StarCraft 2

Having played Protoss the most in my time here at BlizzCon, I can safely say that Protoss feels the most at home. Players will instantly see the similarities between the old game and the new game, almost as if nothing has changed. The word I want to stress here is “almost”. Under closer examination of the Protoss race, one can quickly acknowledge the immense change in strategic options players must now adapt to. For the lack of a better word, Protoss vs. Terran is quite interesting.

As most of you know, the standard method of gameplay between Protoss and Terrans in the first game was quite linear. Terran goes for fast Metal whereas Protoss defends and techs hard to Reavers with Dragoons and range. Sadly to say, there are no more Dragoons, Reavers or Vultures, so the entire game has changed. What Protoss has to do now is maximize the units he has that are capable of combating Terrans’ early game. In most cases, Terran will attempt to block his ramp and build MM to counter the first early game units that Protoss can get on the field – the Zealot and the Stalker. This means that the Protoss player must be very active on his scout and make sure Terran isn’t up to anything tricky (such as fast teching to tanks). Once a tech is spotted, Protoss can send his Zealots into Terrans base and quickly dispatch what units he has there, as long as he can micro. Since the Terran standard block-off wasn’t working, most Terran players would set up a few SCVs to help block incoming Zs, or build a bunker at the choke. In most cases, Terrans will set up with MM and push, whereas the Protoss player will have to get out a few Stalkers to slow the advancing units and tech to Robotics Facility for the Colossus. Similarly to the original game, Protoss is still using Dragoon-like units and teching to fast Robo to fight Terrans.

Micro plays a huge factor here because the Stalker has less range and HP than its distant cousin, the Dragoon. The one thing that keeps the Stalker in the game is that when microed properly, two Stalkers can 1 shot a Marine as long as you control them very carefully. From what I’ve seen ingame, the Stalker has about the same range as the Marine. Add Stimpacks and Medics into the equation and you’ll have more than enough to deal with. Protoss has to deal with this by employing more Zealots on the field, which is now possible due to the absence of Vultures.