Destroyer (Warcraft III)

For lore, see obsidian destroyer.

Destroyer
Race	Obsidian Destroyer
Faction	Undead Scourge
Statistics
Hit points	850
Hit point regeneration	Blight
Hit point regeneration rate	2.00 HP/sec.
Mana	400 (Initial 0)
Mana Regeneration rate	-3.00 Mana/sec.
Unit Type	Undead
Level	5
Gold	300
Lumber	85
Food	5
Produced at	Obsidian Statue
Build time	1.10 sec.
Requires	Destroyer Form Research
Attacking priority	8
Hotkey	T
Combat
Weapon(s)	Obsidian Magic Scepters
Normal attack	19-21 (20 avg)
Range	45
Cooldown	1.35 sec.
Weapon type	Missile (splash)
Armor Type	Light
Armor	3
Day Sight	140
Night Sight	100
Movement Speed	Fast (320)

This article contains lore taken from Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos, Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne, the manuals, and/or official bonus maps.

Large flying unit that must consume magic to sustain its mana. Breaking free of the obsidian stone that holds them, these monstrous creatures roar into battle, swallowing magic to feed their insatiable hunger as they move between battles and rain destruction down upon their foes. Has Spell Immunity. Attacks land and air units.

Information

Destroyers are aerial units who specialize in destroying enemy spellcasters by denying the enemy buffs or summoned units in battle.

In order to create Destroyers, Undead players must first research the "Destroyer Form" technology. This allows Obsidian Statues to morph into Destroyers, costing an additional 100 gold, 50 wood, and 2 food. Essentially, every Destroyer costs 300 gold, 85 wood, and 5 food.

Due to their thirst for mana, Destroyers rapidly lose mana, making the Obsidian Statue's Spirit Touch and natural regeneration from Fountains of Mana useless. In order to obtain mana, the Destroyer needs to consume enemy buffs or allied debuffs. Players may alternatively have the Destroyer siphon mana from a friendly unit, but this is seldom used because the of the Destroyer's high mana pool, which would result in draining Necromancers, Banshees and your Heroes of a considerable amount of mana.

The mana is vital for their Orb of Annihilation spell, as it allows the Destroyer's attacks to have AoE properties and also inflicts more damage. However, it's high mana cost combined with the Destroyer's negative mana regeneration means they require a high amount of enemy spellcasters to truly shine in battle. When consuming magic, allow for one or two Destroyers to focus on a targeted area to prevent competition and allow your Destroyers to reel in the full benefits of Devour Magic, while keeping enemy buffs and summoned units at a minimum (it takes two Devour Magic casts to kill summoned skeletons).

Generally, one or two Destroyers are needed when playing alone, but in team matches three or four of them may prove useful depending if the enemy team is running spellcasters. Destroyers have a fairly fast attack rate and have high armor as an aerial unit. However, they are not fairly strong otherwise, being similar to Dragonhawk Riders and Faerie Dragons, and thus it's generally not recommended to have Destroyers as the core of your army.

Spells and abilities

Absorb Mana

Takes all mana from one of your units and gives it to the Destroyer.

Range Allowed Targets Effect 90 Player Units, Vulnerable, Invulnerable Gives Mana to Destroyer

Devour Magic

Consumes all positive and negative buffs from all units in an area. Each unit that is devoured of magic gives back the Destroyer 50 hit points and 75 mana. Deals 160 damage to summoned units.

Cooldown Range Area of Effect Allowed Targets Effect 7 sec. 60 20 Air, Ground, Ward, Invulnerable, Vulnerable, Tree Removes Buffs and De-Buffs. +50 HP and +75 Mana per each unit, 160 damage to summoned units.

Devour Magic does not give health or mana when a player devours friendly buffs. Devour Magic dispels the owl summoned by a Huntress but will not restore the Destroyer's health and mana. It will not dispel an anti-magic shell created by a Banshee but will still restore health and mana.

Orb of Annihilation (Autocast)

Adds 15 bonus damage to the Destroyer's attack and causes his attacks to do area of effect damage.

Mana Cost Range Area of Effect Allowed Targets Effect 25 45 15 Air, Ground, Structure, Enemy, Neutral Adds 15 damage and AoE to attack Area of Effect Damage factor 0.1 Full 7.5 9/20 15 1/4

Spell Immunity (Passive)

Renders this unit immune to negative spells.

Upgrades

Creature Attack

Increases the attack damage of Crypt Fiends, Gargoyles, Destroyers, and Frost Wyrms.

Research Cost	Researched At	Upgrade Time	Effect
150 50	Graveyard	60 sec.	Normal attack: 20-24 (22 avg)

Improved Creature Attack

Further increases the attack damage of Crypt Fiends, Gargoyles, Destroyers, and Frost Wyrms.

Research Cost	Researched At	Requirements	Upgrade Time	Effect
200 125	Graveyard	Halls of the Dead	75 sec.	Normal attack: 21-27 (24 avg)

Advanced Creature Attack

Further increases the attack damage of Crypt Fiends, Gargoyles, Destroyers, and Frost Wyrms.

Research Cost	Researched At	Requirements	Upgrade Time	Effect
250 200	Graveyard	Black Citadel	90 sec.	Normal attack: 22-30 (26 avg)

Creature Carapace

Increases the armor of Crypt Fiends, Gargoyles, Destroyers, and Frost Wyrms.

Research Cost	Researched At	Upgrade Time	Effect
150 75	Graveyard	60 sec.	Armor: 5

Improved Creature Carapace

Further increases the armor of Crypt Fiends, Gargoyles, Destroyers, and Frost Wyrms.

Research Cost	Researched At	Requirements	Upgrade Time	Effect
200 200	Graveyard	Halls of the Dead	75 sec.	Armor: 7

Advanced Creature Carapace

Further increases the armor of Crypt Fiends, Gargoyles, Destroyers, and Frost Wyrms.

Research Cost	Researched At	Requirements	Upgrade Time	Effect
250 325	Graveyard	Black Citadel	90 sec.	Armor: 9

Trivia

• The Destroyer was originally known as a "Black Sphinx" in The Frozen Throne beta.

Gallery

• 

  Ladder icon before being replaced by the Destroyer.

• 

  The Black Sphinx.

Patch changes

• Patch 1.30.0 (2018-08-08):
  • Hit points reduced from 900 to 850.
  • Orb of Annihilation bonus damage reduced from 20 to 15.
    
• Patch 1.18 (2005-03-01): Devour Magic can no longer be used on Watcher Wards.
  
• Patch 1.17 (2004-09-20):
  • Since we have corrected the splash damage bug with Destroyers, we have reverted Destroyers to their old 1.15 statistics. Destroyers now have mana regeneration of -3/sec (down from -6/sec), Orb of Annihilation now costs 25 mana down from 50 mana, and Devour Magic restores 75 mana per unit dispelled, down from 150.
  • Devour Magic now dispels the owl summoned by Sentinel, but does not give mana to the Destroyer.
  • Devour Magic no longer gives health or mana when a player devours friendly buffs.
    
• Patch 1.16 (2004-07-01):
  • Due to a bug where the splash damage from Orb of Annihilation was dealing full damage to all units, the following changes were made:
  • Negative mana regeneration increased to -6/sec from -3/sec.
  • Mana gain of Devour Magic increased to 150 per dispelled unit from 75 per dispelled unit.
  • Orb of Annihilation mana cost increased to 50 from 25.
    
• Patch 1.15 (2004-05-10): Devour Magic cooldown reduced to 7 seconds from 8 seconds.
  
• Patch 1.10 (2003-07-03):
  • Devour Magic now heals 50 hit points per spell devoured, up from 25, and restores 75 mana, up from 50.
  • Destroyer damage reduced to 19-21 from 21-24.
    
• Patch 1.07 (2003-07-01): Added.
  

External links

battle.net Warcraft III - Undead -> Units -> Destroyer