Void Ray (Heart of the Swarm)

This article is for the Heart of the Swarm multiplayer version, for the Wings of Liberty version see: Void Ray (Wings of Liberty).

For the Korean Protoss player, see VoidRay.

Void Ray

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Type	Air Unit
Description	Surgical strike craft.
Built From	Stargate
Cost	250 150 60 4
Attributes	Armored, Mechanical
Attack	Ground Attack:     6(+1) Ground DPS:     12(+2) Air Attack:     6(+1) Air DPS:     12(+2) Bonus:     +4 vs Armored +10 vs Armored (Prismatic Alignment) Bonus DPS:     +8 vs Armored +20 vs Armored (Prismatic Alignment) Range:     6 Cooldown:     0.5 s
Defense	150 100 0 (+1)
Hotkey	V
Sight	10
Speed	2.25
Strong Against	Corruptor Battlecruiser Tempest
Weak Against	Viking Phoenix Mutalisk

Description

The Void Ray is an airborne siege cannon for the Protoss that is built at the Stargate. Unlike the Void Ray in Wings of Liberty, its attack does not charge up over time. Instead, Prismatic Alignment can be activated to increase damage to armored units and buildings for 20 seconds. Although it no longer deals additional damage to massive units, the Void Ray still excels against armored targets with high health.

Notes

• Once the Void Ray's beam is activated within its 6 range, there's an additional leeway of 2 if the target moves away.
• The Void Ray can shoot while moving. It attacks anything within range in a 40° angle in front of it. While moving however, targets are chosen based on target priority so it may not necessarily continue to shoot a target it was previously ordered to attack.

Abilities

Prismatic Alignment

Cooldown: 60 Hotkey: E Increases damage to armored units by 6 for 20 seconds. This does not scale with upgrades.

Competitive Usage

General

Due to their relatively low number of hit points, Void Rays have limited usefulness in the early game if anticipated by the enemy. Against Protoss, Stalkers can deal with Void Rays easily because of the ease of making large amount of Stalkers, unlike the time required to make Void Rays. Against Terran, sufficient numbers of Marines (especially with Stimpack), or properly controlled Vikings, can deal with Void Rays. Zerg players can build additional Queens until they are able to morph sufficient numbers of Hydralisks or Mutalisks.

In all these situations, Void Rays can still be used as a threat, forcing the production of anti-air units and keeping the opposing player inside of his or her base. If the player that is facing Void Rays is not aware of the incoming threat, he or she might be caught unprepared and thus there will be an opportunity to deal massive amount of damage.

Using Prismatic Alignment against non-armored units can scare an opponent into retreating, even though it does no extra damage.

Vs. Protoss

A very good counter to Immortals and Colossi, since they are both armored and cannot attack back. The Void Ray is a very good unit as the core of the army in the later stages of the game, as long as there are no large amount of Phoenixes on the field, this is because the other main anti-air unit is the Stalker, which is not supply efficient at all.

Vs. Terran

Is generally not used due to the standard composition of the Terran being very strong versus it, although versus an opponent that gets a lot of mechanical units like the Thor or the Tank, a few Void Rays can focus down the armored units very fast.

Another good use of the Void Ray is to make one or two of them to defend versus drops, since if a boosted Medivac passes right by a charged Void Ray it will barely get through with a very low amount of health, making the drop most likely to retreat, rather than continue while being so wounded. It is advisable to not make a Stargate just for the sake of Void Rays to defend drops, but if a Stargate has already been produced because of the opening, making a Void Ray or a few can be a good choice.

Vs. Zerg

Can be used in conjunction with Tempest and High Templar.

Gallery

Normal Void Ray attack animation.

Charged Void Ray attack animation.

Quotes

Quotes
Built	Selected	Annoyed	Move	Attack	Under Attack
Prismatic core online. Per'dac Curall.	Phase crystals charged. This vessel shall avenge. Zak Naku'athal. We are at full power. Channel the light of Aiur.	All paths are seen through the prism of fate. Our wills are aligned through the holy Khala. Conflict must not be seen through the lens of desperation. Infinity burns around us. There is no greater void than the one between your ears... I am also null. Always bet on void.	Calibrating void lenses. It shall be done. Ik'kuda Anai. Kaz Arashar. Annihilation commencing. Un'de Koor Huroc. Systems at full. Processed.	Lock beams and incinerate. Prismatic beams aligning. Pera'dac Aganesia. For Aiur. Fire at will, commander. Coordinating attack. Synchronizing.	Prismatic core failing, we require assistance!

Void Ray's quotes (video and sound) - YouTube video.

Patch Changes

Patch 8 beta (version 0.10.0.14803)
Void Ray Changed to only have 2 damage levels instead of 3. Still takes the same amount of time to fully charge. Base damage changed from 2 (+4 armored) to 5. Powered-up damage changed from 8 (+16 armored) to 10 (+15 armored). Armor value decreased from 1 to 0. Cost increased from 200/150 to 250/150.

Patch 13 beta (version 0.15.0.15449)
Void Ray Range decreased from 7 to 6.

Patch 1.1.2
Damage level 1 increased from 5 to 6 (+4 armored). Damage level 2 decreased from 10 (+15 armored) to 8 (+8 armored). Flux Vanes speed upgrade bonus decreased from 1.125 to 0.703

Patch 1.2.0
Flux Vanes upgrade removed. Damage vs massive units increased by 20%.

Balance Update #8
Prismatic Beam: No longer charges up. Weapon period decreased from 0.6 to 0.5. No longer does passive +massive damage. Prismatic Alignment (new ability) increases damage to armored units by 6 for 20 seconds, with a 1 minute cooldown. This does not scale with upgrades.

Balance Update #12
Void Ray supply increased from 3 to 4. Activating the Prismatic Alignment ability now causes a timer to display over the Void Ray for its duration.