JaKaTaKSc2 Profile Blog Joined March 2011 United States 2768 Posts #1

An Analysis of Active Abilities in Starcraft





Recently there have been a few posts considering the direction of Starcraft concerning “spells” or “active abilities”. A popular sentiment seems to be that there are too many of them currently in the game and that Starcraft is becoming too similar to a MOBA or WC3 in terms of unit control. I feel that this idea is a bit too general to be constructive and has some inherent logical flaws as a result. Just because an ability is used in another game doesn’t necessarily mean that it will have a negative effect when applied to Starcraft 2. Conversely, just because an ability existed in Brood War doesn’t necessarily mean it will have a positive effect when applied to Starcraft 2. I also argue that having a certain number (or percentage) of units with active abilities isn’t inherently bad; it depends on the effect of each individual ability. I think there is merit in the idea of creating units that encourage positional or movement based play like the Siege Tank or the Zergling. However, units that encourage movement based micro and units that have active abilities are not mutually exclusive. In fact, many active abilities encourage this kind of play such as Siege Mode, Corrosive Bile, and Fungal Growth. The goal of this article is to shift the discussion away from the previously mentioned generalizations, and toward the analysis of specific abilities and their effects on the game.



For the sake of keeping the scope reasonable and the article constructive, we will not be looking at abilities like Zealot Charge that are almost always used inactively, nor building abilities like Scan. We will only go over abilities that are currently slated to remain in LotV and are used in combat. The primary purpose of this analysis is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the design of various unit abilities under the following criteria:

Visual Intuitiveness - It is beneficial for both player and spectator when an ability is visually intuitive. Any hidden power or lack of visual intuitiveness increases the severity of the learning curve, which is one of the biggest limiting factors of the success of Starcraft both as an eSport and as a game.





- It is beneficial for both player and spectator when an ability is visually intuitive. Any hidden power or lack of visual intuitiveness increases the severity of the learning curve, which is one of the biggest limiting factors of the success of Starcraft both as an eSport and as a game. Micro on both Sides - It is important for the enjoyment of the game that abilities are not only fun to play with, but also to play against. Abilities ought to open up tactical and strategic responses, not shut them down. For the sake of brevity this will be referred to as counterplay, and should not be confused with counter attacking or countering a particular unit, unit composition, or strategy.





- It is important for the enjoyment of the game that abilities are not only fun to play with, but also to play against. Abilities ought to open up tactical and strategic responses, not shut them down. For the sake of brevity this will be referred to as counterplay, and should not be confused with counter attacking or countering a particular unit, unit composition, or strategy. Differentiating Player Skill - Ideally each ability creates opportunities for players to differentiate themselves from each other in terms of skill. The best implementations will provide a wide array of results while the worst will offer only one or two. By providing many levels of success when executing an ability, the delay between effort put in to improve a micro technique, and the reward of gaining an advantage in battle as a result of that effort is decreased, allowing for a more motivating player experience and a more consistent professional scene.



It’s important to remember that the assessment of each ability is approached purely from a design perspective and does not consider its effects on the state of balance. This article makes no attempt to suggest changes, or removal of abilities, but instead intends to facilitate discussion about the role these abilities play in the game and what we can learn from their successes and failures to provide a more enjoyable gameplay experience for everyone.



We’ll start with the abilities that best represent these criteria and move toward those that fall short. Keep in mind since these are not quantifiable criteria, much of the ranking is affected by my personal biases. I encourage you to share both your agreements and disagreements so that we might all develop a better understanding of how specific active abilities affect Starcraft.



The List



Corrosive Bile

Straightforward, visually intuitive, with a whole lot of telegraphing. Not only is Corrosive Bile easy to understand without words, it also provides lots of time for the viewer to absorb that information. Corrosive Bile provides tons of opportunities for micro on both sides in many different ways. The casting player can use Corrosive Bile as a zoning mechanic, a way to deal damage to slow or immobile units, or simply to force the opponent to move their units instead of attacking with them. It also punishes players for not paying attention to their army. On the opponent’s side, dealing with Corrosive Bile is incredibly engaging. Dodging the Corrosive Bile shots while trying to maintain high dps, baiting Corrosive Bile shots, taking advantage of the cooldown, using the terrain and army positioning to flank, and surrounding the Ravagers with melee units are all options of ways to gain an advantage against the Ravager’s Corrosive Bile. In the same way, Corrosive Bile offers many opportunities for players to differentiate their skill. Movement prediction and position manipulation are both defining characteristics in a strong Corrosive Bile caster.



Psionic Transfer

Surprisingly intuitive visually for its level of complexity. I may be experiencing some personal bias here, but all the pieces look to me like they’re doing visually what they’re doing actually. Maybe on the first viewing, before the adept teleports, what’s happening may be unclear, but after that point I think it's fairly easy to grasp, even for a new spectator. Psionic Transfer provides a similar brand of counterplay that drops do. Splitting up the army appropriately is critical to dealing with Psionic Transfer. Similar to many abilities in Starcraft, once the ability is on cooldown the casting unit is vulnerable, creating a counterplay opening. The fact that players can’t choose when to teleport provides an important and consistent opportunity for counterplay. Even once the shade is released, the opponent knows exactly how long they have to target down adepts before a teleport is possible. In terms of differentiation of skill, Psionic Transfer creates a lot of opportunities. Knowledge of timing makes a player controlling an adept much more powerful. Knowing how far the adept can travel in a single cast, knowing how long it can survive against a given enemy force, and using the canceling ability to catch the opponent out of position in order to retreat safely or deal more damage are all critical to counterplay. All these things and more contribute to the Psionic Transfer’s ability to provide opportunities for players to show their skill.



Blink

A fantastic example of a visually intuitive ability. The animation is just enough for a spectator to understand what is happening as each Stalker blinks. Counterplay is a bit on the weak side for Blink, because much of the outcome of the battle is decided by the blinking player and not their opponent. However counterplay exists in utilizing terrain and positioning to mitigate the advantages gained by blinking. This can be accomplished through flanks and surrounds as well as pushing stalkers into a corner where they are unable to blink. In addition, there are scenarios where the cooldown of Blink can be taken advantage of as a form of counterplay. Finally, there exists the slightly less engaging counterplay of utilizing units with instant damage like Immortals to mitigate Blink’s ability to “dodge projectiles”. Skill differentiation is where Blink really shines. We already have players specifically known for their incredible Blink play and execution. A handful of Blink Stalkers can have a wide range of power depending exclusively on the player controlling them. As mentioned before, attacks that are considered projectiles, like the marauder’s attack, can be avoided by a well timed Blink. This not only decreases damage taken, but lowers the overall dps of the enemy force.



Siege

For this ability, any unit that gains a significant advantage from becoming immobile is included. So that means, Lurkers, Siege Tanks, and Widow Mines (with the Swarm Host recently removed from this list). These abilities are very intuitive visually to all parties involved, the Widow Mine and Lurker burrowing underground and the Siege Tank deploying its stabilizing legs. Counterplay for this ability is extensive. Forcing sieges and moving out of range before the unit can deal its damage, abusing the immobility by attacking along other routes and at other locations, casting ground targeting abilities like Corrosive Bile and Psionic Storm, catching the unit "unsieged", and the more basic use of air units against Lurkers and Tanks are all engaging forms of counterplay. The Siege Tank provides an additional element of counterplay because it can shoot farther than it can see and therefore requires spotter units or scans to be maximally effective. In response, the opponent can eliminate these spotter units, limiting the siege tank's power. The space for players to differentiate their skill with this ability is immense. It takes a great deal of forethought and tactical ability to be sure each siege unit is at the right place at the right time, moving only when it is safe to do so, abusing the features of the map to gain more advantage, and finding every opportunity to re-position in order to maximize the effectiveness and potential for control offered by these units. However, these opportunities for players to differentiate skill is greatly diminished in LotV for the Siege Tank, which can be picked up and dropped off while in siege mode by a Medivac, moving the skill differentiation to the Load/Unload ability.



KD8 Charge

A very visually intuitive ability as most “pushing” type spells are. Concerning counter play, the fact that there is a short delay before the effect is very important. This allows the opponent to avoid the effect, or even, in rare situations, use it to their advantage. The KD8 Charge also provides many options for players to demonstrate their skill. This happens because of the very specific attributes of the ability. First, when two or more charges are placed close together, they will explode simultaneously. Also, the damage of the KD8 Charges does not stack! As a result, knowing the exact blast radius of the charge allows the caster to improve its effectiveness. Spamming out tons of KD8 Charges will be less effective than calculated, intentional casts. In addition, players that can aim the spell’s push effect will be able to “juggle” units with proper timing. Its important to note that this is very difficult to accomplish but is incredibly powerful for those with expert execution.



Stim

As long as the observer has health bars set to damaged (looking at you GSL), stim is very visually intuitive: all the units lose some health and begin to move faster. The fact that the attack rate is also increased is a bit less noticeable, but the increased movement speed helps to give the feeling that the unit has sped up over all. Counterplay includes: baiting stim with faster units, like mutalisks, to deal damage to the opponent’s army; engaging with a critical number units that deal damage from long range so that the health loss disadvantage outweighs the advantage of increased speed, such as with siege tanks; buying time after the Terran stims with abilities like force field; and using high armor to dull the advantage of increased attack speed with things like the Sentry’s Guardian Shield and the Ultralisk’s Chitinous Plating. Stim also increases the Marine’s capacity to demonstrate a player’s skill by allowing fast players to split quickly against banelings, where a novice would be too slow to fully utilize its potential.



Explode

The baneling's explode ability is incredibly straight forward and intuitive (as most explosions are). In addition, the splitting and counter splitting micro it creates is one of the best examples of rewarding counterplay in the history of Starcraft. Because the automatic attack is often the worst way to use the ability, there is a lot of room for a higher level player to show off their skill. Making sure to hit the right targets, issuing move commands until the moment is right, and actively using the explode button to kill fleeing targets, all provide opportunities for skill differentiation. In the hands of a new player the baneling can be completely useless, while in the hands of a seasoned veteran, in the exact same scenario, it can win them the game.



Load/Unload

This is one of the most effective active abilities in Starcraft. Both Drops and Nydus are incredibly intuitive visually. Counterplay is often about army positioning and splitting on the tactical level. At the micro level there are various battles of target-firing vs loading and unloading with one player attempting to dodge the projectiles of the enemy ranged units while the other tries to time the attacks in order to prevent this. These tools have functionally infinite levels of success and provide opportunities for players to differentiate their skill on both offense and defense. While these options were mostly available to Protoss and Terran players, changes to the Nydus in Wings of Liberty to no longer require creep, and in Legacy of the Void to be invulnerable while building, have brought these opportunities of skill differentiation and counterplay to the Zerg matchups.



Barrier

A very visually intuitive spell; it looks like a shield, and it is! With different stats Barrier would be exactly like Prismatic Alignment: boring execution and binary decision making. But because the duration of Barrier is so short, it makes the “wait until it’s over” counterplay option much more interesting. Instead of not engaging for fourteen and a half seconds, you can target the other units for two seconds and retarget the Immortal once the barrier is down. The player controlling the Immortals can pull them back or use warp prisms to avoid damage while the barrier is down and the Immortal has run out of shields. This provides both players the opportunity to differentiate their skill.



Stasis Ward

The immobility aspect of Stasis Ward is very intuitive, as is the idea that its a sort of trap that is laid by the Oracle. However the fact that the units in stasis cannot be attacked is a bit of a hidden effect. Stasis Ward offers multiple interesting options for counterplay including looking for the shimmer effect of the ward. The fact that it has a constant animation makes this much more viable. Killing the Stasis Ward or the Oracle creating it, are also options for counterplay. In addition there are many techniques to “diffuse” a Stasis Ward such as running a zergling in and out of the activation radius, using a temporary unit or invulnerable unit, or a mobility active like blink or psionic transfer. As a special case, the Ultralisk has the Frenzy ability and cannot be effected by Stasis Ward, but it does, however, activate the auto cast. A strong protoss player can demonstrate their skill by turning the auto cast off and activating at the best possible time, or never activating it in order to delay expansions and gain scouting information. Where exactly the Stasis Ward is placed is another area in which a player can differentiate themselves: predicting the enemy’s movement and stasising part or all of the army as part of a bigger positional tactical play.



Fungal Growth

Very clear and visual. The addition of a non-instant, skill shot style cast in Heart of the Swarm created increased opportunities for play and counterplay. The caster attempts to lead and predict the movement of the opponent, while the opponent attempts to dodge the Fungal. This of course is in addition to the less interesting forms of counter play such as staying out of range and killing the spellcaster before the spell is cast. Fungal allows for players to differentiate their skill from each other on many levels and on both sides of the engagement primarily due to the skill shot cast and the importance of keeping the Infestor alive.



Release Interceptors

All the necessary components are present for visual intuitiveness. The timed life bars appear over the interceptors, and the fact that the carrier no longer needs to remain close by is revealed when it is recalled or moves away from the interceptor’s position. Counterplay options exist in simply destroying the released interceptors, or more interesting is the fact that the Carriers are left with no interceptors after releasing and are vulnerable. Exploiting this sizable time of vulnerability is probably the most interesting counterplay option. As far as differentiating skill is concerned, when and where to release interceptors and providing a safe retreat path for your valuable carriers all play critical roles in the effectiveness of the ability. While this isn’t a particularly flashy way to differentiate skill, it provides the same effect and adds to the depth of decision making in micro.



Psionic Storm

A perfect example of a visually intuitive ability; a storm of lightning covers the enemy in an area, health bars begin to drop and units explode. No explanation is necessary. Opportunities for counterplay range from the most basic ‘stay out of range’ and ‘kill the caster’ to the more complex splitting units to mitigate damage, as well as ability specific counterplay like snipe, EMP, and Feedback. As a “target ground” ability Psionic Storm creates the careful dance of zoning and positioning: each player attempting to predict the other’s moves. It falls short as an instant cast spell, providing the opponent with very little time to react. Players have some opportunities to differentiate their skill when using Psionic Storm by utilizing drops to protect the slow, fragile templar until the time to storm has come, as well as careful storm flanks and general movement prediction and leading.



Lock-On

The graphics used to depict Lock-On do a lot to help make it a visually intuitive ability. The counterplay is somewhat limited, but vastly improved in a recent patch that reduced the “range when locked on”. In the same way that phoenixes kite mutalisks, the cyclone kites anything that is equal to or lower speed than it. By making the space between the range at which Lock-On begins and when it can be broken smaller, more opportunities exist for players to juke out the player controlling the cyclone. In the same way the Immortal’s Barrier only rewards individual micro when the length of time is short enough, the Cyclone’s Lock-On only creates interesting counterplay when the range is short enough. Terrain and forethought suddenly become much more critical with a lower range and opportunities for players to differentiate their skill arise out of these types of decisions.



Blinding Cloud

A bit ambiguous visually. Does it protect the units under the cloud or put them at a disadvantage? Does it completely disable their attack or just lower their range? Knowing the name of the ability helps, but that puts the newer spectator at a slight disadvantage. Interesting counterplay options exist in positional play. Knowing the opponent has vipers effects the terrain best to engage on. One of the best parts of this ability concerning counterplay is that it affects all ground units on the field. This means that the opponent can potentially find ways to use the caster’s Blinding Clouds against them. For many of the reasons Blinding Cloud offers excellent opportunities for counterplay, it also offers opportunities for players to differentiate their skill. There is a near infinite level of granularity concerning the success or failure of a Blinding Cloud. The caster needs to carefully consider what will happen after the Blinding Cloud is cast to find the absolute best location for producing the desired effect. It can buy time for a defense, force an engagement, or move an enemy army into an unfavorable position. Even now the possibilities are unlikely to be fully explored.



Purification Nova

The main elements are visually intuitive: it speeds up, and blows things up. The fact that it is invulnerable and untargetable during this time is a bit less intuitive. It helps that Purification Nova is often active while in range of enemy units. So, an observant spectator may pick up on the fact that the Disruptor is not being attacked and conclude that it can’t be attacked while Purification Nova is active, but this is likely an uncommon case. Counterplay exists in splitting (similar to banelings and marines), but with the current statistics this is difficult if not impossible for many units to do so. Another option is using drops to pick up units in the danger zone. A less obvious form of counterplay lies in the vulnerability of the Disruptor after the Purification Nova is over. It is often in the middle of the remaining enemies and has a slow move speed, the fact that the cost of the Disruptor is so high, (especially in gas), allows the opponent the opportunity to make cost effective trades even if they can’t avoid all the damage completely. This last part gives many gradients of success for both the caster and the opponent. In addition, timing the Purification Nova and spreading out the Disruptors for maximum damage offer another opportunity for differentiation of skill.



Parasitic Bomb

Parasitic Bomb is, for the most part, a visually intuitive area of effect damage spell. A slight drawback is that the Parasitic Bomb only affects air units, which is difficult to intuit on the first couple of viewings without explanation. The damage rate is fairly low so counterplay exists in spreading out and quarantining the afflicted unit(s) in order to mitigate damage in addition to the normal options. In terms of skill differentiation there’s more opportunity for the opponent to show their skill by quickly separating the affected units than for the caster to point and click. Nevertheless, the ability for creates a scenario where skill differentiation will occur.



Seeker Missile

The visuals for this ability have been vastly improved over the development of Starcraft 2 and the explosion dealing splash damage is pretty self evident. A basic but enjoyable counterplay exists in pulling the targeted units back alongside some tricky plays that turn the seeker missile against its caster by running the targeted unit into the enemy army! Making sure units that can't outrun the missile are separated from the rest of the army provides yet another layer of counterplay to this ability. On top of all that, there is enough time provided to execute these responses and the suspense naturally builds up for the spectator. However, as a point and click spell the micro is placed almost entirely in the hands of the opponent. This is a slightly better scenario than the opposite case because the player casting the spell has the potential for an exciting pay off, but is still less than ideal for the counterplay category. For the same reason, it is difficult for the player using seeker missiles to differentiate their skill because the result of the ability is largely in the hands of their opponent.



Infested Terran

Full marks for visual intuitiveness. Limited counterplay in the “kill the unit” and “wait it out” options. Its worth noting that there is a significant amount of time for this counterplay to take place so its a bit more interesting than other abilities with similar counterplay options, forcing a commitment from the Infested Terran-ing player to a particular piece of terrain. This opens up the 3rd counterplay option of abusing the immobility once the Infested Terrans have been deployed, and counter attacking or harassing. The range of outcomes determined by skill with this particular ability is quite low, coming down mostly to when it’s best to commit to a location with Infested Terrans.



EMP

EMP has a bit more telegraphing than its cousin the Feedback despite it being more or less an instant cast spell. This helps it to be a bit more visually intuitive. Like Psionic Storm, EMP is a “target ground” ability and provides similar counterplay options as a result. However, since the damage and energy loss is immediate the counterplay is significantly less engaging. As far as showing skill is concerned, EMP falls short because of its high range and instant cast as no leading or movement prediction is necessary.



Nuke

Its a nuclear fricken’ bomb, doesn't get much more visually apparent than that. Counterplay opportunities are extensive for the player being nuked as they have ample time to find the red indicator dot and dispatch the ghost painting the target or evacuate the area. If that's not enough, all players here a global 'nuclear launch detected' sound effect to make sure they know it’s coming. There isn't too much area for players to differentiate their skill with the nuke ability. Aside from the potential to push the opponent into a poor position for an upcoming fight, the nuke is more or less a click and pray ability.



Force Field

The Force Field is extremely intuitive visually. The Force Field appears in an area, units can't go past it, very straightforward for everyone involved. Counterplay to the Force Field is very limited. Generally speaking, all the micro is in the hands of the Force Fielding player while their opponent can only hope a mistake is made. Only when the Force Fields are misplaced or placed too slowly does an opportunity for counterplay present itself. The only exceptions to this are: massive units (which tend to appear in the mid-late game), Corrosive Bile, and the very basic, 'stay out of range' option. Even in the case of positioning it is almost always up to the Force Fielding player to make a mistake before their opponent is allowed agency in the engagement. Force Fields do however have a tremendous ability for players using them to differentiate their skill with speed and accuracy. Unfortunately the outcomes are often binary: you either hit all the right force fields and win, or misplace one and lose.



Ignite Afterburners

A speed increase big enough to be noticeable makes this a strong ability visually. Counterplay is somewhat limited in that almost no units can catch the medivac when boosting. The most prominent form of counterplay is catching the medivacs when the afterburners are on cooldown. This is somewhat similar to players attempting to catch siege tanks unsieged. Execution of afterburners provides some opportunity for players to differentiate their skill such as saving slow units like thors when retreating or even when chasing faster enemy units like hellbat drops against bio in TvT.



Abduct

Quintessential visual intuitiveness: there’s absolutely no question what is happening when watching an abduct happen. There’s also a long enough animation that it isn’t easily missed by novice spectators. However, counterplay options are pretty weak in the forms of ‘Stay out of range’ and ‘Kill the unit’. In the same way, the point and click execution of the abduct leaves little room for players to differentiate their skill. Rapid Fire aside, it’s unlikely that any player will be known for their superior abduct execution anytime in the foreseeable future.



Caustic Spray

The initial attack is visually intuitive: green goo deals damage. However when the damage jumps from 5dps to 25dps there is no visual indication (other than the HP of the building dropping faster). In terms of counterplay we are again limited to “kill the unit”. The point and click execution also provide no opportunity for players to differentiate their skill.



Neural Parasite

Neural has a long telegraph and a very clear connection/color change assuming the graphics settings are conducive giving it a great visual intuitive feel. Unfortunately the counterplay is limited to “kill the unit” or “stay out of range”. Players have some opportunity to demonstrate their skill with this ability but this is more often in the strategic decision to go for neural parasite than it is in the actual execution of the ability.



Graviton Beam

This ability is very intuitive visually but lacks in opportunities for counterplay. Only the most basic 'kill the unit' and 'stay out of range' options are available. Graviton Beam is a creative way to gate, or limit, the phoenix's ability to deal damage to ground units, but the ability itself puts almost all the control in the hands of the player doing the lifting. As far as differentiating skill goes, Graviton Beam falls short as an instant point and shoot ability leaving the skill differentiation in the control of the phoenix's movement more so than execution of the Graviton Beam.



Phase/Transport

This is basically a variation of the Siege ability and has similar traits. It is very intuitive visually, the counterplay options are more or less the same, but because of the nature of the advantage granted while immobile (the ability to warp in units) the area to differentiate skill is much smaller than something like a Siege Tank. However, some positioning is required to keep the Warp Prism alive, as well as forethought concerning when to go into Phase Mode.



Point Defense Drone

This ability, while visually intuitive suffers from a very specific set of rules as it only blocks attacks that are considered to be projectiles and not all ranged units. Counterplay exists either as burning out the charges of the PDD and killing it, (in which case the PDD has served its purpose) or waiting until it times out; neither of which are particularly engaging. Unfortunately we have yet to see any major skill differentiation with this ability.



Auto Turret

The Raven makes a turret, the turret shoots things: Very straight forward. In terms of counterplay there's not much aside from the 'wait until it’s over' or ‘kill it’ options. In general, abilities where the best response is for the opponent to wait do not add much to the gameplay or spectator experience, and the auto turret is no exception to this rule. Even in the case where auto turrets are used to delay an opponent's push, the opponent will likely just a-move through them. While this might be strategically significant, as an ability it lacks counterplay. In the same way there isn't much skill differentiation available in the auto turret. The placement of the auto turret has some room to show a strong player from a weak one, but that is where the road ends.



Recall

Initially the Arbiter could recall units from an area on the map, to the location of the Arbiter. This was copied exactly to the Mothership in Wings of Liberty but changed in Heart of the Swarm with the addition of the Mothership Core to teleport units already around the Mothership/Mothership Core to a Nexus. Which can be considered a slight improvement in visual intuitiveness as all the units involved can be seen on a single screen. Counterplay for recall exists only in the very basic 'kill the unit first' option, and as a result is generally not a particularly engaging ability for the opponent of the recalling player. Special exceptions however are found in unit specific abilities like Abduct and EMP. Very little skill differentiation can take place when executing a recall other than the very basic 'do it before it gets killed' timing.



Transfuse

The healing effect on Transfuse is easy to understand as long as healthbars are being shown. Counterplay for Transfuse is generally limited to targeting Queens down (especially the ones with highest energy) and some ability specific counterplay like Feedback and EMP. But these options are available on almost any ability so it isn’t really a significant form of counterplay compared to other abilities. Transfuse requires very little skill for execution. The one area that differentiates a strong transfuse caster from a weak one is choosing the correct target at the correct time for the spell. This however doesn’t usually have a big effect on the outcome of an engagement as almost any Transfuse that is successful is going to be a good Transfuse.



Tactical Jump

Very straight forward, lots of telegraphing. For the spectator, a competent observer is key to understanding the Tactical Jump on first viewing. Luckily dedicated observers are the standard for high quality Starcraft 2 casts so this will rarely be an issue. Tactical Jump is sorely lacking, however, in the counterplay department. The Battlecruiser teleports instantly so focusing it down before it can get away is not an option. Upon arriving at the new location it is invulnerable while warping in so there’s not much to do but wait until it fully arrives. Some positioning can be utilized in situations where units are within 4 seconds of movement, but these situations are likely to be rare and in total control of the player with the Battlecruiser. As far as skill differentiation goes,there is also not very much room. Tactical Jumping takes 125 energy so it can only be used once in a very long while. Although this decision will be important, it doesn’t provide many opportunities for skill differentiation.



Guardian Shield

This ability is very visually intuitive, it’s literally a safety bubble. However, counterplay options are hard to find aside from the 'try not to engage when the ability is active' (aka wait) option as well as the equally uninteresting ‘kill the unit’ option. Honorable mention to using melee units as a form of counterplay when available. Skill differentiation is almost non-existent. When engaging, press the button. When not engaging, do not press the button.



Yamato Cannon

A giant fireball is blasted at the enemy dealing massive damage… yeap, this gets a pass on visual intuitiveness. For counterplay there are almost no options; once the Yamato starts there’s no escaping it. Our standard ‘kill the unit’ is hardly even an option because of the incredibly high health and armor of the Battlecruiser, which leaves us with only ability specific counterplay like Feedback and EMP. For skill differentiation, there’s not much available. Its a point and click, long range spell on a slow unit. Most players will hit the skill ceiling very quickly and pro players will have nearly identical results when put into identical situations with Yamato Cannon.



Disintegration

Very straightforward and visually intuitive with the single caveat that nothing can repair a unit that is being disintegrated. This last part also shuts down what little counterplay would exist without it. “kill the unit” is not even an option once the disintegration has begun. The only thing that can be done about disintegration is keeping out of range of the spell. When hit with disintegration a unit will die, and nothing can stop it. Which sounds exciting in a theatrical sense, but in gameplay it acts only as a timer to the opponent, attempting to force an attack. Possibly evoking a sense of frustration and hopelessness in a medium where agency is the defining characteristic that separates it from other media like books and movies. While the idea of an “initiator” unit in Starcraft 2 is an interesting avenue to explore, the current form of disintegration is not accomplishing this in a way that is engaging for the opponent. This may be because there is no “counter-initiator” unit, ability, or tactic in place to give the opponent something interesting to do. In the same way as many point and click abilities, there are very little opportunities for players to demonstrate their skill by using Disintegration.



Hallucination

Although unit clones can be slightly confusing to new spectators and players, the graphics are designed in a way that make it relatively apparent to the spectator and the player controlling the Hallucination that they are not “real” units. It is not however, particularly intuitive to the player fighting against the hallucination. This is an unavoidable aspect of an ability that is intended to misinform the opponent. In battle with detection the units will automatically ignore the hallucinations and attack the real units making the counterplay for this ability very binary. When the enemy has no detection the hallucinations are effective. When the enemy has detection the hallucinations are almost always not effective. Its worth mentioning that this change in targeting priority can be used intentionally by the hallucination player to body block for other ranged units. In battle, hallucination creates some room for players to differentiate skill, but most of that potential lies outside battle, in deceiving the opponent into preparing for a unit or composition that does not truly exist.



Cloak/Burrow

A variety of units have made use of the ability to cloak over the years. Zergs doing so in the form of Burrow. The visuals are pretty clear, but some explaining is often required to the uninitiated player or viewer. Counterplay options exist in “ground targeting” abilities like Storm and Force Field as well as creative uses of splash damage like targeting one's own units. However, in many scenarios the binary effect of detection or no detection reigns supreme. There isn't much in the way of players differentiating their skill purely with their execution of Cloak or Burrow, most often this ability is used to enhance the effect of harassment multitasking which is not something exclusive to Cloaked/Burrowed units.



Feedback

It lacks a level of visual intuitiveness for the spectator and opponent due to the lack of telegraphing, high speed, and short duration of the ability. However, it is relatively straightforward to the player executing the Feedback. Only the very basic “Stay out of range” and “kill the unit first” forms of counterplay are available for this ability as it has a point and click execution. For the same reason it is generally difficult for a player to differentiate their skill with feedback as it produces very binary results, either the feedback went off, or the templar was killed before the feedback could go off (with the special exception of EMP).



Snipe

This point and click spell happens very quickly and can be easily lost on a new player or spectator. Fortunately, the familiar "sniping" sound does a lot to make up for this. As a point and click spell the only real counterplay to the snipe ability lies largely in the "stay out of range" option which isn't particularly engaging for the opponent. Skill differentiation is another weak point of the Snipe ability. Due to its long range, instant cast, and point and click functionality, there isn't much room for a player to show their skill aside from the mouse accuracy required to click on the high priority targets. This also suffers from a binary result of either sniping the right unit or the wrong one.



Prismatic Alignment

Prismatic Alignment not only misses the mark on visual intuitiveness, but goes in the opposite direction to achieve the rare attribute of being visually misleading. Its very likely that you yourself have activated prismatic alignment against non-armored targets at one time or another, thinking you were getting a damage boost when you weren’t. You may even be finding out about this for the first time right now. Counterplay is near zero with uninteresting “wait until it’s over” being the main option, and even then the opponent is sometimes in a position where they must fight and there are no options for counterplay at all. There is the niche option of Fungal growth but this is rare. Prismatic Alignment also fails miserably when it comes to showing player skill. It follows a binary decision: Are their armored things that I’ll be dealing damage to? If yes, then Prismatic Alignment, if no, then don’t.





Conclusions!



Many of the new abilities added in Legacy of Void score well in visual intuitiveness, counterplay, and skill differentiation. Disintegration, Caustic Spray, and Tactical Jump are outliers in this respect and don’t seem to follow the design principles outlined at Blizzcon 2014. Prismatic Alignment and Snipe score particularly poorly in these respects. Snipe has been slated for an update/replacement in the most recent Blizzard update, but there has been no mention of Prismatic Alignment thus far; perhaps we will see something soon!



TL;DR

The sentiment that there are too many abilities in Starcraft is too vague to be constructive. Instead, let’s consider each ability individually and discuss its effect on the game.



So, let’s talk about active abilities in Sc2. What abilities would you put higher on your list? What abilities would you put lower? Why? What criteria do you think is important when considering an active ability for Starcraft 2? Why? And above all else, why is the Immortal produced from the Robotics Facility when it is a cyborg and the Sentry unlocked with the Cybernetics Core when it is a Robot?

Recently there have been a few posts considering the direction of Starcraft concerning “spells” or “active abilities”. A popular sentiment seems to be that there are too many of them currently in the game and that Starcraft is becoming too similar to a MOBA or WC3 in terms of unit control. I feel that this idea is a bit too general to be constructive and has some inherent logical flaws as a result. Just because an ability is used in another game doesn’t necessarily mean that it will have a negative effect when applied to Starcraft 2. Conversely, just because an ability existed in Brood War doesn’t necessarily mean it will have a positive effect when applied to Starcraft 2. I also argue that having a certain number (or percentage) of units with active abilities isn’t inherently bad; it depends on the effect of each individual ability. I think there is merit in the idea of creating units that encourage positional or movement based play like the Siege Tank or the Zergling. However, units that encourage movement based micro and units that have active abilities are not mutually exclusive. In fact, many active abilities encourage this kind of play such as Siege Mode, Corrosive Bile, and Fungal Growth. The goal of this article is to shift the discussion away from the previously mentioned generalizations, and toward the analysis of specific abilities and their effects on the game.For the sake of keeping the scope reasonable and the article constructive, we will not be looking at abilities like Zealot Charge that are almost always used inactively, nor building abilities like Scan. We will only go over abilities that are currently slated to remain in LotV and are used in combat. The primary purpose of this analysis is to identify the strengths and weaknesses of the design of various unit abilities under the following criteria:It’s important to remember that the assessment of each ability is approached purely from a design perspective and does not consider its effects on the state of balance. This article makes no attempt to suggest changes, or removal of abilities, but instead intends to facilitate discussion about the role these abilities play in the game and what we can learn from their successes and failures to provide a more enjoyable gameplay experience for everyone.We’ll start with the abilities that best represent these criteria and move toward those that fall short. Keep in mind since these are not quantifiable criteria, much of the ranking is affected by my personal biases. I encourage you to share both your agreements and disagreements so that we might all develop a better understanding of how specific active abilities affect Starcraft.Straightforward, visually intuitive, with a whole lot of telegraphing. Not only is Corrosive Bile easy to understand without words, it also provides lots of time for the viewer to absorb that information. Corrosive Bile provides tons of opportunities for micro on both sides in many different ways. The casting player can use Corrosive Bile as a zoning mechanic, a way to deal damage to slow or immobile units, or simply to force the opponent to move their units instead of attacking with them. It also punishes players for not paying attention to their army. On the opponent’s side, dealing with Corrosive Bile is incredibly engaging. Dodging the Corrosive Bile shots while trying to maintain high dps, baiting Corrosive Bile shots, taking advantage of the cooldown, using the terrain and army positioning to flank, and surrounding the Ravagers with melee units are all options of ways to gain an advantage against the Ravager’s Corrosive Bile. In the same way, Corrosive Bile offers many opportunities for players to differentiate their skill. Movement prediction and position manipulation are both defining characteristics in a strong Corrosive Bile caster.Surprisingly intuitive visually for its level of complexity. I may be experiencing some personal bias here, but all the pieces look to me like they’re doing visually what they’re doing actually. Maybe on the first viewing, before the adept teleports, what’s happening may be unclear, but after that point I think it's fairly easy to grasp, even for a new spectator. Psionic Transfer provides a similar brand of counterplay that drops do. Splitting up the army appropriately is critical to dealing with Psionic Transfer. Similar to many abilities in Starcraft, once the ability is on cooldown the casting unit is vulnerable, creating a counterplay opening. The fact that players can’t choose when to teleport provides an important and consistent opportunity for counterplay. Even once the shade is released, the opponent knows exactly how long they have to target down adepts before a teleport is possible. In terms of differentiation of skill, Psionic Transfer creates a lot of opportunities. Knowledge of timing makes a player controlling an adept much more powerful. Knowing how far the adept can travel in a single cast, knowing how long it can survive against a given enemy force, and using the canceling ability to catch the opponent out of position in order to retreat safely or deal more damage are all critical to counterplay. All these things and more contribute to the Psionic Transfer’s ability to provide opportunities for players to show their skill.A fantastic example of a visually intuitive ability. The animation is just enough for a spectator to understand what is happening as each Stalker blinks. Counterplay is a bit on the weak side for Blink, because much of the outcome of the battle is decided by the blinking player and not their opponent. However counterplay exists in utilizing terrain and positioning to mitigate the advantages gained by blinking. This can be accomplished through flanks and surrounds as well as pushing stalkers into a corner where they are unable to blink. In addition, there are scenarios where the cooldown of Blink can be taken advantage of as a form of counterplay. Finally, there exists the slightly less engaging counterplay of utilizing units with instant damage like Immortals to mitigate Blink’s ability to “dodge projectiles”. Skill differentiation is where Blink really shines. We already have players specifically known for their incredible Blink play and execution. A handful of Blink Stalkers can have a wide range of power depending exclusively on the player controlling them. As mentioned before, attacks that are considered projectiles, like the marauder’s attack, can be avoided by a well timed Blink. This not only decreases damage taken, but lowers the overall dps of the enemy force.For this ability, any unit that gains a significant advantage from becoming immobile is included. So that means, Lurkers, Siege Tanks, and Widow Mines (with the Swarm Host recently removed from this list). These abilities are very intuitive visually to all parties involved, the Widow Mine and Lurker burrowing underground and the Siege Tank deploying its stabilizing legs. Counterplay for this ability is extensive. Forcing sieges and moving out of range before the unit can deal its damage, abusing the immobility by attacking along other routes and at other locations, casting ground targeting abilities like Corrosive Bile and Psionic Storm, catching the unit "unsieged", and the more basic use of air units against Lurkers and Tanks are all engaging forms of counterplay. The Siege Tank provides an additional element of counterplay because it can shoot farther than it can see and therefore requires spotter units or scans to be maximally effective. In response, the opponent can eliminate these spotter units, limiting the siege tank's power. The space for players to differentiate their skill with this ability is immense. It takes a great deal of forethought and tactical ability to be sure each siege unit is at the right place at the right time, moving only when it is safe to do so, abusing the features of the map to gain more advantage, and finding every opportunity to re-position in order to maximize the effectiveness and potential for control offered by these units. However, these opportunities for players to differentiate skill is greatly diminished in LotV for the Siege Tank, which can be picked up and dropped off while in siege mode by a Medivac, moving the skill differentiation to the Load/Unload ability.A very visually intuitive ability as most “pushing” type spells are. Concerning counter play, the fact that there is a short delay before the effect is very important. This allows the opponent to avoid the effect, or even, in rare situations, use it to their advantage. The KD8 Charge also provides many options for players to demonstrate their skill. This happens because of the very specific attributes of the ability. First, when two or more charges are placed close together, they will explode simultaneously. Also, the damage of the KD8 Charges does not stack! As a result, knowing the exact blast radius of the charge allows the caster to improve its effectiveness. Spamming out tons of KD8 Charges will be less effective than calculated, intentional casts. In addition, players that can aim the spell’s push effect will be able to “juggle” units with proper timing. Its important to note that this is very difficult to accomplish but is incredibly powerful for those with expert execution.As long as the observer has health bars set to damaged (looking at you GSL), stim is very visually intuitive: all the units lose some health and begin to move faster. The fact that the attack rate is also increased is a bit less noticeable, but the increased movement speed helps to give the feeling that the unit has sped up over all. Counterplay includes: baiting stim with faster units, like mutalisks, to deal damage to the opponent’s army; engaging with a critical number units that deal damage from long range so that the health loss disadvantage outweighs the advantage of increased speed, such as with siege tanks; buying time after the Terran stims with abilities like force field; and using high armor to dull the advantage of increased attack speed with things like the Sentry’s Guardian Shield and the Ultralisk’s Chitinous Plating. Stim also increases the Marine’s capacity to demonstrate a player’s skill by allowing fast players to split quickly against banelings, where a novice would be too slow to fully utilize its potential.The baneling's explode ability is incredibly straight forward and intuitive (as most explosions are). In addition, the splitting and counter splitting micro it creates is one of the best examples of rewarding counterplay in the history of Starcraft. Because the automatic attack is often the worst way to use the ability, there is a lot of room for a higher level player to show off their skill. Making sure to hit the right targets, issuing move commands until the moment is right, and actively using the explode button to kill fleeing targets, all provide opportunities for skill differentiation. In the hands of a new player the baneling can be completely useless, while in the hands of a seasoned veteran, in the exact same scenario, it can win them the game.This is one of the most effective active abilities in Starcraft. Both Drops and Nydus are incredibly intuitive visually. Counterplay is often about army positioning and splitting on the tactical level. At the micro level there are various battles of target-firing vs loading and unloading with one player attempting to dodge the projectiles of the enemy ranged units while the other tries to time the attacks in order to prevent this. These tools have functionally infinite levels of success and provide opportunities for players to differentiate their skill on both offense and defense. While these options were mostly available to Protoss and Terran players, changes to the Nydus in Wings of Liberty to no longer require creep, and in Legacy of the Void to be invulnerable while building, have brought these opportunities of skill differentiation and counterplay to the Zerg matchups.A very visually intuitive spell; it looks like a shield, and it is! With different stats Barrier would be exactly like Prismatic Alignment: boring execution and binary decision making. But because the duration of Barrier is so short, it makes the “wait until it’s over” counterplay option much more interesting. Instead of not engaging for fourteen and a half seconds, you can target the other units for two seconds and retarget the Immortal once the barrier is down. The player controlling the Immortals can pull them back or use warp prisms to avoid damage while the barrier is down and the Immortal has run out of shields. This provides both players the opportunity to differentiate their skill.The immobility aspect of Stasis Ward is very intuitive, as is the idea that its a sort of trap that is laid by the Oracle. However the fact that the units in stasis cannot be attacked is a bit of a hidden effect. Stasis Ward offers multiple interesting options for counterplay including looking for the shimmer effect of the ward. The fact that it has a constant animation makes this much more viable. Killing the Stasis Ward or the Oracle creating it, are also options for counterplay. In addition there are many techniques to “diffuse” a Stasis Ward such as running a zergling in and out of the activation radius, using a temporary unit or invulnerable unit, or a mobility active like blink or psionic transfer. As a special case, the Ultralisk has the Frenzy ability and cannot be effected by Stasis Ward, but it does, however, activate the auto cast. A strong protoss player can demonstrate their skill by turning the auto cast off and activating at the best possible time, or never activating it in order to delay expansions and gain scouting information. Where exactly the Stasis Ward is placed is another area in which a player can differentiate themselves: predicting the enemy’s movement and stasising part or all of the army as part of a bigger positional tactical play.Very clear and visual. The addition of a non-instant, skill shot style cast in Heart of the Swarm created increased opportunities for play and counterplay. The caster attempts to lead and predict the movement of the opponent, while the opponent attempts to dodge the Fungal. This of course is in addition to the less interesting forms of counter play such as staying out of range and killing the spellcaster before the spell is cast. Fungal allows for players to differentiate their skill from each other on many levels and on both sides of the engagement primarily due to the skill shot cast and the importance of keeping the Infestor alive.All the necessary components are present for visual intuitiveness. The timed life bars appear over the interceptors, and the fact that the carrier no longer needs to remain close by is revealed when it is recalled or moves away from the interceptor’s position. Counterplay options exist in simply destroying the released interceptors, or more interesting is the fact that the Carriers are left with no interceptors after releasing and are vulnerable. Exploiting this sizable time of vulnerability is probably the most interesting counterplay option. As far as differentiating skill is concerned, when and where to release interceptors and providing a safe retreat path for your valuable carriers all play critical roles in the effectiveness of the ability. While this isn’t a particularly flashy way to differentiate skill, it provides the same effect and adds to the depth of decision making in micro.A perfect example of a visually intuitive ability; a storm of lightning covers the enemy in an area, health bars begin to drop and units explode. No explanation is necessary. Opportunities for counterplay range from the most basic ‘stay out of range’ and ‘kill the caster’ to the more complex splitting units to mitigate damage, as well as ability specific counterplay like snipe, EMP, and Feedback. As a “target ground” ability Psionic Storm creates the careful dance of zoning and positioning: each player attempting to predict the other’s moves. It falls short as an instant cast spell, providing the opponent with very little time to react. Players have some opportunities to differentiate their skill when using Psionic Storm by utilizing drops to protect the slow, fragile templar until the time to storm has come, as well as careful storm flanks and general movement prediction and leading.The graphics used to depict Lock-On do a lot to help make it a visually intuitive ability. The counterplay is somewhat limited, but vastly improved in a recent patch that reduced the “range when locked on”. In the same way that phoenixes kite mutalisks, the cyclone kites anything that is equal to or lower speed than it. By making the space between the range at which Lock-On begins and when it can be broken smaller, more opportunities exist for players to juke out the player controlling the cyclone. In the same way the Immortal’s Barrier only rewards individual micro when the length of time is short enough, the Cyclone’s Lock-On only creates interesting counterplay when the range is short enough. Terrain and forethought suddenly become much more critical with a lower range and opportunities for players to differentiate their skill arise out of these types of decisions.A bit ambiguous visually. Does it protect the units under the cloud or put them at a disadvantage? Does it completely disable their attack or just lower their range? Knowing the name of the ability helps, but that puts the newer spectator at a slight disadvantage. Interesting counterplay options exist in positional play. Knowing the opponent has vipers effects the terrain best to engage on. One of the best parts of this ability concerning counterplay is that it affects all ground units on the field. This means that the opponent can potentially find ways to use the caster’s Blinding Clouds against them. For many of the reasons Blinding Cloud offers excellent opportunities for counterplay, it also offers opportunities for players to differentiate their skill. There is a near infinite level of granularity concerning the success or failure of a Blinding Cloud. The caster needs to carefully consider what will happen after the Blinding Cloud is cast to find the absolute best location for producing the desired effect. It can buy time for a defense, force an engagement, or move an enemy army into an unfavorable position. Even now the possibilities are unlikely to be fully explored.The main elements are visually intuitive: it speeds up, and blows things up. The fact that it is invulnerable and untargetable during this time is a bit less intuitive. It helps that Purification Nova is often active while in range of enemy units. So, an observant spectator may pick up on the fact that the Disruptor is not being attacked and conclude that it can’t be attacked while Purification Nova is active, but this is likely an uncommon case. Counterplay exists in splitting (similar to banelings and marines), but with the current statistics this is difficult if not impossible for many units to do so. Another option is using drops to pick up units in the danger zone. A less obvious form of counterplay lies in the vulnerability of the Disruptor after the Purification Nova is over. It is often in the middle of the remaining enemies and has a slow move speed, the fact that the cost of the Disruptor is so high, (especially in gas), allows the opponent the opportunity to make cost effective trades even if they can’t avoid all the damage completely. This last part gives many gradients of success for both the caster and the opponent. In addition, timing the Purification Nova and spreading out the Disruptors for maximum damage offer another opportunity for differentiation of skill.Parasitic Bomb is, for the most part, a visually intuitive area of effect damage spell. A slight drawback is that the Parasitic Bomb only affects air units, which is difficult to intuit on the first couple of viewings without explanation. The damage rate is fairly low so counterplay exists in spreading out and quarantining the afflicted unit(s) in order to mitigate damage in addition to the normal options. In terms of skill differentiation there’s more opportunity for the opponent to show their skill by quickly separating the affected units than for the caster to point and click. Nevertheless, the ability for creates a scenario where skill differentiation will occur.The visuals for this ability have been vastly improved over the development of Starcraft 2 and the explosion dealing splash damage is pretty self evident. A basic but enjoyable counterplay exists in pulling the targeted units back alongside some tricky plays that turn the seeker missile against its caster by running the targeted unit into the enemy army! Making sure units that can't outrun the missile are separated from the rest of the army provides yet another layer of counterplay to this ability. On top of all that, there is enough time provided to execute these responses and the suspense naturally builds up for the spectator. However, as a point and click spell the micro is placed almost entirely in the hands of the opponent. This is a slightly better scenario than the opposite case because the player casting the spell has the potential for an exciting pay off, but is still less than ideal for the counterplay category. For the same reason, it is difficult for the player using seeker missiles to differentiate their skill because the result of the ability is largely in the hands of their opponent.Full marks for visual intuitiveness. Limited counterplay in the “kill the unit” and “wait it out” options. Its worth noting that there is a significant amount of time for this counterplay to take place so its a bit more interesting than other abilities with similar counterplay options, forcing a commitment from the Infested Terran-ing player to a particular piece of terrain. This opens up the 3rd counterplay option of abusing the immobility once the Infested Terrans have been deployed, and counter attacking or harassing. The range of outcomes determined by skill with this particular ability is quite low, coming down mostly to when it’s best to commit to a location with Infested Terrans.EMP has a bit more telegraphing than its cousin the Feedback despite it being more or less an instant cast spell. This helps it to be a bit more visually intuitive. Like Psionic Storm, EMP is a “target ground” ability and provides similar counterplay options as a result. However, since the damage and energy loss is immediate the counterplay is significantly less engaging. As far as showing skill is concerned, EMP falls short because of its high range and instant cast as no leading or movement prediction is necessary.Its a nuclear fricken’ bomb, doesn't get much more visually apparent than that. Counterplay opportunities are extensive for the player being nuked as they have ample time to find the red indicator dot and dispatch the ghost painting the target or evacuate the area. If that's not enough, all players here a global 'nuclear launch detected' sound effect to make sure they know it’s coming. There isn't too much area for players to differentiate their skill with the nuke ability. Aside from the potential to push the opponent into a poor position for an upcoming fight, the nuke is more or less a click and pray ability.The Force Field is extremely intuitive visually. The Force Field appears in an area, units can't go past it, very straightforward for everyone involved. Counterplay to the Force Field is very limited. Generally speaking, all the micro is in the hands of the Force Fielding player while their opponent can only hope a mistake is made. Only when the Force Fields are misplaced or placed too slowly does an opportunity for counterplay present itself. The only exceptions to this are: massive units (which tend to appear in the mid-late game), Corrosive Bile, and the very basic, 'stay out of range' option. Even in the case of positioning it is almost always up to the Force Fielding player to make a mistake before their opponent is allowed agency in the engagement. Force Fields do however have a tremendous ability for players using them to differentiate their skill with speed and accuracy. Unfortunately the outcomes are often binary: you either hit all the right force fields and win, or misplace one and lose.A speed increase big enough to be noticeable makes this a strong ability visually. Counterplay is somewhat limited in that almost no units can catch the medivac when boosting. The most prominent form of counterplay is catching the medivacs when the afterburners are on cooldown. This is somewhat similar to players attempting to catch siege tanks unsieged. Execution of afterburners provides some opportunity for players to differentiate their skill such as saving slow units like thors when retreating or even when chasing faster enemy units like hellbat drops against bio in TvT.Quintessential visual intuitiveness: there’s absolutely no question what is happening when watching an abduct happen. There’s also a long enough animation that it isn’t easily missed by novice spectators. However, counterplay options are pretty weak in the forms of ‘Stay out of range’ and ‘Kill the unit’. In the same way, the point and click execution of the abduct leaves little room for players to differentiate their skill. Rapid Fire aside, it’s unlikely that any player will be known for their superior abduct execution anytime in the foreseeable future.The initial attack is visually intuitive: green goo deals damage. However when the damage jumps from 5dps to 25dps there is no visual indication (other than the HP of the building dropping faster). In terms of counterplay we are again limited to “kill the unit”. The point and click execution also provide no opportunity for players to differentiate their skill.Neural has a long telegraph and a very clear connection/color change assuming the graphics settings are conducive giving it a great visual intuitive feel. Unfortunately the counterplay is limited to “kill the unit” or “stay out of range”. Players have some opportunity to demonstrate their skill with this ability but this is more often in the strategic decision to go for neural parasite than it is in the actual execution of the ability.This ability is very intuitive visually but lacks in opportunities for counterplay. Only the most basic 'kill the unit' and 'stay out of range' options are available. Graviton Beam is a creative way to gate, or limit, the phoenix's ability to deal damage to ground units, but the ability itself puts almost all the control in the hands of the player doing the lifting. As far as differentiating skill goes, Graviton Beam falls short as an instant point and shoot ability leaving the skill differentiation in the control of the phoenix's movement more so than execution of the Graviton Beam.This is basically a variation of the Siege ability and has similar traits. It is very intuitive visually, the counterplay options are more or less the same, but because of the nature of the advantage granted while immobile (the ability to warp in units) the area to differentiate skill is much smaller than something like a Siege Tank. However, some positioning is required to keep the Warp Prism alive, as well as forethought concerning when to go into Phase Mode.This ability, while visually intuitive suffers from a very specific set of rules as it only blocks attacks that are considered to be projectiles and not all ranged units. Counterplay exists either as burning out the charges of the PDD and killing it, (in which case the PDD has served its purpose) or waiting until it times out; neither of which are particularly engaging. Unfortunately we have yet to see any major skill differentiation with this ability.The Raven makes a turret, the turret shoots things: Very straight forward. In terms of counterplay there's not much aside from the 'wait until it’s over' or ‘kill it’ options. In general, abilities where the best response is for the opponent to wait do not add much to the gameplay or spectator experience, and the auto turret is no exception to this rule. Even in the case where auto turrets are used to delay an opponent's push, the opponent will likely just a-move through them. While this might be strategically significant, as an ability it lacks counterplay. In the same way there isn't much skill differentiation available in the auto turret. The placement of the auto turret has some room to show a strong player from a weak one, but that is where the road ends.Initially the Arbiter could recall units from an area on the map, to the location of the Arbiter. This was copied exactly to the Mothership in Wings of Liberty but changed in Heart of the Swarm with the addition of the Mothership Core to teleport units already around the Mothership/Mothership Core to a Nexus. Which can be considered a slight improvement in visual intuitiveness as all the units involved can be seen on a single screen. Counterplay for recall exists only in the very basic 'kill the unit first' option, and as a result is generally not a particularly engaging ability for the opponent of the recalling player. Special exceptions however are found in unit specific abilities like Abduct and EMP. Very little skill differentiation can take place when executing a recall other than the very basic 'do it before it gets killed' timing.The healing effect on Transfuse is easy to understand as long as healthbars are being shown. Counterplay for Transfuse is generally limited to targeting Queens down (especially the ones with highest energy) and some ability specific counterplay like Feedback and EMP. But these options are available on almost any ability so it isn’t really a significant form of counterplay compared to other abilities. Transfuse requires very little skill for execution. The one area that differentiates a strong transfuse caster from a weak one is choosing the correct target at the correct time for the spell. This however doesn’t usually have a big effect on the outcome of an engagement as almost any Transfuse that is successful is going to be a good Transfuse.Very straight forward, lots of telegraphing. For the spectator, a competent observer is key to understanding the Tactical Jump on first viewing. Luckily dedicated observers are the standard for high quality Starcraft 2 casts so this will rarely be an issue. Tactical Jump is sorely lacking, however, in the counterplay department. The Battlecruiser teleports instantly so focusing it down before it can get away is not an option. Upon arriving at the new location it is invulnerable while warping in so there’s not much to do but wait until it fully arrives. Some positioning can be utilized in situations where units are within 4 seconds of movement, but these situations are likely to be rare and in total control of the player with the Battlecruiser. As far as skill differentiation goes,there is also not very much room. Tactical Jumping takes 125 energy so it can only be used once in a very long while. Although this decision will be important, it doesn’t provide many opportunities for skill differentiation.This ability is very visually intuitive, it’s literally a safety bubble. However, counterplay options are hard to find aside from the 'try not to engage when the ability is active' (aka wait) option as well as the equally uninteresting ‘kill the unit’ option. Honorable mention to using melee units as a form of counterplay when available. Skill differentiation is almost non-existent. When engaging, press the button. When not engaging, do not press the button.A giant fireball is blasted at the enemy dealing massive damage… yeap, this gets a pass on visual intuitiveness. For counterplay there are almost no options; once the Yamato starts there’s no escaping it. Our standard ‘kill the unit’ is hardly even an option because of the incredibly high health and armor of the Battlecruiser, which leaves us with only ability specific counterplay like Feedback and EMP. For skill differentiation, there’s not much available. Its a point and click, long range spell on a slow unit. Most players will hit the skill ceiling very quickly and pro players will have nearly identical results when put into identical situations with Yamato Cannon.Very straightforward and visually intuitive with the single caveat that nothing can repair a unit that is being disintegrated. This last part also shuts down what little counterplay would exist without it. “kill the unit” is not even an option once the disintegration has begun. The only thing that can be done about disintegration is keeping out of range of the spell. When hit with disintegration a unit will die, and nothing can stop it. Which sounds exciting in a theatrical sense, but in gameplay it acts only as a timer to the opponent, attempting to force an attack. Possibly evoking a sense of frustration and hopelessness in a medium where agency is the defining characteristic that separates it from other media like books and movies. While the idea of an “initiator” unit in Starcraft 2 is an interesting avenue to explore, the current form of disintegration is not accomplishing this in a way that is engaging for the opponent. This may be because there is no “counter-initiator” unit, ability, or tactic in place to give the opponent something interesting to do. In the same way as many point and click abilities, there are very little opportunities for players to demonstrate their skill by using Disintegration.Although unit clones can be slightly confusing to new spectators and players, the graphics are designed in a way that make it relatively apparent to the spectator and the player controlling the Hallucination that they are not “real” units. It is not however, particularly intuitive to the player fighting against the hallucination. This is an unavoidable aspect of an ability that is intended to misinform the opponent. In battle with detection the units will automatically ignore the hallucinations and attack the real units making the counterplay for this ability very binary. When the enemy has no detection the hallucinations are effective. When the enemy has detection the hallucinations are almost always not effective. Its worth mentioning that this change in targeting priority can be used intentionally by the hallucination player to body block for other ranged units. In battle, hallucination creates some room for players to differentiate skill, but most of that potential lies outside battle, in deceiving the opponent into preparing for a unit or composition that does not truly exist.A variety of units have made use of the ability to cloak over the years. Zergs doing so in the form of Burrow. The visuals are pretty clear, but some explaining is often required to the uninitiated player or viewer. Counterplay options exist in “ground targeting” abilities like Storm and Force Field as well as creative uses of splash damage like targeting one's own units. However, in many scenarios the binary effect of detection or no detection reigns supreme. There isn't much in the way of players differentiating their skill purely with their execution of Cloak or Burrow, most often this ability is used to enhance the effect of harassment multitasking which is not something exclusive to Cloaked/Burrowed units.It lacks a level of visual intuitiveness for the spectator and opponent due to the lack of telegraphing, high speed, and short duration of the ability. However, it is relatively straightforward to the player executing the Feedback. Only the very basic “Stay out of range” and “kill the unit first” forms of counterplay are available for this ability as it has a point and click execution. For the same reason it is generally difficult for a player to differentiate their skill with feedback as it produces very binary results, either the feedback went off, or the templar was killed before the feedback could go off (with the special exception of EMP).This point and click spell happens very quickly and can be easily lost on a new player or spectator. Fortunately, the familiar "sniping" sound does a lot to make up for this. As a point and click spell the only real counterplay to the snipe ability lies largely in the "stay out of range" option which isn't particularly engaging for the opponent. Skill differentiation is another weak point of the Snipe ability. Due to its long range, instant cast, and point and click functionality, there isn't much room for a player to show their skill aside from the mouse accuracy required to click on the high priority targets. This also suffers from a binary result of either sniping the right unit or the wrong one.Prismatic Alignment not only misses the mark on visual intuitiveness, but goes in the opposite direction to achieve the rare attribute of being visually misleading. Its very likely that you yourself have activated prismatic alignment against non-armored targets at one time or another, thinking you were getting a damage boost when you weren’t. You may even be finding out about this for the first time right now. Counterplay is near zero with uninteresting “wait until it’s over” being the main option, and even then the opponent is sometimes in a position where they must fight and there are no options for counterplay at all. There is the niche option of Fungal growth but this is rare. Prismatic Alignment also fails miserably when it comes to showing player skill. It follows a binary decision: Are their armored things that I’ll be dealing damage to? If yes, then Prismatic Alignment, if no, then don’t.Many of the new abilities added in Legacy of Void score well in visual intuitiveness, counterplay, and skill differentiation. Disintegration, Caustic Spray, and Tactical Jump are outliers in this respect and don’t seem to follow the design principles outlined at Blizzcon 2014. Prismatic Alignment and Snipe score particularly poorly in these respects. Snipe has been slated for an update/replacement in the most recent Blizzard update, but there has been no mention of Prismatic Alignment thus far; perhaps we will see something soon!The sentiment that there are too many abilities in Starcraft is too vague to be constructive. Instead, let’s consider each ability individually and discuss its effect on the game.So, let’s talk about active abilities in Sc2. What abilities would you put higher on your list? What abilities would you put lower? Why? What criteria do you think is important when considering an active ability for Starcraft 2? Why? And above all else, why is the Immortal produced from the Robotics Facility when it is a cyborg and the Sentry unlocked with the Cybernetics Core when it is a Robot? Commentator https://www.youtube.com/JaKaTaKtv