Top 10 Starcraft 2 Protoss Tips

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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.

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.

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!