|
You may be looking for:
|
|
A sentry
The sentry is a protoss support unit introduced in StarCraft II available early in the game. It was known as the nullifier[1] and then as the disruptor during development.[2]
Overview[]
A sentry
Used to support zealots[3] in light of the protoss race's diminishing population, sentries are protoss combat drones.[4] Sentries employ a disruption beam to attack their enemies, and offer protection through guardian shields.[5] Sentries are able to move and levitate off the ground via generators that create pockets of zero gravity.[6]
Sentries can also project force field barriers to stall or split up opposing forces.[5] This is done by turning bursts of energy into a small, impenetrable barrier to hinder, block, or funnel the advance of enemy troops. While creatures or machines of prodigious size can shatter the cohesion of these translucent force fields, ordinary soldiers and vehicles become fodder to protoss ranged weapons.[5]
Sentries can protect allies via guardian shields, created by weaving light into a semi-solid state. Through this, the sentry can surround itself with an area-encompassing shield to safeguard protoss ground forces. Projectiles or energy blasts that penetrate the field lose some of their kinetic or thermal energy, and part of their effectiveness. Due to its considerable coverage radius, the guardian shield is not powerful enough to make much of a difference against larger types of ordnance.[5]
Sentries also have the ability to create hallucinatory images[4] through an in-built holo-projector.[5] These holograms can draw enemy fire while a real protoss strike force maneuvers into position to deliver the killing blow.[4] These hallucinations are composed of solid light and are three-dimensional, able to mimic protoss warriors, vehicles, and constructs. Each replica, while limited in duration, is able to withstand some degree of punishment. The purpose of these lifelike images is twofold: making the enemies of the protoss believe they're fighting a much larger force than anticipated, and protecting protoss lives.[5]
By 2506, some sentries were outfitted with portable shield batteries to better sustain the lives of protoss warriors in battle.[7]
A Tal'darim sentry
Sentries had also been incorporated into the Tal'darim arsenal by 2504[8] and by the End War, they had developed their own variant.[7] Nevertheless, some were left mostly unchanged, allowing for a varied array of robotic support and a certain degree of misdirection. Many Purifiers meanwhile retained sentries, in spite of their normal deployment of energizers. The Ihan-rii powered their sentries with volatile xel'naga relics called nebula wells.
After the End War, as part of an artistic movement calling back to the Golden Age of Expansion, some sentries were redesigned in the ancient styles of the era to complement vessels with longer histories.[9]
Game Unit[]
The sentry has a beam which does continuous damage to one target.[10] Their high gas cost relative to their low HP and attack power, delgates sentries as support units for other troops rather than frontline fighters.
Sentries are strong against mutalisks, zealots, and zerglings and weak against hellions, stalkers, reapers, and hydralisks.
Sentry/stalker combinations are common in mid-game scenarios.[11]
Wings of Liberty[]
In StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, sentries are only available in three of the Challenges: Path of Ascension, Psionic Assault, and Harbinger of Death.
Upgrades and Abilities[]
- For the terran-devised force field, see force field (terran)
Creates a wall of energy at target point, pushing nearby units away and making the terrain impassable. Massive units and the mothership's Vortex ability remove Force Fields.
| Usage | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sentries can create a radius 4.5 aura which reduces incoming ranged damage to friendly units by 2.
| Usage | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Sentries produce false copies of units to distract opponents. Duplicates have the same number of hit points as the original but take double the damage. The number of hallucinations created depends on the unit: gateway units spawn in twos, probes in fours, and all other units spawn one.
Hallucinations are instantly destroyed by psionic storm and are detected by detectors.
The sentry can create duplicates of units that the player doesn't meet the tech requirements for, but cannot make hallucinations of dark templar
As of Heart of the Swarm, hallucination no longer needs to be researched.
| Usage | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
| Acquisition | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Increases the armor of protoss ground units.
| Acquisition | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
|
- +1 damage for zealotsļ¼sentrys and high templars
- +1 base damage and +1 bonus damage for stalkersļ¼colossus and adepts
- +2 base damage and +3 bonus damage for immortals
- +3 base damage and +1 bonus damage for archons
- +5 damage for dark templars
| Acquisition | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
|
- +1 armor to shields per level.
| Acquisition | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
|
Legacy of the Void[]
In Whispers of Oblivion, the sentry gains a Shield Recharge ability. Previously available on the shield battery buildings, it recharges the shields of nearby protoss units at an energy cost. The sentry cannot attack while using Shield Recharge. In the Legacy of the Void campaign, the sentry lacks Force Field. The Aiur sentry can use Double Shield Recharge, allowing them to restore shields to two units.
The player may choose the energizer or havoc as sentry variants in the Legacy of the Void campaign. The sentry acts as a purely defensive support unit between Guardian Shield and Double Shield Restore, whereas the energizer and havoc can support the player's armies with more offensive-based abilities, and all three are highly viable.
Upgrades and Abilities[]
Restore 3 shields a second to an allied protoss unit at the cost of 1 energy per 3 shields restored. Can be set to autocast.
| Usage | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Restore 3 shields a second to up to two allied protoss units at the cost of 1 energy per 3 shields restored. Can be set to autocast.
| Usage | ||
|---|---|---|
|
Increases the armor of protoss ground units.
| Acquisition | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
|
- +1 damage for zealotsļ¼sentrys and high templars
- +1 base damage and +1 bonus damage for stalkersļ¼colossus and adepts
- +2 base damage and +3 bonus damage for immortals
- +3 base damage and +1 bonus damage for archons
- +5 damage for dark templars
| Acquisition | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
|
- +1 armor to shields per level.
| Acquisition | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
|
Co-op Missions[]
Zeratul has access to a variant of the sentry named the xel'naga shieldguard in Co-op Missions, with a similar campaign role of recharging allied shields.
Strategies[]
Force Field[]
Sentries can use Force Field to isolate enemy workers, preventing them from escaping their onslaught.[12] Force Field also proves to be very effective for splitting forces or preventing them from passing through choke points.[13] Melee units may be blocked with force fields and attacked with ranged units. Force fields can be broken by Massive units and ravager corrosive biles.
Guardian Shield[]
Guardian Shield is most effective against attackers with low base damage: marines and mutalisks. Guardian Shield protects all ground and air units positioned over the horizontal circumference of the shield (where the shield joins the ground), even if a protected air unit is not visually within the "bubble" of the shield. However, the shield is centralized around the sentry, and units moving outside its area of effect no longer gain its benefits. This means that Guardian Shield is best used by keeping the sentry close to the rest of the player's forces. If the sentry is destroyed, the effects of Guardian Shield will instantly end.
The table shows the effective health for a defender protected by Guardian Shield. The figure assumes the defender has 1 base armor (as is the case with most protoss units), and defender and attacker both have 1 defense and attack upgrade. For example, the defender lasts 66% longer against marines if protected by guardian shield.
- Table
The comparisons vary only 0-2% assuming attack and defense upgrade levels remain evenly matched.
The Guardian Shield bonus is applied after the immortal's Hardened Shield. Therefore, effective health of an immortal protected by Guardian Shield is at least 125% (higher if the attacker deals <10 damage before the Guardian Shield bonus is applied).
| Attacker | Effective health of defending unit | Notes | |
| Non-Armored defender | Armored defender | ||
| Mutalisk | 167% | Includes reduction from bounces | |
| Marine | 166% | ||
| Stalker | 140% | 116% | |
| Marauder | 129% | 111% | |
| Hydralisk | 122% | ||
| Roach | 114% | ||
| Immortal | 111% | 104% | |
| Deployed siege tank | 103% | ||
Development[]
Development profile
Achievements[]
 Shroom Absorption
| |
| Points |
10 |
| Criteria |
Absorb 1,000 damage with hallucinations in a single Unranked or Ranked game. |
| Edit | |
 Just An Illusion
| |
| Points |
10 |
| Criteria |
Control 15 hallucinations at once in a Melee game. |
| Edit | |
Variants[]
- Conservator (Purifier)
- Energizer (Purifier)
- Havoc (Tal'darim)
- Shieldguard (Xel'naga)
Images[]
- Skins
- Portraits
References[]
|