Starcraft Races: Protoss

Starcraft Protoss Units

This page is dedicated to the Protoss units of the first Starcraft game. Possible counters, strategies, and unit statistics are presented.

The Protoss army fields, pound for pound, the game's strongest units. They generally have more armor, damage and life than the other species - and perpetually regenerating energy shields on top of that. This makes them very forgiving in terms of micro control. However, they are also more expensive and require more supply per unit, so a protoss player suffers disproportionately if an opponent hard counters them.

Protoss Unit Details

Zealot - Heavy protoss melee attacker. Powerful in small groups, looses effectiveness quickly unless grouped in STAGGERING numbers. During the first 2 min of a game, one of these guys and a few workers can handle A TON. Don't forget them late in the game however. Once fully upgraded, they can really throw an opponent off if providing he has geared up for a massive air raid. Try filling 12 shuttles with zealots and dropping them, you'll like the results, and on maps with the cash to BUILD 12 shuttles of zealots, people tend to build only one choke, leaving their workers naked......

Protoss Counters - Zealots + photon cannons.
Zerg Counters - Mass hydralisks.
Terran Counters - Marines and medics or firebats.
Shuttle - The best transportation on the map once you upgrade the speed, shuttles are fast and durable. Costing no gas they are also a plus in low resource scenarios. In end game situations, don't discount the power of 6 shuttles filled with zealots or dragoons, especially in conjunction with another attack. Shuttles are also a necessity if you like reavers or templar to follow your army - a good idea.

Protoss Counters - Any ranged attack unit.
Zerg Counters - Any ranged attack unit.
Terran Counters - Any ranged attack unit.
Observer - Build them or die. Being the sole mobile protoss detection, these units are critical unless you like being victimized by cloaked units . Beware of terrans, who may go after them with a pack of wraiths. Try to escort any major attack force with at least 4 observers. Build them liberally, and have them PATROL the map. If they sit statically, you are asking to get them locked down or scourged. Put one at every expansion, and then you can swat it before they get dug in, especially critical against mid-game terrans. (You don't want them to get too much of static detection built up).

Protoss Counters: Photon cannons.
Zerg Counters: Spore colonies.
Terran Counters: Missile turrets.
Probe - Harvester. While these units may be the weakest of the three races workers, they have the wonderful ability to warp in buildings rather than construct them. This helps you maximize a protoss economy. However, don't underestimate them, in a rush situation, they can help turn the tide of battle, especially against zerglings. One zealot and 4 properly used probes can kill 8 zerglings.

Protoss Counters - Any attack unit.
Zerg Counters - Any attack unit.
Terran Counters - Any attack unit.
Dragoon - Heavy protoss ranged attacker. VERY deadly in large groups, especially against cannon/bunker/colony builders. Beware of heavy artillery and zerglings however. These units can be used in conjunction with an air attack to really harass an opponent. Mixing them up with corsairs is especially nasty. Also, they can save your butt if you get reaver dropped while lacking templar - feed the reaver carefully, and you can beat 2 of them with 6 dragoons.

Protoss Counters: Dragoons + zealots.
Zerg Counters: Mass zergling or mass hydralisks.
Terran Counters: Medics and marines or siege tanks and marines.
Templar - Lethal protoss spell castors, possibly most powerful units in game for the cost, - the protoss trump card. Deadly against terran/zerg mid/low-tech units. One well used templar can ruin an entire offensive. Keep these units nestled tightly in photon cannons to really make your expansions really tough to crack. An opponent will have to come full force at your to have a chance, and I guarantee 4 templar will let you maul a huge chunck of his army, leaving you a great opening for a counter attack. Also, always load a shuttle and bring 4 templar along for any attack. They will help even the number advantage - a lot.

Protoss Counters - Dark acron, carriers, (must be used VERY carefully).
Zerg Counters - Queens, mass crackling.
Terran Counters - Bunker pushes, science vessels.
Reaver - An under-used unit with incredible power in mass. Several shuttles filled with reaver will decimate an enemy base even if heavily defended. Reavers die quickly alone, but groups of 6 or more will own ANY unsupported infantry assault.

Protoss Counters -Templar, air units.
Zerg Counters - Air units, EXTREMELY cannily used hydralisks.
Terran Counters - Siege tanks, air units.
Scout - Heavy protoss assault fighter. If not for stationary anti-air, scouts would rule StarCraft, sporting a reasonable air to ground assault, and an air to air that is second to none on a shot to shot basis. Scouts are the definitive capital ship killers, sporting high durability, and the ability to abosolutly punish whatever flies. However, stationary ground to air emplacements force scouts into the role of secondary assault units.

Protoss Counters - Templar, cannons, dragoons.
Zerg Counters - Scourges, hydralisks, spore colonies.
Terran Counters - Mass marines, medics and marines, Goliath, bunkers, missile turrets.
Corsair - A great protoss support unit, if you have at least twelve of them you can FORCE any opponent into the air. Corsairs are the ultimate A.I. breakers. Commonly used against chokes, their incredible value is often lost on their ability to make goons, Goliath, and hydralisks totally ineffective against protoss air units. Against a concentrated carrier/corsair attack, an opponent without air is helpless. Additionally, corsairs are the SCOURGE of zerg. With 8 corsair, a protoss can rape an opposing zerg's overlord population, all the while hydralisks and defending colonies are powerless to fire back.

Protoss Counters - Carriers, scouts.
Zerg Counters - Scourges, devourers.
Terran Counters - Battle cruisers, valkeries.
Arbiters - Another under-appreciated unit. Besides it's cloaking abilities, an arbiter can be used for DEVASTATING recall hits behind a choke, breaking superior numbers into bite sized chunks using stasis, and RECALLING damaged units to the home base, saving them for later or quick recharge. Not to mention stopping ghosts. Many people forget that stasis is an area effect spell. Stasis field in the area of a cloaked ghost to halt nukes.

Protoss Counters - Carriers, scouts corsairs, dragoons, dark acron, templar.
Zerg Counters - Scourges, devourers, mutalisks, hydralisks.
Terran Counters - Battle cruisers, valkeries, science vessels, wraiths, marines, Goliaths.
Carriers - While the carrier is arguably the toughest unit in the game, it is also the most spendy, tallying in at 550 mineral and 250 gas once loaded, (you will have to work hard on a real map to make the numbers pay for themselves). They can be easily overwhelmed by support fighters or scourges, so they must be used with the up most tactical care. However, if you can acquire 8 of them, and they are used WITH support units, almost any enemy will fall, particularly if they are unaware you have them.

Protoss Counters - Scouts, templar.
Zerg Counters - Scourges, devourers.
Terran Counters - Battle cruisers, wraiths, ghosts.
Dark Templar - Dark templar are a better threat than a unit. Almost any other units in reasonable numbers will slay dark templar with ease, but the presence of dark templar can be used AGAINST your opponent, forcing them to use build units they otherwise would not. They are a mental weapon used to manipulate people. Against a smart attacker, they will be quickly overwhelmed once detected. Use them to force a terran to get science vessels. Use them the same way against toss, forcing them expend cash on a robotics facility. VERY poor on zerg, don't bother. If your opponent has been sloppy with cloak detection, (terrans are particularly guilty of this), you can win a game with dark templar however.

Protoss Counters - Any attack units once detected.
Zerg Counters - Any attack units once detected.
Terran Counters - Any attack units once detected.
Dark Acron - An interesting support unit that, (like the dark templar), sounds cooler than it is. It's abilities are VERY situation specific. While mind control is a wonderful power, unless you frequent BGH, the resources to fully exploit it are simply not present. Maelstrom, while impressive, has too short a duration to really do much good. Psi storm is a better use of energy. Feedback is the one area the DA shines. It makes them the best counter against all other spell casters. With one fell swoop, you can ravage arbiters, templer, queens, science vessels, wraiths and corsairs. One cool thing, all three of a dark acron's powers will stop a nuking ghost.... pick your flavor - kill him, stun him, or make him yours.....

Protoss Counters - Any attack unit.
Zerg Counters - Any attack unit.
Terran Counters - Any attack unit.
Acron - Powerful units that can literally rule the open ground. However, against a choke, they are meat. Acron are too large to maneuver in tight spaces, and their incredible power is greatly limited by this weakness. They are awesome to use against mutas or zerglings, especially when near a shield battery. But keep them in the open, or you'll end up watching a lone hydralisk wedged in between buildings kill the mighty acron.

Protoss Counters - Dragoons, templar, cannons.
Zerg Counters - Guardians, hydralisks.
Terran Counters - Siege tanks, battle cruisers, science vessels.

Unit Master Table

Unit Name Size Units Min Gas Armor HP Shield Ground
Attack		 Air
Attack		 Cool Range Attack
Mod		 Sight Notes Build
Time
Arbiter L 4 100 350 1 200 150 10e 10e 45 5 1 9 SA 160
Archon L 4 100 300 0 10 350 30s 30s 20 2 3 8   20
Carrier L 8 350 250 4 300 150 6 6   8 1 11   140
Dragoon L 2 125 50 1 100 80 20e 20e 30 4/6
upg.		 2a 8   40
High Templar S 2 50 150 0 40 40 0 0   0 0 7 B,SA 50
Observer S 1 25 75 0 40 20 0 0   0 0 9/11
upg.		 D 40
Photon Cannon L 0 150 0 0 100 100 20 20 22 7 0 11 D 50
Probe S 1 50 0 0 20 20 5 0 22 1 0 8 W 20
Reaver L 4 200 100 0 100 80 100s/
125s
upg.		 0 60 8 0 10   70
Scout L 3 300 150 0 150 100 8 28e 30Gnd/
22Air		 4 1Gnd/
2Air		 8/10
upg.		   80
Shuttle L 2 200 0 1 80 60 0 0   0 0 8 T 60
Zealot S 2 100 0 1 80 80 16 0 22 1 2 7 B 40
Corsair M 2 150 100 1 100 80 0 5es 8 5 1 9 SA 40
Dark Archon L 4 250 200 1 25 200 0 0   0 0 10 SA 20
Dark Templar S 2 125 100 1 80 40 40 0 30 1 3 7 B 50

Unit Master Table Key

Unit Details:
Cool - The time between the ending of the attack and the beginning of another.
Attack Mod - The Damage modifier for each level of upgrade.
Gnd - Ground attack for units with split Air/Ground Weapon Systems
Air - Air attack for units with split Air/Ground Weapon Systems
Upg - Stat change after getting an upgrade

Attacks:
E - Explosive Attack (50% to Small Units, 75% to Medium Units, full damage to Large Units).
C - Concussive/Plasma damage Attack (50% to Medium Units 25% to Large Units).
S - Splash damage, which affects all units in the blast area.

Notes:
B - Indicates Biological unit
D - Unit can Detect Cloaked/Burrowed units
SA - Unit has one or more Special Abilities (is a spell-caster)
T - Transport
W - Worker