EPTFortunately, this cheap building provides other uses that can prove to be invaluable in many situations. I'll detail those situations, when to use them, and how effective they are. Hopefully this guide will encourage Protoss players to get more creative with their Pylon placement and make more use of this building then the obvious two (PSI and a power field). This is a pretty basic guide, but I think this information can be very useful to newer players.
General:
- Obviously, Pylons are used to create Supply and a power field for your buildings. Can also be used to warp in units at convenient locations.
- Build a Pylon on the outer edge of your opponent's base- this will act as a permanent scout (until your opponent destroys it).
- Building a few Pylon at the base of your opponent's ramp early on can block off their scouting attempts, as well as any attempt to create a Proxy (insert building here) or fast expansion.
VS. Terran:
- A very effective use of a Pylon is to place one in the middle of a Terran's wall attempt. Delaying a wall off can give you time to sneak units passed the barrier if you're going for a 2gate or other similar early game harass.
- If you're worried about mass Marines early on, you can build a Pylon in the way of a would-be Reactor. Placing a Pylon in the way of any other add-on can delay things like early Reapers, or mass Marauders.
VS. Protoss:
- When you're worried about any early on cheese, placing a Pylon at a chokepoint early on can act as a scouting sentry and alert you of anything of that nature.
VS. Zerg:
- A common use of a Pylon is to build one early right in the middle of the natural expansion against a Zerg player- this can delay a fast expansion.
