Dark templar (StarCraft II)

The dark templar appears in StarCraft II. It retains its permanent cloaking.

Overview
The only difference in the two types of dark templar is their appearance, otherwise the two move and attack just as quickly as the other. Due to their increased gas cost from StarCraft and the long time spent to warp in a dark shrine, dark templars are a more costly investment than before.

Wings of Liberty
Dark Templar can be used in the Prophecy missions  and can be rescued in "Maw of the Void".

Strategies
Dark templar are effective against worker lines. Their high base damage kills workers in single hits, with damage upgrades outpacing worker armor upgrades. Warp prisms and warp-in may be used to produce dark templar directly in an enemy base. The dark templar's cloak is active during the warp-in sequence.

Mixing dark templar into an army may mask their presence and attacks if enemy passive detectors are not present.

Quotations

 * See: StarCraft II Dark Templar Quotations

Development
In order to make the Dark Templar different in appearance from zealots, Blizzard artist Samwise Didier gave dark templar different weapons (a bladed staff weapon) and armor covered with zerg bones. Two types of dark templar are featured – one model, the Zer'atai, has a scythe, another, the Lenassa, has a warp blade. A Predator-inspired "zerg hunter" dark templar model was also concieved by Didier.

Blizzard Entertainment held a poll on which model the community favors – Zer'atai, Lenassa, or a random selection of both. The random selection of both won and Blizzard has followed the results.

Dark templar with two blades were suggested, but not implemented by beta.

Dark templar used to be able to merge into twilight and dark archons, but both were cut from final release.