• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 11:40
CEST 17:40
KST 00:40
  • 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
Classic Games #3: Rogue vs Serral at BlizzCon9[ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Ascent10Maestros of the Game: Week 1/Play-in Preview12[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt2: Take-Off7[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt1: Runway13
Community News
SC4ALL $6,000 Open LAN in Philadelphia7Weekly Cups (Sept 1-7): MaxPax rebounds & Clem saga continues23LiuLi Cup - September 2025 Tournaments3Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw?39Weekly Cups (Aug 18-24): herO dethrones MaxPax6
StarCraft 2
General
#1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time Team Liquid Map Contest #21 - Presented by Monster Energy Classic Games #3: Rogue vs Serral at BlizzCon What happened to Singapore/Brazil servers? SC4ALL: A North American StarCraft LAN
Tourneys
RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament SC4ALL $6,000 Open LAN in Philadelphia LANified! 37: Groundswell, BYOC LAN, Nov 28-30 2025 LiuLi Cup - September 2025 Tournaments
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 490 Masters of Midnight Mutation # 489 Bannable Offense Mutation # 488 What Goes Around Mutation # 487 Think Fast
Brood War
General
ASL20 General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ alas... i aint gon' lie to u bruh... BW General Discussion [ASL20] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Ascent
Tourneys
CPL12 SIGN UP are open!!! [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL20] Ro16 Group B Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
General RTS Discussion Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Borderlands 3 The PlayStation 5
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine The Games Industry And ATVI UK Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The Happy Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023 TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread High temperatures on bridge(s)
TL Community
BarCraft in Tokyo Japan for ASL Season5 Final The Automated Ban List
Blogs
The Personality of a Spender…
TrAiDoS
A very expensive lesson on ma…
Garnet
hello world
radishsoup
Lemme tell you a thing o…
JoinTheRain
RTS Design in Hypercoven
a11
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1436 users

Phoenix heavy PvP replay pack

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
1 2 3 Next All
Alejandrisha
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States6565 Posts
March 19 2012 03:51 GMT
#1
hey guys here are my PvP ladder games since the 21st of feb

http://drop.sc/packs/681

I've been working hard on the sg builds. Early robo after SG might be better against some things, but I have found a fast forge, usually after 1 phoenix, is quite good as well. One cannon is very strong against blink + robo off of one base in that the detection range is absurd, and cannons are pretty good against stalkers. Here is the build that I've been having the most success with recently:

9 pylon
12 gate
14 gas
15 pylon
17 core
18 zealot
20/21 gas
22 stalker
22 WG research (3 CB minimum; 4 vs. aggression)
24/25 pylon
25 stalker (cb)
29 2nd gate or sg
29 sentry
31 2nd gate or sg
~ forge after 1st phoenix

It seems to be good against everything except blink expands that play very passively-- against expansions, you can almost always kill enough probes to compensate for your later expansion. When your opponent plays defensively on 2 bases with a fast blink, this is almost impossible; you should theoretically always be behind going into the mid game

While the forge prevents you from putting on any SG 3-4 gate pressure, you will be safe from everything off of 1 base, besides WP 4gates if you don't see them coming in time. It should beat DT builds, but after the DTs can't get in, you need to prepare for an archon follow-up so make sure you are checking their nat for an expansion, or looking for units on the map.

Off of 2 bases all you need to worry about is a handful of robo+blink timings that hit very quickly after going up to 6+ gates, with some immortals or a colossus. you need to scout their infrastructure on 2 bases even if you have to sacrifice a phoenix and add additional gates/robo units accordingly.

Feel free to comment/ask questions!


get rich or die mining
TL+ Member
CecilSunkure
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States2829 Posts
March 19 2012 03:59 GMT
#2
Oh so sick. I've never really gotten into the Phoenix thing for PvP. Ganna check em out and see what's up. Thanks Alej.

How do you usually do vs really fast 1 base blink allin? I usually can kill players that get a SG with a fast Blink + 3 Gate allin.
Alejandrisha
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States6565 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-03-19 04:02:16
March 19 2012 04:01 GMT
#3
On March 19 2012 12:59 CecilSunkure wrote:
Oh so sick. I've never really gotten into the Phoenix thing for PvP. Ganna check em out and see what's up. Thanks Alej.

How do you usually do vs really fast 1 base blink allin? I usually can kill players that get a SG with a fast Blink + 3 Gate allin.

i just forcefield the bottom of the ramp until I can engage it :D
of course, if i don't see it coming, i just die immediately see the vines game tt
get rich or die mining
TL+ Member
bloodorc44
Profile Joined January 2011
United States31 Posts
March 19 2012 04:37 GMT
#4
Ah yes! Really been struggling with my PvP lately (only diamond :/ ). Is the 2nd gas early enough to prevent a gas steal? How would you deal with that?
Alejandrisha
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States6565 Posts
March 19 2012 04:39 GMT
#5
On March 19 2012 13:37 bloodorc44 wrote:
Ah yes! Really been struggling with my PvP lately (only diamond :/ ). Is the 2nd gas early enough to prevent a gas steal? How would you deal with that?

it's not at 18 so there is the potential for a steal. you can't always block the gas steal because even if you put a probe on it, they can steal it by building it when the geyser is out of vision. if you do get it stolen, try to steal theirs. if i can steal there's i continue but just get the sg slightly later. if i cannot, i do some light WG pressure off of 3 gates but don't commit so hard to it. feel free to snag it a little bit earlier if you are worried about gas steal. i haven't played out a lot of games where i get my gas stolen so i don't really have a whole lot to say on the matter sorry!
get rich or die mining
TL+ Member
bloodorc44
Profile Joined January 2011
United States31 Posts
March 19 2012 04:54 GMT
#6
On March 19 2012 13:39 Alejandrisha wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 19 2012 13:37 bloodorc44 wrote:
Ah yes! Really been struggling with my PvP lately (only diamond :/ ). Is the 2nd gas early enough to prevent a gas steal? How would you deal with that?

it's not at 18 so there is the potential for a steal. you can't always block the gas steal because even if you put a probe on it, they can steal it by building it when the geyser is out of vision. if you do get it stolen, try to steal theirs. if i can steal there's i continue but just get the sg slightly later. if i cannot, i do some light WG pressure off of 3 gates but don't commit so hard to it. feel free to snag it a little bit earlier if you are worried about gas steal. i haven't played out a lot of games where i get my gas stolen so i don't really have a whole lot to say on the matter sorry!


Thanks! And I never knew you could do that with a gas steal haha
Janders
Profile Joined June 2011
Mexico222 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-03-19 06:26:13
March 19 2012 05:54 GMT
#7
Do you think the forge is worth it/necessary? i go phoenixes in every PvP and i dont have any trouble defending with just 2-3 sentries and a robo after 4 phonixes i dont feel like theres a need for detection until you have DTs knocking at your ramp, you can have your units on hold position and ff if you see they are getting attacked by nothing and ff until you have detection.
On a side note any 1 base blink feels like auto loss for me but what i like about phoenixes is that it feels like auto win or a build order advantage vs a lot of stuff.
:D
Gamma4
Profile Joined March 2011
Australia75 Posts
March 19 2012 07:20 GMT
#8
anywhere i can find to improve my pheonix micro i feel like i leave them unattended sometimes and lose for no reason. like when you pick up worker and many pheonix arnt attacking. any maps?
Just Huking around ;)
Alejandrisha
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States6565 Posts
March 19 2012 07:29 GMT
#9
On March 19 2012 16:20 Gamma4 wrote:
anywhere i can find to improve my pheonix micro i feel like i leave them unattended sometimes and lose for no reason. like when you pick up worker and many pheonix arnt attacking. any maps?

when you're using lift make sure you're also spam right clicking the the dot under your phoenixes so they group up. you'll always need to be using phoenixes to check expansion timings, tech choices/switches and move-outs. once you have gotten yourself some map control, take a tower with a probe. there's nothing worse than confirming no expansion---and then bam 10 stalkers blink up your ramp
get rich or die mining
TL+ Member
moQbara
Profile Blog Joined January 2012
Romania76 Posts
March 19 2012 10:59 GMT
#10
Neat, I was hoping one of you guys came up with some pheonix play, as I am trying something similar but don't really have a point of reference :-).

First things first: I'm only plat, so I do realize there are other issues besides "strategy".

However, here it goes:

In the PvP build I try, I also use Phoenix play, only a lot more aggressive. The opening is quite similar, in that I get gate-core-sg-gate. However, I am trying to:

- have three stalkers as first gw units
- chrono up to 5 phoenixes
- add third gw when I can afford it
- pump as many stalkers as gas allows considering constant phoenix production + zealots for the rest of my production cycles.

After getting 4-6 phoenixes, move out. If the opponent attacks before this timing, defend accordingly.

The actual key points in what I try to do are:
- either attack a defending opponent or defend an early push with minimal losses;
- depending on the first engagement, go for the kill or take natural;

Basically it all comes down to the first engagement. Usually (and this has worked so far in EVERY game I tried it, unless I horribly missmicroed), I lift his key units: immortals / sentries / stalkers. Once these are up in the air, I have superior numbers of stalkers. While 3-4 units are in the air, the remaining phoenixes shoot / the ground army clears whatever is left on the ground.

Going back to your replays, Alej, in #136025 you put a lot of minerals into forge and cannons. My questions for you are:

- do you think 3 gates + stargate could handle the 4 gate pressure (considering you manage to engage him since the first wave of warpins so still hold his numbers low)?
- don't you feel like its' too much of an investment forge + 2 cannons at that point in the game? I feel like if he would've defended better (sent 4 stalkers back into his base to keep your phoenixes away) he could've contained you 1 base, expanded and gained a big advantage from then on.

Thanks for your time.

PS: I just cleared the entire replay directory when I looked at yours. I assume I could provide replays of my phoenix play tomorrow, if needed, although it's a bit painfull to watch .
I am a noob
Rectifyy
Profile Joined February 2012
New Zealand19 Posts
March 19 2012 11:10 GMT
#11
seems strong, i reckon it could really work against any race if you ask me. From what i know, it takes 6-7 phoenixes to lock down an expansion in terms of workers produced vs recharge of phoenix energy, so cutting off half their income with a critical mass of 6-7 phoenix is just... well, you do the math . Once the initial harass is over, I'd say use the phoenixes for either helping to kill colossus, or lifting off 6-7 stalkers in a large engagement. If you choose the shooting the colossus bit, I'd recommend getting air weapons before a big engagement occurs. Just remember to keep them alive!
Fossa
Profile Joined July 2011
United States67 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-03-19 12:48:44
March 19 2012 12:45 GMT
#12
I like to get a robo instead of a forge. It lets you make immortals vs blink stalkers (and you can lift up their immortals with phoenix). Then you can also get an observer for dts, and snipe theirs. I often try to expand and get a forge and twilight, for +1, charge, and eventually archons.

I always scout and harass with 2 phoenix, since you'll be able to see his tech decisions. Usually I won't add a 3rd gate right away, unless my opponent puts on a lot of aggression.

You can hold off 4 gate simply by making sentries. Once successfully defended, you'll have a tech advantage over your opponent.

You can usually all-in one base colossus and fast expands by adding on another gate.
Jek
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
Denmark2771 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-03-19 12:54:42
March 19 2012 12:53 GMT
#13
Edit: wrong thread, sorry.
It's Elo not ELO - Every statiscian playing League
Nyast
Profile Joined November 2010
Belgium554 Posts
March 19 2012 13:27 GMT
#14
How do you handle agressive 4 gate, with 2 pylons starting off your ramp around 5'15 ? Do you simply not drop the stargate and go for a faster second gate and chrono stalkers ( like in the 3 stalkers rush ) ?
Fossa
Profile Joined July 2011
United States67 Posts
March 19 2012 14:15 GMT
#15
to defend 4 gate you can still get the stargate, but just make sentries out of your gateways. as long as his units don't make it up the ramp you should be fine.
BronzeKnee
Profile Joined March 2011
United States5217 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-03-19 14:19:40
March 19 2012 14:17 GMT
#16
On March 19 2012 19:59 moQbara wrote:
Neat, I was hoping one of you guys came up with some pheonix play, as I am trying something similar but don't really have a point of reference :-).

First things first: I'm only plat, so I do realize there are other issues besides "strategy".

However, here it goes:

In the PvP build I try, I also use Phoenix play, only a lot more aggressive. The opening is quite similar, in that I get gate-core-sg-gate. However, I am trying to:

- have three stalkers as first gw units
- chrono up to 5 phoenixes
- add third gw when I can afford it
- pump as many stalkers as gas allows considering constant phoenix production + zealots for the rest of my production cycles.

After getting 4-6 phoenixes, move out. If the opponent attacks before this timing, defend accordingly.

The actual key points in what I try to do are:
- either attack a defending opponent or defend an early push with minimal losses;
- depending on the first engagement, go for the kill or take natural;

Basically it all comes down to the first engagement. Usually (and this has worked so far in EVERY game I tried it, unless I horribly missmicroed), I lift his key units: immortals / sentries / stalkers. Once these are up in the air, I have superior numbers of stalkers. While 3-4 units are in the air, the remaining phoenixes shoot / the ground army clears whatever is left on the ground.

Going back to your replays, Alej, in #136025 you put a lot of minerals into forge and cannons. My questions for you are:

- do you think 3 gates + stargate could handle the 4 gate pressure (considering you manage to engage him since the first wave of warpins so still hold his numbers low)?
- don't you feel like its' too much of an investment forge + 2 cannons at that point in the game? I feel like if he would've defended better (sent 4 stalkers back into his base to keep your phoenixes away) he could've contained you 1 base, expanded and gained a big advantage from then on.

Thanks for your time.

PS: I just cleared the entire replay directory when I looked at yours. I assume I could provide replays of my phoenix play tomorrow, if needed, although it's a bit painfull to watch .


Doesn't your build here just straight up die to DT openers though? I'm pretty sure that the reasoning for the Cannons, along with the ability to spot Observers to help against Blink play.
Nyast
Profile Joined November 2010
Belgium554 Posts
March 19 2012 14:25 GMT
#17
On March 19 2012 23:15 Fossa wrote:
to defend 4 gate you can still get the stargate, but just make sentries out of your gateways. as long as his units don't make it up the ramp you should be fine.


Even making a sentry as your third and fourth units, chrono boosted, you won't have enough force-fields until your warp is done. I don't believe you can hold if you drop a stargate and go for a stalker as your second unit.. can you post a replay ?
Teoita
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
Italy12246 Posts
March 19 2012 14:28 GMT
#18
On March 19 2012 23:25 Nyast wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 19 2012 23:15 Fossa wrote:
to defend 4 gate you can still get the stargate, but just make sentries out of your gateways. as long as his units don't make it up the ramp you should be fine.


Even making a sentry as your third and fourth units, chrono boosted, you won't have enough force-fields until your warp is done. I don't believe you can hold if you drop a stargate and go for a stalker as your second unit.. can you post a replay ?


http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=302117
ModeratorProtoss all-ins are like a wok. You can throw whatever you want in there and it will turn out alright.
moQbara
Profile Blog Joined January 2012
Romania76 Posts
March 19 2012 15:26 GMT
#19
On March 19 2012 23:17 BronzeKnee wrote:
Doesn't your build here just straight up die to DT openers though? I'm pretty sure that the reasoning for the Cannons, along with the ability to spot Observers to help against Blink play.

Although never faced a DT opener, I think DTs arrive quite late and are easily scoutable. You have your probe in their base up until the first stalker comes out and then poke around with your own stalkers. Depending on the sentry / stalker count you can pretty much tell if there's any chance for a DT rush and react based on that info.
Cannons vs observers aren't great since you cannot cover the entire edge of your base with cannos.
I am a noob
RaiD.RaynoR
Profile Joined February 2012
United States294 Posts
March 19 2012 15:34 GMT
#20
is it wrong that I go 1 base double forge with 3 gate push? I win 65 percent of my pvps this way in masters.
Redemption is the consequence of forgiveness
1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Kung Fu Cup
12:00
SC:EVO Monthly
SteadfastSC261
IndyStarCraft 76
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
mouzHeroMarine 306
SteadfastSC 261
IndyStarCraft 76
RotterdaM 72
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 33226
Horang2 4948
Bisu 3038
EffOrt 1329
Mini 793
Larva 727
firebathero 416
Light 399
BeSt 382
Soma 305
[ Show more ]
sSak 244
Soulkey 181
Zeus 158
Rush 151
Hyuk 124
Mong 109
Sharp 95
Sexy 60
Aegong 60
Noble 50
ToSsGirL 48
sas.Sziky 30
zelot 23
Terrorterran 22
Movie 21
SilentControl 12
ivOry 4
IntoTheRainbow 4
Dota 2
The International139167
Gorgc11700
PGG 27
Counter-Strike
Foxcn530
oskar115
flusha109
Super Smash Bros
Chillindude4
Other Games
tarik_tv32011
gofns24149
B2W.Neo789
crisheroes358
Hui .346
Lowko340
KnowMe145
ToD115
Liquid`VortiX94
Mew2King83
ArmadaUGS80
QueenE42
FunKaTv 36
SortOf35
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick984
StarCraft 2
WardiTV419
Other Games
BasetradeTV28
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• poizon28 8
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Michael_bg 7
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 1071
• Ler67
Other Games
• Shiphtur198
Upcoming Events
BSL Team Wars
3h 20m
RSL Revival
18h 20m
Maestros of the Game
22h 20m
ShoWTimE vs Classic
Clem vs herO
Serral vs Bunny
Reynor vs Zoun
Cosmonarchy
1d
Bonyth vs Dewalt
[BSL 2025] Weekly
1d 2h
RSL Revival
1d 18h
Maestros of the Game
2 days
BSL Team Wars
2 days
Afreeca Starleague
2 days
Snow vs Sharp
Jaedong vs Mini
Wardi Open
2 days
[ Show More ]
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
Afreeca Starleague
3 days
Light vs Speed
Larva vs Soma
LiuLi Cup
4 days
The PondCast
5 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Copa Latinoamericana 4
SEL Season 2 Championship
HCC Europe

Ongoing

BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21 Points
ASL Season 20
CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
LASL Season 20
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
Chzzk MurlocKing SC1 vs SC2 Cup #2
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1

Upcoming

2025 Chongqing Offline CUP
BSL Polish World Championship 2025
BSL Season 21
SC4ALL: Brood War
BSL 21 Team A
SC4ALL: StarCraft II
EC S1
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
MESA Nomadic Masters Fall
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
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 © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.