Protoss Strategies for StarCraft

Over six years of playing StarCraft, many of which contained countless nights spend into the wee hours of the morning playing games the famous map "The Hunters" have garnered me a few notable strategies. Through both research to become a better player and common sense pushing me in one direction or another, I learned to be capable with each of the three races. However, to truly be competitive you should focus on a single race and learn all of the weakness you have and the strengths you have against the other races so you'll be ready no matter what type of player you come up against while playing.

In StarCraft, the Protoss are the most expensive race out of the three you have to choose from. They're also the strongest in terms of units, which consequentially leads them to be the most expensive of the three. Thus, succeeding as a Protoss user in StarCraft means you'll have to excel in macro management and economics, otherwise you'll find yourself with insufficient funds to construct an army of any size. You'll also be the strongest throughout the game, whether you're starting with a zealot which can take out any of the race's beginning units or at the end of the game where Carriers can stand up to anything on the map in numbers.

Of all the races, they are the worst off in a rush goes south because of the amount of resources that it takes to create an adequate Protoss rush early in the game. Multiple Gateways have to be warped in combined with the fact that the Zealots are the most expensive first units in the game means you MUST succeed if you're going to rush with the Protoss, otherwise it isn't worth continuing the game in almost every case.

On the other hand, moving quickly in Brood War means you can have Dark Templars on the field relatively early. Dark Templars are excellent harassment units in small numbers, especially against Protoss and Terran before they have adequate detection capability. They can be used in great numbers to obliterate an enemy or in smaller numbers to cripple their resource output. If you're going to attempt to fast track to an advanced unit then you need to be extremely adept at managing resources and hotkeys. Every moment counts and there's no time to waste if your mouse suddenly decides to start acting up for a few moments.

Utilizing the Dark Archon's ability to confuse enemy units or take them over can be a devastating tactic. Producing Medics and other Terran units to fight alongside your Protoss units can be particularly deadly. Capturing a Zerg unit can be deceptive, as building can cause the creep to disrupt your other buildings if you're not careful with how you build.

Reavers are the single most destructive ground units in the game, but are also the slowest. Common sense came into play a long, long time in pairing Reavers with Shuttles to create one of the most devastating tactics in all of StarCraft. Fully upgraded, a shuttle can fly behind enemy lines and drop a pair of reavers right into an enemy's group of miners/workers and eradicate them in one pass. With proper micromanagement, the reavers can be dropped in to expend their payload, build more scarabs and then be picked up while they're still building in order to repeat the process.

A risky tactic used by some veteran Protoss players is to set up their cannons at the enemy's base exit, effectively cutting off any early scouting or expansion for the time being. Daredevils might even consider making "offensive" cannons, by stealthily planting them inside the enemy base. Try at your own risk.