qxc's thoughts: Disruptor in Review Text by TL.net ESPORTS Disruptor in Review by QXC





Everything stated here is my opinion unless noted and/or cited otherwise. As a progamer for several years now, I have a wealth of personal experience and observations to draw upon. With that said, I sometimes have to speculate due to lack of studies/concrete facts.



Overview:



The disruptor is Protoss's new area of effect damage dealer in Legacy of the Void. It requires a robotics bay to build and comes from the robotics facility. Due to the colossus's nerfs in LoTV (-1 range & 20% damage reduction), many protoss use the disruptor to replace the colossus. The disruptor requires significantly more control and management than the colossus of old and is only really effective when paired with a warp prism. If your opponent is paying attention they can mitigate most of the blast, but even if the disruptor misses you can still save it with the extended pick up range of the warp prism. Without a warp prism's support, a disruptor will almost always die after exploding due to its low movement speed and hitpoints. In addition, the disruptor is much less effective against faster units due to their increased ability to split as well as larger units compared to the colossus because it will tend to hit fewer of them at a time. In terms of positioning and utility, the disruptor is more similar to psionic storm in that you want to come from the sides and back while pressing the front to force your opponent into taking a lot of damage from the blast. Flanking with the disruptor is pretty difficult, but critical to using it effectively.



By the numbers:



Cost: 150/300

Health: 100/100

Armor: 1 armor

Movement speed: same as a marine, slightly faster than a stimmed marine while purification nova is active.

Purification Nova: Gain 67% increased movement speed, invulnerability and lose all unit collision for 3 seconds. Then deal 145 damage in a small AoE around the unit. Splash is ~1 radius. ~21 second cooldown. Note that the disruptor deals friendly damage.



Terran vs Protoss



As things are right now, the disruptor sees limited use in this matchup. Until protoss is able to get a substantial amount of blink stalkers to accompany the disruptors, terran will usually have the option to lift everything up and boost away if they are unable to split in time. Stimmed bio has little issue splitting against a disruptor given enough warning time, but demands that the Terran remain on edge. The primary danger to Terran is when the disruptor comes from an unexpected angle as your reaction time will be reduced as well as the area in which you can flee. If a disruptor comes from the back, you may have to run to the side while in range of your opponent’s army leaving you vulnerable to forcefields and potshots.



Mana uses the disruptor to harass my army.









By bringing the disruptor in from the back Mana makes it much harder for my army to effectively split by reducing reaction time and safe area in which to retreat to.









Protoss vs Protoss



There are 2 main problems with gauging the disruptor's usefulness in PvP. The first is that few protoss actively play LoTV ladder and weekly tournaments besides Take's LOTUS Cup. So there haven't been as many games to see how the meta is developing. The second is that adepts dominate the early game of this matchup and can end the game very quickly. As players get better at surviving the early onslaught of adepts, the mid and late game will be seen much more often, but right now games tend to be on the shorter side. In the most recent LoTV patch preview, disruptors will be receiving bonus damage to shields making them more effective in this matchup. With the bonus damage disruptors may be the answer to the mass Adept style that is so common right now. Disruptors have a lot of potential vs adepts because adepts are relatively small and thus clump. Add to that the fact that adepts move relatively slowly, and there's a lot of potential for disruptors to counter them effectively.



Mana uses the disruptor to harass Nightend's mineral line.











Mana drops a disruptor on the high ground forcing Nightend to split his army. While the prism dies, the disruptor is able to escape due to good forcefields.







Mana uses the disruptor to force Nightend to split his army up and reduce his overall DPS in this fight.











Mana's Disruptor does little to Nightend's army. Due to the obvious approach and lack of a fight, Nightend is able to split and take almost nothing. Despite that, the warp prism allows the disruptor to escape.









As the fights get bigger and there are more things to do, it becomes harder to react to the disruptor in time.









Mana's disruptor comes directly through Nightend's retreat path leaving little space to escape the blast.







Protoss vs Zerg



While the colossus cleaned up zerglings with little trouble, the disruptor does not deal with zerglings effectively due to fear of friendly fire and the speedlings high movement speed. That doesn’t matter as much, though, because the adept has basically outlawed heavy speedling compositions in this matchup. Adepts are so incredibly strong vs speedlings that most compositions from zerg will center around roach/hydra/lurker or mutalisks. As the disruptor’s explosion doesn’t hit air, mutalisk based compositions with a relatively quick tech to vipers as needed can greatly reduce the disruptor’s usefulness. If you opt for a ground based army, then creep spread will be incredibly important to mitigating the disruptor’s explosions. Off creep, hydras, in particular, will have a tough time splitting against disruptors.





Nightend efficiently uses 2 disruptors to clean up some roaches from a nydus.









Nightend stacks 2 disruptors in order to oneshot Neuro's lurkers.









Nightend deploys disruptors mid battle forcing Neuro to run and split his units.









Off creep, Neuro has a lot of trouble splitting his units enough to avoid taking damage even though there's no battle currently going on.







In summary



The disruptor is a powerful area of effect damage dealer but requires a lot more babysitting and micro management than any other unit in the Protoss arsenal. It's a big investment in both tech, resources and its demand for support units, as a warp prism is almost required to keep it alive. Initially, players may find the disruptor to be relatively useless due to its high skill requirement, but the disruptor has the potential to completely swing fights when used effectively.





Thanks to Nightend for providing replays and Protoss insight about the disruptor and its utility, and to Bly for helping me understand the situation better from Zerg's perspective.







Previous installments:

Liberator in Review

On SC2's Social Features

Re-thinking the Ladder





The disruptor is Protoss's new area of effect damage dealer in Legacy of the Void. It requires a robotics bay to build and comes from the robotics facility. Due to the colossus's nerfs in LoTV (-1 range & 20% damage reduction), many protoss use the disruptor to replace the colossus. The disruptor requires significantly more control and management than the colossus of old and is only really effective when paired with a warp prism. If your opponent is paying attention they can mitigate most of the blast, but even if the disruptor misses you can still save it with the extended pick up range of the warp prism. Without a warp prism's support, a disruptor will almost always die after exploding due to its low movement speed and hitpoints. In addition, the disruptor is much less effective against faster units due to their increased ability to split as well as larger units compared to the colossus because it will tend to hit fewer of them at a time. In terms of positioning and utility, the disruptor is more similar to psionic storm in that you want to come from the sides and back while pressing the front to force your opponent into taking a lot of damage from the blast. Flanking with the disruptor is pretty difficult, but critical to using it effectively.: 150/300: 100/100: 1 armorspeed: same as a marine, slightly faster than a stimmed marine while purification nova is active.: Gain 67% increased movement speed, invulnerability and lose all unit collision for 3 seconds. Then deal 145 damage in a small AoE around the unit. Splash is ~1 radius. ~21 second cooldown. Note that the disruptor deals friendly damage.As things are right now, the disruptor sees limited use in this matchup. Until protoss is able to get a substantial amount of blink stalkers to accompany the disruptors, terran will usually have the option to lift everything up and boost away if they are unable to split in time. Stimmed bio has little issue splitting against a disruptor given enough warning time, but demands that the Terran remain on edge. The primary danger to Terran is when the disruptor comes from an unexpected angle as your reaction time will be reduced as well as the area in which you can flee. If a disruptor comes from the back, you may have to run to the side while in range of your opponent’s army leaving you vulnerable to forcefields and potshots.There are 2 main problems with gauging the disruptor's usefulness in PvP. The first is that few protoss actively play LoTV ladder and weekly tournaments besides Take's LOTUS Cup. So there haven't been as many games to see how the meta is developing. The second is that adepts dominate the early game of this matchup and can end the game very quickly. As players get better at surviving the early onslaught of adepts, the mid and late game will be seen much more often, but right now games tend to be on the shorter side. In the most recent LoTV patch preview, disruptors will be receiving bonus damage to shields making them more effective in this matchup. With the bonus damage disruptors may be the answer to the mass Adept style that is so common right now. Disruptors have a lot of potential vs adepts because adepts are relatively small and thus clump. Add to that the fact that adepts move relatively slowly, and there's a lot of potential for disruptors to counter them effectively.While the colossus cleaned up zerglings with little trouble, the disruptor does not deal with zerglings effectively due to fear of friendly fire and the speedlings high movement speed. That doesn’t matter as much, though, because the adept has basically outlawed heavy speedling compositions in this matchup. Adepts are so incredibly strong vs speedlings that most compositions from zerg will center around roach/hydra/lurker or mutalisks. As the disruptor’s explosion doesn’t hit air, mutalisk based compositions with a relatively quick tech to vipers as needed can greatly reduce the disruptor’s usefulness. If you opt for a ground based army, then creep spread will be incredibly important to mitigating the disruptor’s explosions. Off creep, hydras, in particular, will have a tough time splitting against disruptors.The disruptor is a powerful area of effect damage dealer but requires a lot more babysitting and micro management than any other unit in the Protoss arsenal. It's a big investment in both tech, resources and its demand for support units, as a warp prism is almost required to keep it alive. Initially, players may find the disruptor to be relatively useless due to its high skill requirement, but the disruptor has the potential to completely swing fights when used effectively.

Loccstana Profile Blog Joined November 2012 United States 833 Posts #2 I have some reservations about the disruptor being indestructible while it is charging up for the explosion. This really is unfair against immobile units like lurkers and siege tanks which cant move out of the way in time. Rather, the disruptor should get an armor buff during its charge up period, which would allow it tank low tech units like zerglings, but not high damage units like siege tanks. [url]http://i.imgur.com/lw2yN.jpg[/url]

DinoMight Profile Blog Joined June 2012 United States 3331 Posts #3 Thanks for the writeup.



I find that the disruptor is challenging to use correctly but fun and rewarding. "Wtf I come back and find myself in camp DinoMight all of a sudden, feels weird man." -Wombat_NI

DinoMight Profile Blog Joined June 2012 United States 3331 Posts #4 On June 18 2015 02:53 Loccstana wrote:

I have some reservations about the disruptor being indestructible while it is charging up for the explosion. This really is unfair against immobile units like lurkers and siege tanks which cant move out of the way in time. Rather, the disruptor should get an armor buff during its charge up period, which would allow it tank low tech units like zerglings, but not high damage units like siege tanks.



It's a 300 gas single melee range unit.



It needs to be able to get in and do damage. Unless it's invulnerable on its way in it will just die immediately. It's a 300 gas single melee range unit.It needs to be able to get in and do damage. Unless it's invulnerable on its way in it will just die immediately. "Wtf I come back and find myself in camp DinoMight all of a sudden, feels weird man." -Wombat_NI

prplhz Profile Blog Joined November 2010 Denmark 7863 Posts #5 from the description this sounds a lot like the reaver http://i.imgur.com/M7t7egx.png

Heyoka Profile Blog Joined March 2008 Temple of EE-Sama 22504 Posts #6 Reaver comparisons were pretty common when the beta first came out but since Reavers can shoot from afar I think this is actually even more glass cannon-y. @RealHeyoka | DreamHack StarCrafty Man

Cam Connor Profile Blog Joined September 2011 Canada 784 Posts #7 thought this was about dota at first

i've truly gone to the dark side post to be

Ragnarork Profile Blog Joined June 2011 France 8972 Posts #8 On June 18 2015 03:03 prplhz wrote:

from the description this sounds a lot like the reaver

Well it's a protoss AoE dealing unit which needs a lot of micro and attention, which goes in pair with protoss air transport, and which is less effective otherwise... so yeah! Well it's a protoss AoE dealing unit which needs a lot of micro and attention, which goes in pair with protoss air transport, and which is less effective otherwise... so yeah! Liquipedia Wanderer.

phantomfive Profile Joined April 2010 Korea (South) 404 Posts #9 Wow, what a great article! To ease another's heartache is to forget one's own - Lincoln

ZenithM Profile Joined February 2011 France 15950 Posts #10 Now that's the kind of post I like to read!

Cricketer12 Profile Blog Joined May 2012 United States 13095 Posts #11 Its a reaver thats even harder to use. But can be immensly good and entertaining, particularly in high level PvZ Solemn Strike FTW l SC2 Liquibet Season 17 Winner l I am beyond imagination, succumb to madness.

Shellshock Profile Blog Joined March 2011 United States 95646 Posts #12 Thanks qxc. interesting read Moderator http://i.imgur.com/U4xwqmD.png

Ja.Y. Profile Joined February 2015 United States 253 Posts Last Edited: 2015-06-17 18:51:44 #13 On June 18 2015 02:53 Loccstana wrote:

I have some reservations about the disruptor being indestructible while it is charging up for the explosion. This really is unfair against immobile units like lurkers and siege tanks which cant move out of the way in time. Rather, the disruptor should get an armor buff during its charge up period, which would allow it tank low tech units like zerglings, but not high damage units like siege tanks.



Ugh, mindless fixing turned my post upside down. Refer to the slightly later one... lol Ugh, mindless fixing turned my post upside down. Refer to the slightly later one... lol MMA will reign supreme once again // MaSa is gawd

Olli Profile Blog Joined February 2012 Austria 24289 Posts #14 This is exactly the kind of feedback we need Blizzard to see, thanks a lot qxc Administrator "Declaring anything a disaster because aLive popped up out of nowhere is just downright silly."

Ja.Y. Profile Joined February 2015 United States 253 Posts Last Edited: 2015-06-17 18:50:55 #15 On June 18 2015 02:53 Loccstana wrote:

I have some reservations about the disruptor being indestructible while it is charging up for the explosion. This really is unfair against immobile units like lurkers and siege tanks which cant move out of the way in time. Rather, the disruptor should get an armor buff during its charge up period, which would allow it tank low tech units like zerglings, but not high damage units like siege tanks.



Siege tanks can be picked up by medivacs now, while in siege mode. And I'm not too knowledgeable about the disruptor but qxc said that it can't hit air units, so if players pay attention and micro properly, there shouldn't be problems getting siege tanks out of harms way.



For lurkers, the small VODs shown, showed that you need at least 2 disruptors to actually kill a lurker. I'm not too knowledgeable about how the disruptors work but are vipers allowed to yank disruptors out of mid air, possibly away from the battle to minimize/negate their damage, possibly allowing for Zerg units to deal their maximum amount of damage? If not, I don't think an armor buff would do much. Throw in a few mutalisks and sacrifice a few hydras or have a few queens around and you negate the disruptor completely.



I would love to see Blizzard incorporate a small window before the disruptor goes off where it is vulnerable, to allow for players to focus on killing the disruptor before it goes off. It forces players to have higher amount of focus, concentration, and micro but it grants them the ability to stop the disruptor from doing its damage while being able to properly engage opposing armies. IF this isn't a thing already. Siege tanks can be picked up by medivacs now, while in siege mode. And I'm not too knowledgeable about the disruptor but qxc said that it can't hit air units, so if players pay attention and micro properly, there shouldn't be problems getting siege tanks out of harms way.For lurkers, the small VODs shown, showed that you need at least 2 disruptors to actually kill a lurker. I'm not too knowledgeable about how the disruptors work but are vipers allowed to yank disruptors out of mid air, possibly away from the battle to minimize/negate their damage, possibly allowing for Zerg units to deal their maximum amount of damage? If not, I don't think an armor buff would do much. Throw in a few mutalisks and sacrifice a few hydras or have a few queens around and you negate the disruptor completely.I would love to see Blizzard incorporate a small window before the disruptor goes off where it is vulnerable, to allow for players to focus on killing the disruptor before it goes off. It forces players to have higher amount of focus, concentration, and micro but it grants them the ability to stop the disruptor from doing its damage while being able to properly engage opposing armies. IF this isn't a thing already. MMA will reign supreme once again // MaSa is gawd

BisuDagger Profile Blog Joined October 2009 Bisutopia 17617 Posts #16 My thoughts on countering Disruptor if these don't exist.

EMP should make Disruptor targetable.

Storm should damage Disruptor.

Fungal should lock down Disruptor. Moderator Ofiicial Afreeca Starleague Caster: http://afreeca.tv/ASL2ENG2

Lunareste Profile Joined July 2011 United States 3590 Posts #17 Definitely my favorite new unit in practice and because it replaces the Colossus in theory.



It's EXCITING to get big hits with Disruptors, whereas A-moving with Colossus is the second most boring style in SC2 history. KT FlaSh FOREVER

JCoto Profile Joined October 2014 Spain 561 Posts #18 On June 18 2015 04:05 BisuDagger wrote:

My thoughts on countering Disruptor if these don't exist.

EMP should make Disruptor targetable.

Storm should damage Disruptor.

Fungal should lock down Disruptor.



Then you make Disruptor only viable in a short time phase of the game. After that, is paperweitght countered by 1 spell of each race, specially Terran and Zerg. Disruptors being damaged by storm is not a bad idea after all since Disruptors are very mobile and would take little damage, but taht would matter after a few engagements if the HP gets low enough for shields to run of and the Disruptor just dies.



I think it is not bad at all to have it invulnerable, but it wil need some additional balance for sure. It's relatively competent to work around it with positioning and micro and the unit is very very vulnerable. Then you make Disruptor only viable in a short time phase of the game. After that, is paperweitght countered by 1 spell of each race, specially Terran and Zerg. Disruptors being damaged by storm is not a bad idea after all since Disruptors are very mobile and would take little damage, but taht would matter after a few engagements if the HP gets low enough for shields to run of and the Disruptor just dies.I think it is not bad at all to have it invulnerable, but it wil need some additional balance for sure. It's relatively competent to work around it with positioning and micro and the unit is very very vulnerable.

Pontius Pirate Profile Blog Joined August 2013 United States 1556 Posts Last Edited: 2015-06-17 19:34:20 #19 On June 18 2015 02:53 Loccstana wrote:

I have some reservations about the disruptor being indestructible while it is charging up for the explosion. This really is unfair against immobile units like lurkers and siege tanks which cant move out of the way in time. Rather, the disruptor should get an armor buff during its charge up period, which would allow it tank low tech units like zerglings, but not high damage units like siege tanks.

I actually think it's got an excellent utility in swinging in and smashing through their defenses, but on principle, I too feel a bit iffy about the full invincibility during the nova phase. Maybe it could receive some additional shield, similar to the Immortal's barrier ability that also has a lot of armor on it. Let's call it the Void Shield. 200 HP, 3 default armor, stacking with shield upgrades. This makes it tough for bio to smash through it before it detonates, forcing the splitting, but a wall of tanks will blast it down without much issue. Unfortunately, with Protoss units' high damage per shot output, it might not do a great job of surviving to reach the center of Protoss armies. Perhaps it could still be useful when multiple Disruptors are used at once, but if you're going to require 2 or 3 iterations of a 150/300 unit just to have any chance of being useful, the price (and possibly damage for the other matchups) would have to be adjusted. Ultimately, I have a hard time seeing a non-invincible Disruptor being worthwhile for 150/300. 75/225 and I'd be fine with purification nova simply putting up a temporary armored shield, instead of becoming invincible. I actually think it's got an excellent utility in swinging in and smashing through their defenses, but on principle, I too feel a bit iffy about the full invincibility during the nova phase. Maybe it could receive some additional shield, similar to the Immortal's barrier ability that also has a lot of armor on it. Let's call it the Void Shield. 200 HP, 3 default armor, stacking with shield upgrades. This makes it tough for bio to smash through it before it detonates, forcing the splitting, but a wall of tanks will blast it down without much issue. Unfortunately, with Protoss units' high damage per shot output, it might not do a great job of surviving to reach the center of Protoss armies. Perhaps it could still be useful when multiple Disruptors are used at once, but if you're going to require 2 or 3 iterations of a 150/300 unit just to have any chance of being useful, the price (and possibly damage for the other matchups) would have to be adjusted. Ultimately, I have a hard time seeing a non-invincible Disruptor being worthwhile for 150/300. 75/225 and I'd be fine with purification nova simply putting up a temporary armored shield, instead of becoming invincible. "I had to close the door so my parents wouldn't judge me." - ZombieGrub during the ShitfaceTradeTV stream

Serimek Profile Joined August 2011 France 2176 Posts #20 qxc is feeding the community with so much good content lately, thanks ! (And thank you Zealously) SC2 is the best game to watch and was the best to play before I grew old and slow...

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