Mechanics of The Dark Templar Drop
Dark Templar, (Hereafter known as DTs) are undoubtedly one of the most important
assets that the Protoss of Brood War possess. Permanently cloaked, and wielding
Warp Blades capable of up to 49 damage points, DTs are a must in any Protoss
Fleet; however, this does not mean they can’t be used by themselves. In the
following text, I will explore the mechanics of using DTs in drops.
First off, it is important to discuss the units and buildings that will reveal
the DT when dropping, and the basic build order to obtaining the means to
drop DTs.
Zerg: Overlord; Spore Colony; Plague; and Ensnare. (The last two will very
likely not be used against you in a drop, much less, even researched)
Protoss: Photon Cannon; Observer; Psionic Storm. (Psi storm may or may not
pose a threat to your DTs)
Terran: Missile Turret; ComSat Station (Scanner Sweep); Spider Mines; Science
Vessel.
(* Remember that any one of these many detectors may spell disaster for your
DTs)
Basic Build:
(The 7 stands for oyur 7th probe, the 8 for your 8th, etc.)
* 7- Pylon
* 8- Gateway
* 9- Assimilator
* 10- Pylon
* 11- Gateway
* 13- Cybornetics Core
* 15- Robotics Facility
* 16- Citadel of Adun
* 18- Templar Archives
This Build will get you what you need to drop four DTs and and one shuttle.
You may want to consider a forge, and a few cannons for a basic defense.
Obviously, you’ll put three probes on the assimilator, warp in pylons as
needed beyond the initial two, and produce the DTs and shuttle as soon as
resources permit. Also, an Observatory and a few Observers may help in scouting
your drop zone. (This build is completely changeable to meet your needs,
so feel free to add or extract whatever you deem necessary)
Now that you have what is needed to drop, how do you go about dropping, and
making it as effective as possible? If you invested in Observers, you probably
already know where to drop, or if not, you may know the map well enough to
know where the optimal landing zone is. In any event, keep in mind to avoid
cannons, turrets and spore colonies, as they pose a threat to both your shuttle
and your DTs.
When Dropping Terran: Drop away from turrets and fly your shuttle away from
danger. Creep forward with one of your DTs to check for evidence of detection
and enemy units. When safe, attack any and all turrets, and destroy the ComSat
station. Take out SCVs as quickly as possible, then proceed to the Command
Center. Be careful if you notice a factory, because there is a chance that
spider mines may be present. Odds are there aren’t any science vessels and
wraiths around, but if there are, do as much damage as possible, and switch
to dragoons to come back in a few minutes, remembering that time is of the
essence.
When Dropping Protoss: This may be one of the easier drops, however, this
becomes untrue when more than two cannons are in the immediate area of the
Nexus. Find optimal landing zone, drop, clear shuttle of the area, and let
the destruction begin. Destroy probes and nexus as first priority (next to
any cannons in the area). Psi storm may pose a problem here, as it only needs
to be cast above the building your DTs are attacking and they’ll be damaged
or even killed. It is definitely a possibility that they will have this ability
by the time you drop, but do what damage you can and come back quickly with
dragoons.
When Dropping Zerg: Obviously, dropping on the Zerg poses a problem for the
average DT drop, as Zerg literally possess detection from the second the
game begins. Overlords are easy to come by, and although slow, are more dangerous
in revealing your DTs than a stationary turret. Plus, Overlords have immunity
from a DTs attack. However, Overlords are not in the least bit immune to
the effects of a Corsair. Alter your build order slightly to allow production
of four to six Corsairs. With the DTs destroying the Zerg’s base, and the
Corsairs attacking/killing detection, doom is practically spelled out for
any Zerg. Unfortunately, Spore Colonies may be present, and they could mean
the end for your DTs. In any event, this drop is considerably more difficult
in terms of micromanagement, but if pulled off correctly, considerably more
deadly. The chance of Plague or Ensnare being used against your DTs are rare,
so don’t worry about it.
In conclusion, DTs are very powerful beings, and deserve to use their skills
during any game of Brood War. Micromanagement is a requirement for a DT drop
to be effective, however, with the right timing and a little luck, you can
overpower your opponent by using the DT’s combination of stealth and power.
-SpaceDominator
-- Starcraft
Millenium - http://www.scmillenium.com
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Some of you guys are probably scratching your heads at this point. “Raptor
doing Protoss strategies? Is he out of his mind?” Well as a matter of fact,
I’ve decided to expand my horizon... Doing strategies purely for the Zerg
doesn’t help those of you who like to play with other races. Besides, as
this article will show you, the Protoss have some deadly strategies which
can be executed without much difficulty.
The first of these is perhaps my favorite Protoss strategy: The Dark Templar
Rush. While some may argue that the following build order is not a rush,
I highly disagree. It is a build order which wastes no time and gets Dark
Templar extremely fast. I’d like to think it is the fastest Dark Templar
Rush build order but I can’t say for sure. This rush is higly effective on
Terran but I do NOT advize it against the Zerg or Protoss.
1. All Probes on Minerals
2. Build 4 Probes, all mining on Minerals.
3. While the 8th Probe is being made, have one Probe make a
Pylon.
4. Make another Probe.
5. Have a Probe make an Assimilator.
6. Make another Probe.
7. Have a Probe make a Gateway.
8. Make another Probe, and put this one on gas.
9. Make another Probe, and put this one on gas too.
10. Make a Cybernetics Core and a 2nd Gateway.
11. Make another Probe, and put this one on gas.
12. Make a Pylon.
13. Make a Citedel of Adun.
14. Make a final Probe, and put this one on gas.
15. Make a 3rd Gateway and a Templar Archives.
16. Make another Pylon.
17. Start cranking out DT’s...
You should attack when you have 3 or 4 Dark Templars. Be sure to spread them
out so that if the Terran does happen to have a Comsat Station, one scan
will only be able to detect one of your DT’s. Remember that Comsat runs out
and so it isn’t a real threat as long as you keep your DT’s moving. If a
Terran does have Missile Turrets, you’re most likely going to have to scrap
the rush. However, DT’s are always great for containing Terran forces, and
until they get Science Vessels, you should be able to lock them inside their
base.
Another thing you may have noticed about this build order is that you’ve
got a nice amount of excess money! You can spend however you want. Some people
like to build a Forge and make some Photon Cannons somewhere between steps
10 and 15. Others like to have a few Zealots as an early defense in case
the Terran tries to scout. My advice is to get a few Dragoons, not only for
Defense, but also to assist your attack. When the Terran tries to lift off,
you can shoot him from the skies and complete your victory.
PART TWO...
Well now, the Protoss are suppossed to have the most powerful units of the
game, but how do we use them correctly? The units I would like to examine
are the Dark Templar, the High Templar, the Dark Archon, the Corsair, and
the Arbiter. These things are incredible if you use them right.
Dark Templars are excellent in that they are cloaked, but they also have
another great feature; they do a ton of damage in a single swipe. However,
you should realize that they also have less hitpoints than a Zealot, and
when it comes to taking heavy fire, they won’t last as long. This is where
my first Protoss unit combo comes in. Not many people use the Protoss Dark
Archon, and many wonder “What the heck do you use it for anyway?” I think
we can all agree that mind control isn’t the best use for it (unless you
can mindcontrol a transport with 2 reavers inside). I believe Blizzard intended
the Dark Archon to be used along with the Dark Templar for a specific reason;
that reason is Maelstorm. With this spell, you can render an enemy Terran
infantry or Zerg swarms immobile. Once that is done, immediately send in
your squad of Dark Templars, and the oppossing force will be wasted. What
about when there is an enemy Science Vessel cruising around? Well that’s
when you use Feedback. With such micromanagement, you could render Terran
attack forces obsolete.
I think the most useful Protoss unit is the High Templar. It makes up the
heart and soul of any Protoss squad, whether on the defensive or offensive.
I played a tough match with the notorious Fatboysr on River Styx, and although
I slammed swarm after swarm at his base, he was able to hold out quite long,
even without minerals (and hence no reinforcements). Of course eventually
I resorted to the devilish idea of Guaridans, but I must admit Fatboysr truly
utilized the High Templar to its best. High Templars are great against Hydras
and Marines, since psionic storm will easily wipe out the clustered units.
Unlike Reavers however, psionic storm isn’t good for targeting units up at
close range. Speed-upgraded Zerglings will often just charge right through
and you’ll never have a good target unless they stop and do something stupid,
like party underneath a Dark Swarm (also known as Bullseye to the Protoss).
But what about the other spell? When do you use Hallucination? And on what
units???
Using Hallucination correctly is an art of its own. Never target units that
have things come out of them (like Reavers or Carriers) because when it doesn’t
attack, the enemy might become suspicious. Good units to Hallucinate are
Archons, Shuttles, and Arbiters. Hallucinate Archons when you want to get
all those Zerglings clustered around a decoy so you can fry them with psionic
storm. Hallucinating Arbiters and Shuttles is a great idea when you need
to land your troops in a heavily defended enemy base.
What more is there to cover? Ah yes, the Protoss prime of the airforce, the
Corsair and the Arbiter. Believe it or not, these units are also a great
unit combo. Arbiters are great for their cloaking abililty, and yet they
also have an arsenal of useful spells too. Corsairs are by far the greatest
anti-air unit in my opinion. They only have a bit of trouble when they face
Devourers but otherwise they usually fare quite well. What do you do when
there are so many enemy air units and your Corsair can’t handle them? Well,
the Arbiter should just cast Stasis, and freeze half of the group so the
Corsairs can get the job done easier. Always beware of Scourge (aka anti-arbiter
units) and put your Arbiter in the center of your Corsair squad. Now that
I’ve covered air combat, we’ll get into a more dastardly use for Arbiters;
that is landing troops using recall. The first thing you should do is get
your Corsairs to cast disruption web on any threat. Then quickly move in
your Arbiter, and recall a ton of troops (Reavers, Zealots, Dragoons, Archons,
and High Templar are great choices). Usually a well placed recall will devestate
your enemy so much that he’ll just surrender.
Well, that’s about it for now. Yes, I do realize that the 1.08 patch will
be arriving in about one month and that will screw over most of my build
orders. However, enjoy my strategies while you still can. That’s just the
disadvantage of being a build-order guy... Well I think this will be my last
build order until 1.08 finally comes out. Until then I’ll probably write
an editorial or perhaps another series to “Raptor’s Art of War.” Until next
time, masalama.
-Raptor
-- Starcraft
Millenium - http://www.scmillenium.com
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Reaver Drop Macro and
Micro
This is meant to be a guide to help you execute a successful reaver drop,
and survive while doing it. A good reaver drop can do severe economical damage
to your enemy, and put you at a major advantage very early in the game. A
reaver drop will not win the game for you, it is only a means to buy yourself
time. While your enemy recovers, rebuilding peons and troops, and undoubtedly
spending some resource on preventing another reaver drop, you can be expanding,
or building a strike force to finish him off.
The first thing you’ll need is an effective build order to get reavers early
while still protecting yourself. The following is a build order similar to
what I’ve seen Rain and Eon~McNasty, among others, use against Terran opponents.
I’ve had success with it against Zerg and Protoss as well.
1. Build Pylon while 8th probe is warping.
2. Build Gateway with 9th probe.
3. Build Assimilator with 11-12th probe.
4. Build Cybernetics Core as soon as the Gateway finishes.
5. Send 3 to 4 probes to collect gas when the Assimilator is
finished.
6. Build Pylon.
7. As soon as the Core finishes, build Robotics Facility.
8. Build a Dragoon as soon as the resources are available.
9. Build Robotics Support Bay as soon as Robotics Facility finishes.
10. Continue to build Dragoons from your Gateway. Don’t forget Pylons.
11. Build Reaver immediately when Robotics Support Bay finishes.
From here things become more dynamic. While your reaver is building you may
begin to see some early enemy troops show up. You should have 3 – 4 dragoons
by this time. While you are defending, don’t forget to continue building
probes, pylons, dragoons, and most importantly, your shuttle. Also build
another Gateway when the funds are available.
A marine or two is no problem. If zealots are knocking on your door, you
should b able to kill them off with some micromanagement. Dance your dragoons
by moving the dragoon that is being attacked behind the others. They will
get free shots at the zealots who are giving chase. If it’s zerglings, I
like to use a trick I learned from FatBoySr. Bring 4 probes to your choke
point, and place them so that they block the choke. Place your dragoons right
behind them. Select the dragoons and the probes together, and press ‘H’ to
hold position. Even though probes don’t have hold position in their commands,
this will cause them to hold position, and give your dragoons free shots
at the zerglings.
During your defense, your reaver should finish building, and help eliminate
any threat. As soon as your shuttle is finished, load up a dragoon and your
reaver, and begin building another reaver to help defend your main base.
At this point you need to have in your mind the type of force you’ll use
to launch a strike at your weakened opponent. While your shuttle is en route,
begin building that force. Your reaver drop will take a lot of micro, so
make sure to hotkey your unit producing structures so that you can keep troops
building while you’re away.
As you arrive at your enemy’s base with your shuttle, try to find a spot
along the edge near the minerals that you can drop into. Remember that reavers
have quite a bit of range, so you don’t have to be right next to the minerals.
Keep a little distance. Also, don’t drop behind the mineral line, because
scarabs roll along the ground, and can’t go over the top of the mineral patches.
When you unload your shuttle, do NOT use the ‘unload all’ command. I can’t
stress that enough. It is nearly impossible to pull off a reaver drop using
the ‘unload all’ command.
What you should do is select your shuttle, and right click on the ground
a little bit in from the edge of the base. As the shuttle moves over the
spot you want to unload, use your mouse to click on the pictures of the troops
inside the shuttle. Click the dragoon FIRST, and the reaver second. This
way the dragoon will draw any fire, and the reaver will be able to get off
a scarab. If there’s no resistance, leave your reaver on the ground and let
it fire at will at the probes. If your reaver is in danger, wait until it
fires its first scarab, and then load it back into the shuttle. The moment
you load the reaver into the shuttle, the enemy troops will focus on your
dragoon, so pop the reaver right back out of the shuttle, and ideally, it
will destroy the troops that are swarming your dragoon. You may have to repeat
this over and over again to kill the enemy resistance. This is called popping
your reaver.
Hopefully your enemy has now been set back some, and you have an economic
and troop advantage. I hope you remembered to keep building troops while
you were gone! Otherwise you aren’t getting much from your reaver drop. You
may be able to reaver drop your opponent a second time from another part
of the base, but don’t continue to reaver drop over and over again. Your
opponent will probably catch on and be prepared for it. Reaver dropping well
will take some practice. Good luck and happy killing. =)
-SpaceDominator
-- Starcraft
Millenium - http://www.scmillenium.com
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