Dark archons are the Nerazim psionic attacker of the Legacy of the Void campaign, with the high templar and ascendant serving as alternatives. Unlike in Starcraft: Brood War, dark archons are produced directly from the gateway instead of merged from dark templar, and they substitute for high templar. This also means the player cannot have them and high templar (and by proxy, normal archons) at the same time. On the other hand, this means that it is possible to have dark archons with avengers or Blood hunters.
Though the dark archon deals less damage than the normal archon, it still deals a lot of damage and deals splash damage to clumped enemies. (This is another difference from the dark archon in Brood War, which cannot attack at all.) Its abilities are more supportive than the high templar and ascendant, making the dark archon a unit that demands less micromanagement in return for being less effective offensively without the psionic skills of the others. This also makes the dark archon a good mopping-up unit.
An important note when using the dark archon's mind control is that in the single-player campaign, mind controlled units do not count towards supply, and using Mind Control no longer drains the dark archon's shields like in StarCraft: Brood War. If the player takes control of an SCV or drone, they cannot build structures, but SCVs can Repair the player's protoss mechanical units and structures. Heroic units, including all hybrids, are immune to Mind Control. Ultralisks have the frenzy passive ability, which makes them immune to Mind Control. Motherships and Shadows of the Void are also immune to Mind Control.
Mind controlled units have the dark archon's quotes rather than their own quotes.
Previously, as in the campaign, units controlled by Mind Control did not take up supply. This was changed in Patch 3.2.
Zeratul has access to dark archons as part of his Serdath legion calldown. While he cannot directly command them, he can select a direction for them to move in. Unlike Vorazun's mind control, these dark archons can mind control a target for 120 seconds before it self destructs. At level 8 these dark archons gain the Maelstrom ability. These dark archons last for 60 seconds.
Enemy units in the area of effect attack each other for 10 seconds. Heroic units are immune.
Withering Siphon: Confusion affects Heroic units and causes enemy units to lose 20 hit points per second, up to a maximum of 200. This effect cannot kill.
The following section contains information from a previous version of StarCraft II which is no longer valid.
Unused dark archon texture file
Dark archons did not return in StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty and StarCraft II: Heart of the Swarm. Instead, dark templar merged into standard archons. The game's data files included assets for an unused/unfinished dark archon unit, including a texture and possibly data for abilities. The texture depicted a humanoid body with nerve cords; the latter being unusual for Nerazim.[3]
Some artworks suggest that dark archons were used by Tal'darim[4], but they do not appear in the game. Data in the game suggests that originally, Tal'darim blood hunters would merge into dark archons. In the final product, normal Tal'darim archons use the dark archon model.
Images[]
Dark archon from Serdath's Legendary Legion in service of Zeratul
