- Starcraft 2 Protoss Units List
- Sc2 Units Protoss Battle
- Starcraft 2 Protoss Strategy Guide
- Sc2 Units Wiki
- Starcraft 2 Protoss Unit Guide
Every race in Starcraft 2 has its own unique methods of scouting and detecting cloaked units. This presents a challenge for new players, as there are multiple options available to you and the best one to use is often not so clear. Protoss has a few obvious and a few not so obvious ways of scouting. Much of these are simply personal preference but some are more effective in certain match ups than others. Detection, however, is a bit more strict in its use, specifically Photon Cannon placement. Below is what I have learned to be the effective ways to scout as Protoss as well as the best ways to use your detection options.
Scouting With Your 9 Supply Probe
Welcome, to the Great Book of Protoss Bullshit. We at TeamLiquid Strategy believe that StarCraft is a beautiful game, and it is our goal to share this beauty with the world, as long as you play Protoss. Lately, we've realized that due to the tireless efforts of our Protoss staff, we've become single-handedly responsible for making Protoss OP. The following are all the things that the basic Protoss units say in the real-time strategy game Starcraft. (Parentheses) indicate a way in which something is said, or an explanation. square brackets indicate a sound effect that is hard to reproduce in text. To get to the top of the page, click on any of the small Kirby icons ( ) on the right. The following are all the things that the basic Protoss units say in the real-time strategy game Starcraft. (Parentheses) indicate a way in which something is said, or an explanation.
The ‘standard' time for Protoss to scout with their probe is at 9/10 supply. Typically, this probe warps in your first Pylon and then heads off to the opponents base. For ease of scouting I set this probe to a control group right at the start of the game (control group ‘0' is my scouting control group). What this Probe is looking for is the key. First off he wants to eliminate the possibility of your opponent doing a ‘cheesy' or all-in build. Signs of these types of early builds include:
- Vs. Zerg – Very few Drones and a Spawning pool indicates a ‘6 pool' Zergling rush or similar.
- Vs. Terran – 2 Barracks and no Refinery indicates a possible ‘2 Rax' Marine rush.
- Vs. Protoss – 2 Warpgates, no Cybernetics Core indicates a ‘2 Gate' Zealot rush.
- Vs. Protoss – Empty Protoss base, or only a Pylon and Forge indicates a Cannon rush or Proxy gateways. Go scout in and around your base!
The second objective of that Probe is to identify what your opponent might be planning. There are many small things that you might see that can indicate what your opponent's plans might be and there is an excellent list of these things on the Team Liquid forums here. Please check them out. While this scouting is important do not let it maintain all of your focus. There is nothing worse than knowing exactly what your opponent is doing but not being able to do anything about it because you have been to busy scouting too build anything.
Protoss Scouting Options
Scouting options for Protoss begin limited, just Probes, Zealots and then Stalkers, but as your tech level increases those options increase exponentially. I will simply list the options that I have heard of/discovered, if you know of any more please let everyone know in the comments section!
Hallucination
Hallucinate is available from the Cybernetics Core and you can begin research on it as soon as your Warpgate Tech is finished. Hallucinate allows you to use a Sentry to create a hallucinated unit of your choice. And your choice will almost certainly be to hallucinate a Phoenix to scout your opponents base. There are two nice things about this tech: firstly, if you are not planning on getting air units a few hallucinated air units can force your opponent to build unnecessary air defences. Secondly, you can use this to scout throughout the game without any further financial cost. Note: Do not attack with the Hallucinated units, they don't do any damage and your opponent will know that it's a fake!
Observers
Observers are almost a necessity later in the game, and can be a very effective way to scout before then. Often Protoss will settle for just getting one Observer to scout the opponents base/keep an eye out for cloaked units. Observers are cheap, quick to produce and are cloaked. So get lots of them, you can have one at your opponents front, one at each edge of their bases to watch for drops/air unit harass and one checking for your opponents expansions. With the vision provided by your observers and by having units on Xel Naga watchtowers you will be able to instantly shut down any harass or drops before they do any damage.
Phoenix
Dark Templar can do more than just kill workers.
Phoenix are quick to produce, are one of the fastest moving units in the game, have good harassment capabilities (especially against Zerg) and can provide excellent air superiority. With a few Phoenix it is possible to scout and harass your opponent at the same time. A drawback of using Phoenix for scouting is that their costs will weaken your ground army production by a decent amount. By using them to harass your opponent you can negate this somewhat.
Hallucination
Hallucinate is available from the Cybernetics Core and you can begin research on it as soon as your Warpgate Tech is finished. Hallucinate allows you to use a Sentry to create a hallucinated unit of your choice. And your choice will almost certainly be to hallucinate a Phoenix to scout your opponents base. There are two nice things about this tech: firstly, if you are not planning on getting air units a few hallucinated air units can force your opponent to build unnecessary air defences. Secondly, you can use this to scout throughout the game without any further financial cost. Note: Do not attack with the Hallucinated units, they don't do any damage and your opponent will know that it's a fake!
Observers
Observers are almost a necessity later in the game, and can be a very effective way to scout before then. Often Protoss will settle for just getting one Observer to scout the opponents base/keep an eye out for cloaked units. Observers are cheap, quick to produce and are cloaked. So get lots of them, you can have one at your opponents front, one at each edge of their bases to watch for drops/air unit harass and one checking for your opponents expansions. With the vision provided by your observers and by having units on Xel Naga watchtowers you will be able to instantly shut down any harass or drops before they do any damage.
Phoenix
Dark Templar can do more than just kill workers.
Phoenix are quick to produce, are one of the fastest moving units in the game, have good harassment capabilities (especially against Zerg) and can provide excellent air superiority. With a few Phoenix it is possible to scout and harass your opponent at the same time. A drawback of using Phoenix for scouting is that their costs will weaken your ground army production by a decent amount. By using them to harass your opponent you can negate this somewhat.
Dark Templar
In a similar fashion to Phoenix, Dark Templar (DT) can harass and scout at the same time. Since they are cloaked, your DTs can just wander into an opponents base and scout before popping over to their mineral line for harassment. DTs usefulness for scouting your opponents base is limited if your opponent is prepared with detection. They can still be extremely useful for watching your opponents front and delaying enemy troop movements (as your opponent cannot move out without first getting mobile detection).
My Scouting Experiences
I have had personal success with using lots of observers, particularly against Terran. I find that I am able to shut down drops much better and can keep Terran contained much more effectively with the mobile vision provided by the Observer. Keeping Terran contained provides me with the extra confidence I need to dominate this matchup. PvT is currently my best matchup as Protoss, and I believe it is due to having excellent vision at all times. When I lose that vision is usually when I lose.
Against Protoss opponents I often use Dark Templar to scout, contain and harass and I have had decent success with this approach. I have found that it is necessary to also get Observers in PvP due to the increasing amount of players that seem to be using Warp Prism harass. I feel that PvP is currently my worst matchup and I need to work on maintaining good vision to overcome this hurdle. I may experiment with using Hallucination in this matchup.
I typically use DTs and Observers against Zerg, but I have had success with the Phoenix approach in the past. Zerg can, however, react very quickly to DTs if they are at Lair tech (if not DTs will be the end of them). As such I think I may lean more towards Phoenix in the PvZ matchup in the future.
Photon Cannons
Starcraft 2 Protoss Units List
Tucking a Cannon into the minerals like this will help those probes feel safe.
Its good practice to put at least 1 Photon Cannon in each of your mineral patches. This is mainly for the detection they provide but they also act as a deterrent for any light harassment. For as long as your army is fairly close to your bases this will be pretty much all you need. Once you expand more or start to move your army out it is always a good idea to put up extra cannon in the back of each base. This will effectively defend you from any harassment or counter attacks that may come.
I have had many, many games in the past where I have ended up trading bases with my opponent due to a counter attack drop in the back of my main base. I have also lost a lot of games due to cloaked Banshee harass. After I started putting up one Cannon in each of my mineral lines cloaked Banshees have not been a problem. However, I am still having trouble remembering to throw up those extra Cannon later in the game, and it has ended up costing me a few wins.
Cod black modern warfare.
Do you have any other tips or strategies that you use to scout/detect with Protoss? If so, share them with me below!
1. Mass Recall: teleports all friendly units in the targeted are to the Mothership. This ability can be smartly used for offense or defense to move large amounts of units around the battlefield if need be.
2. Vortex: creates a gravity pulling vortex which effectively disables all ground and air units in the targeted area for 20 seconds. During this timespan, affected units are invulnerable to all damage and effects. This ability could look similar to the now cancelled Black Hole ability but, instead of dealing direct damage, it is designed to strategically take out from the battle dangerous enemies.
3. Cloaking Field: is a passive ability which grants cloak to nearby friendly units and structures.
Sc2 Units Protoss Battle
The Colossus is like an alien machine that walked out of the War of the Worlds. This massive unit that can walk over terrain like it wasn't even there. Add to it their powerful beam weapon, and it makes for one heck of a base assault unit.
Starcraft 2 Protoss Strategy Guide
The fall of Aiur demonstrated to the Dark Templar that more than just stealth and guile were required to defeat the zerg. Hence, the Dark Templar developed the stalker, a war machine inspired by the Khalai dragoon. While dragoons were piloted by crippled protoss, the stalker was controlled by the shadow-essence of a Dark Templar warrior fused into a metal body. The new walkers were armed with carapace-mounted particle disruptors adept against both ground and aerial targets.
Sc2 Units Wiki
Stalkers were credited with many fantastic powers upon their battlefield début. However, only one was witnessed consistently: an ability to instantly teleport, or 'blink', from one spot to another. The improved mobility thus granted allowed the stalker to conduct ambushes, catch fleeing foes, and generally engage on their own terms.
Starcraft 2 Protoss Unit Guide
Click this Wiki for more details
