The Internet Gaming Zone is pleased to report that a fresh balance and bug-fix update for Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos is now live. The patch downloads automatically the next time you log on to Battle.net, and it is required for both ranked ladder play and LAN games so that every commander is fighting on even footing.

• Mountain King: Storm Bolt mana cost raised slightly, curbing the early stun-and-focus rush.
• Blademaster: Critical Strike now scales more smoothly, trimming spike damage at higher levels.
• Death Knight: Death Coil healing on friendly Undead units reduced, while Death Pact is unchanged.
• Lich: Frost Nova secondary splash damage lowered so massed casters trade cleaner.
• Keeper of the Grove: Entangling Roots duration against enemy Heroes shortened.
• Far Seer: Chain Lightning bounce falloff steepened against clustered units.

The food upkeep tiers are unchanged, but the tooltip now states them plainly. An army of 0 to 50 food pays no upkeep; 51 to 80 food sits at low upkeep and keeps 70 percent of gold mined; 81 to 100 food enters high upkeep and keeps only 40 percent. Expanding to a second gold mine is now a touch safer, as Town Hall class build time was trimmed for all four races.

• Orc Raider Ensnare cooldown increased, easing air-heavy openings.
• Human Rifleman Long Rifles upgrade cost reduced at the Blacksmith.
• Undead Crypt Fiend Web mana cost lowered.
• Night Elf Huntress hit points nudged up.
• High-level neutral creep camps now drop slightly better charged items.

• Fixed a case where a Blademaster in Wind Walk could flicker on the minimap.
• Corrected a lumber refund error when cancelling a Night Elf building under construction.
• Resolved a rare desync on Lost Temple during very large Starfall casts.
• Corrected a scripting error that caused some custom maps, including tower-defense and hero-arena scenarios, to mis-report gold bounties.

1. Launch Warcraft III and choose Battle.net.
2. Accept the patch prompt and let the download finish.
3. Restart when asked, then enjoy the new ladder season on Turtle Rock, Echo Isles and Twisted Meadows.

See you on the ladder, and watch for word on the coming expansion, The Frozen Throne.