The Dark Archon, the fusion of two noble Protoss Dark Templar assassins, is the most powerful spellcaster in the game of StarCraft: Brood War. There is not a single spellcaster that can match it in potential use.
It's a pity that its potential is not utilized often. Watch a
replay (or
VOD for those lucky enough to have access to them) of one of the top Protoss players such as
Reach and I guarantee you won't see a single Dark Archon in a single one. There are many reasons for this:
1: Cost.
The technology costs alone make the Dark Archon quite worthless in a serious match. To even gain access to the Dark Archon, a Protoss player must first construct a
Citadel of Adun and a
Templar Archives. The Citadel's costs aren't too extravagant, just a slick 150
Minerals and 100
Vespene Gas. The Templar Archives, however, cost 150 Minerals and 200 Vespene Gas. This cost is quite steep at the point of the game in which you can immediately spend resources of this amount. That 200 Gas could have gone to a small squad of Dragoons, an attack upgrade, any number of things that may be of use.
Compare this to the other attractive alternatives presented to the Protoss player: The Stargate and the Robotics Facility. The Stargate is a popular option when a Protoss player is battling a Zerg opponent; the Corsair is a quick unit that can scout out the Zerg player's technology and harass his source of control: (food, supply, what-have-you) the Overlords. The immediate benefit of constructing a Stargate against a Zerg player is ENORMOUS in a game like StarCraft, where scouting is king. Zerg players constantly change the shape of their army. A speedy Corsair is much more useful than an easily-spotted (to the Zerg, anyway) Dark Templar in the mid-game. The Stargate also costs a low amount of resources to construct; it can be bought for the small sum of 150 Minerals and 150 Vespene Gas.
(Oh yeah, the Protoss player can also build a
Scout from a Stargate, but the Corsair is cheaper and faster. Scouts are rarely seen in high-level play.)
And, of course, there's the common choice to opt for the Robotics Facility. The Robotics Facility allows access to the Protoss
Shuttle, a unit commonly used to expand to distant islands on the battle map or to drop a squad of offensive units on a cluster of
Workers or enemies laying siege to your base. All this for 200 Minerals and 200 Vespene Gas.
The Robotics Facility also opens up the Protoss player's tech tree to the branches of the
Observatory and the
Robotics Support Bay. The
Observatory is a staple of the modern
Protoss versus Terran match-up; it allows the Protoss player to purchase
Observers, which allow the player to view the normally hidden
Spider Mines quite often laid by the
Terran player's force of
Vultures. The
Robotics Support Bay allows the construction of the
Reaver, a difficult unit to control, but very destructive when
micromanaged properly.
So, would you rather pay 300 Minerals and 300 Vespene Gas for a Citadel of Adun and a Templar Archives, which allow access to the very powerful High Templar and Dark Templar, as well as the Archon and Dark Archon..
...150 Minerals and 150 Vespene Gas for the Stargate, which give you an invaluable Corsair and, perhaps later, the dreaded
Carrier...
...or 200 Minerals and 200 Vespene Gas for the Robotics Facility, which allows construction of the Shuttle and later allows construction of the
Observatory for 50 Minerals and 150 Vespene Gas or 150 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas for the Robotics Support Bay (which ends up costing more than the Templar Archives)?
In the end,
it's all up to the player, but the invaluable Corsair and Observer are both much more useful than the Dark Archon.
2: There are better things to make at your Gateway.
So, you've decided to go against my advice and make that Templar Archives anyway. Maybe you know that I'm a Zerg player at heart and I'm part of some big anti-Dark Archon
conspiracy. The first statement is true, the second is
debatable. But,
consider the following:
A Dark Archon can only be formed by converting two Dark Templar into it.
Sure, it doesn't sound like much.. but Dark Templar cost 125 Minerals and 100 Vespene Gas each. Dark Templar also have the amazing built-in ability to stay
cloaked permanently. They cannot be seen unless they are trapped in a
Stasis Field, covered in the green goo of the
Zerg Queen's
Ensnare spell, being slowly sapped away at by the Zerg Defiler's
Plague spell or are sighted by a
static detector (such as a
Missile Turret) or
mobile detector (such as a
Science Vessel). This has great implications. Stasis Field is rarely used in a serious Protoss versus Protoss game, the same for Ensnare and Plague (a pity at that, they are both awesome spells) and detectors can be (and usually are) killed. As a Zerg player, I've fallen victim to the classic
DT/Sair combo, in which the Protoss player builds Corsairs (The Sair in the combo) to destroy Overlords and Dark Templar (the DT, as it is commonly called in
Starcraft shorthand) to destroy all of the units that were within the Overlord's vicinity (quite often innocent Zerg
Drones). Dark Templar are also commonly used as scouting units, their invisibility being a major asset in that situation. And, of course, you can simply use it to kill enemy units. Dark Templar are GREAT assets to the Protoss army and
TWO DARK TEMPLAR ARE MORE USEFUL THAN
ONE DARK ARCHON.
Also, the cost of the Dark Archon could go toward the purchase of
High Templar or
Archons (the regular kind). High Templar are notorious for their
Psionic Storm skill, dealing massive
Area of Effect damage in the area of the spell's target. (While Minerals, Vespene Gas and time must be spent researching Psionic Storm, it is among the best spells in StarCraft and is commonly used.) Also, after the High Templar is out of energy for casting Storms, you can wait for the Templar to regenerate its energy or merge two of them into an Archon, a powerful
tanking unit that is well-known for its ability to destroy large masses of units before dying.
The Dark Archon, on the other hand, begins only with its
Feedback skill. Feedback is a weak skill at best. For 50
Energy, it can deal a maximum of 250
damage to a unit that has energy (which accounts for at least a fourth of all StarCraft units). More often than not, it will deal 200 at maximum (the reason being that
spellcasters in Starcraft have 200 base energy and 50 more can be added if energy upgrades are
researched. Most players do not bother with these, as spellcaster energy is quite often used by the player as soon as the player gets it). More often than THAT occurrence, it will deal a
negligible amount of damage, because the unit that was the target of the Feedback spell didn't have its maximum energy at the time.
Now, it is true that many spellcasters in StarCraft quite have more energy than
health. The
Ghost,
Medic,
Defiler,
Queen and even the mighty
High Templar can potentially die INSTANTLY to one Feedback. However, the Ghost isn't used that often against Protoss players. The same is true of the Medic, Defiler and Queen. The High Templar is the only unit that a Dark Archon would be of practical use against.. Except for the fact that its
powerful Psionic Storms can be more easily managed by simply dodging them instead of investing heavy amounts of resources on a Dark Archon. Also, Feedback targets a single unit. With
StarCraft's user interface, it is hard to single out that one
spellcaster that could spell your
doom among all of the other things that are constantly going on. Having a pair of Dark Templar
assassinate that irritating High Templar and go on to
slay others is much more efficient than a
clunky Dark Archon.
The Dark Archon's other abilities,
Maelstrom and
Mind Control, must first be researched before they can be used, like many of the abilities in StarCraft. Maelstrom is quite a
useful skill. It stuns
organic units for a very short amount of time and leaves them open to attack from your units. Zerg units are all organic, so Maelstrom is quite useful there. Protoss and Terran forces are mostly mechanized; against these races Maelstrom is a waste of resources.
Mind Control is a very intriguing skill. Any idiot can see the advantage of taking over an enemy unit. I've heard legendary tales of this spell's usage. They may or may not be based on real occurances.
Legendary Tale #1: The Overlord Thief
Legend has it that a very long time ago, perhaps
before replays, a Protoss player stole a Zerg Overlord from a
Cerebrate by cunning usage of the Dark Archon's Mind Control ability. The Overlord had its speed upgrade (
Pneumatized Carapace for the purist) and transport ability (
a.k.a. Ventral Sacs) researched. With these abilities falling into the wily Protoss' hands, he did not have to construct a
Robotics Facility, for the Overlord could carry
burdens (like a Shuttle) and see the unseen (like an Observer). This player was able to ignore an entire branch of the tech tree because of this one skill. It is not known if this player won the game or not, but this story
strikes fear into hearts of many and ushers awesome,
nerdy respect (hey, I can't be totally
pretentious). The name of the player is forgotten, but his legacy will always remain.
Legendary Tale #2: The Protoss Siege Tank
Legend has it that in what would not be
a typical Terran versus Protoss game, a wily Protoss was able to turn the tables in a
macro game. It was
Zealot versus Vulture,
Dragoon versus Siege Tank; the classic battle that had been fought for many years. The Protoss was able to Mind Control a single Siege Tank and an SCV (for this
madman had constructed more than one Dark Archon). He used the Tank with his
Shuttle to put it on
cliffs to destroy many
tactical targets and
when things looked grim for this Protoss Tank, it was sent to base for
rest and repair.
Now, these two stories make Mind Control seem very
tempting. It is easily the best spell in StarCraft,
potentially. However..
i: When a Dark Archon uses Mind Control, it loses all of its
Shields. This makes the Dark Archon an
easy target with only 25 HP keeping it
alive.
ii: Mind Controlled units, more often than not,
die. The examples above are
legendary because the Protoss player was able to utilize it well and keep their
mind-slaves alive. In a typical game, this is VERY
difficult. It is very easy to get your
Mind Controlled unit,
army and Dark Archon killed because of the
time spent attempting to manage all three.
iii: Why Mind Control when you can rip your enemies to shreds with a well-aimed Psionic Storm? Psionic Storm is notorious for slaying large crowds of units.
Killing 20 is better than converting one.
So, you see, the
risk greatly outweighs the
return of constructing a Dark Archon. It's a very
specialized unit in a game that demands
flexibility. However, there's one
redeeming factor..
Dark Archons are badass.
There are many units in Starcraft that are not used to their full potential. For years, many Zerg players avoided using the Zerg Defiler. The ability it begins with,
Dark Swarm, allows units under it
invincibility from
ranged attacks from the outside, while being able to fire upon enemies outside of the Swarm or deal melee damage. For years, people were very
timid in their use of the Defiler. Zerg players were
content with their large armies and their macro style of play (macro meaning
macromanagement, as opposed to
micromanagement). Zerg players amassed
large armies and pitted them against their
opponents' large armies. This was a crying shame, because
Defilers are badass.
One day, in the Terran-dominated
KeSPA (Korean e-SPort Association) rankings, a player named
JulyZerg took the number one spot. One of the things he is notorious for, besides his
aggressive style of play, is the use of the Defiler.
JulyZerg is badass.
StarCraft is a game of
weapons and war. In the Defiler's case, it found a worthy
pair of hands in the capable JulyZerg. Perhaps, someday, the Dark Archon will find a worthy
Protoss to serve. Maybe it will find its
niche in such an expansive, ever-changing game with so many
styles of play.
StarCraft is badass.
Until then, it'll just be two wasted
Dark Templar.