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PLEASE LETS KEEP THIS TOPIC ABOUT THIS BUILD, NOT FLAMING/BALANCE TALK/VALIDITY OF CHEESE! Thank you!
PvZ Pylon Block into 3 Gate Blink
Hello again TL, I enjoy doing whacky builds, cheesy or not, I do things out of the ordinary that players don't know how to react to, so I have many very successful builds like that. Today I would like to share the cannon block into 3 gate blink strategy. This build has a 75% ish winrate at 1k masters or approx Top 10 masters at time of writing.
The idea behind the build is simple, play a 1 base vs 1 base against your opponent and be safe against any all-in and deny any possible expansions.
Build Overview
First of all I want to discuss what maps this will work on. It needs to be a longer 4 player map. Taldarim and backwater gultch are the ideal maps, I get away with it on maps like Shattered and Metal too but it's stoppable there. So onto what you want to do.
- 9 pylon
- 13 forge
- 14 3 pylons at the ramp
- 15 cannon
Send your scouting probe at 9 supply, place your forge on the ramp as if you were doing a standard gateway + core wall off. On a map like metal after I scout close positions and scout my base for a overlord I just automatically assume it will be cross so I don't bother sending out another probe. It is very important to make sure your don't place down your forge until you scout they aren't close positions as then they can easily scout your forge, so on maps like taldarim you'll need to delay your forge until 14 supply, but that's fine, it will rarely make a difference.
So now let's go over the possibilities.
14 gas 14 pool - there should be no problems here, wall them off and place one cannon and you are absolutely fine. Spanishiwa style can be defended the same way.
Hatch first- proceed as standard, however after placing one cannon you need to place a second when the hatchery is at 85-90%. If you stick with one cannon they could potentially bust you. Therefore you start a second cannon, if they cancel their hatchery, cancel the cannon yourself and proceed normally.
6-10 pool- After you scout it start a cannon right beside the forge and place a gateway to finish the wall. In this manner only one zergling will be able to attack the cannon at the same time. If you feel unsafe with it you can wall with a forge + gateway + a pylon and place the cannon in the back, but that's wasting unnecessary resources early. Practically a free win, you can go 1 gate VR chronoing out them as fast as you can and attack with three, at that point there is no possible way they can hold after their investment.
Things to keep in mind, when placing the pylons don't wait there beforehand to place the pylons, keep doing that mineral trick and running around and go to the ramp once you reach 220-240 minerals.
Follow up
I will do this as if they went for the most standard 14 gas 14 pool, pretty much anything but cheese (lol)... Now it is SUPER important to keep scouting. Number one way I lost the first few times is getting proxy hatched in my base. It's not a big thing to do, so just scout your base. Problem is you only have one pylon in your base so all your structures are around your ramp because you are at a max of 42 supply while the wall is still up and more arent necessary yet. Also keep scouting EVERY SINGLE BASE on the map for any hidden expoes, if you scout one place a pylon outside of range and start a cannon just as the hatchery is finishing up. Force them to stay on one base until they break your contain.
Now onto the build order after the wall:
- 17 gateway
- 19 double gas
- 23 cyber
- 23 forge +1 (spend all chrono on it)
- 24 2 gateways
- Stop probe production at 26
- When cyber finishes start WG + twilight
- You will be pretty gas starved, make pylons when they are breaking your wall
- Blink asap and + 1 armor (chrono as well)
Have a proxy pylon ready from the probe you hopefully didn't lose, if you did, warping from you base isn't the biggest deal. Before WG finishes you will have money for 5 stalkers. Make sure you have the entire base scouted for any nyduses, stalkers can kill them just fine if they pop up. Move out about 20 seconds before +1 armor finishes at about 56 supply (15 stalkers). To keep up with macro with 3 gates is rather difficult and sometimes impossible if you engage during a warp in cycle so I like to add a 4th if your micro isn't perfect, it is also a pretty good decision because after you lose a few stalkers you don't have to make as many pylons and you'll have enough minerals for a few zealots too.
Blink stalkers with 1/1 are good vs anything. You have a pretty much automatic win vs any muta play, blink stalkers are surpisingly nice against slings and with 2 or 3 zealots in the mix theres no chance for them, and they absolutely each roaches alive. Against a good play I don't think theres much of a chance of holding this build once you get the wall off complete.
Alternative Situations
Extremely early break with roaches + sling all-in - You should see roaches breaking your wall very early. If that's the case just place down two cannons, make sure to wall off, and there isn't much hope for them to make it up your ramp. You also have a few stalkers and time to prepare.
Tbh there really isn't much else, there alternative ways to break the wall but generally that's the only all-in thats viable as drop hits too late and nydus can be scouted, just make sure to scout for the proxy hatch or you will lose.
Replays
![[image loading]](http://www.gamereplays.org/community/uploads/repimgs/repimg-33-211105.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.gamereplays.org/community/uploads/repimgs/repimg-33-211107.jpg)
As much as I know you guys would want to see 1 base 3 gate blink 10 times over every build goes the same, and so if you would like replays against certain situations I can see if I have them or I can describe from previous experience.
I will be adding a "how to counter" section but right now I am out of time so I will do it another day most likely. Hopefully you guys appreciate the thread, even if you don't like rushes you more people will be able to stop this now.
If you have any questions do ask as I have played maybe 50 games with this build (It is extremely fun and you might not be able to stop, so be warned)
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Sounds like a pretty nice different build thanks 
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Well written and I look forward to trying this build out on the ladder!
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ugh i really hope people dont start doing this on the ladder . . . whenever i see a probe near my ramp i already freak out and try to pull drones but at times i forget to try to stop the wall . . .
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i 100% agree with the build, i like to proxy stargate too after i canond the zerg
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+ Show Spoiler +Lol kiwi I remember playing you !
I could see this working the best on xel naga due to the terrain abuse from the natural to the third
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On May 27 2011 11:30 FiWiFaKi wrote:
I will be adding a "how to counter" section but right now I am out of time so I will do it another day most likely. Hopefully you guys appreciate the thread, even if you don't like rushes you more people will be able to stop this now.
)
Can't people just instantly pull 3 drones to attack the middle pylon so that it dies right before the cannon finishes, then kill your cannon with drones and lings to secure a solid advantage as you spent 450 minerals? Or do you have a good counter for that?
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If you pull 3 drones immediately after the pylons go down, you will 100% be able to kill the middle pylon with lings coming down soon thereafter.
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On May 27 2011 12:02 Exley wrote:
If you pull 3 drones immediately after the pylons go down, you will 100% be able to kill the middle pylon with lings coming down soon thereafter.
What do you mean the middle pylon? I always wall in an L shape, not an arc. You can only attack with at most 2 drones on the outer pylons of an L. Also if they don't pull guys you don't have to place the "keystone" pylon in the corner, saving you 100 mins and just put the cannon there.
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@EatThePath can you please show a picture of the L wallin ? I cant imagine how it should look like.
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Well you can only have two drones attacking any pylon. If you time it right with a 13 forge they can take down the cannon if they pull two drones instantly however the cannon will finish as the wall goes down. And often you can manage to sneak another pylon if they manage to get it down. If done perfectly, yes you can stop it that way. But I promise you it's not the safest way. What I can do is if you try taking my pylon down I can use a gateway and pylon to block off the access and then cancel them after you realise the push is futile. (depending on what pylon you're going for.)
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In counters, isn't building a hatch some place else than the natural a counter? That can then be used to break the wall in conjunction with the main or just building workers, making it almost 2 base vs 1 even if you don't all in as zerg.
450 in cost for the wall sets you back pretty far, as long as one worker is out then it has most likely failed. If you build yet another pylon and canon it is even slower to transition out of.
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I stopped having a patrol drone back when they "fixed ramps". I guess it's time to return to the age old patrol drone.
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cute build... though if you get a ramp block off like this you can pretty much follow-up with anything and win
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On May 27 2011 14:35 FiWiFaKi wrote:
Well you can only have two drones attacking any pylon. If you time it right with a 13 forge they can take down the cannon if they pull two drones instantly however the cannon will finish as the wall goes down. And often you can manage to sneak another pylon if they manage to get it down. If done perfectly, yes you can stop it that way. But I promise you it's not the safest way. What I can do is if you try taking my pylon down I can use a gateway and pylon to block off the access and then cancel them after you realise the push is futile. (depending on what pylon you're going for.)
From the test I just did, I was able to have 3 drones hitting the side pylon in the "L" formation by using move command on the middle pylon so they squeeze in nicely. That allowed for the pylon to die well in time to kill the cannon. You can also have 3 drones attacking in the cup formation of the wall.
Also, 2 drones definately does not kill the wall in time as the pylon has 30 health left when the cannon completes when the drones start beside the pylon ready to attack.
I have no clue how you can manage to "sneak in another pylon" when zergs can attack click then shift click into the pylon area. I'm pretty sure it's not possible against a zerg that knows what he's doing.
I don't think its economically viable to wall off the hole after the pylon even if you cancel as you still need to replace the 3rd pylon in the wall after the cancel or your remaining 350 investment can be easily cleaned up/ran by with just lings. 60 minerals lost cancelling + 550 on a cannon wall (because 1 pylon dies for sure) + not having the 250 minerals from the gateway/pylon needed to wall off the dead pylon's space when you need that money for a gate at home definately puts the zerg ahead.
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Can you please include screenshots of the ramp blocks? aside from that this is a pretty nice and complete guide.
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So in a nutshell... "Since Z is f****d whenever they get cannon contained in their main, whenever I can block them i can do whatever and kill them"?
It's a valid strategy which is hardcountered by a probe patroling the ramp, but with the current metagame no Z still does that, so I assume it would work extremely well.
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cool guide, will def try it out. does it work against terrans aswell?
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In counters, isn't building a hatch some place else than the natural a counter? That can then be used to break the wall in conjunction with the main or just building workers, making it almost 2 base vs 1 even if you don't all in as zerg.
450 in cost for the wall sets you back pretty far, as long as one worker is out then it has most likely failed. If you build yet another pylon and canon it is even slower to transition out of.
The main problem with this is that if you try to expand somewhere else vs a good protoss he will most likely scout it and cannon rush the new hatch - and since you have all your production trapped in your main you have no way of stopping him, and no way of even knowing if it is happening if you do not have an overlord over the base you are trying to expand to.
It can work but more and more as you get higher up the ladder you will find a cannon finishing at your new hatch right as the hatch does.
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On May 27 2011 12:02 Exley wrote:
If you pull 3 drones immediately after the pylons go down, you will 100% be able to kill the middle pylon with lings coming down soon thereafter.
i dont think its that easy tbh, still gonna take some time to get the pylon down. but give it a shot, might work out )
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EPT
