They're probably the most powerful unit in the game, the only other contenders being Siege Tanks and Brood Lords imo. BCs and Carriers are too costly and too slow to lead with for the most part, but man Void Rays...

At the moment, almost all 3s or 4s game I played that had a Protoss and did not have Void Rays. The ones I didn't see them, were usually b/c the other team died to a rush, or we died to a rush, or the opposing Protoss players were kinda bad. The space squids with death rays are pretty good at killing even in groups of 3 to 6, if they get Flux Vanes then Vikings can't kite them and once they hit 12+ then they'll just obliterate everything.

And for the games when I decide not to mass Vikings and try actual normal stuff like MMM/Tanks not only do I contribute the least but they're sometimes the hardest games b/c Void Rays smash and are pretty likely to appear =[

Edit: Was mostly referencing 3s and 4s, edited that into the title for clarification.

marines will smash void rays, hard.
Void rays excel in killing heavily armored units, but small units like marines, mutas, hydras, phoenixes, stalkers will rape them. Stalkers are especially great because they can blink away before dying.
On an equal cost basis, that is. 50 minerals per marine, so stock up.

Marines obviously beat them in cost efficiency but against Protoss I generally lean towards a large amount of marauders. Starports are usually hidden and Voids can be difficult to scout, so they just come, LoL while getting fully charged off your tanks, then instantly melting any marines you attempt to make. I'm also bad though, so that's a factor.

marines and marauders are both better than void rays in terms of cost efficiency

in 3v3/4v4 void rays are pretty strong since its more difficult to end the game quickly before void rays reach critical numbers and sometimes scouting can be a bigger pain as well. at least in 1v1, i don't get void rays very often, especially not in mass.

stimmed marines, blink stalkers, and hydras should be able to kill void rays as long as you're prepared for them

Oh, I was talking mainly about 3v3 or 4v4, though they can get out of hand in 1v1.

My best faction is Terran, so for 1v1 I normally don't have much problem with Void Rays. A least if I roll Terran and lose to them, I've no issues with admitting that I screwed up real bad. But for 3v3 or 4v4, the environment is better for reaching critical mass with anything as GoRoN mentioned. Marines can still give the Void Rays trouble but killing off Marines is much easier than Marines killing off speedy Void Rays.

Edits:

@ Kuroikaze & Goron: The advice is sound, but other units counter Marines, Mutas and Hydras much better than they counter Void Rays (which is a problem in teams). Phoenii can dance around them but can barely fight them at all (can't kite b/c Phoenii have shorter range, can't stop and fight or else Void Rays charge up) and can't follow up reliably against ground. Stalkers are good against Void Rays until they charge up, then they'll just die en masse even when they originally outnumbered the Void Rays. Stalkers can retreat, but buildings can't. Usually any PvP I play in 1s will end up as a race of whoever gets Void Rays out fastest and controls them best.

well, the idea with stalkers is that since you have 50% more (at least in terms of supply), you can just blink in and pick off enough void rays before they get charged up that your superior numbers will be enough to kill the remaining void rays even if they are charged up.

they're definitely problematic if they charge up beforehand on buildings, as you either have to fight them or lose mass buildings :c

its probably most important to choose where/when the fights happen, because if you can fight them before they manage to charge up they really aren't hard to deal with. stalkers can blink out if they get charged up, i think stimmed marines are faster than void rays but i'm not sure if they are with flux vane. hydras are admittedly slow, especially off creep, but mutalisks should be faster as well.

I have to agree with most of the comments here, I am a Terran player and I don't recall having any real problems against Void Rays. Also agree that they are really only problematic in 3's and 4's.

yea they strong, however i havent really had much probs with them.. if i loose in team games its usually cause of bad allys or me fuckign up or something.. i wouldnt really blame the void rays at all..


if i do something like mmm in team.. i rush medicvac and do a drop fast and hard on the pubs mineral lines asap.

in solo it isnt much of a prob . well it is , if you go a marauder heavy army early, I learned my lesson of not doing that and not walling off everygame agaisnt toss. .. some marines and bunkers go a long way instead . I dont get marauders period against toss anymore, well i do , but i hardly ever aim for it. mainly marines /tanks and raven banshee i want. if they go fast void rays i already have reactor on my rax so switch it with starport.

In team terran still fine . If you do see a void masser, a couple vikings solve.. You could kite void rays with way less vikings and still win against them if voids dont have that upgrade that makes them super fast/while hitting. when they do get that upgrade.. YOu must either outnumber voids drasitically with vikings or have a shitload of marines with stim lol. anyway toss air is extremely gas heavy.. thats your advantage when using vikings.