NOTICE: This is a GUIDE and is expected to be used as such. It is meant to be a helpful tool when looking up strategies associated with certain units, NOT to give a detailed description of each unit's stats. Like an Encyclopedia, dont bother trying to read the entire thing, but instead, use it to investigate certain units individually.

With Beta around the corner, we thought it would be interesting to have a Strategy guide for the different races in SC2. This guide is not meant to replace the official Starcraft 2 Armory Guide, but rather, augment it by providing unit strategies, combos and roles down in one central location. This will help organize discussions when beta comes out as any new strategies and so forth can be posted to this guide so that all may have access to the new ideas and unit combinations being developed in SC2. Perhaps when Beta actually comes out, this may become a sort of Beginner's guide to the units, strategies and micro/macro tactics being adopted in SC2.

Warp-in Mechanic:

Warp in allows Protoss units from the Gateway to (almost) instantly warp into any location on the map where you have pylon power and line of sight.

Requires: Warp Gate upgrade from the Cybernetics Core for 50 minerals and 50 gas. Upgrade takes 35 seconds. Once this upgrade is completed, Protoss players can upgrade their Gateways into Warpgates at NO cost. Gateways may turn into Warpgates in 35 seconds. Warpgates may turn into Gateways in 3 seconds. Once you have a Warpgate, you may warp in units.

Warp in works like this:

1. Click on a Warpgate
2. Select the unit you want to build (either by clicking on the build button or by hotkey)
3. Select a location where you want that unit to be warped in (note: it must be within pylon power)
4. The unit will begin to warp in. Units take 5 seconds to warp in and are vulnerable to attack during the duration. Dark Templar are cloaked when they warp in, so the enemy cannot see them.
5. The unit's build time (the time it usually takes them to be built at a gateway) is begun at the warp gate. This acts like a cooldown so you cannot simply warp in infinite amounts of units from 1 warpgate. However, there is a slight discount to this time (10 seconds according to the second Yellow vs Sonkie game) so there is incentive to warp in units rather than queue them up at the gateway.
6. Once the cooldown is complete, you may warp in another unit from that warpgate. Units may NOT be queued up at the warpgate (unlike at gateways) so warpgates are much more micro-intensive, but you get units faster than from a gateway (5 seconds) AND wherever you may need them, not to mention the production time bonus of 10 seconds subtracted from a units normal buildtime.

Advantages:
> You may warp gateway units almost instantly to any location on the map where you have pylon power and line of sight.
> You may use phase prisms and proxy pylons along with this ability for added mobility
>Build time reduction of 10 seconds (ex: zealots take 33 seconds to build from a gateway. With a warpgate, you get the zealot after 5 seconds but then the warpgate "cools down" for 23 seconds, saving you 5 seconds).

Disadvantages:
>Requires an upgrade
>Units are vulnerable as they warp in, so warping into a place of safety is better than warping into battle.
>No build queue, so it requires more micro to make it work efficiently
>May only warp in units that are built from the gateway (if thats even a real disadvantage): Zealots, Stalkers, Disruptors, Dark Templar, High Templar. Archons cannot be warped in but you may warp in some templars and then merge them on-site.

In action:

Proxy Pylon:

[5:50-6:15] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LERxOtIMif4&feature=related

Instant reinforcements:

[0:00-0:35] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDFp6ENWNVA

Back Door Drops:

[8:05-8:55] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ewUmqiWntWE&feature=related

New Shield Mechanic:

Protoss shields have changed dramatically from Starcraft Broodwar. In Brood war, there was a different damage mechanic. According to this old mechanic, Protoss shields took full damage from ALL attacks.

Click here for further information on the StarCraft BroodWar shield mechanic.

Shields also regenerated during combate at a rate of about 1 shield point per second.

In Starcraft 2, shields now work like this:

1) Shields no longer take full damage from all attacks. Instead, shields take bonus damage based on the type of unit. Ex: An archon (light) is attacked by a marauder ((6(+6)*2) to armored). The marauder would do 12 damage to archons since archons are not armored. The archon is left with 338 shields and 10 health. However, if a Stalker (armored) is attacked by a tank (60 damage) the stalker takes 60 damage and is left with 100 hp and 20 shield. In this way, shields are more like health than they were in BW.
2) Shields regenerate at about twice the rate they did in the original game, but only if they are not being attacked. It takes about 8 seconds of not being attacked before the shields start to regenerate.
3) Shield upgrades are now important! Before, since shields took full damage from every attack no matter what, +3 armor for shields didnt really help all that much. Now, with generally lower attacks and damage multipliers (ex: zealot does (8*2) instead of a flat 16 meaning armor is counted twice!), there is a chance to get more out of your shields than ever before.
4) Immortals have hardened shields, which are explained under the "Immortal" section of this guide.

Protoss units who survive attacks will be able to fight much more quickly after being injured than their BW counterparts. Protoss strategy is expected to take advantage of this mechanic with greater reliance on guerilla warfare, and the usage of defensive/protection spells like Hallucination, Temporal rift and Forcefield to protect a retreating army. As in Brood War, buildings also have shields, and their shields act just the same as unit's shields.

Unit Strategy Guide:

NOTE: Detailed Unit and Building Statistics may be found here:

Starcraft 2 Armory Protoss Guide

You may also click on the name of a unit to take you to that unit's page.

Probe:

50 Minerals
Health: 20
Shields: 20
Damage: 5
Abilities: N/A

Strengths: Shield Regeneration, Probe may leave warp rift after constructing
Counters: N/A
Weaknesses: Probes are fairly weak to everything
Countered by: Probes are countered by practically every unit in the game

Probes are the basic resourcing unit of the Protoss. They harvest Gas and Minerals and construct buildings via warp rift (unlike other races, probes may go back to work after beginning a building).

Shield regeneration allows the Probes to be a very dangerous scout in the beginning of the game by allowing it to survive attacks and continue the harass while its shields regenerate.

[3:05-3:45] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LERxOtIMif4

Probes are also an ideal unit (with their low cost) of activating Xel'naga watchtowers.

[0:12-0:22] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2WkwEuZsa4&feature=related

The Obelisk has an ability (Proton Charge) which lets probes mine +1 mineral per trip as a resource boost for 30 seconds. Otherwise, probes should be restricted to the mineral line and do not make good warriors.

[3:20-3:28] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNU21qess4c&feature=related

Zealot:

100 Minerals
Health: 100
Shields: 60
Damage: (8*2)
Abilities: Charge

Strengths: Strongest primary unit, large attack, charge increases survivability, able to take most attacks in the game without a sweat
Counters: Zealots are not a direct counter to anything and perform well against most enemy units, but can get kited away by ranged attackers, or destroyed quickly by anti-infantry units.
Weaknesses: a melee attacker (charge helps this by decreasing the running time between its target), weak to air, expensive
Countered by: Hellions, Roaches, Colossi, Air units

Zealots are a great all-around fighter, and one of the most cost-effective units in the game. Early, they are expensive, but their strength is well worth it: 1 zealot is more than a match for an equal cost of marines or zerglings. Zealots have 10 less shield points from SC, but this isn't such a loss because of the new shield mechanics. Also Zealots get a new ability, Charge, which allows them to engage the enemy at incredible speeds. Charge decreases the time zealots spend closing with their targets, making them less vulnerable to ranged attackers.

This ability was made good use of in BR#1 to track down a force of marauders trying to retreat.

[7:40-8:40] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LERxOtIMif4

As of Blizzcon 09, the Zealot is back to 60 shields.

Stalker:

125 Minerals
50 Gas
Health: 100
Shields: 80
Damage: 10
Abilities: Blink

Strengths: Very mobile, strong anti-armored attack, blink increases survivability and allows it to retreat/follow enemy units
Counters: Armored units (Roaches, Mutalisks, Hellions, Vikings, Stalkers, Colossi
Weaknesses: Light units that can swarm it or and heavy anti-armored attackers
Countered by: Zerglings, Lurkers, Zealots, Immortals, Marauders, Tanks

Stalkers are a great new addition to the Protoss arsenal, providing a mobile threat to the enemy. Their blink ability allows them to teleport within a range of 6, and is on a 10 second cooldown. Blink is an extravagant way of avoiding damage, like the dancing dragoons of SC1 and we have already seen this many times before, like in the Yellow vs Sonkie matches and BR#3.

[1:25-2:10] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2WkwEuZsa4&feature=related

[0:30-2:00] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2WkwEuZsa4&feature=related

One strategy that has shown promise is blinking around forcefields. This was shown in an early demo video: a line of forcefields caused a force of zerglings to run around it while the stalkers got free hits, and then the stalkers blinked to the other side while the lings had to run all the way around the wall again.

**I cannot find this video, people, so if you can find what I'm describing, please either post here, or PM me with the URL, Thanks**

Blink "spikes" are also possible where a group of stalkers simultaneously blinks into range of a building allowing all stalkers to get their hits at the same time, and finish the building off quickly.

[3:25-3:35] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2WkwEuZsa4&feature=related

Blink also allows stalkers to teleport up or down cliffs, provided they have line of sight.

[0:20-0:25] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjnxGelg2hM

[7:25] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az0iMi6nQ0A

As of Blizzcon 09, Stalkers have 80 shield, but only do 10 damage (they lost bonus damage vs armored).

Immortal:

250 Minerals
100 Gas
Health: 200
Shields: 100
Damage: 20 (+20 to armored)
Abilities: Hardened Shields

Strengths: Hardened shield makes immortals very difficult to destroy, strong anti-armored attack
Counters: Armored units: Roaches, Lurkers, Colossi, Stalkers, Tanks, Hellions
Weaknesses: Weak to air, weak to units with large attacks when it loses hardened shield, weak to units with attacks that can wear down the hardened shield quickly, expensive
Countered by: Marauders, Zealots, Zerglings, Ultralisks, Ghosts (with EMP), Infestors (with Neural Parasite)

Immortals and their Hardened shields are another great new addition to the Protoss army.

Hardened shield works like this: Hardened Shields reduce the damage of incoming attacks that are greater than 10 to 10 if Immortal's shields are up. Once shields are depleted, attacks hurt the immortal's life directly.

Hardened shields are affected by Upgrades, but in this order:
1. Damage
2. Shield Upgrades
3. Immortal's Hardened Shields

According to Cydra:

For example, if your Immortal shoots the enemy Immortal with fully upgraded shields, the damage will be 10: 35 (20+15 vs Armored) - 3 (full shield upgrades) = 32, and it's more than 10, so the enemy's Immortal takes only 10 damage by Hardened Shield. But if your Disruptor shoots the enemy Immortal with fully upgraded shields, the damage will be 7: 10 - 3 (full shield upgrades) =7 (it's below 10 damage and so Hardened Shield won't do anything).

Our very own member, Crixomix wrote a good article on the hardened shield mechanic:

Hardened shields makes Immortals great tanking units, but weak to units that have weaker faster attacks that can bring down the hardened shield quickly. Once the immortal's shield is down, it behaves just like any other unit and can take heavy anti-armored attacks hard (an immortal without his hardened shield dies in two hits to a siege tank).

[0:45-1:29] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjVrumq9MJ0&feature=related

In the July 20, 2009 Sigaty and Browder interview the Immortal has been moved to the Robotics bay and its hardened shield no longer needs to be researched: it now starts with hardened shield.

Also, after Blizzcon 09, immortals got buffed to 20+20 vs armored units.

Disruptor:

50 Minerals
100 Gas
Health: 40
Shields: 40
Damage: 10 (+3 to biological)
Abilities: Forcefield, Hallucination

Strengths: One of the earliest casters in the game, strong disruptive abilities, and a decent attack.
Counters: Biological units: Zerglings, Marines, Zealots
Weaknesses: Expensive, vulnerable
Countered by: Just about any unit that has a decent stock of hitpoints and a strong attack can easily take on a Disruptor. Disruptors are not meant to be on the front lines and are much better when used behind a wall of your own units, casting its spells from relative safety. Ghosts (with EMP) take it down to 0 energy and 0 shields.

Disruptors are one of the first casters in the game: they are easily accessible to the Protoss, but their high gas cost might be detrimental to a heavy stalker build or teching. 2 Nullifiers were shown in BR#3 to have taken on 6 zerglings using a combination of forcefield and their normal attack.

Forcefield casts an impenetrable "shield" on the ground which cannot be destroyed and lasts for 15 seconds and is impassable to land units. This ability can be used to support ranged attackers (like stalkers, colossi and immortals) by preventing the enemy from engaging your force.

[5:05-5:30] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNU21qess4c&feature=related

Forcefield can be used to block chokes.

[1:04] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2WkwEuZsa4&feature=related

[8:00-8:10] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNU21qess4c&feature=related

Forcefield can be used to prevent enemies from reinforcing their base.

[7:30-7:55] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNU21qess4c&feature=related

Forcefield can be used to split up an opponent's attack force.

[7:15-7:30] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNU21qess4c&feature=related

All of these were demonstrated in BR#3.

Hallucination makes copies of units that take twice normal damage, and disappear when a spell is used on them. Hallucinations can be made of units you do not already have, but cannot be made of Carriers, Motherships, Dark Templar, or Observers.

Hallucination can make (even when you do not have the tech required for a certain unit):

2 Zealots
2 Stalkers
1 Immortal
2 High Templars
1 Archon
1 Void Ray
1 Phoenix
1 Warp Prism
1 Colossus

Blizzcon revealed the Disruptors attack to be 10 +3 to biological.

High Templar:

50 Minerals
150 Gas
Health: 40
Shields: 40
Damage: N/A
Abilities: Psionic Storm, Temporal Rift, Archon Meld

Strengths: Very strong caster with great spells, can form with any other templar to create an archon when out of energy.
Counters: With psistorm it can kill off masses of light units
Weaknesses: No attack and low hitpoints makes it vulnerable to direct enemy attacks.
Countered by: Almost anything, so keep them safe! EMP takes all their energy, as well as shields.

High Templar are the primary caster of the Protoss race: they pack some very powerful abilities including Psionic storm, which stays on from SC and acts in more or less the same way dealing AoE damage to ground and air units. Word is that Psionic storm

deals 120 damage (yes, more) over 4 intervals (yes, less) over a larger area (yes, larger) and has a sick animation best described as SC1 storm meets WC3 flamestrike.

Image of Psistorm

Temporal Rift was originally on the mothership, but has been moved to the High Templar. Not much is known about this ability, but Cydra says:

Temporal Rift creates a distortion field at the target location. Ground units caught inside of this field have their movement speed, attack speed, and ability cast times slowed by half. And it lasts 30 seconds.

At Blizzcon 09, the High Templar was revealed to have phase shift instead of time bomb.

Phase shift targets one unit and makes that unit warp out of existence for a time. It is basically a one-man stasis. It should act just like banish from Warcraft 3.

Temporal rift is rumored to be on the Mothership in the form of Time bomb.

Dark Templar:

The Dark Templar has two in-game models, as voted upon by Starcraft Fans:

1) Lenassa Tribe:

2) Zer'atai Tribe:

125 Minerals
125 Gas
Health: 40
Shields: 80
Damage: 45
Abilities: Permanent Cloak, Archon Meld

Strengths: Cloaked, very high attack lets it one-shot many weaker units, can form Archons with other templar.
Counters: Light infantry, anything that doesn't have a detector
Weaknesses: Low health, expensive, slow, melee
Countered by: Detectors

If you can see it, you can probably kill it. However, Dark Templars are very strong units when their cloak is utilized properly, and combined with 2/3 of their health invested in regenerating shields, hit and run attacks are looking like this unit's cup of tea.
Dark Templar can kill marines, probes, drones, zerglings, banelings, broodlings and larva in one hit and hydralisks, infested terran, disruptors, high templar, reapers and hellions in two hits.

Dark Templar Harassment

Dark Templar Being Warped into an Undefended base

When the enemy gets detecting and your Dark Templar are coming under attack too often, simply meld your Dark Templar into Archons.

Dark Templar had a 125 gas cost in the Blizzcon 09 build.

Archon:

HT+HT= 100 Minerals, 300 Gas
HT+DT= 175 Minerals, 275 Gas
DT+DT= 250 Minerals, 250 Gas
Health: 10
Shields: 350
Damage: 25*2 (+10 to biological) *Splash Attack*
Abilities: N/A

Strengths: Massive amounts of shield allows for 97% of their health to be regenerated, strong splash attack that can hit air and ground. Can be formed of different templars, allowing for some difference in cost
Counters: Biological units: zerglings, roaches, marines, marauders, zealots, high templar, dark templar
Weaknesses: Very expensive, weak to units with bonus vs light, very small range, slow and clumsy
Countered by: Ghosts, Hellions, Immortals, Void rays, Ultralisks, Infestors (Neural Parasite), Brood Lord

Archons are powerful psionic warriors merged for one purpose: mass carnage. Archons' burning blue aura strikes fear into the hearts of all who see them: their powerful shields and strong bonus damage vs bio ensures that they are always a force to be reckoned with. As if that weren't enough, archons can attack both ground and air and have a large splash attack, decent move speed, and decent attack speed. Their downside is that they are large, easily targeted and have short range. However, with their "light" armor type, archons manage to avoid bonus damage from anti-armored attacks (which is the most common type in SC2). For example, the archon only takes half damage from a siege tank (50 as opposed to 50+50) which makes it much more viable in PvT. Since Archons have 97% of their health invested in shields, they can almost completely regenerate after a crippling attack, and the obelisk can also regenerate the Archon's shield.

However, Archons come at the cost of two of your templar warriors, and are not cheap, so when you choose to merge an archon, make sure that you have gotten as much out of your templar warriors as possible (such as using up the energy of two high templar, or harassing with Dark Templar until your opponent gets too much detection to raid anymore).

Also, the different costs of the templar provide different costs for this unit, which you can adapt to your strategy and income: you dont have minerals to spare? Go for the gas-heavy HT+HT archon. Not enough gas? Go for an Archon made from DTs.

In the Blizzcon 09 build, Archons got a superbuff to 25*2 +10 vs biological: a whopping 70 damage to biological targets (including all zerg buildings) IN SPLASH. This buff basically doubles their attack damage from before.

[1:30-1:50] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01k7jyOYNMw&feature=related

Observer:

25 Minerals
75 Gas
Health: 40
Shields: 20
Damage: N/A
Abilities: Permanent Cloak

Strengths: Detector, Cloaked, relatively inexpensive, fast, and large range, decently durable
Counters: Cloaked units
Weaknesses: Detectors
Countered by: Fast air units and detectors

One of the most remarkable scouts of all time, the observer is both permanently cloaked and a detector itself. They are great for sneaking around the battlefield unseen while gathering data on the enemy armys movements and expansions as well as tracking cloaked units. They haven't changed from Brood War, so will likely be used in a similar manner.

Observers will be great in SC2 as scouts for seeing up terrain allowing your units to attack enemy positions and for allowing stalkers to blink up cliffs.

Observers played a critical role in this 1v1 Protoss mirror match: it detected the Dark Templar when they warped in and it allowed the stalkers to blink up the cliff.

Colossus:

300 Minerals
200 Gas
Health: 200
Shields: 150
Damage: (23*2) *Splash Attack*
Abilities: Cliffclimb

Strengths: Cliffclimb, whopping attack dealt in AoE, upgrades to 9 range (which also increases AoE), can see up cliffs though its a ground unit, though it is a ground unit.
Counters: Light massed units: zealots, zerglings, marines
Weaknesses: Very expensive, can be hit by all attacks: (AtA, AtG, GtA, GtG)
Countered by: Air units: Mutalisks, Corrupters, Tanks, Banshees, Vikings, Phoenixes, Voidrays

Taking the place of the Reaver/Shuttle Combo from SC, the Colossus deals (23*2) in a horizontal line in front of it at 9 range. This means that the colossus will be a great support unit, helping fill the crowd control role alongside psionic storm and Archons.

Colossi can actually stand on smaller ground units (at least yours and your ally's) because its so tall, and this gives it greater ability to escape because it cannot get trapped by friendly support units.

Colossi also turn into corrupted masses when killed by corruptors.

[4:05] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGe1PMerTs8&annotation_id=annotation_104657&feature=iv

Colossi are great raiders with their cliff-climb ability because they can sneak into the back of someone's base and torch the mineral line at siege range, escaping afterwards. This was seen in BR#1.

[2:25-2:40] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDFp6ENWNVA&feature=related

Colossi are very vulnerable to air units and should be guarded by stalkers and phoenix at all times, especially since they are such a huge investment.

[6:40-7:10] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iDFp6ENWNVA&feature=related

[8:30-8:45] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0wob_nLSUI&annotation_id=annotation_700684&feature=iv

Colossi are great for dishing out damage quickly:

[8:10 onwards] "Terrible Terrible Damage"

[2:00-3:45] More Colossus Action

Warp Prism:

Phase Mode:

200 Minerals
Health: 100
Shields: 40
Damage: N/A
Abilities: Phase Mode

Strengths: Transport unit, can provide pylon energy for warp in or when a pylon is destroyed.
Counters: N/A
Weaknesses: Low hitpoints and shield points, highly vulnerable
Countered by: Anti-Air: Mutas, Phoenixes, Vikings

Warp prisms are the new shuttle, allowing physical transportation across great distances. Also, they have a handy new ability, Phase mode, which lets it become a stationary pylon (remains an air unit) providing power to buildings bereft of a pylon, or to the back of an enemy base to prepare for warp-in.

Warp Prisms may be used to bypass new terrain blockers like destructible rocks.

[5:50-7:30] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mhxxwmWvR9k

Warp Prisms also may be used to warp in new units with warp in,

[8:10-8:55] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2WkwEuZsa4&feature=related

Or to power buildings in place of a pylon.

[0:10-0:39] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TqLcND11-cs&NR=1

Phoenix:

125 Minerals
75 Gas
Health: 120
Shields: 60
Damage: (6*2)
Abilities: Gravitron Beam

Strengths: Exceptionally fast, relatively inexpensive, anti-air fighter
Counters: Light air units: Mutas, vikings, corrupters, banshees, phoenix, voidrays
Weaknesses: Cannot attack ground units (except through gravitron beam), lack of splash attack leaves it open to being overwhelmed in the air.
Countered by: GtA units: Thor, Marine, Stalker, Hydralisk

Phoenix are the new AtA ship of the Protoss packing scout-like power with corsair-like cost and agility. Phoenix also have gravitron beam which costs 4 energy per second (immobilizing the phoenix) and lifts a ground unit into the air to be attacked by fellow air units. This ability does not affect buildings and is not AoE.

Apparently, Gravitron beam will be great for ultralisk killing in SC2, since it is now able to lift massive units.

Phoenix are great scouts and harassers

[2:00-2:10] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2WkwEuZsa4&feature=related

We have seen a Phoenix/Voidray combo immobilize and kill a Zerg queen in BR#3.

[2:30-2:53] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2WkwEuZsa4&feature=related

Phoenix immobilizing Siege tanks with Gravitron Beam

According to an article on SCLegacy (April 4, 2009), Graviton Beam can lift up buildings and burrowed units:

2) How does Anti-Gravity work on Zerg buildings since they're organs intrinsically a part of the creep? They are essentially part of the creep. Do they lose health? Also, how does it affect burrowed units? Will they go back to being burrowed or not? (sclegacy.com)

Zerg buildings will not take damage when they are lifted. Burrowed units lifted will become burrowed again when the ability finishes.

Blizzcon 09 build: nerfed to 6*2 damage.

Void Ray:

200 Minerals
150 Gas
Health: 150
Shields: 100
Damage: (6, 12, 24)
Abilities: N/A

Strengths: Fairly durable attacker, incredibly strong attack, attacks ground and air, follows the unit it is attacking for continuous damage
Counters: Buildings and large units with lots of health: Ultralisks, Broodlords Immortals, Colossi, Carriers, Battlecruisers, Tanks
Weaknesses: low range, smaller massable anti-air units, pretty expensive
Countered by: hydralisks, stalkers, marines, Thors (huge range)

Void Rays are a very unique unit that use a large laser to deal incredible damage. Initially void rays do 6 damage per second, but after 3 seconds, the DPS increases to 12, and after another 3 seconds, it increases again to 24 damage per second. The longer a Void Ray fires, the more damage its laser will do. However, smaller units that don't allow it enough time to focus its beam to maximum strength are a good counter to this mini-Death Star. Void Rays have short range, but can follow their target so their prismatic beam stays aligned (to keep dealing huge damage).

We have seen a Void Ray/Phoenix combo immobilize and kill a Zerg queen in BR#3 Seen here at [2:30-2:53].

Void Rays destroy a pack of Ultralisks and roaches, as well as an overlord, but Void ray's attacks are weak against lots of smaller units, like corrupters:

[0:45-1:45] http://www.wegame.com/watch/Starcraft_2_Gameplay_Footage_6_29_09/

We have also seen a pack of Void Rays take out a fleet of Battlecruisers

[0:50-1:30] http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PhX7iwGf0bI

In the Blizzcon 09 build, Void rays got a range buff to 7 (on par with defensive structures).

Carrier:

350 Minerals
250 Gas
Health: 250
Shields: 150
Damage: N/A
Abilities: Build Interceptor

Strengths: Strong Capitol Ship, 4 armor takes a bite out of weaker attacks, 12 range makes this ship very dangerous to buildings and stationary forces
Counters: Light units, buildings
Weaknesses: Lots of smaller units that take advantage of its slow attack rate or dedicated anti-capitol ship weapons, super expensive
Countered by: Void Ray, Viking, Corrupter

Carriers have huge range which makes them an ideal unit for hit and run attacks and microing. They also have plenty of shields so regeneration makes this more potent. Carriers are great against buildings (which cant fight back) and slow units that it can attack at great range. Carriers now start with 4 interceptors in the hangar, so are deceptively cheaper. Carriers are still incredibly gas and mineral heavy so losing them often is a huge blow to the Protoss.

Interceptor:

25 Minerals
Health: 50
Shields: 50
Damage: (5*2)
Abilities: N/A

Strengths: Fast, inexpensive fighters that repair themselves automatically when they go back to the carrier
Counters: Light units
Weaknesses: Enemys can target them separately to kill them OR go after the carrier itself: they die when the carrier dies
Countered by: Area of Effect attacks

There is a chance that interceptors have a "fast" attack speed, up from "slow" pre-Blizzcon 09.

Mothership:

400 Minerals
400 Gas
Health: 400
Shields: 200
Damage: (8*8)
Abilities: Wormhole Transit, Cloaking Field, Vortex

Strengths: Can attack multiple targets, lots of health and good damage, can be made at the nexus so your stargates may still be used, caster
Counters: Nothing directly except maybe light units
Weaknesses: Most expensive unit in the game, unique, vulnerable and slow (helped by wormhole transit)
Countered by: Units with high damage output: corrupters, hydralisks, mutalisks, voidrays, carriers, Vikings, BCs, Thors, Ghosts (with EMP) can bring a mothership down to 0 energy and 100 shields.

Mothership can cloak buildings and units with its cloaking field, can teleport to friendly Protoss buildings with Wormhole transit and can immobilize an entire Fleet of enemy ships for 30 seconds with vortex. You may only have one mothership in the current build, so use it carefully.

Mothership demonstrating the usefulness of Wormhole transit, teleporting to a proxy pylon so it can move around the battle more quickly. Also, note the use of Cloaking field on the Protoss base:

[3:30-4:10] http://www.wegame.com/watch/Starcraft_2_Gameplay_Footage_6_29_09/

There is word out that the Mothership's abilities have been reset to Blackhole (nerfed), Timebomb(Temporal Rift) and Planet Cracker, but I have no reliable data on this yet. Post or PM me if you do.

It is rumored that Mothership does have Timebomb, Mass Cloak, Vortex (which sucks your own units in too) and Wormhole transit from the Blizzcon 09 build.

**Special Thanks to Omega, whose idea this was**
Protoss Tactical Guide
Immortal/Colossus
http://www.sc2armory.com/forums/topic/5959
Stalker/Colossus
http://www.sc2armory.com/forums/topic/7108
Spells