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Thursday, November 18, 2010

Unit Analyis: Sentry

Today I'll be analyzing the sentry. The sentry is of course a protoss unit and I would argue perhaps one of the most useful units in the protoss army. Any serious protoss player I'm sure would agree. It has many uses and can be utilized in many different ways to help bolster the impact of an army or protect it from others.






The sentry has 2 default spells: guardian shield and force field, as well as one that can be later researched: hallucination. On top of all of that, the sentry also has a beam attack that can hit ground or air. It doesn't do a whole lot of damage, but enough to make an impact for sure. As you can tell already, the sentry having these skills and even being able to attack bake it an extremely valuable unit. They are a bit expensive for early game units at 50 minerals and 100 gas, but this is because they are not meant to be massed in large quantities, but rather used as supporting units much like the infestor for zerg. It is however, much easier to get them out before an infestor.

First I'll explain the abilities it contains and how they affect gameplay, then I'll go into specific uses for them. The three abilities are:
Guardian Shield:

Guardian shield costs 75 energy and provides a shield of 4 range all around the sentry. It reduces incoming ranged attacks by 2 damage to friendly units. Note: this does NOT help against melee attacks, hence it will NOT help against zerglings. It creates basically a small shield around the sentry that affects all nearby friendly units that happen to fall within it.

Force Field:

Force Field also comes stock loaded with the sentry and costs 50 energy, lasting for 15 seconds. It is also a smartcast move meaning that only one sentry will fire if you have multiple sentries selected, so you must repeatedly tell them to create forcefields if you want more than one.

Hallucination (must be researched first):

Hallucination must first be researched at the cybernetics core before use for 100 minerals and 100 gas. It costs 100 energy to use with hallucinations that last 60 seconds or until dead. It allows the sentry to create 4 probes, 2 high templars/stalkers/zealots, or 1 archon/colossus/immortal/phoenix/void ray/warp prism.

All of these abilities are useful in one way or another and can easily be utilized strategically. It is first important to survey the field in which you wish to use your sentries and manage their energy wisely. Perhaps the most commonly used as well as effective tool is the Force Field. 

This move allows you to create force fields that block off enemy movement. It is used most effectively at choke points or to give your units stronger positioning. For example, if you are attacking an enemy base and his reinforcements are outside of the base, it would be very simple to create one or 2 force fields that block off his ramp so his units cannot proceed up and you can continue to wreak havoc in his base or pick off his army from a distance. Another example would be to place forcefields around your stalkers against an incoming zergling attack to prevent a surround. These are only a couple of example, but I'm sure you could use your imaginationa nd think of similar situations in which this would help.

The hallucination is much harder to use as it requires a lot of energy and key timing, and it must also first be researched. Hallucination is a good idea for creating heavy units to confuse your opponent such as colossi or archons so they focus down on them first, giving your real army time to whittle away at enemy forces. Another good usage is to create an early phoenix or warp prism hallucination to scout and harass the enemy base before air units are even seemingly possible. This could possible disorient, confuse, and event rick your opponent into thinking you're doing a different strategy than you really are.

Lastly is the guardian shield. It is an important asset to the protoss army, but is much easier to handle and requires far less micro than force fields. It should be used when the enemy army has a large amount of ranged attackers and definitely not when there is a large melee force attacking you. It only reduces ranged damage.

As you can see, the sentry has tons of options available and can aid any protoss army in innumerable ways, especially with some good micro and patience.

94 comments:

  1. amazing guide, thorough and well put together

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  2. lot of information! Good to know mate, thanks..

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  3. good to know when I start playing :) Which I actually plan on...

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  4. didn't know it had that many uses

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  5. Great unit review. Protoss are my fav race

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  6. so much information :P thanks for doing all the work!

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  7. Yep you need these badly when playing, really helped me win a lot of battles.

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  8. The hallucination ability looks like it can either make or break and entire attack.

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  9. I'll have to try it. I always preferred 4X over RTS.

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  10. I never really bothered developping hallucination first, thanks for the great tip!

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  11. I agree, I believe it is unarguably one of the most useful units, great writing on this one, very useful!! But it is also important to add that it takes patience at the end-- that is certainly the truth! Thanks a lot for it!

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  12. awesome analysis on the sentry!

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  13. Am I wrong in thinkin' protoss reminds me a bit of Halo?

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  14. Games..poems - two entirely different interests :) Welcome aboard my ship. I am honored that you decided to join us in the journey towards the unknown :)

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  15. I love the sentry, and most of the Protoss units...but I can't play as them anymore. I get destroyed every single time I play as protoss, almost immediately.

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  16. thanks for the tips, your blog design is pretty cool

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  17. forcefield is very useful

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  18. I love sentries. Guardian shield hurts mutalisks bounce damage a ton.

    I don't use hallucination much though.

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  19. Haha man... I've got some SC2 to play. Thanks for the tips.

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  20. detailed post..thanks for the info!

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  21. great analysis! I've always liked protoss

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  22. this pretty much works for me.

    smoochies n' poopies. :*

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  23. A very detailed explanation. I'm waiting for their expansion now. Can't wait for the Protoss campaign.
    Freaking awesome car simulator center.

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  24. From what I'v seen, sentry force fields are crucial since Protoss are not very strong during the early game. The common map types with chokes that can fully utilize force field increases its value even more.

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  25. I'm not a protoss player, anyway good review!

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  26. thats pretty cool. i think i'llplay some sc rite nao

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  27. Wow, this is really great. I'll be following this blog, it seems like you really know your stuff. I picked up a bunch of strategies just from reading this first page. Nice posts dude!

    GL HF

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  28. great post! i like it
    supportin & folloing you!

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  29. Awesome analysis, super useful info!

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  30. Great analysis, thanks for the info.

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  31. sorry for this question but i never played this game...what does it cost?

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  32. Sentries are leet. I used to make them cause I wanted to make sure I explored the whole map. :D

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  33. while i still used the trial of SC2 that i had, i def found that the sentries were perfect for expansion

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  34. I still don't play starcraft, but I enjoy your blog none the less.

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  35. I love hearing about SC and Warcraft strategies... It makes me sad I can never get the hang of macroing to play competitively. :(

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  36. "Hallucination (must be researched first)" ... where's my LSD^^ :P

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  37. It costs 100 energy to use with hallucinations that last 60 seconds or until dead ? I didn't know that !

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  38. I hate these things ! , in fact i hate all protoss units :)

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  39. I was wondering what those little guys did

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  40. great post! i like it!
    supportin& following!

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  41. This unit just look amazing! Seriously, it is a nice looking piece of art!

    The power of illusions seems interesting, and combined with walling off the enemy, that just is dangerous! It seems a bit odd though that it basically is weak to melee fighting, which lowers the effectiveness of being a wall...

    All from what I grasped of your explanation anyway.

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  42. wow i havnt even thought about this game in years.

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  43. Or die in the adventure, be my helps, Following!

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  44. Shheeeiittt, I better use more sentries when I play

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  45. Definitely. Took me a while to realize their usefulness, but have seen them turn a game befor

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  46. God. These things partnered up with Stalkers are just the bane of my existence.

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  47. I have the micro.
    But i have no patience.
    heh.

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  48. I have a buddy who loves this stuff. I'll send him the link, cheers.

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  49. doesn't do anything, retarded unit

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  50. Thanks for the tips man, gona try some of these out later!

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  51. Thanks for the thorough review on the sentry! Indeed one of the more useful units.

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  52. hi, nice blog.

    followin and showing love :)

    visit my place :)

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  53. Nice analysis of the unit. I really underestimated it's ability..

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  54. i love using the sentry, it makes me feel like a pro

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  55. good post, im following and supporting

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  56. Lovely analysis! Would like a bit more indepth info on forcefields though.

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  57. Graces her subjects, and her thoughts the king. Supporting!

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  58. are you still updating? would like to read more ;P

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  59. I've seen some amazing things down with force fields. Proper usage of that wins games, invaluable unit!

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  60. oh i need to get better at starcraft, nice read though thanks, following for more
    check out my blog if you have spare time

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  61. hey man just wanna drop by and say nice blog, i play a bit of sc myself you got some coffee

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