Tempest

The protoss tempest is a unit that was introduced in StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm.

Overview
A capital ship, the tempest, was developed by the protoss after the first phase of the Second Great War in order to maximize the effectiveness of their war machine against their enemies, specifically dealing with the long-range weaponry of the zerg and terrans.

Tempest pilots build up volatile energies in the kinetic matrix that powers the tempest, then propels the energy through the ship's hull. This, fused with a contained sphere of highly-charged particles, can then be launched at distant targets. The fanatic tempest pilots must wear bulky dampening armor to protect them from the energies coursing through the ships.

Game Unit
The tempest is a new protoss capital ship. It has very long-ranged ("siege") weapons, for both anti-air and anti-ground.

The tempest does low damage for its cost, which is intentional&mdash;it is very much a support unit meant to be used strategically rather than a core combat one. It is good at enemy harassment and forcing the enemy to come into the range of core protoss units.

Quotations

 * ''See: StarCraft II Tempest Quotations

Development

 * Main article: Tempest/Development

The tempest's aesthetic was devised by Samwise Didier via a "napkin concept." The first sketch was simply a curve with a ball of energy within it.

In its current form, the tempest was designed to exemplify the sleek, organic shapes of the protoss.