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What to do, as zerg, when you are trapped on main because of pylon-cannon wall? I know best way is to prevent cannoning, however on some maps its really hard, such as shattered temple pylon cage. When Im cannon walled, I mostly try to do 1-base allin with lings+nydus, however it stopped to work :/ actually it dont work anymore at all on mine MMR (middle-masters ~900+pts). Any viable tactic, preferable with short BO, so I could test it out in customs with different scenarios would be appreciated Ty for reply.
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make a spine and either a creep tumor or lair + overlord
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3xroaches per cannon lose 1 roach but maybe cost effective for 250 mins as u get to put pressure back and have tech option
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I would have to say possibly keep the wall back with spines and whatever else you deem effective. then continue to tech remember he invested in a lot of static defense which means he will lack in tech you could probably go into muta/ling/baneling bust. I would not rule out a nydus network but I would not rely on it as the single tactic that will win you the game.
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The main problem is that after cannon walling - protoss takes expo and walls it with gates+cybernetics+2-3cannons in back. To break this i need tones of banelings, that is impossible to make sitting on 1 base as zerg. If i break cannon wall and take natural (will happen at about 35-40 limit) protoss will be ahead  Theres also a 90% chance of voidray rush after cannon wall :/ that makes 1base mass roaches useless.
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lair spine overlord at edge of base hydra den hydras immediately go bust down his wall expand ???? profit
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On May 24 2011 10:10 Keilah wrote: lair spine overlord at edge of base hydra den hydras immediately go bust down his wall expand ???? profit
Most Protoss players know you're doing this and will just blind counter, lol. 3 Drones>the pylon when it drops. Don't cancel your hatch and just don't overreact to it. You only need 3 drones to take down the middle pylon and your lings clean up the rest. The reason this works a lot at the low level is because a lot of Z players do what Keilah said and tech, go nydus or mass a lot of roach to bust out of it. All of these are wrong and protoss players are wanting you to do these things.
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You could also expand somewhere other than your natural and hope protoss doesnt cannon rush that as well. This works well especially if protoss thinks you're still on one base
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On May 24 2011 10:14 Flaunt wrote:Show nested quote +On May 24 2011 10:10 Keilah wrote: lair spine overlord at edge of base hydra den hydras immediately go bust down his wall expand ???? profit Most Protoss players know you're doing this and will just blind counter, lol. 3 Drones>the pylon when it drops. Don't cancel your hatch and just don't overreact to it. You only need 3 drones to take down the middle pylon and your lings clean up the rest. The reason this works a lot at the low level is because a lot of Z players do what Keilah said and tech, go nydus or mass a lot of roach to bust out of it. All of these are wrong and protoss players are wanting you to do these things. Don't follow this guy's advice. He's wrong. Slush lost to this without going hatch first in NASL and he's not "low level" like this guy is suggesting.
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Sorry, what? How can a protoss blind counter that? By walling + cannoning your main he slows himself down, he either doesn't have an expansion or he doesn't have colossi. Overlords can tell you if he doesn't have an expansion.
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If you went pool on 14 and pulled 4 drones as soon as the pylons go down your lings will come just in time as the cannons come up and the pylon goes down. If you reacted slow you will take some hits by the cannon.
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Even if the protoss gets slowed, he can hit a strong timing (4gate?) before your lair tech has paid off, since you've been without that second base. I believe this is what Flaunt means by "blind counter."
Dealing with the first pylon is by far the best. Lost mining time is about as bad as the money either tied up or lost from the early pylon at your ramp. If that fails, I've had the most success with getting a fast roach warren and pushing out when you have enough to lose 1 or no roaches, then pressuring. Maybe add in sling speed if the wall is larger. Expand at your natural behind you attack.
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Usually its just best to try to prevent the wall/cannoning with a drone to simply block the critical spots where he could finish the wall. You should generally be able to throw in some lings soon enough to cripple the cannon wall. If that doesn't work, you generally need roaches to break out.
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Rather than nydus play, how about drop upgrade instead? It's about the same price (100 minerals 0 gas more expensive, technically) , and you can drop roaches or lings or hydras or whatever (imo roach or hydra is better than lings, you're likely still on 1 hatch) and it doesn't auto-lose to basic building spread + minimap awareness the way nydus does. Personally I've been doing hydra-ling. They aren't going to have colossi out! Lings tank, hydras shred everything. I really do like an in-base hatch vs this nonsense, though.
Edit: it occurs to me to have the drop done at a reasonable time you need that in base hatch to upgrade speed while you upgrade drop. (start drop first)
This build puts them super far behind in tech, since their gateway starts 450 minerals late. I think the reason you don't see this anymore since the change to have it require 3 cannons instead of 2 is because of responses like this. (which were already viable against the 2 pylon + 1 cannon contain)
Edit2: creeping to your ramp and then poking yourself out with a spine takes AGES. Literally, even if you build the spine and just have it root in range once creep gets there. If you're waiting to take the ground route out, not only does the toss get alarm bells going off that you're busting out, but he's got extra time while you do this.
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OP states that he's not looking for ways to prevent it, but ways to cope once it already happens.
I don't really get how sending drones to kill a pylon will help. The protoss makes 3 pylons and a cannon, the cannon will still be powered and killing your stuff if you try to take it out. Super easy for the protoss to send another probe or two to help defend the cannon if he sees you pounding on the pylon with drones (presumably so your lings can get out and barely kill the cannon), or build another cannon + cancel it if not needed, and/or rebuild the pylon after you kill it.
re: 4gate >> hydras, like I said an overlord will tell you if he expanded or not. If he expanded, your hydras are fine. If not, I don't really know for sure but I'd wager hydra/ling or roach/hydra or pure roach or burrow roach will all do fine vs 4gate, 1base vs 1base, when you consider the resources protoss wasted at the start of the game.
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On May 24 2011 10:36 sylverfyre wrote:
Edit2: creeping to your ramp and then poking yourself out with a spine takes AGES. Literally, even if you build the spine and just have it root in range once creep gets there. If you're waiting to take the ground route out, not only does the toss get alarm bells going off that you're busting out, but he's got extra time while you do this.
Were you hoping to fool the protoss into thinking you'd never try to bust out? BTW, if you go drop or nydus you still need lair so your overlord can poop creep at the ramp and you need a spine to defend so you break down the wall with a spine regardless.
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Use overlords to confirm an expansion, if it is indeed an expansion then break the contain with 3 roaches and double expand. Once your natural pops you should have enough drones to basically saturate it completely. Protoss is forced to drop 2-3 cannons in his natural and is just severely behind because once your bases pop you can saturate 3 bases super fast.
Holding an all-in is just a matter of scouting.
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Get a macro hatch and saturate your 1 base, while devising your breakout strategy.
you're behind, but you're not dead.
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If you 14 hatched, cancel and transition into something of a 7rr to break the contain and pressure him. From there you can roach all in, or reopen your natural and play standard. You overlord should scout his base at around 7:30 to 8 mins to see his tech.
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Possible options, most common probably just get Roaches, especially with the rigged 4 range. Otherwise, all in Roach Ling Nydus play such as in Sen vs MC (think it was Sen) on NASL Tal Darim is also a viable strategy. Make sure you plan out the Overlord position ahead of time. Banelings are a horrible way to break out of it, don't even try it.
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Honestly none of these answers really help. I have been having a lot of trouble against this lately on maps like Metal and Shattered Temple. If you scout the forge first in time, I think my/your best bet is to block the ramp with a drone on patrol, but if you're unfortunate and scout this late, and you went hatch first, you're going to usually be getting your screen centered on your base usually just in time to see that goddamn probe throwing down three pylons at once, and then you're basically screwed and have to cancel the Hatch. The idea that your can just pull three drones and repel this is absolutely laughable.
And all this non-sense about going for a roach all-in cuz the protoss will be at a tech disadvantage is freaking ridiculous. By the time you've got enough roaches to break out of your base, you're so far behind economically that your ONLY option is to go all-in. Unfortunately by this point the toss has cannoned himself in on two bases and you're still on one. Macro up? You're susceptible to basically any timing attack the toss wants to throw at you. Drops? Good luck cuz you're behind a base and he will simply outproduce you.
Honestly the only thing you can do right now (and from watching pros' streams I think I'm right about this) is go 14 pool and expand around 21. If the toss went forge first you're going to be ahead in economy and tech shortly anyway and can play a standard macro game from there. If you do go hatch first, it should only be on maps like xel naga where you have a 100% scouting chance, and I would send my drone around 9 to see if he's going forge first, in which case you HAVE to patrol your ramp to deny pylon blocking.
Diamond zerg here so basically a newb I admit, but these are just my thoughts on this cheese so take them for what they're worth.
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Just cancel your hatch and take drone to make it on your third or elsewhere. Then fast tech to hydras seems valid strategy, because hydras OWNS gateway units ...
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If you think about it the cost of the cannon wall in is 3 pylons + a forge + a cannon so that's 600 minerals right there all likely before he has a gateway or a nexus down so it really doesn't put you behind as long as you understand how to react to it. If the wall-in gets up then your best bet is honestly roaching it down and doing a roach pressure into expand. The roaches won't kill the protoss but they will force enough cannons that when all is said and done you won't be that far behind.
Scouting the forge is obviously great as you can just drone patrol block, nothing wrong with that.
You just shouldn't go hatch first vs protoss, the protoss has a few options for punishing it (more than just the cannon thing), going speed first or just pool first is a much safer option. Honestly I would even recommend 9 pooling on maps where the forge opening is popular (shakuras and tal-darim), you can do very decisive damage to them if they forge first with an outer wall-in pylon and the build isn't that all-inish if you immediately get a queen and return to droning after the initial 6 lings.
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A week ago, someone on Reddit posted a brilliant little guide on how to break out of a pylon contain with a standard opening (gas/pool) without having to cancel your expo.
Guide is here. If you spot it in time, you only need three drones to break the middle pylon just before the cannon finishes, allowing your lings and drones to kill the cannon. This works unless your opponent found a way to make all three pylons attackable by 2 or fewer drones Good luck!
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On May 24 2011 09:23 Keilah wrote: make a spine and either a creep tumor or lair + overlord
This would be the easiest and cheapest way to break it. If you have a scouting drone out you can always expand to somewhere other then your natural. You can also fast tech while your spine breakes their wall in, mutas or nydus to completely avoid the cannons should catch the toss off guard if you can get them quick enough.
Not quite on topic but this happened to me in a 2v2, double toss cannon wall trapping us both in our bases. I expanded with the scout and fast teched to nydus to stop them expanding and snipe production buildings. They were actaully very bad players as they over commited and then didn't expand for a long time after i denyed the first couple of attempts
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On May 24 2011 12:49 McGuire72 wrote: Honestly none of these answers really help. I have been having a lot of trouble against this lately on maps like Metal and Shattered Temple. If you scout the forge first in time, I think my/your best bet is to block the ramp with a drone on patrol, but if you're unfortunate and scout this late, and you went hatch first, you're going to usually be getting your screen centered on your base usually just in time to see that goddamn probe throwing down three pylons at once, and then you're basically screwed and have to cancel the Hatch. The idea that your can just pull three drones and repel this is absolutely laughable.
And all this non-sense about going for a roach all-in cuz the protoss will be at a tech disadvantage is freaking ridiculous. By the time you've got enough roaches to break out of your base, you're so far behind economically that your ONLY option is to go all-in. Unfortunately by this point the toss has cannoned himself in on two bases and you're still on one. Macro up? You're susceptible to basically any timing attack the toss wants to throw at you. Drops? Good luck cuz you're behind a base and he will simply outproduce you.
Honestly the only thing you can do right now (and from watching pros' streams I think I'm right about this) is go 14 pool and expand around 21. If the toss went forge first you're going to be ahead in economy and tech shortly anyway and can play a standard macro game from there. If you do go hatch first, it should only be on maps like xel naga where you have a 100% scouting chance, and I would send my drone around 9 to see if he's going forge first, in which case you HAVE to patrol your ramp to deny pylon blocking.
Diamond zerg here so basically a newb I admit, but these are just my thoughts on this cheese so take them for what they're worth.
I guess you described my topic even better then I.
To illustrate heres some pictures: Thats what happened after going 15 hatch, i saw him trying to cannon mine expo, however he managed to make pylon cage and thats how the game looked after some 4 drone/cannon wars: + Show Spoiler +
And thats how game looks after: + Show Spoiler +
And yeh I play on EU region, just with russian client 
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Don't 15 hatch but use a speedling expand build. Follow the scouting probe with a drone.
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On May 24 2011 21:22 Unfeared wrote: Don't 15 hatch but use a speedling expand build. Follow the scouting probe with a drone. "Don't go hatch first" for me it more sounds like "Go play terran" srsly. (((
Funny how game "evolved". Now protoss can go expo b4 gate, while zerg have to make pool lol.
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Blocking the Cannon with a Drone at the Ramp is probably the only way to really "counter" those kind of Wall-in's, because no matter what you do, you will be behind if you get walled in against a Toss...
what I mostly do is droning up and getting a fast Queen, put down a Hatch and cancel it at the Ramp and put down a Tumor and a Spine-Crawler. Then get maybe a Macro-Hatch and Drone up and take the Expansion as soon as the wall-in is gone. Another way of dealing with it is sneaking a hidden expansion, but of course you need to have a Drone out on the Map for that.
All-in's, 1 base-Tech and Baneling-busts shouldn't really work against a decent player and waiting for Drop of Nydus before getting a second base is just nothing but an all-in...
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You might actually want to look at some Spanishiwa replays since he always goes hatch first. Just look at how he deals with cannonrushes and try to copy it. In his thread (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=207017) he has some replays vs cannonrushes and maybe you can find some on replaysites. (If you do, plz post them )
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So ya, basically your only bet as of now is to speedling expand at ~21. You can punish with your speedlings if the Toss FFEs or goes Nexus first, and if he stays on one base then I guess you're only slightly behind economically and can harass with your slings.
...hopefully Blizzard puts the supply depots at the bottom of ramps like on the GSL maps sooner or later to prevent this.
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Zurich15325 Posts
On May 24 2011 12:49 McGuire72 wrote: Honestly none of these answers really help. I have been having a lot of trouble against this lately on maps like Metal and Shattered Temple. If you scout the forge first in time, I think my/your best bet is to block the ramp with a drone on patrol, but if you're unfortunate and scout this late, and you went hatch first, you're going to usually be getting your screen centered on your base usually just in time to see that goddamn probe throwing down three pylons at once, and then you're basically screwed and have to cancel the Hatch. The idea that your can just pull three drones and repel this is absolutely laughable.
And all this non-sense about going for a roach all-in cuz the protoss will be at a tech disadvantage is freaking ridiculous. By the time you've got enough roaches to break out of your base, you're so far behind economically that your ONLY option is to go all-in. Unfortunately by this point the toss has cannoned himself in on two bases and you're still on one. Macro up? You're susceptible to basically any timing attack the toss wants to throw at you. Drops? Good luck cuz you're behind a base and he will simply outproduce you.
Honestly the only thing you can do right now (and from watching pros' streams I think I'm right about this) is go 14 pool and expand around 21. If the toss went forge first you're going to be ahead in economy and tech shortly anyway and can play a standard macro game from there. If you do go hatch first, it should only be on maps like xel naga where you have a 100% scouting chance, and I would send my drone around 9 to see if he's going forge first, in which case you HAVE to patrol your ramp to deny pylon blocking.
Diamond zerg here so basically a newb I admit, but these are just my thoughts on this cheese so take them for what they're worth. This is pretty much answering the thread, thank you.
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go roaches and hope he doesnt build a shit ton of cannons. or else your fucked.
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As a toss player who has been very very sucessful doing this I find it very interesting to see how Zerg can respond to it. So far out of 20 games I lost twice. I think the best responce so far was dropping a shit ton of lings on my mineral lines, but there is only a small window to do it. I usually tech to vrays and then go to colossi or phoenix depending on if they go hydra or muta.
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Overpool and scout with the gas cancel.
If he is cannon rush/expanding, try to make a hatch at his natural with your scouting drone. It shouldn't put yourself more behind than he put you, at least in terms of minerals. 3 pylons to block the ramp + 1 cannon is more expensive than a hatchery. You force him to put cannons in his own base to kill the hatch as soon as possible.
And let it complete. It will also spread creep which will delay his expo even longer. Use the broodlings to kill the probe just waiting to build the nexus or to scout his base.
And you are going roaches, so you may be even able to spawn a roach or two before the hatch goes down. If at all, his units will be a couple zealots, so you may be able to even kill some drones. You may even be able to get a drone, and if the cannons hitting the hatch are far enough, you may be able to put an evo chamber blocking the nexus further but outside the range of the cannons.
If you are counterattacking, you may be able to time it so the attack is supported by the broodlings.
Shenannigans ftw!
All this is absolutely gimmicky, but it wins me a game once in a while .
Edit: More ideas.
Get a second queen asap. You will want to creep to the ramp so as to advance a spine to kill the blocking "for free", without skipping any inject (only 1 hatch!!). And should you take a quick 3rd, you will need the creep highway to it to avoid losing it to the first voidray.
Getting the gold and then the natural may be a nice idea. He is not coming out soon, just watch out for voidrays.
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I am a high-diamond, so I am not at your level of play, but I get excited when I see this. I think I have lost once to this opening. Taking Day[9]'s advice about just letting the cannon rush happen. He mentioned it in one of his recent dailies before he left for Korea. I think it was the one about Zerg scouting. You might give this strategy a try and see how it works for you.
I assume the 2nd OV was in position to spot it happening. If not, it should be as preventing the damage is 100% more important then preventing them from going up IMO.
Wait as long as possible to cancel your hatch, to force as more cannons down below. Get a gas and your pool as soon as possible, and re-build your hatch inside your base. And drone until 19-20. When pool finishes drop a spine to prevent cannons on high ground and build a queen. First 25 to creep tumor and the rest to larva. Use spine to take out the vunerable pylons or cannons, which ever are in range on low ground.
at 24 gas drop evo chamber: when it finishes you'll have 100 gas (start +1 melee) Next 100 gas to speed and pull drones to maximize minerals. Spread creep to prevent more cannons and pylons and also provide a perimeter to take out other powering pylons 2 total queens 1 for each hatch and produce non-stop lings. While the spine is taking out the pylons that are powering the cannons.
Then go attack. I will use you last screen shot as a reference. You should be able to break out with the spine and be attack before this time in-game. Make sure your lings are attacking his building and not tripping out trying to attack a cannon they can't reach. He won't be able to bulid any units to stop you so he we have to build more cannons. And likely will as soon as he sees the influx of lings go past his unpowered cannons (make sure to shift click past and then attack move to not waste time) I this case he could build 2 more cannons, but wouldn't be done in time before alot of damage is done.
On this map I like to send 7 lings to the rocks that go into his 3rd. 7 is about max that can attack rocks from 1 side. Shift click to que your 7 lings to attack the next set of rocks after they are finished with the first set while you keep rallying lings to his front. Keep spewing larva and macro and should be no problem.
Sorry for the longwinded reply, but this has worked for me every single game this happens to me. If you give it a try let me know how it goes. Again, I am just High-Diamond so...take it for what it is worth.
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I'm surprised no one has suggested this. This has happened to Huk multiple times on his stream (taldarim altar) where he tried to pylon wall/cannon the zerg (I can't speak from experience since I don't like cannon rushing).
Hatchery finishes, Z makes lings from it and rallies them to P's base. 6-8 lings will delay his economy, and once speed kicks in it will really hinder it. even if he reacts by dropping gateways to try to complete wall, your lings will still be able to break it before it can finish. 3 pylons + 2/3 cannons is quite costly and it means he has no army back at home. meanwhile, Z prepares for a baneling bust on the wall at his nat. in the aftermath, at worst Z is on even footing.
this is assuming you have decent micro and multitasking (since you're mid masters, this shouldn't be too hard). at this point the zerg was either making drones and expanding or preparing for an allin.
even when the zealot comes out, it will never catch speedlings so the Z still ends up sniping probes. this initial swarm is so devastating P often loses a lot of mining time and probes with it.
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nydus him, they're never looking for it.
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