Blizzard has added a Dark Templar page to StarCraft2.com. As usual, new screenshots and mini-videos accompany it, giving a good feel of the unit. An extensive backstory is also featured, providing insight into the unit’s history and abilities.

Builds From: Gateway
Armament: Modified Warp Blade
Role: Stealth Infiltrator

The dark templar are powerful psionic warriors whose forebears were exiled from the protoss homeworld of Aiur over a thousand years ago. The protoss who would eventually become the dark templar were banished for their refusal to join the emerging Khala, the communal mind link shared by all protoss, and the accompanying caste system enforced by the ruling Conclave of the protoss.

The Dark Templar were first introduced to StarCraft in the Brood War expansion. The expansion added a greater emphasis on stealth units and detection, and the Dark Templar was chosen to fulfill the role of a hard hitting, cloaked attacker for the Protoss. While they were relatively fragile, their permanent, energy independent cloaking kept them safe.

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The exiled protoss wandered far before eventually making a new home on the twilight world of Shakuras. They developed a solitary and independent culture, with individuals often widely scattered across space in their own ships, exploring and contemplating the mysteries of the universe. Over time these dark templar have learned to wield a very different kind of psionic strength than that of the Khala: the energies of the Void, the dark spaces between worlds.

The Dark Templars’ modified warp blade deals much more damage than any other melee unit in StarCraft, making them very effective for taking down targets quickly. The Dark Templars were favorites when it came to raiding an enemy’s supply line – they were able to destroy Probes and Drones in 1 hit, and SCVs in 2 hits each. With the addition of the Phase Prism as an advanced mode of transportation, sneaking Dark Templars behind enemy lines will be easier than ever.

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Though severed from their homeworld and feared by their own brethren for many centuries, the dark templar never abandoned their love of Aiur. In recent times they were reunited with the protoss of their homeworld when the heroes Tassadar and Zeratul joined forces to fight the zerg Overmind. The Overmind was defeated, but the planet Aiur was ravaged in the process and so badly overrun by zerg that the survivors retreated to Shakuras. Now the protoss who were once exiled find themselves playing host to refugees from their old home.

The concept art illustration that was presented on BlizzCon’s walls appears here as well. We can clearly see the design of the Dark Templar’s new weapon – the double warp blade. His attack is very reminiscent of the Demon Hunter’s attack from WarCraft III. However, it seems like the Dark Templar only uses one of the two blades in his attack animation.

Don’t forget to check out the StarCraft2.com page for the mini-videos. Note that an Observer makes an appearance in the second one, decloaking the Dark Templars and exposing them to attack.

Also, a new Wallapaper has been added, featuring a Marine squad fighting with a nuke going off in the background – its radiation beautifully reflected in their armor. War sure is pretty in the StarCraft universe.

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• » StarCraft 2 Beta: First Gameplay and Battle.net Impressions

12 Comments to “New Protoss Unit Page: The Dark Templar; New Wallpaper Up”

1. chance mcgee — August 16, 2007 @ 8:15 am
   

   I wonder if the cloak for the DT will be a charged ability in SC 2. Look at the terran camp picture with three DTs attacking: near the bunkers one the DTs looks significantly lighter than th other, as though that one is cloaked but the other is not. Also, the page mentions that DTs are able to bend the light around them “at will”. Might make sense too since there attack was so much more powerful than a zealot and they had infi-cloak.

2. SCV_Operator — August 16, 2007 @ 10:19 am
   

   There is the animation of the DT clocking and uncloaking – do we think this is what you’d see as the effect of being spotted by an detector (i.e. your opponent now sees the ‘uncloaked’ DT) or could this be the transition that occurs like a Ghost cloaking?

3. Kane — August 16, 2007 @ 10:52 am
   

   “Note that an Observer makes an appearance in the second one, decloaking the Dark Templars and exposing them to attack.”

   Yeah, a detector.

4. bluefirefox — August 16, 2007 @ 2:36 pm
   

   Well, it’s always cloaked, the blue thing is what the user and the detector see, but it’s always cloaked.

5. Ken — August 16, 2007 @ 3:47 pm
   

   The DT has to be “always cloaked.” That’s the best attribute the Dark Templar has. I don’t see the point of Blizzard having a Dark Templar decloaked at one point in the game, or having to research it in the Dark Obelisk to have it permanently. I’m not that impressed with the way they look in the screenshots though. Hope you can send us a better look in the near future.

6. WhiteKnight — August 16, 2007 @ 4:13 pm
   

   why he must uncloak since his ability is perma invisibly ?

7. Desruprot — August 16, 2007 @ 5:57 pm
   

   I think it is just to be showy, I still wonder why they chose to do a Double Bladed Sythe-like Warp Blade for the DTs they were originally using a single blade as an attack…I still find this interesting…I hope we havea DT with a single warp blade like in the original (in the Editor at least) so we can have a better look anyways, the artwork originally showed Zeratul with a regular warp-blade I wonder why they disided to change that?

8. Ace — August 19, 2007 @ 11:49 pm
   

   [quote]
   I think it is just to be showy, I still wonder why they chose to do a Double Bladed Sythe-like Warp Blade for the DTs they were originally using a single blade as an attack…I still find this interesting…I hope we havea DT with a single warp blade like in the original (in the Editor at least) so we can have a better look anyways, the artwork originally showed Zeratul with a regular warp-blade I wonder why they disided to change that?
   [/quote]

   The reason prolly being is so is to make it look more “Warcraft”-y which I find totally BS. It was already good, they made it look extremely uglier, not to mention how hideous DTs look like now.

9. St4lk3r — August 20, 2007 @ 8:51 am
   

   mmm, It’s interesting to see the dark templar with a Double Bladed Scythe-like Warp Blade, but I don’t see the use of a double Bladed Scythe, since in the attack animation the dark templar only uses one of the blades. Although, I’t would be cool if the dark templar could have some sort of “splash” attack where he uses Double Bladed Scythe to damage all enemies near him (in certain radius of course).

10. Ken — August 20, 2007 @ 9:35 pm
    

    what’s so warcrafty about the new DT? which character? I bet the DT will have no other added benefits such as splash damage, nor will it be nerfed with a researchable cloaking. I think it will just be the same DT in Brood War. I bet its function will be the same, its damage,its shield, its HP. Only aesthetics will be changed. unless of course the balance of the 3 races will be shifted drastically. Maybe when details about Zerg will come out, we can tell.

11. Ronny — August 25, 2007 @ 12:30 am
    

    I totally agree with Ken. Just because DTs are going to have sychte like weapons doesn’t mean they are becoming “Warcrafty”. I personally thought it was a nice touch for the DTs and if any of you noticed, Blizzard is trying to keep the “Starcraft” without making it look too much like Starcraft 1. Lastly, when it comes to Zeratul, I think that he will still have his old warp blade… It would be the best thing for him reguarding he was always drawn and portrayed using his blade.

12. Bolduk — November 7, 2008 @ 4:12 pm
    

    For those who don’t know why they changed the warp-blade for a Scythe, it’s to difference the Dark Templars of the Zealots. (From Blizzard’s words.)

    And I think it looks great.