• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 10:27
CEST 16:27
KST 23:27
  • 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
Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2914Serral wins Maestros of the Game 243ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12
Community News
ZeroSpace Early Access is Now Live!17Weekly Cups (July 13-19): Terran & Protoss rise; Zerg falters2Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16)84Reynor: GSL Loss Wasn't About Preparation Format16[IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend!18
StarCraft 2
General
August World Ranking Watchlist: Serral back to #1? How would you feel about frequent/monthly balance patches for SC2? Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16) Clem: "I don't have that much hope in Blizzard" Weekly Cups (July 13-19): Terran & Protoss rise; Zerg falters
Tourneys
RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) WardiTV Summer Cup 2026 GSL CK #5 Race War HomeStory Cup 29
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
[M] (2) Industrial Park New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate
External Content
Mutation # 535 Assembly of Vengeance The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 534 Burning Evacuation Mutation # 533 Die Together
Brood War
General
Animated Gateway BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion HORROR STARCRAFT MOVIE How Famous was FlaSh before his Debut?
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend! Escore Tournament - Season 3 Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers PvT advise for noobs Fighting Spirit mining rates Creating a full chart of Zerg builds
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile ZeroSpace Early Access is Now Live! General RTS Discussion Thread ZeroSpace at Steam NextFest - Last free demo Nintendo Switch Thread
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
TSM pausing esports and CLG Dead
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Power Rank NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread Artificial Intelligence Thread How to buy a book - shipping from Korea to Europe The Games Industry And ATVI
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The HerO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Series you have seen recently... Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023 McBoner: A hockey love story
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Simple Questions Simple Answers FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop
TL Community
Northern Ireland Global Starcraft The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Hello guys!
LIN1s
Role of Gaming on Mental Hea…
TrAiDoS
ASL S22 English Commentary…
namkraft
Poker (part 2)
Nebuchad
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 10397 users

[Q] PVZ: Proper response to 9734?

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
Post a Reply
chozen86
Profile Blog Joined May 2017
United States60 Posts
October 29 2019 19:01 GMT
#1
Wondering if the community has settled on how to respond to the 9734 build?

The ideas so far seem to be:

* Gate first

* Forge in main, wall with core at nat (so +1 doesn't get denied)

* Citadel first, into 4-5 gate zealot

* Fast reaver

Curious what others think, since it's been out for quite a bit already.
InDi
Profile Joined April 2010
Spain90 Posts
October 30 2019 08:45 GMT
#2
The real problem with 9734 is that there are several options for the Z, and as P it is really hard to tell and cover everything.
Personally I prefer the reaver approach as I think is the most reliable answer, you get Sair as well so you can scout what their followup is. If they go for a full bust you can defend quite easy, if they drone too much, you can harrass, and if they tech you have a strong timing push. If you go reaver, you shouldn't lose your forge either, but you will lose the gate, so no need for forge in main. The problem of course is that it is harder to do and be effective.

In my experience the citadel first loses to heavy hydra commitment from the Z, when you move out and realize there's not the usual 10, but 20 or 25 hydras at your door that were waiting behind... not a good feeling, but would be interested in what others think.
Soulforged
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Latvia979 Posts
October 30 2019 09:46 GMT
#3
I like citadel/4gate the most. It does lose out to non-stop 3 hatch hydra pump, but zealots+cannons should stop that, and they double as your scouting force. If you see more hydras than expected and confirm zerg didn't switch to drones, backing off to cannons and defending until storm/more gates/more units/more economy is possible. It is only a problem if you commit to try and bust out and fail.
The follow-ups, however, I am not sure on. And it is also not something you can do blindly if you lack vision for whatever reason and can't confirm hydra until they pop from nat eggs...at that point you'd have sair in progress and would end up requiring more cannons and have later zealots than if you went citadel off 1 gas & straight after core.
chozen86
Profile Blog Joined May 2017
United States60 Posts
October 30 2019 15:20 GMT
#4
Yea citadel/4gate seems like the easiest option for chobos like me. The last time I tried this I didn't die but I was so chobo I forgot to resume probe production after the bust and limped through the rest of the game with like 35 probes. I'm guessing if I didn't do that the follow up is quite straightforward (double-expand behind strong 8+ gate +2 push into normal mid/late game).

Out of curiosity, though, what's the general outline for the reaver approach? Add robo and rush to reaver as soon as you see den before lair or hydras? I'm assuming shuttle speed is also a must (since losing shuttle + reaver is likely gg)? I'd like to try this and see how it feels.
InDi
Profile Joined April 2010
Spain90 Posts
October 31 2019 02:09 GMT
#5
I don't follow straight build orders generally, but the overall idea is to get gate core, when core is almost finished you get 2nd gas, robo at your natural, starport in main, get reaver asap, sair then shuttle speed the 1st reaver should be enough to push hydras back (at this point maybe you lost your gate). If you think the Z is still committing to hydras, you get a 2nd reaver, else you get shuttle 1st, and move out to harrass, meanwhile in the back you add citadel gates and all the bunch. There's a sweet spot to move out with zealots and your reavers if Z drone'd too much or if he is teching to lurkers. You can delay a bit your templars since you get reavers for AOE.
Just don't lose the reaver and beware of muta switch with your sairs
chozen86
Profile Blog Joined May 2017
United States60 Posts
October 31 2019 04:16 GMT
#6
Nice, thanks!! Follow-up: I'm assuming you also get critical mass of sairs (6 cos probably didn't go +1 air to get reaver faster) to deal with possible scourge, or does spire come so late with 9734 that it doesn't matter?
InDi
Profile Joined April 2010
Spain90 Posts
November 01 2019 00:20 GMT
#7
Your first sair should be able to scout if Z goes for muta or not, if you see hydras nonstop you can keep it at 1-2 sairs and use the gas on templars. Else you can add more sairs to control Zs vision of the map.
XenOsky
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Chile2356 Posts
November 02 2019 07:56 GMT
#8
imo reaver is more flexible, speed shuttles allow to harrass while zerg is still on tier 1, while adding gates for a huge push.

4 gate feels better if zerg doesnt scout my main with an ovie.
ἡ τῆς Νεμέσεως τάξις
Alpha-NP-
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
United States1242 Posts
November 02 2019 15:17 GMT
#9
Watch the games where Bisu goes reaver against this build.
chozen86
Profile Blog Joined May 2017
United States60 Posts
November 02 2019 18:55 GMT
#10
@Alpha-NP, this one?

Zaibakk
Profile Joined May 2017
101 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-11-06 23:18:29
November 06 2019 23:12 GMT
#11
You should play around the weaknesses of the build, and the main weakness is the late spire. Without it, zergs have troubles to deal with:
1) Reavers
2) Dropships for harrassing (with anything inside)

Note that reavers are also good vs mass hydra (and lurkers), both for defence (even without dropship) and push (or even harrass).
M3t4PhYzX
Profile Joined March 2019
Poland4267 Posts
November 09 2019 22:18 GMT
#12
On November 03 2019 03:55 chozen86 wrote:
@Alpha-NP, this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=240&v=gDLvQin64nY

that was absolutely amazing play..

damn, so satisfying to watch!

GG
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Kung Fu Cup
11:00
2026 Week 16
IntoTheiNu 1508
WardiTV614
RotterdaM509
Ryung 508
TKL 211
Rex128
SteadfastSC122
EnkiAlexander 28
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Serral 1660
RotterdaM 509
Ryung 508
TKL 211
Rex 128
SteadfastSC 122
BRAT_OK 58
trigger 10
RushiSC 10
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 4960
Rain 2710
Jaedong 1777
Horang2 862
Hyuk 855
EffOrt 665
Light 518
firebathero 464
BeSt 443
Soulkey 351
[ Show more ]
hero 261
ZerO 214
Stork 209
ggaemo 204
Rush 202
Snow 190
Soma 186
Zeus 112
Mong 102
sorry 93
Hyun 78
Dewaltoss 77
Pusan 61
Leta 61
Last 55
NaDa 47
[sc1f]eonzerg 46
ToSsGirL 44
Movie 30
JulyZerg 28
JYJ 26
yabsab 23
Aegong 20
GoRush 20
Hm[arnc] 19
Rock 16
Sexy 15
Sacsri 15
Terrorterran 14
Nal_rA 14
Noble 14
IntoTheRainbow 12
Yoon 11
ajuk12(nOOB) 10
zelot 7
Dota 2
qojqva1776
XaKoH 360
syndereN337
XcaliburYe192
420jenkins124
League of Legends
KnowMe41
Counter-Strike
fl0m3723
Other Games
FrodaN4737
B2W.Neo757
hiko707
Lowko566
Mlord401
DeMusliM301
uThermal274
ArmadaUGS138
ToD127
Trikslyr29
QueenE27
CosmosSc2 25
ZerO(Twitch)16
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
Kim Chul Min (afreeca) 7
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 48
• poizon28 11
• Kozan
• Migwel
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• sooper7s
• intothetv
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 1854
• WagamamaTV368
League of Legends
• Nemesis2858
• TFBlade827
Upcoming Events
OSC
9h 33m
CrankTV Team League
20h 33m
Replay Cast
1d 9h
CrankTV Team League
1d 20h
Korean StarCraft League
2 days
Afreeca Starleague
2 days
RSL Revival
2 days
Serral vs SHIN
herO vs Solar
Online Event
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
RSL Revival
3 days
Clem vs ByuN
Rogue vs Lambo
[ Show More ]
OSC
3 days
WardiTV Weekly
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
PiGosaur Cup
6 days
The PondCast
6 days
Kung Fu Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-07-21
HSC XXIX
Eternal Conflict S2 E3

Ongoing

CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
SCTL 2026 Spring
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S3: W4
ASL S22 SEASON OPEN Day 2
Escore Tournament S3: W5
ASL Season 22: Qualifier #1
ASL Season 22: Qualifier #2
CSLAN 4
ASL Season 22
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
Logitech G Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 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.