• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 22:58
CET 04:58
KST 12:58
  • 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
[ASL22] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!12[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
Weekly Cups (Oct 26 - Nov 1): MaxPax, herO, Solar win0Weekly Cups (October 19-25): Clem triples first in 5.0.175Evil Geniuses - shutting down23ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier7Weekly Cups (October 12-18): 5.0.17 era begins1
StarCraft 2
General
[D] Hacker peak in sc2 ? No more SC2 streamers on team liquid? Username Change Request - Toxickej Kapr Liquibets sc2 season 30 Evil Geniuses - shutting down
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament WardiTV Mondays ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20) RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
Starcraft 2 Advance [D] the control group Simple Questions/Answers [G] How to playtest arcade maps
External Content
Mutation # 550 Graveyard Shift The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 549 Endless Sparkles Mutation # 548 Shining Bright
Brood War
General
SC4ALL II Brood War Complete Invited Player Lineup Rollback Netcode in Brood War BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Sagi.gg Launcher Released Top Players of October 2026 (EBPD Rankings)
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4 [Mixed-Gender CK] Rush+4 vs Best+4 [BSL23] RO24 Group F - Sunday 21:00 CET
Strategy
50,000-Word Terran Builds Memo 2026-10-22 Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Deus Ex 3!? Nintendo Switch Thread Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Armies of Exigo - YesYes?
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25!
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread The Chess Thread
Fan Clubs
Fan Club Resource Thread Reynor Fan Club The Flash Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Why I built Repalyzer (1.1.…
BlueStar
Innovate or Game Over?
TrAiDoS
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 29557 users

Ranking Builds By Difficulty

Blogs > Suichoy
Post a Reply
Suichoy
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
Canada397 Posts
December 09 2011 12:33 GMT
#1
HardMacro's blog about comparing Starcraft to playing an instrument started me thinking. Piano pieces are ranked by difficulty. Thus, when you qualify for a certain level, you know what pieces are accessible to you and what pieces are beyond you. I think the same can apply to builds in Starcraft 2.

In Liquipedia, builds are categorized only by match-up and whether or not they are "cheese". But I notice that:

1) With regards to fOrGG's hellion-banshee build and MMA's mass drops playstyle, it is commonly remarked that these builds are accessible to these players only as they have superior multi-tasking.
2) The TL philosophy that you can improve at a low level through macro only assumes that low-level players are best off doing builds that do not rely on pressure or multi-tasking.

So people are thinking about it. But I guess there are two reasons why we haven't categorized the builds yet. One, there isn't much teaching literature and all the teachers are busy trying to be pro-gamers. Two, Starcraft 2 is young and not that many builds are discovered yet.

So I'll just go ahead and give my tentative grading of some common Terran openers.

Bronze-Gold: 3 Rax, BFH Drop
Platinum-Diamond: 1 Rax FE, 2 Rax, 1-1-1 Siege,
Masters: Banshee Expand, Reactor Hellion, Reaper Expand

How would you categorize the builds?

*
Caliber
Profile Joined August 2010
United States598 Posts
December 09 2011 12:42 GMT
#2
1-1-1 is pretty hard to pull off. id put it in GM level
FinestHour
Profile Joined August 2010
United States18466 Posts
December 09 2011 12:51 GMT
#3
This is just going to end up being a fat list of random answers with not much real discussion. And some totally opinion based arguments here and there, i can already see some protoss player angrily disagreeing to what the person above me said.
thug life.                                                       MVP/ex-
how
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States538 Posts
December 09 2011 13:19 GMT
#4
On December 09 2011 21:42 Caliber wrote:
1-1-1 is pretty hard to pull off. id put it in GM level


Way to add to to the thread.

I think it is an intersting question though. It is easy to say that 4gate can be done by anyone, and that you need to be really good to hellion FE, but I would be interested to see what people consider the gold-plat-diamond apropriate builds.
http://twitter.com/howsc
Emporio
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States3069 Posts
December 09 2011 13:29 GMT
#5
I think it's a bit naive to call any build Bronze-Silver, because if a player was capable of competently pulling off a non-stupid build, they wouldn't be in those leagues. I've seen Silver players 4gate and attack at after 7 minutes and still win because the opponent was even worse with their build.

Sure, 4gate is simple, so a low level player can make the buildings in the right order, but they definitely cannot actually do it right.


Even something like 6pool, does the fact that a better player can micro the lings and win games a Bronze player couldn't make it a Bronze build or a Masters build? Because on the one hand, it's so simple a bronze can do the build, and even make the pool at the perfect time, but perhaps only a Masters player has the micro to win against certain builds.
How does it feel knowing you wasted another 3 seconds of your life reading this again?
Itsmedudeman
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States19229 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-12-09 13:42:25
December 09 2011 13:42 GMT
#6
Certain rushes have different levels of exection, and that includes 4 gate and 1-1-1. Hero would probably hold a 1-1-1 from any foreign terran, and a 4 gate executed correctly can take you a long ways. A 4 gate from MC and a 4 gate from some high masters player are completely different.

But generally the hardest builds are ones that require a lot of harass and micro.
mizU
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States12125 Posts
December 09 2011 14:56 GMT
#7
I think you should incorporate follow-up versus execution of opener...
if happy ever afters did exist <3 @watamizu_
Deleted User 61629
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
1664 Posts
December 09 2011 15:04 GMT
#8
--- Nuked ---
AimlessAmoeba
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Canada704 Posts
December 09 2011 15:34 GMT
#9
Reactor Hellion is absolutely not a masters-level build. It isn't that difficult to swap a rax/fax and time out your tech.

Although I suppose the masters skill shines through when you know how to properly followup that build. Then again, maybe I just see the build a lot because I play zerg and every terran thinks that they're MMA when they play a zerg.
Mazaire
Profile Joined July 2011
Australia217 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-12-09 15:40:10
December 09 2011 15:39 GMT
#10
Well anyone can do a build, but its how good you do the build. for example anyone can ling muta, but a bronze player isn't going to macro and multi task as well as a GM player. Same thing goes for the six pool. you can six pool at a bronze level or a GM level, it really depends of a few things like control, game awareness, macro and multitasking.

i mean yeah a GM 6 pool might hit at the same time a plat one would, but the GM followup will be at a GM level, not a plat level. I feel this applys to EVERY strategy.
"No matter what event you go to there are so many koreans, like a swarm. Even if you beat three or four, there are like 10 others waiting." - Socke
SlimeBagly
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
356 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-12-09 18:38:58
December 09 2011 18:38 GMT
#11
pff.

Anyone that thinks reactor hellion is hard to pull off should have to try defending it as zerg.
mutalisks are awesome!
Blazinghand *
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States25563 Posts
December 09 2011 18:42 GMT
#12
On December 09 2011 21:33 Suichoy wrote:
Bronze-Gold: 3 Rax, BFH Drop
Platinum-Diamond: 1 Rax FE, 2 Rax, 1-1-1 Siege,
Masters: Banshee Expand, Reactor Hellion, Reaper Expand

How would you categorize the builds?


I mean, I guess it really depends what you mean. Is a BFH drop solid in bronze-gold? Sure, most people will react poorly, or slowly, and lose all their scvs. However, any sort of quick drop and hellion control is really hard, because hellions are quick, their flame is difficult to aim, and are pretty bad unmicrod.

3 Rax stim is pretty easy to execute though.

2 Rax pressure, Reactor hellion, Reaper expo, and banshee -> expand all fall into the category of "I'm doing something and i'm also expanding" which is very difficult. That being said, all of these builds are builds I'd recommend to people in the lower leagues because they're all pretty solid and safe, with the exception of banshee expand which requires you micro the hell out of a banshee without losing it or letting macro slip.

1-1-1 is easy, though. I'd consider this build and its variants to be viable all the way down to the lowest level. When I was first learning how to play, doing this build felt so much more natural than pressure builds, expo builds, or low-tech all-ins, because it dumps gas easily and lets you use high-tech, sweet units.
When you stare into the iCCup, the iCCup stares back.
TL+ Member
Alejandrisha
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States6566 Posts
December 09 2011 19:21 GMT
#13
we have threads about how difficult it is to follow orders of constructing buildings and we wonder why the koreans are running circles around our bitchasses
get rich or die mining
TL+ Member
jimminy_kriket
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Canada5546 Posts
December 09 2011 20:46 GMT
#14
lol well said
life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery
Zorkmid
Profile Joined November 2008
4410 Posts
December 09 2011 20:56 GMT
#15
On December 10 2011 04:21 Alejandrisha wrote:
we have threads about how difficult it is to follow orders of constructing buildings and we wonder why the koreans are running circles around our bitchasses


모든 래더 포인트와 대회 경품 돈들을 우리에게 속해있다.

User was temp banned for this post.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
OSC
08:00
OSC Elite Rising Star #21
CranKy Ducklings SOOP33
CranKy Ducklings24
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
WinterStarcraft323
RuFF_SC2 157
EnDerr 7
StarCraft: Brood War
Rain 2761
GuemChi 1849
Artosis 517
ProTech148
Dewaltoss 41
Force[name] 8
Dota 2
monkeys_forever594
League of Legends
Doublelift5734
Counter-Strike
taco 640
Other Games
summit1g9683
singsing1466
Coldzera 848
JimRising 576
C9.Mang0308
XaKoH 289
Maynarde109
ViBE73
NeuroSwarm71
Fuzer 34
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV156
Counter-Strike
PGL115
[ Show 11 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• davetesta27
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Laughngamez YouTube
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Lourlo303
Upcoming Events
IntoTheTV X SOOP
1d 7h
Reynor vs Solar
ByuN vs SHIN
Clem vs MaxPax
herO vs Rogue
IPSL
1d 13h
WorsT vs nOmaD
Dewalt vs andersOn
AI Arena Tournament
1d 15h
IntoTheTV X SOOP
2 days
IPSL
2 days
Azhi_Dahaki vs ggnore13
Double vs WIZARD
Replay Cast
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
YoungYakov vs Lambo
SHIN vs TBD
Percival vs Shameless
Solar vs TBD
PiGosaur Cup
4 days
[ Show More ]
The PondCast
6 days
KCM Race Survival
6 days
WardiTV Invitational
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-11-04
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HCC Season 3

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
International ShieldBattery League
BSL Season 23
IPSL Winter 2026-27
Calamity Cup Div. A Season 8
IEM Beijing 2026
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026

Upcoming

Sector 951
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Underdog Cup 2026 Div 2-3
PGL Bucharest 2027
BLAST Bounty Winter 2027
eXTREMESLAND 2026
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 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.