Mutator: Purifier Beam
An enemy Purifier Beam moves across the map toward nearby player units.
| Difficulty points | 2 |
|---|---|
| Available in custom | Yes |
| Rollable in Chaos Studios | Yes |
Detailed Mutator Information
The Purifier Beam cannot be destroyed. It does a base damage of 10 every 0.25 seconds within 1 radius, 50% of the base damage within 2.2 radius, and 10% of the base damage within 2.8 radius.
Purifier Beams will always stay least 20 units away from resource patches.
An additional beam will spawn at 10:00 and another one at 20:00. Purifier Beams will always spawn at least 80 units away from Player bases.
Players can "distract" a Purifier beam by setting a unit (or a structure if they are playing Terran) on patrol around the beam. The approximate size of the circle that will work for units of any size or any movement speed should be a circle with diameter equal to the vertical visible area on the screen. By having units set in patrol around the Beam, the Beam will end up following that one unit around throughout the course of the game. Note that for Zerg commanders, Overlords may be used, but they will require the Pneumatized Carapace upgrade.
Safety Zones
Certain mutators create environmental hazards that can impact/debuff player units, including workers. These mutators get deactivated in areas called "Safety Zones". All player bases and expansions are considered Safety Zones. The mutators that obey the Safety Zone rules are as follows:
- Blizzard
- Going Nuclear*
- Lava Burst
- Orbital Strike
- Purifier Beam
- Temporal Field
- Time Warp
- Twister
*The centers of the nukes will not be placed inside the safety zones. However, nukes can still damage units inside the safety zone due to their large radius.
Images of the Safety Zones for all maps are shown below.
Chain of Ascension
Cradle of Death
Dead of Night
Lock & Load
Malwarfare
Miner Evacuation
Mist Opportunities
Oblivion Express
Part and Parcel
Rifts to Korhal
Scythe of Amon
Temple of the Past
The Vermillion Problem
Void Launch
Void Thrashing
Commander-specific Tips
- Karax: With enough Shield Batteries, a Purifier Beam can be "trapped" on a Pylon while Shield Batteries around it recharge its shields. A picture is shown below:
Note that the you will need to have the "Rapid Recharging" upgrade researched for this work. The Shield Battery placement marker in green shows a possible location for a 7th. This can be placed after researching the "Fortification Barrier" upgrade, preventing the Cannon from taking any hull damage and freeing up the repair beam.
The placement layout of the Photon Cannon, Pylons and Shield Batteries is shown below:
The video below demonstrates this in action:
- Kerrigan: Kerrigan can use Omega Worms to lure the Purifier Beam away from an area.
- Vorazun: Time Stop delays Purifier Beam timings.
Mutator Interactions
 Afraid of the Dark | Purifier Beam appears as a red dot on the minimap. |
 Concussive Attacks | Purifier Beam applies the Concussive Attacks debuff. |
 Darkness | Purifier Beam appears as a red dot on the minimap. |
 Fear | Purifier Beam can apply the Fear effect. |
 Gift Exchange | Purifier Beam can capture gifts. |
 Hardened Will | Purifier Beam does not cause Hardened Will to activate. |
 Laser Drill | Purifier Beams do not provide vision for the Laser Drill. |
 Speed Freaks | Purifier Beam does not move faster with Speed Freaks. |
 We Move Unseen | Purifier Beam is cloaked. |