• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 10:40
CET 16:40
KST 00:40
  • 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 ZvT29Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8
Community News
Team Liquid Map Contest - Preparation Notice5Weekly Cups (Feb 23-Mar 1): herO doubles, 2v2 bonanza1Weekly Cups (Feb 16-22): MaxPax doubles0Weekly Cups (Feb 9-15): herO doubles up2ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/0258
StarCraft 2
General
Team Liquid Map Contest - Preparation Notice How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker Weekly Cups (Feb 23-Mar 1): herO doubles, 2v2 bonanza
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament $5,000 WardiTV Winter Championship 2026 RSL Season 4 announced for March-April Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026] Map Editor closed ?
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 515 Together Forever Mutation # 514 Ulnar New Year Mutation # 513 Attrition Warfare
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion Gypsy to Korea BSL 22 Map Contest — Submissions OPEN to March 10 BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ It's March 3rd
Tourneys
[BSL22] Open Qualifier #1 - Sunday 21:00 CET [Megathread] Daily Proleagues BWCL Season 64 Announcement The Casual Games of the Week Thread
Strategy
Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Zealot bombing is no longer popular?
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Diablo 2 thread Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion The Story of Wings Gaming
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
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine UK Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA 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
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Gaming-Related Deaths
TrAiDoS
ONE GREAT AMERICAN MARINE…
XenOsky
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2070 users

[G] kcdc's PvT FE - Page 5

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 69 70 71 Next
kcdc
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2311 Posts
August 13 2010 05:28 GMT
#81
On August 13 2010 13:33 churn wrote:
The better of the games we played.

You guys should decide yourselves if this is solid play.

3 rax heavy marauder with stim and conc shell as fast as possible.

[image loading]


Haha....the answer is: no. Not particularly good play from either side. Watching the replay tho, I realize that the fourth gateway is pretty useless against fast-hitting attacks. It won't be done in time to be relevant. Cutting probes to get the second and third gates done faster and keeping my units at the top of the ramp to let my nexus tank a few shots until my units warped in would have made the fight look much less close.
altairian
Profile Joined May 2010
United States105 Posts
August 13 2010 05:31 GMT
#82
oh my goodness thank you. I've been wanting an aggressive opening against terran that actually puts me at an advantage. 3gate openings put all the control of the match in the terran's hands imo, you're forced to tech until he expands and then you can finally throw yours down, but this forces him to either try to bust you, which I think is pretty well proven can be handled at this point, or expand himself which puts him a bit behind in economy.
willeesmalls
Profile Joined March 2010
United States477 Posts
August 13 2010 05:48 GMT
#83
I think this works because this is difficult for terran to scout. But if he does, he can pump marines and bring scvs to your expo.

If you scout 1/1/1, how do you stop marine tank raven scv push to your base? charge won't be finished yet.

@floop:
I've been coming to that realization too. You can't really stim more than once, and he can force u to stim and forcefield you out. That combined with colossus and Bio play is really inferior to mech play.
Soulforged
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Latvia936 Posts
August 13 2010 05:58 GMT
#84
I found out that if it's not a 3rax before tech build, I usually can get away with a sentry after zealot/stalker. IDK if it's viable vs rine/tank opening, though, but getting that sentry allows for a faster nexus - and for a faster 2 gateways. Cutting one probe for them, warpgates and extra gateways finish almost at the same time - probably some more tweaking will get the effect. Nexus supply kicks in faster as well, so no need for an extra pylon compared to if I got a 2nd zealot or 2nd stalker later on.
Unfortunately, faster sentry probably won't work on a 2rine->tech lab for maradeur -> maradeurs and 2 more rax opening. I am not sure, it needs some testing. If the sentry can get to terran before the extra barracks finish, and if the army that's one stalker or one zealot smaller can handle the 1rax production + travel time to terran production, you might be able to FF him in.
If that turns out to be true, I'll probably start opening with TWO sentries in a row in order to get a good timed warp/3gate without probe cuts.

Though I do suspect that there's no way 2(1)zealot 1(2)stalker 1sentry will handle something like 2rine/2(3? 1?)maradeur opening enough to contain the terran.

Btw, FE without sentry is really easy on maps with large distances, such as desert oasis or scrap station. It's the small maps I'm concerned about.

I start 2nd gas after starting 3rd gateway and resuming probe production, I tend to start robo after a 1 or 2 warp cycles. Didn't experiment much on later parts - precise follow-ups for FE will have to wait until it's certainly viable against rushes.
churn
Profile Joined July 2010
28 Posts
August 13 2010 06:01 GMT
#85
On August 13 2010 14:31 altairian wrote:
oh my goodness thank you. I've been wanting an aggressive opening against terran that actually puts me at an advantage. 3gate openings put all the control of the match in the terran's hands imo, you're forced to tech until he expands and then you can finally throw yours down, but this forces him to either try to bust you, which I think is pretty well proven can be handled at this point, or expand himself which puts him a bit behind in economy.


Not on topic of FE, but you should look into the 2 stalker opening
altairian
Profile Joined May 2010
United States105 Posts
August 13 2010 06:12 GMT
#86
I've been opening with stalkers and using them to harass where I can, but naked stalkers against marauders gets really sketchy really fast. I'm definitely interested in playing around with it more though if you could elaborate a bit? perhaps in a PM so we don't get too off topic here

No single strategy will work against everything obviously, so while this may become my standard PvT opening I definitely want to have other options ;D
kcdc
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2311 Posts
August 13 2010 15:03 GMT
#87
I forgot to save the replays w/ Floop as we went, and the 10 replay limit has killed the first ones where we were testing the build against early timing attacks. Floop, do you have them? I'm thinking I'll expand the OP into a real guide sometime next week, and those replays would be helpful.
JrK
Profile Joined June 2010
United States283 Posts
August 13 2010 15:24 GMT
#88
Please do kcdc =)
JrKjrKJrk
Anomandaris
Profile Joined July 2010
Afghanistan440 Posts
August 13 2010 15:29 GMT
#89
I have done your strat twice on the ladder and lost twice (diamond 650). It is maybe possible to pull off if: the terran doesn't scout it, you pull probes off the line to help in the fight, and fight close to your nexus so that the nexus tanks a little.
altairian
Profile Joined May 2010
United States105 Posts
August 13 2010 15:41 GMT
#90
On August 14 2010 00:29 Anomandaris wrote:
I have done your strat twice on the ladder and lost twice (diamond 650). It is maybe possible to pull off if: the terran doesn't scout it, you pull probes off the line to help in the fight, and fight close to your nexus so that the nexus tanks a little.


These are all things that kcdc does do in his replays. You should watch them for tips =)
Floophead_III
Profile Joined September 2009
United States1832 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-13 15:46:16
August 13 2010 15:41 GMT
#91
On August 13 2010 14:48 willeesmalls wrote:
I think this works because this is difficult for terran to scout. But if he does, he can pump marines and bring scvs to your expo.

If you scout 1/1/1, how do you stop marine tank raven scv push to your base? charge won't be finished yet.

@floop:
I've been coming to that realization too. You can't really stim more than once, and he can force u to stim and forcefield you out. That combined with colossus and Bio play is really inferior to mech play.


Dude, this is the direct counter to 1/1/1 builds. I've already established that a looonnnnnnggggg time ago. You can just have enough stalkers to hold off early marine/tank pushes. The big raven push comes so late that you have 4 gates and a robo up with immortals, observers, tons of stalkers, maybe even blink. Remember, all you have to do is kill the tanks and the attack does nothing because stalkers can dance around marines all day.

@kcdc:

I still have them, let me save them now before I forget.

edit:

I saved them but I think I might be missing 1 or 2, and I'm sure I saved some dummy reps. I don't think I have the rep of you beating my push but that game was so far from close it doesn't even matter.
Half man, half bear, half pig.
kcdc
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2311 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-13 15:58:39
August 13 2010 15:44 GMT
#92
On August 14 2010 00:29 Anomandaris wrote:
I have done your strat twice on the ladder and lost twice (diamond 650). It is maybe possible to pull off if: the terran doesn't scout it, you pull probes off the line to help in the fight, and fight close to your nexus so that the nexus tanks a little.


Keep working at it. I've probably used this FE 30+ times on the ladder and I think I've lost the nexus maybe twice due to bad control. And it gets scouted the majority of the time.

But yes, if T attacks before you have 3+ warpgates, you definitely need to pull probes, but even if you lose 6 or 7 probes, as long as you keep your nexus, you're ahead in economy.

When I expand the OP, I'll talk more about how to hold early aggression.
TehForce
Profile Joined July 2010
1072 Posts
August 13 2010 17:23 GMT
#93
Very nice build. i now used it too in ladder (diamond) and never lost the fe. It is really a solid opening. Thank you op
NesTea <3
junemermaid
Profile Joined September 2006
United States981 Posts
August 13 2010 18:29 GMT
#94
Kind of skeptical about this build. Will definitely look at the replays when I get home and try it out myself.
the UMP says YER OUT
Reason.SC2
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada1047 Posts
August 13 2010 18:37 GMT
#95
This is just an invitation for T to do a 3 rax marauder. GG.

I really see no way you could ever hold off a 3rax marauder or mass rax pure marine all-in build with this.
whateversclever
Profile Joined November 2009
United States197 Posts
August 13 2010 19:02 GMT
#96
On August 14 2010 03:37 Reason.SC2 wrote:
This is just an invitation for T to do a 3 rax marauder. GG.

I really see no way you could ever hold off a 3rax marauder or mass rax pure marine all-in build with this.


read the thread please.
Reason.SC2
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada1047 Posts
August 13 2010 19:17 GMT
#97
I understand its supposed to be able to hold this off (3 rax marauder). I just don't believe that this is true unless the terran simply doesn't execute properly. Consider that you're spending an extra 400 minerals on that nexus which your opponent is spending on army, that you can't hold him off for too long with forcefields since there is no ramp which 1 FF can cover to your nat, and that concussion upgraded marauders melt all gateway units (not to mention he'll have a bigger army and stim on the way). And add to the scenario that the economic advantage you gain from FE won't kick in before he attacks you and you've got yourself one tough situation.

Either way I'll be doing some testing to confirm this for myself. If it works then I'd be one happy camper ^^.
altairian
Profile Joined May 2010
United States105 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-13 19:32:36
August 13 2010 19:27 GMT
#98
On August 14 2010 03:37 Reason.SC2 wrote:
This is just an invitation for T to do a 3 rax marauder. GG.

I really see no way you could ever hold off a 3rax marauder or mass rax pure marine all-in build with this.


It works because you get 3gates + warp gate up right around the time his push hits. This allows you to reinforce quickly enough to hold it off. The important thing is keeping your stalkers alive, zealot + stalker beats marauder unless your micro is awful.

I think a lot of protoss run in to problems with early pushes because they simply aren't utilizing their gateways before warp gate is up. We end up cutting units to create more gateways for our 3 or 4 gate pushes, but there's that sketchy period in the middle where warp gate isn't researched yet that we're rocking at best 1 zealot 1 stalker 1 sentry and then we get walked over by marauders and cry the matchup is broken. The key element to this strategy is you're fully utilizing, AND chrono boosting your single gateway, so you end up with just as many units, or in some cases even more units, than a standard warp gate opening.
skipdog172
Profile Joined June 2010
United States331 Posts
August 13 2010 19:34 GMT
#99
Unfortunately none of the examples of 3rax marauder plays shown in the replays were...um, executed properly? I watched the 3 replays posted and in all games it looks like a better terran player should have definitely been able to finish the game. I could be wrong, and it is probably COMPLETELY OK that this strategy has a weakness to 3rax marauder. Hopefully we are seeing the same kind of development as we saw in BW where FEs become more popular the better the playerbase gets at being able to defend them. I think it will be good for the game if FEs and 2-3 base plays become much more common.
kcdc
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2311 Posts
August 13 2010 19:35 GMT
#100
On August 14 2010 04:17 Reason.SC2 wrote:
I understand its supposed to be able to hold this off (3 rax marauder). I just don't believe that this is true unless the terran simply doesn't execute properly. Consider that you're spending an extra 400 minerals on that nexus which your opponent is spending on army, that you can't hold him off for too long with forcefields since there is no ramp which 1 FF can cover to your nat, and that concussion upgraded marauders melt all gateway units (not to mention he'll have a bigger army and stim on the way). And add to the scenario that the economic advantage you gain from FE won't kick in before he attacks you and you've got yourself one tough situation.

Either way I'll be doing some testing to confirm this for myself. If it works then I'd be one happy camper ^^.


Marauders don't melt any of the gateway units. They beat naked stalkers, but lose for cost to stalkers with zealot meatshields. Also, the Protoss defender gets a rush distance time advantage, an instant production cycle unit count advantage from warpgates, a terrain advantage, a nexus to tank shots, probes to help fight, and can reinforce instantly at the location of the battle. It can get close, but if you control well, you'll hold.
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 69 70 71 Next
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
WardiTV Winter Champion…
12:00
Playoffs
ByuN vs Gerald
Clem vs Krystianer
WardiTV1174
TKL 294
IndyStarCraft 188
Rex142
3DClanTV 90
EnkiAlexander 55
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
TKL 294
IndyStarCraft 188
Rex 142
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 42306
Jaedong 2064
Shuttle 1635
Larva 848
Soma 545
EffOrt 440
Mini 416
Stork 386
firebathero 349
Soulkey 293
[ Show more ]
ggaemo 292
BeSt 270
Hyuk 208
Rush 187
Sharp 113
Dewaltoss 112
Mong 104
Mind 85
Snow 73
PianO 60
Sea.KH 56
Aegong 42
sSak 38
[sc1f]eonzerg 35
Free 35
sorry 27
Terrorterran 17
IntoTheRainbow 17
Rock 15
yabsab 14
HiyA 12
NaDa 9
soO 9
Sacsri 8
GoRush 8
ajuk12(nOOB) 6
ivOry 4
Dota 2
Gorgc2689
qojqva1906
BananaSlamJamma115
Counter-Strike
fl0m2822
Fnx 1759
oskar59
Other Games
singsing2084
B2W.Neo992
Lowko310
Mlord306
DeMusliM302
crisheroes182
Hui .151
QueenE114
Liquid`VortiX103
Mew2King84
ArmadaUGS60
C9.Mang045
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV124
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• poizon28 32
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Migwel
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota269
League of Legends
• Nemesis11755
• Jankos1882
• TFBlade906
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
8h 20m
Ultimate Battle
20h 20m
Light vs ZerO
WardiTV Winter Champion…
20h 20m
MaxPax vs Spirit
Rogue vs Bunny
Cure vs SHIN
Solar vs Zoun
Replay Cast
1d 8h
CranKy Ducklings
1d 18h
WardiTV Winter Champion…
1d 20h
Replay Cast
2 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
WardiTV Winter Champion…
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
3 days
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
OSC
4 days
Replay Cast
6 days
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-03-04
PiG Sty Festival 7.0
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Jeongseon Sooper Cup
Spring Cup 2026
WardiTV Winter 2026
Nations Cup 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025

Upcoming

ASL Season 21: Qualifier #1
ASL Season 21: Qualifier #2
ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
CSLAN 4
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
NationLESS Cup
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
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.