• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 10:46
CEST 16:46
KST 23:46
  • 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] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Rough Waters10
Community News
Rollback Netcode in Brood War825.0.17 Patch Notes - October 7, 202621Weekly Cups Results (Sep 28-Oct 4)0SC4ALL: II SC2 Complete Invited Player Lineup10StarCraft II 5.0.17 PTR Patch Notes (Sept 30, 2026)78
StarCraft 2
General
ESL Pro Tour for SC2 discontinued [Old] StarCraft 3 Reportedly in Development 5.0.17 Patch Notes - October 7, 2026 StarCraft II 5.0.17 PTR Patch Notes (Sept 30, 2026) How do you feel about the mass reverts in the 5.0.17 PTR?
Tourneys
ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier RSL 2026 Offline Finals LCQ Sign-Ups $3,500 WardiTV Not-Summer Championship ScienceCraft (October 24-25) - Live Event Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20)
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[M] (2) Sweltering Sands [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
Mutation # 547 Temple Of Terror Mutation # 546 Catch the Train The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 545 And Drops and Rifts
Brood War
General
Sagi.gg Launcher Released ASL FINALS HYPE VIDEO 2X Visiting korea this week Repalyzer - replay analysis app for StarCraft: Rem BW General Discussion
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL22] Semifinal A [ASL22] Semifinal B [ASL22] Ro8 Day 4
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Replay Review Process - What do you do?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Total Annihilation Zero
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
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Canadian Politics Mega-thread Artificial Intelligence Thread
Fan Clubs
Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion! Diablo Animated Series on Netflix
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
The Link Between Gaming and …
TrAiDoS
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
38 yo Retired SWE loo…
PurE)Rabbit-SF
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
[meme] I finally understa…
LUCKY_NOOB
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 12879 users

Trying out Mech in TvP - Page 2

Blogs > MythLastbil
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 All
RoboBob
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States798 Posts
January 08 2012 19:52 GMT
#21
You can't do pure mech in TvP like you can in TvZ and TvT. You need to mix in a little extra to make viable. This was evident in even the mech D9D, where Day9 was talking up Banshees (aka Skymech) as being import to making mech work.

The only two mech styles I've seen work decently are Goody-style Ghostmech, and Jinro-style Skymech. Both of which involve leaning on Marine/Marauder to secure an FE, and then switching over to full mech instead of upgrading their bio. However keep in mind that both pros now mostly play bio TvP because its easier.

The main problem with mech TvP is that the Hellion is only good for killing Zealots. If the P doesn't make Zealots you're kinda screwed. Also, the natural counter to mech is Robo. And Protoss open Robo all the time in PvT.
happyft
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States470 Posts
January 08 2012 23:59 GMT
#22
I too got really frustrated with bio-based play getting owned by colossus/templar, so I experimented with reactor rax CC into full mech builds tvp several months ago. Worked really well up until mid masters where I got dismantled by colossus cliffing and blink stalker harass, so I switched back to bio-based, and did really well with just pure macro mechanics. And then I just got raped by deathball again, so now I'm back to trying out mech again haha

Well, the first two times I've tried it today, I've won. The first replay is a Shattered Temple KOTH, my mech tvp is the first match, against a high diamond toss. The second is a ladder on Shakuras against a 500 masters toss.

http://www.mediafire.com/?nhsp88c6qyxbx4a
http://www.mediafire.com/?age278708p2sum9

As you can see in the replays, I play a pretty greedy 1 rax CC into 2 fact opening, but I'm still able to fend off 3 gate pressure in both games, holding on until my first tank pops out. I think I might adjust this to getting 1 fact and then a reactor on rax just in case I need to pump marines. Also, my build might just auto-lose against a void-ray 3 gate all-in/pressure build, but hardly anyone does that these days.

I'm basically aiming to get 4 facts up (2 reactor 2 tech lab) on 2 base, and go for an attack while I secure my third. When my third kicks in, I begin getting mech attack upgrade, reactor starport, and ghost academy before I add another 2 facts. (I aim for 2 facts/base). I also put down several turrets when I move out because that third gives you a sick ton of excess minerals.

Also, for tank spread, arc is quintessential. You actually want to minimize the depth of your tank line, and maximize your arc for optimal results. This can be pretty tricky because if your arc is not positioned well (depends GREATLY on the map), the toss might be able to figure out a way to engage your tank line without taking fire from some of your tanks. It's actually ok to clump your tanks somewhat. (Don't believe me? Test it yourself in unit testers)

Hope this helps!
Bommes
Profile Joined June 2010
Germany1226 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-02-02 17:36:55
February 02 2012 17:31 GMT
#23
Okay, one more time I'm posting in a TvP mech thread. Hope its fine for me to bump this thread.

Note that I only recently started to play again and I think that the current trend for most Protosses to take Fast Expansions really helps mech play. I'm not saying that mech is viable on the highest level of play, and to be fair I seriously doubt it, but I have a lot of fun playing mech and in contrast to bio I always feel that I can do stuff better in order to win.

I uploaded a replaypack of my TvP yesterday and today, maybe someone will find it useful. The level of play is in the 650-850 points master ranks (so pretty bad), note that I'm still playing my points up and haven't hit any wall yet, in some of the replays I felt that I was just mechanically better than my opponents. I always use the same build, although it is a really bumpy build and I'm not 100% sure how to order things correctly. It goes 12 rax 13 gas (with 1 or 2 workers in it, stop mining after ~50-150 gas, not sure what is best), 14-15 scout, build 2 marines and get reactor, then command center, build a bunker at ramp. After that its time to get second gas and 2 factories. The followup pretty much depends on what you scouted earlier, if there is 2 gas and you weren't able to scout an expansion (or for certain saw that there is no expansion) you have to get 1 factory into tank first, also dont stop marine production. If you already saw an expansion, swap reactor to factory and build hellions, 2nd factory and tech lab on rax.

The key to my strategy is to never stop hellion production until you get into the later stages of the game (~150 supply). Everything else is based on what I see the protoss doing while poking with my hellions. Hellions have a huge amount of advantages in TvP:
- They basically contain the Protoss in the early game if he goes robo tech
- You can poke regularly without losing a lot of units. This is basically a free scan because you see their unit composition, so its fine to lose a couple of hellions while doing it.
- They absolutely destroy Sentries and HTs
- Once you get to high unit numbers they vaporize zealots and are on a pretty even footage against stalkers because of splash and low stalker damage
- Protoss has to build a lot of buildingwalls to be safe from poking and harassing hellions in the midgame
- Possibility of drops in the midgame
- They build incredibly fast. I mean REALLY fast. They almost build as fast as marines.

Disadvantages:
- Losing track or getting out of positiong with your big chunk of hellions in the main fight can lose the game instantly
- Die very fast (esp. to Colossi and Archons)
- Once you get to low numbers (<8) they are useless against anything but zealots/sentries/hts
- Lack of good Anti Air in the Mech composition means a lot of turrets in the midgame

Also I regularly get 1 more Orbital Command than I have active bases. Having a lot of MULEs and Scans really profits mech, because you have to get as much out of your bases as possible and you need scans a lot once you push. Also once you push its nice to reproduce a lot of workers which were lost in the fight. One of the most important things is to get rid of observers asap because it hurts the Robo Production a lot and as very few Protoss play against mech regularly it will also make them very nervous if they don't see what you are doing and when hellions are moving out.

The most important thing to acknowledge is right in the early game. You basically have to fear 2 different things: Immortals and blink Stalkers. Blink Stalkers+Colossi are the worst thing EVER to face with mech and against a good opponent it will be an auto loss on many maps where the cliff to your main base is not protectable from all angles (like Shattered Temple). I played a TvP yesterday against very aggressive blink stalker on Shattered Temple play and I lost it right away, sadly the replay is not stored in the Recent archive so I lost it But you always absolutely and firstly have to count their stalker numbers. If they have solely stalkers in the early game, PREPARE for it. Also start thor production very early, don't bother trying to defend stalkers with tanks. Your big advantage is that you have a huge push window in the midgame if you are able to defend their harass, because stalkers are one of the worst units against a mech ball and only like 2 thors with scvs repairing can hold a base quite well against pure stalkers. Also if you see them getting a lot of stalkers very early I'm experimenting with using the techlab rax (which is meant for ghosts in the mid game) for some marauder production early on. Not sure how that would turn out, haven't faced a lot of blink stalker protosses yet (but I'm sure I will once I get higher).

Immortals are dangerous in a way that they can catch you offguard very fast and just bust through your lines extremely fast and you lose immediately. If they go Immortals, always keep track of where they are heading, don't get caught offguard. Thats one of the biggest reasons I never stop hellion production in the early and midgame. Also hellions are just good at deflecting a lot of stuff like Warp Prism harass or Chargelot warpins all around the map. Once you get a lot of hellions you can also deal with stalkers. Also, if they have robo tech: You will lose the fight hardcore if you don't prepare it exactly the way you want it to be. Your ghosts have to be positioned properly, your hellions have to poke in all the time and you can't afford to get flanked.

Replaypack:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/9962/TvP_Replaypack.rar

Tell me what you think after you watched the replays I know they are still pretty low level replays, but I think the strategy can work up to 1000 points in master for me and there is so much that can be improved, so I'm pretty sure someone with better mechanics and better game sense could get far using it. I agree to avilo that the main problem of mech is that it is hardcore exploitable and there are a lot of problems that hellions cant solve, but I still think that hellions are the answer in TvP.
The biggest problem of mech is that you have to respond very fast to different protoss techs and thats why the hellion is crucial. I haven't had a lot of trouble in my TvP games so far, as soon as I will hit a wall I can upload more losses of my strategy if some ppl here are interested.
Prev 1 2 All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 20h 15m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Liquid`TLO 282
OGKoka 243
RotterdaM 190
ProTech151
LamboSC2 148
Codebar 20
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 4396
Shuttle 2491
Bisu 1647
Jaedong 930
EffOrt 901
Mini 670
actioN 560
firebathero 402
Larva 375
Rush 331
[ Show more ]
Light 251
ZerO 213
Soulkey 204
Snow 200
Pusan 72
sorry 59
Sharp 51
Mong 39
Terrorterran 28
ToSsGirL 27
Trap 27
yabsab 23
Killer 21
Sexy 20
Shinee 19
Aegong 18
Hm[arnc] 14
Noble 11
scan(afreeca) 10
zelot 10
Dota 2
Gorgc7431
qojqva2217
Dendi1629
XaKoH 540
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King83
Other Games
singsing2780
hiko1094
B2W.Neo649
dupreeh501
Pyrionflax319
byalli319
crisheroes300
Liquid`VortiX264
Hui .236
KnowMe220
ToD143
QueenE78
Trikslyr22
ZerO(Twitch)16
ceh90
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 1517
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hinosc 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• ChaeLyn 6
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Nemesis2959
Other Games
• Shiphtur74
Upcoming Events
WardiTV Weekly
20h 15m
PiGosaur Cup
1d 9h
Kung Fu Cup
1d 20h
The PondCast
2 days
Online Event
3 days
Korean StarCraft League
4 days
Afreeca Starleague
4 days
Rush vs Soulkey
CranKy Ducklings
4 days
BSL Open Qualifier
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
[ Show More ]
BSL Open Qualifier
6 days
WardiTV Weekly
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #5 - GSB
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Copium Cup

Ongoing

ASL Season 22
Super Anchor Qualifying S3
Acropolis #5
HCC Season 3
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
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026

Upcoming

Acropolis #5 - GSC
BSL Season 23
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
eXTREMESLAND 2026
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
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.