• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 20:07
CEST 02:07
KST 09:07
  • 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
uThermal's 2v2 Tour: $15,000 Main Event5Serral wins EWC 202543Tournament Spotlight: FEL Cracow 202510Power Rank - Esports World Cup 202580RSL Season 1 - Final Week9
Community News
Weekly Cups (Jul 28-Aug 3): herO doubles up6LiuLi Cup - August 2025 Tournaments5[BSL 2025] H2 - Team Wars, Weeklies & SB Ladder10EWC 2025 - Replay Pack4Google Play ASL (Season 20) Announced63
StarCraft 2
General
Rogue Talks: "Koreans could dominate again" uThermal's 2v2 Tour: $15,000 Main Event The GOAT ranking of GOAT rankings RSL Revival patreon money discussion thread Official Ladder Map Pool Update (April 28, 2025)
Tourneys
SC2's Safe House 2 - October 18 & 19 LiuLi Cup - August 2025 Tournaments $5,100+ SEL Season 2 Championship (SC: Evo) WardiTV Mondays RSL Season 2 Qualifier Links and Dates
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 485 Death from Below Mutation # 484 Magnetic Pull Mutation #239 Bad Weather Mutation # 483 Kill Bot Wars
Brood War
General
Player “Jedi” cheat on CSL ASL Season 20 Ro24 Groups BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ StarCraft player reflex TE scores BW General Discussion
Tourneys
KCM 2025 Season 3 Small VOD Thread 2.0 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL20] Online Qualifiers Day 2
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Mineral Boosting Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Total Annihilation Server - TAForever Beyond All Reason [MMORPG] Tree of Savior (Successor of Ragnarok)
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
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine The Games Industry And ATVI European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
INnoVation Fan Club SKT1 Classic Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread [Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion! Korean Music Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Gtx660 graphics card replacement Installation of Windows 10 suck at "just a moment" Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
TeamLiquid Team Shirt On Sale The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Gaming After Dark: Poor Slee…
TrAiDoS
[Girl blog} My fema…
artosisisthebest
Sharpening the Filtration…
frozenclaw
ASL S20 English Commentary…
namkraft
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 703 users

[H] PvZ mass muta

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Normal
Csirac
Profile Joined December 2009
Australia55 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-22 15:31:34
April 22 2010 15:30 GMT
#1
Hello,

Ok so lately I've hit a total brick wall as to what to do against a zerg who FE's into spine crawlers and techs to spire in about 8 mins and continues to mass mutas. I'm not greatest player to ever grace sc2 with having only got to 1500 plat so maybe people here can shed some light as to what i can do.

I've tried everything~ 4 gate hard rush with pylon support to pre-cannoning and then attempt to macro myself out of a hole.

The biggest problem im finding is that I'm unable to take advantage of the person teching so hard because of lings + spines so i'm relegated to sitting in my base (with expansion). Mutas come on que at around 8.5 mins and quite honestly I've lost the game at that point. I defend it off and the zerg goes on to take his 3rd and 4th, at which point he can do whatever he wants.

I was thinking possibly go 3 gate phoenix but quite honestly after your 12 probe you're not going to see anything before it gets picked off, building a robo is instant gg so you cant get any obs.

I've been practising with my friend who is also 1500 plat and he has no suggestions for me as to what i can do to counter. The only time ive had success was when my probe caught his drone trying to make a hatch at his natural and continued to pile on the pressure after that, but that really is a bit of luck and surely the whole MU cant be decided in the first mins of the game.

I've included 2 replays of basically what ive described. You might say "oh but the games are fairly long" but really i had no control of the game once those mutas came out.

Spent many hours thinking about it but nothing comes to mind. But surely there is a solution? If there wasnt why wouldnt every PvZ turn out this way?

http://dump.justwipeit.com/Replays/rep1.SC2Replay - replay 1
http://dump.justwipeit.com/Replays/rep2.SC2Replay - replay 2

All tips welcome!
jtype
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
England2167 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-22 15:46:49
April 22 2010 15:46 GMT
#2
I haven't yet looked at the reps but I will. I know what this is like from the Zerg's point of view, and have even had Protoss players asking me what I think they could have done to counter it, and I'm not 100% sure, as it seems like if you can get to muta tech fairly safely it's ridiculously hard for P to deal with.

You mentioned not being able to scout with obs due to the robo builds being countered pretty hard by mutas, but have you tried scouting with hallucinated units, like phoenix or even colossi? You will most likely be getting sentries to counter the mutas anyway, so it might 'synergize' well with a gateway-centered build.

Also, as most Zergs will be spending every single spare bit of gas they have on mutas, you might be able to sneak in some DTs at various times, as they might forget to make an overseer. Also, as they will have teched to air, they will likely not have spores up, unless you harassed them early with v-rays.

Csirac
Profile Joined December 2009
Australia55 Posts
April 22 2010 15:53 GMT
#3
I cant really get DT's in 9 mins tbh unless i go ALL in and ill have even less AA for the mutas that are by that point in my base. I thikn the biggest problem is once the zerg has about ~10 mutas he can take his 3rd and 4th base without any fear. If i move out to either counter his main or to stop the 3rd/4th he can move into my base and just do massive amounts of dmg then fly off to hold off the attack on his main or just cancel his hatches building and continue raping my econ/pylons.

I find it hard to accept the only way to counter is an all in build but im stumped. I dont feel like i can play "standard" and counter this build.
Khalleb
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
Canada1909 Posts
April 22 2010 15:55 GMT
#4
On April 23 2010 00:46 jtype wrote:
I haven't yet looked at the reps but I will. I know what this is like from the Zerg's point of view, and have even had Protoss players asking me what I think they could have done to counter it, and I'm not 100% sure, as it seems like if you can get to muta tech fairly safely it's ridiculously hard for P to deal with.

You mentioned not being able to scout with obs due to the robo builds being countered pretty hard by mutas, but have you tried scouting with hallucinated units, like phoenix or even colossi? You will most likely be getting sentries to counter the mutas anyway, so it might 'synergize' well with a gateway-centered build.

Also, as most Zergs will be spending every single spare bit of gas they have on mutas, you might be able to sneak in some DTs at various times, as they might forget to make an overseer. Also, as they will have teched to air, they will likely not have spores up, unless you harassed them early with v-rays.



the problem with dt's is they are so late and the cost alot for the tech and even the dt's himself the only thing ppl say to counter mass muta is mass sentries, but when i go mass sentries even if i scout just right he start his tech no way i can win against muta. When they try to engage the fight they just fly back and just lost 1 muta. So when you're in your base no way you can expand or if you already have you can defend both, because sentry are so slow.
Liquid'Nony: "I only needed one probe to take down idra. I had to upgrade to a zealot for strelok."
jtype
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
England2167 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-22 16:05:36
April 22 2010 16:02 GMT
#5
Yeah, you're right, that's a very good point regarding DTs coming very late. I was just thinking along the lines that the DT might allow you to return some of the pressure while the mutas are out.

I think it seems kinda like ZvT in BW, where mutas would come out and try as hard as they could to delay the Terran push, but eventually they would have to fall back and defend against the ground force. It would pay to try to do whatever you can to keep his mutas back home, or at least pull them back while you push out.

I know that's easier said than done and it's the whole point of the discussion here, to find out exactly what Protoss can do to achieve that, but I wonder if watching some old BW ZvTs might be helpful.
NB
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
Netherlands12045 Posts
April 22 2010 16:05 GMT
#6
go for forge block FE (only on certain map), this will gv your foe the feeling to go mass ling or roaches early which can be counter by few sentries, then take out the robo with obs so that make sure he is going hydra or muta

muta =>canon + mass sentry and invest in blink create couple of imos for sunken burst and win

i works for me, hvnt play for 3 days since the ladder bug but it should work
Im daed. Follow me @TL_NB
Prisom
Profile Joined April 2010
United States83 Posts
April 22 2010 16:08 GMT
#7
I am a gold player and was top 10 in my div before getting reset like 3 times so take it for what its worth but I find that if the toss player just cannons his mineral line and leaves a couple of stalkers at home then he can push the zerg base and force the mutas back home to defend or else you have a good chance at taking out the FE. Also, a mass zlot push is pretty effective against a muta rush around the 5 min mark as he wont be spending his gas on roaches which pretty well counter zlots and zlots maul speedlings. I cant watch the replays yet but ill check them out and see what i can.

I definitely dont think DTs are the answer because 1 detector and your screwed and if he has mutas then hes going to scout your templar tech. Really the best thing that the toss have against mutas is blinking stalkers. Just have to pressure his base and force the mutas home. Not sure what else to say. gg corsairs DX
Better to light a candle than curse the darkness.
Jubuntu
Profile Joined July 2009
United States15 Posts
April 22 2010 16:11 GMT
#8
Every zerg I play seems to be doing this or some build order that transitions into nothing but mass mutas and once they reach a critical mass I pretty much lose. Muta are too fast for sentries and even stalkers with blink unless you have really good micro.

Orb brought up a good point the other day that if you scout a spire early, based on when its being built then you should have more than enough time to drop a forge and cannons along your mineral line before the first mutas comes out.

If you know you opponent is going speedling/mass muta then go early stargate get 3-4 pheonix and harass his queen and overlords. Keep him food capped, kill his queen, make him spend money, try to punish him early for having no AA and delay the mutas, while you build a sufficient force...

Those are a couple things I have picked up on, in the last week, I have yet to try them.
NB
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
Netherlands12045 Posts
April 22 2010 16:11 GMT
#9
^ i dont thing the zlot push is that effective since its sound like all-in to me and normally they dont just tech right to muta, lot of lings harrass will come to make sure they hv the map control in the begining

i want to point out 1 more thing is that on certain map, massing muta is almost unstopable and you would like to end the game with sm kind of cheesy stuff =.=
Im daed. Follow me @TL_NB
BlasiuS
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
United States2405 Posts
April 22 2010 16:12 GMT
#10
FE -> speedling + spine crawler defense while teching to muta only works on a few maps, specifically the ones that don't have a back door, which are LT, metalopolis, and steppes (sort of).

For those maps, I would expand as soon as you see him going for spine crawlers, put cannons around your mineral lines, and either use phoenix + sentry, or sentry + stalker to fight off the mutas.

For all other maps, you have a couple of options:

1. Mass stalkers with blink, blink past his crawlers and snipe workers/queens/hatch

2. go 4gate/3gate + robo and bust down his backdoor and force him to split his crawlers while you expand.
next week on Everybody Loves HypnoToad:
TheAntZ
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Israel6248 Posts
April 22 2010 16:14 GMT
#11
On April 23 2010 01:02 jtype wrote:
Yeah, you're right, that's a very good point regarding DTs coming very late. I was just thinking along the lines that the DT might allow you to return some of the pressure while the mutas are out.

I think it seems kinda like ZvT in BW, where mutas would come out and try as hard as they could to delay the Terran push, but eventually they would have to fall back and defend against the ground force. It would pay to try to do whatever you can to keep his mutas back home, or at least pull them back while you push out.

I know that's easier said than done and it's the whole point of the discussion here, to find out exactly what Protoss can do to achieve that, but I wonder if watching some old BW ZvTs might be helpful.

You know, i've never thought of it that way
However, the matter of fact is that mutas are incredibly strong harassers, and sentries are much slower than the airborne mutas that have great mobility
The problem lies in the fact that, though in sc1 TvZ terran can defend quite adeptly using turrets and fast moving stimmed marines, cannons arent worth much against mutas, and sentries move around slowly, making it extremely easy to maul a protosses eco with mutas.
Keep in mind also, that when terran makes mnm + turrets, if the zerg tech switches to lurker, he can CONTAIN the terran, but not bust his face
whereas if a protoss is going sentry cannon, somehow having expanded (lets assume)
an immediate tech switch to hydra roach will straight up break your base before you have the units necessary to defend it (colossi/immortals)
I know theres a solution somewhere, but I cant think of one
im not the best theorycrafter though xD
43084 | Honeybadger: "So july, you're in the GSL finals. How do you feel?!" ~ July: "HUNGRY."
Csirac
Profile Joined December 2009
Australia55 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-22 16:24:35
April 22 2010 16:24 GMT
#12
Zealot pushes are ineffective against this build because they can spine up and hold u off with lings + queen. In the 2 games i posted my friend only put down 3 or so crawlers but he coudl have easily put down up to 5-6 and that will hold off any rush, the consequence is that the mutas come out slightly later but not late enough for it to matter since the gas is what caps the amount of mutas the Z can make when the spire comes out.

You'll see in the 2 games that I even pre-emptively put down cannons at my mineral line. (these were arranged games where i told my friend to go FE> muta) The cannons do nothing besides hurt a few mutas while they snipe pylons and probes, all the while im contained coz if i dont show presence he'll just dive the towers and then its really over.

I can accept this might be harder to pull off on maps such as blistering sands because of the back door but i still find it hard to believe that on any other map with just one entrance the P is auto lose?

Oh not to mention if you play a Z on desert oasis its just totally laughable.
NB
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
Netherlands12045 Posts
April 22 2010 16:28 GMT
#13
On April 23 2010 01:12 BlasiuS wrote:
FE -> speedling + spine crawler defense while teching to muta only works on a few maps, specifically the ones that don't have a back door, which are LT, metalopolis, and steppes (sort of).

For those maps, I would expand as soon as you see him going for spine crawlers, put cannons around your mineral lines, and either use phoenix + sentry, or sentry + stalker to fight off the mutas.

For all other maps, you have a couple of options:

1. Mass stalkers with blink, blink past his crawlers and snipe workers/queens/hatch

2. go 4gate/3gate + robo and bust down his backdoor and force him to split his crawlers while you expand.


for the first one: feeling like locking ur army in their base with spines on one side (can be moved) and muta on ur head and lings on ur feet @.@

2nd: hmm, it would depend on the timing between u and him, the problem is that u will be in 2 base 2 or 3 mins after ur foe on 2 bases and that would put u behind if you cant really pull off and thing after the push.

Im daed. Follow me @TL_NB
BlasiuS
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
United States2405 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-22 16:31:34
April 22 2010 16:30 GMT
#14
On April 23 2010 01:28 NB wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 23 2010 01:12 BlasiuS wrote:
FE -> speedling + spine crawler defense while teching to muta only works on a few maps, specifically the ones that don't have a back door, which are LT, metalopolis, and steppes (sort of).

For those maps, I would expand as soon as you see him going for spine crawlers, put cannons around your mineral lines, and either use phoenix + sentry, or sentry + stalker to fight off the mutas.

For all other maps, you have a couple of options:

1. Mass stalkers with blink, blink past his crawlers and snipe workers/queens/hatch

2. go 4gate/3gate + robo and bust down his backdoor and force him to split his crawlers while you expand.


for the first one: feeling like locking ur army in their base with spines on one side (can be moved) and muta on ur head and lings on ur feet @.@

2nd: hmm, it would depend on the timing between u and him, the problem is that u will be in 2 base 2 or 3 mins after ur foe on 2 bases and that would put u behind if you cant really pull off and thing after the push.



plenty of replays out there showing both of these working against FE mass crawler.

Here's one showing mass stalker with blink:
http://starcraft.gamesports.net/de/replays/893/

I'll try and find some for the other option, but trust me they both work.
next week on Everybody Loves HypnoToad:
Xoso
Profile Joined April 2010
41 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-22 16:31:24
April 22 2010 16:30 GMT
#15
I'm also having trouble in this matchup especially on desert oasis, what a terrible map. 9/10 Zergs and Terrans will muta/reaper harrass you taking advantage of the map design making it almost impossible to gain map control.
RoosterSamurai
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Japan2108 Posts
April 22 2010 16:31 GMT
#16
I play as Terran, and I have a really difficult time against mass mutas..... Stimmed rines don't work, thors don't work. HSM doesn't work, vikings don't work....So i'm stumped.
TheMango
Profile Joined April 2007
United States1967 Posts
April 22 2010 16:40 GMT
#17
On April 23 2010 01:31 RoosterSamurai wrote:
I play as Terran, and I have a really difficult time against mass mutas..... Stimmed rines don't work, thors don't work. HSM doesn't work, vikings don't work....So i'm stumped.


seems much easier for terran to counter mutas, since turrets are pretty strong anti air compared to cannons, it should be pretty easy to expand fast (maybe even 1 rax FE) + build up critical mass of few thor/hellion/mmm and just push out. With thor doing splash damage, opponent wont be able to keep massing mutas and will need to switch to ground.
Moderator
TheAntZ
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Israel6248 Posts
April 22 2010 16:50 GMT
#18
On April 23 2010 01:31 RoosterSamurai wrote:
I play as Terran, and I have a really difficult time against mass mutas..... Stimmed rines don't work, thors don't work. HSM doesn't work, vikings don't work....So i'm stumped.

When you make posts like this, state your league
its pretty apparent that you're not a gold/plat player though, because terran has a very easy time against mutas, turrets counter mutas VERY hard with a couple scvs auto repairing, thor AoE rapes the shit out of muta, and a marine army, without stim, shield, or medivacs, STILL beats mutas in terms of mineral vs mineral cost in mid to large engagements.
43084 | Honeybadger: "So july, you're in the GSL finals. How do you feel?!" ~ July: "HUNGRY."
Atlas.Atlas
Profile Joined April 2010
United States15 Posts
April 22 2010 16:57 GMT
#19
Something to consider (and I have tried this and it works):

Warp Prism. Now, every game is contextual, but I've found a double immortal drop can snipe queens with relative ease (and micro'ing around the lings/roaches) and destroy tech.

Couple with this fact that even when a Warp Prism is deployed, it still cannot be attacked by ground units.

Warping in a sentry or two with the immortals can create chaos inside the Zerg base with FF and delay tech.

For a more gateway heavy build, load up the Warp Prism, drop, deploy, warp, chrono boost, rinse, repeat.

When you see a Zerg saving his gas for mutas, it's your responsibility to do something about it.
Cooloff
Profile Joined April 2010
United States86 Posts
April 22 2010 17:04 GMT
#20
The only counter for this is upfront pressure with proxy in front of his base. if he walls in with spines crawlers then thats all you can do. If your really good you might be able to blink with stalkers pretty well but sooner or later the zerg is going to expand as u sit in your base waiting to defend. Watch some pro replays, you will see that its much different than most gold level games where people shake hands in the beginning, wait 8.5 mins and then commence. What i would do is scout and if you see him throwing a gas down then immediately chrono and get some zealots on the way there with maybe one or two left behind for zerglings that are pointed there. then throw down a proxy pylon and gate. At this point he should have one or two crawlers up but that doesnt mean you sit in your base and ponder what units will counter his impending mutas. The one thing people make the huge mistake of doing when seeing crawlers is they give up. They do have extensive reach, but with about 8 zealots you can go around them. now if he is an extreamely good player he will position them accordingly and move them to areas they cant reach, but this type of haraassment will slow down the muta rush. especially getting pop shots on the extractors and possibly sacrificing a few zealots to take one down will really help. now i know in the beginning he could be going mass zergling rush so you dont know whether or not to rush HIM, but i know that if you rush him and he kills your zealots with mass zerglings and COUNTERS, sending more zerglings to follow, youve stalled him further. If he backs off and their is a lull then immediately get up tehre and f him up using sentrys. My point here is that everyone thinks that its strats and unit combos but more so its your micro and scouting. Initiating the harassment and setting up shop from there will give you success.. its all in your micro, harass with the zealots, proxy up front and force HIM to change his game plan, not the other way around.
When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of twelve people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.
Mr.Pyro
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Denmark959 Posts
April 22 2010 17:07 GMT
#21
Mass mutas aren't much harder to counter than they were in BW, you just don't have the option of corsair.

Truly phoenix is an inferior choice for countering mutas! Sure they may be effective in greater numbers but you'll have no use for them when the zerg switches.

I counter mass mutas in SC2 practically the same way as in BW.

Mass Stalkers and storm. Storm is truly awesome against muta in lategame.
P⊧[1]<a>[2]<a>[3]<a>tt | P ≝ 1.a.2.a.3.a.P
Csirac
Profile Joined December 2009
Australia55 Posts
April 22 2010 17:07 GMT
#22
That's just a variation of the 8 min robo push of yesterday. Only diff is that you get a warp prism and back door him. THe problem is that the fastest u can pull that off would be about 7 mins at which point mutas will be in ur face in the next 1 minute depending hoe much DMg u can do ull then be contained and back to sqaure one.

This is theory but I'll give it a go but I really can't see it solving the main issue which is losig map control once mutas come out and the Zerg takes his 3rd and 4th
virusak
Profile Joined December 2009
Czech Republic344 Posts
April 22 2010 17:07 GMT
#23
On April 23 2010 01:57 Atlas.Atlas wrote:
Something to consider (and I have tried this and it works):

Warp Prism. Now, every game is contextual, but I've found a double immortal drop can snipe queens with relative ease (and micro'ing around the lings/roaches) and destroy tech.

Couple with this fact that even when a Warp Prism is deployed, it still cannot be attacked by ground units.

Warping in a sentry or two with the immortals can create chaos inside the Zerg base with FF and delay tech.

For a more gateway heavy build, load up the Warp Prism, drop, deploy, warp, chrono boost, rinse, repeat.

When you see a Zerg saving his gas for mutas, it's your responsibility to do something about it.


well at the time you have a warp prism, 2 immortals and something to defend your main, woudn't the zerg already have some mutas and kill the drop easily?
virusak
Profile Joined December 2009
Czech Republic344 Posts
April 22 2010 17:10 GMT
#24
On April 23 2010 02:07 MaD.pYrO wrote:
Mass mutas aren't much harder to counter than they were in BW, you just don't have the option of corsair.

Truly phoenix is an inferior choice for countering mutas! Sure they may be effective in greater numbers but you'll have no use for them when the zerg switches.

I counter mass mutas in SC2 practically the same way as in BW.

Mass Stalkers and storm. Storm is truly awesome against muta in lategame.


well I think any decent player can dodge storms pretty easily in sc2 compared to sc1. it is much harder to target properly due to 3D and the storm is also smaller...
Csirac
Profile Joined December 2009
Australia55 Posts
April 22 2010 17:16 GMT
#25
On April 23 2010 02:07 MaD.pYrO wrote:
Mass mutas aren't much harder to counter than they were in BW, you just don't have the option of corsair.

Truly phoenix is an inferior choice for countering mutas! Sure they may be effective in greater numbers but you'll have no use for them when the zerg switches.

I counter mass mutas in SC2 practically the same way as in BW.

Mass Stalkers and storm. Storm is truly awesome against muta in lategame.


you're missing a big point of the problem. You won't have storm until atleast 15 mins unto the game if ur massing stalkers with blink, while ur doing this he's harrassing ur base and expanding twice. And quite honestly any plat Zerg will dodge storms pretty effortlesly.

I think the big problem here is the skill difeernce required to pull this start off as a Zerg and th skill required to defend it as a Protoss. You can imagine how it would be easy to defend in the lower leagues if the Z doesn't look after his mutas or lack common game sense, but it isn't the case in plat.
Toads
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
Canada1795 Posts
April 22 2010 17:18 GMT
#26
On April 23 2010 02:07 MaD.pYrO wrote:
Mass mutas aren't much harder to counter than they were in BW, you just don't have the option of corsair.

Truly phoenix is an inferior choice for countering mutas! Sure they may be effective in greater numbers but you'll have no use for them when the zerg switches.

I counter mass mutas in SC2 practically the same way as in BW.

Mass Stalkers and storm. Storm is truly awesome against muta in lategame.


you forgot that a big thing who help protoss vs muta is the archon splash dgm who is almost gone in sc2
(。◕ ω ◕。) Beer Time !!!! (。◕ ω ◕。)
DragonDefonce
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
United States790 Posts
April 22 2010 17:30 GMT
#27
My suggestion would be to no be so eager to punish him early on. If you also have 2 bases, you can build up an incredibly strong army thats heavy on stalkers and sentries, with some immortals and zealots mixed in. Just dig in, defend your mineral line, and push out when you think you have enough units to just steamroll through his base.
Bibdy
Profile Joined March 2010
United States3481 Posts
April 22 2010 17:36 GMT
#28
I'm still trying to unravel the mystery of the build that beats FE->mass Lings + Spine Crawlers->mass Mutas. One Stargate definitely isn't enough to keep Phoenix production up with 2-base Muta production, so you really need to commit if you're going to get Phoenixes.

And while I'm trying to mass those, I feel incredibly exposed to Speedling rushes while I'm using Stalkers and Sentries to stall the Mutas. If I just go pure Stalker/Sentry, I cannot put on any pressure. They'll always find something isolated to quickly snipe down as they fly around, and before long I've either over-committed on Stalkers/Sentries and get overrun, or I don't have enough Stalkers/Sentries and his Muta-ball obliterates everything without casualties.

Banshees are just as bad, if not worse. I cannot figure out how to stop either of those units as Protoss. Our GtA is just so horribly pathetic. Its not like us going Void Rays and they just need a handful of Hydras or Marines to get rid of them entirely. You REALLY need to commit to something to get rid of them.
virusak
Profile Joined December 2009
Czech Republic344 Posts
April 22 2010 17:37 GMT
#29
On April 23 2010 02:30 DragonDefonce wrote:
My suggestion would be to no be so eager to punish him early on. If you also have 2 bases, you can build up an incredibly strong army thats heavy on stalkers and sentries, with some immortals and zealots mixed in. Just dig in, defend your mineral line, and push out when you think you have enough units to just steamroll through his base.

the problem is, when that the zerg FE, has better economy and the mutas are much more mobile than you can be so he will fly from one base to another
Csirac
Profile Joined December 2009
Australia55 Posts
April 22 2010 17:38 GMT
#30
But u can't just sit on ur 2 base. The Z expands 4 base and will just run you down with sheer numbers.
ccou
Profile Joined December 2008
United States681 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-22 17:45:24
April 22 2010 17:44 GMT
#31
Despite playing zerg more often than protoss, I sure hope archon splash is increased with the coming patch. I really don't want to see a nerf to mutas, but a stronger P defense would be great. Terrans have marines, thors, and vikings with their 9 range which are all useful even after the muta harass. Phoenices are nice early game pressure but graviton micro is so hard to do if zerg switches out of mutas late game.

I guess my suggestion is to just make a tight base, make sure you have cannons in the back of your mineral lines and readily warp in sentries until you can get templars.
Wake up Mr. B!
Csirac
Profile Joined December 2009
Australia55 Posts
April 22 2010 17:44 GMT
#32
On April 23 2010 02:36 Bibdy wrote:
I'm still trying to unravel the mystery of the build that beats FE->mass Lings + Spine Crawlers->mass Mutas. One Stargate definitely isn't enough to keep Phoenix production up with 2-base Muta production, so you really need to commit if you're going to get Phoenixes.

And while I'm trying to mass those, I feel incredibly exposed to Speedling rushes while I'm using Stalkers and Sentries to stall the Mutas. If I just go pure Stalker/Sentry, I cannot put on any pressure. They'll always find something isolated to quickly snipe down as they fly around, and before long I've either over-committed on Stalkers/Sentries and get overrun, or I don't have enough Stalkers/Sentries and his Muta-ball obliterates everything without casualties.

Banshees are just as bad, if not worse. I cannot figure out how to stop either of those units as Protoss. Our GtA is just so horribly pathetic. Its not like us going Void Rays and they just need a handful of Hydras or Marines to get rid of them entirely. You REALLY need to commit to something to get rid of them.


glad to see someone sympathetic to my problem. WhAt rating/league are u in?

Phoenixes is just not a solution as the Z can just out a hydra den down and tech switch. That's assuming u masses enough of them to cause the Z to stop makig mutas. Most if the time they'll just keep massing mutas and kill ur phoenixes
DragonDefonce
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
United States790 Posts
April 22 2010 17:48 GMT
#33
On April 23 2010 02:38 Csirac wrote:
But u can't just sit on ur 2 base. The Z expands 4 base and will just run you down with sheer numbers.


Id give a 2 base protoss about 15 minutes to build up a well compositioned army. So, up to that point, zerg can expand and spend money on saturating all those bases, or make units. If he decides to take additional bases, hes spreading himself very thin, and at 15 minute mark, you should be able to break thorugh if you macroed properly. The trick is obviously letting him spend lot of resources on drones and take advantage of that timing window to push out. If he spent that much money on crawlers as op suggested, he won't be able to expand too fast anyways. So I guess pushing out when he is just beginning to saturate his 3rd base might be a good idea. In general, I don't find zerg massing mutalisks too much of a problem to fight once I can mass up a ball of units.

Because of the way that mining works in sc2, unlike sc1, having 20 drones in 3 different bases is just as effective have have 20 in 2 bases, meaning, it doesn't matter if he has 3, 4 bases unless he spend money to saturate all those bases.

Not a fail proof plan but seems to work against gold/plat players in my experience.
FortuneSyn
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
1826 Posts
April 22 2010 17:51 GMT
#34
pressure the front early and get an obs or hallucinated unit in there in time
virusak
Profile Joined December 2009
Czech Republic344 Posts
April 22 2010 17:58 GMT
#35
On April 23 2010 02:51 FortuneSyn wrote:
pressure the front early and get an obs or hallucinated unit in there in time

and how would that help? you still won't be able to survive the mutas even if you saw them
Ryuu314
Profile Joined October 2009
United States12679 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-22 18:04:23
April 22 2010 17:59 GMT
#36
I was rank 1 gold and was a top 30 plat for about a week before I got reset. Mass mutas is my most hated strat to play against, so I feel your pain.

This is EXTREMELY map dependent. Certain maps favor air rushes so much it's simply ridiculous. As a result, what strategy you use to counter mutas should vary based on the map. Also, no matter what map you should always, ALWAYS be walling off against a Zerg. It makes ling rushes so much less powerful and you don't need to spend as much resources defending against ground armies.

For maps with a decent/short ground rush distance, still get your robo for that early obs. If you don't miss any timings, you should be able to get your obs inside their base in time to see the spire being built. I usually go 1gate, gas, core then robo when core is done.If you see a spire, start making stalkers and research blink ASAP. You need a very high number of stalkers, something like 1.5-2 stalkers for every muta they have. Sentries with shield will help also. I also advise you to build a few cannons at your mineral lines for the extra firepower. You should have the forge anyways for upgrades. The very important part of this is to continue scouting and teching. If you see that they have stopped producing mutas, then you must similarly stop producing stalkers and start getting more anti-ground forces. I find that HTs are a good transition unless they're going roaches because archons can also help as anti-muta. If you scout them expanding, send 4-6 zeals to go shut down the expo. You will be surprised at how much damage 4-6 chargelots can do. It's unlikely they'll have anything else other than lings due to the high cost of mutas.

On maps with short air distances, like DO or scrap station, open with a stargate. Skip the robo entirely. Use your first phoenix to scout. Again, if you open with 1 gate into stargate and chrono the phoenix, your phoenix should get to their base in time to see the spire. If you see the spire, start pumping phoenix and stalkers.and try to expand before he gets too many mutas out. Once there are too many mutas, you won't be able to expo. Another alternative is to make a void ray instead of the first phoenix. It'll act as a good harasser and you should still be able to scout their base decently well. Often, the act of building a stargate and showing it to them will be enough to prevent them from making mutas. You want to maintain a 2:3 ratio of phoenix to mutas and YOU MUST MICRO THE PHOENIX. Target fire the mutas one by one or you will lose. Throw down another stargate if necessary, but try to not have more than 2 stargates. Build robo+obs when you can and like I said previously, do harassment of your own; deny expos, use warp prism harasses with some zeals, etc...

EDIT: Stalkers with blink are an amazing thing. Don't see them just as a soft counter/defense against mutas. They are amazing harassers as well. In addition, if you practice blink micro you can make stalkers do much more damage than their cost. Watch Drunkbobby v. Idra for a good example of blink micro. Don't be afraid of making too many stalkers if they're going mass mutas. In addition, sentries FF will also be very effective at shutting down ground based harass and to protect your stalkers from lings.
Cooloff
Profile Joined April 2010
United States86 Posts
April 24 2010 01:38 GMT
#37
On April 23 2010 02:30 DragonDefonce wrote:
My suggestion would be to no be so eager to punish him early on. If you also have 2 bases, you can build up an incredibly strong army thats heavy on stalkers and sentries, with some immortals and zealots mixed in. Just dig in, defend your mineral line, and push out when you think you have enough units to just steamroll through his base.


this makes a lot of sense, ive ran into this tons of times playing as Z against P. They hunker in with 2 minerals lines and photon up, i cant really see what hes doing but hes massing everything. then he comes out and steam rolls through all my units and then my mutas are their and he finishes those off. then with sentries, immortals and some stalkers starts picking off my expos. Very effective as toss
When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of twelve people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.
zaldinfox
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada60 Posts
April 26 2010 07:15 GMT
#38
Having trouble with this MU too.

Is there any sense in skipping Robo by prioritizing Haluc?

12/Gate -> Gas -> Core -> Council -> +3 Gate

Wall off. As soon as the core is done, skip warp gate, boost haluc and make 1 sentry. The wall should help vs. speedling run by. And a Haluc Phoenix will let you see what he is doing. You should see an expo going up and lair tech. Build another couple sentries and send out whatever you need to scout tech.

At the 5 min mark (when you need the immortal push to work or the FE is solid) take an expo, cannons around minerals, and make Templar Archives.

My thought is that the cannons and sentries will be enough to hold off muta harrass, giving you enough time to prepare HT. This forces the opponent to go Roaches (lower tier) or get eaten up by storms. If you go Collossus instead you are putting yourself in a bad position for two reasons:

1. Collosus are countered by Muta
2. You have to switch tech entirely.

Now, if you had gone Robo first to get obs, and you see Muta, your scout will be slower and your collosus will be useless. But if you go Council first, you have option to upgrade both legs and blink, both of which are an asset vs. muta/hydra.

A second possibility, building on use of hallucinate, is to hold off with cannons and a mix of stalkers/sentries, but when it comes time to push, instead of spamming FF or Shield, make a bunch of Haluc units... throw them in front and push hard. I use haluc even in small micro battles because they are basically FF with health. I would rather keep mobility in some instances and have a meat shield to absorb those first hydra hits.

Either way, Muta means a heavy gas build for Protoss...
jamvng
Profile Joined October 2008
Canada244 Posts
April 26 2010 07:28 GMT
#39
just a question does rushing to a stargate with pheonix to scout (like in BW) and then picking off overlords with them work?

then add wargates later.
Clearout
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Norway1060 Posts
April 26 2010 07:39 GMT
#40
NonY did a great game yesterday showing how to counter this in the HDH invitational. Continually chrono'ing two stargates with phoenix. Then he made a push with tons of zealots, some sentry / stalker and a colossi, nearly breaking the zerg's natural, because his phoenix > muta, and his ground army was superior to the 7 spinecrwalers and the lings. After that his phoenix had free reign and he took out queens, overlords and drones and it was basically GG.
really?
Ganondorf
Profile Joined April 2010
Italy600 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-04-26 10:28:42
April 26 2010 10:28 GMT
#41
On April 26 2010 16:39 Clearout wrote:
NonY did a great game yesterday showing how to counter this in the HDH invitational. Continually chrono'ing two stargates with phoenix. Then he made a push with tons of zealots, some sentry / stalker and a colossi, nearly breaking the zerg's natural, because his phoenix > muta, and his ground army was superior to the 7 spinecrwalers and the lings. After that his phoenix had free reign and he took out queens, overlords and drones and it was basically GG.


The counter is what i thought a while back while playing protoss, but it looked too hard to do so i didn't think too much about it. How wrong i was. Phoenixes in guardian shield = bye bye mutas. Out of guardian shield the Phoenixes are good for defense, but won't get rid of mutas right away. The shield works with air units. Ah yeah forgot to say my league, platinum on eu server.
BrTarolg
Profile Blog Joined June 2009
United Kingdom3574 Posts
April 26 2010 10:45 GMT
#42
Seriously i dont understand you people going phoenix lol

Useless stargate tech...

Just go mass sentry +some stalker/zealot is enough

The main problem is when he techswitches to roach/hydra you are in trouble ^^
count
Profile Joined April 2010
Netherlands3 Posts
April 26 2010 12:02 GMT
#43
On April 26 2010 19:45 BrTarolg wrote:
Seriously i dont understand you people going phoenix lol

Useless stargate tech...

Just go mass sentry +some stalker/zealot is enough

The main problem is when he techswitches to roach/hydra you are in trouble ^^


Yeah you're right, you don't understand

You can't stop Mutas with Sentries unless you are both noble gentlemen and have arranged for a duel at dawn. Otherwise the Mutas will just avoid the Sentries and harass the Protoss into oblivion.

Phoenix maintain value after a Zerg techswitch thanks to their Graviton ability.
i will kill you until you die from it - s. hussein
FuryX
Profile Joined April 2010
Australia495 Posts
April 26 2010 12:43 GMT
#44
by mass how many muta we talking about? because i get rolf stomped by the timing push that protoss do, with the stalker/zeal/sentry/immortals
kalysto
Profile Joined April 2010
Germany1 Post
April 26 2010 13:06 GMT
#45
Build masses of phoenixes, then after harrasing, move them with stalkers and-against hydras, with additional Colossi with you and the Zerg player will probably looses the game.
10119
Entropia
Profile Joined April 2010
France103 Posts
April 26 2010 13:07 GMT
#46
I can stand mutas up to 10-12 in number. After that, cannons are no more effective and neither is splitting army to defend the expo (mandatory to take it if you wanna survive).

When I do an immortal push, it is a gamble: if he gets enough mutas before I can make any major damage, I lose, otherwise I win just because I did a lot of damage before. With the patch 9, I'm afraid we have to find another way of playing versus Zerg
Aelfric
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Turkey1496 Posts
April 26 2010 13:09 GMT
#47
What Nony did yesterday is only supportable with 1 exp, i mean your natural. You can't support 2 stargates with only your base. You can actually fe in lost temple and blistering sands but other maps are not really helping with fe cuz of unblockable terrain. But the important thing here is that nony hasn't really fe'd in that game. He just expanded before scouting with hallucinated phoenix. It was actually good strategy but moonglade didn't play right imo. Massing 6-7 crawlers when you see protoss expand isn't really good talent toi have. He should have tried to mass mutas to overcome phoenix count and then we would see how good Nony's stratejy is. Anyways i hope he tries same thing in some other pvz too cuz nowadays all zerg do is to gain map control with mutas and double expand to normal and gold.
Tomorrow never comes until its too late...
Normal
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
The PiG Daily
23:25
Best Games of EWC
Clem vs Solar
Serral vs Classic
Reynor vs Maru
herO vs Cure
PiGStarcraft293
LiquipediaDiscussion
BSL
20:00
Team Wars - Round 2
Dewalt vs Sziky
ZZZero.O81
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft287
StarCraft: Brood War
ggaemo 165
NaDa 97
ZZZero.O 94
yabsab 6
Stormgate
UpATreeSC273
Nina168
CosmosSc2 29
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm81
LuMiX1
Super Smash Bros
C9.Mang0159
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor118
Other Games
tarik_tv18803
gofns16282
summit1g13322
Grubby1939
ViBE136
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1059
BasetradeTV36
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 20 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH114
• RyuSc2 51
• davetesta30
• OhrlRock 1
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• Pr0nogo 4
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• Ler59
League of Legends
• Doublelift5534
Counter-Strike
• imaqtpie1035
• Shiphtur189
Other Games
• Scarra754
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
1h 53m
RSL Revival
9h 53m
SC Evo League
11h 53m
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
14h 53m
CSO Cup
15h 53m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 9h
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
1d 14h
Wardi Open
2 days
RotterdaM Event
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
[ Show More ]
RSL Revival
3 days
The PondCast
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
LiuLi Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

ASL Season 20: Qualifier #2
FEL Cracow 2025
CC Div. A S7

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21 Qualifiers
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
HCC Europe
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025

Upcoming

ASL Season 20
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
BSL 21 Team A
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
SEL Season 2 Championship
WardiTV Summer 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
MESA Nomadic Masters Fall
CS Asia Championships 2025
Roobet Cup 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
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 © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.