As a standard player around 1900 MMR I love using using Rays as a late arriving tarpit unit whenever my opponent goes with Stangs or Typhoons or air. Armor + Stealth Rays are outright disgusting to get rid of and they force a lot of investment into farseers or melters, something the opponent is not gonna find much use of if you dont have giants. They're also really good when youre going Stang + Arcs + Hadkers since they'll counter other air units the Stangs can't deal with and stangs will counter fort and farseer missiles if they have AM!
I'm bouncing around the 1600-1750 range and see a lot of ray spam. Lost to it once and now if I see even a single squad of rays, I'm preparing for the spam. Haven't lost to it again yet. I've found to have a strong line of fangs, possibly with ignite, and then a couple 5 beam melters. Obviously with chaff clear as well. If they have a vulcan or something then I've also had great success with mass wasps into rays.
I don't often go mass rays. but I do love the unit. generally I try and build up sledges on the ground and pair them with rays if I go for that route. usually if I see a sledge start that is what I aim for.
I actually quite like taking Hi-Ex on Phantom Rays as a second tech after Stealth, because the 40% damage malus for Hi-Ex only negates the 40% damage bonus you get from Stealth, meaning you get base damage Phantom Rays with big AOE missiles that let them clear out chaff while still being able to chew through medium to heavy units. Still situation, of course, but it can keep them from choking on chaff.
Game one: Round 6 was definitely the mistake that killed belief. I think I would have slammed the Farseer + Electro so hard. I think it's really good against the opponents board.
think of them like flying sledges. they are tanky and kinda mid in damage. stealth tech counters long range counter play and boosts damage. Armor negates fangs and mustangs quite well. Shields doubles effective HP and means Phoenixes and Marks have to shoot twice to secure the kill and with three per unit that means they need 6 shots to clear which is alot. Burst fire converts them to anti giant units so situationally useful but it means they clear chaff and medium unit spam slower. Oil is good if paired with fire units and tanky ground units but it can backfire if your board isn't prepped for it. Range is a bit of a trap I feel. Rays unstealth and shoot so longer range means you spend less time stealthed. don't worry about clicking all the tech if you deploy them. even 1 or 2 with a single tech can turn a board around. I generally like pairing them with tanky sledges with emp on the ground. my MMR isn't high though. if it doesn't work for you it doesn't work. the meta changes as you go higher.
@@Blasterbot-ye2uk I think this is solid advice for all MMR ranges. I just can't seem to win games with them even when I think I am deploying them right.
Now that Stoney made a video on it, I guess I should prepare for mass phantom rays every game :D
I played this strategy all day today. 8:2 in favor of Stoney
As a standard player around 1900 MMR I love using using Rays as a late arriving tarpit unit whenever my opponent goes with Stangs or Typhoons or air. Armor + Stealth Rays are outright disgusting to get rid of and they force a lot of investment into farseers or melters, something the opponent is not gonna find much use of if you dont have giants.
They're also really good when youre going Stang + Arcs + Hadkers since they'll counter other air units the Stangs can't deal with and stangs will counter fort and farseer missiles if they have AM!
I'm bouncing around the 1600-1750 range and see a lot of ray spam. Lost to it once and now if I see even a single squad of rays, I'm preparing for the spam. Haven't lost to it again yet. I've found to have a strong line of fangs, possibly with ignite, and then a couple 5 beam melters. Obviously with chaff clear as well. If they have a vulcan or something then I've also had great success with mass wasps into rays.
I don't often go mass rays. but I do love the unit. generally I try and build up sledges on the ground and pair them with rays if I go for that route. usually if I see a sledge start that is what I aim for.
I actually quite like taking Hi-Ex on Phantom Rays as a second tech after Stealth, because the 40% damage malus for Hi-Ex only negates the 40% damage bonus you get from Stealth, meaning you get base damage Phantom Rays with big AOE missiles that let them clear out chaff while still being able to chew through medium to heavy units. Still situation, of course, but it can keep them from choking on chaff.
Game one: Round 6 was definitely the mistake that killed belief. I think I would have slammed the Farseer + Electro so hard. I think it's really good against the opponents board.
Glad you're getting some use out of the ray! I can't seem to figure them out yet :(
think of them like flying sledges. they are tanky and kinda mid in damage. stealth tech counters long range counter play and boosts damage. Armor negates fangs and mustangs quite well. Shields doubles effective HP and means Phoenixes and Marks have to shoot twice to secure the kill and with three per unit that means they need 6 shots to clear which is alot. Burst fire converts them to anti giant units so situationally useful but it means they clear chaff and medium unit spam slower. Oil is good if paired with fire units and tanky ground units but it can backfire if your board isn't prepped for it. Range is a bit of a trap I feel. Rays unstealth and shoot so longer range means you spend less time stealthed. don't worry about clicking all the tech if you deploy them. even 1 or 2 with a single tech can turn a board around. I generally like pairing them with tanky sledges with emp on the ground. my MMR isn't high though. if it doesn't work for you it doesn't work. the meta changes as you go higher.
@@Blasterbot-ye2uk I think this is solid advice for all MMR ranges. I just can't seem to win games with them even when I think I am deploying them right.
Problem with phantom rays is there is no scorpion countering sledge equivalent
woohoo! looking forward to facing masssed rays for the next week
p.s. thanks for the re-up
second game. sometimes I feel like 201 players are just doing meta stuff regardless of the current situation