An idea for guardian shueld

[Nicol Bolas]

I don't really understand what's the point of the Stalkers. Exactly against what units are they good?

They're decent against all units.

Now, what are they for? Lots of things. While cost-for-cost, they can't out-damage Immortals vs. their preferred targets, they still make good support for ground forces. Also, their speed and Blink make them great at kiting Roaches. Chrono-boost out the +1 attack upgrade, and they're pretty strong damage dealers.

The main thing about Stalkers that you have to remember is that they're balanced around Blink. If you're not using at least some Blink micro to either move them into range of ranged units or keeping them alive, then they're probably not as cost-effective as they could be.

[SoFool]

No one seems to upgrade blink whenever they produce stalkers, literally.

[Nicol Bolas]

No one seems to upgrade blink whenever they produce stalkers, literally.

Then they don't get the right to complain. Blink is easily half the reason to make Stalkers.

It's like complaining that Roaches are useless at Tier 2 and 3 when you ignore the 3 Roach upgrades and burrow.

[Wankey]

I don't really understand what's the point of the Stalkers. Exactly against what units are they good?

Remove Stalkers! Reinstate Dragoons! Make dragoons upgradable! Yowza done and done.

[Aldrius]

Remove Stalkers! Reinstate Dragoons! Make dragoons upgradable! Yowza done and done.

Why?

Stalkers are awesome, they're way more offensively powerful than dragoons are. They're SO mobile.

[Dale]

You misspelled the word "shield."
That irritates me...

[horror]

Best way to combat imo, chrono boost the crap out of getting blink, produce 1 or 2 sentries to keep at your choke, and attack the opponent's base with stalkers. Ive seen it done before, but never done it myself. the roaches pulled back the minute the stalkers got to the zerg mine line, which didn't take long in itself. blink, i've found, works better when you attack on 2 fronts, as it doesn't take much attention from you (the player) to get behind enemy lines, yet the enemy won't know how to react, because blink is unpredictable.

@ Perfecttear, i like the idea, and it would definitely help better, due to the tier it's useful in. however, I'd go as far as to say give the sentry shield battery, with channeling. That is more than just a 1 click hit, and could potentially be match winning, if used properly.

You misspelled the word "shield."
That irritates me...

haha! Thought the same thing...

[arthas]

Remove Stalkers! Reinstate Dragoons! Make dragoons upgradable! Yowza done and done.

Well lorewise the immortal is the replacement of the dragoon...BUT considering cost and requierments the stalker is the new dragoon,And i think that stalkers are best if they do 12 damage rather then 8+(6vs armored) That way they can be used more vs marines,zerglings and blink will be encouraged to be researched so you can harrass enemy workers more effectively.....

[SlickR]

>_<

Maybe I should have pointed out that I AM RUSHING TO ROBO, but I die before I can get there.

Here is what I have tried:
Blocking choke with gates+core - Check
Pure Zealot - Fail
Pure Stalker - Fail
Pure Sentry - Fail
Zealot/Stalker Combo - Fail
Zealot/Sentry Combo - Fail
Stalker/Sentry Combo - Fail
Fast Expo - Fail
Straight To Immortal - Fail

The problem, as far as I can tell, is due to
A) Roaches ripping through Zealots
B) Too gas heavy early game to get Sentries + try and tech

Maybe its got to do with your skill level rather than balance or unit combo.
1 immortal can kill 3 roaches, so if the opposition is attacking with 20 roaches, you should have 7 immortals to deal with them.
I also find dozen of zealots, 2 sentries and few stalkers good against mass roaches.
The only problem you would have against roaches is if your opponent is 2 base with queen rushing to 20 of them and you have only 2 gateways.
That's why you need to scout constantly and even if your early scout dies pretty quickly, send a second one immediately.

[Gifted]

Alright *cracks knuckles* I'll give feedback as long as you understand it's completely objective and not insulting ya cause you know I love ya girl ^_^

I personally feel that this change is very much not needed and that's after you get the feel for the sentry unit as a whole. If you included melee into the guardian shield you'd overlap the other two abilities that you utilize with it. Force field by nature counters melee if used correctly. I just feel that you may not have seen it used in the right nature. This also doesn't include hallucination, which means you can spawn 2 zealots or 2 stalkers quickly to get them matched and blocked. So what this means is you can create a choke and throw units into it to hold them back.

While uncomfortable at first, after some trials the neccessary micro for this to happen is actually very simple and very easy to do after you've practiced. I've killed 12-15 zealots with 3 stalkers and 4 sentries using this.

Ultimately though, the reduction of armor only would be a very trivial buff as well, as the majority of units who would benefit (zealots for example) have a majority of their life in their armor and not in their shields. The units which this is designed for (Mutalisk and marines for example) would have a significantly easier time "busting through" and with guardian shield's current form, a competitive match between two equal forces is still achievable.

It's my opinion that the current form of Guardian Shield fits better, has a better niche and provides a better grip of micro to react than the one you propose when you examine it in the scope of the "Sentry" and not merely the "ability".

BONUS NOTE: How I handle roach rushes

Since people like Demo has issues here, I've wanted to give my expirience on how I handle roach rushes. First it's important to note that I know that my micro may be a wee bit better than the average soul... but I also admit that it's not pro level and comes with practice with the sentry.

Against Zerg I go with 1 zealot early and no more. I find their benefit against zerg early game to be trivial as there are other ways to "mitigate damage" than sending more than 100 minerals in to die, but that's my opinion.

The reason I do 1 zealot is to cancel a potential 7 pool of zerglings. All you have to do if you see them is move back to your supply line and lure them in. If they turn to pylons instead, you attack until they turn, repeat. By the time they beat one of the two pylons covering my gateways, I'll have 2 sentries out and a zealot.. which will eat them up with the initial way I build my base (it's centralized around the ramp, think of a terran block without the second supply depot.)

Then I swap to a 2-3 gate pump of sentry/stalker. I make the judgements as they come out, but if it's 2 gate, it's usually swapping between sentries and stalkers based on available gas and trying to keep a 1 to 1 ratio. To handle them I have to have about 6-7 available force fields to walk out with little casualties. The stalkers provide good use of focus fire. If they're late enough to allow me to get a single upgrade, do armor first, not attack. (1 base + 1 upgrade + 2 guardian shield) provides enough of a buff to make roaches VERY MUCH reduced valuability.

When you get into the fight, you create a wall of about 4 walls placed just barely in front of them to push them back. This will push them from 3 range to 5 range. This means that the only way they can join the battle is moving around or if something is against the shield as it's 2 range wide. By reducing your zealots in this scenario, you remove anything that would push against it.

Now, they will be funneling in from both sides, but since you have only 4 roaches to your (ballpark) 8 units, you will have the AI naturally focus firing them. This is on the assumption of an open field. If it's at your ramp/choke... they're screwed. First, when you place your first force field, place it on the bottom third of your ramp, this prevents them from getting ON the ramp, and prevents uphill vision. Now, if you misplace that, it's fine if you build around the ramp. All you need to do is complete that "block" below to lock them in... place a shield in front of them and take 1 step back and start blowing the poor trapped bastards to death. If they use their uphill vision to attack buildings above, you simply place a force field on the attacking units below to push them out of the 3 range. Force fields allow you to abuse your longer range than the roach. I will admit, this took me a lot of practice and a lot of trial and error to gain "aha!" moments... but overall, it's just insane how force fields alone screw the roach and can even trap them to die. I can provide many replays of my sentry exploits... it's currently one of my favorite units in the game, no question.

However, if you use sentries with zealots... you will find their usefullness drop significantly..

EDIT: (this isn't even going into the use of spawning hallucinated stalkers to tank damage and provide mental misjudgements of the opponent. Roaches don't look appealing if you turn the corner and see 12 stalkers and 5 sentries [when only 8 of the stalkers are real]

I once won a game with 9 sentries when I walked "22 real stalkers" into his base, he didn't even stay around to fight them...)