Starcraft 2 Strategy Guide: Protoss Units

The Protoss are a race which focuses on stronger individual units rather than swarms of smaller, less effective units. This guide will help you determine how to best use the Protoss forces while in competitive play online.

• Cost: N/A
  

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• Supply: 4
• Build Time: 17
• HP: 10
• Shields: 350
• Attack: Ground/Air 25 +10 Vs. Bio
• Type: Light

The Archon is formed by combining two Templars into one form. Once created, the Archon becomes a radically different and deadly unit.

As you can tell from the +10 vs. Bio, the Archon is primarily good against biological units. Given the Archon's incredible shields, this makes the Archon a perfect response to an opponent who is trying to overwhelm a Protoss player with sheer numbers. Terran players going heavy into Marines or Zerg players sticking with masses of Roaches and Zerglings are good examples. The Archon isn't terrible against armored units, however. An attack of 25 isn't bad, and armored units like Siege Tanks and Immortals don't gain an attack bonus against an Archon. The Archon can attack air units, but the very short range makes this rarely useful.

While Archons are very powerful, their are hard countered by EMP. This is because they only have 10 hitpoints, so when their shield goes down they die almost instantly. Ghosts are the number one enemy of the Archon, and a Terran player using Ghosts will be able to demolish a Protoss player using Archons just about every time. Be careful against Terran and scout frequently to make sure they're not building a Ghost Academy.

• Cost: 350 Minerals / 250 Gas
  

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• Supply: 6
• Build Time: 120
• HP: 300
• Shields: 150
• Attack: Ground/Air 2x5 per Interceptor max 8 = 80 Damage.
• Type: Armoed - Mechanical - Massive

The Carrier is a gigantic, hugely powerful late-game air unit which has been a signature Protoss unit since the original Starcraft came out. The Carrier has no offenses on its own, but it has the ability to build Interceptors, light attack craft which can hit both ground and air targets. Fully loaded with eight Interceptor the Carrier will do 80 damage with each pass.

The main strength of the Carrier is the fact that Interceptors have excellent range. The Interceptors are somewhat disposable, so a Carrier can stand back from the battle while the Interceptors tear units to shreds. The enemy won't be able to respond to this at all unless they have airborne anti-air units or a mobile ground-to-air unit (like Stalkers with Blink). A common strategy is to simply place a Carrier in an open space near an enemy's base and have it tear the enemy's production line to shreds while the main thrust of a ground attack hits the front of the opponent's base. Anyone who hasn't built airborne anti-air units will be virtually defenseless against the Carrier.

Carriers are countered pretty hard by mobile anti-air, however, so be careful. The Carrier is an expensive unit and takes a long time to build. It can't be lost casually and should be micro-manged as much as possible.