The massive carriers serve as operations centers for leaders of the protoss fleets. Heavily armored and shielded, carriers can punch their way through enemy blockades by unleashing flights of robotic interceptors at vital enemy targets. These maneuverable, computer-guided craft tear through enemy flight formations and relentlessly strafe slower ground targets with potent plasma charges.

Interceptors are automatically manufactured and serviced inside the carriers’ bays, and a number of prepped interceptors can be launched in rapid succession. In battle, carriers appear to be virtual hornets’ nests of activity as their agile offspring dart out to launch their attacks and retreat just as rapidly to repair any damage they sustain. Terran scientists have long yearned for an opportunity to study just how the smoothly orchestrated operations of a carrier are achieved in detail.

Most carriers have no weapon batteries of any kind, but their deployment of interceptor flights makes them devastating in a ship-to-ship battle. However, a handful of heavily armed "super carriers" exist, most famously the Gantrithor. This was the flagship of Executor Tassadar when he led a protoss expeditionary force in its attempts to eradicate the zerg in terran space. The Gantrithor was powerful enough that it single-handedly defeated an entire terran battlecruiser squadron under the command of General Edmund Duke. Tassadar later sacrificed himself and his ship to destroy the zerg Overmind when it manifested on Aiur.