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Lately, I have being trying to apply early pressure against both Zerg and Terran. Against Zerg I have had moderate success with a 3 gateway push into expand. Only problem and frustration I have had is with Terran.
I attempt a push around 50 or so supply around the 7 minute mark. However I never really do enough damage for the investment it takes to apply the pressure and slowly fall behind as he begins to apply pressure to me while expand and tech to either Robo or Templar.
I generally like playing aggressive and harassing but when I play against Terran I feel like I must play defensive and in the dark. It's very frustrating and I am just curious if there are any replays or openings that show/allow early pressure against Terran to dictate the pace of the game?
Thanks.
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yes to be aggressive against terran you have to do it before stim and abuse chokes. Void rays, 3gate (sentry heavy), proxy 1gate, immortal play, warp prism, dt, take your pick.
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I found that some kind of flying spotter unit to be instrumental to my push, especially against terran... or roaching zerg. Most map always have that ramp, some bigger than others but it makes defending inherently more advantageous, especially when having the same army value. Defenders have better concave naturally. So terrans, which has mostly ranged early units benefit the most from this.
My first push usually always wait on either a void rays or an observer to kind of negate this defender advantage. The only exception to this is for maps where I'm pushing towards a base that is not protected by a ramp (naturals on jungle basin and scrap station by destroying rocks for example ) or bases where I can sneak and go up the ramp easily (high orbit 2v2 back door ramp).
I also find Sentries to be very very useful. Shield when again terran and force fields against zerlings
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Try this build to get great two stalker push going at like 6 minutes:
Gnials fast voidray
although sometimes I just keep pushing out stalkers.
I'm only plat but I like it.
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Yeah, a fast VR is a great way to pressure Terran and force them to make more marines than they usually want to because marauders nom nom nom on Toss gateway units.
I usually go 3gate/star if I want to pressure Terran for reasons that a lot of people have said. Stalkers will be able to see up the ramp and take shots at whatever is up there (whether its a bunker or a wall) and the VR can charge up on that as well and usually provides a target for the Terran that can easily be micro'd away and allow free shots for your ground units. I'll make my push when I get 2 VRs out because the VRs then can do some terrible, terrible damage and usually end it if played correctly. If not, I will usually expand while the attack is going down and try and save as many units as possible (basically the VRs are something you don't want to lose) After that, I rarely make another VR and just use the two I got to harass while getting robo or templar tech up. This both allows you to get your end game tech up safely because he's forced to stay inside his base or the VRs will go to town or he's forced to put up turrets everywhere and won't be able to afford a bigger army to push out with.
It's a strong opening against most Terrans and I rarely lose in my mid-diamond games (2000+) with it. Obviously things like cloak banshees can ruin this strat but you have to constantly scout. If I see gas out and only marines at his ramp, I'm gonna make my push with only the 1 VR and throw down my Robo instead of getting that second VR for the observer, maybe even get a couple phoenix to shoot down those banshees. Either way, it does allow for some flexibility and is very hard to counter for most Terran builds.
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If Terran goes for fast tech with only marines defending, you can often do quite a bit of damage with your first zealot and two stalkers. Hotkey your zealot and stalker to seperate hotkeys, and have the zealot just go up the ramp first and start attacking the depot. The marines will start firing at the zealot and will give your stalker(s) a very small window of time to get free hits on the Marines. Often they will have to flee backwards out of range of the Stalker's fire. If they don't have a bunker it is quite easy to do damage. If you catch your opponent off guard you may even bring down the depot, which could very well end the game. But expect a timely SCV pull to save him or her, but not without taking damage first. Use your Stalkers to snipe as many SCVs as possible. Not only will he be down money for pulling SCVs but he will have a lower SCV count to boot.
I usually do this aggression with my 1gate Core expand builds. I typically chrono out the first and second stalkers.
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If you want to crack their choke turtle, you can research Hallucination right after researching Warpgate Tech. Then right before you push, get outside his base with your forces, drop a proxy Pylon with the power field up the cliff, then Hallucinate a Phoenix or other unit that will give you vision on the high ground. Warp in a round of Zealots/Stalkers, then toy with him.
If he leaves his bunker turtle to go deal with it, tear it down with your forces outside his base. If he stays to defend the front entrance, well, wreak havoc with your warp-ins.
Also, move your hallucinated vision away from the cliff edge because it lasts for 60 seconds, which is enough time (if you ran your warp in units away towards his mineral line) to get vision again and do another round before the hallucination ends.
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EPT
