PVT unbalance in diamond league - Page 3

On May 27 2010 23:06 gh0st- wrote:
Hello there! I am also a Protoss player and top 5 in the diamond league. I would like to give you some advice versus the match-up against Terran but first let me tell you something. Starcraft 2 boils down to the basics! Its not about unit vs unit while it surely does matter to an extent. Take my friend for example, he plays Starcraft 2 casually and I could sure beat him with only my stalkers versus his immortals. I said no rush 15 minutes let him pump his immortals while my stalkers, who take 50 damage from Immortals, are also being pumped and I beat him. It goes down to the old saying that "Take a rich man and strip all his money, he will eventually get it back. Take a poor man and give him millions, he will eventually lose it all".

To answer your question lets first go back to the basics. At the start of every match I want you to emphasize on your build. Are you doing the same build every game? If you are not, why not? When you build your pylon do you have 40 minerals? Make that pylon so that after you build it, you have 0 minerals. Do you get supply blocked sometimes? Do you build units and harass with your probe? These are just a few questions that you should pay careful attention to. You have to be consistent on your builds because these small things are the things that separate the PROS and the AMATEURS. How do you think top players in the world consistently stay on top? If these guys are PROS, how come copying exactly their strategy doesn't put you in the #1 Diamond League? It boils down to the basics. These small difference turn into something big over time.

Strategy:
IN ALL 1v1 MAPS (only 2 base location spawns), always get a 10-gate.
** I justify this because you want to open up with a fast stalker harass or defense against reaper.

BUILD ORDER
- 9 Pylon (send probe to build pylon at about 70 minerals near your nexus)

** send this pylon probe to scout for enemy. If he has a barracks building, then he is going reapers or fast marauders with concussive shells. If he has a supply depot and building a barracks that means he is NOT going reapers anytime soon. Just check his base if he has any barracks in it or if its building. If there is not, then he is rushing reapers near your base or marauders. Both are deadly as they can kite all your units. Also if he doesn't have any vaspene geysers, that means you can rule out reapers/marauders early-game.

- 1 Probe
- 10 Gateway
- 2 probes (chrono boost)
- 13 Assimilator
- 2 probes (chrono boost; yes do it again)
- Cybernetics whenever Gateway is up
- 1 probe
- 16 Pylon
- 2 probes (chrono boost)

We want to summon our stalker (chrono boost) ASAP along with researching Warp Gates ASAP. Depending on your scouting of your 9 pylon probe, you will do one of the following:
1) Rally your gateway (summoning a stalker) to enemy base. Do this if no early vaspene or early barracks.
2) Rally your gateway to your mineral line. Do this if you suspect reaper harass.

As soon as stalker builds, build another stalker and chrono boost it.

Your stalker will see one of the following. You will either see a Barracks with Tech Lab or a naked Barracks. Sometimes you might even scout a factory or another barracks.

DO THE FOLLOWING:

If you see a barracks that is naked, send another stalker into his base and keep pumping units. Harass his supply depots/marines that come out to defend. Kill the SCVs that repair. Try to bust in his base. In the mean time you will be transitioning to a 4-gate Warp.

Focus your chrono to your Warp Gate research now. When its about 70%, build 3 more Gateways.

** ITS CRUCIAL TO ALWAYS BUILD PROBES AT YOUR NEXUS. AT LEAST (1) PROBE MUST BE BUILDING AT ALL TIMES.

Proxy pylon near his base. Send a volley of stalkers. If there are some marauders, match 1 zealot vs his marauder to tank the damage so your stalkers don't get demolished. Keep pressuring his front. Get a few sentries if you are in excess of gas. Guardian shield up. Forcefield only if you can block his untis from running away.

This will destroy anyone who is teching to tanks.

Now lets rewind back in time to the first stalker. Lets say your first stalker arrives at his base and HE DOES have a marauder or two. This is a signal to send about 2-3 more stalkers and dance around his supply depots. This will force him to go more marauders. Perfect. We transition to a 3-gate and 1-robo build.

Lets say you weren't able to scout his 3-4 barracks with tech labs with mass marauders because you thought he was going tanks and your stalker volley gets demolished. Lets say we already made a 4-gate without a robo. Don't BUILD a robotics. You cannot upkeep 4 gateways pumping constant units, probes in nexus and another robotics bay. Build a Twilight Council instead and research Hallucination at your Cybernetics. This allows you to blink stalkers and use hallucinated phoenix to scout. Also get Charge from zealots.

Basically same build as above except we are not going to be as aggressive. Always keep your resources to 0 minerals and 0 vaspene. Pump up zealots and sentries at the same time. Then stalkers. Then zealots and sentries.

Your first robo should be an observer chrono boosted.

I mean really this is the general idea of the build. Always assume drops with MMM. Always assume banshees. Always assume reapers in your base. Its pretty much common sense as far as the game goes. If you can't penetrate his front, get a gold expansion as "bait" for him to get out. If you lose it then you can hit his base or at least tell him to come out. If by any means he is outproducing you with a "bigger" force then you are doing wrong with your macro.