
  • Reach Level 10 with a single Co-op commander
  • Reach Level 15 with one race in Multiplayer
  • Make a purchase of any kind (any Campaign, Mission Pack, or Co-op commander)

• Replaced Level 7 upgrade with a new upgrade:
  • Battle Bunkers
    • Bunkers gain life bonus increased to 200.
    • Bunkers gain a shrike turret.

  Developer Comments: Bunkers are not getting a lot of use. They have some upgrades available but they don't help in the early game and have questionable value in terms of cost and time investment later on. Instead of unlocking research at level 7, Raynor will now be able to build upgraded Bunkers at level 7. The life bonus has also been increased slightly.

• Replaced Level 10 Double M.U.L.E. upgrade with a new upgrade:
  • Armor upgrades in the Armory and Engineering Bay increase life in addition to increasing armor.
    • Infantry Armor Level 1-3 gives +10% of base health at each level.
    • Vehicle Plating Level 1-3 gives +10% of base health at each level.

  Developer Comments: The double M.U.L.E. upgrade is currently encouraging a mass Orbital Command strategy which allows Raynor to make an endless stream of only Marines. Players not employing this strategy gain a fairly minor power increase. We decided to replace this upgrade with a powerful combat upgrade instead which should help Raynor against area damage and increase his overall survivability. This upgrade also effects all unit types including mechanical, so it should also help to make Factory and Starport units viable, rather than just allowing Raynor to simply make more Marines.

• Level 15 unlocks:
  • All combat units including mechanical units gain 15% attack speed.

  Developer Comments: We also want to change this upgrade to affect all units including mechanical, again to open up Raynor's strategic options. While Raynor's core strength is his biological army, it was important to us not to discourage the use of the other units. We want to supplement his army with the right tools depending on the situation, and we were sending the wrong message by having this upgrade affect only his Barracks units.

• Tooltips were updated for clarification:
  • "Reduces the cooldown of the Hyperion ability. Does not affect initial cooldown at the start of the mission."
  • "Reduces the cooldown of the Banshee Airstrike ability. Does not affect initial cooldown at the start of the mission."

• Units still take damage down to 1 life when protected by Guardian Shell instead of preventing all the damage of the killing blow.
• Fungal Growth:
  • Artanis Guardian Shell now removes Fungal Growth when activated.
  • Previously Fungal Growth could kill a unit while it was invulnerable.

• Malignant Creep:
  • Affects all friendly bio and mechanical ground units.

  Developer Comments: This is a co-op ability that helps your allies as well as Kerrigan's units. It should now properly affect all unit types. We also increased the life gained.

• Buffed:
  • Gives a flat 1 life per second to everything.

• Mastery Point: Cocoon Birth Time is reduced by 1 second per level, up from 0.5.

• Highlighted unit selection now shows consistently after closing and reopening the Help Menu.
• Fixed a bug where reconnecting to a game could cause the client to freeze.
• Fixed an issue where Arcade lobbies would sometimes fail to be created when inviting players under poor latency conditions.
• Fixed a bug where the Indirect Shadows option caused campaign scenes to display incorrectly.
• Achievement category icons in the Profile now display correctly.

• Commanders
  • Abathur
    • Abathur’s Mend ability no longer reveals invisible units on The Vermillion Problem.
    • Abathur’s Malignant Creep now correctly affects Abathur’s Ravager and its burrowed version.
    • Fixed an issue that could cause Mutalisks to deal an additional attack after researching Sundering Glaive.
  • Artanis
    • Fungal Growth can no longer kill units through Artanis’ Guardian Shell.
  • Karax
    • Karax’s Shield Battery no longer auto-casts on invalid targets.
    • Karax’s Rapid Recharge research upgrade no longer affects Energizer in Phasing Mode.
    • Karax’s Energizer in Phasing Mode now has a grey icon for Reclamation if not researched.
    • Karax’s Energizer in Phasing Mode now has the active ability Reclamation if researched.
    • Fixed an issue with subgroup priority for Karax’s Immortal.
  • Kerrigan
    • Kerrigan’s ability, Malignant Creep is now applying a proper attack speed buff.
  • Raynor
    • Raynor’s Drop Pod Haste mastery is now fulfilling the full duration.
    • Battlecruisers no longer jump to a single location using Tactical Jump.
  • Swann
    • Fixed issues with Swann’s Siege Tanks being indestructible with certain abilities.
• Maps
  • The Vermillion Problem
    • Fixed an issue where a worker’s Xenon Crystal cargo could be destroyed upon the worker’s death.

• General
  • The Weekly Mutation Challenge schedule now shows the correct time for the US region.
  • The color text now properly matches the Custom Alliance Color choice chosen when a friendly AI discovers an enemy.

• Maps
  • Fixed an issue with the Line of Sight Blockers on Apotheosis LE.
  • Tournament logos now face the correct direction on Apotheosis LE.
  • Fixed a bug where Marine-Bunker and Photon Cannon Wall-Ins could be performed on Apotheosis LE.
  • Fixed a number of terrain and doodad issues on Dasan Station LE, Apotheosis LE, and Molten Temple.
  • Fixed a bug where a Marine-Bunker Wall-in could be performed on Dasan Station LE, Galactic Process LE, and New Gettysburg LE.
  • Fixed a bug where a single Photon Cannon could be blocked off by two Pylons on Dasan Station LE, New Gettysburg LE, and Galactic Process LE.
  • Fixed an issue with unit’s cliff pathing on Galactic Process LE.
  • All minimap icons now show properly in SC2 Editor on Galactic Process LE.
  • Fixed an issue where ramps could be blocked off by three structures on Galactic Process LE.
  • Fixed an issue where the Command Center could not land on a certain location on Ulrena.
  • Fixed an issue with incorrect unit height settings on Orbital Depot and Garden of Shadows.
  • Liberators now have consistent attack range on New Gettysburg LE.
  • Fixed a bug where units could be dropped and become stuck on Snowy Mesa, Apotheosis LE, on Garden of Shadows.
  • Starting base locations are now optimally placed on Hidden Caves.
  • Fixed a preplaced Nexus issue on Rooftop Terrace.
• Terran
  • Fixed an issue where the Thor’s High Impact Payload and Explosive Payload could still be used while under the effect of Fungal Growth.
• Protoss
  • The Cybernetics Core now correctly lists all of the units it unlocks in the Protoss tech tree.

• Fixed an issue where the region list would not populate when attempting to publish a map.