Dark archon

"Fear not, comrades, for we have archons of our own! Should the dire need arise, all Dark Templar may merge to become Dark Archons. Though we sacrifice our warriors in doing so, only the might of the Dark Archons can match the forces of Aldaris!"

- Zeratul to Artanis^(src)

A dark archon

The dark archon is a heavy protoss psionic support unit.

Overview

A dark archon

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.

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.

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.

History

A dark archon

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.

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

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. This was the first that the Khalai had ever seen or even heard of a dark archon and considered them to be abominations.

Zamara identified Ulrezaj as the only existing dark archon years after the Brood War.

Game Unit

Brood War

Dark Archon
Unit
Race	Protoss
Role	Psionic Support Entity
Properties
Maximum energy	200 (init. 50)
Size	Large
Transport slots	4
Sight	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

Dark archon fusing

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.

Production

Dark Archon Warp

Two dark templar can sacrifice themselves, transforming into a dark archon.

Usage
Cost 20 2 dark templar

Abilities

Feedback Drains a target's energy and deals damage equal to the amount of the energy drained. 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. Usage Hotkey F Cost 50 Range 10

Maelstrom Prevents all biological units (friendly included) within a 4 x 4 area from attacking, moving, or casting spells for short period of time. Stunned cloaked units will be revealed. Burrowed units will not be revealed or stunned. Usage Hotkey E Cost 100 Range 10 Acquisition Purchased from Templar archives Hotkey E Cost 100 100 100

Mind Control

Transfers control of any enemy unit to the casting player. Using Mind Control will drain the dark archon's shields and leave it vulnerable.

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.

Usage
Hotkey C Cost 150 All Range 8

Acquisition
Purchased from Templar archives Hotkey E Cost 200 200 120

Upgrades

Plasma Shields +1 armor bonus to shields per level for all units and structures. Acquisition Purchased from Forge Hotkey S Level 1 Cost 200 200 267 Level 2 Cost 300 300 300 Required Cybernetics core Level 3 Cost 400 400 333 Required Cybernetics core v • e

Ground Armor +1 bonus to armor per level for probes, zealots, dragoons, reavers, high templar, dark templar, archons, and dark archons. Acquisition Purchased from Forge Hotkey A Level 1 Cost 100 100 267 Level 2 Cost 175 175 300 Required Templar archives Level 3 Cost 250 250 333 Required Templar archives v • e

Argus Talisman

• Dark archons wear a prized argus crystal talisman, increasing their maximum energy by 50.

Acquisition
Purchased from Templar archives Hotkey T Cost 150 150 166

Quotations

Dark archon stat profile

See: StarCraft Dark Archon Quotations

StarCraft II

The following section contains information from a previous version of StarCraft II which is no longer valid.

The Dark Archon's unused texture file

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.

Known Dark Archons

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

References

Protoss Units and Structures of StarCraft/Brood War v • e

Ground units Probe Zealot Dragoon Reaver High templar Archon Dark templar (BW) Dark archon (BW) Air units Shuttle Scout Arbiter Carrier Interceptor Observer Corsair (BW) Basic buildings Nexus Assimilator Pylon Gateway Forge Shield battery Cybernetics core Photon cannon Advanced buildings Robotics facility Stargate Citadel of Adun Robotics support bay Fleet beacon Templar archives Observatory Arbiter tribunal Canceled buildings Maintenance bay