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Protoss Shield upgrade

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
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zdarr
Profile Joined September 2010
France375 Posts
December 15 2010 12:02 GMT
#1
Hi teamliquid readers,

I've been wondering lately about the use of the shield upgrade. In a few game, i've upgraded my shield, especially when i get to immortals and/or archons but i've noticed no change in the number of shield points of my units.


Does this research affect existing unit properly or does it only affect the next unit you'll build? Does it affect the damage you shield absorb or his regen?

Alastor
Profile Joined September 2010
Brazil30 Posts
December 15 2010 12:06 GMT
#2
I believe it is related to the damage factor. Shields don't increase in point by upgrading them, as far as I know.
paper
Profile Blog Joined September 2004
13196 Posts
December 15 2010 12:07 GMT
#3
The shield upgrade reduces damage taken for shield points in the same way the armor upgrade does for hit points.
Hates Fun🤔
Scaryman
Profile Joined June 2010
United States70 Posts
December 15 2010 12:09 GMT
#4
it works the same as armor but only for the shield portion.For example, marines do 6 damage a hit if you have +1 shields they will hit for 5 until your shield is gone. Upgrading the shields does nothing against emp, and costs 200 gas for rank 1, so generally its better to get the other upgrades. The only time I think the shield upgrade may be worth it is when you have alot of air and ground units, because it effects both, or your doing heavy blink stalker because I try to blink the stalkers to the back once their shield drops.
zdarr
Profile Joined September 2010
France375 Posts
December 15 2010 12:10 GMT
#5
that's what i thought, it's really a lame upgrade
GiftPflanZe
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
Germany623 Posts
December 15 2010 12:13 GMT
#6
Its a upgrade you do in the lategame,once youre finished the other ups.
...
Kingsky
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Singapore298 Posts
December 15 2010 12:16 GMT
#7
i personally usually do it after 3 attack 2 armor, because the third armor isnt really that worth it considering its price and since ALL protoss things have shields your basically upgrading your building's defense too
Why do people hate the Colossus? Because the Colossus is like banksters from Wall Street: “too big to fail”. - TheDwF
GQz
Profile Joined September 2010
Australia168 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-15 12:23:56
December 15 2010 12:21 GMT
#8
Shields are like another 'hp' bar with a different armor that applies to it. Most shields start off with 0 armor (exceptions apply). It is therefore only beneficial to research shield upgrade IF AND ONLY IF:
-You are massing archons (more shield than hp/ NOTE: DTs also have this except I feel that they rely less on hitpoints and more on stealth)
-You are relying on some sort of a mass canon strategy fairly late into the game (shields apply to buildings)
-Your army consists of a lot of air, esp. Carriers and Mothership (air units do not get ground upgrades except for shields, so it would be more beneficial than the ground armor upgrade)
-You have excess money and are far ahead of your opponent production & economy-wise. (in which case, heck get everything)

In all other cases (where you have mainly a ground army with not many archons), all other protoss units have at least as much hp as they do shields, so it is generally more beneficial to buff armor as it is the cheaper upgrade. Later on in the game, shields become an option after all the attack/armor upgrades.

Despite all this, shields do apply to buildings, which means that it helps with drops that aim to snipe tech buildings. However, I think this helps so little that it's not worth it. Just get the armor upgrade.

EDIT - I forgot to mention this but...

Shields recharge quickly out of combat whereas HP does not, so for a mass blinkstalker strategy (or something along those lines), I suppose it is viable where your aim is to harass and lose only shields.
Presidenten
Profile Joined December 2010
Sweden777 Posts
December 15 2010 12:22 GMT
#9
Almost all units have more HP than shield, so most often armor upgrades are more worth spending your money on.
Though if you are in late game and you have a ground/air mixed up army, you might want to research shields as the upgrade affect all units with shields.
weltraumMonster
Profile Joined February 2010
Germany62 Posts
December 15 2010 12:26 GMT
#10
Here is the Liquipedia plasma shields article
k43r
Profile Joined September 2010
Poland112 Posts
December 15 2010 12:39 GMT
#11
If you're 1a moving into enemyt army then armor is much better since shield never got to recharge.

Although i aways wonder why tosses who try to harrass with phoenixes\blink stalkers\dt's etc. etc. not make this upgrade. If one blink stalker get +1 shield and looses his whole shields 10 times it's obviously better to have shield upgraded not armor.
Lubisz to,suko!
wherebugsgo
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
Japan10647 Posts
December 15 2010 12:48 GMT
#12
I take shields after armor 1, or if I'm going air.

Usually air units take a lot more shield damage (like void rays for example) than armor damage. When I do a voidray build, I usually push with 3 rays and pressure with them, often letting one voidray get to 0 shields and then letting another take shield damage. Rarely do I actually lose a voidray in the harrass. Thus, since I see that I'll benefit from shields during the harrass, and my ground units and buildings benefit too, I often get shields doing stargate builds.

In other builds, generally weapons 1 and then armor 1>2 is best, especially for robo builds. Oftentimes weapons 2 doesn't do anything, and armor 2 is really helpful for 175/175. After armor 2 you can get shields 1.
bobucles
Profile Joined November 2010
410 Posts
December 15 2010 12:58 GMT
#13
Armor is better for the standard gate/robo play.

Shield upgrades would be good, but the first upgrade has a painful "upgrade tax" from the first Starcraft that renders it very difficult to justify. In SC1, shields would regenerate in combat, giving double damage reduction every time a shield point regenerated. It caused a considerable issue at 3/3, where that one shield point could effectively neutralize a marine shot every second.

This is no longer the case in SC2, as shields can not regenerate in combat. So there's really no reason for lvl 1 shields to cost 200/200. Perhaps with a cost reduction to 150/150, 250/250, 350/350, a shield upgrade would be more desirable.

For reference, Terrans have 6 unit upgrade paths, Zerg have 5, and Protoss have 5.
Comma20
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Australia138 Posts
December 15 2010 12:58 GMT
#14
It's "Better" if your units only ever lose their shields...

That's a big if.
nalgene
Profile Joined October 2010
Canada2153 Posts
December 15 2010 15:16 GMT
#15
At the moment, no one has quick enough reaction times to pull that off, and even they sometimes take more damage than necessary.

Even with blink, they still take more hits than necessary due to the opposing player's units ( range 6 and above or quick MS and a lot of units focus firing. Although they could dodge the attack entirely if they blinked the moment the projectiles were still in the air (hydras/marines can't be dodged, they're instant).

It's useful if you have a lot of archons...
or some very good micro in combat while macroing
costs 200/200 300/300 400/400 ( 900/900 total if you get level 3 )

it applies to everything, but most protoss units have more health than shields
Year 2500 Greater Israel ( Bahrain, Cyprus, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Oman, Gaza Strip, West Bank, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, Yemen )
GreEny K
Profile Joined February 2008
Germany7312 Posts
December 15 2010 15:20 GMT
#16
On December 15 2010 21:10 zdarr wrote:
that's what i thought, it's really a lame upgrade


But it is useful, protoss shields regenerate quickly so it is like having another bar of hp that's constantly coming back.
Why would you ever choose failure, when success is an option.
Kerm
Profile Joined April 2010
France467 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-12-15 15:42:39
December 15 2010 15:40 GMT
#17
On December 15 2010 21:26 weltraumMonster wrote:
Here is the Liquipedia plasma shields article


Is it me or does this says that Armor AND Shield upgrade actually do stacks a long as shields are up ? If this is the case, then i find it quite interesting to get..

Edit : on the other hand it means armor upgrade do works when shield is up and when shields are down ... Well never mind.
What i know is that I know nothing - [http://twitter.com/UncleKerm]
zdarr
Profile Joined September 2010
France375 Posts
December 15 2010 16:28 GMT
#18
well it's seems something you get when you've the upper hand or in special circumstances thans a lot for the answers i'm quite interrested in it now that i've read all of that
Knee_of_Justice
Profile Joined October 2009
United States388 Posts
December 15 2010 16:40 GMT
#19
No one has mentioned hardened shields:

If an attack is greater than 10 (ex: 50) and you have 3 shield upgrades, the shield upgrades are counted first, so it goes 50-3=47 which is greater than 10 so it gets reduced: no real benefit

However, if it is, say a marine (6) and you have 3 shield ups, it would do only 3 damage to the shield: huge benefit

If an attack does 12 damage, with 0 shield upgrades, it would normally do 10 damage, but with -3, it would do 9 damage: moderate benefit

Immortals are pretty cool, but i dont think upgrading shields is really worth it.

As a side note, ive always thought that archons should have a base shield armor of 1 or 2 to make them more tanky and unique.
Protoss Tactical Guide: http://www.sc2armory.com/forums/topic/7903
quillian
Profile Joined April 2010
United States318 Posts
December 15 2010 16:41 GMT
#20
On December 16 2010 00:40 Kerm wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 15 2010 21:26 weltraumMonster wrote:
Here is the Liquipedia plasma shields article


Is it me or does this says that Armor AND Shield upgrade actually do stacks a long as shields are up ? If this is the case, then i find it quite interesting to get..

Edit : on the other hand it means armor upgrade do works when shield is up and when shields are down ... Well never mind.



You misread. It only applies twice when a single attack hits both shields and hit points.

"For example, a Zealot with full hit points and 5 shield remaining is attacked by a Roach. If the Zealot had no standard armor nor shield armor, the attack would do 16 damage, leaving the Zealot with 89 hit points and no shield. (5 damage to the shields, 11 to the hit points) If however the Zealot had 2 standard armor and 1 shield armor, both of these reductions are applied and the Zealot would be left with 92 hit points and 0 shields."

Armor upgrade does NOT apply when shields are up, and Shield upgrade does NOT apply when shields are fully depleted.
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