EPTI currently have a lot of free time and I decided to use it to write a full guide about PvT. It is by far my best match-up, and I feel like I really understand it.
I know it turned into quite a wall of text, but don’t worry: it’s all exceptionally interesting! ^^
I’m no native English speaker, so I will already apologize for all the spelling/grammar mistakes I will inevitably make. I hope you enjoy the guide.
Table of Contents:
I) Marine openers
1) 1rax FE: game plan + general early, mid and late game tactics
2) Tech openers
2A) Mech
2B) Banshee/raven/marine all-in
2C) Banshee/raven/tank/marine all-in
2D) Marine drop hellion push
2E) Polt timing push
2F) Proxy rax marine scv all-in
2G) 1base ghost
2H) Thor all-in
II) Marine/Marauder openers
A) 3Rax all-in
III) General Tips and Tricks
Dealing with drop harass included.
IV)Flowchart
Intro:
A lot has changed in PvT since the last patch. The biggest change in my eyes is the fact that upgrades become A LOT more important, as it isn’t very good to have a lot of gas saved up for high templars anymore.
In PvT there are a lot of different builds which all have their pros and cons. Your main early game objective is to scout the Terran and react as well as you possibly can to his opener. By doing a standard zealot-stalker opener with 1gate and 2gas you leave all of your options open, and the Terran will be unable to predict what you are going to do.
From here on there are a lot of different scenarios, I will discuss them categorized by marine-openers and marauder-openers.
Part I: Marine Openers:
If the Terran opens with more than 2 marines it means he’s either going to tech or FE.
The zealot-stalker poke:
Vs marines you always want to do a zealot-stalker poke. Try to kill as many marines as possible with your stalker while your zealot tanks. If he walled-in you want to engage with your stalker, retreat when its shields are empty, then attack the wall with the zealot while fireing at the marines with your stalker (they are shooting your zealot). Retreat when the zealot’s shields are dead. The objective of this poke is not only to do some damage and pressure the Terran, but also to gain vital scouting information.
General Early game: Holding pressure:
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A very common Terran strategy is to attack with 30ish marines after a 1rax fe, or to attack with marine/marauder.
This is actually pretty easy to hold, a few things to keep in mind:
- Forcefield behind his units in the shape of a cup, that way your zealots will do maximum damage.
- He’s gonna go after your sentries, pull them back a little after they forcefielded, you don’t want to trade them for marines.
- If he brings scvs with this push he’s going all-in, you might want to try to separate the scvs from the marines with a couple of FF. Forcefield usage is absolutely key here, if they are bad or you waste them you can very easily die. Pull probes if necessary.
A marine/marauder push requires the same response, FF him well and the zealots will do the rest.
This is actually pretty easy to hold, a few things to keep in mind:
- Forcefield behind his units in the shape of a cup, that way your zealots will do maximum damage.
- He’s gonna go after your sentries, pull them back a little after they forcefielded, you don’t want to trade them for marines.
- If he brings scvs with this push he’s going all-in, you might want to try to separate the scvs from the marines with a couple of FF. Forcefield usage is absolutely key here, if they are bad or you waste them you can very easily die. Pull probes if necessary.
A marine/marauder push requires the same response, FF him well and the zealots will do the rest.
General Midgame:
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After a double forge your follow-up should go like this.
If you held his push you’re miles ahead, throw down your twilight council when your upgrades are at 75% and a robo. Get +2 armor and weapons as soon as possible. After you started the +2 upgrades get a robo bay and spend all chrono on colossi. Add 2 or 3 more gates (depends on your macro and on whether you want to pressure or not) Charge and blink are both awesome, you should get them but not if that means cutting colossi production or upgrades. +3 armor is super good and should be prioritized. I love getting a dark shrine when I start my third base. Dts help so much vs timings and to deal with drop play.
If you want to pressure, do it when you have 3colossi and the +2 upgrades. A good way to FF is the doughnut hole, which is basically surrounding a part of the Terran forces with FF so that they clump up and take terrible damage from your colossi. Micro your zealots so they attack the units outside the ff, and make sure your colossi fire at the units inside it. If you decided to pressure you should expo around the 13-14 minute mark. Otherwise you want to be going for a 12 minute expo. With this pressure you can outright win the game, but be careful not to overextend yourself. Doing damage is good, but unless you’re 100% sure you will win don’t try to go for the kill.
An alternative style of play is getting 3more gates after your twilight council and going mass gateway units with upgrades. I like getting 2 more robos and a robo bay when the third is at 75%. the advantage of this build is that you have a very fast and very deadly colossus switch, and that you're safer vs drops in the midgame. It can be pretty hard to defend pushes that hit you right as you techswitch to triple robotics, but after quite some games I felt very comfortable with this build.
Another style I like a lot is going for 2 forges after you start the first colossi and extended thermal lance. Again, all crhonoboost to colossi! Get the twilight council so it line sup with your upgrades, and get a dark shrine as the twilight council completes/ This style is very safe and very strong.
General Late game:
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You can get more bases whenever you feel safe, usually I get mine around the 15-17 minute mark. It is very game dependent so I can’t really put an exact number on it.
Many Terrans complain about late game PvT, but be careful, it’s not as one sided as they want to make you believe it is! Even though they got nerfed I still like HT. The only difference is that it’s absolutely necessary to micro them in and out of a warp prism. Preferably you want 2 or 3 prisms. Keep them in the back, otherwise Vikings could snipe them.
If they are out of energy or if you get attacked before storm is ready, make archons. Archons may be expensive, but they’re sick good. Focus on the Vikings with them, if they are a little clumped up they die really fast to the splash. Another option is a phoenix switch.
Ultimately you want a zealot/sentry/colossi/phoenix/ht army with some remaining stalkers and a few archons. If they do something funky you should obviously react to that. This army will crush nearly any Terran composition.
Some key points when going phoenix:
- Micro them well, if they clump up (happens easily if you don’t pay attention!) and get EMPed you will probably die.
- Go double cyber core air upgrades, and add a fleet beacon for further upgrades + the possibility of a quick carrier switch.
- Focus on the Vikings (obviously)
-Use graviton beam when there are no Terran air units left
The advantage of this is that you can stop making stalkers (they are not very good late game and don't fair well with upgrades), and that the synergy with colossi is just amazing. The disadvantage is that thor switches can be deadly if unscouted, and that you are very vulnerable to EMP.
You should be scouting the Terran constantly with observers, phoenixes, hallucinations, probe sacks, anything.
Terran tech switches:
Vs mass thors a carrier switch is good; use immortals to make sure you don’t die while getting carriers. Keep an eye on your interceptor count, reinforcing them quickly during a battle is important. You should already have the stargates and air upgrades should be on the way.
Vs battlecruisers some mixed in voidrays combined with feedback should hold pretty easily. Carriers are also an option but they aren’t ideal in my opinion. Air upgrades are very important, if you get out upgraded things could go real bad real fast. It’s very important to reduce the battlecruiser numbers (the same applies to any late game unit). It’s like how zergs have to reduce colossi/voidray numbers or they die to an unbeatable deathball.
Vs a mech switch you should go carriers. If the Viking numbers are too big colossi/phoenix/chargelot is potent. A good spread is very important vs tank lines.
Many Terrans complain about late game PvT, but be careful, it’s not as one sided as they want to make you believe it is! Even though they got nerfed I still like HT. The only difference is that it’s absolutely necessary to micro them in and out of a warp prism. Preferably you want 2 or 3 prisms. Keep them in the back, otherwise Vikings could snipe them.
If they are out of energy or if you get attacked before storm is ready, make archons. Archons may be expensive, but they’re sick good. Focus on the Vikings with them, if they are a little clumped up they die really fast to the splash. Another option is a phoenix switch.
Ultimately you want a zealot/sentry/colossi/phoenix/ht army with some remaining stalkers and a few archons. If they do something funky you should obviously react to that. This army will crush nearly any Terran composition.
Some key points when going phoenix:
- Micro them well, if they clump up (happens easily if you don’t pay attention!) and get EMPed you will probably die.
- Go double cyber core air upgrades, and add a fleet beacon for further upgrades + the possibility of a quick carrier switch.
- Focus on the Vikings (obviously)
-Use graviton beam when there are no Terran air units left
The advantage of this is that you can stop making stalkers (they are not very good late game and don't fair well with upgrades), and that the synergy with colossi is just amazing. The disadvantage is that thor switches can be deadly if unscouted, and that you are very vulnerable to EMP.
You should be scouting the Terran constantly with observers, phoenixes, hallucinations, probe sacks, anything.
Terran tech switches:
Vs mass thors a carrier switch is good; use immortals to make sure you don’t die while getting carriers. Keep an eye on your interceptor count, reinforcing them quickly during a battle is important. You should already have the stargates and air upgrades should be on the way.
Vs battlecruisers some mixed in voidrays combined with feedback should hold pretty easily. Carriers are also an option but they aren’t ideal in my opinion. Air upgrades are very important, if you get out upgraded things could go real bad real fast. It’s very important to reduce the battlecruiser numbers (the same applies to any late game unit). It’s like how zergs have to reduce colossi/voidray numbers or they die to an unbeatable deathball.
Vs a mech switch you should go carriers. If the Viking numbers are too big colossi/phoenix/chargelot is potent. A good spread is very important vs tank lines.
Replays/VODS:
I recommend watching Tyler vs Strelok game 2.
Tyler vs Strelok
Tyler doing a double forge build.
Tyler vs One Shield
1) 1rax FE :
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If you see a CC it means 1rax FE. While 3gate pressure can be good in this situation, my preferred response is pulling probes of gas and doing a 1gate FE into double forge. It is not necessary to get 3extra gateways at 30 supply because his push won’t be coming anytime soon. I usually throw down a 30 nexus and get 2more gates when minerals allow it. Once the gates start building put probes back into gas and get 2forges when the nexus is about to complete. You should get 5sentries as fast as you can so they can build up energy. When your forges are done, get +1 armor and +1 attack and chronoboost them constantly. Get a robo with your next 100gas and make observers. It is important to keep your warp cycles going because this is around the time a push will come. You should have a lot of force fields at your disposal and quite a few zealots. Early game you don’t want to make stalkers at all, they cost too much gas and zealots combined with ff are much more cost-efficient. When you start making colossi you should be starting stalker production as well. I prefer not making immortals, they’re not bad, but not ideal vs drop play. All chronoboost must go to colossi, this is of vital importance.
2) Tech openers:
If you didn’t see a CC with your zealot poke it could also be a tech opener. By tech opener I mean any factory or starport play. Not seeing a CC doesn’t necessarily exclude the possibility of 1rax FE. The ideal response is doing a 2gate robo expo, because 3gate isn’t that great against mech and raven all-ins. It does okay, but you don’t want to expo vs 1base Terrans, and the scouting comes too late to determine whether is safe to probe up or not. For these reasons I prefer going robo.
There’s an awesome guide about 2gate robo here:
pvt 2gate robo
Now there are a couple of possibilities:
- 1 rax FE, the best response is doing the forge build but off a 2gate robo expo.
An excellent guide about it here (there is a lot of good stuff on this site):
double forge guide
It isn’t very different from the 1gate variant I talked about in the previous section.
Important note about 1gate FE: on big maps like taldarim altar and shakuras plateau going for a 1 gate fe is less risky. If you suspect a 1rax fe going 1gate expo yourself will often pay off. It's less safe than the 2gate robo expo into double forge though. The difference in economy compared to a fe terran gets compensated by fast double upgrades, so the 2gate robo into forge build is always good. If you see the Terran expanding with only bio units, do the build described in the previous section. If you don't see an expo you need to add a robo asap to find out what's going on. If it's an all-in you want to rely on colossus/gateway units backboned by your superior economy to hold him off. This can be tricky, but if you were correct about him feing its the best possible build.
- Mech (Either siege tanks or Thor/Raven)
- Banshee/Raven/Marine allin
- Banshee/Raven/Marine/Tank (allin or 2base)
- A Marine/Hellion attack
- Thor all-in
- Ghost push
- Marine/scv all-in
2A) Mech:
Tank style:
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Mech is probably the hardest strategy to face if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing, and the easiest when you do know.
The most common mistake people make is that they only change their unit composition, while you should be changing your entire mindset. The thing about mech is: it’s slow. Not only literally moving speed wise, also aggression wise. It takes a significant number of tanks to really threaten you. When you face mech you should go for an 8min robo bay, followed by a forge, a gate and a 9min-ish third. You should get +1 weapons immediately when the forge finishes. Build your twilight council when +1 weapons is at 75% and throw down a second robo. A steady zealot/colossi production with some immortals mixed in can hold anything early on. Once your third base is up get to a total of 8gates and add a forge. Charge is extremely good vs mech, but be careful about hellions. Once the Terran starts Viking production you want to either add some stargates for phoenixes, or add some blink stalkers. Ideally you get your 4th base at the 12-13 min mark, but it isn’t always possible because of Terran aggression. Don’t worry, you have the lead, just stall until you are ready or until you absolutely need to attack (when a key building is about to die to tank fire for example). The 1-control group syndrome will get your army instagibbed, spread out wide and get the largest arc you can possibly get.
Micro tips:
- Spread your army out at all times, that way you’re safe vs surprise attacks
- Colossi and immortals do lots of damage vs tanks, focus them.
- Don’t blink in all of your stalkers at the same time, they will clump up and die to tanks. Focus Vikings with stalkers, more important than ever.
- If you have phoenix kill the Vikings first, use graviton later. When you have a superior air force it’s okay to use graviton earlier. When you use it, lift the tanks that are the furthest away from your ground army. (They’re the least accessible for your colossi/immortals)
- Don’t get too many sentries. 4 is enough. Midgame you can use hallucinated immortals to tank A LOT of damage. If you want to do this it’s okay to get 6. Late game every Terran will have quite some turrets or a Raven though.
- A carrier switch is the best thing to do when you have 4+ bases. Again, air upgrades are so important.
- Don’t underestimate the value of +1 shields vs mech.
Almost every mech player will go for harass.
Against hellion drops you want 1cannon in each mineral line. Simcity your buildings and use instant warp-ins to deal with them. If you select all your probes and click on the nexus they will spread out decently, do this when you’re in trouble. Al so wall your third/fourth… bases too, it will help a lot!
If he goes for banshee harass 1 observer in each base is a game winner, he will be so behind when they don’t do any damage.
However you can harass him too!
Late game your colossi can just walk right into his main base, blink your stalkers up and harass the living hell out of him. This is sooooooo good. He will have to pull back a lot of stuff, and even better, you can escape fairly easily or exchange your colossi for a lot of tanks at the very least. He’s very vulnerable now, so if you want to do some multipronged attacks, now is the time! Some zealots tearing apart scvs at his third or fourth often wipe out half a mineral line, it gets even better when you quickly snipe one of his vulnerable expos with immortals at the same time.
Replays:
Nani vs Goody
nani vs goody 2
This Protoss is very good; he’s definitely one of the best protoss players vs mech out there.
Game 2 shows how good blink/colossi is.
The most common mistake people make is that they only change their unit composition, while you should be changing your entire mindset. The thing about mech is: it’s slow. Not only literally moving speed wise, also aggression wise. It takes a significant number of tanks to really threaten you. When you face mech you should go for an 8min robo bay, followed by a forge, a gate and a 9min-ish third. You should get +1 weapons immediately when the forge finishes. Build your twilight council when +1 weapons is at 75% and throw down a second robo. A steady zealot/colossi production with some immortals mixed in can hold anything early on. Once your third base is up get to a total of 8gates and add a forge. Charge is extremely good vs mech, but be careful about hellions. Once the Terran starts Viking production you want to either add some stargates for phoenixes, or add some blink stalkers. Ideally you get your 4th base at the 12-13 min mark, but it isn’t always possible because of Terran aggression. Don’t worry, you have the lead, just stall until you are ready or until you absolutely need to attack (when a key building is about to die to tank fire for example). The 1-control group syndrome will get your army instagibbed, spread out wide and get the largest arc you can possibly get.
Micro tips:
- Spread your army out at all times, that way you’re safe vs surprise attacks
- Colossi and immortals do lots of damage vs tanks, focus them.
- Don’t blink in all of your stalkers at the same time, they will clump up and die to tanks. Focus Vikings with stalkers, more important than ever.
- If you have phoenix kill the Vikings first, use graviton later. When you have a superior air force it’s okay to use graviton earlier. When you use it, lift the tanks that are the furthest away from your ground army. (They’re the least accessible for your colossi/immortals)
- Don’t get too many sentries. 4 is enough. Midgame you can use hallucinated immortals to tank A LOT of damage. If you want to do this it’s okay to get 6. Late game every Terran will have quite some turrets or a Raven though.
- A carrier switch is the best thing to do when you have 4+ bases. Again, air upgrades are so important.
- Don’t underestimate the value of +1 shields vs mech.
Almost every mech player will go for harass.
Against hellion drops you want 1cannon in each mineral line. Simcity your buildings and use instant warp-ins to deal with them. If you select all your probes and click on the nexus they will spread out decently, do this when you’re in trouble. Al so wall your third/fourth… bases too, it will help a lot!
If he goes for banshee harass 1 observer in each base is a game winner, he will be so behind when they don’t do any damage.
However you can harass him too!
Late game your colossi can just walk right into his main base, blink your stalkers up and harass the living hell out of him. This is sooooooo good. He will have to pull back a lot of stuff, and even better, you can escape fairly easily or exchange your colossi for a lot of tanks at the very least. He’s very vulnerable now, so if you want to do some multipronged attacks, now is the time! Some zealots tearing apart scvs at his third or fourth often wipe out half a mineral line, it gets even better when you quickly snipe one of his vulnerable expos with immortals at the same time.
Replays:
Nani vs Goody
nani vs goody 2
This Protoss is very good; he’s definitely one of the best protoss players vs mech out there.
Game 2 shows how good blink/colossi is.
Thor style:
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There’s not much to say about this. Gateway/immortal with some colossi is very good if you have the upgrade advantage. You can get double forge and go for fast upgrades unpunished, I also recommend taking your third at the standard 12min mark (or sooner if you had a favorable engagement). Once you’re on 3-4 bases go for a carrier switch. Just like against tanks it’s important to have a good spread because otherwise a lot of your stuff simply won’t be attacking because thors are freaking big and 1 one of them can block a main portion of your zealots.
UPDATE: Since patch 1.3.3 you can feedback Thors, going gateway/immortal/colossi and getting templars right after your third is my preferred strategy now. Thor builds have gotten very rare because of this reason though.
UPDATE: Since patch 1.3.3 you can feedback Thors, going gateway/immortal/colossi and getting templars right after your third is my preferred strategy now. Thor builds have gotten very rare because of this reason though.
2B) Banshee/Raven/Marine all-in:
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This is an old build, but still used quite often. The main thing to keep in mind is that you do not want to expo vs 1base Terrans. The only times I have lost to all-ins was when I fucked up, or when I expoed. Don’t overprobe, 30 is enough.
When you see a double starport you can assume that it’s gonna be a banshee all-in. Cancel your nexus immediately and get a stargate, bringing you to a total of 3gates, 1 robo and 1stargate. Use all your chronoboost on phoenixes and try to get as many out as you possibly can. Meanwhile retreat you observer before the raven gets out, get a second observer to cover your mineral line, and a third in case he wants to do some observer snipe/cloak banshee shenanigans. You shouldn’t make any stalkers at all, unless you quickly need some anti-air. With a healthy number of zealots, 4 sentries with tons of forcefields ready and the phoenix you can hold it.
There’s a variant of this which drops hellions and then transitions into a banshee push. There’s no real counter to this, you just need good pylon placement (edges of your base) and mini-map awareness. I always use my gate, my core and my 2first pylons to make a little wall at my mineral line and I recommend everyone to do this. It’s useful vs hellions, drops, reapers, all sorts of harass really.
You should constantly be poking his banshees and his raven with your phoenix group, every shot counts. Phoenixes are very fast so you can easily do some damage. Focus on the raven, if it gets low on health the Terran will be forced to throw down the point defense drone. This is very optimistic however, most of the time you won’t be able to do this.
When he gets to your ramp split his forces with a FF and shoot the banshees with your phoenixes. If he brought scvs you want to split them from the marines (you can do this with a single FF on the ramp). Don’t engage directly on the ramp, keep your forces a little back and tempt him into attacking into you. If you attack on the ramp you will easily kill one half but the other half will still do their DPS. If he doesn’t bite keep harassing his air units with your phoenixes.
Once you repelled his attack he’s dead, there’s no transitioning out of his build. If he refuses to gg simply expand and go colossi like you always would. You’re insanely far ahead so it should be an easy win.
When you see a double starport you can assume that it’s gonna be a banshee all-in. Cancel your nexus immediately and get a stargate, bringing you to a total of 3gates, 1 robo and 1stargate. Use all your chronoboost on phoenixes and try to get as many out as you possibly can. Meanwhile retreat you observer before the raven gets out, get a second observer to cover your mineral line, and a third in case he wants to do some observer snipe/cloak banshee shenanigans. You shouldn’t make any stalkers at all, unless you quickly need some anti-air. With a healthy number of zealots, 4 sentries with tons of forcefields ready and the phoenix you can hold it.
There’s a variant of this which drops hellions and then transitions into a banshee push. There’s no real counter to this, you just need good pylon placement (edges of your base) and mini-map awareness. I always use my gate, my core and my 2first pylons to make a little wall at my mineral line and I recommend everyone to do this. It’s useful vs hellions, drops, reapers, all sorts of harass really.
You should constantly be poking his banshees and his raven with your phoenix group, every shot counts. Phoenixes are very fast so you can easily do some damage. Focus on the raven, if it gets low on health the Terran will be forced to throw down the point defense drone. This is very optimistic however, most of the time you won’t be able to do this.
When he gets to your ramp split his forces with a FF and shoot the banshees with your phoenixes. If he brought scvs you want to split them from the marines (you can do this with a single FF on the ramp). Don’t engage directly on the ramp, keep your forces a little back and tempt him into attacking into you. If you attack on the ramp you will easily kill one half but the other half will still do their DPS. If he doesn’t bite keep harassing his air units with your phoenixes.
Once you repelled his attack he’s dead, there’s no transitioning out of his build. If he refuses to gg simply expand and go colossi like you always would. You’re insanely far ahead so it should be an easy win.
2C) Banshee/Raven/Tank/Marine all-in:
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This is a very dangerous build. Again, you don’t want to expand. Some people go colossi against this but I feel that’s not the best response. It CAN work, but it’s no certainty. If you know he will do an all-in like this, opening stargate is the best thing to do. If you don’t know you should add a stargate as soon as you scout it and pump phoenixes, don’t miss chronos because time isn’t on your side. Just like with the banshee/raven/marine push, you want zealot/phoenix and 4sentries. You shouldn’t go over 30ish probes. Get at least 4 phoenix, with more reinforcing you should have enough. Get to a total of 3 observers to be safe. Use your phoenixes to harass the raven and the banshees a little. When he pushes out, move out as well and get a pylon at your natural. You want to attack him because if he contains your ramp with siege tanks it can turn into an impossible situation. By attacking into him you can also fight unsieged tanks, which makes a huge difference. Trap everything with FF, don’t split as it will work against your zealots after the splitted half is dead. Kill the banshees with your phoenix, and use graviton beams to pick up tanks when you think you’ll lose the ground battle, or when there are only 1-2 banshees against a vastly superior number of phoenixes.
There’s also a base variation of this. Expo right after he expoes, but don’t chrono probes. What you want to do now is getting to 5 phoenix and then chronoing out voidrays and producing immortals. Spend all of the chrono on the stargate. Meanwhile keep adding zealots when minerals allow it. Sometimes they’ll try to get bunkers up at your natural, you cannot let him do this! As long as you micro so that the zealots attack the marines, the phoenix shoot the banshees + lift up some tanks in the back, and the immortals hit the tanks you will be fine. Keep an eye on your void rays, they’re your most valuable asset, don’t lose them for nothing! It’s hard for him to transition after this, so as long as you switch to a standard colossi build and don’t fuck up, you will win.
Replays:
Scfou tankravenmarine
Reactionary vikings instead of banshees, this shows the power of phoenixes.
IMYoda 2base tank raven banshee marine
Voidray/ immortal/ phoenix owning it up. Because of the close air distance a phoenix opener might be the best choice on scrap station. Basically you use your phoenix to scout and react accordingly, just like you would with a robo build. The advantage is that you will be safer vs raven all-ins, but your colossi will be delayed slightly.
Incontrol vs Painuser
This replay shows that colossi aren't ideal. It can work, but I've seen it die more than not.
There’s also a base variation of this. Expo right after he expoes, but don’t chrono probes. What you want to do now is getting to 5 phoenix and then chronoing out voidrays and producing immortals. Spend all of the chrono on the stargate. Meanwhile keep adding zealots when minerals allow it. Sometimes they’ll try to get bunkers up at your natural, you cannot let him do this! As long as you micro so that the zealots attack the marines, the phoenix shoot the banshees + lift up some tanks in the back, and the immortals hit the tanks you will be fine. Keep an eye on your void rays, they’re your most valuable asset, don’t lose them for nothing! It’s hard for him to transition after this, so as long as you switch to a standard colossi build and don’t fuck up, you will win.
Replays:
Scfou tankravenmarine
Reactionary vikings instead of banshees, this shows the power of phoenixes.
IMYoda 2base tank raven banshee marine
Voidray/ immortal/ phoenix owning it up. Because of the close air distance a phoenix opener might be the best choice on scrap station. Basically you use your phoenix to scout and react accordingly, just like you would with a robo build. The advantage is that you will be safer vs raven all-ins, but your colossi will be delayed slightly.
Incontrol vs Painuser
This replay shows that colossi aren't ideal. It can work, but I've seen it die more than not.
2D) Marine/Hellion push:
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This isn’t a very common strategy, yet an insanely good one. Basically they do a 1-1-1, get 8marines into a medivac superfast, drop them in your mineral line and run in with 3hellions at the same time. You can expo against this.
It’s important to spot the drop coming in with your observer, if he unloads them all it will be hard not to lose probes. The reason the marines are so dangerous is that you have to block of your ramp with 2 stalkers on hold position to block out the hellions, so you don’t have that much stuff left if you did a robo build. On scrap station you should make a semi-wall upon seeing this, because the ramp is very open otherwise. If you successfully keep the hellions out and manage to catch the marines you will have a pretty big economy and tech advantage, but the game isn’t necessarily won yet so be careful. I guess doing a double forge is the best thing you can do, because of his 1-1-1 opener any marine/marauder push will be slightly later.
Replays:
TLO vs Axslav
This shows the importance of the points I mentioned above. If you get caught off guard it will be as one-sided as can be. Observing what went wrong for Axslav will teach you a lot about how to stop it.
It’s important to spot the drop coming in with your observer, if he unloads them all it will be hard not to lose probes. The reason the marines are so dangerous is that you have to block of your ramp with 2 stalkers on hold position to block out the hellions, so you don’t have that much stuff left if you did a robo build. On scrap station you should make a semi-wall upon seeing this, because the ramp is very open otherwise. If you successfully keep the hellions out and manage to catch the marines you will have a pretty big economy and tech advantage, but the game isn’t necessarily won yet so be careful. I guess doing a double forge is the best thing you can do, because of his 1-1-1 opener any marine/marauder push will be slightly later.
Replays:
TLO vs Axslav
This shows the importance of the points I mentioned above. If you get caught off guard it will be as one-sided as can be. Observing what went wrong for Axslav will teach you a lot about how to stop it.
2E) Polt timing push:
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A Polt timing push consists of marines, marauders and a raven. It is very risky to expand vs it so I wouldn’t do that. What you want to do is go 1base colossus with a lot of zealots and some sentries for FF (stay on 30ish probes, a good number vs all Terran 1basing). FF like a cup behind his army and the zealots/colossi should do the rest. If he mixed in Vikings try to focus them with the few stalkers you have, you might need to focus down the pdd with your sentries if you notice the battle isn’t going perfectly (you can do this against all raven builds). I feel like a hard 1base colossus cannot be stopped by a Polt push, I win the game outright in 95% of the cases. If you can’t kill him immediately, contain and expo yourself. But I really don’t think it’s possible to lose unless you horribly mismicroed.
VOD: Expert tutorial by Artosis
VOD: Expert tutorial by Artosis
2F) Marine/scv all-in:
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To be completely honest: you’re gonna need some luck. If he’s in the last scouting position you checked the timing window is thin. Especially if he proxies the second/third... raxes. My favorite way of dealing with this is getting a fast second and third gate and using all chrono on sentries. Cut probe production completely. If you went stalkers you must intercept him and snipe off the marines.
If you did a fast nexus, cancel it. There's no way you can hold it. Use the newly gained money on gates and units immediately..
If you did a fast nexus, cancel it. There's no way you can hold it. Use the newly gained money on gates and units immediately..
2G) 1/2Base Ghost:
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Against 1 base ghost you want to go 1base colossi, and you do not want that many sentries. Zealot/colossi destroys ghost builds. Stay on 30ish probes.
Vs the 2base variant simply expand when he does too, and keep adding zealots and colossi. Use all chronoboost on the colossi. Spread out well and use guardian shield before you get EMP’d. If he hasn’t attack you by the time you have 4 colossi, attack him yourself. His viking number will be low/non-existent; it’s a pretty one-sided fight.
Vs the 2base variant simply expand when he does too, and keep adding zealots and colossi. Use all chronoboost on the colossi. Spread out well and use guardian shield before you get EMP’d. If he hasn’t attack you by the time you have 4 colossi, attack him yourself. His viking number will be low/non-existent; it’s a pretty one-sided fight.
2H) 1 base Thor all-in:
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The patch made it a lot easier to hold this. You want to produce non-stop chronoboosted immortals, cut probe production at 30 or sooner if you scout it really early, get a lot of zealots and as few sentries as possible. Focus the thors with your immortals and the scvs with your zealots. And use guardian shield, very important but a lot of people seem to forget it.
Part II: Marine/Marauders (heavy bio) openers
These are both good guides about aggressive 3gate expoes, if you’re not familiar with the strategy go check them out first:
3gate expo 1
3gate expo 2
1rax/2rax FE:
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Against marauder openers my go to build is 3gate expo. I feel like it’s in every way superior to a robo opener in this situation. The Terran usually starts off with a 2scv marine marauder poke. To stop this you want to chrono stalkers non-stop out of your gate. Add 2gates when you’re at 30 food. Try to snipe the scvs quickly without taking much damage (kite stalkers back a litte) focus fire the marine(s) down and then target the marauder(s). Just like in small PvP ranged battles, targeting down units is crucial.
Warp-in 3 sentries and then expand.
If he doesn’t poke you can go for the standard 1zealot, 1stalker, 2 sentries.
IMPORTANT: Check whether he has flown down his CC.
If he has:
This is a very risky move by the Terran. Get 2 rounds of stalkers (chrono gates), and go pressure. Half of the time you can outright kill them. If he did a 2rax fe you need to be careful, his unti count will be higher and you will not be able to kill him ever if he has a bunker. Simply attack him with your ranged units and pick some stuff off with forcefields and retreat. Do not overcommit.
If he hasn’t:
Get to 4zealots, 5sentries, 1 stalker.
It doesn’t really matter whether he 2rax FE’d or 1rax marauder FE’d, the response is the same.
He’s most likely waiting for medivacs. Don’t foolishly run up his ramp. Simply contain him and split his forces with a FF if he tries to get out (which he won’t if he has an even remotely functioning brain). At 8:15 you should put down a last ff and back off. A cute move is to leave one high-energy sentry behind and keep forcefielding the ramp with it. Very annoying for the terran, so do it! You don’t want to be around when he starts elevatoring units down. I usually do a double forge after this. It’s exactly the same, only you have to get the robo after your upgrades started for observers.
Afterwards follow the same strategy described in the first section.
If you feel unsafe you can opt to go for the robo bay first, and add 2 forges at 80ish supply. This is also a really strong build.
Another option is going colossi/phoenix. Get the stargate and the forge around 85 supply and spend all of your chrono on phoenixes. Expo around the 12min mark, add a stargate, a robo, a forge and bring your gateway count to 8.
Replays:
Incontrol vs TLO 3gate expo
Shows the strength of a 3gate into colossi/phoenix.
Excellent stargate and forge timings.
Axslav vs oGsTheSTC
This shows the danger of overcommiting to your push. Some pressure is good, but remember: it’s only to give you an advantage in the macro game.
I used Axslav twice to point out some common mistakes, but it was pure coincidence, I have watched quite some games of him and he’s a great player.
Warp-in 3 sentries and then expand.
If he doesn’t poke you can go for the standard 1zealot, 1stalker, 2 sentries.
IMPORTANT: Check whether he has flown down his CC.
If he has:
This is a very risky move by the Terran. Get 2 rounds of stalkers (chrono gates), and go pressure. Half of the time you can outright kill them. If he did a 2rax fe you need to be careful, his unti count will be higher and you will not be able to kill him ever if he has a bunker. Simply attack him with your ranged units and pick some stuff off with forcefields and retreat. Do not overcommit.
If he hasn’t:
Get to 4zealots, 5sentries, 1 stalker.
It doesn’t really matter whether he 2rax FE’d or 1rax marauder FE’d, the response is the same.
He’s most likely waiting for medivacs. Don’t foolishly run up his ramp. Simply contain him and split his forces with a FF if he tries to get out (which he won’t if he has an even remotely functioning brain). At 8:15 you should put down a last ff and back off. A cute move is to leave one high-energy sentry behind and keep forcefielding the ramp with it. Very annoying for the terran, so do it! You don’t want to be around when he starts elevatoring units down. I usually do a double forge after this. It’s exactly the same, only you have to get the robo after your upgrades started for observers.
Afterwards follow the same strategy described in the first section.
If you feel unsafe you can opt to go for the robo bay first, and add 2 forges at 80ish supply. This is also a really strong build.
Another option is going colossi/phoenix. Get the stargate and the forge around 85 supply and spend all of your chrono on phoenixes. Expo around the 12min mark, add a stargate, a robo, a forge and bring your gateway count to 8.
Replays:
Incontrol vs TLO 3gate expo
Shows the strength of a 3gate into colossi/phoenix.
Excellent stargate and forge timings.
Axslav vs oGsTheSTC
This shows the danger of overcommiting to your push. Some pressure is good, but remember: it’s only to give you an advantage in the macro game.
I used Axslav twice to point out some common mistakes, but it was pure coincidence, I have watched quite some games of him and he’s a great player.
A) 3Rax All-in:
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You mostly want to rely on zealot/sentry. Play defensively and make him run up your ramp. If he does this split his forces, kill them off and pull back. You should demolish him.
If he gets bunkers and contains you, get a robo for a warp prism.
This is one of my favorite strategies. You load everything down except for 3sentries. Move to his base and load everything to the high ground. Forcefield him out of your base and warp-in extra sentries when you’re out of energy (not likely, he will probably retreat to save his base).
Now comes the best part: FF his own ramp to keep his units out and butcher everything. Use your warp prism for extra reinforcements and keep those sentries alive. Spend chrono on gates and stop making probes when you have around 30.
If he gets bunkers and contains you, get a robo for a warp prism.
This is one of my favorite strategies. You load everything down except for 3sentries. Move to his base and load everything to the high ground. Forcefield him out of your base and warp-in extra sentries when you’re out of energy (not likely, he will probably retreat to save his base).
Now comes the best part: FF his own ramp to keep his units out and butcher everything. Use your warp prism for extra reinforcements and keep those sentries alive. Spend chrono on gates and stop making probes when you have around 30.
III) Tips and tricks
-Put spotter pylons all over the map. For example near the edges of the other main bases, at edges of the map, at his third/fourth… this is subtle, but will prove to be very useful. It allows you to see drops coming, and gives you some fasy harass possibilities for the late game.
- When going robo, a second observer is pretty useful. One for over his army and one for whatever purpose you need it (defending against banshees, scouting drops …)
Unless you really need to get colossi out fast, getting 3 observers is great.
I usually have one over his army/near his base and the other 2 patrolling the most common drop routes. This way you can see drops almost instantly, and unless he has eagle eyes he won’t know that you know.
- Leave 4 stalkers in your base to fend off drops. However, don’t just leave them at one place like 90% of the people do. Move them to where you can hit the incoming drop. If it’s just a single medivac, don’t engage immediately when you’re in range. This will make the Terran retreat immediately. It’s better to keep your stalkers back just a little bit, and then attack the drop ship the second it is about to start unloading. 80% of the time you can kill it. If there’s more than one drop ship you need to leave 4zealots with your stalkers for safety. Against all drop play splitting well is the key. Tyler vs Strelok game 2 and Tyler vs ONEShield show this.
- Put a pylon behind the Terrans natural. That way you can see when he expands, and if he moves out you have the possibility of warping-in zealots to harass him as he is moving out.
- Simcity your buildings a little, it helps to deal with drops and reapers/hellions. You should do this with your 3th, 4th … as well.
- If he did a 1rax reaper FE, leave one stalker in your mineral line and patrol the zealot at the edge of your base.
- Late game storm drops can be devastating, use them if you see an opportunity.
- Use multiple control groups! I know, even MC doesn’t really do it, but it helps so much.
- Late game dark templars are the best way to deal with drops. Leave one (and some support if he’s dropping you constantly, some Terrans are good like that) at your vulnerable fourth, fifth, sixth,… those bases are way too crucial to lose. Warp-in reinforcements immediately when you see a drop.
- Zealots benefit the most from armor upgrades, colossi from weapons. Choose our upgrade path with this in the back of your mind.
- If the Terran takes a risky third (like 70 food), expand as well. But be careful, it’s not necessarily because he takes a fast third that you won’t have to deal with an MMMV push.
- If you want to DT rush, steal his gas. It reduces the chance of a raven opener by a lot.
- When you contain him with forcefields after a 3gate expo or something similar, retreat at 8:15, but leave one sentry behind and keep him out a little longer.
IV) Flowchart:
Flowchart
That’s all, I hope you liked it.
En Taro Adun my Brethren,
Arcanefrost
