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The phoenix sucks way too much. - Page 2

Blogs > Ftrunkz
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Chill
Profile Blog Joined January 2005
Calgary25981 Posts
April 20 2010 14:50 GMT
#21
On April 20 2010 22:57 Plexa wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 20 2010 22:25 Chill wrote:
On April 20 2010 22:20 Ftrunkz wrote:
On April 20 2010 22:11 Chill wrote:
I'm tired of reading jobbers making absolute statements based on nothing. The phoenix is good vs mutas and your thread is a joke.

Urgh, wouldnt expect this from you tbh, but whatever... I really haven't seen them used, ever, in competitive matches yet, and I'd say they're the most underused unit in the game, this is a blog, im venting my opinion on a unit in starcraft 2, has a lot of content, so what exactly makes it a joke...

I've lost huge groups of mutalisks to huge groups of phoenixes many times.
Why aren't you building corruptors if he's making phoenix? Their 2 armor makes phoenix useless as it makes phoenix only deal 6 damage to them. Over 30 shots from them before a corruptor dies

Because it was 2v2.
Moderator
Plexa
Profile Blog Joined October 2005
Aotearoa39261 Posts
April 20 2010 14:51 GMT
#22
On April 20 2010 23:50 Chill wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 20 2010 22:57 Plexa wrote:
On April 20 2010 22:25 Chill wrote:
On April 20 2010 22:20 Ftrunkz wrote:
On April 20 2010 22:11 Chill wrote:
I'm tired of reading jobbers making absolute statements based on nothing. The phoenix is good vs mutas and your thread is a joke.

Urgh, wouldnt expect this from you tbh, but whatever... I really haven't seen them used, ever, in competitive matches yet, and I'd say they're the most underused unit in the game, this is a blog, im venting my opinion on a unit in starcraft 2, has a lot of content, so what exactly makes it a joke...

I've lost huge groups of mutalisks to huge groups of phoenixes many times.
Why aren't you building corruptors if he's making phoenix? Their 2 armor makes phoenix useless as it makes phoenix only deal 6 damage to them. Over 30 shots from them before a corruptor dies

Because it was 2v2.

Good point, Phoenix are really really annoying in 2v2. imo they are more viable there than anywhere else.
Administrator~ Spirit will set you free ~
Time2Shine
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada12 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-20 15:06:32
April 20 2010 14:53 GMT
#23
Don't have SC2 Beta, but watch every video I can on it. I've seen some good Phoenix play in a few Vids and replays and I DO NOT believe the purpose they serve is useless. In PvZ Phoenix is just a losing battle against mutas. Don't counter mutas with Phoenix, it is illogical. Phoenixes can help a protoss player get to the hard to reach places that Broodlords sit in PvZ. If you are applying the Phoenix against mutas, you are applying them incorrectly from a Strategic Stand Point. There is a difference in what they can do, and what you wish they could do. Every unit serves a purpose.

Muta - Attacks air and Ground
vs
Phoenix - Attacks Air (special ability to lift ground) Focused

You quite simply need a ground force to counter Mutas and a quick Zerg tech change. Might I suggest Stalker's with the Blink ability? Sentrys as well can work a Zerg ground force into a prefect shape that the Protoss can lay a hard beating on!

There are numerous effective applications for the Phoenix in PvT, PvZ and PvP. Take the time to find the right one!
If you fail to get the proper instruction in Starcraft, you will only get better at making yourself worse.
omninmo
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
2349 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-20 15:07:40
April 20 2010 15:04 GMT
#24
phoenix are pretty bad at A-moving into mutas or a zerg base with hydras. that much is true. (have you tried combining phoenix with sentries/shield? mutas melt.)
but, they are fast and can take out key units with decent micro. show 3 or 4 or them and the zerg is forced to stay in his base or add spores. if he moves out prematurely you can take out ovies and queens and then bring the phoenix's back to lift roachtanks while you kill the measly hydras or viceversa.

i agree they could use some tweaking in the stat department but you are not exactly justified in proclaiming "phoenix is a joke".

your blog is rife with emotive frustration which is fine- but dont try to defend yourself in any objective way when pzergling or chill calls you out for subjective lamentations.
intrigue
Profile Blog Joined November 2005
Washington, D.C9934 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-20 15:32:57
April 20 2010 15:25 GMT
#25
phoenixes can be frustrating, certainly, but i'm i think i'm starting to get the hang of them. they are a lot stronger in combination with other units - for example, in pvp and pvz i've had a lot of success making only 2-3 void rays and then making 2-3 phoenixes, instead of just making all phoenix or void ray (both which have quickly diminishing returns). for this reason yeah as plexa said they can be surprisingly strong in 2v2, especially also considering their speed and agility

use them surgically and you can do a shitload of damage while denying map control
Moderatorhttps://soundcloud.com/castlesmusic/sets/oak
Ideas
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
United States8108 Posts
April 20 2010 15:56 GMT
#26
I think phoenix is ONLY good to make if the zerg makes mutas. theyre really really useless if the zerg goes hydra since their GtA is just so good. I would say hydras need to be nerfed a bit vs air but then zerg would get raped by banshees every ZvT. It feels like phoenixs just arent nearly as useful vs a ground army Z and corsairs were in BW. Maybe its just that I dont have the multitasking for it though. I really hope Phoenix becomes useful soon (either by buff or people figuring out how to be used properly) because theyre AWESOME.
Free Palestine
Tripen
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada8 Posts
April 20 2010 16:40 GMT
#27
The Pheonix makes the Scout look like an amazing AA unit
3clipse
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
Canada2555 Posts
April 20 2010 16:50 GMT
#28
Well they obviously aren't the powerhouse corsairs were once critical mass was reached, but I think they're still very viable harass units. Picking off overlords is just as easy as it was with sairs, you can get a lot of scouting info, and you can even snipe queens and drone with antigrav. Zerg also lacks scourge this time around...
KwarK
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
United States42816 Posts
April 20 2010 17:10 GMT
#29
I remember a year ago they used to have this overdrive ability where, according to lore, the pilot overloaded and unshielded the engine and a field of radiation went out that damaged everything around it including the Phoenix itself. I thought that was pretty cool, made it an air vs air splash damage bomb with penalties.
ModeratorThe angels have the phone box
Zelniq
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
United States7166 Posts
April 20 2010 17:30 GMT
#30
On April 20 2010 22:57 Plexa wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 20 2010 22:25 Chill wrote:
On April 20 2010 22:20 Ftrunkz wrote:
On April 20 2010 22:11 Chill wrote:
I'm tired of reading jobbers making absolute statements based on nothing. The phoenix is good vs mutas and your thread is a joke.

Urgh, wouldnt expect this from you tbh, but whatever... I really haven't seen them used, ever, in competitive matches yet, and I'd say they're the most underused unit in the game, this is a blog, im venting my opinion on a unit in starcraft 2, has a lot of content, so what exactly makes it a joke...

I've lost huge groups of mutalisks to huge groups of phoenixes many times.
Why aren't you building corruptors if he's making phoenix? Their 2 armor makes phoenix useless as it makes phoenix only deal 6 damage to them. Over 30 shots from them before a corruptor dies

corruptors are awful vs phoenixes too. just test it with a friend and you'll see, neither can kill each other in any reasonable amount of time. iirc they are about equivalent in fighting power except that phoenix moves almost twice as fast and so if outnumbered, can instantly get away from corruptors but if they outnumber the corruptors, the corruptors will just die if they try to chase. it also means that losing a phoenix is like impossible since you can pull each phoenix away before they die quite easily (slow rate of fire, low dmg)
ModeratorBlame yourself or God
Try
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States1293 Posts
April 20 2010 17:38 GMT
#31
On April 21 2010 01:40 Tripen wrote:
The Pheonix makes the Scout look like an amazing AA unit

The scout IS an amazing AA unit.
Pyrrhuloxia
Profile Blog Joined May 2008
United States6700 Posts
April 20 2010 17:58 GMT
#32
On April 20 2010 20:25 Ftrunkz wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 20 2010 20:22 petzergling wrote:
seems strange how now that sc2 is out everyone suddenly is a professional game balancer.

maybe protoss isnt supposed to have amazing anti air so you have to compensate more for it because immortals and colo are so damn strong against ground?

no nevermind lets make phoenix on par with other A2A so that you can 1a your colo army into your opponent every game

You're right, but lets give [Protoss] a unit that cant effectively do anything, thats a good idea, just to fuck with their heads a little...

*cough* scouts *cough*
Plexa
Profile Blog Joined October 2005
Aotearoa39261 Posts
April 20 2010 18:10 GMT
#33
On April 21 2010 02:30 Zelniq wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 20 2010 22:57 Plexa wrote:
On April 20 2010 22:25 Chill wrote:
On April 20 2010 22:20 Ftrunkz wrote:
On April 20 2010 22:11 Chill wrote:
I'm tired of reading jobbers making absolute statements based on nothing. The phoenix is good vs mutas and your thread is a joke.

Urgh, wouldnt expect this from you tbh, but whatever... I really haven't seen them used, ever, in competitive matches yet, and I'd say they're the most underused unit in the game, this is a blog, im venting my opinion on a unit in starcraft 2, has a lot of content, so what exactly makes it a joke...

I've lost huge groups of mutalisks to huge groups of phoenixes many times.
Why aren't you building corruptors if he's making phoenix? Their 2 armor makes phoenix useless as it makes phoenix only deal 6 damage to them. Over 30 shots from them before a corruptor dies

corruptors are awful vs phoenixes too. just test it with a friend and you'll see, neither can kill each other in any reasonable amount of time. iirc they are about equivalent in fighting power except that phoenix moves almost twice as fast and so if outnumbered, can instantly get away from corruptors but if they outnumber the corruptors, the corruptors will just die if they try to chase. it also means that losing a phoenix is like impossible since you can pull each phoenix away before they die quite easily (slow rate of fire, low dmg)

But they soak damage - allowing mutas to clean up. At least that's what happens in my experiences.
Administrator~ Spirit will set you free ~
DuneBug
Profile Joined April 2010
United States668 Posts
April 20 2010 18:18 GMT
#34
I sort of agree with the OP.
Phoenix play out more like a caster unit than an anti-air flier. Think of all the things they're good for, harassing queens, killing drones, nullifying immortals and siege tanks. The only air they really counter are banshees and mutalisks. There's no real reason to build more than like 5 of them.
And they do counter mutas pretty hard it's just so easy for the zerg to counter phoenixes after 10 of them pop out that it's generally not a good idea. corruptors hydras or spore colonies.

The bummer is you really have nothing to escort your void rays around.

I'm kind of dissapointed in the phoenix as a unit overall. I think the corsair would fit in perfectly with protoss air without unbalancing things.
TIME TO SAY GOODNIGHT BRO!
Muirhead
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
United States556 Posts
April 20 2010 22:30 GMT
#35
If you think about it, in broodwar the counter to mutas were corsairs and science vessels. It's really hard to counter a powerful air unit with ground units. Like going pure MnM or archon could work in the beginning of broodwar, but as muta micro improved...
starleague.mit.edu
Thrill
Profile Blog Joined May 2007
2599 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-21 00:24:56
April 21 2010 00:17 GMT
#36
Scrubs...

The Phoenix is one of your greatest tools in PvT. It's hands down the best ghost counter available if you use your observers wisely and have just the slightest hint of micro. Two-base marauder clump plus two or three ghosts EMP:ing is right now impossible to counter with any Protoss ground army that's available to you in early midgame. By having a small number of phoenixes - you are forcing the Terran not to go exclusively marauder as he will loose his ghosts very quickly to anti-grav (snipe them with phoenixes just before his push is about to hit - keep an obs ahead of your army).

If the terran is forced to invest in Thor tech or 10+ marines - that's less marauders and suddenly the invincible clump becomes very manageable for a 1 colossus, 4 immortal, X sentries & X-XX zealot standard composition.
jalstar
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
United States8198 Posts
April 21 2010 00:45 GMT
#37
How long was it until corsairs were used on non-island maps? 6 years? The Phoenix is getting used almost immediately.
Xeris
Profile Blog Joined July 2005
Iran17695 Posts
April 21 2010 08:54 GMT
#38
phoenix requires quite a bit of micro to be used effectively. I've found that going phoenix in PvZ to do a sort of phoenix + void ray rush that attempts to cripple their queens and w/e before they can get other anti air is less effective now that void rays have been nerfed (build slower + more expensive). phoenix by itself is ineffective because of how weak they are, queens fend them off nicely unless you have about 3 phoenix and use 1 to lift the queen and the other 2 to kill (then it's a pretty heavy investment) ... even killing a queen is not that big of a loss to zerg, especially if they've FE'd because they will likely have 2 queens, or can make spores, etc...

don't know about phoenix in PvT but it seems to me that the micro and precision required to lift up tiny ghosts in a big terran blob makes it a pretty ineffective counter to ghosts... also what if they don't just go pure marauder+ghost, but have marines and medivacs... then your phoenix is fucked.

I think the big problem with the phoenix is that it requires such a heavy tech investment... it's not like you just make a few phoenix and "oh well my plan didnt work time to switch gears" - building the stargate + 2-3 phoenix is like 600 mineral 500 gas investment for something that has a very limited window of effectiveness. if your plan happens to not work that puts you so far behind economically and in troop count because you've invested so heavily in the phoenix. i think THAT is its biggest problem...

i think the op is trying to make its effectiveness more broad to make it viable to juse use as a unit rather than it being something that really only works in 1-2 limited scenarios.
twitter.com/xerislight -- follow me~~
BrTarolg
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
United Kingdom3574 Posts
April 21 2010 16:08 GMT
#39
Phoenix is terrible vs mutas

To beat mutas you need a lot of sentries and stalkers, which ofc cuts into your colossi production but its a fine balance
The best counter ofc is just to do a good timing attack before mutas come out

For the high level zergs out there who ARNT going muta vs protoss, ofc it is just ez game for protoss... Go mutalisk there is no reason not to.

Eventually stalkers have blink which helps but PVZ is very gas heavy so it is best to use cannons liberally for defence (minerals are pretty cheap in PVZ mid/late)

If you don't get blink, eventually there will be a critical number of mutalisks where you can shift queue all protoss ranged units and win the game so don't let that happen
Time2Shine
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada12 Posts
April 28 2010 22:46 GMT
#40
So have you been watching the HDH Invitational? Go check out Huskystarcraft on Youtube. He has a game with Nony Vs. MoonGlade. Dont' want to spoil it but it is related to this thread, and you must see it! Click to see Husky's Channel
If you fail to get the proper instruction in Starcraft, you will only get better at making yourself worse.
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