early harass as protoss

dump

Japan514 Posts

September 13 2010 23:08 GMT

20s-30s diamond toss here.

one thing i think is really fun is early harassment with two-three gateway units, but i'm not too good at it.

i usually have the most success against zerg and against terran on kulast ravine. other times i tend to just get denied at the ramp.

anyone have any tricks up their sleeves? any effective not-all-in build orders?

Nathyrra

United States14 Posts

September 14 2010 00:22 GMT

Just getting 1-2 stalkers early and shooting a pylon once is good, because it keeps them worried and gives you map control. You can also punish them if they go zealot heavy by microing stalkers away and shooting them down. Make sure to back your stalkers out before their shields run out. Even if it doesn't do any damage, there's that psychological effect there so he'll be less likely to expand, push out, and harass.

Chronophage

9 Posts

September 14 2010 00:27 GMT

The Dual-Stalker build gets 2 stalkers out super fast, around 4:30, at the cost of cutting probes briefly. It goes: 9 pylon, 12 gate, 14 gas, 15 gate, 15 cybercore, 16 pylon, 16 both stalkers. Then resume probe production. If you do it just right, the core, pylon, and second gate all finish almost at the same time and you just barely have enough minerals/gas for both stalkers. Chronoboost probes twice, then save, and you can boost both stalkers at once too. Scout after the first gate.

You can just harass with two stalkers, or make a second round of double stalkers before switching into something else.

I think Gnial had a stalker into void ray build using this somewhere on the forums.

GinDo

3327 Posts

September 14 2010 00:30 GMT

I've seen FF of enemy front ramps. It was super annoying. But requires quite alot of APM.

dump

Japan514 Posts

September 14 2010 03:48 GMT

force field? how would you use force field offensively that early in the game?

proxY_

United States1561 Posts

September 14 2010 04:01 GMT

On September 14 2010 12:48 dump wrote:
force field? how would you use force field offensively that early in the game?

If you're pressuring a zerg that has fast expanded you can force field their ramp to prevent any reinforcements from getting down to defend their expansion hatchery. Its a really strong tactic that you should always use when attacking a zerg's expansion. Force fields in general are incredibly strong against zerg because you can keep lings off your stalkers and funnel them into your zealots and you can trap roaches back with their range 3 attack and shoot them with range 6 stalkers.

Against terran, you can drop force fields behind marine marauder balls and that prevents them from running away from zealots. If you're teching up you can drop force fields on your ramp to prevent a superior enemy force from getting in until you have a colossus out.

Nazgul also pioneered a terran contain strat where you constantly juggle the terran ramp with force fields and delay his expansion while you expand. It forces the terran to either go siege tank or quick medivac and circumvent the force field.

Honestly, strong force field usage is one of the major things that separates low diamond and platinum players from middle to high diamond players.

Btw it doesn't require that much apm, I have no problems doing it with like 60-70 average apm (albeit it spikes in battles).

Gnial

Canada907 Posts

September 14 2010 04:59 GMT

White-ra 13-gates and attacks with his first zealot in every PvT. Or you can do the dual-stalker build mentioned above.

Everyone knows about 2-gate pressure in PvZ

PvP getting 2 zealots and 1 stalker out of a 12 or 13-gate can be solid for pressuring. Especially if you hit them and they have gone something like zealot-sentry + tech, you can really mess them up if you can find a way up the ramp. (send 1 zealot to their probes) If you don't make it up their ramp at the very least you make them waste some forcefields, and possibly use chrono on gateway units.

dump

Japan514 Posts

September 14 2010 05:05 GMT

ah, gotcha.

yeah, i've been using force fields like crazy since i got the beta back in april. never thought of using them for initial harrass though.

dump

Japan514 Posts

September 16 2010 21:23 GMT

yeah, definitely liking the dual stalker opening. just won several games in a row, including one against a rank 1 terran.

my follow-up is still nowhere near perfect, but it's still already damn effective.

it seems to often force opponents into cutting workers regardless of how much actual damage you manage to do, and even if you don't end up with map control immediately.

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