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"Can't replenish its own shields. Glad to see protoss engineers make mistakes too."
ShieldBattery SC-FM Art1

The shield battery

The shield battery is a protoss support structure.

Overview[]

The shield battery's core contains a khaydarin crystal that absorbs and stores local psionic energy. The stored psi is transferred to protoss units via the energy spokes, allowing plasma shields to be recharged rapidly. While the battery has a limited energy capacity, it will steadily recharge itself over time,[1] extracting energy from the psionic matrix. The shield battery can likewise replenish the shields of photon cannons. While the shield battery prioritizes combat systems, it can be manually directed to recharge buildings in range. However, it can't replenish its own shields.[2]

Shield batteries were largely abandoned after the Brood War due to advancements in shield regeneration. However, improvements were made to the battery's throughput and capacity, causing some factions to reintegrate them. The Tal'darim have access to shield batteries, but often prefer to invest their resources in more offensive technologies.[3]

Game Structure[]

StarCraft[]

Abilities[]

Recharge Shields

The shield battery uses this ability to recharge friendly protoss plasma shields in range.

Usage
Hotkey R
Cost 1 (per 3 shields) Energy
Range 2

Upgrades[]

  • +1 armor bonus to shields per level for all units and structures.
Acquisition
Purchased from Forge
Hotkey S
Level 1
Cost 200 Minerals 200 Vespene gas 267seconds
Level 2
Cost 300 Minerals 300 Vespene gas 300seconds
Required Cybernetics core
Level 3
Cost 400 Minerals 400 Vespene gas 333seconds
Required Cybernetics core
ve

StarCraft: Ghost[]

ShieldBattery Ghost Game1

A shield battery in StarCraft: Ghost

StarCraft Ghost Logo2
This article or section contains information about StarCraft: Ghost, which has been declared non-canon. Elements may be taken as 'flavor lore' however.
The content may be significantly out of date. Please do not add speculation to this article, and remember to cite a published source for details.

Shield batteries were set to appear in StarCraft: Ghost, as an objective Nova had to target in the third chapter of the game.[4]

StarCraft II[]

Versus[]

The shield battery retains its role in StarCraft II as a structure that restores protoss shields.[5] It was added into multiplayer in Patch 4.0.

In multiplayer, the shield battery restores shields of a single friendly unit within 6 range. Shields restore at 50.4 shields per second, drains 1 energy for every 3 shields restored. This ability is autocast on friendly units and photon cannons. They can be impacted by the Shield Overcharge ability of the nexus, which increases their shield restoration rate by 100% and removes the energy cost of their shield restoration for 14 seconds.

Upgrades and Abilities[]
Restore LotV Game1
Restore

Restores target unit or structure's shields. Restores 3 shields per 1 energy. Autocasting targets units and defensive structures only.

Usage
Hotkey R
Cost 1 Energy
ve
  • +1 armor to shields per level.
Acquisition
Purchased from Forge
Hotkey S
Level 1
Cost 150 Minerals 150 Vespene gas 121.6seconds
Level 2
Cost 200 Minerals 200 Vespene gas 144.6seconds
Required Twilight council
Level 3
Cost 250 Minerals 250 Vespene gas 167.9seconds
Required Twilight council
ve

Legacy of the Void[]

The shield battery appears in the campaign of Legacy of the Void as a basic building requiring a nexus. Their shield recharge can be set to autocast, which makes them considerably more useful. However, they only restore the shields of defensive turrets when set to autocast, not other buildings.

Co-op Missions[]

Karax is able to build shield batteries in Co-op Missions. Additional upgrades for them are unlocked when Karax reaches Level 6.

Upgrades and Abilities[]
Restore LotV Game1
Restore

Restores target unit or structure's shields. Restores 3 shields per 1 energy. Autocasting targets units and defensive structures only.

Usage
Hotkey R
Cost 1 Energy
ve
FortificationBarrier LotV Icon1
Fortification Barrier

Allows the shield battery to grant defensive structures a shield for 10 seconds that absorbs up to 100 damage.

Usage
Hotkey B
Duration 10 seconds
Cooldown 30 seconds
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Karax Level 8
Acquisition
Purchased from Forge
Hotkey B
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 60seconds
ve
EnhancedTargeting LotV Icon1
Enhanced Targeting

Increases the range of photon cannons, khaydarin monoliths, and shield batteries by 2.

Usage
Passive
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Karax Level 8
Acquisition
Purchased from Forge
Hotkey R
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 120seconds
ve
RapidRecharging SC2 Icon1
Rapid Recharging

Energizers and shield batteries have +200% energy regeneration.

Usage
Passive
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Karax Level 4
Acquisition
Purchased from Twilight council
Hotkey S
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 90seconds
ve
KhalaiIngenuity LotV Icon1
Khalai Ingenuity
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Reach Karax Level 11
ve
SC2 ProShields
Protoss Plasma Shields

Increases the shield armor of all protoss units and structures.

Usage
Passive
Campaign Acquisition
Unlock Initially available.
Acquisition
Purchased from Forge
Hotkey A
Level 1
Cost 100 Minerals 100 Vespene gas 160seconds
Effect Shield armor: 1
Level 2
Cost 175 Minerals 175 Vespene gas 190seconds
Required Twilight council
Effect Shield armor: 2
Level 3
Cost 250 Minerals 250 Vespene gas 220seconds
Required Twilight council
Effect Shield armor: 3
ve

Development[]

The following section contains information from a previous version of StarCraft II which is no longer valid.
ShieldBattery SC2 DevGame1

Old StarCraft II shield battery icon

It appears that the shield battery was once part of the StarCraft II game engine prior to the game's release.[6] In 2008, Karune stated that the shield battery would not be available in multiplayer games.[7] It did not appear in the Wings of Liberty product.[8] In September 2017, Blizzard stated that they were looking into bringing the campaign shield battery into Legacy of the Void multiplayer, as a 75 mineral structure that can recover allied shields even as they are in combat. The addition of the shield battery was tested in the testing matchmaker.[9] At BlizzCon 2017, it was announced that the shield battery would become a standard structure in multiplayer matches, and it was added in Patch 4.0.[5]

Achievements[]

ShieldBattery Achievement Game1 Low Battery Warning
Points

10 Achievement SC2 Game1

Criteria

Recharge 3,000 shield with Shield Batteries in an Unranked or Ranked game.

Edit

Images[]

Trivia[]

  • Pylons, the vespene geyser buildings, and shield batteries are the only buildings in StarCraft that do not leave debris when destroyed.
  • The StarCraft II shield battery model's central orb is a miniaturized version of the Purifier technology container from the Legacy of the Void campaign mission Forbidden Weapon.[10]

References[]

  1. Underwood, Peter, Bill Roper, Chris Metzen and Jeffrey Vaughn. StarCraft (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998.
  2. Barba, Rick. StarCraft Field Manual (hardcover). Insight Editions, November 17, 2015.
  3. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. Collections Tab: Skins. October 17, 2016
  4. 2014-18-12, StarCraft: Ghost Demo Build. Dropbox.com, accessed on 2020-02-16
  5. 5.0 5.1 2017-11-03, BLIZZCON 2017 STARCRAFT 2: WHAT’S NEXT PANEL REVIEW. Blizzpro, accessed on 2017-11-04
  6. 2010-02-28, StarCraft II Beta Game Images. StarCraft Legacy. Accessed on 2010-06-02
  7. Karune. 2008-01-22. StarCraft II Q&A - Batch 26 (page 4). Battle.net StarCraft II General Discussion Forum. Accessed 2008-01-22.
  8. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. (Activision Blizzard) (in English). July 27, 2010
  9. 2017-09-10 WCS Montreal - Semi Finals. Twitch.tv. Accessed 2017-09-10.
  10. Blizzard Entertainment. StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void. (Activision Blizzard). PC. Mission: Forbidden Weapon. (in English). November 10, 2015
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