Confirmation On Immortal Shield Upgrades

[RamiZ]

I mean, you can think it's BS if you want; it doesn't change the fact that shield upgrades are not suddenly worthless when you use Immortals.

I mean that shield upgrade is worthless for immortal, not like overall... Why didnt they let old mechanic? It wasnt balanced? lol!

[MattII]

Those who say the shield upgrades for the Immortal are useless are idiots who believe that the enemy will stop using Marines/Zerglings/Zealots as soon as heavier units are available.

[Noise]

The shield upgrade will still be awesome against lings and marine...

[MattII]

Exactly, against those units that do below 10 damage base, the shield upgrades will be essential.

[SpiderBrigade]

I feel like I'm chiming in with the chorus here, but the shield upgrades are in a certain sense better for the immortal than other units.

Hardened shields make the Immortal super-effective against units that do large amounts of damage. These units are generally not effected much by armor values since they have a slower rate of fire. For instance in most cases (on normal units) +3 armor doesn't matter much against a siege tank. The units that armor is most effective against are rapid-firing small-damage units, since it subtracts a more significant portion of every attack. Normally, these are the Immortal's primary weakness! However when fully shield-upgraded the effectiveness of these units is greatly reduced. So the Immortal is still awesome against big hitters like tanks, but now it is also strongly protected against low-damage units like marines. It's win/win.

[MattII]

Actually, it's no more strongly protected against Marines fully upped than it was at base level, because we need to remember that the Marines are also getting upgrades, which unchecked will allow them to be much more effective Immortal killers (from 17 shots initially it drops to 15 shots, then 13, then 12).

[Nicol Bolas]

Yes, obviously upgrades can be countered by other upgrades.

[Grrblt]

Actually, it's no more strongly protected against Marines fully upped than it was at base level, because we need to remember that the Marines are also getting upgrades, which unchecked will allow them to be much more effective Immortal killers (from 17 shots initially it drops to 15 shots, then 13, then 12).

It doesn't matter what upgrades the marines have, upgrading shields is beneficial. Marines are a counter to Immortals, upgrading shields makes them softer counters than before. 3 is less than 6 and 6 is less than 9.

[Triceron]

Shield upgrades work for every protoss unit, I'd say that would be well worth getting the upgrade.

With High Templars having a shield recharge ability and hardened shields in the game, getting the upgrade will help quite a bit. Sure shields take full damage, but the way bonus works is different now and they only take full damage based on the armor type of the unit. Zealots shields won't be taking the extra damage from siege tank blasts.

[Norfindel]

It doesn't matter what upgrades the marines have, upgrading shields is beneficial. Marines are a counter to Immortals, upgrading shields makes them softer counters than before. 3 is less than 6 and 6 is less than 9.

I think he means that when the Immortal Shields are fully upgraded, and also the Marine attack, it's the same than both of them unupgraded, but that's how it's supposed to be.

Sure shields take full damage, but the way bonus works is different now and they only take full damage based on the armor type of the unit. Zealots shields won't be taking the extra damage from siege tank blasts.

Yep, they're identical to the unit's armor, a Protoss Shield is now an extension from the unit's HP.