Arbiter
Protoss Psionic Support Vessel
The arbiter is a protoss psionic support craft that cloaks the allies around it, freezes enemies in stasis, and recalls distant friendly forces across the battlefield in an instant.
The arbiter is a protoss psionic support vessel, a costly and powerful craft that fights less through its own weapons than through the abilities it grants the forces around it. It carries only a low-powered direct attack, relying instead on a strong shield, a healthy reserve of hull strength, and the escort of allied units to survive the front lines. Its true value lies in three psionic powers: a cloaking field that hides nearby allies, a stasis projection that freezes enemy formations in place, and a recall ability that teleports friendly forces across great distances in a moment. (StarCraft)
A vessel that fights through others#
The arbiter is a high-cost offensive-support craft whose strength is psionic rather than martial. It mounts only a low-powered direct attack and depends instead on a fairly high shield, considerable hull strength, and the protection of allied escorts to endure the front lines, where a vessel of its expense could not survive on its own armament. In practice the arbiter is therefore never sent forward alone. It moves with the fleet, lending its abilities to the warriors and warships around it while they keep the enemy off it in turn. (StarCraft)
Cloak, stasis, and recall#
The arbiter's passive cloaking field conceals all nearby friendly units, though not the arbiter itself. This quirk shaped a common protoss tactic: arbiters and observers were attached to a group of carriers or corsairs, which attacked from beneath the cloak while warding off the strikes that fell upon the uncloaked arbiters above them. (StarCraft; StarCraft: Brood War)
Its stasis ability could cut an enemy attack wave in half, suspending part of a hostile force so that allied troops might eliminate the foe in smaller, more manageable groups. A favored use was to lock down high-threat units, such as siege tanks or devourers, while the protoss destroyed the weaker enemies around them and returned for the frozen targets afterward. (StarCraft; StarCraft: Brood War)
The recall ability offered a powerful means of strategic movement, teleporting allied forces across the field to the arbiter's position in an instant. With it, a protoss commander could recall a strike force directly into an enemy base, circumventing whatever defenses guarded the approach. Together these three powers made the arbiter a vessel that decided battles by reshaping where and when the fighting happened. Among the named hero arbiters is the Danimoth. (StarCraft; StarCraft: Enslavers)
Frequently asked questions
- What is the arbiter in StarCraft?
- The arbiter is a protoss psionic support vessel. It carries only a low-powered direct attack and depends on a strong shield, considerable hull strength, and allied escorts to survive, fighting through the abilities it grants nearby forces rather than its own weapons.
- What abilities does the arbiter have?
- The arbiter has three psionic powers: a cloaking field that conceals nearby allies, a stasis projection that freezes enemy formations in place, and a recall ability that teleports friendly forces across great distances in an instant.
- Why does the arbiter's cloaking field not hide the arbiter itself?
- The arbiter's passive cloaking field conceals all nearby friendly units but not the arbiter. This led to a common tactic of attaching arbiters and observers to groups of carriers or corsairs, which attacked from beneath the cloak while warding off the strikes aimed at the uncloaked arbiters above them.
- How is the arbiter's stasis ability used?
- Stasis can cut an enemy attack wave in half, suspending part of a hostile force so allied troops can destroy the rest in smaller groups. A favored use was to lock down high-threat units such as siege tanks or devourers, then return for the frozen targets afterward.
- What is the Danimoth?
- The Danimoth is a named hero arbiter, among the most notable of its kind recorded in protoss history.
Gallery


Images via StarCraft Wiki
Sources
- GameStarCraft, Blizzard Entertainment, 1998
- GameStarCraft: Brood War, Blizzard Entertainment, 1998
- GameStarCraft: Enslavers, Blizzard Entertainment, 1998, bonus campaign
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry

Carrier
The carrier was the great protoss capital ship, a mobile fortress that carried no weapons of its own but launched swarms of robotic interceptors. It served the Golden Armada, the Tal'darim, and the Purifiers across the Koprulu sector's wars.

Protoss
The protoss are an ancient, psionically gifted humanoid species native to Aiur, uplifted by the xel'naga and bound together by the Khala. Among the three dominant species of the galaxy, they are the most technologically advanced, and the most divided by their own history.
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Ascendant: blood-ranked lords of the Tal'darim
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Mentioned in2 entries
Every Protoss Unit in StarCraft and StarCraft II, Explained
Every protoss warrior, war machine and starship from StarCraft, Brood War and the three StarCraft II games. Each entry covers who fights in it or builds it, how it fights, what it did in the story and which games it appears in, plus the Nerazim, Tal'darim and Purifier versions from Legacy of the Void.
Great Fleet
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