Heart Of The Swarm Protoss Strategy

Learn all about the new Heart Of The Swarm Protoss Strategy 

The Protoss receive a massive boost to their aerial presence, using many psionic abilities to their advantage and ditching the slow and bulky Mothership and Carrier combination for new, faster units. The Carrier was a largely ignored, mostly non-existent unit online, so it’s no surprise to see it go. Let’s see what the Children of Xel’Naga have prepared for the Heart of the Swarm:

Tempest

The Tempest represents the king of anti-air flyers, and will be filling the gap in the Protoss aerial force now that the Mothership and Carrier have been abandoned. The large flyer will deal massive area-of-effect damage to enemy flyers, as well as being capable to hit ground units with a strong beam.

Replicant

The Replicant is an impressive and unique Protoss unit that does exactly what it says – it replicates. It can turn into any unit that it targets, regardless of what race they are – all non-massive terran and zerg units are on the menu. While expensive, the Replicant opens up the option to have some unique units like Siege Tanks or Infestors to help aid the Protoss cause – and as an added bonus, you’ll get any researchable upgrades for that unit as well. Of course, it seems like you’ll probably be able to replicate an SCV or Drone as well, just like back in Brood War with the Dark Archon. The Replicant will add a unique and dangerous edge to the Protoss race, and we may see some TLO-style crazy action in professional tournaments as a result.


Oracle

The Oracle is psionic aerial unit produced in the Stargate which uses many energy-specific attacks, much like the terran Science Vessel. The attacks are as such:
Entomb: Temporarily blocks any mineral patch from being harvested.
Phase Shift: The targetting building hit will be blocked from being attacked, using abilities or granting technologies.
Preordain: Grants interior vision of a targets enemy building, allowing the player to see what units or technologies are being researched and produced.

This means that the Oracle can affectively disable anti-air turrets while the fleet moves into position or the ground army moves in. With such unique abilities, the macro-intensive Oracle is sure to be a great pestering tool for many players.


Changed Units And Abilities

The Nexus can now use its energy to call up an Arc Shield, which is a defensive maneuver which warps in an extra shield and a Photon Cannon-esque turret to help defend the building. While the turret will push out as much damage as the Photon Cannon, it will only damage light units, leaving it as a soft defense and one that should come with backup.

The Nexus now has the ability to perform a Mass Recall, which was spliced in from the dropped Mothership unit. The recall will warp in an area of friendly Protoss units from where you click, pulling them to the safety of the Nexus and out of the battlefield when need be. Note that your warped units will be stunned for a few seconds after being recalled, a change which was recently added to prevent lag online.