• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 12:53
CEST 18:53
KST 01:53
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners5Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview5[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21
Community News
[BSL22] Non-Korean Championship from 13 to 28 June2Weekly Cups (May 25-31): Clem doubles, 2v2 circuit heads toward finale0StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th151Weekly Cups (May 18-24): MaxPax wins doubles0Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League6
StarCraft 2
General
Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection Oliveira Would Have Returned If EWC Continued TL Poll: How do you feel about the 5.0.16 PTR balance changes? Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview
Tourneys
Douyu Cup 2026 Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! GSL Code S Season 2 (2026) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament WardiTV Mondays
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 529 Opportunities Unleashed Mutation # 528 Infection Detected Welcome to the External Content forum
Brood War
General
Data needed Quality of life changes in BW that you will like ? BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW fans in southern Sweden, look here! 25 Years Since Brood War Patch 1.08
Tourneys
[BSL22] Grand Finals - Sunday 21:00 CEST [ASL21] Grand Finals [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2
Strategy
Why doesn't anyone use restoration? Any training maps people recommend? Muta micro map competition [G] Hydra ZvZ: An Introduction
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread PC Games Sales Thread Nintendo Switch Thread ZeroSpace Megathread Summer Games Done Quick 2026!
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Trading/Investing Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion [Manga] One Piece
Sports
NBA General Discussion 2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
How Streaming Impacts Game P…
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 7615 users

[G] TvP Pure Air - Page 3

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 21 22 23 Next All
Yoshi Kirishima
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States10372 Posts
November 09 2011 07:13 GMT
#41
On November 09 2011 16:10 Azzur wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 09 2011 15:54 Yoshi Kirishima wrote:
On November 09 2011 15:37 Azzur wrote:
I played until early S3, but haven't played in S4 but sky-terran essentially carried me in ladder because of TvP. My TvZ and TvT was bad so at the end of S2 (when the number of protosses seemed to have drastically reduced) I suffered a lot. At the start of S3, protosses seemed to have comeback, so that was a very good thing.

I also used to play a sky-terran TvZ style but my build was shutdown by the infestor buff (FG being 4-sec instead of 8) which completely destroyed me.

Sky-terran was ok for a while for me in TvT but then people started getting proficient at marine/tank. I then tried to mech but should've reverted back to sky-terran when mech became the norm. Now, with marine/tank become standard again, I don't think I can pull it off in TvT anymore.


Hm idk, thorzain did that air style with hellions against noblesse in GSTL. I think Noblesse was going marine tank. So it can definitely work I think. Though hellions take 1 more shot to kill marines now

Wow TvZ really? i was trying to get it to work (without having to stay very long on bio nor mech). Anyways how did that 8 to 4 second buff actually hurt you? Was it because you used to repair while fungal'd or something?

Also haha it is the same for me, winning so much against Protoss has made my Zerg and Terran opponents challenging, but even now I don't have much trouble against them. Moving up I guess. But I remember when my TvT went to like 25% winrate instead of 80% xD.

FG from 8 to 4 sec increased the dps. The 8 sec FG was already a pain to deal with but the 4 sec (and hence v high dps) destroyed me. I've abandoned sky-terran against zerg.


Well I mean the dps is higher but the damage is the same. If he attacks you while you're fungal'd, the 4 second would make it stronger, but why not just wait for the fungal damage to finish before zerg engages?
Mid-master streaming MECH ONLY + commentary www.twitch.tv/yoshikirishima +++ "If all-in fails, all-in again."
chingchong99
Profile Joined November 2011
Nauru64 Posts
November 09 2011 07:16 GMT
#42
How do you deal with HTs with this build?
~900 pts masters toss @ EU | Looking for a practice partner, pm me!
Devlawl
Profile Joined February 2011
Australia122 Posts
November 09 2011 07:36 GMT
#43
Nice guide :D I wrote a similar less in depth one a while back:

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=219600

I played the style a bit differently, looking for timing attacks and taking lots of orbitals and gas as I could, but our opennings are basically the same. I never really used seeker missiles because I ended the game earlier but if they work for you I think I might try them out :D.

Also when I scout them going to HT tech I usually try to attack before storm while teching to ghosts and blueflame hellions just in case I don't kill him with that timing attack.
Life is cruel and then you die.
Yoshi Kirishima
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States10372 Posts
November 09 2011 08:05 GMT
#44
On November 09 2011 16:16 chingchong99 wrote:
How do you deal with HTs with this build?


Added!


On November 09 2011 16:36 Devlawl wrote:
Nice guide :D I wrote a similar less in depth one a while back:

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=219600

I played the style a bit differently, looking for timing attacks and taking lots of orbitals and gas as I could, but our opennings are basically the same. I never really used seeker missiles because I ended the game earlier but if they work for you I think I might try them out :D.

Also when I scout them going to HT tech I usually try to attack before storm while teching to ghosts and blueflame hellions just in case I don't kill him with that timing attack.



Thanks!

That is interesting. I was always thinking about support BFH and/or Ghosts, but against most of my opponents, they aren't needed since I can just run away if he has HTs and kill his base instead. But against a Protoss who recognizes Terran is going air style, and Protoss takes a lot of bases and puts lots of cannons quickly while super teching to mass Stargate units with pooled gas, I find it hard vs Air + HT/Stalker. So I guess in that situation EMP, Snipe, etc will be useful. Plus Hellions would have an easy time killing HTs with so few ground units. And if the ground numbers get really big, you can just get lots of Hellions to kill both the HTs/Stalkers since stalkers suck vs Hellions in big numbers, and if he tries to storm he will have to storm his own units as well, assuming his ground army is below his air fleet. This is what I think, anyway.
Mid-master streaming MECH ONLY + commentary www.twitch.tv/yoshikirishima +++ "If all-in fails, all-in again."
zatic
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
Zurich15365 Posts
November 09 2011 08:52 GMT
#45
Great job! Always lovely to see when people put a lot of effort into contributing!
ModeratorI know Teamliquid is known as a massive building
LeoLeo
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Sweden456 Posts
November 09 2011 09:22 GMT
#46
Allright my first impression of this is that it is very cute. Very very cute, but it is so incredibly unviable in every single way.

First your opening is cute and whatever, but if the protoss opens penix your banshees will do 0 damage, there is no single way you are going to have mapcontrol until you have more vikings than him and that is a long while from now on with a techlabbed starport. A banshee opening is great versus a lot of openings but it isnt even that great vs a standard 1 Gate FE if the protoss isnt retarded. So unless he goes for some risky strange play you WILL be economically behind and there is really not much you can do about it. And how does your build respond to being behind on eco? A fucking PF expo. Then it is basicly fine if it stays on 2 base vs 2 base since you have no mules and he can be more "gas efficient by just outproducing you with stalkers to secure his other bases.

Secondly your build is soooooooooooooooooooooooo fragile, I have watched so many of your replays and the biggest reason why you win is because the protoss doesnt scout or simply doesnt know what the fuck is going on. Your fire power is not as great as you think either. You stated numerous amount of times that you just "retreat" if you dont want to attack but both stalkers and penixes are faster than banshees and ravens and can easily catch up on them. And if his HTs are in range feedback utterly rapes every unit you have Banshees (unless they have no energy) and Ravens and BCs. Then storm is really great because most terrans like to right click with all their units selected and they all will die to storm. Even if you have a response to all of this you need to remember that scenario #1 will occur and you have less units than him.

The only real reason why tech TvP builds dont really work is because if you do them before the expo, protoss can hold them and you are behind. If you try to do a 1 rax FE into Air play, sure that can be cute and all, but bio is still 99 times better and 99 times more solid. It is literally impossible to hold a 3 gate stargate all in with 1 rax pumping marines while you are teching to banshees behind it.

This was a very good guide though, but the playstyle is actually very bad and cheesy. I know that cuz I played this style for about 3 months before realizing that bio was the only way.

Cheers mate
Bacon, Orangina and chilling
rebotfc
Profile Joined March 2011
United Kingdom144 Posts
November 09 2011 10:02 GMT
#47
Great guide, definitely enjoy watching the replays.

My version of sky Terran is 2 rax marauder-slow/reactor expand into 4 port banshee, Corvold reactor 3 ravens & 8 banshees. I go straight for the cyber-core then clean up/ trade the stalkers. If you manage to get the core, he often cannot build enough of a stalker army to counteract the 4 port. Pretty cheesy but whatevs...
Yoshi Kirishima
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States10372 Posts
November 09 2011 10:13 GMT
#48
On November 09 2011 18:22 Mr_Wo_Ot wrote:
Allright my first impression of this is that it is very cute. Very very cute, but it is so incredibly unviable in every single way.

First your opening is cute and whatever, but if the protoss opens penix your banshees will do 0 damage, there is no single way you are going to have mapcontrol until you have more vikings than him and that is a long while from now on with a techlabbed starport. A banshee opening is great versus a lot of openings but it isnt even that great vs a standard 1 Gate FE if the protoss isnt retarded. So unless he goes for some risky strange play you WILL be economically behind and there is really not much you can do about it. And how does your build respond to being behind on eco? A fucking PF expo. Then it is basicly fine if it stays on 2 base vs 2 base since you have no mules and he can be more "gas efficient by just outproducing you with stalkers to secure his other bases.

Secondly your build is soooooooooooooooooooooooo fragile, I have watched so many of your replays and the biggest reason why you win is because the protoss doesnt scout or simply doesnt know what the fuck is going on. Your fire power is not as great as you think either. You stated numerous amount of times that you just "retreat" if you dont want to attack but both stalkers and penixes are faster than banshees and ravens and can easily catch up on them. And if his HTs are in range feedback utterly rapes every unit you have Banshees (unless they have no energy) and Ravens and BCs. Then storm is really great because most terrans like to right click with all their units selected and they all will die to storm. Even if you have a response to all of this you need to remember that scenario #1 will occur and you have less units than him.

The only real reason why tech TvP builds dont really work is because if you do them before the expo, protoss can hold them and you are behind. If you try to do a 1 rax FE into Air play, sure that can be cute and all, but bio is still 99 times better and 99 times more solid. It is literally impossible to hold a 3 gate stargate all in with 1 rax pumping marines while you are teching to banshees behind it.

This was a very good guide though, but the playstyle is actually very bad and cheesy. I know that cuz I played this style for about 3 months before realizing that bio was the only way.

Cheers mate


Phoenixes will stop any early Banshees yes but they won't stop you from taking more bases as a counter. It's like getting more Hatches ZvP if he goes Phoenixes. You won't do economic damage to him, and he can't come attack you either.

Well, that's why you turtle until you have air superiority, else you don't move out or else Phoenixes will catch and kill everything. Every Phoenix is 2 Stalkers in gas, and it takes 1 Vikings for 1 Phoenix, leaving you with 25 gas. So really if he wants to gain air superiority, he has to keep massing Phoenixes but by massing Vikings yourself, that won't happen. He can't get any Stalkers that way.

About HTs, simply don't be in range? You should know where his army is, and you don't explain how I can't just not engage. Terrans right clicking is their problem for bad micro but not for every Terran. HTs can kill Ravens and BCs sure but then be sure you are more Banshee heavy instead. You will be able to overpower his low Stalker count.

#1 scenario will occur at some point but he will have no Stalkers and you might even have extra gas. If he has more units than you (I'm assuming you mean ground or even void/carrier) then it means he does not have air superiority.

Ok sure I admit I don't know of any way you can, with the scouting I talked about, be able to react with enough time to defend vs that all-in. But not all "viable" builds have to be able to defend against all slightly common builds, as in this could be a surprise build at certain levels, but probably not the standard, like in a Bo3 or Bo5 match where the opponent might all-in you once.

If you are playing at a significantly higher level and could share a replay of an air strat not working, that would be great because with the above reasoning I can't imagine any of the things you said to be too much of a problem aside from the 3 Gate Stargate (even if it's not All-In).

Thanks for all the input!
Mid-master streaming MECH ONLY + commentary www.twitch.tv/yoshikirishima +++ "If all-in fails, all-in again."
Cycle
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States300 Posts
November 09 2011 11:33 GMT
#49
Happy to see this finally posted. :D I've been playing this way since it was mentioned in another thread and been preaching the way of Air TvP to my Terran friends as well, and they haven't looked back. My new win ratio vs protoss with this build is also around 95%, where the other 5% is due to my mismanagement.

I wanna emphasize for readers how important that "How to Scout" section is. I know most high level players do this innately, but for people closer to my level I think it might need to be pointed out.

I think this is especially true because the 3 gate stargate voids is, in my opinion, the most difficult thing to hold off while playing this way, and most protoss players will proxy the stargate somewhere else. It's still difficult to hold even if it's scouted.

Cheers YK <3
| chKCycle.551 | NA | Master League Random | Checkmate Gaming |
LeoLeo
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Sweden456 Posts
November 09 2011 14:16 GMT
#50
On November 09 2011 19:13 Yoshi Kirishima wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 09 2011 18:22 Mr_Wo_Ot wrote:
Allright my first impression of this is that it is very cute. Very very cute, but it is so incredibly unviable in every single way.

First your opening is cute and whatever, but if the protoss opens penix your banshees will do 0 damage, there is no single way you are going to have mapcontrol until you have more vikings than him and that is a long while from now on with a techlabbed starport. A banshee opening is great versus a lot of openings but it isnt even that great vs a standard 1 Gate FE if the protoss isnt retarded. So unless he goes for some risky strange play you WILL be economically behind and there is really not much you can do about it. And how does your build respond to being behind on eco? A fucking PF expo. Then it is basicly fine if it stays on 2 base vs 2 base since you have no mules and he can be more "gas efficient by just outproducing you with stalkers to secure his other bases.

Secondly your build is soooooooooooooooooooooooo fragile, I have watched so many of your replays and the biggest reason why you win is because the protoss doesnt scout or simply doesnt know what the fuck is going on. Your fire power is not as great as you think either. You stated numerous amount of times that you just "retreat" if you dont want to attack but both stalkers and penixes are faster than banshees and ravens and can easily catch up on them. And if his HTs are in range feedback utterly rapes every unit you have Banshees (unless they have no energy) and Ravens and BCs. Then storm is really great because most terrans like to right click with all their units selected and they all will die to storm. Even if you have a response to all of this you need to remember that scenario #1 will occur and you have less units than him.

The only real reason why tech TvP builds dont really work is because if you do them before the expo, protoss can hold them and you are behind. If you try to do a 1 rax FE into Air play, sure that can be cute and all, but bio is still 99 times better and 99 times more solid. It is literally impossible to hold a 3 gate stargate all in with 1 rax pumping marines while you are teching to banshees behind it.

This was a very good guide though, but the playstyle is actually very bad and cheesy. I know that cuz I played this style for about 3 months before realizing that bio was the only way.

Cheers mate


Phoenixes will stop any early Banshees yes but they won't stop you from taking more bases as a counter. It's like getting more Hatches ZvP if he goes Phoenixes. You won't do economic damage to him, and he can't come attack you either.

Well, that's why you turtle until you have air superiority, else you don't move out or else Phoenixes will catch and kill everything. Every Phoenix is 2 Stalkers in gas, and it takes 1 Vikings for 1 Phoenix, leaving you with 25 gas. So really if he wants to gain air superiority, he has to keep massing Phoenixes but by massing Vikings yourself, that won't happen. He can't get any Stalkers that way.

About HTs, simply don't be in range? You should know where his army is, and you don't explain how I can't just not engage. Terrans right clicking is their problem for bad micro but not for every Terran. HTs can kill Ravens and BCs sure but then be sure you are more Banshee heavy instead. You will be able to overpower his low Stalker count.

#1 scenario will occur at some point but he will have no Stalkers and you might even have extra gas. If he has more units than you (I'm assuming you mean ground or even void/carrier) then it means he does not have air superiority.

Ok sure I admit I don't know of any way you can, with the scouting I talked about, be able to react with enough time to defend vs that all-in. But not all "viable" builds have to be able to defend against all slightly common builds, as in this could be a surprise build at certain levels, but probably not the standard, like in a Bo3 or Bo5 match where the opponent might all-in you once.

If you are playing at a significantly higher level and could share a replay of an air strat not working, that would be great because with the above reasoning I can't imagine any of the things you said to be too much of a problem aside from the 3 Gate Stargate (even if it's not All-In).

Thanks for all the input!


Yeah I understand the turtle into air superiority. But hence the word "turtle" in that sentence. What I mean is that he will have the mapcontrol to outexpand you, forcing a reaction which you wont have as you are turtling for air superiority. Think TvT, he will have bases and you will never be able to get more vikings than him as he has more income than you. If you attempt to take more bases. BAM you are suddenly not turtling anymore and to defend that base you are opening yourself open for a direct engagement.

The way you think you should handle HTs just highlights the flaw in air play vs protoss. You can't kill him really, if he just positions 3 HTs at every expo and has a phoenix squadron patroling the map I don't really see you having a way of doing damage to him. But this is hard to do and know as a toss and it also requires you to know how to play against it.

I dont really have any replays of me doing the air style as I don't really save replays, but I had a pretty cool way of playing it out. What I favored was a later switch in air after a marine tank medivac play. On bigger maps like TDA I would open 1 rax FE into 2 gas then a lot of bunkers eventually transitioning into a marine tank push with combat shield aiming at killing an eventual third. Behind I would begin making starports like a crazy (I used to squeeze in a 3rd, but I died to too many counters t.t) and then transition into bansee harass whilst securing a third only no longer making tanks.

The goal I had was to reach stage where I would have moderatly upgraded marines 3/3 BCs and ghosts. No Ravens as their gas cost doesnt allow for ghosts. From there on it comes down a lot to ghost micro vs HTs. If they dont get the feedbacks of you can easily rape anything. Yamato all the colossi, voidrays, carriers(lol) and emp all the stalkers.

On smaller maps I 1/1/1ed and if it goes those 1/10 scenarios when one of the players doesnt die and the game stabilzes I would follow the same plan as on bigger maps.

Mass Banshee stuff is also just super boss against any blind colossus build ^_^

TL;DR Toss can repel your attempts at harass and turtle while you need to play super safe due to your inabiltiy to fight straight up. Although the style is great if not scouted.
Bacon, Orangina and chilling
Reason.SC2
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada1047 Posts
November 09 2011 14:31 GMT
#51
Another Terran gimmick to deal with on the ladder.. thanks.

Why is it that so many T's enjoy doing strats that get roflstomped if scouted and lead to a high percentage of auto-wins if not scouted? So not the right approach....
Cibron
Profile Joined March 2010
Sweden253 Posts
November 09 2011 14:34 GMT
#52
On November 09 2011 23:31 Reason.SC2 wrote:
Another Terran gimmick to deal with on the ladder.. thanks.

Why is it that so many T's enjoy doing strats that get roflstomped if scouted and lead to a high percentage of auto-wins if not scouted? So not the right approach....


what? this is not even gimmicky - just a new approach. you're one of those toss who complain about MMM and then complain again when we don't?
ZOMGY (¬O_o)¬ || BeastyQQ FTW!! ||
Fuhrmaaj
Profile Joined January 2011
167 Posts
November 09 2011 14:59 GMT
#53
Wow, impressive write-up! I'm looking forward to seeing it all done but if you deleted everything that says "Working on it..." it's still a reasonably complete guide by TL standards.

I really like sky terran, I think I'll try this!
Random player
MortOrGuilt
Profile Joined November 2011
United Kingdom23 Posts
November 09 2011 15:06 GMT
#54
Jesus christ that is incredibly detailed, thanks! I always try to get pure air builds to work as I love air units but never manage to get it perfect.
aintz
Profile Joined August 2010
Canada5624 Posts
November 09 2011 15:42 GMT
#55
wont you be miles behind if your cloaked banshees dont do any damage and you have a PF instead of a 2nd OC and less worker count?

HardMacro
Profile Blog Joined September 2011
Canada361 Posts
November 09 2011 15:54 GMT
#56
Dude, nice build.

That toss in the video had NO multitask whatsoever lol past early game, your harass made him float 2.5k on 2 bases rofl, he was pretty bad.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ saving this here because I use it, don't know how to make it, and don't know it's name
Yoshi Kirishima
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
United States10372 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-11-09 16:23:05
November 09 2011 16:05 GMT
#57
On November 09 2011 23:16 Mr_Wo_Ot wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 09 2011 19:13 Yoshi Kirishima wrote:
On November 09 2011 18:22 Mr_Wo_Ot wrote:
Allright my first impression of this is that it is very cute. Very very cute, but it is so incredibly unviable in every single way.

First your opening is cute and whatever, but if the protoss opens penix your banshees will do 0 damage, there is no single way you are going to have mapcontrol until you have more vikings than him and that is a long while from now on with a techlabbed starport. A banshee opening is great versus a lot of openings but it isnt even that great vs a standard 1 Gate FE if the protoss isnt retarded. So unless he goes for some risky strange play you WILL be economically behind and there is really not much you can do about it. And how does your build respond to being behind on eco? A fucking PF expo. Then it is basicly fine if it stays on 2 base vs 2 base since you have no mules and he can be more "gas efficient by just outproducing you with stalkers to secure his other bases.

Secondly your build is soooooooooooooooooooooooo fragile, I have watched so many of your replays and the biggest reason why you win is because the protoss doesnt scout or simply doesnt know what the fuck is going on. Your fire power is not as great as you think either. You stated numerous amount of times that you just "retreat" if you dont want to attack but both stalkers and penixes are faster than banshees and ravens and can easily catch up on them. And if his HTs are in range feedback utterly rapes every unit you have Banshees (unless they have no energy) and Ravens and BCs. Then storm is really great because most terrans like to right click with all their units selected and they all will die to storm. Even if you have a response to all of this you need to remember that scenario #1 will occur and you have less units than him.

The only real reason why tech TvP builds dont really work is because if you do them before the expo, protoss can hold them and you are behind. If you try to do a 1 rax FE into Air play, sure that can be cute and all, but bio is still 99 times better and 99 times more solid. It is literally impossible to hold a 3 gate stargate all in with 1 rax pumping marines while you are teching to banshees behind it.

This was a very good guide though, but the playstyle is actually very bad and cheesy. I know that cuz I played this style for about 3 months before realizing that bio was the only way.

Cheers mate


Phoenixes will stop any early Banshees yes but they won't stop you from taking more bases as a counter. It's like getting more Hatches ZvP if he goes Phoenixes. You won't do economic damage to him, and he can't come attack you either.

Well, that's why you turtle until you have air superiority, else you don't move out or else Phoenixes will catch and kill everything. Every Phoenix is 2 Stalkers in gas, and it takes 1 Vikings for 1 Phoenix, leaving you with 25 gas. So really if he wants to gain air superiority, he has to keep massing Phoenixes but by massing Vikings yourself, that won't happen. He can't get any Stalkers that way.

About HTs, simply don't be in range? You should know where his army is, and you don't explain how I can't just not engage. Terrans right clicking is their problem for bad micro but not for every Terran. HTs can kill Ravens and BCs sure but then be sure you are more Banshee heavy instead. You will be able to overpower his low Stalker count.

#1 scenario will occur at some point but he will have no Stalkers and you might even have extra gas. If he has more units than you (I'm assuming you mean ground or even void/carrier) then it means he does not have air superiority.

Ok sure I admit I don't know of any way you can, with the scouting I talked about, be able to react with enough time to defend vs that all-in. But not all "viable" builds have to be able to defend against all slightly common builds, as in this could be a surprise build at certain levels, but probably not the standard, like in a Bo3 or Bo5 match where the opponent might all-in you once.

If you are playing at a significantly higher level and could share a replay of an air strat not working, that would be great because with the above reasoning I can't imagine any of the things you said to be too much of a problem aside from the 3 Gate Stargate (even if it's not All-In).

Thanks for all the input!


Yeah I understand the turtle into air superiority. But hence the word "turtle" in that sentence. What I mean is that he will have the mapcontrol to outexpand you, forcing a reaction which you wont have as you are turtling for air superiority. Think TvT, he will have bases and you will never be able to get more vikings than him as he has more income than you. If you attempt to take more bases. BAM you are suddenly not turtling anymore and to defend that base you are opening yourself open for a direct engagement.

The way you think you should handle HTs just highlights the flaw in air play vs protoss. You can't kill him really, if he just positions 3 HTs at every expo and has a phoenix squadron patroling the map I don't really see you having a way of doing damage to him. But this is hard to do and know as a toss and it also requires you to know how to play against it.

I dont really have any replays of me doing the air style as I don't really save replays, but I had a pretty cool way of playing it out. What I favored was a later switch in air after a marine tank medivac play. On bigger maps like TDA I would open 1 rax FE into 2 gas then a lot of bunkers eventually transitioning into a marine tank push with combat shield aiming at killing an eventual third. Behind I would begin making starports like a crazy (I used to squeeze in a 3rd, but I died to too many counters t.t) and then transition into bansee harass whilst securing a third only no longer making tanks.

The goal I had was to reach stage where I would have moderatly upgraded marines 3/3 BCs and ghosts. No Ravens as their gas cost doesnt allow for ghosts. From there on it comes down a lot to ghost micro vs HTs. If they dont get the feedbacks of you can easily rape anything. Yamato all the colossi, voidrays, carriers(lol) and emp all the stalkers.

On smaller maps I 1/1/1ed and if it goes those 1/10 scenarios when one of the players doesnt die and the game stabilzes I would follow the same plan as on bigger maps.

Mass Banshee stuff is also just super boss against any blind colossus build ^_^

TL;DR Toss can repel your attempts at harass and turtle while you need to play super safe due to your inabiltiy to fight straight up. Although the style is great if not scouted.


I still don't think I quite understand. What I mean by turtle is turtle (no banshees to harass, just vikings to fight phoenixes) but take bases at the same time because he can't get any Stalkers to attack you since he'll need to make all Phoenixes to beat your Vikings. He could make Zealots but if you just mix in 1 Banshee or cut a couple Vikings to get up a PF he shouldn't be able to kill it.

Ok but let's take the situation Toss knows the strategy and puts 3 HTs at each base. Well all you would need to do is fly around with your own Viking army which will be stronger than his Phoenixes since also has so many HTs which a few Banshees which will easily be able to kill Cannons even without Ravens. Even if your micro is bad and you can't attack him, he can't come kill you either. Once his HTs move out, you can go in and attack. Let's say his economy is a bit higher so he can match your anti air power and also have HTs and Stalkers. He can't possibly have enough Stalkers to go around and kill your PFs. If he brings HTs to storm then that means there's less defense at home.

On November 09 2011 23:34 Cibron wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 09 2011 23:31 Reason.SC2 wrote:
Another Terran gimmick to deal with on the ladder.. thanks.

Why is it that so many T's enjoy doing strats that get roflstomped if scouted and lead to a high percentage of auto-wins if not scouted? So not the right approach....


what? this is not even gimmicky - just a new approach. you're one of those toss who complain about MMM and then complain again when we don't?


;_; thank you.

On November 10 2011 00:42 aintz wrote:
wont you be miles behind if your cloaked banshees dont do any damage and you have a PF instead of a 2nd OC and less worker count?



Check some of the replays where it says "unsuccessful Banshee harass" or "didn't kill many probes" or "lose my first two banshees due to lag", etc. For example the replay against Top Master Protoss on Shakuras, the one about Stalemating. I do almost no damage to him cus he's a great Protoss and knows how to defend his mineral lines (and I lagged so I couldn't save my Banshees). But simply due to the style, I base traded to even up the score.

Also, minerals are not necessary in this build. You lose a lot of minerals without a 2nd OC over time yes, but in order to defend that OC you would need so many marines/bunkers. The point in getting a PF is because it is a fast, efficient way to cover the weakness of your tech-hevay build -- allowing your opponent to force an engagement because your head-on army strength is weak early on. The point of this strategy is that you never have to engage your opponent; you have full control. The PF will stop any kind of early or mid game push.

I think in the replays where I didn't successfully Banshee harass, i was also behind in SCVs (since he can chronoboost, I don't have a 2nd OC, and my expansion is way way later than the 1 gate Expands or such). I think the Stalemate replay definitely was a good example of that.


On November 10 2011 00:54 HardMacro wrote:
Dude, nice build.

That toss in the video had NO multitask whatsoever lol past early game, your harass made him float 2.5k on 2 bases rofl, he was pretty bad.


Haha, yeah. We actually both had 102 apm by the end of the game, but as you can see from the video he had strong macro (using so many Chronoboost even lategame!) but not multitasking. He did not sit at his mineral lines or such as much as he should have. But the point of that example is to show the typical confused, surprised Protoss opponent who doesn't know what the fuck to do xD (rather than show the strategy vs a high leveled player who knows how to fight it). For example he was making bases only as he scouted mine. When he saw my third, he began to take his fourth. Little did he know I already had 6 bases xD. Also, when he finally brought his stalkers into his main to wait there, he split up and brought his zealots and immortals to his natural, as if expecting me to have an "actual" ground army xD. Finally he realized that i didn't have any ground units and he sent the zealots/immortals to try to kill my super safe natural while his stalkers dealt with my fleet.
Mid-master streaming MECH ONLY + commentary www.twitch.tv/yoshikirishima +++ "If all-in fails, all-in again."
Cyber_Cheese
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Australia3615 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-11-09 16:09:45
November 09 2011 16:08 GMT
#58
I'd love to see Koreans using this sky terran play!
Awesome guide OP
Edit: Awesome is a severe understatement, but yeah
The moment you lose confidence in yourself, is the moment the world loses it's confidence in you.
Ingwaz
Profile Joined June 2011
Sweden70 Posts
November 09 2011 16:13 GMT
#59
Read it all, awesome!
Will probably try this one out on ladder.
Omnibus locis fit caedes
Plethora
Profile Joined July 2007
United States206 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-11-09 16:20:24
November 09 2011 16:19 GMT
#60
On November 09 2011 23:31 Reason.SC2 wrote:
Another Terran gimmick to deal with on the ladder.. thanks.

Why is it that so many T's enjoy doing strats that get roflstomped if scouted and lead to a high percentage of auto-wins if not scouted? So not the right approach....


Ya know, I don't necessarily disagree with you but there are just as many toss players that 4-gate or 3-gate voidray all-in every single game. Care to explain that one to me?
... Still like Brood War better... lol
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 21 22 23 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Maestros of the Game
15:00
Playoffs
Serral vs RogueLIVE!
herO vs SHIN
RotterdaM1368
ComeBackTV 1007
IntoTheiNu 997
TaKeTV 507
LamboSC2254
Ryung 245
IndyStarCraft 188
SteadfastSC185
Rex154
EnkiAlexander 94
3DClanTV 89
CosmosSc2 65
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 1368
LamboSC2 254
Ryung 245
IndyStarCraft 188
SteadfastSC 185
Rex 154
CosmosSc2 65
ProTech47
UpATreeSC 42
elazer 40
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 3069
Shuttle 529
firebathero 190
Snow 149
Rush 130
sorry 116
Sea.KH 61
ToSsGirL 46
Hyun 46
PianO 33
[ Show more ]
IntoTheRainbow 20
Sacsri 18
GoRush 17
yabsab 17
Shine 14
soO 12
Terrorterran 10
Dota 2
Gorgc7335
qojqva2485
Dendi1042
Counter-Strike
fl0m9458
byalli392
zeus339
x6flipin234
Other Games
Grubby3763
singsing2716
FrodaN1122
B2W.Neo665
Beastyqt515
crisheroes274
Liquid`VortiX118
ArmadaUGS118
Hui .117
C9.Mang0110
Mew2King99
XaKoH 78
QueenE59
Trikslyr55
KnowMe53
MindelVK5
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 17 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• intothetv
• IndyKCrew
• sooper7s
• Migwel
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Kozan
StarCraft: Brood War
• Michael_bg 8
• blackmanpl 3
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota236
League of Legends
• Nemesis3290
• TFBlade795
Other Games
• WagamamaTV324
• Shiphtur200
Upcoming Events
OSC
5h 37m
Replay Cast
7h 7m
OSC
20h 7m
Maestros of the Game
21h 7m
Classic vs Maru
TBD vs Clem
Replay Cast
1d 7h
CranKy Ducklings
1d 17h
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
1d 22h
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
2 days
eOnzErG vs Mihu
Messiah vs XuanXuan
Jaystar vs TerrOr
Dewalt vs Bonyth
eOnzErG vs XuanXuan
Mihu vs TerrOr
Messiah vs Bonyth
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
2 days
[ Show More ]
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
3 days
Jaystar vs Dewalt
eOnzErG vs TerrOr
XuanXuan vs Bonyth
Mihu vs Dewalt
Messiah vs Jaystar
eOnzErG vs Bonyth
TerrOr vs Dewalt
OSC
3 days
Wardi Open
3 days
Replay Cast
5 days
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL Season 22
2026 GSL S2
Heroes Pulsing #1

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
Acropolis #4 - GSB
SCTL 2026 Spring
WardiTV Spring 2026
Maestros of the Game 2
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Murky Cup 2026
Heroes Pulsing #2
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026

Upcoming

BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
Douyu Cup 2026
Heroes Pulsing #3
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.