Significance of the Nullifier

I'm finding the Nullifier more intriguing than any other Protoss unit right now, perhaps more so then any unit in the game. From my understanding it is an early game caster/support unit, which we've never seen the likes of in Warcraft or Starcraft.

I'm gathering most of my info from (http://starcraft.wikia.com/wiki/Nullifier).
Not sure exactly what it's prerequisites are but its spells seem like they could have massive importance in early-mid game.

Force Field: Creates a decent size globe that units cannot pass through and is indestructible, lasts 15 seconds. A ton of possible tactics here; creating choke points, shielding Stalkers,defending probes or photon cannons/pylons, protecting Zealots from ranged fire, ect.

Hallucination: Appears to be pretty much the same, but having it in early game could turn the tide of battle if you have enemies wasting attacks on hallucinations.

Molecular Displacement: Another interesting one, basically a DOT/Chain Lightning type spell that damages units of the same type. Early/mid game there will be no doubt plenty of units of the same type to take this damage.

I haven't really read anything about how they've been used in any of the builds so far, except that Plexa (Team Liquid) said they were "good". We briefly see one in the Battle Report but its just using default attack. A lot of people have said they feel Protoss suffered from being the first race developed, but I think this unit could potentially really shake up the game and Protoss strategy overall.

If anyone has any thoughts or additional information that would be great!

 

Im most interested in the Molecular Displacement.

The nullifier fires a psionic projectile which bounces between units of the same type, to a maximum of 10 bounces. (It deals 10 damage per "bounce"; 100 damage in total.) It can strike a single unit more than once.

Doesn't seem too strong, but since it is a tier 1 unit, you can likely use this spell before any heavy hitting units start appearing.

 

I really like Force Field. If anyone wants to see that coolness in action, see the movie here: http://www.sc2blog.com/2008/06/29/worldwide-invitational-2008-pictures-presentations-videos/ (second video)

I'm not really a fan of the last ability. It sounds like it could be cool, but it's "twiddly"; it depends heavily on opponent "mono-culture" and it only does 100 damage in total. (Psi Storm does about the same, but to all units in the AoE, instead of splitting it up. To be fair, the high templar is a higher-tier unit.)

 

It doesn't seem that useful to me, i would like to see a video with mid-game with a significant amount of nullifiers in a unit mix, that is where the nullifier will really shine, in my opinion.

 

True, but it could be useful against M&Ms since it would hit multiple marines. It also can't be dodged like the Psi Storm, as it goes after units instead of staying in 1 area. It will likely depend on how long it takes to get the ability.

Also, i encourages players to use a mix of units instead of massing 1 or 2, which is what Blizzard wants.

 

I would counter by saying any unit that is useful early game is extremely important to an entire match-up. If the Nullifier comes in at the same unit tier as the Marauder/Roach, then it is of the same importance to Protoss although it is a caster unit (unlike the Immortal who is strictly anti-armor) who is potentially extremely influential. Units of this tier are proving to be the strongest and most innovative in many respects and I no reason why the Nullifier should not/will not be.

 

To review, here are the first Tier Units, excluding the Queen(who is a special case)
Zerg: Zergling(Spwn Pool), Roach(Spawn Pool+Roach Warren), Baneling(Spwn Pool+Bane Nest)
Terrans: Marine(Barracks), Marauder(Barracks+Tech Lab), Hellion(Barracks+Factory)
Protoss: Zealot(Gateway), Stalker(Gateway+Cyber Core), Nullifier(Gateway+Cyber Core)

So yes, Nullifier is indeed first Tier, in fact you get it at the same time you get Stalkers.

By the way, Hallucination can produce multiple copies of a unit, dependent on how tough the unit is, with each copy taking double damage. It is reported that if used on a Probe, it will produce EIGHT copies.

Think about all the fun stuff you can pull off with that.

In fact, all of the Nullifiers abilities are quite solid in their ability to manipulate combat. Force Field creates easy choke points, barriers, and traps, especially in conjunction with Stalkers. Hallucination makes the opponent waste precious firepower on nonexistent units, or you can dissuade the opponent from attacking you entirely. Molecular displacement does a neat 100 damage to a group of units of the same type. On top of that, it has a decent 5+3 vs. biological attack that can hit air units as well as ground.

The Nullifier is the handyman of the Protoss, he can always do something useful. Think about annoying the Nullifier can be both doing base raids and stopping base raids.

Think of a raid consisting of 2 Colossi, 4 Nullifiers, and a Phase Prism. The Nullfiiers each use Hallucination twice, making it appear as though there are 10 Colossi. They then cast Force Field up to 3 times apiece to block all the workers from escaping. Now, not only will all the workers die, the other players will have to fight his way through a horde of hallucinations that have 100s upon 100s of HP.

 

Would that work on enemy drones/probes/SCVs? If it did, you could use that to disrupt resource production by filling the area with halucinated units, blocking the workers til the hallucinations are killed.

Also, you could use the force field ability to completely surround an enemy Nexus/pool/CC if you had enough nullifiers, completely stopping any resource production at that base til the ability ends.

 

Thats a good idea Eon, how long does force field last?

Doesn't hallucination now create copies of a protoss unit in the tech tree? You don't need a base unit to copy it 's just any protoss unit now?

What i mean was we haven't seen it in action in videos properly and thus we don't really know how it is used most effectively and my guess was it will be most useful produced in relatively large number mid-game.

 

According to SC Wiki, force field lasts for 15 seconds. That would be useful in the early stages of the game, as resources are vital to matching the enemy's forces.

 

Eon, i dont think it can be cast on enemy units, right now the way it works is when you click on Hallucination, or use the hot key, it will bring up a box thing(like when you select build building it gives you the pic and name of several buildings) and then you choose which Protoss unit you want, except for Observers, Dark Templars and Carriers, those 3 are the only things that cant be hallucinated.

 

you can't hall carriers?

Kinda strange that you can hall enemy units, you could in SC1.

 

Doesn't really matter much. You have 4 Nullifiers hallucinate 64+ copies of a probe, then leave them in the enemy base for the 2-3 minutes they last.

The best part is that Nullifier's 50 Minerals, 100 Vespene cost means that building them will barely slow down Zealot production.

 

I want to ask if the Force field can be cast above own units and if yes will the unit in the force field be protectet or can he shoot from the force field (example the Stalker). (I have heared this gossip but is this 100% sure ) ?

 

The nullifier seems to be a staying unit for its abilities early and late game, in fact in the beginning of the first report it seemed to help in the taking down of those marauders when it was introduced and yes the fact that it only costs 50 minerals and 100 gas means that is has a big comeback in usefulness later game

I can see if you have 4 using the molecular disruptor at the same time could pose some usefulness to taking down smaller units as it would be homing instead of something you would have to aim.

Strategy wise you could really use force field to kill fleeing units effectively im sure this unit will be very awesome in game.

These little dudes would make a very good base defender, raider, and when attacking en force

 

and what will they do? they cant do damage, im pretty sure they wont be able to mine, and real workers still have no size when they are mining, the only thing that you would have achieve is that you are able to see whats in the opponent base til they are gone.

yes Force Field can be cast on top of units, but as soon as its there the units that are underneath it are 'pushed' out of the way to whichever side they are closest to.

 

The Nullifier I think will be very important for the protoss during the early game and also will be good to stop a zergling surround which is deadly...

 

And since the nullifier is a spellcaster and relaitvely cheap, I'll be used throughout most the game since it can also defend itself with a small ranged attack.

 

They have an attack too? wow they can hold off early zealots by themself.

 

attack: 5 (+3 v. biological)
armor: 1
range: 5

Has same range as a non-upgraded marine. So, if your attacked with lings or zeals, you could place a force field infront of your nullifiers and savely attack from the other side.