What's the best counter for Void Rays?

Question

Any time I let a Protoss player live to mid-game, I seem to be swarmed by Void Rays, and while I can sort of react, it's generally a 50/50 at that point.

Let's say I scout a player with a single Void Ray and plans to build more. What should I do to counter them? As each race preferably, but I generally play Protoss as well.

Asked by UltimateBrent

Answer

You're falling into the trap of "What would be good right now." This is a mistake when evaluating strategy. Any choice at this stage will necessarily be too late as it requires a time and resource investment that can't be made instantly. Instead I would suggest the following:

Void Rays take a long time to build and represent a substantial Vespene investment. This should allow you to produce as substantially larger army against a Protoss player focusing solely on Void Rays. A small investment in defensive structures will keep off a small force of Void Rays, however any larger force of Void Rays is better handled by direct assault on the Protoss base as you can produce a more cost effective force.

Bear in mind that a Protoss player investing in a Gas heavy strategy (like Void Rays) will have an excess of Minerals. The result is that their defensive force will largely be made of Zealots. Take this into account. Additionally, they are also very likely to expand as expansions are made out of minerals and provide excess gas very quickly.

Finally, I recommend better scouting. Seeing an early second Assimilator is a tell tail sign of a Void Ray rush.

A word to Protoss players. A Void Ray rush is not a sustainable strategy, neither is mass Void Rays before you have a Mothership out. However, Void Rays do complement a Tier 1/1.5 force very nicely, especially Armored units with High HP.

Answered by tzenes

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