Starcraft 2 Psionic Assault Gold Medal Challenge Guide

Starcraft 2 Challenges Guide --> Psionic Assault (you are here)

Psionic Storm is in my opinion the toughest of the challenges in Starcraft 2 to earn the gold medal on. Fortunately, there are some strategies you can use to make this mission quite doable.

This mission tasks players with taking down 225 enemy units which come in waves with only a handful of Sentries and High Templar. These waves are timed and come from three different sides.

In order to defeat the waves of units, you need to make use of Force Field and Hallucination on the Sentries as well as Feedback, Psionic Storm, and even Archons in order to complete this mission comfortably while earning the gold medal.

Psionic Assault Gold Medal Video Walkthrough

The video guide most aptly demonstrates how to beat Psionic Assault. Force Field will get you through most of the early waves, but you will need to start using Psionic Storm, Hallucination, and Feedback on the later waves to beat this mission.

Step by Step Psionic Assault Strategy Guide

Before we get too far into the guide, there is one thing you need to know and that is how high ground works. Whenever units are on the high ground, they can shoot units on the low ground, but if the units on the low ground do not have vision of the high ground, they cannot shoot back.

As a result, you will want to place Force Fields in the middle of the ramps to the lower ground to wall off units down there. Your Sentries can then hit them safely from the high ground. Understand however that once your Sentries get halfway down the ramp, they are considered on the low ground, so you do not want to wall off the very bottom of the ramp, but instead about 2/3 down the ramp in order to get the sweet spot where you can shoot the units on the ground but they cannot shoot you.

There are 20 waves total you must clear in order to get the 225 kills you need to unlock the gold medal. Here is what the waves are, where they come from, and how to deal with them.

Important Strategy: You can pause at any time to re-group between waves. If you want to print this list out, you can do so, and pause after each wave by bringing up the menu (F10 key). You can then read what the next wave is and move your units into the appropriate position.

Wave 1: 14 Zerglings from the northeast. When the Zerglings get close, wall off the ramp with 3 Force Fields. Your Sentries can then use their regular attack to kill them.

Wave 2: 10 Marines from the northeast. Once again, use 3x Force Field and nothing else.

Wave 3: 4 Hydralisks, 8 Marines from the northeast. Once again, use 3x Force Field and your Sentries auto-attack will kill off the units.

Wave 4: 13 Marines, 1 Marauder from the northeast. Three Force Fields handles this easily. You may take 1 or 2 shots from the Marauder, but it will not pierce your Sentries' shields.

Wave 5: 15 Zerglings, 1 Roach, 9 Banelings from the northeast. This is too many units for your Sentries alone to finish off. You have two options. Regardless, you will need to use your standard 3x Force Field. From here, you can drop a Psionic Storm on the bunched up units or alternatively you can refresh your 3x Force Fields (6 total) before they run out to give you extra time. Both work. This makes 75 kills (Bronze medal).

Wave 6: 10 Marines, 3 Marauders from the northeast. The standard 3x Force Field can handle this.

Wave 7: 23 Zerglings from the southeast. Note that this is the first wave from the southeast, so you have to run your Sentries down here. The same strategies apply though - 3x Force Field works just fine here.

Wave 8: 4 Sentries, 8 Zealots from the southeast. I like to use 3x Force Field and 1-2 Psionic Storms here. The Psionic Storms are not necessary but they will take the wave down faster, allowing you to better micro your units to handle the deadly upcoming Reaper waves.

***Strategy Break***

This is where things start getting dicey - not because of this wave itself but because right after it you have two waves of Reapers with little time to prepare. Reapers need to be tanked by Hallucinations. As a result, while your Sentries are doing damage to Wave 8, you need to make 4x Archon Hallucinations. Send the two Hallucinations to the northeast ramp and the second two to the platform above the southeast ramp. These will tank the Reapers when they spawn.

Wave 9: 11 Reapers from the northeast. Let your 2 Archon hallucinations tank the Reapers, and drop 2 Psionic Storms on the Reapers. A full-duration storm will kill a Reaper, so you should not need Sentries at all here. If you miss, use a third storm - do not let the Reapers attack your Templar or Sentries as they kill them incredibly quickly.

Wave 10: 6 Reapers from the southeast. If you had your 2 Archon hallucinations in position as mentioned in between Wave 8 and 9, this part is easy. The Reapers will attack the Archons and you can kill them off in a single Psionic Storm. If one or two Reapers lives, use another storm or use your Sentries to finish them off.

Wave 11: 4 Banelings, 6 Hydralisks from the southeast. Can be killed with just 3x Force Field and Sentries. You have a short break before this wave starts. You need to move a High Templar to the northeast ramp and focus on it once you get your Force Fields up.

Wave 12: 2 Banshees from the northeast. Use the High Templar you moved into position to use Feedback on each Banshee. This is a 1-hit kill. You do not want to try to attack the Banshees, only use Feedback to take them down. This makes 150 kills, enough for the Silver medal.

Wave 13: 4 Stalkers from the northeast. Your Sentries with 3x Force Fields can kill off the Stalkers without a problem. While your Sentries are doing damage, you need to make 2-3 Archon hallucinations and move them to the platform by the southeast ramp. Move 2 High Templar down there as well.

Wave 14: 2 Ghosts, 10 Reapers from the southeast. This is the second hardest wave in my opinion. You need the fake Archons to tank the Reapers. You can use Feedback to kill off both Ghosts, then use 1-2 Psionic Storms to kill off the Reapers while the Reapers attack the hallucinated Archons.

Wave 15: 6 Mutalisks from the northeast. Make 2 fake Archons via hallucination and stand behind them with your Sentries. Use Guardian Shield once in order to significantly lower Mutalisk damage. You should not lose any units here or even really take a hit from the Mutalisks.

Wave 16: 2 Vikings, 10 Marines, and 2 Marauders from the southeast. This is the toughest wave. You need to split up the Vikings from the ground units. Use 3x Force Fields to block off the ground units. While blocked off, avoid the edge of the cliff, as the ground units will attack you thanks to the vision provided by the Vikings. Burn down the Vikings with the Sentries and 2x Psionic Storm while avoiding the ground units. You can then use your standard 3x Force Fields (refresh them) to kill the Marines and Marauders.

Note: The next few waves come from the northwest. The units up here are on the high ground, so your standard force field strategy does not work on them.

Wave 17: 20 Zerglings from the northwest. Use 1x Psionic Storm to kill off most of them and then use Sentries to kill the rest off. Do not allow the Zerglings to kill the rocks because you will want them to hold off the next two waves as long as you can.

Wave 18: 5 Roaches from the northwest. Use Psionic Storm twice. This should kill most if not all of the Roaches. Use your Sentries to clean up the remainders.

With your two lowest energy High Templar, make an Archon here.

Wave 19: 1x Ultralisk from the northwest. While the Ultralisk is working on the rocks, use Psionic Storm on it. When it breaks through, use the real Archon you just made to tank it. Archons destroy Ultralisks, particularly ones previously weakened by storm and backed up by a group of Sentries doing safe damage from range.

Wave 20: 2x Siege Tanks from the southeast. The trick here is to keep all your units away from the southeast until the Siege Tanks cross the green barrier that appears. Your units cannot enter this area. Once the Siege Tanks leave the green area, you can use your Archon to kill both of them safely. As your Archon approaches, the tanks will stop and go into Siege Mode, allowing you to walk up and get a few shots in before they even morph out. It is a free two kills.

This is 225 kills - enough for the gold medal.