The shield battery's core contains a khaydarin crystal that absorbs and stores local psionic energy. The stored psi is transferred to protoss units via the energy spokes, allowing plasma shields to be recharged rapidly. While the battery has a limited energy capacity, it will steadily recharge itself over time,[1] extracting energy from the psionic matrix. The shield battery can likewise replenish the shields of photon cannons. While the shield battery prioritizes combat systems, it can be manually directed to recharge buildings in range. However, it can't replenish its own shields.[2]
Shield batteries were largely abandoned after the Brood War due to advancements in shield regeneration. However, improvements were made to the battery's throughput and capacity, causing some factions to reintegrate them. The Tal'darim have access to shield batteries, but often prefer to invest their resources in more offensive technologies.[3]
Game Structure[]
StarCraft[]
Abilities[]
Recharge Shields
The shield battery uses this ability to recharge friendly protoss plasma shields in range.
This article or section contains information about StarCraft: Ghost, which has been declared non-canon. Elements may be taken as 'flavor lore' however. The content may be significantly out of date. Please do not add speculation to this article, and remember to cite a published source for details.
Shield batteries were set to appear in StarCraft: Ghost, as an objective Nova had to target in the third chapter of the game.[4]
StarCraft II[]
Versus[]
The shield battery retains its role in StarCraft II as a structure that restores protoss shields.[5] It was added into multiplayer in Patch 4.0.
In multiplayer, the shield battery restores shields of a single friendly unit within 6 range. Shields restore at 50.4 shields per second, drains 1 energy for every 3 shields restored. This ability is autocast on friendly units and photon cannons. They can be impacted by the Shield Overcharge ability of the nexus, which increases their shield restoration rate by 100% and removes the energy cost of their shield restoration for 14 seconds.
Upgrades and Abilities[]
Restore
Restores target unit or structure's shields. Restores 3 shields per 1 energy. Autocasting targets units and defensive structures only.
The shield battery appears in the campaign of Legacy of the Void as a basic building requiring a nexus. Their shield recharge can be set to autocast, which makes them considerably more useful. However, they only restore the shields of defensive turrets when set to autocast, not other buildings.
Co-op Missions[]
Karax is able to build shield batteries in Co-op Missions. Additional upgrades for them are unlocked when Karax reaches Level 6.
Upgrades and Abilities[]
Restore
Restores target unit or structure's shields. Restores 3 shields per 1 energy. Autocasting targets units and defensive structures only.
The following section contains information from a previous version of StarCraft II which is no longer valid.
Old StarCraft II shield battery icon
It appears that the shield battery was once part of the StarCraft II game engine prior to the game's release.[6] In 2008, Karune stated that the shield battery would not be available in multiplayer games.[7] It did not appear in the Wings of Liberty product.[8] In September 2017, Blizzard stated that they were looking into bringing the campaign shield battery into Legacy of the Void multiplayer, as a 75 mineral structure that can recover allied shields even as they are in combat. The addition of the shield battery was tested in the testing matchmaker.[9] At BlizzCon 2017, it was announced that the shield battery would become a standard structure in multiplayer matches, and it was added in Patch 4.0.[5]
Pylons, the vespene geyser buildings, and shield batteries are the only buildings in StarCraft that do not leave debris when destroyed.
The StarCraft II shield battery model's central orb is a miniaturized version of the Purifier technology container from the Legacy of the Void campaign mission Forbidden Weapon.[10]
References[]
↑Underwood, Peter, Bill Roper, Chris Metzen and Jeffrey Vaughn. StarCraft (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998.
Low Battery Warning
