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The Protoss are the most technologically advanced race of the three, and as you could expect, they
are the least numerous. You must make up for a lack of numbers with powerfull units and an abundance of technology. All Protoss
units are capable of absorbing damage with plasma shields, until of course the shields run out, and the unit itself begins
taking damage. The Plasma shields will regenerate over time or immediatly if you have a shield battery handy, but any damage
done to the unit itself is permanent.
Ground Units
| The Zealot |
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Zealots are the first unit available to you, and is the most formidable starting unit of the game.
Zealots are melee units that cause 16 points of damage a shot and they come standard with plenty of health points, making
them difficult for zerglings or marines to take them down early in the game. They are a cheap(for the protoss) and effective
compliment to any ground force later in the game as well. Though zealots are strong, they are defensless against an air attack,
and large groups of long ranged weapons can take them out easily. Also, any unit that does splash damage, such as the Terran
firebat or the Zerg lurker, takes a great toll of incoming zealots. Couple the zealot with a ranged unit to maximize
its affectiveness.
| The Dragoon |
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Dragoons are actually machines that house an incapacitated protoss warrior. After being physically
maimed in combat, these dedicated beings continue serving their brethren by fighting once more, only in a robotic shell. These
units are large and somewhat clumsy, but they come with plenty of health points and a solid base attack of 20. The dragoon
is a ranged unit, even more so with its singularity charge upgrade, and has a descent running speed, making it a formidable
unit for both quick base defense and invading. They are capable of firing at both land and air targets with equal range and
power. A single dragoon packs a good punch, but because of their relatively slow firing rate, use them in numbers to nulify
this flaw. Also, the dragoon is a large unit, so it is especially suseptable to masses of swarming melee units.
| The Reaver |
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Reavers are the tanks of the protoss. They're they slowest ground unit in the game, but thier attack
makes up for it. The Reaver itself has no attack but it does produce a max(once upgraded) of ten scarabs at a time in
its internal manufacturing plant. The Reaver, when its in sight of an enemy it releases a scarab that scuries to the enemy
and explodes with incredible force, damaging the unit and everything around it as well. Once the scarab is released, it is
unstoppable, but it can't fire over different terrain types, such as off cliffs or over water. Reavers are much more
affective with thier damage upgrade, boosting the attack points to 125, but since they are tanks they cannot fire on air units.
Also, like the dragoon, they are big, slow firing units, so large swarms of melee units can be a threat to them.
| High Templar |
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The High Templar are spell casters, so don't produce them in bulk. They have no basic attack
but, they do have three handy tricks to make up for their lack of a weapon:
The Psionic storm is an area spell that devastates enemies with a powerfull lighting-like attack.
It works well against swarms of small enemies
like hydralisks, zerglings, zealots, and marines. It also holds its own against
slow air units like carriers, battle cruisers, and gaurdians. Be careful when firing a psionic storm in the midst of battle,
because the storm doesn't spare friendly troops from its torrent.
The Halucination ability creates two copies of any one unit you command, then they can be used as
a deversion for your real strike force. Enemies will often waste thier shots on halucinations before they fire at your real
troops. The halucination has a set life span, and will vanish when either its time runs out or when its health is depleted.
The last high templar ability is a transformation. With two or more high templars selected, you can
merge them into the a powerful psionic entity known as the archon.
| The Dark Templar |
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Dark Templars are like a powerful stealh version of a zealot. They are melee attackers that
pack a punch; 40 base points of damage to be numerical. They are incapable of attacking an air unit, but they have an added
bonus. Dark templars are perminanently cloaked, making them a heap of trouble for a careless player with no detectors. Dark
templar don't have a huge stock of health points, and due to their relatively slow running speed, ranged units can get
the jump on them. Be careful to send proper backup with your dark templar, replacing them can be somewhat expensive.
If you select two dark templar, you have the option to merge them into dark archons, a spell casting
entity somewhat similar to the archon.
| The Archon |
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Archons are created by the fusion of two high templar. The archons pyshical form is actually very
weak, but they come protected by a huge plasma shield. They are powerful melee attackers that do 30 base points of damage,
but they have an added bonus: archons are capable of attacking air units. Also, their psionic shockwave attack does splash
damage, making them effective against ground units and ranged units alike. The archons make powerful foes; the only
real threat to them is large numbers of enemies.
 The dark archon, created from the fusion of two dark templar, may look similar to its relative, the
archon, but it is actually defenseless. Like the archon, the dark archons physical form is weak, but it is protected by yet
anoter massive plasma shield. This said, you can probably guess that the dark archon is a spell casting unit.
Mind Control is the dark archons most popular spell. Casting mind control completly drains the dark
archon of its shields and mana, but the result can be worth the exspense. It is fun to take your enemies powerful units
like battlecruisers, and carriersm but the even more interesting use for this is to command a whole new species. Mind
controling an another players SCV
or Drone gives you acces to a whole new army, if you have the minerals to support it.
Mind controling a unit gives you any upgrade that unit has for free, with the exception of armor and weapon level upgrades.
Maelstrom stops a group of biological units from moving or attacking for about 10 seconds, making
this ability almost useless in my opinion. Stoping a group of units for a few seconds may buy you a little time, but agaisnt
a skilled player, casting Maelstrom only delays the inevitable. But if used right, maelstrom can be used to affectively cast
psionic storm on large groups of units, or delay a mass of incoming troops at a bottle-neck in the terrain.
Feedback is the dark archons only form of attack, even if it does cost mana. Feedback can only be
cast on units that use mana, because feedback turns the units mana against itself. It causes as much damage as the unit has
mana, making the dark archon an effective unit to counter other spell casters with.
The Probe is the protoss worker, gathering your crucial minerals and gas. It's also the weakest ground
unit in the game, but its ability to start warping in a building and be assigned other tasks makes up for this by a long shot.
Given enough money, one probe can build an entire base faster than any other species.
If it comes down to your probes as
a last defense, you might want to throw in the towel, because a single zergling can devestate a whole posse of probes.
Air Units
The Scout is the first protoss air unit available to you, and its name can be decieving. The scout
is actually for recon at all, although, with its speed and sightrange upgrades, it can be.The scouts real pur[ose is for aerial
combat. Their anti-matter missiles can down light enemy aircraft in a few shots, making them a formidable, and extremely mobile, anti-air
force. Unfortunately, scouts have a pair of limiting factors; cost and ground attack. The scout costs nearly as much as a
carrier, making their cost efficiency questionable, and their puny particle beam is no match for a ground-based attack.
 Corsairs are the air to air specialists of the Protoss fleets. Their attack is actually quite weak,
but due to the fact that the attack does splash damage and it has almost no cooldown time, the corsair is a force to be reconned
with. They can effectively destroy entire fleets of enemy air units with record speed when used in large numbers, but beware
their limitations. The corsair has no way to fire on a ground based target, leaving them somewhat defensless and unable
to level buildings. Luckily, for the protoss player, the corsair has a handy spell at its disposal. The disruption web spell
has an area affect on ground units and buildings alike. It prevents any unit under the web from making any form of attack,
but the effected units are still free to move from under the spell and also, the spell has no affect on air units.
 Carriers are the capitol ships of the protoss. The carrier is a large, expensive, slow moving unit,
but its power makes up for the flaws. The carrier itself has the most heavily armored hull of any unit in the game, but it
has no form of attack. Instead, the carrier houses a miniature manufacturing plant that produces interceptors-small, lighting
quick fighters that swarm the enemy units. The carrier can hold up to a maximum of 8 interceptors in its launch bay; also,
any interceptor that returns to the launch bay is instantly repaired and returned to full health. Carriers work better in
fleets, enabling them to swarm enemy fighters. Usually, unless the defending player interviens with some good micromanagement,
the defending units will become confused into attacking the interceptors, leaving the carriers themselves untouched. Carriers aren't
invulnerable, however, and any strong anti-air force is a threat to them. Watch the battle closely and be prepared to recall
your fleet of carriers, replacing them can be very expensive.
 The shuttle is the protoss form of a physical transport. It is, once upgraded, the fastest transport
in the game. It comes stocked with decent number of health points and shields, making them effective for getting a strike
force past light and even midiocre air defenses.
| The Arbiter |
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Arbiters are one of the protoss's most famed units. It is a spell caster that comes with an attack,
although its relatively weak, but this is not its primary purpose. Any of your units that are within the arbiters sight range
remained cloaked, free of charge. On top of this, the arbiter also comes with some great spells:
Recall is a spell that teleports a group of your unit to the arbiters location, no matter how far
away they are. Its handy if the arbiter comes under attack, or if your cloaked army needs some fast backup. Use the arbiter
to recall a few powerful units to the center of your enemies base and cause some havoc, if you can sneak the arbiter past
your enemies defenses.
Stasis cell imprisons is an area affect spell that captures any unit, mechanical or biological,
in a bubble-like cell. The unit is lost from control groups, unable to move or attack for a long period of time. Alternatively, a
unit in a stasis cell is invulnerable from attack, even a nuclear strike cannot harm a unit in a stasis cell. Use
stasis cell to break up large numbers of enemy attacks, or to stop an attack altogether until you have the units to deal with
the problem.
| The Observer |
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The observer is a defensless protoss recon unit that can also be used as a detector. It is perminently
cloaked, and its far sight range(with upgrade) make it excellent for scouting out enemy bases. you can also use them to monitor
mineral expansions, and enemy ground route. Always send an observer or two with your main strike force, it'll save you some
grief from cloaked units in the long run.
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