• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 03:40
CEST 09:40
KST 16:40
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection2Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview5[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO12 Preview2herO wins GSL Code S Season 1 (2026)7
Community News
[BSL22] Non-Korean Championship from 13 to 28 June0Weekly Cups (May 25-31): Clem doubles, 2v2 circuit heads toward finale0StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th148Weekly Cups (May 18-24): MaxPax wins doubles0Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League5
StarCraft 2
General
StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th The Death of Cheese: From a Professional Cheeser My starcraft 2 changes Oliveira Would Have Returned If EWC Continued SC2 Parody - "Somebody That I Used to Troll"
Tourneys
GSL Code S Season 2 (2026) Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 528 Infection Detected Welcome to the External Content forum Mutation # 527 Hell Train
Brood War
General
Tesagi Viewer - A new era of replay watching Data analysis on 70 million replays BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ FlaShFTW vs A.Alm Grudge Match Event [BSL22] Non-Korean Championship from 13 to 28 June
Tourneys
[ASL21] Grand Finals [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 [BSL22] WB Final & LB Semis - Saturday 21:00 CEST
Strategy
Why doesn't anyone use restoration? Any training maps people recommend? Muta micro map competition [G] Hydra ZvZ: An Introduction
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread ZeroSpace Megathread Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread How cold is too cold to be outdoors? Dating: How's your luck? Trading/Investing Thread
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Esportsmanship: How to NOT B…
TrAiDoS
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 3605 users

The role of harrassment in PvZ

Blogs > Felo
Post a Reply
Felo
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Germany392 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-06-05 13:37:37
June 05 2011 13:35 GMT
#1
Disclaimer: 1,1k ML Protoss

This is just something quick and dirty that I posted in a thread that got closed. I liked how it turned out so I decided to conserve it for later usage. Enjoy!


In that Match-Up Protoss isn't in the role of "My Hellions kill 1/3 of your drones". Instead we're trying to achieve something along the line of "I'll scare you so much that you won't even have 1/3 of the drones you'd like to have".

To do that we utilize certain strategies:

0. The Generel Idea of moving out

Biggest fear in the Protoss mind in PvZ is "Oh my god, if I leave my base I get swarmed to death". Well, you are either doing a.) a Stargate opening (Which will make you know whats going on, so you don't have to worry) b.) a DT opening (refer to a.)) or you are going for a sentry heavy expansion.

And in that last case a lot of players are scared to lose their sentries, but actually thats not neccessary. With the FFs from 6+ Sentries you are able to close off your path on nearly any map to make for a safe retreat. So whenever you encounter a zerg army thats too much to handle then just throw down a couple of FFs and retreat. This should give you much more security in moving out of your base and this is really important for whats coming.

1. Deny Map Control

Regularly the Zerg tries to get a good read on what you're doing with spreaded units and Xel'Naga-Towers. Some Zerglings will wait in front of your choke, an Overlord sitts over your third and he's devoted to get the Xel'Naga-Tower. Clear those out! Always dart at least a little bit out of your base, try to clean up every spotter you can find and go to the Xel'Naga-Towers regularly (If the Zerg tries to ambush you then refer to 0.).

What you are doing with this is you're denying the Zerg knowledge - and he needs this knowledge to judge when and how much units he needs to get to be safe from your attacks.

2. Clear out creep


As soon as you get your first Observer it is neccessary that you start to push back the Zergs creep. Try to kill as many of the tumors as possible - I regularly use three stalkers for that with the Observer slightly ahead of those so I can retreat with them quick enough to my army that should be at a utilizable choke (e.g. at Xel'Naga Caverns I leave my army behind the rocks of my gold expansion while my Stalkers clean out the Tumors around the Towers).

3. Fake pushing

Whenever you go to clean out Xel'Naga Towers you can dart in the general direction of the Zerg, utilizing your FFs to get away if he tries to overwhelm you, from time to time it can be a good idea to let the Zerg have a Tower just to let him see how you march in his generel direction (The effect of this gets multiplied when you bring a probe along and slap down a proxy pylon in front of his base).

4. Any Harrassment that your build offers

Phoenix, DT, Blinkstalker, Immortaldrops, you name it. Whatever your build offers you to play around with can be used


*****
EU GML P | Check my Stream (with commentary!) -> www.twitch.tv/xFelo
eTcetRa
Profile Joined November 2010
Australia822 Posts
June 05 2011 15:19 GMT
#2
Very good write-up on the role of harassment in PvZ, it certainly helped me today.

Previously my PvZ win ratio would be about 20-25% compared to my PvT of 80-85%, and nearly as good PvP, and i was stuck in the mindset which you mentioned in point zero. And now i won half my PvZ (ladder games my zerg friend still wrecks me).

Thanks again!
Retired Mapmaker™
Chef
Profile Blog Joined August 2005
10810 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-06-05 15:30:22
June 05 2011 15:29 GMT
#3
That's just a list of a few things you can do (some of which aren't even harassment). It doesn't really talk about the role of harassment. Role of harassment is generally to attack your opponent's concentration, disrupt his game-flow, and overall make the game more interesting.

Think about the word "harassment." It actually means what it means for StarCraft and for the real world. You are trying to be as annoying as possible.
LEGEND!! LEGEND!!
Felo
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Germany392 Posts
June 05 2011 15:57 GMT
#4
Hello Chef,

I guess "Ways of Harrasment" would have been a better title but I always sucked at finding good and descriptive titles ^^

As you said Harrassment is utilized to get the Zerg away from what hes planning to do - that is getting up the strongest possible economy at point X (which is the last moment where he's not threatened) to pump out enough units to hold your push at point Y (Which is when your units arrive at his base).

Harrasing from the Protoss PoV always tries to mess with the timing of X and Y and thus hurting the game plan and the economical plans of the Zerg - instead of going to kill something specific in the Zerg base or instead of diverting away the Zergs army you are trying to cut into his production capabilities to prevent those threats from showing up.

And in that sense everything that gets the Zerg away from doing "his thing" is harrassment in my book.

(Of course all of this is tailored to early game, in the mid- or even lategame a new spectrum of possibilites arises as implied in point 4.)

@Holiver - Thank you, keep up the good work
EU GML P | Check my Stream (with commentary!) -> www.twitch.tv/xFelo
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 20m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
WinterStarcraft752
Nina 77
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 7672
Horang2 1150
Zeus 193
scan(afreeca) 133
EffOrt 84
actioN 70
Aegong 60
yabsab 52
Mong 29
Bale 21
League of Legends
JimRising 604
Counter-Strike
m0e_tv623
ceh9429
shoxiejesuss291
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King110
Other Games
summit1g11700
PiGStarcraft1157
Happy297
crisheroes202
Sick72
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick705
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 64
lovetv 8
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH275
• LUISG 9
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Lourlo1399
• Rush1375
• Stunt431
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
1h 20m
WardiTV Spring Champion…
3h 20m
OSC
5h 20m
Maestros of the Game
7h 50m
Serral vs Percival
SHIN vs ShoWTimE
Replay Cast
16h 20m
Replay Cast
1d 1h
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
1d 7h
Maestros of the Game
1d 7h
Clem vs Lambo
Zoun vs SKillous
Replay Cast
1d 16h
Replay Cast
2 days
Solar vs Classic
[ Show More ]
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
2 days
Grudge Match
2 days
FlaShFTW vs A.Alm
OSC
2 days
GSL
3 days
herO vs Rogue
Maru vs Cure
Patches Events
3 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
3 days
BSL
3 days
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Kung Fu Cup
6 days
Maestros of the Game
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

KK 2v2 League Season 1
RSL Revival: Season 5
Heroes Pulsing #1

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
SCTL 2026 Spring
WardiTV Spring 2026
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
Murky Cup 2026
Heroes Pulsing #2
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026

Upcoming

BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Heroes Pulsing #3
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.