In Ten Ton Hammer's final examination of the early game of Starcraft II we take a look at the Protoss. A powerful and technologically advanced race, the Protoss use a mix of robotic technology and Psionic Power to drive their armies. Protoss in Starcraft was defined by its signature early-game units -- the Dragoon and the Zealot. The new Protoss has a few new tricks up its sleeve.

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New
Protoss Units

• Stalker: Dragoons have been replaced by this mobile ranged attacker. Stalkers attack both ground and air units and, like the dragoon, are weak to melee attacks. To compensate for this, stalkers have been given the option to upgrade the 'blink' ability -- this allows them to perform a short distance teleport which makes them a very effective unit for kiting and hit and run style attacks.

  Blink can be used to teleport up cliffs similar to the reaper. However, unlike the reaper, the stalker must have vision of the location that they are teleporting to -- meaning that you must have some sort of airborne scout or another ground unit or structure already on the cliff in order to teleport onto it. Stalkers are made from gateways once the player has a cybernetics core.

• Sentry: A powerful support unit that is integral to protoss strategy. Sentries have three abilities: hallucination, force field, and guardian shield. Hallucination works the same as it did in StarCraft when high templar had it; it creates 'fake' units that take increased damage and do not deal damage that are used to draw enemy fire or create the illusion of a larger army to intimidate opponents.

  Force field allows the player to create a block that cannot be moved through by melee units. This can be used to create advantageous terrain for protoss armies, or more commonly to block choke points for defensive or offensive purposes. Blocking a choke point with force field versus a ground based opponent, then decimating a base or expansion while their units are trapped helpless is a common and highly effective tactic. Force field lasts 15 seconds and costs relatively little energy, so blocks can be maintained for significant amounts of time.

  Guardian shield creates a shield around the sentry that reduces damage done to all units within the shield by two for 15 seconds. Another highly powerful ability that makes the sentry integral (and particularly effective) to the protoss army.

Protoss
Early Game Tactics

Out of all the races in Starcraft II, protoss 'feels' the most similar to Starcraft. Zealots feel less powerful than they used to be, but they still have the same tactical purpose and value that they used to; the hard-hitting tank to put on the front lines. Stalkers also feel weaker than dragoons used to, but they are more agile -- the blink ability is deadly in the hands of a competent player. Sentries are also powerful, bordering on overpowered if used properly.

• Protoss vs. Zerg - is a difficult matchup. You must determine what units they are building and react. You also need to determine if they are attempting an early expansion. Sound familiar yet? You can stop an early expansion with zealots, you can counter zerglings with zealots, but if you see roaches you had better watch out.

  A safe and effective strategy seems to be playing defensively (this does not preclude an expansion, so long as it is fortified) and teching while defending your base using a mix of zealots and stalkers. Stalkers are a pre-emptive defense against mutalisks, and the photon cannons you'll make at your expansion and base will keep you from being dominated by roaches and burrow.

• Protoss vs. Protoss - Protoss mirror matches have an early game that is defined predominantly by warring with a mix of zealots, stalkers, and a sentry or two. The sentry's shield can turn a game if only one side has it, and well placed force fields can also turn the tide in a battle. As in Starcraft, protoss just doesn't have that many options early on. They have a couple powerful 'staple' units in the zealot and stalker -- the effectiveness of sentry use is really the difference between good protoss players and average ones in the early stages of this matchup.
• Protoss vs. Terran - In the terran versus protoss, protoss has a few ways to really screw with their terran opponent early on. In Starcraft, terrans would defend their blocked choke point with a minimalist army and tech to factories for tanks and vultures. This is no longer the case, terran players will now often attempt to bring a mix of marines and marauders. This is where your ability to screw with your opponent comes into play.
  
  

  An effective tactic, taken from original Starcraft, is stealing your opponent's vespene gas. Bringing a probe to your opponent's gas and building extractors on both of them will massively delay their ability to make reactors and tech labs for their barracks. Protoss can bring a mix similar to the protoss vs protoss build with zealots, stalkers, and a sentry. Nearly every terran unit uses ranged attacks and marines' attacks in particular are fast and low-damage, making the sentry guardian shield vital and incredibly powerful early on. Making use of this combination, and your ability to disrupt your opponent's tech will often offer the protoss player the opportunity to cripple or end their opponent quickly -- a far cry from Starcraft where the game only really began at tier two.