StarCraft 2 - Protoss Vs Terran - Teching Up

In a StarCraft II Protoss vs Terran match, the Protoss player has a few options available to gain a tactical advantage over the Terran player. Certain parts of the Protoss tech tree can be reached very quickly after the beginning of a game, which makes up a bit for the slower unit production and more expensive units. The new warp gates add a new dimension to rush strategies, and traditional zealot rush strategies are more risky, but still very much in play, especially with the use of the chrono boost. As it has always been, success with the Protoss comes from superior micro, and getting the very most out of each tough, difficult to kill unit that is produced.

Protoss players, if they feel that a Terran player might be a little slow or is neglecting to build a wall, can go straight for a zealot rush. This is as simple as building two gateways and pumping out zealots using chrono boost, an ability at the nexus which speeds up unit production at a certain building by 50% for 20 seconds. If this works, great, but if good scouting reveals that the Terran player won't go down that easily, the Protoss player should be ready to get stalkers, which require a cybernetics core to produce. Zealots will get annihilated trying to break through a Terran wall, but with stalker support, the Terran ranged infantry units can be staved off until the zealots can break through, at which point the Terran player will have a very difficult time successfully fending off the Protoss assault. The early-game assault is aided by upgrading gateways to warp gates, which allow the player to warp in units anywhere on the map within a psionic field. Proxy pylons are used near enemy bases to flood and overrun enemy defenses quickly, and from sometimes unexpected angles.

Many Terran players will, at some point, put time and resources into developing siege tanks to fortify the wall defense. A good way to take advantage of this time, for a Protoss player, is to tech straight up to void rays, which is actually very fast and simple. Void rays only require a cybernetics core and a stargate to manufacture, and are fairly tough units that can be easily massed mid-game. A quick void ray assault on a Terran player's command centers and SCVs can severely cripple his or her economy, if not win the game outright. Express caution, though: a few void rays will get chewed up by a force of marines, and if you've taken the time to mass up several void rays, the Terran player likely has medivacs out to protect ground troops.

Bringing out a couple colossi to assist in a void ray attack is an ideal way to counter infantry defense. Swathes of marines and marauders will be decimated by a couple of colossi, which use twin lasers to deal massive amounts of area damage. A couple of colossi will do the job faster than the medivacs can heal the infantry units, while the Protoss player's void rays can sneak in the back and take care of the enemy economy. Colossi require a little more effort to produce, requiring a robotics facility and a robotics bay, but their offensive capabilities make them well worth it.

In many late game situations, Protoss players will dedicate the resources and time to producing a mothership, of which only one can exist for a player at any given time in the game. The mothership cloaks everything within range, including buildings, and deals a fair amount of damage by itself. It can also use vortex to completely remove a mass of enemy units from the field of battle for a period of time. The mothership is a large target, though, and must be defended vigorously, as it represents a hefty investment from the player. Motherships fall quickly to air units, and many Terran players will spread out a viking force to make vortex less effective, then charge in and quickly down the mothership. A healthy supply of void rays, stalkers and/or carriers should be present to make sure the most is gained from this behemoth.

Finally, the Protoss player needs to be more wary of using dark templars. Terrans now can gain detection capabilities much faster, as the orbital command upgrade to the command center can be easily acquired early-game, decreasing the likelihood that a stealth dark templar attack will take the enemy by surprise. Even if it does, those familiar with StarCraft I will quickly realize that the massive amounts of damage once dealt by dark templars are no longer present in StarCraft II. Dark templars' attacks are much weaker, making them more suited for expansion harassment than actually attacking a main base, as they were in the past.

Read more about Protoss vs Terran strategies on my web site StarCraft 2 Guide