Just wondering. They can snipe enemy casters easily, paralyze zerg armies and zealot armies, and mind control carriers or ultralisks. Why they are rarely seen? because of the high cost? But one does not need many of them, and high templars are expensive as well...

att

128 Posts

December 21 2021 10:40 GMT

High cost yeah... if they were cheaper, like queens, they would be cost efficient in niche scenarious. but because theyre so expensive, much more expenive than queens, they are not so efficient

SiarX

98 Posts

December 21 2021 11:00 GMT

Are queens used much? i thought they were very rarely seen unit

att

128 Posts

December 21 2021 12:00 GMT

On December 21 2021 20:00 SiarX wrote:
Are queens used much? i thought they were very rarely seen unit

Theyre seen semi-often as a counter to lategame terran mech. What my point was, theyre a very niche unit, used as a counter in a niche situation, and they work. Unfortunately, dark archos, because they cost so much, can be argued, lack this niche use

Jealous

10107 Posts

December 21 2021 18:14 GMT

Is making a separate thread for each niche unit you want to see really necessary? You can just make a list of all the units you want to see so that people can explain to you why they are not seen as often and post it in the "Simple Questions Simple Answers" thread.

Generally speaking, apply the common sense that the unit does not get used because it is not efficient to use it, it's as simple as that. Resources, and not just minerals and gas, but also time, attention, APM - in BW they are all limited. Thus, you have to choose where to invest in every scenario. In general, Dark Archon does not give as consistent of a ROI. It's that simple.

However, also apply the common sense that because they are niche units, they do have niche uses, and every unit in Brood War is used at the top level depending on the scenario.

Alternatively, you can use the search function at the top right of the website to see the fact that this subject has been opened dozens of times by dozens of other people over the years. Here you go:

https://tl.net/forum/search.php?q=dark archon

You can see more discussion here:

https://tl.net/forum/brood-war/523968-insane-dark-archon-theory
https://tl.net/forum/bw-strategy/130917-dark-archon-in-pvp
https://tl.net/forum/bw-strategy/105435-dark-archons-in-pvp

Also, this is worth seeing:

Also this:

So, the answer is the same as it has been for every other question you have asked over multiple threads.

ajmbek

Italy460 Posts

December 21 2021 18:34 GMT

in almost all the situations 2 dts are better

tankgirl

354 Posts

December 21 2021 23:16 GMT

they do still get used, can help very late game PvZ. see crazy hourlong game ending here (actually game was a draw)

Return

Ivory Coast856 Posts

December 22 2021 09:27 GMT

They definitly do get used in semi niche situations as is right now, like if you've skipped stargate and zerg goes for mutas they tend to pop up and in stalemate situations(map is mining out but neither side can really cost efficiently kill each other) its by far the best consistent value engine in the game. And we've seen it being used to feedback templars/defilers etc and maelstrom incoming zerg drops to great effect too. I think it's main drawback from being used more in pvt is that they are big and clunky and not really worth it just to feedback vessels.

Mind control as how I think blizzard envisioned it were you take the enemies army or workers and then fight with a combined protoss + enemy race forces ain't as widely used since you'd need a lot of darchons with high energy to steal a sizable part of enemy force and youd need a lot of resources to be able to build up an army and infrastructure of the other players race in a 1v1 situation, havent seen that in pro games yet but the other abilities show up from time to time

Jealous

10107 Posts

December 22 2021 13:28 GMT

On December 22 2021 18:27 Return wrote:
They definitly do get used in semi niche situations as is right now, like if you've skipped stargate and zerg goes for mutas they tend to pop up and in stalemate situations(map is mining out but neither side can really cost efficiently kill each other) its by far the best consistent value engine in the game. And we've seen it being used to feedback templars/defilers etc and maelstrom incoming zerg drops to great effect too. I think it's main drawback from being used more in pvt is that they are big and clunky and not really worth it just to feedback vessels.

Mind control as how I think blizzard envisioned it were you take the enemies army or workers and then fight with a combined protoss + enemy race forces ain't as widely used since you'd need a lot of darchons with high energy to steal a sizable part of enemy force and youd need a lot of resources to be able to build up an army and infrastructure of the other players race in a 1v1 situation, havent seen that in pro games yet but the other abilities show up from time to time

Happened a long time ago, I believe ClouD vs. Intotherain. ITR made Siege Tanks and Wraith as Protoss IIRC. This was when players were already pretty good but still nothing compared to the latter parts of the KeSPA era.

LML

Germany1754 Posts

December 22 2021 17:58 GMT

#10

I've used them plenty.
Feedback is an amazing spell with a huge range and usually a fast cast. So due to this they can be used in PvP to snipe a bunch of HTs before casting your own storms. In PvZ they're very useful once the Zerg gets defilers out. It's the best counter to plague. Maelstorm can be useful in PvZ, too, but you really need to pick what you want to spend your APM on. Reaver+Storm micro and army positioning can also use a lot of it up. Although maelstorm is still a good use in combination with those as it can stop any small hydra sniping squads right in its tracks.