In Utter Darkness

"On a distant, shadowed world, the protoss will make their final stand. Their heroes will gather, their forces will be marshaled, and they will die bravely. But still, they will die. And my zerg... will be slaves... to the hybrid. All will bow before the power... of the Fallen One."

- The Overmind's vision of the battle.

In Utter Darkness is a mission in the protoss mini-campaign in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty. It is a flashforward of the Overmind's vision as seen by Zeratul, and watched by Jim Raynor on board the Hyperion.

Observing the Future
Zeratul witnessed the protoss gathered for a final stand against Amon and his hybrids, in a future where the Queen of Blades was dead, the terrans had been consumed, and the Zerg Swarm had fallen under the control of Amon. It was a vision from the Overmind channeled to Zeratul through the spirit of Tassadar.

The Last Stand
"Protoss brethren, heed me! The last twilight has fallen. The galaxy burns around us! The terrans have been consumed. We are all that stands against the shadow. But if we are to meet our end this day, then we will do so AS ONE! En Taro Tassadar!"

- Zeratul rallies the final protoss

The protoss gathered their remaining strength for a last stand against Amon's combined hybrid and zerg force. The besieged hoped to survive long enough to complete an archive intended to aid those who might arise after and challenge Amon. Many protoss heroes arrived with reinforcements but for all of their efforts, it was fruitless.

The protoss were ultimately wiped out. They were followed into extinction by the zerg, which were wiped out by the hybrids.

Aftermath

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Gameplay & Video Walkthrough
Players control a protoss army, including a number of heroes, besieged by hybrids and zerg on three sides. Enemy units attack from off-map, and unassailable, bases. The main objective is to kill a certain number of enemy units. The target for casual and normal is 1500, 2000 for hard, and 2500 for brutal. After that, the mission continues until the protoss are wiped out.

Defending the archive yields 3 protoss research points.

A good combination of colossi and photon cannons is the key to win this mission without much micro work. Build a robotics bay and an additional robotics facility at the beginning, then train as many colossi as possible; they will give you very high kill counts at the end of the mission. You can also train some immortals and reduce the amount of colossi since they deal with the hybrids better. When training colossi is not available (unit count maxed or not enough vespene gas), start building photon cannons; they will help your air force fend off the zerg flyers. It is also important to deal with the brood lords once they appear since they out-range the cannons' attack range.



Gateway Wall
Wall off the bridges with gateways backed by colossi. Use a group of phoenix and void rays to kill air units and hybrids, disabling the hybrids with Graviton Beam to keep them from breaking the barricade. Build photon cannons all around the base to destroy nydus worms and retreat to the upper level once the archives are safe. As the hero units and their reinforcements spawn add them to the group of air units.

Achievements
"In Utter Darkness" is the only mission in the Wings of Liberty campaign in which all achievements can be accomplished on normal difficulty.