• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 18:46
CET 00:46
KST 08:46
  • 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
ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT25Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book17Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8
Community News
Weekly Cups (Feb 9-15): herO doubles up2ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/0241LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16)46Weekly Cups (Feb 2-8): Classic, Solar, MaxPax win2Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker16
StarCraft 2
General
Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT Liquipedia WCS Portal Launched Kaelaris on the futue of SC2 and much more... How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game?
Tourneys
PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament StarCraft Evolution League (SC Evo Biweekly) How do the "codes" work in GSL? LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ? [A] Starcraft Sound Mod
External Content
Mutation # 514 Ulnar New Year The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 513 Attrition Warfare Mutation # 512 Overclocked
Brood War
General
A new season just kicks off A cwal.gg Extension - Easily keep track of anyone Do you consider PvZ imbalanced? Recent recommended BW games BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 1 Small VOD Thread 2.0 KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Zealot bombing is no longer popular? Fighting Spirit mining rates Current Meta
Other Games
General Games
Diablo 2 thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread ZeroSpace Megathread Path of Exile
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 TL Mafia Community Thread Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas
Community
General
Mexico's Drug War US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Ask and answer stupid questions here!
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TL MMA Pick'em Pool 2013
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Inside the Communication of …
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2225 users

TvZ - Flash's 5 Factory Goliath Build Order

Forum Index > BW General
Post a Reply
SCWes
Profile Joined May 2018
Canada74 Posts
August 14 2019 12:52 GMT
#1
Here is a picture of it.

Here is an excel version with other builds (go to TvZ tab at the bottom)

Thanks to JinJin5000 for the translation of Flash's guide
Liquid`Drone
Profile Joined September 2002
Norway28743 Posts
August 14 2019 12:58 GMT
#2
very good job! thanks!
Moderator
iFU.spx
Profile Joined April 2011
Russian Federation376 Posts
August 14 2019 12:59 GMT
#3
awesome work!
Highgamer
Profile Joined October 2015
1448 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-08-14 15:53:38
August 14 2019 15:53 GMT
#4
Thx

Why does the build (or mb mech TvZ in general) use plating first instead of attack upgrade? Because it's better against muta-bounce? Gols don't profit too much from attack first because of dmg types?
MeSaber
Profile Joined December 2009
Sweden1235 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-08-14 17:38:44
August 14 2019 17:24 GMT
#5
On August 15 2019 00:53 Highgamer wrote:
Thx

Why does the build (or mb mech TvZ in general) use plating first instead of attack upgrade? Because it's better against muta-bounce? Gols don't profit too much from attack first because of dmg types?


Zerg attacks are: 5 dmg ling. 10 dmg hydra. 9-3-1 dmg muta. All low dmg which would benefit Terran a lot of using Armor.

Terran attacks are: 6 dmg marine (Weapon upgrade clearly is an advantage here as its low dmg), 12 dmg Goliath which doesnt benefit much from +1 dmg vs ground as it wont change the number of shots vs lings nor hydras (12*3= 36, 12*6= 72, 13*6= 78). Armor on the other hand vs Mutas remove 1 dmg per each attacks bounce. 9-3-1 becomes 8-2-0,5 .

A +2 Armor increase to a total of 3 Armor would decrease Muta damage to 6-0,5-0,5. Making the bounce clearly worthless.

As for battling Mutas it would be silly to not use this to your advantage. As when mutas becomes a solid 2-3 groups. They will only be able to kill the unit they aim on and not kill by bounce.

Mutas vs Gols: 8+2+0,5= 10,5 total dmg. 7+1+0,5= 8.5... 6+0,5+0,5= 7... 10,5 to 8.5 to 7. A solid decrease of ~33% with +2 Armor(Total 3).

Max upgraded Mutas and Gols: (Muta dmg: 12-4-1) = 8-0,5-0,5= 9... ~47% decrease in dmg.

Edit: This also explains why Mutas are better off upgrading Armor instead. As the dmg part of air-upgrade is mostly Mutas and as you can see in a late game they would become worthless vs 4 armor and i would argue even vs 3 armor. You would be better off saving the Gas instead and find a way around with defiler/ling/hydra/ultras.
-.-
Liquid`Drone
Profile Joined September 2002
Norway28743 Posts
August 14 2019 17:48 GMT
#6
oh such a blessing to see people write 0.5 for the muta bounces instead of saying 'mutas lose 3 attack per enemy armor'. I was making your post but you made it first, gj!

expanding a tiny bit, armor is great vs everything for goliaths. unupgraded lings go from 4 to 3, mutas go from 8-2-0.5 to 7-1.0.5, hydras from 9 to 8. for lings this means 43 instead of 32 attacks, for hydras it's 16 instead of 14.
Moderator
Highgamer
Profile Joined October 2015
1448 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-08-14 21:27:06
August 14 2019 20:00 GMT
#7
Thx guys. One day I'll sit down and study the BW armor system, rest assured.

edit: On second thought, couldn't one of you sit down and wrap it all up in one nice tutorial-video?
10 min max please, and no charts. And you can skip the bad matchups that don't involve Terran.
Jealous
Profile Blog Joined December 2011
10282 Posts
August 14 2019 22:04 GMT
#8
On August 15 2019 05:00 Highgamer wrote:
Thx guys. One day I'll sit down and study the BW armor system, rest assured.

edit: On second thought, couldn't one of you sit down and wrap it all up in one nice tutorial-video?
10 min max please, and no charts. And you can skip the bad matchups that don't involve Terran.

Lmfao
"The right to vote is only the oar of the slaveship, I wanna be free." -- бум бум сучка!
MeSaber
Profile Joined December 2009
Sweden1235 Posts
August 15 2019 07:58 GMT
#9
The Armor System for "Normal" dmg is just addition/subtraction. Except for the other two dmg types with percentage decreases (Concussive/Explosive).

The lowest dmg that can be done is 0.5. This is also the dmg you take when you are matrix'd. Where 2 shots is 1 dmg. (The Matrix itself has no armor and 200 HP. With low enough dmg you could kill a unit before Matrix is destroyed, which would be 200 shots with 1 dmg, doing 99(.5) dmg to a unit.)

A Marine vs Ling would be just addition/subtraction.

Ghost vs Dragoon. Ghost do Concussive dmg meaning they do 50% final dmg vs Medium units and 25% final dmg vs Large units. Dragoons have Explosive dmg meaning they do 75% final dmg vs Medium units and 50% final dmg vs Small units.

And with "final dmg" i mean the percentage is calculated last.

Ghost +1 wep dmg = 10+1 = 11 * .25 (vs Dragoon(Large)) = 2.75 dmg. Do note the .75 part of the dmg wont show up on your first shot as you can only see integers in the game (whole numbers). The calculation in-game however do remember the fractional dmg and will be applied upon further shots towards the Dragoon. 2.75 * 3 = 8.25. You would see 8 dmg done and not 2.5 * 3 = 7(.5) dmg.

This is also the case with Mutas bounce. A +1 attack upgrade gives 100% upgrade added to main attack, 33(.33)% upgrade to first bounce, and 11(.11)% upgrade to second bounce. For a total of 144.44% value of that +1 upgrade.

So id say a video isnt necessary to explain this. It would only be good for empirical testing.

Which unit is what Size and their dmg type: (Wiki)Unit Statistics
-.-
Highgamer
Profile Joined October 2015
1448 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-08-15 19:13:23
August 15 2019 08:46 GMT
#10
Thx a lot for the explanation, guess I have to study charts after all.

I was joking about the video obviously... I'm not one of those who think they could demand that everything is served on a silver plate here.
But I do think that a large number of players, beginners or such who never really bothered to "study BW", would really appreciate a well made series about this, be it in video format or written with some well arranged charts/statistics.
A tutorial that, like you do, also explains how the system works basically, but more importantly: One that quickly goes through the different matchups (so that people can chose theirs) and sums up why you do or do not build unit X against Y because of how their damage/armor interact, as well as exceptions, where you still build a certain unit as a counter to another for other reasons than the armor/damage-system.

"Then sit down and do it yourself", weeeell......


edit: @SCWes Thx for sharing the excel-sheets. I hope TvP and TvT will get some love there some day, too.
MeSaber
Profile Joined December 2009
Sweden1235 Posts
August 15 2019 13:50 GMT
#11
Keep playing and most comes with experience. Reading numbers/charts really doesnt help without the basic understanding of the game. Its just a bonus really to dish out that last percent of advantage which could have been overlooked.
-.-
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 14m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SpeCial 182
ProTech153
FoxeR 40
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 10246
Artosis 575
GuemChi 336
nyoken 40
Sacsri 12
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm99
LuMiX1
Counter-Strike
taco 199
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King115
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor292
Other Games
summit1g10233
FrodaN2703
Liquid`RaSZi2020
JimRising 556
Maynarde105
KnowMe48
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1627
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 21 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH206
• davetesta69
• musti20045 23
• Adnapsc2 8
• intothetv
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• Migwel
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 32
• RayReign 11
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota2836
League of Legends
• Doublelift3020
• Scarra1539
Other Games
• imaqtpie1529
• Shiphtur167
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
14m
CranKy Ducklings0
Replay Cast
9h 14m
Wardi Open
12h 14m
Monday Night Weeklies
17h 14m
OSC
1d
WardiTV Winter Champion…
1d 12h
Replay Cast
2 days
WardiTV Winter Champion…
2 days
The PondCast
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
[ Show More ]
Korean StarCraft League
5 days
CranKy Ducklings
5 days
SC Evo Complete
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 1st Round
LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Proleague 2026-02-22
WardiTV Winter 2026
PiG Sty Festival 7.0
Nations Cup 2026
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025

Upcoming

Acropolis #4 - TS5
Jeongseon Sooper Cup
Spring Cup 2026
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round Qualifier
Acropolis #4 - TS6
Acropolis #4
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
FISSURE Playground #3
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
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.