• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 13:12
CET 18:12
KST 02:12
  • 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
[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy7ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT30Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book20Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289
Community News
Weekly Cups (March 16-22): herO doubles, Cure surprises3Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool48Weekly Cups (March 9-15): herO, Clem, ByuN win42026 KungFu Cup Announcement6BGE Stara Zagora 2026 cancelled12
StarCraft 2
General
What mix of new & old maps do you want in the next ladder pool? (SC2) Potential Updates Coming to the SC2 CN Server Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL Season 4 announced for March-April StarCraft Evolution League (SC Evo Biweekly) WardiTV Mondays World University TeamLeague (500$+) | Signups Open
Strategy
Custom Maps
[M] (2) Frigid Storage Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026]
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 518 Radiation Zone Mutation # 517 Distant Threat Mutation # 516 Specter of Death
Brood War
General
RepMastered™: replay sharing and analyzer site ASL21 General Discussion KK Platform will provide 1 million CNY Recent recommended BW games Gypsy to Korea
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro24 Group C [ASL21] Ro24 Group A [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Ro24 Group B
Strategy
What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
General RTS Discussion Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Darkest Dungeon Path of Exile
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
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
TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion!
Sports
Formula 1 Discussion 2024 - 2026 Football Thread Cricket [SPORT] Tokyo Olympics 2021 Thread General nutrition recommendations
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
[G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Money Laundering In Video Ga…
TrAiDoS
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
FS++
Kraekkling
Shocked by a laser…
Spydermine0240
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1131 users

3 Rax play sustainable?

Blogs > LantisPlay
Post a Reply
LantisPlay
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Singapore53 Posts
December 12 2011 03:15 GMT
#1
I don't know what do you guys feel about my play, that was a win against a Gold terran.

I'd fare okay if it's a bio vs bio battle. FE is still very shaky and I'm not sure of it.

The question here would be if this 3 Rax build can sustain me for long. (i.e. Till higher leagues) or is the 3 rax opening just a build for beginners? Because I'm pretty comfortable with this opening. The expansion timing may be slightly longer, but I feel that with this I'm able to macro better and I feel more organised. Compared to if I go for reactor hellions or reaper, my macro would not slip as much if I go for 3 Rax.

Of course, if 3 Rax isn't the way to go for higher league play, I'll go back to learn a new build that's more

Any comments or ideas on how much more can I improve? Mechanics and macro wise that is... Also a bit on decision making.

Replay is here
http://mediafire.com/download.php?1ouhe47shye8h7g

Thanks a lot in advance!



*
vnlegend
Profile Blog Joined December 2006
United States1389 Posts
December 12 2011 03:34 GMT
#2
Would only recommend it against Protoss really. 3 rax is easily beatable with Zerg or Terran.

I'd suggest hellion/marauder as another build to learn, although it's not as good against Terran because of banshees. You'd start with 1 barracks, 1 gas. Make 3 marines, then a Factory and reactor on rax. Make a tech lab on Factory after it's done, then swap addons and make hellions/marauders, research stim. Keep the enemy in the dark with hellions to control the map and attack at the earliest opportunity (don't always wait for stim). You transition out of this by switching the factory back on the tech lab, and build tank/marines + expand or more barracks.
Marines > everything
TG Manny
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
United States325 Posts
December 12 2011 03:38 GMT
#3
You may want to consider 2rax and 1rax openers. Both of them are good economic openers, the former being able to apply some early pressure and the latter being extremely versatile.

I'd say learn 1-rax first, just to be able to read openers more consistently. 1-rax can hold ANYTHING given you scout what the opponent is doing well enough to react (how many bunkers? should I add a rax to defend earlier 1 base allins? etc) and then 2-rax can apply pressure to greedier builds like Hatch first v Z with a stim timing or early drop.

Singularity is at hand...
LantisPlay
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Singapore53 Posts
December 12 2011 03:58 GMT
#4
Thanks for the advice! I'll try out both of them soon.
TG Manny
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
United States325 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-12-12 04:01:56
December 12 2011 04:01 GMT
#5
Hey Lantis! I'm a silver terran and I'd like to just practice and imbue a few things that have made me successful lately to implement on how you think about the game. I'm probably about to rank up once my winrate stabilizes.

char code 140.
Singularity is at hand...
AcrossFiveJulys
Profile Blog Joined September 2005
United States3612 Posts
December 12 2011 05:29 GMT
#6
Hmmm, if you're already doing 3 rax which is essentially allin, why not 4 rax instead?
Fishgle
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
United States2174 Posts
December 12 2011 05:53 GMT
#7
All players of all ranks appreciate some good cheese!
aka ChillyGonzalo / GnozL
Azzur
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Australia6260 Posts
December 12 2011 06:36 GMT
#8
This is my opinion, and will probably be contrary to what alot of advice that people are going to give you (i.e. play a more economic focused game).

The 3-rax opening is not a great one but it will probably sustain you till the low Diamond levels against all races. In my opinion, refining and executing a build (even one as overly-aggressive as 3-rax) will give the biggest improvement results-wise for low-level players. Eventually you'll reach a plateau and it'll be a lot of frustration trying to advance further but at least you'll be much further up than where you started.

If you wish to advance to Masters and beyond, you'll need to play a more economic focused opening. You can try a 1-rax FE, 2-rax FE or 1-1-1 expand, etc. However, should you decide to choose this path, you'll encounter some pain and may even get demoted when you relearn everything that you currently know. After that, you'll face an arduous path but your potential ceiling will be higher. However, you may not really want to achieve this.

Thus, in my opinion, since you're not really at the top echelons right now, it's better to stick with my former advice, and play the 3-rax until you can do it in your sleep. You'll most likely enjoy the game alot more, rather than trying a more economic focused play and giving the game up in frustration.
jjhchsc2
Profile Joined December 2010
Korea (South)2393 Posts
December 12 2011 07:08 GMT
#9
On December 12 2011 14:29 AcrossFiveJulys wrote:
Hmmm, if you're already doing 3 rax which is essentially allin, why not 4 rax instead?


or 6 rax
Lee Ssang/ Lee Shin/ Kim Jung Woo/ Kim Min Chul/Jun Tae Yang/Park Soo Ho/Lee Jung Hoon/Choi Sung Hoon/ Moon Sung Won/Park Ji Soo/ Lee Ho Joon/ Jang Min Chul/ Kim Seung Chul/SaSe/IdrA/Ret Fighting! BW4Life
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
PSISTORM Gaming Misc
15:30
FSL s10 FINALS! PTB vs POG
Freeedom38
Liquipedia
Platinum Heroes Events
15:00
PHSC2 Tour S26 Cup #2
SteadfastSC210
CranKy Ducklings111
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SteadfastSC 210
gerald23 28
trigger 20
SC2Nice 16
IndyStarCraft 9
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 37660
Jaedong 1455
Mini 808
Shuttle 353
EffOrt 311
Soma 281
firebathero 163
hero 105
Soulkey 82
Light 37
[ Show more ]
sSak 35
Hm[arnc] 24
GoRush 20
Movie 18
yabsab 12
Terrorterran 10
IntoTheRainbow 9
SilentControl 9
Dota 2
Gorgc7810
qojqva1747
League of Legends
Reynor57
Counter-Strike
fl0m4245
byalli426
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox300
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor567
Liquid`Hasu397
Trikslyr53
MindelVK19
Other Games
FrodaN5682
ArmadaUGS2059
Grubby1870
B2W.Neo793
mouzStarbuck160
KnowMe147
Fuzer 115
Beastyqt82
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1785
StarCraft 2
ComeBackTV 689
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 22 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• EnkiAlexander 48
• Shameless 38
• musti20045 18
• printf 7
• CranKy Ducklings SOOP4
• sooper7s
• Migwel
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• IndyKCrew
• Kozan
• intothetv
• AfreecaTV YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
• Airneanach44
• blackmanpl 30
• Michael_bg 4
• Pr0nogo 1
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos2066
Other Games
• imaqtpie292
• Shiphtur117
Upcoming Events
BSL
2h 48m
RSL Revival
16h 48m
ByuN vs Maru
MaxPax vs TriGGeR
WardiTV Team League
18h 48m
BSL
1d 1h
Replay Cast
1d 6h
Replay Cast
1d 15h
Afreeca Starleague
1d 16h
Light vs Calm
Royal vs Mind
Wardi Open
1d 17h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 22h
OSC
2 days
[ Show More ]
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
Afreeca Starleague
2 days
Rush vs PianO
Flash vs Speed
Replay Cast
3 days
Afreeca Starleague
3 days
BeSt vs Leta
Queen vs Jaedong
Replay Cast
4 days
The PondCast
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-03-27
WardiTV Winter 2026
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
CSL Elite League 2026
CSL Season 20: Qualifier 1
ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
2026 Changsha Offline CUP
StarCraft2 Community Team League 2026 Spring
RSL Revival: Season 4
Nations Cup 2026
NationLESS Cup
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual

Upcoming

CSL Season 20: Qualifier 2
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
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.