This Starcraft 2 guide will focus on how to use the Dark Templar rush against another Protoss player. It is divided into two segments: when the enemy doesn’t have detectors, and when he does.

Protoss enemy with no Detectors

When playing against a Protoss opponent, you will discover that the sooner you time your rush, the greater is your chance of victory and the more damage it will do to them. For the most part, this is because the majority of Protoss players do not go for Detectors early on in the game, especially in the lower leagues.

Another great way to make the Dark Templar rush a success is by walling off your base by constructing a Pylon and a Gateway near the entrance of your base protected by a Zealot. Since the enemy cannot get into your base to scout, he will have no idea that you are going for a Dark Templar rush.

If you find out that your enemy doesn’t have detectors that basically spell doom for him. Just remember to watch carefully for any Probes that are building Cannons or any available Robotics Factory.

If you see any Robotics Factory creating Observers, destroy the Pylons as quickly as you can (Dark Templars destroy Pylons very quickly, but the Robotics Facility will take time).

Utilize one of the Dark Templars to take out key buildings. Begin with the Nexuses and Probes and then proceed from there. Employ your other Dark Templars to keep an eye on the enemy base and foil ay of his attempts to build detectors such as Cannons, Pylons or Robotics Facilities.

All the while, keep warping in more Dark Templars to finish off your enemy. It cannot be stressed enough that once you are able to manage the Dark Templar rush early in the game, your victory will be extremely easy.

Often times, your enemy will attack your own base knowing that the majority of your combat force is far away, so do not forget to keep some Dark Templars in your base as well.

If the enemy has a lot of aerial units, build lots of Cannons and Stalker to counter them. Now once you’ve killed off all his probes, even if your enemy razes all your main buildings with his air units, he will have to destroy your Cannons with those same air units to win and that is unlikely to happen. Once your Dark Templars have obliterated his base, the game will be over soon.

Protoss enemy with Detectors

Now this is a different scenario altogether. When you’ve learnt that your enemy has detectors, it would be wise of you to get Warp Prisms to warp your Dark Templars into his base. Place a Warp Prism at a corner of his base and rush to his Nexus using 4 to 6 Dark Templars.

You may also consider diverging the enemy’s defence by making 3 Dark Templars attack his main base and the other 3 can attack his expansion. Most of the players have only a single Observer for defence so if you follow this Starcraft 2 guide, you can cause major damage to them before being revealed.

But truth be told, it is unlikely that you’ll be able to win the game in this scenario based on a Dark Templar rush alone. The Dark Templar rush loses its edge when the enemy player has made Observers, so just use the Dark Templars to harass him and his expansions.

Tags: protoss dark templar rush, protoss DTR, protoss vs protoss, starcraft 2 protoss, starcraft 2 protoss vs protoss