Protoss Unit Guide

Gateway Units Robotics Facility Units StarGate Units

Probe

Probes are the coolest of the peons. They're small so they don't get stuck, they're quick and they have good acceleration, and they're the fastest gatherers. Best of all, one probe can take 10 seconds to warp in an entire base and then get back to work. Probe, we salute you.

Zealot

Zealots are my personal favorite unit in the game. They are the toughest, but most expensive, of the intial units and best of all, they seem to be modeled after Wolverine of the X-Men. They have awesome claws and a badass attitude. When upgraded, they are even better. Tops for melee combat.

Dragoon

Dragoons are kind of funny. In Starcraft versions 1.00-1.03, they were nearly worthless. They were just early game anti-air, and poor at that. They were rarely built, because anti-ground was best done with zealot-reaver, and anti-air was best scout-high templar. In 1.04, they were significantly beefed up with added range, lower cost, and quicker build time. As a result, they became the Protoss answer to marines and hydralisks, and the basis of the gayest mindless "strategy" in all of Starcraft: mass goons. This strat is so fucking lame that I've actually seen players not tech beyond cyber core in order to just pump 6 gates of upgraded goons.

High Templar

Templar are fucking awesome. That's the only way to put it. They have the best spell in the entire game, and they are actually imbalanced in the late game due to the abundance and pure destructive power of psi storm. They are very necessary and reasonable in early and mid-game, but once they can become massed they make a Protoss player with good micro nearly impossible to beat. I think it's a basic design flaw that the Protoss require such an absurdly powerful infantry and air killer, but they sure are fun, aren't they?

Dark Templar

Very useful units in numbers of six or less, due to the permanent cloaking and ability to destroy peons, marines, and zerglings in one slash. Their true place in the game, in my opinion, was for tactical strikes (such as unprotected peon lines and expansions), containment, and recon. However, they are mainly built to abuse the appalling lack of Terran detection, and a DT rush has been the end of many a Protoss vs. Terran matchup. On the contrary, they are nearly useless against Zerg due to the abundance of detection (overlords), unless you indulge in the perpetually gay strategy of hunting down overlords with corsairs and then razing the base with DTs.

Archon

The coolest looking unit in the entire game. They are like huge fireballs of pure energy, also remniscent of X-Men. They are quite useful against Zerg due to their high splash damage, making them ideal for killing cracklings and mutas. They are very vulnerable to ranged units however, so they are not recommended against Terran or Protoss.

Dark Archon

Second only to the Arbiter as the coolest mage unit to never be built. They have three amazingly useful abilities: mind control (ever built another race's units in addition to yours?), maelstrom (rocks in conjuction with storm), and feedback. For some bizarre reason, they are simply never built. I guess mass goons are too damn good to be clogging the gateways with useless spellcasters. Anyone else see a resemblance to Yoda in these puppies?

Shuttle

The Protoss shuttle is the best transport in the game. Well, maybe it's tied with the overlord but only because the overlord is a detector. The shuttle is the fastest in the game, quite durable, and thus it's fantastic for transporting reavers and high templars to perform peon raids.

Reaver

Reavers are the most devastating infantry killing/siege units in the game. Although they are outranged by siege tanks, they outrange all other static defenses, and pack a monster punch. One scarab does up to 125 damage, killing up to 9 marines or 6 hydralisks in a single volley. Absolutely ideal for peon line drops. In numbers of 6+ with corsair support, Reavers can become extremely difficult for a Zerg player to stop. Unfortunately, a peculiar AI bug prevents Reavers from achieving their peak effectiveness (which is frightening), as scarabs will wildly chase around the map until they find their exact target before finally exploding. Their slow cooldown makes support from zealots and goons a must, but oh baby they pack a punch. They sound like R2D2, no?

Observer

These are a real bitch, especially when used in conjuction with the Finger of God (see Carrier), making the strategy even more devastating. They are far and away the best recon units in the game, because they are cheap, low supply, and flying, cloaked detectors (squirrel nut zippers?). A must for any Protoss army, but they aren't mass goons, so they aren't built much.

Corsair

The Corsair (dubbed "EvilSair" by me) is quite possibly the cheesiest unit in the game. They were added in Brood War specifically to counter the fundamentally overpowered Zerg Mutalisk. Anytime a unit is designed to correct a design flaw, there are inevitable undesirable consquences. In the Corsair's case, in order to counter Mutas, it has to be cheap, fast, powerful, and build quickly. As a result, it is the best air-to-air unit for cost in the entire game, which is just wrong. It slaughters Mutas and absolutely RAPES Wraiths, due to its amazingly large splash radius. It's tied with Mutas and Scourge for the fastest air unit in the game, which gives it the ability to hunt groups of overlords in a Zerg base, which can create a crippling supply defecit unless there are hydras and spore colonies stationed everywhere protecting the overlords. Add to this the amazing strength of D-web, and we have the most propostrously overpowered unit since, well, the Mutalisk.

Scout

I feel sorry for the scout. They went from being the mightiest of the air-to-air fighters in Starcraft to a unit which some players have probably never built. Why? Because Corsairs are too damn good. They kick the crap outta Mutas and Wraiths, beat Devourers and even Battle Cruisers for cost, and have two D-webs a piece as a bonus! They are mainly only useful as possible Dev and BC killers now, but even at that dragoons and high templars do better. Sadly, Scouts are never built because there honestly isn't a reason to build them.

Carrier

Carriers are kind of funny, because they are similar to the dragoon. Before SC/BW 1.04, Carriers were mainly a joke, built only for newbie demolishing or novelty value. Their insane cost, low armor, and reputation as sitting ducks made them the coolest unit idea ever wasted. Then, in 1.04, for better or worse, every aspect of the Carrier was totally beefed up, and they became monsters of the sky. Even though they are still expensive, they are now worth the price of admission. In groups of 3 or more, they can be devastating due to their high armor, long range, and multiple (8) attacking interceptors. In conjunction with Corsairs and D-web, they become the "Finger of God" and do in any Terran that doesn't fall to a DT rush or mass goons, fueling the PvT imbalance flames. Although not quite my personal favorite, they are generally thought the coolest unit in the game.

Arbiter

The best mage unit to never be built. Arbiters have awesome power, but they are too time consuming to be widely used. Because you have to climb two tech trees to access them, plus the long build and research times, they are prohibitive in all but the longest of games. Still, nothing is more devastating than a cloaked army of reavers, goons, and carriers being recalled into the back of your base while your defending troops are frozen by stasis. Satisfaction guaranteed.