- Starcraft Protoss Characters
- Starcraft Protoss Quotes
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- Starcraft 2 Protoss Unit Guide
Home --> Starcraft 2 Protoss Guide --> Protoss Tips (you are here)
Below, you will find a variety of Starcraft 2 Protoss tips that you can implement to start winning games of Starcraft 2 right now. Tips are in no particular order, with general tips and race-specific tips interspersed in the list.
StarCraft begins days after the first of these attacks, where the predominant Terran government, the Terran Confederacy, falls into a state of panic as it comes under attack by both the Zerg and the Protoss, in addition to increasing rebel activity led by Arcturus Mengsk against its rule. Soundboard game on point. Save hide report. Imagine the possibilitys in starcraft. 3 points 4 months ago. Serral could just play so many clips of casters saying he won the tournament to dishearten his foes.
We have started with 10 tips and each time I pick up a new tip for a pro game or replay, I will add it to this list below, so check back regularly for new Starcraft 2 Protoss tips!
Tip #1. Harass with Probes
This is one of the best Starcraft 2 Protoss tips. Protoss have the advantage of having the Probe, which makes them the best race for scouting and harassing. After dropping your first Pylon, be sure to send that Probe out to scout your enemy.
Starcraft Protoss Characters
If your enemy is Terran, take advantage of the Probes range (albeit a small range) by having it attack the SCV that is building the Barracks. This is extremely annoying and highly effective method for slowing down Terran players. You can also use this scouting Probe to attack Drones to annoy your enemy as well.
Tip #2. Hallucinate Colossi Before Attacking
The Hallucinate is an under-utilized ability that allows the Sentry to create an illusion of a given unit. Hallucinations have full HP and go through attack animations, but their attacks do not deal any damage and Hallucinations take twice as much damage from enemy attacks.
The only way to spot a hallucination is to use a detector. An observant player may notice that a given unit is not dealing damage or that it is taking extra damage, but if just a few units in a large army are Hallucinations, the only way for a player to know whether or not a unit is real is to have detection in the area.
Since Protoss players rarely use cloaked units as part of their main army composition, enemy players will commonly go against Protoss players without using any detection. Take advantage of this by doubling your current Colossus count with Hallucinations. If you attack the enemy player with the appearance of 8+ Colossi early in the game, even if only two are real, the distracted damage and your opponent trying to run away can often snowball into a win.
Tip #3. Proxy with Pylons
You should always drop a Pylon down near your opponent's base or even inside it if you can get away with it. Warping units to your opponent's base is highly effective. If you can warp them inside your opponents base you can often take out dozens of harvesters.
A highly effective way for doing this is to set up a proxy via a Pylon or Warp Prism in your opponent's base. Next, attack from the front with the bulk of your army. While your opponent is distracted dealing with your attack, warp in a few units at your Warp Prism or Pylon and have them attack the mineral line.
Your opponent will be so busy dealing with the attack at the main base that you can often take out all of his harvesters before he even realized what happened!
Pylons are also good for defensive purposes. Make sure there are a few Pylons near each base so that you can warp in reinforcements to any of your expansions should the enemy try to drop or sneak attack your expansions.
Tip #4. Get an Early Observer
If you want to play Protoss well, you will need to know what your enemy is building. This is why getting an Observer fast is one of my recommended Starcraft 2 Protoss tips. While getting a mixed army might seem attractive, it really is beneficial to know what your opponent is up to.
For example, if you scout and see nothing but Marines, you know to quickly tech to Colossi or High Templar. If you scout and see nothing but Banshees, you know to get a few Phoenix and Observers. You cannot let a Terran or Protoss enemy sit behind a wall without knowing what he is up to.
Early detection is even more important in Heart of the Swarm. Between the Swarm Host and Widow Mine, players are getting out more cloaked units than ever.
Tip #5. Apply Pressure Early and Often
As a Protoss player, your most difficult task will be to establish expansions. Protoss units tend to move slowly so it is hard to get an expansion up and running safely without wasting large amounts of resources on Photon Cannons.
To prevent this needless waste, try to expand when attacking. Build a small army of Zealots, Stalkers, and Sentries, and push your opponent. While jousting with your opponent, establish your expansion. You can then fall back to the expansion after it has been established. It is much easier to defend once the Nexus is up and running thanks to Photon Overcharge.
Alternatively, if you suspect early aggression from your opponent, build Stalkers and Sentries, defend your base with Force Fields, and as a 'counter attack' after a successful defense, expand rather than trying to push back right away.
Winning small battles early in the game is key to establishing an expansion. Minerals used to add on a Nexus will result in 4 less Zealots. Try to get a small lead particularly in mirror match-ups by destroying a few enemy units without losing any of your own in order to safely grab an expansion.
This is the hardest of the Starcraft 2 Protoss tips to perfect. Pressure is an odd concept - sometimes you might not kill anything but still apply great pressure. As long as your opponent is on the defensive and trapped inside his base rather than knocking down the door on your own base you are doing well.
Tip #6. Wall Off Versus Zerg
One of the quickest ways to lose a game of Starcraft 2 as Protoss is to have the bulk of your forces situated at the entrance to your natural expansion or third base only to have a large pack of Zerglings to run around these units and head right into the main base.
Make sure you build a wall at the entrance to your natural expansion to prevent this from happening. Buildings can be used to form most of the wall. Make sure to leave a small gap in the wall so your own units can get out when the time comes. You can then place 1-2 Zealots or a Stalker in the gap on 'Hold Position'. This will prevent Zerglings from getting into your base, and you can always move the units when you are ready to push out.
Tip #7. Know Your Unit Counters
It is hard to win games as Protoss if you do not know the basic Protoss unit counters. This link will take you to a simple to understand chart that details the strengths and weaknesses of all the Protoss units.
If you did not know that Colossi are strong against Terran Ghosts or that Tempests were strong against Colossi, you will not fare well in multiplayer games. You need to learn the Protoss unit counters just to remain competitive - you can bet your opponents already have.
Tip #8. Hallucinate Phoenix for Scouting Purposes
Another good unit to Hallucinate is the Phoenix. Rather than try to intimidate your opponent with it, a Hallucinated Phoenix (or two or three) can be used to quickly scout the map. Phoenix can fly and have a very fast movement speed. Hallucinated Phoenix keep this ability to fly as well as the fast movement speed, providing the Protoss player with a free, fast, and effective scout even early in the game.
Tip #9. Build Void Rays Versus Protoss Players
Struggling in Protoss vs Protoss matches? Try getting Void Rays. Even without any upgrades, perhaps no Protoss unit is as universally strong in any match-up as the Void Ray is against other Protoss players.
The reason the Void Ray is so good against Protoss players is that there is really no counter for it in PvP matches. The Void Ray is strong even against the Stalker when Prismatic Alignment is active. The Void Ray is strong versus Carriers, Tempests, and other Void Rays in the air. It performs decently against the Phoenix. The only ground unit which can combat it head to head is the Archon, but the Void Ray outranges the Archon, allowing the Void Ray to avoid direct confrontation.
Just make sure you spend your excess minerals on Zealots and expansions, because going for Void Rays is very gas intensive.
Tip #10. When Behind, Dark Shrine
Without a doubt, this is my favorite Starcraft 2-related rhyme, and it is actually quite meaningful. Dark Shrines are behind more come-from-behind Protoss victories than perhaps any other strategy.
The idea here is that if you are behind in a game and are about to lose the game, get a Dark Shrine and try to use Dark Templar. If you warp in a few Dark Templar, you can split them amongst the enemy's current bases. If there is no detection (or at least not enough detection to get everywhere at once), you can really catch your opponent by surprise.
If the Dark Templar end up doing significant damage, you can get yourself back in the game and actually position yourself to have a chance to win. Most of the time your opponents can counter this strategy, but if you are really behind in the game, you were going to lose anyway. You might as well at least try, giving yourself a chance of turning a practically guaranteed loss into a victory!
Conclusion
By applying these 10 Starcraft 2 Protoss tips, you can start winning a lot more games. Be sure to check back regularly for new tips as these starting 10 tips is just the beginning. Every time I see a cool new tip or strategy in a professional level replay or stream I will be sure to expand this list accordingly!
As of this month it's been a whopping 20 years since StarCraft released. While that fact makes me feel old, I have to give it credit where credit is due. Before StarCraft came out I had no idea what a multiplayer game was like. But once I hopped into Battle.net and started getting destroyed by players who actually knew what a build order was, I was hooked.
Today, real-time strategy games aren't quite as popular, but StarCraft II manages to get by. Even then, StarCraft is more known for its nostalgia than anything; it played a bit part in the birth of online gaming, after all.
In celebration of the occasion, we're going to go through some of the original game's most memorable unit quotes. These are the sounds you'd hear when interacting with your army, and they're sure to make you nostalgic if you played the game.
1. Archon
Faction: Protoss
Trained Quote: 'The merging is complete.' Free great 3d drawing program.
Selected Quote: 'Power overwhelming!'
Order Quote: 'Destroy..'
Fact: During StarCraft's early development, you needed three High Templars to make a High Templar.
The Archon was a majestic beast. Floating around like a plume of Chinese manufacturing smog it released unrelenting power (SARS) upon everything in its path while talking about how overwhelmed it was with power. A muscle relaxant probably would have been a proper cure, but back then scientists thought it'd be a better idea to just send dozens of Zerglings its way. Spoiler: it didn't work.
Normal piano on garageband.
2. Battlecruiser
Faction: Terran
Trained Quote: 'Battlecruiser operational.'
Selected Quote: 'Receiving transmission.'
Order Quote: 'Set a course.'
Fact: The Battlecruiser is a capital ship measuring 560 meters in length, which is half the size of your Mom.
I can't say that I've listened to many Russians speak, but I can imitate the Russian Battlecruiser guy almost perfectly. Hopefully one day that will help me order food at a Russian restaurant. I'm counting on it.
Also Read: Amazing Screenshots Of What World Of Warcraft Looked Like Before Release
3. Dragoon
Faction: Protoss
Starcraft Protoss Quotes
Trained Quote: 'I have returned.'
Selected Quote: 'Awaiting instructions.'
Order Quote: 'Commencing.'
Fact: In real life Dragoons were horse mounted cavalry, usually equipped with polearms.
Nobody likes spiders, and even fewer people like the Dragoon. This unit capable of destroying land and air units alike was a favorite among newbs in early StarCraft. They'd usually build them in mass quantities and then send them out like some kind of horror movie was being filmed.
4. Goliath
Faction: Terran
Trained Quote: 'Goliath online.'
Selected Quote: 'Go ahead, TACCOM.'
Order Quote: 'Acknowledged H.Q.'
Fact: Robocop inspired many quotes for this interesting unit.
If you're the kind of person who enjoys speaking in phonetics, then the Goliath was likely a favorite of yours. Using things like 'affirmative', and 'copy that', this mechanical beast knew how to make sure walkie talkies were put to good use.
5. Infested Terran
Faction: Zerg
Trained Quote: 'Live for the Swarm!'
Selected Quote: 'Sacrifice me..'
Order Quote: 'Gladly..'
Fact: These virus infected horrors were rarely used among players online due to their complexity.
Starcraft Protoss Buildings
You might notice by now that there aren't many Zerg on this list, probably because the Infested Terran is the only one that actually speaks language instead of just sounding like a hungry Loch Ness monster. Don't be fooled, though. This disgusting unit would like nothing more than to digest you.
Also Read: These 23 Retro Gaming Commercials Will Make You Feel Old
6. Marine
Faction: Terran
Trained Quote: 'You wanna piece of me, boy?'
Selected Quote: 'Jacked up and good to go.'
Order Quote: 'Rock & roll!'
Fact: Ever wonder what a futuristic assault rifle is? Blizzard described the Marine's gun as shooting 'ferromagnetic projectiles hurled at hypersonic speed using magnetic induction'.
You could argue that the Marine is the most memorable unit of the bunch. Not only did it say lots of catchy phrases, but anyone who touched Terran likely heard its quotes hundreds of times due to how well the unit scaled from early to late-game. Even by the end of a 60 minute match you were probably still hearing a few talking about 'rock and roll'.
7. SCV
Faction: Terran
Trained Quote: 'SCV good to go, sir.'
Selected Quote: 'Orders, Cap'n?'
Starcraft 2 Protoss Unit Guide
Order Quote: 'Orders received.'
Fact: SCVs had powerful armor early in StarCraft lore, but later were produced without it due to its high costs, leaving them vulnerable.
The SCV sounded like it had no business stepping foot on a battlefield in StarCraft. This lonely bipedal vehicle housed a Computer Sciene major who just wanted to mine for some ore. They were commonly harassed by Zerglings and mean Zealots, and their innocence made such occasions a sad sight to see for spectators. They should have considered concealed carry.
8. Siege Tank
Faction: Terran
Trained Quote: 'Ready to roll out!'
Selected Quote: 'I-dentify target!'
Order Quote: 'De-lighted to, SIR!'
Fact: You could fit two Siege Tanks into a single Dropship, and then drop them near an enemy's base before shocking the bejesus out of them.
The Siege Tank's enthusiasm brought light-heartedness to a battlefield where things weren't so pretty. They loved their coffee, and emphasized syllables for no known reason. Bearing a reputation for destroying those who didn't know how to counter them, they were responsible for the death of millions of noobs worldwide.
Also Read: 10 Interesting Facts You Probably Didn't Know About Video Games
9. Zealot
Faction: Protoss
Trained Quote: 'For Aiur!'
Selected Quote: 'Gee'hous!'
Order Quote: 'Honor guide me.'
Fact: Zealot psi-blades are capable of cutting through all materials in the known universe, even chicken taco shells.
The Zealot was the core combat unit of the Protoss army, resulting in its quotes being long remembered. Dedicated to serving Aiur, it sounded like it had a frog in its throat, which was strangely charming. Maybe they liked gargling water? The world will never know, but you certainly don't want to end up on the bad side of one of these alien warriors.
10. Nuclear Launch
Faction: Everyone
Quote: 'Nuclear launch detected.'
Nothing got your heart rate rushing more than hearing the announcement of an imminent nuclear blast, whether you were the one being targeted or the one doing the delivery. Executed by a Terran covert operative called the Ghost, these were seldom seen in normal play due to the incredible technological investment required. But when one went off, both sides couldn't help but stare in awe only to find themselves blinded by the radiation a few weeks later.
