High Templar

}} A High Templar is a powerful Protoss psychic in the fictional StarCraft universe.

High Templar are almost always members of the Templar Caste and are sometimes simply referred to as Templar. They give up their rage and martial training in order to more perfectly command their awesome psionic abilities, gained through following the Khala. High Templar use the Archives to directly commune with their ancient ancestors and thereby gain knowledge inaccessible to ordinary warriors.

Notable High Templars

• Adun
• Aldaris (doubles as a Judicator)
• Artanis
• Tassadar

Unit Basics

High Templar can be warped in by a Gateway. High Templar cannot initially cast any spells, but they are able to use the Archon Meld skill. Summoning High Templar requires the Templar Archives structure, where High Templar can be upgraded to learn the spells Psionic Storm and Hallucination, as well as gain a 50-point increase to their energy maximum. Additionally, High Templar armor and shields can be upgraded at the Forge. The High Templar is a physically weak unit, with 40 hit points and 40 shield points. Each High Templar costs 50 minerals, 150 gas, and 2 supply in the game. High Templar float slowly over the battlefield. High Templar are considered small units and thus take less damage from Explosive damage, although they take full damage from Concussive attacks. Templar provide tempting targets for the Dark Archon Mind Control and Feedback abilities.

The two High Templar skills have significant range and thus High Templar are most effectively used when placed behind ranged/support units such as the Dragoon, allowing stray fire to be directed toward those heftier and less precious units rather than the High Templar, which can be killed with ease. Note that using multiple High Templar requires considerable micromanagement not only for the special abilities, but also for keeping them alive for the next battle. Players must be wary of decoy attacks in other areas while an opponent's main attack force quickly tears the High Templar to shreds. Generally, High Templar have little hope of survival if not escorted. When maneuvering High Templar, placement in pairs allows them to quickly begin Archon Meld when all energy has been expended in the middle of a battle, placement on higher ground can improve their life expectancy, and placement under doodads such as trees can make them hard to detect by other players, especially since using the High Templar's skills do not cause a spell line showing where the spell is coming from (like Lockdown, Yamato Gun, and Spawn Broodling do).

• High Templar are too slow to be effective scouts, incapable of combat, and too costly for lone use. High Templar are useful only for their three spells: Psionic Storm, Hallucination, and Archon Meld.
• By placing High Templar beside friendly ranged/support units, players force enemies that concentrate on attacking High Templar to lose some of their units that approach these High Templar.
• When using High Templar, Protoss players must know the advantages and disadvantages of all three spells. The following entries concern the essential information relating to each skill.

High Templar and all of their spells and upgrades, including Archon Meld, are available in-game on Episode 3 level 4.

Advantages

• High Templar are useful against massed enemies (Psionic Storm).
• High Templar are useful for initiating a scouting, decoying, and invading expedition (Hallucination).
• When out of energy, High Templar can be "recycled" using Archon Meld.
• High Templar have no attacks and thus enemies automatically auto-acquire other targets instead.

Disadvantages

• High Templar make excellent targets for Vulture and Zerglings with the Metabolic Boost speed upgrade, and they are vulnerable in minor skirmishes.
• High Templar are tempting targets for spells such as Mind Control, Spawn Broodling, and Feedback.
• High Templar are relative slow, requiring escort for protection, to prevent them from being picked off.

Psionic Storm

A High Templar can close their mind to the outside world, creating psychic "ripples". These ripples can be focused through the Khala into a storm of psychic energy that can tear apart the minds of living creatures. (It seems that Blizzard had intended to release two separate versions of Psionic Storm [during beta testing?], one that affected biological units and one that affected mechanical/robotic units, but merged them prior to release, which would explain the damage that Psionic Storm does to Reavers, Shuttles, Spider Mines, and other robotic units.)

Psionic Storm may well be one of the best special abilities that Blizzard Entertainment has to offer in a game - as nefarious as the Corpse Explosion skill in Diablo 2. There are some things that the ordinary Protoss player should know about Psionic Storm:

Psionic Storm (hotkey T) may be researched at the Templar Archives and costs 75 points of energy per use, and it does 112 points of damage.

Advantages

• All units under a Psionic Storm take the same damage regardless of how many units are affected, making Psionic Storm a good spell to use on clusters of troops.
• The attack affects a chosen area and does 112 damage over the course of four seconds to units, but does not harm structures, making it a good tactic for base defense.
• Once Psionic Storm begins, low-HP units such as Terran infantry and Zerglings have a minimal chance of escape.
• Generally, Psionic Storm is best used against clusters of small units, making this spell particularly valuable against the Zerg; it also causes tremendous damage to stacked air units.
• Psionic Storm affects cloaked and burrowed units in an area, forcing the enemy to retreat and providing the player with valuable time.
• In addition, Psionic Storm is effective against particularly slow units such as the Reaver, the Siege Tank in Siege Mode, the Defiler, the Guardian, the Devourer, the Battlecruiser, the Carrier, other High Templar, and units affected by the skills Maelstrom, Ensnare, and Lockdown.
• Psionic Storm affects units under a Disruption Web and a Dark Swarm.

There are several reasons to use Psionic Storm. The most obvious is to attack ranged/support forces, forcing them to move, thus preventing them from attacking, while they are taking damage. Another strategy, leading the enemy, involves predicting where enemy forces will be when the Psionic Storm's damage begins and not when it is cast, since the spell involves a delay. A player that suspects a Psionic Storm trap can withdraw, causing the leaded Psionic Storm to be wasted. Psionic Storm can also be used on melee enemies, but could possibly damage any of your own units in the area if they get close to the targeted enemy melee units. This difficulty is less significant when the units of yours and your allies' are much tougher than the enemy units. For example, casting Psionic Storm on an allied Siege Tank in Siege Mode can quickly destroy any Zerglings attacking it, which could possibly save the Siege Tank (although the tank will likely be almost destroyed). Psionic Storm is also effective against enemy mining operations, facilitated by a Shuttle drop. Since all workers have low HP and are closely clustered, a single Psionic Storm can destroy 200-400 minerals' worth of enemy workers (not to mention the resources they would mine in the time it takes to build new ones), causing significant damage to the enemy economy, while the High Templar can immediately evacuate.

Disadvantages

• Psionic Storm damages everything inside its radius of effect- player-owned units, allied units, enemy units and critters.
• Additional casts of Psionic Storm that overlap at the same location do not stack.
• Units that move out of the storm before it is finished (or move into it as it is in effect) take only some of the damage.
• The casting delay may mean that some faster units (stim-packed Terran infantry and all Zerglings) may pass through the target region before the effects begin.
• The skill Stasis Field, if used immediately after a Psionic Storm is cast, can save targeted units from the effect of a Psionic Storm, but units caught in the field are rendered unusable for the stasis spell's duration (35 seconds).
• Later in the game, players must beware of using their Psionic Storm on smaller enemy forces, as the enemy may have reserve troops in store after the High Templar run out of energy.
• Psionic Storm does not affect structures at all.
• When using Psionic Storm, players should attack targets that they can manage to destroy, or use consecutive Storms on the same unit. Because the Repair and Heal abilities, Zerg passive life regeneration, and Protoss passive shield regeneration can bring a unit back from the brink of destruction, almost killing a unit may not be enough.
• Using a Psionic Storm near your own Hallucinated units will instantly cause them to vanish (as most spells do on Hallucinated units).

Hallucination

Some High Templar can create illusionary duplicates of other beings with no physical substance. Such creations can confuse an opponent but will naturally expire after a short duration. With each cast of Hallucination, a High Templar can create two fakes, spreading confusion among enemy forces.

Hallucination (hotkey L) may be researched at the Templar Archives and costs 100 points of energy per use. Hallucination is a very interesting spell; note the following:

One of the best uses for Hallucinations is to create multiple copies of an Arbiter. The real Arbiter can be hidden amongst them, allowing it to sneak into a heavily defended base and teleport an army inside, or keep a cloaked group of units for a generally longer period of time. A basic counter is the use of an enemy Arbiter to Stasis Field the group of Arbiters, instantly destroying the fakes, preventing your Arbiter from casting its spells, and turning off the cloak field at the same time. A cluster of Arbiters simply makes for a more lucrative target. Additionally, fakes of a big unit can be enticing targets for Dark Archons, Battlecruisers, Ghosts, and Queens, causing them to use their energy on costly spells. Common battlefield hallucinations have a short lifespan since they can easily be obliterated by any special ability used on them, including EMP Shockwave, Ensnare, and Stasis Field, all of which are usually available all over the battlefield.

A special hallucination of Tassadar appears in the center of an "island" on one of the levels of Episode 3 and two of Aldaris in Episode 4.

Advantages

• Hallucinations appear to attack and attract enemy units.
• Hallucination forces an enemy's units to divert fire upon fake units, spreading out the firepower.
• All spells cast on a Hallucination have no effect other than destroying the hallucination that would soon disappear anyway while draining enemy spellcasters of significant amounts of energy.
• As hallucination costs significant energy, they will not be too common, and thus this skill provides an element of surprise.
• Fresh duplicates can be created from other hallucinations, causing alert player enemies to target the former hallucinations, believing them to be real.
• Hallucinations also serve as decoys, drawing the enemy's attention either to a distant place on the map or forcing the enemy to make poor decisions.
• The superior numbers that this skill may grant can intimidate an opponent.
• Hallucinations also serve well as scouts and cannon fodder, in which case their effects may be doubled by separating the two dittoes.

Disadvantages

• Hallucinations do not produce anything and do not cast spells, which make hallucinated Reavers, Carriers, Ghosts, and Queens very poor and easily identifiable imitations.
• Using Hallucination on an active Carrier may be tricky because accidentally selecting an Interceptor is a waste of the spell.
• Hallucinations take double damage from enemy attacks and do no damage, allowing careful players to deduce which units are hallucinations.
• New ones appear out of nowhere, and players may be able to keep track of them, either to avoid fighting them or to prepare for a vaporizing spell (any spell would do) against them.
• Hallucinations disappear whenever any direct or area effect spell (except a friendly Hallucination spell and some non-unit spells) is used against them.
• Some enemy spells, such as the spell Feedback, cost only 50 energy points and thus can destroy your Hallucinations without either side gaining or losing benefits.
• Some enemy spells, such as Ensnare, can vaporize multiple hallucinations in one cast.
• When killed, a hallucination has a special dispersing-cloud animation that can warn the player that other hallucinations lurk in an area (since they come in twos).

Archon Meld

The Archon has been described as a burning effigy of the Protoss spirit, radiating psionic energy like a star. Two High Templar can merge into a Protoss Archon. Their individualities are squashed by this act and they lose their bodily form. However, the celestial rage of the High Archon often makes up for the loss of the two High Templar. Those who join the Khala in this way are forever honored in the annals of the Templar Archives. The Archon, a psionic entity, has very few hit points but a great deal of shield points. For more information on the Archon, see High Archon. The following provides information on the spell, Archon Meld.

Since an Archon Meld takes up a large amount of space, it may be used as an obstruction. Archon Meld is the only way of obtaining an Archon, besides using Mind Control. While an Archon Meld is under attack by enemy melee forces, using a Psionic Storm can damage other units with minimal effect on the Archon since the meld gains shields at almost half the rate that Psionic Storm deals damage. When playing defensively, using Archon Meld is much safer since Shield Batteries can instantly replenish all of the shields being damaged by invading forces, and the Archon Meld would likely be mostly complete by the time the nearby Shield Batteries are destroyed.

Click on the Archon a few times and you may hear it say "Power Overwhelming", a StarCraft cheat code.

Advantages

• When the High Templar have used their spells and have run out of energy for another cast, and when the enemy forces have not shown signs of abating, this energy-free spell can give the High Templar something to do and the immediate gain of shields allows the High Templar to survive enemy attacks for some time.
• When the High Archon meld completes, the player will have another warrior that can immediately rejoin the battle.
• Since an Archon meld turns 2 relatively small units into one that takes up a large amount of space, it allows nearby units to squeeze through enemy blocks, such as a Dark Templar holding position on a narrow ramp.

Disadvantages

• Since players have little control of the Archon Meld while it is in progress, summoning should be activated behind the protection of friendly ranged/support troops.
• Once High Templar begin the Archon Meld, the process cannot be reversed, forcing players to be able to predict the course of the battle for the next dozen seconds.
• The Archon Meld cannot move, allowing concentrated firepower to destroy the entity easily.
• High Templar beginning an Archon Meld instantly lose up to 70 life points (each High Templar has 40 life points while the High Archon has only 10 life points) and compensate by quickly gaining shields, but shield points are less dependable and less effective than life points.
• Casting EMP Shockwave can obliterate the new shields, allowing a simultaneous attack to instantly kill the Archon, effectively wasting the two High Templar.

Quotes

Templar Quotes

"Khassar de Templari"

"Your thoughts betray you" (From )

"I see you have an appetite for destruction" (Reference to Guns 'N Roses album)

"And you learn to use your illusion" (Reference to Guns 'N Roses album)

"I find your lack of faith disturbing" (From )

Archon Quotes

"The merging is complete!"

"It all looks so different on this side"

"Break on through!" (Reference to The Doors)

"It's beautiful!"

"They should have sent a poet" (From Contact)

"Power overwhelming!" (Reference to invincibility cheat for the game)

See also

• StarCraft
• Blizzard Entertainment
• Protoss Units

References

• [StarCraft homepage at Blizzard Entertainment]
• [Disciple of Adun] Battle.net StarCraft Compendium's official page about High Templar.
• Underwood, Peter, Bill Roper, Chris Metzen and Jeffrey Vaughn. StarCraft (Manual). Irvine, Calif.: Blizzard Entertainment, 1998.

StarCraft
StarCraft Universe	Gameplay of StarCraft • StarCraft storyline • StarCraft units and structures • Psionic technology (StarCraft)>Psionic technology
Factions and Organizations	Dark Templar • Judicator Caste • Kel-Morian Combine • Khalai Caste • Protoss • Protoss Conclave • StarCraft Pirate Militias>Pirate Militias • Raynor's Raiders • Sons of Korhal • Templar Caste • Terran • Terran Confederacy • Umojan Protectorate • United Earth Directorate • Xel'Naga • Zerg • Zerg Brood
Locations	Aiur • Antiga Prime • Braxis • Char (StarCraft)>Char • Chau Sara • Korhal • Mar Sara • Moria • Shakuras • Talematros • Tarsonis • Umoja • Zerus
Characters	Aldaris • Artanis • Admiral DuGalle>Gerard DuGalle • Edmund Duke • Samir Duran • Fenix • Sarah Kerrigan • Arcturus Mengsk • • Raszagal • Jim Raynor • Alexei Stukov • Tassadar • Zeratul • Zerg Overmind • Minor Characters

 

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