Starcraft 2 Protoss Units List

Starcraft 2 Strategy Guide --> Protoss Guide --> Protoss Units (you are here)

Here is a complete list of all the Starcraft 2 Protoss Units. We will start with an introduction to the how Protoss units work and discuss their overall strengths and weaknesses. From there, you will find three tables.

The first table lists the cost, build time, prerequisites, and production facility responsible for producing all of the Protoss units. The second chart covers the stats and damage dealt by each Protoss unit.

The third and final table provides a list of all the abilities and research available to Protoss units in Starcraft 2. All charts provide a full list of Protoss units.

Finally, we will end with a section discussing common unit combinations typically used by top tier players as part of their end-game army composition.

Table of Contents

Introduction to Protoss Unit Mechanics
Protoss Unit Cost and Requirements
Protoss Unit Stats and Damage
Protoss Unit Abilities and Research
Common Unit Compositions

Select any of the links above to jump to the chart or section you are looking for. Over time, specific pages on individual units will be added, which you will be able to access by clicking on the unit name on the charts below.

Introduction to Protoss Unit Mechanics

Shields are the primary feature that set Protoss units apart from other races. Shields are a form of life that the Protoss units have in various degrees. Unlike Terran or Zerg unit health, the Protoss's shields are able to regenerate rather quickly, but only once the Protoss is not taking damage.

In particular, Protoss shields restore at a rate of 2 shields per in-game second whenever the Protoss unit has not taken damage within the last 10 seconds. Shields always deplete first.

To give an example, if an Archon with 350 shields and 10 life take 300 damage, it will drop to 50 shields and 10 life. After going 10 seconds without taking any damage, it will begin to recover its shields at 2 shields per second, restoring all 300 lost shields in just 2.5 game minutes.

Note that the Ghost's EMP ability will drain 100 shields from all enemy units within its area of effect. Ghosts are very strong against Protoss armies for this reason. If you get hit with EMP, you can always back out, allowing your shields to regenerate over the next 20-30 seconds before engaging.

The other interesting thing to note about Protoss units is that units that come out of the Warp Gate can be "warped" to anywhere on the map where there is a power field. Power Fields are produced by Pylons or Warp Prisms in Phasing Mode.

Warped units only take 5 seconds to produce, at which point they are ready to be used in battle. Due to the fast warp time, Warp Gates go on cooldown before they can produce a unit again. This cooldown is decreased via Chrono Boost. Protoss players are very good at warping in reinforcements in offensive scenarios thanks to this skill.

Protoss Units Table: Cost & Requirements

Protoss Units Table: Unit Types, Stats, and Damage

The table below covers the unit type, health, shields, armor, movement speed, damage, number of attacks, attack speed (in attacks per in-game second), and range for all the Protoss units in Starcraft 2. Attacks denote both ground and anti-air attacks unless otherwise noted.

Protoss Units: Abilities and Research Upgrades

Many Protoss units have upgrades available beyond just weapon and armor upgrades. Through research, Protoss units can become more effective and unlock access to new spells. The chart below details all Protoss unit abilities, both starting abilities and those researched, as well as additional upgrades available to units.

Common Protoss Unit Combinations

The most successful Protoss armies use a variety of units rather than just a single type of unit. In this quick guide to Protoss unit combinations, I will discuss some of the core components of a good Protoss army. Army combinations are not limited to the following list, but this is a good guide to creating a balanced and effective army.

Early Game Armies

In the early game, Protoss armies consist of Zealots, Sentries, and Stalkers. Beyond the initial rush stage, Zealots are rarely used alone, as without Charge they are quite slow.

Sentry and Stalker-heavy armies predominate in the early game. Sentries are almost always involved in the early Protoss game as Force Field is an incredibly effective skill on both offense and defense. It remains very effective all game long, particularly if the enemy does not have any massive ground units. Force Field and the Sentry in general lose their luster in the late game if the enemy gets massive ground units, as these can crush Force Fields. A few Sentries are typically always a part of a Protoss army though as Guardian Shield provides a nice armor buff.

Stalkers are very fast, have a big range (6) and are a versatile unit, making them extremely effective in the early game when in the hands of a skilled player. The Mothership Core is typically used in conjunction with early Stalker attacks to provide vision of the high ground.

Mid Game Armies

In the mid game, Protoss armies must get up to tier 2 units to remain effective. The Stalker, Zealot, and Sentry combination is fairly weak against Hydralisks as well as all sorts of higher tier Terran and Protoss unit combinations. The Stalkers that were strong against the Marines in the early game become weak once those Marines have Combat Shields, Stimpack, and Medivac support.

All 3 tech pathways are viable for the Protoss in the mid game. Players can successfully go for Stargate, Robotics Facility, or Templar tech and pull off all of these strategies successfully. The best strategy depends on the match up, the opponent's strategy, and the Protoss' comfort level with a particular build or strategy.

There are two important things to consider when building your army in the mid game. The first is that Protoss tier 2 and 3 structures, tech, and research are very expensive. As a result, you want to stick with one tech path until you get at least a third base up and running. You will not have enough resources to build a decent army if you go for two tech paths plus get key upgrades in the mid game.

The second thing to consider is that Protoss players are unable to effectively go for full builds of high tier units on just two bases - they just cannot afford to do so this early in the game. For example, if you wanted to start building up air units, you would need to spend extra resources on Zealots and Stalkers to provide some extra size to your army.

Late Game Armies

Things are good for the Protoss player in the late game with a robust economy. All tech trees and units can be successfully incorporated into the late game Protoss army.

Most players gravitate towards one of two styles in the late game: the Protoss "Deathball" or the SkyToss build.

The Protoss Deathball refers to getting a large clump of units and moving the entire army together as one force. Typically, a Gateway "backbone" of Zealots, Stalkers, Archons and a few Sentries is supported by a handful of Colossus and High Templar, with the possible inclusion of a few Void Rays and/or Tempests.

Psionic Storm plus the Colossus's and Archon's splash damage are able to melt enemy forces very quickly. Void Rays and Tempests can be used to focus down any massive armored units that may have survived the attack. This is a very effective strategy and is hard for all races to stop once the Deathball has formed. The trick is holding out long enough and banking enough resources to get the army together.

The other common end-game composition is known as SkyTerran. Carriers and Tempests are the high HP units used to replace the Gateway "backbone". Void Rays are once again used to handle armored enemy units. Oracles and Phoenix are typically not a major portion of the SkyTerran fleet, at least not heavily. Phoenix work well against light air units, but in the late game it is hard to justify microing Phoenix when you could instead be microing the High Templar.

Instead, a handful of High Templar are typically kept on the ground for Psionic Storm. Psionic Storm is a very high damage output skill and really helps take down large numbers of Vikings or Hydralisks, both of which fair well enough against full SkyToss armies. Having a few High Templar for Psionic Storm is a very small supply investment that can pay off big returns.

SkyToss is very strong, but it has two major weaknesses: ships take a long time to build and are very expensive. Carriers for example take a whopping 120 seconds to produce! The main SkyToss forces are very expensive as well.

All builds typically make use of a Mothership Core (or even a Mothership), as Time Warp is very strong in the late game, particularly when combined with Psionic Storm. Units trapped in Time Warp are an easy target for Psionic Storm.