Hit Points: 10 Plasma Shields: 350 Size: Large Supply: 4 Cost: N/A Build Time: 20 Produced at: N/A Requires: 2 High Templar Base Ground Attack: 30s Base Air Attack: 30s Base Armor: 0 Range: 2 Sight: 8 Cooldown: 20 Production Hot Key: N/A

In times of great peril, two High Templar can take the final step down the Warrior's Path and merge themselves into the awe-inspiring Archon. By abandoning their physical form, the High Templar open themselves up completely to the Protoss gestalt, and they transform into a personification of pure rage. Protected by an immense energy shield, the fiery form of the Archon can wade through countless enemy troops, destroying them with massive bolts of raw Psionic energy. Those Templar that make this final sacrifice are honored forever in the scriptures of the Templar Archives.

The Archon Merge process is initiated when at least two High Templar are selected and the Summon Archon command is issued. The actual process takes some time to complete and in the meantime the the merged Templar are unable to attack and in a highly vulnerable state. Keep in mind, that once the two High Templar enter into their Psionic cocoon, the process is irreversible and the High Templar used to merge will be lost forever.

The Archon attack should be a terrifying sight for any opponent, considering that it can cause 30 base points of Normal Damage (up to 39 points of Normal Damage when full upgraded) to both air and ground targets as well as 1/2 splash damage to enemy targets within a 1-15 pixel radius and 1/4 damage within a 15-30 pixel radius. Also the splash damage will not damage friendly units such as your own, but will damage your allies units. Needless to say, in numbers, Archons can wreck absolute havoc on any enemy force, especially against masses of the smaller units (i.e. Marines/Firebats, Zerglings, etc.).

The Archon also classifies as a Hovering unit and as such, they do not set off Terran Spider Mines and can be useful for either completely bypassing any Spider Mine field to attack enemy targets or for clearing out Spider Mine fields (with the aid of an Observer or other means of detection) so that any supporting ground units can pass through.

The one weakness the Archon possesses is its fragile physical form. Although it has an immensely powerful plasma shield, the Archon only has 10 HP and when they're depleted, the Archon will die. Because of this, The Terran Science Vessel with the EMP Shockwave ability is probably the Archon's deadliest enemy. If hit by an EMP Shockwave, the Archon is left only with its 10 HP and at that point almost any enemy unit could kill the Archon. If an Archon does happen to get hit with EMP Shockwave, the best means of survival is to get to a Shield Battery as quickly as possible and recharge the Archon's shields. If your opponent looks to be an avid EMP Shockwave user, you should probably build Shield Batteries close to any battle fronts (since it will benefit any Protoss unit, not only the Archon).

Note that the more Archons you have, the more Shield Batteries you will want to build. A single Archon with fully depleted shields can drain a fully charged Shield Battery (Archons have a base 350 Plasma Shield points).

The Archon is immune to or at least not much affected by many of the special abilities found in StarCraft. Examples include Dark Swarm (an Archon can still attack within a Dark Swarm even though it has a short range attack), Plague (only decreases HP from 10 to 1 but does not affect the 350 points of Plasma Shields), Irradiate (complete immunity) and Spawn Broodling (complete immunity). The Archon is, however, susceptible to Protoss special abilities like Psionic Storm and Mind Control so be wary of enemy Protoss special ability units.

In island warfare, Archons can be extremely useful as mobile anti-air defense and if you have enough Vespine gas to produce the High Templar needed to summon Archons, you can easily deter any "drop" tactics or aerial assaults. Archons work particularly well against groups of Mutalisks as well as Wraiths (detected or not cloaked). They can also hold their own against Battlecruisers and Carriers (if they are within attack range), but be careful of Yamato Gun strikes from the Battlecruisers and be sure to attack the actual Carriers and not the Interceptors.

[ Click to Enlarge - 88 KB ] Three Archons attack a Zerg Hatchery.	[ Click to Enlarge - 87 KB ] Archons overwhlem a Zerg force.
[ Click to Enlarge - 95 KB ] Two Protoss units raid a Zerg Expansion. The Templar is there to Psionic Storm the Drones mining while the Archon destroys a Mutalisk.	[ Click to Enlarge - 94 KB ] The Reaver and Zealots take care of the ground targets while the Archon gets rid of the Mutalisks. The Templar is around if these attacks fail to use Psionic Storm.

Terrans

• If using Marines/Firebats against Archons be sure to bring Medics along
• Siege Tanks in Siege Mode can hit Archons long before they come within their range to attack (as well as deal their full damage)
• Use EMP Shockwave with Science Vessels to completely deplete the Archon shields
• Use Yamato Guns with Battlecruisers before engaging to gain a distinct advantage over Archons

Protoss

• Use Dark Templar if the Archon has no means of detection nearby
• Reavers can hit Archons before they are within their attack range as well as deal substantial damage
• Groups of Carriers can overwhelm Archons with their Interceptors (try and keep the actual Carriers out of range from the Archons)
• Use Disruption Web with Corsairs to disable Archons
• Use Mind Control with Dark Archons to bring the enemy Archons to your side

Zerg

• Overwhelm Archons with Hydralisks/Zerglings in larger numbers
• Use Guardians to destroy Archons from afar (try and stay out of their attack range if they are able to retaliate)
• Use Ensnare with Queens to slow down Archon movement
• Use Spawn Broodling with Queens on High Templar before they get the chance to merge into Archons

Ground Weapons Level 1 - 100 100 Level 2 - 150 150 Level 3 - 200 200

Ground Armor Level 1 - 100 100 Level 2 - 175 175 Level 3 - 250 250

Plasma Shields Level 1 - 200 200 Level 2 - 300 300 Level 3 - 400 400

Ground Weapons - Each Upgrade adds +3 to Ground attack for a total of +9 with all three upgrades.

Ground Armor - Each Upgrade adds +1 to Ground Armor for a total of +3 with all three upgrades.

Plasma Shields - Each Upgrade adds +1 to Shields for a total of +3 with all three upgrades.