Strategies:
The Zealous Zealot

This guide will attempt to cover everything there is on the Zealot. I will try to list all I know about it, how I use it and what I think about it. These are my (Phoenix) thoughts and this may or may not be the same as yours, or someone else's. With that aside, here we go:

The Stats:

Hitpoints: 80
Shield Points: 80
Armor: 1
Sight: 7
Range: Melee, so 0
Cost: 100 Minerals
Psi used: 2

Strengths:

A Zealot is buildable right after you get a Gateway, thus you can start building them early, without any tech tree climbing. It's strong; it hits for 16 damage, upgradable with 2 for each upgrade (meaning 22 when fully upgraded). That's more than most units. The only ground units I can think of that hit harder are the Ultralisk, the Dragoon and the Archon. Not counting the Vulture and the Firebat, since they have concussive damage.
Most of these come into play much later than the Zealot. It's fast, one of the fastest in the game, actually, especially with the leg enhancements. They have 4 times the life of a Marine or a Firebat (nearly for a Firebat), more than 4 for a Zergling, and twice the life of a Hydralisk. They actually have more life than a Tank, or a Goliath! These combined make the Zealot quite the "formidable adversary".

Weaknesses:

The major threats to the Zealot are Firebats and any air unit. The Firebat has as strong an attack as a Zealot, and it's cheaper, quicker built, and so on.Though in equal numbers the Zealot easily takes care of the Firebat, the Firebat's Line Splash can harm your Zealots a lot. Try to avoid them if you can.
As for Air units, there isn't much to say. Since the Zealot is a ground-to-ground unit, they can't attack air, so Mutalisks, Wraiths, Scouts and so on can attack them with impunity. AKA, avoid as the plague (or any other disease of your choice...)

The Upgrades:

Leg Enhancements: Important in the long run (get it? long run?! Hahahaha! Not funny? Oh well...).You should get this upgrade as early as possible. This upgrade makes the Zealot able to outrun the slower targets, and make hit-n'-run missions.

Attack: Quite important, especially the first attack. This make a Zergling go down in 2 strikes instead of 3, which saves you a lot of time. I always upgrade as much as I can, and as early as possible, I think it increases the overall usefulness of my units. And the Zealot is no exception. Get this, as soon as possible.

Armor: I tend to favor Shield before Armor, because Shield doesn’t only affect ALL Protoss buildings and units, but when the shield is down, you're often down to half your life, or less. But, on the other side, this is half your life =) so don't forget about this one. Especially in late or middle game, you really should have everything upgraded.

Shield: The Shield upgrade is good for every unit, so upgrade it! Particularly since the Shield Battery can recharge your shields, this could prove quite useful. This is a must-have. Do it early, if you can with out sacrificing you economy too much.

The Advanced:

Drops: One might think that a Zealot Drop wouldn't be worth it, but I hardly think anyone who says that has actually tried more than a few times. Executed correctly, this helps a lot. Late in the game, your opponent's front door should be quite heavily defended; thus drops come into play. Zealots may sound as a unit too simple to drop, but I like dropping them in among the peons or to take out critical buildings. Four in a Shuttle isn't that bad, and six Shuttles make 24 Zealots, which is quite powerful. Take out important things, and do as much damage as you can before your Zealots die.

Hit-n'-runs: The Zealot's speed (after the upgrade) makes it a good unit to perform hit-n'-run missions. One of my favorite tactics is to take your force of 12 or more Zealots, run into your opponents undefended expansion, attack, and when he brings his army, retreat. Nothing is more irritating than losing your expansions, trust me. There are more choices than retreating though...

Diversions: The Zealot is cheap (taking in mind the expensive Protoss arsenal of costly units), so if you are attacking an expansion, and your enemy brings his army to defend his exp, you can leave the Zealots there, and attack with your main strike force. Chances are (if he's not a total idiot) that he'll pull back to defend his main base. This has saved you some precious seconds, allowing you time to take out as much as possible before the real battle begins, that is when he reaches your force. Even if your army dies, you still have taken out an expansion!

Diversions continued: A good idea is to attack from more than one front. This might help you to some wins. Prepare a main army, a diversion, and a force intended to drop. Zealots are perfect units for a diversion, preferably backed up with more units. Attack with your diversion at his front door. You have little time, so be sure that your main army is ready to attack from a different direction. Your enemy now has attacks coming from more than one direction, and he will probably choose to defeat one of them first, rather than split it up. NOW, you drop your "dropforce" consisting of Dark Templars, High Templars, Archons, Reavers, or whatever you want. Quite a killer, I promise you. Try it, I'm sure you'll like it.

The Never-Forgets:

- Bring Observers. Since Brood War, detection has become very important. Detection is essential. Always bring observers.

- Bring air support. The Zealots can't attack air. Compensate for this by bringing Dragoons or any air units.

- Don't go all Zealots, it never works if the game goes further than the early stages.

- Upgrade them for maximum efficiency.

Combos:

- Zealots and Corsairs: One of my favorites; the Corsairs take care of any air attackers, and they can Disruption Web things on the ground, such as tank defenses, bunkers, sunken colonies or things like that.

- Zealots and Dragoons: The earliest combo available, it is also the most used. An all-round combo, with the Zealots up front, and the Dragoons getting free hits from behind. They also can take care of aerial units.

- Zealots and Dark Templars: Use the Zealots to take out any detectors and let the fun begin when you unleash the Dark Templars. This doesn't work for Science Vessels, Overlords or Observers, obviously, since they fly (duh!).

Race-Specific Tips:

Vs. Zerg:
- Zealots are excellent against most Zerg units, except the flying ones. Though be careful, too many hydras can be more than a match for your Zealots; they're ranged attackers, and range always outclasses melee in the long run.
- Lurkers slaughter you if you can't detect them. Bring Observers!
- In order to deliver the death blows to Ultralisks, you should have at least 3 Zealots for every Ultralisk. Of course, Psi Storm always helps.
- Queens can Ensnare your Zealots, effectively cutting their speed and attacks in half. Bring air support to deal with them. Most players don't Broodling your Zealots, since they are not expensive enough to waste the spell, but it happens. Bring air support, yet again.
- As always, bring air support. Dragoons or air units. Otherwise, Mutalisks or Guardians rip your Zealots apart.

Vs. Terran:
- Firebats effectively kill your Zealots, since they're trainable in much larger numbers, and much cheaper. Watch out!
- Marines/Medics can be dangerous, but the more you've upgraded, the easier you can take care of them. Most of the time, the Zealots hit so hard that the Medics don't have time to heal all the damage before you strike again.
- Vultures can be a threat, because they can hit-n'-run, and they always attack with the full 20 damage against Zealots, a small unit. But even worse are the Spider Mines. Bring Observers, and attack the mines from a distance with Dragoons, Reavers, Scouts or Carriers.
- Against Siege Tanks, run some Zealots to take the damage, and bring a Templar to Storm them. The remaining HP of the tanks can be taken care of with the remaining Zealots.
- Science Vessels halve your life with the EMP Shockwave, and Irradiate is quite dangerous as well. Bring air support. By now, you should know what to do. If not, bring air support!

Vs. Protoss:
- Dark Templars kill you within 4 sweeps with their Warp Blades, so (have we heard this before?) bring observers.
- A Zealot can take out a Dragoon in a one-on-one duel, but the Dragoons are ranged, so they can execute hit-n'-runs.
- Against a Reaver, bring one or maybe two Zealots before your main force, and let it absorb the Scarab's damage, and kill the Reavers within the cool-down time with the rest of your Zealots.
- Dark Archons can Maelstrom your Zealots, and let a Templar Storm you and leave you with about 30 HP and no shield!
- Archons can be a pain in the...behind, so spread out, to decrease splash damage.

Finishing Words:

* Remember, there is more to the Zealot than a rushing or massing unit. Always include it in your army.

* Experiment, experiment, experiment, as my friend Seawolf put it! Try every angle of the Zealot and use it the way you like it best.

* This is my first strategy, so if you don't like it, mail me and tell my what I need to improve.

That should be all!

Seawolf’s Comments:
Heck, I’m gonna use Zealots more! :P Oh yeah, one thing I think Phoenix forgot to mention...bring air support! Hehehe...thanks, Phoenix. :)
Okay, now a question for you all...what do you think of the three strategies we have up so far? Should we keep this up, or do we just have no idea what we’re talking about? Do you even want more strategies? Let Phoneix and I know. We want your feedback! :)

Okay, this is Seawolf, signing o...wait, this isn’t the news section! :P

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© 1999 Send any comments to me, J. Ryan Evans (Seawolf).

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