Hit Points: 40 Plasma Shields: 40 Size: Small Supply: 2 Cost: 50 150 Build Time: 50 Produced at: Gateway Requires: Templar Archives Energy: 200 (Upgrade to 250) Base Ground Attack: N/A Base Air Attack: N/A Base Armor: 0 Range: N/A Sight: 7 Cooldown: N/A Production Hot Key: T

The High Templar are seasoned, veteran warriors of the Protoss armies that have walked far down the path of Khala. Those who choose to accept the mantle of the High Templar set aside the frenzied rage of the Zealot, and instead use their highly potent Psionic abilities to bolster the warriors of Aiur. The sight of enemy forces being torn apart by a Psionic Storm or wasting their firepower on projected Hallucinations is proof enough of the battlefield superiority that the High Templar can give to the Protoss.

Although High Templar are powerless when it comes to physical attacks, their special abilities -- as well as their potential to sacrifice themselves to form mighty Archons -- make them a threat that cannot be ignored.

[ Click to Enlarge - 107 KB ] High Templar can help increase the defensive potential of a Photon Cannon array.

High Templar have no attack and move fairly slowly, allowing any unit with the ability to attack ground units to easily kill a single, unsupported Templar. When they are supported properly by Photon Cannons, other friendly troops, or near the relative safety of a Shuttle, Templar can become the most devastating unit in the game. In situations where you must fight against High Templar, maintaining a scattered or fanned formation with your units is crucial so that Psionic Storms do not damage all of your units at once. Press your attack once you know that the energy reserves of the High Templar are depleted, but until that point do not commit your entire attack force at once.

Terrans

• Marines in Bunkers are fully protected from Psionic Storm and these defensive emplacements can be used to hold vital choke points. If SCVs are being used to repair these Bunkers, care must be taken to keep them out of the range of potential Psionic Storm attacks.
• A Tank in Siege Mode can fire on High Templar from outside the range of their Psionic Storm, although more than one Siege Tank should be used to guarantee the destruction of the enemy unit before it can unleash a final Psionic retaliation.
• A group of Battlecruisers is resilient enough to shrug off the damage from a few Psionic Storms and still be an effective force.
• The Yamato blast of a Battlecruiser will surely ruin the day of any High Templar.
• Science Vessels can either use EMP Shockwave to remove the Shields and the Psionic Energy of the High Templar, or they can simply Irradiate them before the Vessel can be targeted.
• ComSat Stations should always be used to search for defensively placed High Templar before attacking any Protoss base.

[ Click to Enlarge - 102 KB ] A Science Vessel has Irradiated this High Templar.

Protoss

• Fight fire with fire by using High Templar to Psionic Storm incoming enemy High Templar. Alternately, Hallucinations of your units can be created to trick the enemy into wasting the energy of their High Templar.
• The Feedback ability of the Dark Archon can destroy an enemy High Templar from outside the range of his Psionic Storm.
• Dark Templar can rapidly assassinate High Templar if they are not supported by a nearby Observer or Photon Cannon.

Zerg

• Zerglings that have evolved both Metabolic Boost (faster Zergling movement) and Adrenal Glands (faster Zergling attack) can quickly destroy High Templar. It is important, however, that the Zerglings be spread out and only a few of them sent in at a time as opposed to deploying large groups that can easily be slain by well placed Psionic Storms.
• Lurkers are very efficient at intercepting incoming High Templar. It is important to remember, however, that Zerg that are Burrowed can still be damaged by Psionic Storm.
• Queens can be used to Parasite High Templar so that they cannot launch surprise attacks. Also, Spawn Broodling will immediately kill any High Templar.
• Ultralisks can take the amount of damage dealt by a Psionic Storm and still have enough life left to power their way through heavy High Templar defenses. Ultralisks - especially those with the Anabolic Synthesis upgrade -- are often much better suited for this task than Guardians as the flying behemoths move slowly and can more easily be hit with Psionic Storm.

[ Click to Enlarge - 66 KB ] Zerglings finish off a lone High Templar.

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

Khaydarin Amulet 150 150 (+50 Templar energy)

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.

Khaydarin Amulet - This is an incredibly useful upgrade as it raises the maximum Energy available to the High Templar by 50. This allows the casting of (3) Psionic Storms or (2) Hallucinations when fully charged.

Summon Archon

When two or more High Templar are selected, the option to summon an Archon is made available. Once two High Templar begin merging in order to form an Archon, the process cannot be reversed.

Usually the best time to use this ability is after the High Templar is drained of energy from using Psionic Storm or Hallucinate. In this way the most efficient use of the High Templar's energy is achieved before they are sacrificed in the summoning ritual.

More information about the Archon can be found here.

Psionic Storm 200 200 Cost: 75 Range: 9

The celestial rage of a Psionic Storm can be a terrifying sight for any unit. This physical display of the full Psionic power of the High Templar can cause massive damage, and all units caught inside the area effect of the Psionic Storm will suffer heavy damage -- or possibly even be destroyed. As a Psionic Storm concentrates all the Psionic energy over a given area, overlapping Psionic Storms do not have any greater effect than a single one.

Although it has a relatively short duration Psionic Storm affects ALL ground and air units, making it one of the deadliest abilities found in the entire game. In particular, a Psionic Storm can melt a stacked air/ground force in a matter of seconds. Even Cloaked or Burrowed units cannot escape its effects.

One of the best uses of Psionic Storm is slowing down or completely halting an enemy's resource production. Since the worker units for all species have relatively low HP, they are destroyed fairly quickly under a Psionic Storm. With one or two uses of Psionic Storm, you can halt enemy resource production, often before they even realize what's happened.

The one major downside of this ability is the indiscriminate nature of the damage. The fury of Psionic Storm will affect both friendly and enemy units. Simply put; cast it with care. If any of your own units are caught beneath it, they will be damaged just as quickly as those of your enemy will. If you're careless with unit control, a Psionic Storm can be more destructive to you than your opponent.

There are also a few limitations to this ability. The key one is that Psionic Storm has no effect on the buildings of any species. While this can come in handy when defending your own base, it also means that Terran units within a Bunker are safe from its effects. Psionic Storm also cannot harm units caught within a Stasis Field.

[ Click to Enlarge - 103 KB ] A defense of Photon Cannons and Templar can save you from many different types of attacks (especially on Island Maps). Even these Zerg Guardians have a hard time getting into these defenses.	[ Click to Enlarge - 103 KB ] A single High Templar defends a Protoss town against a major offensive.
[ Click to Enlarge - 100 KB ] You don't have to see Cloaked Wraiths to destroy them. This High Templar rains down a Psionic Storm on the Cloaked Wraith squadron.	[ Click to Enlarge - 100 KB ] Say good bye to this invasion. A single High Templar defends a Protoss town against an major offensive.
[ Click to Enlarge - 95 KB ] One High Templar ravages a large group of Dragoons.	[ Click to Enlarge - 78 KB ] Psionic Storm is excellent for destroying enemy Reavers. The slow speed of the Reavers prevents them from moving out of the energy field before taking massive amounts of damage.
[ Click to Enlarge - 111 KB ] Can you see the High Templar in this picture? Top Protoss players can land a High Templar (that is hidden under their Shuttle), deploy a Psionic Storm and then get back into the Shuttle before most players can even see the High Templar or react to his presence.	[ Click to Enlarge - 84 KB ] Can you see the High Templar in this picture? In this game, top ranked Protoss player Zileas hides a High Templar behind the trees to the left of the Zealot. From this location he can use Psionic Storm without giving away his position.
[ Click to Enlarge - 84 KB ] High Templar with Shuttles can quickly move from base to base, using Psionic Storm to halt resource production at each site.	[ Click to Enlarge - 82 KB ] One High Templar takes on a Battlecruiser fleet.

Hallucination 150 150 Cost: 100 Range: 7

Hallucination creates two Illusions of any unit in the game -- friendly or not -- as well as Non-Player Units such as Critters. Although these doppelgangers appear to both allies and opponents just like the unit they mirror, you will always be able to distinguish your Hallucinations from your real units by their blue tint. Hallucinations are limited to the five basic functions (move, stop, attack, patrol, hold ground) and when commanded to attack, they will appear to be attacking but will inflict no damage. Hallucinations have a lifespan of approximately 180 seconds, but they take double damage from enemy attacks and disappear if an enemy uses any special abilities against them.

Hallucinations are useful for many purposes including cheap scouting, decoy tactics and numeric intimidation against an enemy.

In the case of scouting, you can use Hallucinations to take a look at a heavily fortified enemy base without worrying about the cost of losing a unit. This can be especially useful for finding weak points in an enemy base quickly so that you can plan the appropriate tactics for invasion.

The most common use of Hallucinations is to act as decoys. In island warfare this can be very useful for breaking into otherwise near impregnable anti-air fortifications. Use hallucinations of Arbiters to give your real Arbiter a chance to maintain its cloaking field during battle or perform an offensive Recall. Shuttles are another great unit to Hallucinate, especially when attempting a massed Shuttle drop of ground units. Carriers also make an excellent target for Hallucination, but since hallucinated Carriers do not have Interceptors, be sure to mix real Carriers in with the decoys to further improve the illusion.

Intimidation can also be a key element in battle. When 50 Hallucinated Carriers or Archons storm into an enemy base, your opponent will usually be quite taken aback and confused until the ruse is discovered. In the mean time, use the confusion to attack your opponent with your real forces elsewhere.

Remember that Hallucinated units do not have the special properties or abilities of the targeted unit. This means that a Hallucinated Observer would not have cloaking or cloak detection, and Hallucinated Shuttles can not load or transport other units.