I've been getting the hang of protoss lately, though I'm still in the practice league. I was wondering, which units are the best for: vs. ground vs. air
It's not as simple as air & ground units. Give us specific examples about which units you're facing, and we'll tell you which units will counter them.
For ground units, you want to work with... Colossus if they are massing small units. These monsters are designed for zergling and marine packs. Immortals if they are using heavy, powerful units such as thors and siege tanks. The reason is because these units deal a lot of damage and have high impact shielding which prevents any unit from doing more than ten damage, no matter what. So even the siege tank's powers are nerfed by these. For air units... Void rays work great for large units such as carriers and battlecruisers. Carriers and phoenixes work amazingly well for smaller units. Hope that helps.
Ok, well here's one, I was playing yesterday against a zerg player. I got my warp prism and DT/HT It was going good for a little bit, throw down some psi storm. But he just kept pumping out Hydralisks. Eventually overwhelming me. I starting throwing out collosus as fast as I could, but they're expensive and slow to make, even with the charge thing.
I would build colossus before the DT's and HT's and use those a little bit later on in the game.. unless you are going for a DT rush before he has any Overseers.
Protoss units ok so i know some basic unit counters but i would still like to know some more so here they are immortals > every ground unit with the exception of marines, zerglings, hydralisks and all air units. stalkers > thor, reapers, all air dog fighters eg mutalisks and vikings. Note that with phoenix stalkers may be demolished if the enemy can micro well. Also stalkers do not have a major advantage on air so if they are outnumbered by more than a few the stalkers will lose. Also stalkers beat all melee units if blink is used correctly. zealots > not much unless they have +1 attack and charge. With these upgrades, however, the zealots become good meatshields for protecting units such as the colossus and other glass cannons. with the upgrades mentioned zealots can counter many small units like marines, zerglings etc as long as they aren't insanely outnumbered. Phoenix > not much unless microed effectively. Being the fastest unit and being able to shoot on the run are the phoenix's biggest advantages. If these abilities are used correctly they can become a good harrassment unit i.e. gravbeaming workers and killing them, killing overlords etc. Im not 100% on this one as i dont use phoenix often, however i am fairly sure that phoenix do well against dog fighter air units, battlecruisers, units that cant attack air etc. Void rays > carriers, battleships, and all units that cant attack air. As these units are expensive i dont recommend using them to counter siege tanks or something like them. Immortals would be just as effective and cost less. anyways, void rays are another harrassment unit and are good at destroying key structures in an enemies base, killing workers etc. Colossus > marines, zerglings, hydralisks. this is an expensive and slow to make unit so it will need protection. It is best to use this unit against someone massing ground units I.E a MMM terran player. Carrier > all units unable to attack air, small units such as zerglings and marines. Carriers can still be beaten by numbers as they aren't a speedy unit. When facing an attack from dog fighters than the carriers are evenly matched so it is best to back them up with another unit type. Dark templar > all ground units while stealthed. Terran will never be taken by surprise by these units as they have orbital command, unless you send DT early game when they have only a small army. Against protoss observers and phocans can mess you up. with both toss and zerg, it is best to kill all overseers / observers before sending in cloaked units. High templar > Terran and smaller zerg units, along with some of the weaker protoss units. All terran units are susceptible to the psi storm as are the rest of the units mentioned. However, high temps cannot be used successfully without other units protecting them or taking the focus away from them, as they are fragile. Sentry > not much. Sentries are a situational unit. at a chokehold they can use forcefield to break the enemies ground forces in half, or cut them off from their air support. The guardian shield is also useful, although not quite as effective as some think it should be. Finally, hallucination is a good distraction tactic or meatshielding tactic. you could send in hallucinations to suck up the dmg while your high templars cast up psi storm or your immortals position themselves to take everything out. Observer > all cloaked units. they cannot attack but they are a good support unit for your army in case of stealth. Shuttle > they do not counter anything but are vital units for certain strategies. Shuttles can be used for early expansion onto islands or sneaking an army into the back of the enemies base. I hope i've helped and if any of this info is incorrect please correct me, and add anything i havnt included.
Thank you, that was very helpful. Well I started using this early rush strat and it has worked 3 for 3 so far. I just rush build a few warpgates, then a stargate. Get only like 2-3 void rays and keep trying to pump them out as fast as possible, which isn't very fast early game. I have a small group, of about 5-10, zealots and those 2-3 voidrays, and it was game over. The voidrays to focus fire on the command/hive/nexus and have the zealots working away on the workers. They gg and quit. Also I've grown very fond of the warp prism. It's such an awesome unit. Carry in 4units and warp in some more and constantly warp more in, all while hidden away in the back of the enemy's base.
Ok so if you're playing terran which units should you get first? Stalkers? Zealots with charge? Should you get stalkers with Blink first? How many immortals and collosi should you get to be safe? when should you start getting a stargate with void rays? Also when you go to attack how do you effectively manage zealots/stalkers/collosi/immortals so they don't just get eaten up? lastly you say using blink effectively how do you do that?
