Protoss units are more powerful stats-wise but are more costly, limiting their numbers. To use base units as a key example, Zealots cost 100 minerals apiece, take up two supply, and have 100 HP in addition to 50 shield (compare with Marines and Zerglings). Doctrine: A weird mix of Brute and Technical factions.
Home --> Starcraft 2 Protoss Guide --> Protoss Tips (you are here)
Below, you will find a variety of Starcraft 2 Protoss tips that you can implement to start winning games of Starcraft 2 right now. Tips are in no particular order, with general tips and race-specific tips interspersed in the list.
We have started with 10 tips and each time I pick up a new tip for a pro game or replay, I will add it to this list below, so check back regularly for new Starcraft 2 Protoss tips!
- Protoss units are on the expensive/powerful end of the unit scale in StarCraft: Remastered and Brood War. As mentioned, their units cost a lot, and are very powerful, but are slow to build up.
- StarCraft II Protoss units. Edit source History Talk (3) Protoss units in StarCraft II. Immortal; Mothership; Stalker; Adept. Category:StarCraft II Protoss campaign units; Category:StarCraft II Protoss NPC units; T Tempest; U Unbound fanatic; V Void ray; W Warp prism; Z.
- The expansion includes additional units and multiplayer changes from StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm, as well as a continuing campaign focusing on the Protoss race. The campaign, which focuses on Artanis as its protagonist, is a sequel to Wings of Liberty and Heart of.
- This category is for protoss campaign units and co-op missions units in StarCraft II. These are defined as single player-specific units that are player controllable. Units that are player controllable in one campaign, or by one commander, but unusable in other are still able to be categorized as campaign units.
Tip #1. Harass with Probes
This is one of the best Starcraft 2 Protoss tips. Protoss have the advantage of having the Probe, which makes them the best race for scouting and harassing. After dropping your first Pylon, be sure to send that Probe out to scout your enemy.
If your enemy is Terran, take advantage of the Probes range (albeit a small range) by having it attack the SCV that is building the Barracks. This is extremely annoying and highly effective method for slowing down Terran players. You can also use this scouting Probe to attack Drones to annoy your enemy as well.
Tip #2. Hallucinate Colossi Before Attacking
The Hallucinate is an under-utilized ability that allows the Sentry to create an illusion of a given unit. Hallucinations have full HP and go through attack animations, but their attacks do not deal any damage and Hallucinations take twice as much damage from enemy attacks.
The only way to spot a hallucination is to use a detector. An observant player may notice that a given unit is not dealing damage or that it is taking extra damage, but if just a few units in a large army are Hallucinations, the only way for a player to know whether or not a unit is real is to have detection in the area.
Since Protoss players rarely use cloaked units as part of their main army composition, enemy players will commonly go against Protoss players without using any detection. Take advantage of this by doubling your current Colossus count with Hallucinations. If you attack the enemy player with the appearance of 8+ Colossi early in the game, even if only two are real, the distracted damage and your opponent trying to run away can often snowball into a win.
Tip #3. Proxy with Pylons
You should always drop a Pylon down near your opponent's base or even inside it if you can get away with it. Warping units to your opponent's base is highly effective. If you can warp them inside your opponents base you can often take out dozens of harvesters.
A highly effective way for doing this is to set up a proxy via a Pylon or Warp Prism in your opponent's base. Next, attack from the front with the bulk of your army. While your opponent is distracted dealing with your attack, warp in a few units at your Warp Prism or Pylon and have them attack the mineral line.
Your opponent will be so busy dealing with the attack at the main base that you can often take out all of his harvesters before he even realized what happened!
Pylons are also good for defensive purposes. Make sure there are a few Pylons near each base so that you can warp in reinforcements to any of your expansions should the enemy try to drop or sneak attack your expansions.
Tip #4. Get an Early Observer
If you want to play Protoss well, you will need to know what your enemy is building. This is why getting an Observer fast is one of my recommended Starcraft 2 Protoss tips. While getting a mixed army might seem attractive, it really is beneficial to know what your opponent is up to.
For example, if you scout and see nothing but Marines, you know to quickly tech to Colossi or High Templar. If you scout and see nothing but Banshees, you know to get a few Phoenix and Observers. You cannot let a Terran or Protoss enemy sit behind a wall without knowing what he is up to.
Early detection is even more important in Heart of the Swarm. Between the Swarm Host and Widow Mine, players are getting out more cloaked units than ever.
Tip #5. Apply Pressure Early and Often
As a Protoss player, your most difficult task will be to establish expansions. Protoss units tend to move slowly so it is hard to get an expansion up and running safely without wasting large amounts of resources on Photon Cannons.
To prevent this needless waste, try to expand when attacking. Build a small army of Zealots, Stalkers, and Sentries, and push your opponent. While jousting with your opponent, establish your expansion. You can then fall back to the expansion after it has been established. It is much easier to defend once the Nexus is up and running thanks to Photon Overcharge.
Alternatively, if you suspect early aggression from your opponent, build Stalkers and Sentries, defend your base with Force Fields, and as a 'counter attack' after a successful defense, expand rather than trying to push back right away.
Winning small battles early in the game is key to establishing an expansion. Minerals used to add on a Nexus will result in 4 less Zealots. Try to get a small lead particularly in mirror match-ups by destroying a few enemy units without losing any of your own in order to safely grab an expansion.
This is the hardest of the Starcraft 2 Protoss tips to perfect. Pressure is an odd concept - sometimes you might not kill anything but still apply great pressure. As long as your opponent is on the defensive and trapped inside his base rather than knocking down the door on your own base you are doing well.
Tip #6. Wall Off Versus Zerg https://coolxup905.weebly.com/launchbar-6-11-13.html.
One of the quickest ways to lose a game of Starcraft 2 as Protoss is to have the bulk of your forces situated at the entrance to your natural expansion or third base only to have a large pack of Zerglings to run around these units and head right into the main base.
Make sure you build a wall at the entrance to your natural expansion to prevent this from happening. Buildings can be used to form most of the wall. Make sure to leave a small gap in the wall so your own units can get out when the time comes. You can then place 1-2 Zealots or a Stalker in the gap on 'Hold Position'. This will prevent Zerglings from getting into your base, and you can always move the units when you are ready to push out.
Tip #7. Know Your Unit Counters
It is hard to win games as Protoss if you do not know the basic Protoss unit counters. This link will take you to a simple to understand chart that details the strengths and weaknesses of all the Protoss units.
If you did not know that Colossi are strong against Terran Ghosts or that Tempests were strong against Colossi, you will not fare well in multiplayer games. You need to learn the Protoss unit counters just to remain competitive - you can bet your opponents already have. Running with crayons alfred.
Tip #8. Hallucinate Phoenix for Scouting Purposes
Another good unit to Hallucinate is the Phoenix. Rather than try to intimidate your opponent with it, a Hallucinated Phoenix (or two or three) can be used to quickly scout the map. Phoenix can fly and have a very fast movement speed. Hallucinated Phoenix keep this ability to fly as well as the fast movement speed, providing the Protoss player with a free, fast, and effective scout even early in the game.
Tip #9. Build Void Rays Versus Protoss Players
Struggling in Protoss vs Protoss matches? Try getting Void Rays. Even without any upgrades, perhaps no Protoss unit is as universally strong in any match-up as the Void Ray is against other Protoss players.
The reason the Void Ray is so good against Protoss players is that there is really no counter for it in PvP matches. The Void Ray is strong even against the Stalker when Prismatic Alignment is active. The Void Ray is strong versus Carriers, Tempests, and other Void Rays in the air. It performs decently against the Phoenix. The only ground unit which can combat it head to head is the Archon, but the Void Ray outranges the Archon, allowing the Void Ray to avoid direct confrontation.
Just make sure you spend your excess minerals on Zealots and expansions, because going for Void Rays is very gas intensive.
Tip #10. When Behind, Dark Shrine
Without a doubt, this is my favorite Starcraft 2-related rhyme, and it is actually quite meaningful. Dark Shrines are behind more come-from-behind Protoss victories than perhaps any other strategy.
The idea here is that if you are behind in a game and are about to lose the game, get a Dark Shrine and try to use Dark Templar. If you warp in a few Dark Templar, you can split them amongst the enemy's current bases. If there is no detection (or at least not enough detection to get everywhere at once), you can really catch your opponent by surprise.
If the Dark Templar end up doing significant damage, you can get yourself back in the game and actually position yourself to have a chance to win. Most of the time your opponents can counter this strategy, but if you are really behind in the game, you were going to lose anyway. You might as well at least try, giving yourself a chance of turning a practically guaranteed loss into a victory!
Conclusion
By applying these 10 Starcraft 2 Protoss tips, you can start winning a lot more games. Be sure to check back regularly for new tips as these starting 10 tips is just the beginning. Every time I see a cool new tip or strategy in a professional level replay or stream I will be sure to expand this list accordingly!
Starcraft 2 Strategy Guide --> Protoss Guide --> Protoss Units (you are here)
Here is a complete list of all the Starcraft 2 Protoss Units. We will start with an introduction to the how Protoss units work and discuss their overall strengths and weaknesses. From there, you will find three tables.
The first table lists the cost, build time, prerequisites, and production facility responsible for producing all of the Protoss units. The second chart covers the stats and damage dealt by each Protoss unit.
The third and final table provides a list of all the abilities and research available to Protoss units in Starcraft 2. All charts provide a full list of Protoss units.
If your enemy is Terran, take advantage of the Probes range (albeit a small range) by having it attack the SCV that is building the Barracks. This is extremely annoying and highly effective method for slowing down Terran players. You can also use this scouting Probe to attack Drones to annoy your enemy as well.
Tip #2. Hallucinate Colossi Before Attacking
The Hallucinate is an under-utilized ability that allows the Sentry to create an illusion of a given unit. Hallucinations have full HP and go through attack animations, but their attacks do not deal any damage and Hallucinations take twice as much damage from enemy attacks.
The only way to spot a hallucination is to use a detector. An observant player may notice that a given unit is not dealing damage or that it is taking extra damage, but if just a few units in a large army are Hallucinations, the only way for a player to know whether or not a unit is real is to have detection in the area.
Since Protoss players rarely use cloaked units as part of their main army composition, enemy players will commonly go against Protoss players without using any detection. Take advantage of this by doubling your current Colossus count with Hallucinations. If you attack the enemy player with the appearance of 8+ Colossi early in the game, even if only two are real, the distracted damage and your opponent trying to run away can often snowball into a win.
Tip #3. Proxy with Pylons
You should always drop a Pylon down near your opponent's base or even inside it if you can get away with it. Warping units to your opponent's base is highly effective. If you can warp them inside your opponents base you can often take out dozens of harvesters.
A highly effective way for doing this is to set up a proxy via a Pylon or Warp Prism in your opponent's base. Next, attack from the front with the bulk of your army. While your opponent is distracted dealing with your attack, warp in a few units at your Warp Prism or Pylon and have them attack the mineral line.
Your opponent will be so busy dealing with the attack at the main base that you can often take out all of his harvesters before he even realized what happened!
Pylons are also good for defensive purposes. Make sure there are a few Pylons near each base so that you can warp in reinforcements to any of your expansions should the enemy try to drop or sneak attack your expansions.
Tip #4. Get an Early Observer
If you want to play Protoss well, you will need to know what your enemy is building. This is why getting an Observer fast is one of my recommended Starcraft 2 Protoss tips. While getting a mixed army might seem attractive, it really is beneficial to know what your opponent is up to.
For example, if you scout and see nothing but Marines, you know to quickly tech to Colossi or High Templar. If you scout and see nothing but Banshees, you know to get a few Phoenix and Observers. You cannot let a Terran or Protoss enemy sit behind a wall without knowing what he is up to.
Early detection is even more important in Heart of the Swarm. Between the Swarm Host and Widow Mine, players are getting out more cloaked units than ever.
Tip #5. Apply Pressure Early and Often
As a Protoss player, your most difficult task will be to establish expansions. Protoss units tend to move slowly so it is hard to get an expansion up and running safely without wasting large amounts of resources on Photon Cannons.
To prevent this needless waste, try to expand when attacking. Build a small army of Zealots, Stalkers, and Sentries, and push your opponent. While jousting with your opponent, establish your expansion. You can then fall back to the expansion after it has been established. It is much easier to defend once the Nexus is up and running thanks to Photon Overcharge.
Alternatively, if you suspect early aggression from your opponent, build Stalkers and Sentries, defend your base with Force Fields, and as a 'counter attack' after a successful defense, expand rather than trying to push back right away.
Winning small battles early in the game is key to establishing an expansion. Minerals used to add on a Nexus will result in 4 less Zealots. Try to get a small lead particularly in mirror match-ups by destroying a few enemy units without losing any of your own in order to safely grab an expansion.
This is the hardest of the Starcraft 2 Protoss tips to perfect. Pressure is an odd concept - sometimes you might not kill anything but still apply great pressure. As long as your opponent is on the defensive and trapped inside his base rather than knocking down the door on your own base you are doing well.
Tip #6. Wall Off Versus Zerg https://coolxup905.weebly.com/launchbar-6-11-13.html.
One of the quickest ways to lose a game of Starcraft 2 as Protoss is to have the bulk of your forces situated at the entrance to your natural expansion or third base only to have a large pack of Zerglings to run around these units and head right into the main base.
Make sure you build a wall at the entrance to your natural expansion to prevent this from happening. Buildings can be used to form most of the wall. Make sure to leave a small gap in the wall so your own units can get out when the time comes. You can then place 1-2 Zealots or a Stalker in the gap on 'Hold Position'. This will prevent Zerglings from getting into your base, and you can always move the units when you are ready to push out.
Tip #7. Know Your Unit Counters
It is hard to win games as Protoss if you do not know the basic Protoss unit counters. This link will take you to a simple to understand chart that details the strengths and weaknesses of all the Protoss units.
If you did not know that Colossi are strong against Terran Ghosts or that Tempests were strong against Colossi, you will not fare well in multiplayer games. You need to learn the Protoss unit counters just to remain competitive - you can bet your opponents already have. Running with crayons alfred.
Tip #8. Hallucinate Phoenix for Scouting Purposes
Another good unit to Hallucinate is the Phoenix. Rather than try to intimidate your opponent with it, a Hallucinated Phoenix (or two or three) can be used to quickly scout the map. Phoenix can fly and have a very fast movement speed. Hallucinated Phoenix keep this ability to fly as well as the fast movement speed, providing the Protoss player with a free, fast, and effective scout even early in the game.
Tip #9. Build Void Rays Versus Protoss Players
Struggling in Protoss vs Protoss matches? Try getting Void Rays. Even without any upgrades, perhaps no Protoss unit is as universally strong in any match-up as the Void Ray is against other Protoss players.
The reason the Void Ray is so good against Protoss players is that there is really no counter for it in PvP matches. The Void Ray is strong even against the Stalker when Prismatic Alignment is active. The Void Ray is strong versus Carriers, Tempests, and other Void Rays in the air. It performs decently against the Phoenix. The only ground unit which can combat it head to head is the Archon, but the Void Ray outranges the Archon, allowing the Void Ray to avoid direct confrontation.
Just make sure you spend your excess minerals on Zealots and expansions, because going for Void Rays is very gas intensive.
Tip #10. When Behind, Dark Shrine
Without a doubt, this is my favorite Starcraft 2-related rhyme, and it is actually quite meaningful. Dark Shrines are behind more come-from-behind Protoss victories than perhaps any other strategy.
The idea here is that if you are behind in a game and are about to lose the game, get a Dark Shrine and try to use Dark Templar. If you warp in a few Dark Templar, you can split them amongst the enemy's current bases. If there is no detection (or at least not enough detection to get everywhere at once), you can really catch your opponent by surprise.
If the Dark Templar end up doing significant damage, you can get yourself back in the game and actually position yourself to have a chance to win. Most of the time your opponents can counter this strategy, but if you are really behind in the game, you were going to lose anyway. You might as well at least try, giving yourself a chance of turning a practically guaranteed loss into a victory!
Conclusion
By applying these 10 Starcraft 2 Protoss tips, you can start winning a lot more games. Be sure to check back regularly for new tips as these starting 10 tips is just the beginning. Every time I see a cool new tip or strategy in a professional level replay or stream I will be sure to expand this list accordingly!
Starcraft 2 Strategy Guide --> Protoss Guide --> Protoss Units (you are here)
Here is a complete list of all the Starcraft 2 Protoss Units. We will start with an introduction to the how Protoss units work and discuss their overall strengths and weaknesses. From there, you will find three tables.
The first table lists the cost, build time, prerequisites, and production facility responsible for producing all of the Protoss units. The second chart covers the stats and damage dealt by each Protoss unit.
The third and final table provides a list of all the abilities and research available to Protoss units in Starcraft 2. All charts provide a full list of Protoss units.
Icollections 4 4 1. Finally, we will end with a section discussing common unit combinations typically used by top tier players as part of their end-game army composition.
Table of Contents
Introduction to Protoss Unit Mechanics
Protoss Unit Cost and Requirements
Protoss Unit Stats and Damage
Protoss Unit Abilities and Research
Common Unit Compositions
Select any of the links above to jump to the chart or section you are looking for. Over time, specific pages on individual units will be added, which you will be able to access by clicking on the unit name on the charts below.
Introduction to Protoss Unit Mechanics
Shields are the primary feature that set Protoss units apart from other races. Shields are a form of life that the Protoss units have in various degrees. Unlike Terran or Zerg unit health, the Protoss's shields are able to regenerate rather quickly, but only once the Protoss is not taking damage.
In particular, Protoss shields restore at a rate of 2 shields per in-game second whenever the Protoss unit has not taken damage within the last 10 seconds. Shields always deplete first.
To give an example, if an Archon with 350 shields and 10 life take 300 damage, it will drop to 50 shields and 10 life. After going 10 seconds without taking any damage, it will begin to recover its shields at 2 shields per second, restoring all 300 lost shields in just 2.5 game minutes.
Note that the Ghost's EMP ability will drain 100 shields from all enemy units within its area of effect. Ghosts are very strong against Protoss armies for this reason. If you get hit with EMP, you can always back out, allowing your shields to regenerate over the next 20-30 seconds before engaging.
The other interesting thing to note about Protoss units is that units that come out of the Warp Gate can be 'warped' to anywhere on the map where there is a power field. Power Fields are produced by Pylons or Warp Prisms in Phasing Mode.
Warped units only take 5 seconds to produce, at which point they are ready to be used in battle. Due to the fast warp time, Warp Gates go on cooldown before they can produce a unit again. This cooldown is decreased via Chrono Boost. Protoss players are very good at warping in reinforcements in offensive scenarios thanks to this skill.
Protoss Units Table: Cost & Requirements
| Unit | Cost | Build Time | Requires | Produced From |
| Probe | 50 minerals 1 supply | 17 seconds | Nexus | Nexus |
| Zealot | 100 minerals 2 supplies | Gateway: 38 seconds Warp Gate: 28 seconds | Gateway | Gateway Warp Gate |
| Sentry | 50 minerals 100 gas 2 supplies | Gateway: 37 seconds Warp Gate: 32 seconds | Cybernetics Core | Gateway Warp Gate |
| Stalker | 125 minerals | Gateway: 42 Warp Gate: 32 | Cybernetics Core | Gateway Warp Gate |
| High Templar | 50 minerals | Gateway: 55 Warp Gate: 45 | Templar Archives | Gateway Warp Gate |
| Dark Templar | 125 minerals 125 gas 2 supplies | Gateway: 55 Warp Gate: 45 | Dark Shrine | Gateway Warp Gate |
| Archon | 4 supplies | 12 seconds | Templar Archives - or - Dark Shrine | n/a |
| Phoenix | 150 minerals | 35 seconds | Stargate | Stargate |
| Oracle | 150 minerals 150 gas 3 supplies | 50 seconds | Stargate | Stargate |
| Void Ray | 250 minerals 150 gas 4 supplies | 60 seconds | Stargate | Stargate |
| Tempest | 300 minerals 200 gas 4 supplies | 60 seconds | Fleet Beacon | Stargate |
| Carrier | 350 minerals 250 gas 6 supplies | 120 seconds | Fleet Beacon | Stargate |
| Observer | 25 minerals 75 gas 1 supply | 30 seconds | Robotics Facility | Robotics Facility |
| Warp Prism | 200 minerals 2 supplies | 50 seconds | Robotics Facility | Robotics Facility |
| Immortal | 250 minerals 100 gas 4 supplies | 55 seconds | Robotics Facility | Robotics Facility |
| Colossus | 300 minerals | 75 seconds | Robotics Bay | Robotics Facility |
| Mothership Core | 100 minerals 100 gas 2 supplies | 30 seconds | Cybernetics Core | Nexus |
| Mothership | 1 Mothership Core 300 minerals 300 gas 8 supplies (total) | 100 seconds | Fleet Beacon | n/a |
Protoss Units Table: Unit Types, Stats, and Damage
The table below covers the unit type, health, shields, armor, movement speed, damage, number of attacks, attack speed (in attacks per in-game second), and range for all the Protoss units in Starcraft 2. Attacks denote both ground and anti-air attacks unless otherwise noted.
Terran Campaign Units
| Unit/Type | Shields/Life | Armor | Move Speed | Damage | Attacks | Attack Speed | Range |
Probe Light - Mechanical | 20/20 | 0 | 2.81 | 5 Ground only | 1 | 1.5 | Melee |
Zealot Light - Biological | 50/100 | 1 | 2.25 2.75 with Charge | 8 (+1) Ground only | 2 | 1.2 | Melee |
Stalker Armored - Mechanical | 80/80 | 1 | 2.95 | 10 (+1) Mavis beacon teaches typing classroom. 14 (+1) vs armored | 1 | 1.44 | 6 |
Sentry Light - Mechanical - Psionic | 40/40 | 1 | 2.25 | 6 (+1) | 1 | 1 | 5 |
Movie with you. High Templar Light - Biological - Psionic | 40/40 | 0 | 1.86 | None | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Dark Templar Light - Biological - Psionic | 80/40 | 1 | 2.81 | 45 (+5) Ground only | 1 | 1.69 | Melee |
Archon Psionic - Massive | 350/10 | 0 | 2.81 | 25 (+3) 35 (+4) vs biological | 1 | 1.75 | 3 |
Phoenix Light - Mechanical | 80/120 | 0 | 4.25 | 5 (+1) 10 (+1) vs light Air only | 2 | 1.1 | 5 (7 with APC) |
Oracle Light - Mechanical - Psionic | 60/100 | 0 | 3.38 | 15 25 vs light Ground only | 1 | .86 | 4 |
Void Ray Armored - Mechanical | 100/150 | 0 | 2.25 | 6 (+1) 10 (+3) vs armored 16 with Prismatic Alignment vs Armored | 1 | .5 | 6 |
Tempest Armored - Mechanical - Massive | 150/300 | 2 | 1.88 | 30 (+3) 80 (+5) vs Massive Air | 1 | 3.3 | 15 |
Carrier Armored - Mechanical - Massive | 150/300 | 2 | 1.88 | 5 (+1) from Interceptors | 2 | 1 | 8 |
Observer Light - Mechanical | 20/40 | 0 | 1.88 2.81 with | None | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Warp Prism Armored - Mechanical - Psionic | 100/100 | 0 | 2.953 3.38 | None | n/a | n/a | n/a |
Immortal Armored - Mechanical | 100/200 | 1 | 2.25 | 20 (+2) 50 (+5) vs armored Ground only | 1 | 1.45 | 6 |
Colossus Armored - Mechanical - Massive | 150/200 | 1 | 2.25 | 15 (+2) Ground only | 2 | 1.65 | 6 (+3 with ETL) |
Mothership Core Armored - Mechanical - Psionic | 60/130 | 1 | 1.88 | 8 (+1) Ground only | 1 | .85 | 5 |
Mothership Armored - Massive - Mechanical - Psionic | 350/350 | 2 | 1.41 | 6 (+1) | 6 | 2.21 | 7 |
Protoss Units: Abilities and Research Upgrades
Many Protoss units have upgrades available beyond just weapon and armor upgrades. Through research, Protoss units can become more effective and unlock access to new spells. The chart below details all Protoss unit abilities, both starting abilities and those researched, as well as additional upgrades available to units.
| Unit | Abilities & Research |
| Probe | The Probe is able to harvest minerals and warp in structures. |
| Zealot | Charge: Increases Zealot speed and grants the Zealot the ability to charge to its enemy. 10 second cooldown. Researched at the Twilight Council. Costs 200 minerals and 200 vespene gas and takes 140 seconds to research. |
| Sentry | Force Field: Creates a temporary impassable barrier on the ground, blocking the movement of ground units for its duration. Lasts 15 seconds. Costs 50 energy. Force Fields are destroyed by massive ground units. Default ability. Guardian Shield: Creates a 4 range aura around the Sentry, reducing incoming range to friendly units within the aura by 2 damage. Lasts 15 seconds. Default ability. Hallucination: Allows the Sentry to create a Hallucination. Hallucinations are Protoss units that appear to be real but are unable to use abilities and their attacks deal zero damage. Hallucinations take double damage, last 60 seconds, and can be spotted by enemy detectors. Costs 100 energy. Default ability. |
| Stalker | Blink: Allows the Stalker to teleport to a nearby target. 10 second cooldown. Researched at the Twilight Council. Costs 150 minerals, 150 vespene gas, and takes 170 seconds to research. |
| High Templar | Feedback: Drains all energy from the target, dealing 1 damage per point of energy drained from the target. Costs 50 energy. Default ability. Psionic Storm: The High Templar creates a field of energy at the targeted area, dealing 80 damage over 4 seconds. Costs 75 energy. Researched at the Templar Archives. Costs 200 minerals, 200 vespene gas, and takes 110 seconds to research. Archon Warp: Two High Templar may merge, forming an Archon. Default ability. |
| Dark Templar | Archon Warp: Two Dark Templar may merge, forming an Archon. |
| Observer | Detector: The Observer is always a detector. Default ability. Cloak: The Observer is permanently cloaked. Default ability. Gravitic Boosters: Increases the Observer's rate of movement from 1.88 to 2.81. Available at the Robotics Bay. Costs 100 minerals, 100 vespene gas, and takes 80 seconds to research. |
| Warp Prism | Gravitic Drive: Increases the Warp Prism's default movement speed from 2.95 to 3.38. Available at the Robotics Bay. Costs 100 minerals, 100 vespene gas, and takes 80 seconds to research. Phasing Mode: The Warp Prism can go into Phasing Mode, causing the Warp Prism to become station but providing a small power field. Units and structures can be warped into this field. Default ability. Transport Mode: In Transport Mode, the Warp Prism acts like a typical dropship and may load, carry, and drop units accordingly. Default ability. |
| Immortal | Hardened Shield: Reduces incoming damage to a maximum of 10 per hit while the Immortal still has shields. For example, a blast from a Siege Tank will only deal 10 damage to an Immortal while it has shields. EMP, Seeker Missile, and the Widow Mine ignore this skill. Default ability. |
| Colossus | Cliff Walk: The Colossus can walk up and down cliffs. Default ability. Extended Thermal Lances: Increases the Colossus' range from 6 to 9. Available at the Robotics Bay. Costs 200 minerals, 200 vespene gas and takes 140 seconds to research. |
| Phoenix | Graviton Beam: Allows the Phoenix to pick up an enemy ground unit for 10 seconds. Both the Phoenix and the elevated unit cannot move or attack for the duration. Does not work on massive units. Costs 50 energy. Default ability. Anion Pulse-Crystals: Increases the range of the Phoenix' attack by 2, from 5 to 7. Available at the Fleet Beacon. Costs 150 minerals, 150 vespene gas, and requires 90 seconds to research. |
| Oracle | Revelation: Debuffs enemy structures and units over a large area of effect, causing them to share limited vision with the player controlling the Oracle for 60 seconds. Costs 75 energy. Default ability. Envision: Allows the Oracle to become a detector for 60 seconds. Costs 50 energy. Default ability. Pulsar Beam: Activates the Oracle's Pulsar Beam attack. Costs 25 energy and drains 1.4 energy per second while active. Default ability. |
| Void Ray | Prismatic Alignment: Grants the Void Ray +6 damage against armored targets for 20 seconds. 60 second cooldown. Default ability. |
| Tempest | None |
| Carrier | Build Interceptor: The Carrier may produce up to 8 Interceptors. These are the small ships it launches to destroy the opponent. Each Interceptor costs 25 minerals and has a build time of 8 seconds. Default ability. Graviton Catapult: Allows the Carrier to launch Interceptors more quickly. Available at the Fleet Beacon. Costs 150 minerals, 150 vespene gas, and requires 80 seconds to research. |
| Mothership Core | Time Warp: Places a field on the ground that slows down the movement of enemy ground units by 50%. Lasts 30 seconds. Costs 75 energy. Default ability. Mass Recall: Transports the Mothership Core and your nearby units to the targeted Nexus. Costs 100 energy. Default ability. Photon Overcharge: Grants the targeted Nexus Photon Overcharge. This gives the Nexus an automated attack with a damage of 20, an attack speed of 1.25 and a range of 13 for 60 seconds. Photon Overcharge cannot be aimed to target specific units. Costs 100 energy. Default ability. Upgrade to Mothership: The Mothership Core may upgrade into the Mothership. This costs 300 minerals, 300 vespene gas and an additional 6 supplies. This process takes 100 seconds to complete. |
| Mothership | Time Warp: Places a field on the ground that slows down the movement of enemy ground units by 50%. Lasts 30 seconds. Costs 75 energy. Default ability. Mass Recall: Transports the Mothership Core and your nearby units to the targeted Nexus. Costs 100 energy. Default ability. Cloaking Field: Gives the Mothership a large aura that automatically cloaks all friendly units and structures in its area of effect. |
Common Protoss Unit Combinations
The most successful Protoss armies use a variety of units rather than just a single type of unit. In this quick guide to Protoss unit combinations, I will discuss some of the core components of a good Protoss army. Army combinations are not limited to the following list, but this is a good guide to creating a balanced and effective army.
Early Game Armies
In the early game, Protoss armies consist of Zealots, Sentries, and Stalkers. Beyond the initial rush stage, Zealots are rarely used alone, as without Charge they are quite slow.
Sentry and Stalker-heavy armies predominate in the early game. Sentries are almost always involved in the early Protoss game as Force Field is an incredibly effective skill on both offense and defense. It remains very effective all game long, particularly if the enemy does not have any massive ground units. Force Field and the Sentry in general lose their luster in the late game if the enemy gets massive ground units, as these can crush Force Fields. A few Sentries are typically always a part of a Protoss army though as Guardian Shield provides a nice armor buff.
Stalkers are very fast, have a big range (6) and are a versatile unit, making them extremely effective in the early game when in the hands of a skilled player. The Mothership Core is typically used in conjunction with early Stalker attacks to provide vision of the high ground. https://hereyup906.weebly.com/slipknot-wallpapers-for-mac.html.
Mid Game Armies
In the mid game, Protoss armies must get up to tier 2 units to remain effective. The Stalker, Zealot, and Sentry combination is fairly weak against Hydralisks as well as all sorts of higher tier Terran and Protoss unit combinations. The Stalkers that were strong against the Marines in the early game become weak once those Marines have Combat Shields, Stimpack, and Medivac support.
All 3 tech pathways are viable for the Protoss in the mid game. Players can successfully go for Stargate, Robotics Facility, or Templar tech and pull off all of these strategies successfully. The best strategy depends on the match up, the opponent's strategy, and the Protoss' comfort level with a particular build or strategy.
There are two important things to consider when building your army in the mid game. The first is that Protoss tier 2 and 3 structures, tech, and research are very expensive. As a result, you want to stick with one tech path until you get at least a third base up and running. You will not have enough resources to build a decent army if you go for two tech paths plus get key upgrades in the mid game.
The second thing to consider is that Protoss players are unable to effectively go for full builds of high tier units on just two bases - they just cannot afford to do so this early in the game. For example, if you wanted to start building up air units, you would need to spend extra resources on Zealots and Stalkers to provide some extra size to your army.
Late Game Armies
Things are good for the Protoss player in the late game with a robust economy. All tech trees and units can be successfully incorporated into the late game Protoss army.
All Protoss Starcraft 2 Base Units
Most players gravitate towards one of two styles in the late game: the Protoss 'Deathball' or the SkyToss build.
The Protoss Deathball refers to getting a large clump of units and moving the entire army together as one force. Typically, a Gateway 'backbone' of Zealots, Stalkers, Archons and a few Sentries is supported by a handful of Colossus and High Templar, with the possible inclusion of a few Void Rays and/or Tempests.
Psionic Storm plus the Colossus's and Archon's splash damage are able to melt enemy forces very quickly. Void Rays and Tempests can be used to focus down any massive armored units that may have survived the attack. This is a very effective strategy and is hard for all races to stop once the Deathball has formed. The trick is holding out long enough and banking enough resources to get the army together.
The other common end-game composition is known as SkyTerran. Carriers and Tempests are the high HP units used to replace the Gateway 'backbone'. Void Rays are once again used to handle armored enemy units. Oracles and Phoenix are typically not a major portion of the SkyTerran fleet, at least not heavily. Phoenix work well against light air units, but in the late game it is hard to justify microing Phoenix when you could instead be microing the High Templar.
Instead, a handful of High Templar are typically kept on the ground for Psionic Storm. Psionic Storm is a very high damage output skill and really helps take down large numbers of Vikings or Hydralisks, both of which fair well enough against full SkyToss armies. Having a few High Templar for Psionic Storm is a very small supply investment that can pay off big returns.
SkyToss is very strong, but it has two major weaknesses: ships take a long time to build and are very expensive. Carriers for example take a whopping 120 seconds to produce! The main SkyToss forces are very expensive as well.
All builds typically make use of a Mothership Core (or even a Mothership), as Time Warp is very strong in the late game, particularly when combined with Psionic Storm. Units trapped in Time Warp are an easy target for Psionic Storm.
