Zealot

Zealots are a type of protoss warrior, the lower-ranked Templar who have yet to reach the upper levels of the Khala. They form the backbone of the protoss military and have been utilized since before the Discord. Armed with psionic blades and shielded by plasma, they are the first line of the protoss war machine and the most numerous of its frontline warriors. (Zealot (StarCraft II official site); StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)

Role and orders#

Zealots form the backbone of the protoss military and have served in that capacity since before the Discord. At least some, if not all, Khalai zealots are members of the Zealot Order, which honors the moon Saalok as its symbol and calls it the Zealous Round. Zealots can operate in formations as small as platoons and as large as legions. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void; Cold Symmetry; Lens of the Void; Zealot (StarCraft II official site))

The Tal'darim also employ zealots. As the lowest ranking links in the Chain of Ascension, they are the ones most eager to prove themselves. The Ihan-rii, by contrast, field zealots who are fanatic believers in the xel'naga, holding that one day they would ascend to eternal godhood. (StarCraft II: Whispers of Oblivion; StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)

During the Great War, many zealots demonstrated their fearlessness by going without head armor, a practice that has since been discontinued. After the End War, many zealots took part in the artistic celebration of the Golden Age of Expansion, changing their armor to the more ornate style of that era. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void)

Training#

Each zealot is trained for decades in hand-to-hand combat, tactics, pain tolerance, and martial discipline. They are taught to hate their enemies with a white-hot passion and to hunt them down without mercy, even in the face of their own deaths. Through the path of the Khala, zealots learn to hone their innate battle rage to a fine edge, though they can invoke a near-berserker rage in battle if need be. (Zealot (StarCraft II official site); StarCraft (manual))

Zealots undergo rigorous training and trials before receiving their power suits. Those that distinguish themselves in battle receive complex leg augmentations that enhance their speed, mobility, and endurance. They are forbidden from using alien tissue and weaponry in combat as a means of preventing foreign infections. (Zealot (StarCraft II official site); Cold Symmetry)

In the days of the Golden Age of Expansion, attempts were made to train zealots to wield more ethereal psionic powers like their high templar brethren. At the behest of Grand Preserver Rohana, these attempts were halted in favor of keeping the more traditional and focused split between the two classes of Templar warriors. The shame of the fall of Aiur later drove the zealots to intensify their physical training, which came to include duels at the end of their instruction. (It Will End in Fire; Zealot (StarCraft II official site); StarCraft: Frontline Volume 1)

Combat and tactics#

All protoss possess a degree of psionic power, and zealots use theirs exclusively for battle. They have a limited form of precognition that lets them predict enemy movements, strike with deadly accuracy, and dodge attacks. Their leg augmentations enhance their movement speed, allowing them to catch an enemy off guard with brutal charges. After the Brood War, some zealots developed the ability to turn their bodies into pure energy for a few microseconds, a lightning-fast burst of speed that lets them strike suddenly against an enemy that believes them out of range. (Zealot (StarCraft II official site))

Zealots are armed with psionic blades channeled through the forearm units of their power suits. The Khalai's refinement of the focusers in these units allows the psi-blades to increase in power as a zealot's rage rises in battle. With the aid of cybernetic implants, zealots use their psionic powers to surround themselves with plasma shields. (StarCraft (manual); Zealot (StarCraft II official site))

The zealots' mastery of their emotions means they can fight longer, harder, and better than their adversaries. Because the protoss population has diminished through conflict, great lengths are taken to minimize zealot casualties. A severely injured zealot may be transported off the battlefield at the moment of defeat by a device called a warp stone in order to be recovered, and some of the gravely wounded went on to serve inside a dragoon or an immortal. (Zealot (StarCraft II official site); Cold Symmetry; StarCraft; StarCraft: Frontline Volume 1)

Variants and notable zealots#

Several specialist variants of the zealot exist across protoss society. The Khalai field the Aiur zealot, the Nerazim field the centurion, and the Purifiers field the sentinel, with a further Purifier variant, the legionnaire, appearing in Co-op Missions. Notable individual zealots include Kaldalis, Urun, and Selendis, who later rose to the rank of executor. Fenix served as a zealot before his wounds saw him transplanted into a dragoon, and the zealot Khastiana was later transplanted into an immortal. (StarCraft II: Legacy of the Void; StarCraft II: Co-op Missions; StarCraft; StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty; StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga: Twilight; StarCraft: Frontline Volume 1)