Adept

The adept is a protoss ranged warrior drawn from an officer class of infantry, a trained battlefield commander who fights at a distance. Armed with glaive cannons and psionic amplifiers, the adept trades heavy protection for speed and agility, and is unusually well versed in psionic transfer, the projection of the warrior's mind across the battlefield. The unit was a recent addition to the Daelaam's forces by the time of the End War, and its refinement and skill made it a central figure both in the Purifier army and among many other protoss forces. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void; StarCraft Field Manual; Adept (StarCraft II official site))

An officer class on the front line#

The adept stands apart from ordinary protoss infantry as a member of an officer class, a body of highly trained battlefield commanders who fight as ranged specialists. Their particular strength lies in dealing with lightly-armored threats. The adept is itself lightly armored, having been built to prioritize speed over protection, and its agility and refinement have made it a central figure in the Purifier army and in many other protoss forces besides. Beyond their glaive cannons and psionic amplifiers, adepts are well versed in psionic transfer, a discipline that lets a warrior project their mind across the field, and to reposition in an instant. (StarCraft Field Manual; Adept (StarCraft II official site); StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)

The protoss have long used the term "adept" in a second sense as well, to describe those with proficiency in the Khala and the psionically powerful warriors of the Templar Caste. The ranged unit took its name from that older tradition of psionic mastery. (StarCraft: Frontline, Volume 1)

A new addition to the Daelaam#

The adept began as a project of Hierarch Artanis, who originally intended the unit to replace former Judicator Caste leaders with Templar. By 2505 adepts were a recent addition to the Daelaam's arsenal, and they were so new that the Terran Dominion had only recently gained knowledge of their existence. The Dominion Marine Corps possessed little battlefield experience against them, and as a precaution the adepts were designated primary targets in the event of any hostile encounter. (Adept (StarCraft II official site); StarCraft Field Manual)

The End War and the spread of psionic transfer#

Adepts were deployed during the End War, when groups of Templar volunteered to adopt Purifier ordnance refined by Phase-smith Karax. This ordnance let a Templar raise their psionic potential and project their minds for teleportation while weakening their enemies. Adept ordnance continued to be used by the Daelaam afterward, though it never quite reached the optimal performance of Karax's original prototypes. The technique did not stay within protoss hands for long. In a short amount of time the Tal'darim reverse engineered the adept's psionic amplification methods and incorporated them into their arsenal, equipping their most promising warriors with the captured craft. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)

Legacy and cultural revival#

After the End War, cultural trends harkening back to the Golden Age of Expansion within the Templar Caste led some adepts to wear ceremonial armor from that era. The Ihan-rii also kept adepts in their arsenal, holding many in deep stasis on the fringes of the Koprulu sector. Among the named adepts was Talis, a Templar who fought alongside Zeratul before the End War. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)