On paper the shots to kill drops from 11 to 8, but in practice oracle harass is centered on poking in, taking shield damage, and then flying out....
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The original was posted on /r/starcraft by /u/jackfaker on 2024-10-22 00:44:51+00:00.

On paper the shots to kill drops from 11 to 8, but in practice oracle harass is centered on poking in, taking shield damage, and then flying out. The amount of hull damage the oracle takes during each poke dictates how many times it can poke. An oracle has 60 shields and 100 hull hp. The calculated numbers in parenthesis is the amount of hull damage pre and post patch for 1 oracle vs a base with 1 spore and queen. 100 hull damage means the oracle is dead. Two scenarios are listed for if the zerg pulls the drones back over the spore and micros their queen.

  • kill one drone vs afk zerg: 2 hits from spore 3 hits from queen (0 pre/7 post)
  • kill one drone vs focused zerg: 3 hits from spore 4 hits from queen (21 pre/36 post)
  • kill 2 drones vs afk zerg: 4 hits from spore 5 hits from queen (45 pre/65 post)
  • kill 2 drones vs focused zerg: 5 shots from spore 6 from queen (69 pre/94 post)

Conclusion: A one drone kill is no longer a repeatable ‘shields only drive by’ in most scenarios. You can repeat 1 drone kills 2-3 times before the oracle dies. A two drone kill went from a consistent move with 40-60 hp remaining, to a move where any misstep means the oracle is dying. Additional queens and oracles change the dynamics somewhat, but the general trend is still there. If you are below GM level control, this means you are probably best off avoiding any mineral line with spores.

Swapping the oracle to 100 shields/60 hp would help with the stated goal of making the “Protoss race slightly more efficient with the strongest and smartest execution”.