[G] How to 4/5 Pool vs. Protoss

On April 23 2017 22:06 LRM)TechnicS wrote:
I love this topic. I guess I can add some colour to it as I extensively practiced 4/5pooling zvp exactly 5 years ago for my ISL Ro32 matchup vs GoTuNk. My rationale after studying his replays was that GoTuNk delays his forge a lot and this should be punishable by 5pool on Jade to start with a nice lead in the bo5 series. The game I prepared for starts immediately in this VOD:

+ Show Spoiler +

A game I used to learn from is the Bisu vs ZerO 5pool example on Othello back in 2008, which reminds me how important distances and openness of the protoss natural dictates how P should react, which maps zerg can choose to 4/5pool on and how much damage zerg should look to inflict and be okay with it:

+ Show Spoiler +

Luckily I still remember some of the core differences when doing 4 and 5pool when playing ZvP.

Talking 4 player maps, protoss FFE: for me, 4pool is an all-in, 5pool is an eco build.

With 4pool, yes, the zerg is having earlier lings and more time to inflict more damage but it absolutely must inflict enormous amount of damage to make up for the low drone count and for the "lost" minerals of the scouting drone. I won't go into 4pool specifics as I did not practice this build as extensivly as 5pool and cannot expand on them.

With 5pool, we have a relatively healthy eco going and a nice rush. However, if the protoss is dilligent in placing his forge and cannon early on FS for example (and cross positions too), we have a really tiny window to inflict damage and usually 5pooling this kind of opponent is not worth the risk.

Some 4/5pool specifics and commentary to build onto was already mentioned:
What we should always check on any map is the distance between us and the opponent. We have to know 2 things. 1st is when lings arrive from our spawning location to the naturals of the other three locations. 2nd is when our lings arrive into their mains. This will give us a good idea where we will have more time to inflict damage against the probe/cannon defences.

One really important thing to lookout for is the protoss scouting probe and what we do about it.
In general, as a zerg I never ever try to spend more than half a second to kill the scouting probe. Only if lings and probe paths might intersect almost fully, it is then I go and try to kill the probe. When the probe moves away, I immediately continue to the natural of the protoss.

There are two options for the protoss to gives us a headache with the scouting probe:
Go around with the probe and continue in our main and harass our workers OR go back home alongside with the incoming zergling attack, intersect the zergling path and slow our lings down the road as the probe leads the group. It is critical for the zerg to react as best as possible in BOTH these scenarios.
If protoss decided to harrass the drones: If we have 2-3 seconds before our lings will be reaching the natural, i will just get a drone to chase and attack the probe if p is microing against my drones. We must be focused on the lings when they arrive at the natural because the protoss might be setting up the probe/cannon defence there.
If protoss decided to go back home we must watch if our lings are slowed down by running right after the probe's ass. In a scenario like that we just click diagonally to the left or to the right to "leave the path" of the probe and continue outrunning the probe towards the natural of the protoss.

The 5pool economy:

What I recall is that if there's no probe to harass us, it is significantly better for the zerg economy to gastrick an additional drone and at 10/9 to proceed and place a hatchery on the natural BEFORE making an overlord. If the zerg considers his drone vs probe at natural micro good enough, he might as well try to place that expo hatch even in the presence of a scouting probe as well. However, there's a big chance that placing this hatchery overlaps with the seconds where we will be engaging the protoss defences so perhaps just gastrick drone overlord will be the easier and safer thing to do.

The Battle:

The most important thing to pay attention to of course is when the 6 lings reach the protoss probe/cannon defences.
2 scenarios: 1st - the defences (probes + unfinished cannons) are at the natural; 2nd - the defences are in the main.
3 goals: kill 2+ probes, delay protoss mining time as much as possible, save as many lings as possible in the process.

Scenario 1 - The possibilities here vary a lot depending on many factors: spawn positions, defence probe count, defence probe positioning, openness of the natural, how much time left before cannons finish. Usually killing 3+ probes with 2-3 lings surviving to deny later probe scouts OR a succesful 3-4 ling run by (with a nice micro inside his base afterwards) I would consider a fine enough damage to go into the later stages of the game ahead.

Scenario 2 - The main goal is to trick protoss into killing as many of his probes as possible. Comitting for a pylon kill only is usually not a good idea. The possibilities here vary depending on these factors: whether protoss built the pylon towards us or "behind" the nexus, whether there's a gas station on our way or it is "behind" the nexus and how much time there is left before the cannon finish.

If protoss built the pylon towards us, it is easier for the protoss to kill lings in this tighter space so carefulness is in order. In this case I go for the pylon as I care about killing it, and then look to quickly switch and target probes that came to defend the pylon. In the rare case of pylon towards us + a gas station blocking our way (for example protoss on 5 o clock on FS), we might want to run around the pylon/gas wall and try to snipe probes coming from below.

If protoss built the pylon "inside" his base, then going straight for probe kills is better.

In both scenarios we look to kill at least 2 probes and save at least 3 lings to kill the pylon/forge left behind on the natural expo afterwards. We need at least 3 lings as 2 lings kill them way too slowly and he might even make zealots soon enough to save the forge. When going for the pylon/forge leftover, we do it with all lings left and we kill the pylon first for sure and then the forge. Then we send at least 1 ling into the main back to check whether P is going for 2 gates zealots or 1 gategas into quick sairs while the others can finally return back to their base to fend off that protoss scouting probe if still alive lol.