The dark archon is a heavy protoss psionic support unit.

OverviewEdit

Like their high templar brethren, two dark templar sacrifice themselves in a psionic melding giving rise to the dark archon. The powers of dark archons extend well beyond those of the regular archon, more than compensating for their lack of any physical attack capability.^[1]

The burning, crimson figure of the dark archon spreads fear across any battlefield. These powerful creatures of living psionic energy embody the eternal wrath of the Dark Templar. Dark archons wield psionic powers of the Void.^[2]

Under ordinary circumstances, the chaotic and unstable energies of a dark archon will cause it to burn itself out and dissipate after a short period of time. Thus far, only Ulrezaj has found a way to avoid this fate and prolong his own unnatural existence. His abilities were markedly different from other dark archons.^[3]

HistoryEdit

During their long exile, the Dark Templar have faced many challenges. Struggling and adapting their arsenal of skills and converting their biology to suit their harsh environment has ultimately resulted in the dark archon.^[1]

They are so powerful that the Dark Templar have outlawed their creation for a thousand years^[2] out of fear.^[3]

The creation of dark archons was allowed after the Khalai came to Shakuras, the Dark Templar homeworld. Matriarch Raszagal and Zeratul authorized their use due to Aldaris' rebellion, which included archons fighting on the side of the insurgents.^[4] This was the first that the Khalai had ever seen or even heard of a dark archon^[5] and considered them to be abominations.^[3]

Zamara identified Ulrezaj as the only existing dark archon years after the Brood War.^[5]

Game UnitEdit

Brood WarEdit

Dark Archon
Unit
Race	Protoss
Role	Psionic Support Entity
Properties
Maximum energy	200 (init. 50)
Size	Large
Transport slots	4
Sight range	10
Production
Psi	4
Build time	20
Produced from	2 Dark Templar
Requires	2 Dark Templar
Movement
Speed	5
Protection
Shields	200
Hit points	25
Armor	1

The dark archon is a "spellcaster" with no regular attack, unlike the archon. Like the archon, it is well protected by shields but has few hit points underneath; it is vulnerable to the science vessel's EMP shockwave. It is neither biological nor mechanical, and is immune to many abilities, such as Lockdown and Spawn Broodling. It is also a hovering unit and does not trigger spider mines.

Mind Control may be used to instantly deprive the enemy of an expensive unit. It may also be used to enhance the flexibility of the protoss army. Zealots benefit from medics as much as marines. Enemy workers may also be stolen, opening up the terran and zerg tech trees; each tree uses its own pool of supply and control respectively. It is typically infeasible to fully exploit another tree in multiplayer due to the time and resources required.

The dark archon may deprive enemy spellcasters of energy and life with Feedback. The ability can instantly kill a high templar, ghost, medic, Wraith, science vessel, defiler or a queen that was at full health. The amount of damage is not affected by armor or unit size.

Zerg are vulnerable to Maelstrom, which disables groups of biological units for a short time. For protoss players, Maelstrom has a lot of potential benefits when fighting the zerg. From preventing precious high templar from being sniped by mutalisks, to saving a group of dragoons surrounded by large group of zerglings with the Adrenaline Glands upgrade, Maelstrom can be used in many ingenious ways. Large group of mutalisks, held at one place by Maelstrom, can be slaughtered by corsairs or Psionic Storm, or several group of zerglings and hydralisks trying to rapidly close in to kill reavers quickly, only to be held at one place by Maelstrom and sustain two or three scarab hits before getting annihilated, are only few out of many examples of Maelstrom's proper usage.

ProductionEdit

Dark Archon Warp
Usage Units 2 dark templar Activation/ Build Time 20
Notes
Two dark templar can sacrifice themselves, transforming into a dark archon.

AbilitiesEdit

Feedback Usage Energy 50 Range 10 Hotkey F Notes Drains a target's energy and deals damage equal to the amount of the energy drained.[2] The ability can instantly kill a high templar, ghost, medic, Wraith, science vessel, defiler or a queen that was at full health. The amount of damage is not affected by armor or unit size.

Maelstrom Acquisition Minerals 100 Gas 100 Research time 100 Researched at Templar archives Hotkey E Usage Energy 100 Range 10 Hotkey E Notes Prevents all biological units (friendly included) within a 4 x 4 area from attacking, moving, or casting spells for short period of time.[2] Stunned cloaked units will be revealed. Burrowed units will not be revealed or stunned.

Mind Control
Acquisition Minerals 200 Gas 200 Research time 120 Researched at Templar archives Hotkey E	Usage Energy 150 Shield All Range 8 Hotkey C
Notes
Transfers control of any enemy unit to the casting player. Using Mind Control will drain the dark archon's shields and leave it vulnerable.[2] Mind controlling a transport will also transfer control of any units the transport is carrying, and mind controlling a unit that has researched upgrades or special abilities will transfer them to the dark archon's player. The transfer is permanent and irreversible, even after the death or the transfer of control of the dark archon who performed it. Any unit can be subject to multiple Mind Control spells, effectively changing ownership every time.

UpgradesEdit

Plasma Shields Researched at Forge Hotkey S Properties Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 200 300 400 Gas 200 300 400 Research time 266 298 330 Required Cybernetics core Notes +1 armor bonus to shields per level for all units and structures.

Ground Armor Researched at Forge Hotkey A Properties Level Level 1 Level 2 Level 3 Minerals 100 175 250 Gas 100 175 250 Research time 266 298 330 Required Templar archives Notes +1 bonus to armor per level for probes, zealots, dragoons, reavers, high templar, dark templar, archons, and dark archons.

Argus Talisman
Researched at	Templar archives
Hotkey	T
Properties
Minerals 150 Gas 150 Research time 166
Notes
Dark archons wear a prized argus crystal talisman, increasing their maximum energy by 50.

QuotationsEdit

See: StarCraft Dark Archon Quotations

StarCraft IIEdit

Dark archons do not make a return in StarCraft II. Instead, dark templar are able to merge into standard archons. However, there are unused spells, sound files, and models for what looks like the dark archon's abilities, as well as an unfinished/unused dark archon texture file within the game's MPQ files. The model appears akin to a standard, albeit red, protoss body, which is unusual given how all archons have appeared, and, also unusually for Nerazim, psi appendages.^[6]

Known Dark ArchonsEdit

• Dark Archon Hero
• Rastadon/Imrian
• Ulrezaj (made of seven Dark Templar, significantly different abilities)

ReferencesEdit