[G] PvT - Got Balls? 15 Nex into speed prism colo

Before I begin, I'd like to give a shoutout to CookieMakerTV and duckvielleLOL for putting together these wonderful casts:



follow him on twitter https://twitter.com/#!/DUCKVILLELOL



follow him on twitter http://twitter.com/#!/CookieMakerTV


I'm giving you a build, but you are also essentially inserting colo drops in for whatever your typical opening/style is for the mid game. Instead of rushing to colo/range, getting 2 forges really quickly, rushing ht or dt, you are getting fast colossus and wp speed! So long as you can micro your way out of the 4 rax gasless cc first or 1 rax expo marine push, you shouldn't have a problem getting here. Once he has seen your colo, you have complete map control. You can take your 3rd at will. You don't have to worry about drops, as he's going to be frantically scrambling around just to spread himself so that he doesn't take a too much damage from your drop. Plus you're in his base, killing his doods. If he lifts up for a drop, you should be able to see it with an obs or with your prism.

Alternatively, if you want more of a general guide to the nexus first opener, consult this thread:
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=307426


This section is about wp/colo micro. If you know how it works already, feel free to skip this
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I recommend you only go through with the colo drops under 2 conditions:

1. antigua/shakuras/entolmbed. why? easier to hold off 2 base pokes with sentries, of course!
2. you scout/assume (though you're playing against terran, and you can't :p) cc first or 1 rax cc

So go scout. You can either scout on nexus like this:

9 Pylon
15 Nexus (scout!)

Or you can scout on pylon like so:

9 Pylon (scout!)
16 Nexus

Either way, you may or may not get the information you need. Always sac the probe unless there's no way you can possibly get the scout. Example:

you'll never know how much worry you've saved me, Proberto

If you're interested, continue reading. If you are scared, hit backspace on your keyboard and pretend you never saw this.

9 Pylon (cb 11 + cb 12.75 or w/e)
15 Nexus
16 Gateway (15 if you want to be safer, I suppose)
17 Pylon (some will tell you gas first; I wouldn't lie to you like that)
18 Gas (1st)

Scout your nat with a probe after pylon or after gas to check for bunker(s). You should also check for proxy raxes if you're gosux2

20 Core

maintain probe production as best you can while CB'ing 2 zealots back to back and then stalkers continuously. CB WG when you have extra available. Don't use it on probes, but don't stockpile it.

Send your 2 zealots towards the enemy base so that they will hit the Terran as the 1st stalker meets up. You can pick off a marine or 2 and/or scvs if they didn't make a bunker. This is essentially a bunker check. If they have a bunker, just retreat for free.

32 Pylon (1 stalker training)

Add 2 gases (count'em, TWO) after you can ensure you can start your 3rd stalker as soon as your 2nd is finished. This will typically be at 36 food, if you haven't lost any zealots/stalkers (and you shouldn't have).

~42 Robo (2 stalkers out, 3rd about to pop). Next, add 2 gates and your 4th gas. The 4th gas at this timing is very important. You need to poop out at least 2 sentries to ff the big ramp in case you're getting hit with any 2 base poke.

@ 100% Robo, obs + Robotics Support Bay
@ 100% obs, warp prism
@ 100% Robotics Support bay, WP speed (hotkey = G) and your first colossus

The timings work out pretty wonderfully; CB'd obs and WP will finish with RSB, and your first colo and WP speed will finish at the same time as well.

Here you need to mind your gas. You want to squeeze out as many sentries before you begin your colo but still ensure you have 300 gas when your RSB finishes. I can typically get out 3 with the above gas timing, and you're going to need at least 2 to ff the ramp entirely.

When my first colo is on the way, I like to start 2 forges and my council. I'm not sure if this is safe. You might want to play around with this and try getting 2 gates instead and see what works for you.

1st colo should pop out around 9:40.
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Since we've already invested in colossus tech, we might as well start a 2nd one as well as range when the first colo is done. range will significantly improve the deadliness of the colossus in drops, as well.

When you drop your colo for the first time and they freak the fuck out, take your 3rd immediately.

Here's a skeleton of the build up to and including finishing colossus:
http://drop.sc/81790

On your first drop, assuming they are none the wiser, you should drop it on the closest mineral patch to the natural, as their first instinct will be to maynard all of the scvs right through it. Since you don't have range yet, doing a safe drop on the outer edge will not be as effective. Try to focus it on the biggest clumps of scvs.

The success of the first drop can be measured like so:

1. SCV kills (obv)
2. Unit kills
3. How much time you keep x scvs off of the line
4. Removal of units from the map

The third and fourth won't appear on your kill count, but they are very important. They are muling at their nat, and they also have to send every single scv from their main to mine there as well. If they are dealing with a flying colossus, they will be less likely to put on aggression with a drop.

If they are attacking you at this time, you can get some ridiculous results. Here's a gem:



There really shouldn't be any vikings out on the field yet, so feel free to fly on over the natural and see what you can't kill there:


You'll never kill as many on this run, but you will damage a lot of units desperately trying to go after your WP. Here we must micro as best we can to make sure both make it out alive. Typically, vikings will be on the way at this point.

Regardless, congratulations! Map control is now yours and your 3rd will go uncontested 99% of the time. In the meantime, you've got two forges and a council working on charge. While we're kind of stuck on colossus tech for the next few minutes, we are transitioning into dual tech on 3 bases and should have a great probe lead.

All of the towers on the map are now yours if you choose. The speed prism/colo can make sure they can never hold a tower. So if you can't harass because they are placing their vikings well, at least you have that :p

If they have a third when your colossus strikes, you pretty much win, as there is no way they can keep all three mineral lines secure at all times. Take your 3rd ASAP, usually when they first react to the drop and have to pull everything on the map back. Alternatively, if you see with your obs they don't have units on the map, take it as your WP is on its way over there. In the build I mentioned you should be adding forges and a twilight when your drop is still in its infancy. Make sure you do this, or else this style will feel very all-in and 2-basey.

Dual upgrades complement the ranged colo and charge, so it is an extremely smooth transition. With whatever extra gas you have after upgrades and twilight researches, work on your HT tech, adding only as many stalkers as you need to fend off vikings from your colossus. It's tempting to go over 4-5 colossus, but just know that this will take away from your army strength in the long run; 2 more colossus means 6 less stalkers to guard your colossus or 6 less zealots to envelop a bio concave. As they are taking their 3rd, feel free to take a 4th.

After the first drop, you're going to have to be very careful with your WP, as they will be wise to your ways and have 1-2 vikings patrolling where it would fly. This essentially shuts it down. However, a 3 base terran will always have holes somewhere. Find them, and put a colossus there:


here's a poke


there's a poke
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everywhere a poke

Your game will go only as well as your first poke. If you don't manage to pick off a whole lot of scvs, at least force them to pull off the lines as often as possible, and stim as much as possible. Marines with stim are not faster than a speed WP! Abuse the shit out of this. When vikings come out, you must be very conservative. Don't throw a way a good bit of harass by flying into two vikings patrolling.

Sometimes, you will do a good bit of damage but it will not completely seal the deal.
Sometimes, you will find yourself facing a push like this off of two bases:


fucking groupies

This kind of composition will have a lot of power sieged up by your natural, but significantly less running in between bases trying to kill a WP it can't hope to catch.

Don't be afraid to use your WP colo as part of your standing army if the push comes too soon. Even so, sometimes this happens:

and we lose our natural

But don't fret! If there's anything that can get a protoss player back in the game, it's dts a winged colossus


sry didn't know u weren't home

Nothing to harass? Let Colin get in on the action!

wait p lost nat? fukcin protos imbal

This style can be as effective as its bearer is talented. I hope to see good players utilize this kind of play. The skill cap on it is absolutely limitless. Imagine two of these fuckers on the map and a 400 apm korean manning the controls. Three??? MADNESS

I've seen herO do something similar why the fuck do you think I tried it so many times on his stream, but never have I seen it in tournament play

TLO did something like this back in the beta off of one base, but I think it is pretty safe against cc first or 1 rax fe. I wouldn't try it against anything else, as 2/1 tank pushes smash it pretty hard, as do many 1/1/1 variants off of 1 base. If you already opened 15 nex and scout something different, you're going to want to play a lot safer.

That being said, I encourage everyone to experiment with 15 nexus builds on big maps, as they will force you to improve your economy management and army control, as a lot of terrans will opt for bio all-ins or builds involving hellion drops which can't be stopped with 15 nexus, but require intelligent probe cuts and crisp transition timings.

Just mine for now. Some of them are old so they might have different gas/transition/3rd timings. Here are several:

http://drop.sc/130143
http://drop.sc/80818
http://drop.sc/80819
http://drop.sc/80820
http://drop.sc/81781

against marine/tank/banshee/raven off of 2 bases:
http://drop.sc/81785

here's one not vs 1 rax fe or cc first, but fuck it
http://drop.sc/81776

here, we get there eventually, but play safer in the meantime
http://drop.sc/81779

and sometimes we think we're playing against zerg
http://drop.sc/81782

and here's the skeleton of the build if you missed it above:
http://drop.sc/81790

here's a replay major posted that features speed wp immortal harass. really good for sniping those add-ons!
http://drop.sc/82020

here are a few games where I play safer out of 15 nex because of 1 base play:

http://drop.sc/82410
http://drop.sc/82409
http://drop.sc/82411

too lazy to watch replays? check out this cast done by our friend CookieMakerTV

our bud duckville has posted some vods on youtube of NEXsickness using colo drops successfully. Check out this vod featuring the wp colo battling a 1;1;1 build:

A happy new year to all you guys. Thanks for reading, and good luck with the style!

Shout out to drop.sc for being the only upload site never to let me down!

Shout out to artosis, though he hasn't replied to my PM about this style from yesterday TT

And of course, a shoutout to CookieMakerTV for putting together a great cast to show the build. You can find his casts here: http://www.youtube.com/user/CookieMakerTV/videos