Theorycrafting: Void Ray rework.

[Sheliek]

Phoenix, Void Ray, Oracle, Tempest, Carrier, Mothership. No Protoss air unit does splash damage. Give Void Ray splash. Mass Viking/Corrupter problem solved. Air-based anti-mass Locust/Zergling solved.

I thought the tempest did splash?

Oh, right. They removed that prior to the Beta. Shows how much attention I've been paying. Adding splash to the void ray seems a good enough idea in theory. Simple to implement, too. They can add it, and if it doesn't work out after a month or so, switch it back.

[Triceron]

What about this

A) Maintain Attack while Moving, moves at speed slightly faster than corruptors.
B) Add an Upgrade that reduces damage from ground units.
C) While fully charged, Void Ray deals high damage at the cost of movement speed. Think of it as converting thruster energy to weapons.
D) New ability "Void Burst". Causes a splash damage blast that consumes all charge levels. Void Burst deals extra vs shields.


This makes the Void Ray have more maneuverability without any charges, letting them chase down enemies or leave. Void Ray now has more all-purpose use, being able to target heavy units with its main attack or use the Void Burst ability to take care of groups of small units quickly.

Void ray would be countered by AA and Micro. In the case of broodlord/corruptor combo, you'll still want to go tempest/stalker/archon. Void Ray would be a semi harass anti-ground unit.

PVP
Void Ray could be used to break Colossus/stalker combos. Reduce damage from ground could give it the edge it needs to focus down colossus, use of Void Burst could help disperse the death balls.

PVT
Reduce damage from ground could help it survive against bio armies, or force a mech army to bring more vikings. Against bio, target down medivacs and burst the marines.

PVZ
Probably the least effective in this matchup, but possibly use to harass. Reduce damage vs ground makes it more resilient than phoenix harass. Charge up on queens and overlords, use burst to soften up workers or units.

[Carsickness]

D) New ability "Void Burst". Causes a splash damage blast that consumes all charge levels. Void Burst deals extra vs shields.

I like that one. Gives a Toss play the choice of continued high DPS to a single target, or an AOE attack at the cost of that DPS.
Something strategic in the mid game to think about. Obviously in the late game it would just be players waiting for the AOE to charge, but w/e.

Maybe make it some sort of of DoT stye aoe? "Psionic discharge" or something like that:
Units take psionic damage over time, and shields take double damage. Might prevent battles degenerating into cooldown battles.

[DemolitionSquid]

Ugh, ya'll love makin this shit complicated by needlessly adding abilities.

[Twilice]

What's wrong with Void Ray?

[Triceron]

Better than 1A giant ball of win.

[Pr0nogo]

Better than 1A giant ball of win.

lol, like the rest of the game?

[Jconant]

"What's wrong with the void ray?"

Its a unit that can attack air and ground, but when it comes to a giant ball of vikings or corruptors...it doesn't hold up well.

[Twilice]

So wait? It's bad vs units that are supposed to counter it?

Hm, and I don't even think corruptors are good vs void rays unless you really have a massed amount of corruptors, which means less good ground army for you to fight.

[Triceron]

Corruptors become brood lords, so they end up being a very good late game investment if you already dealt with enemy air.