EPT
Early Early Game: Scouting:
A few scout timings are popular in modern PvP:
- 12 scout: This scout timing accomplishes the same thing as a post-12 scout, except it allows you to pass through the common proxy/cannon locations in addition to scouting your opponent’s base. It also guarantees you will find your opponent on a 4-player 4-spawn map.
- Post 12 scout: On non 4-player 4-spawn maps, it guarantees entrance to your opponent's base before his stalker pops out. This allows you to scout such things as gas timing, number of chronoboosts on his nexus, number of gateways he has, number of gas/timing of his gas, number of probes he has on his gas, and whether he has made a zealot. The main thing this does is allows is judge possibility of low gas strategies(4 gate, robo 4 gate) or high gas strategies(dt, phoenix, fast blink stalkers).
- No scout: Players who don’t scout are either confident they can hold off proxies and cannon rushes without scouting or confident their opponents won't cheese them. With the money saved from not probe scouting, you can afford an extra zealot and use it to do a 2 zealot/2 stalker poke as an alternative to scouting. This is commonly done by the StartaleQ Protosses (Parting, Squirtle, Naniwa, Sase). With no scout openings, a player has to initially account for the possibility of a 4 gate even if his opponent gets a quick 2 gas, because he can't scout otherwise.
Looking for 4 gate
If you learn the hints that a 4 gate is coming, you can get in the mindsets of the players themselves when they're scouting. How afraid are they of being 4 gated? How greedy are they playing with regards to the perceived possibility of aggression?
- The following are hints that a 4 gate are coming:
- Two or fewer chronoboosts are used on non-warpgates.
- You don't see a 3rd pylon.
- There is no chronoboost on the first stalker.
- There is no 2nd gas.
- You notice a slight probe cut.
- Two or fewer chronoboosts are used on non-warpgates.
- The following are hints that a 4 gate may not be coming, but it is not definitive proof:
- Three chronoboosts are used on non-warpgates.
- You see a 3rd plyon started.
- Your opponent starts a 2nd gas.
- Your opponent finishes a 2nd gas.
- Three chronoboosts are used on non-warpgates.
- If you see any of the the following, a standard 4 gate is not coming:
- Four chronoboosts are used on non-warpgates.
- The 3rd pylon is completed.
- Your opponent mines from his 2nd gas for more than 30 seconds.
- Four chronoboosts are used on non-warpgates.
Early Game: Openings:
90% of openings boil down to either a standard 1 gate opening or a standard 2 gate opening.
- 1 gate opening:+ Show Spoiler +Core
Zealot
2nd Gas
Stalker
Warpgates
Pylon
Stalker
The two possible transitions from a 1 gate opening are 1 gate into tech building or 1 gate into 3 gate- 1 gate tech: Contrary to popular belief, a 1 gate tech opening is able to defend any 4 gate. For more information, check this thread. I will say, however, that this is a very tight hold that requires perfect control and timing. If, however, you can get away with it, you will usually end up in a very favorable position. For example, you will be able to hit 7:10 dts, a 7:00 10 stalker blink attack, or a very fast colossi all-in. Even if you don't opt for aggressive options, you will be in the dark for a shorter amount of time with either observers of phoenix.
- 1 gate into 3 gate: There are 2 main reasons one would opt for a 3 gate opening over a 1 gate tech opening. The first and by far less common reason is that they're not confident in their 1 gate defense versus 4 gate and highly suspect their opponent is opting for a 4 gate strategy. Before the patch that nerfed 4 gates, you pretty much had to get at least 3 gates to defend a 4 gate so many players still get 3 gates as an effect from that era.
The second is to put on the very common 3 gate aggressive pressure. By putting on this pressure, it allows you to both force mistakes from your opponent(too many sentries or losing unnecessary units) and scout him. Often you can either scout an expansion or just learn a lot from what he's using to defend your aggression. On the flip side, your opponent can read your 3 gate aggression and figure out what strategies you're limited to. For example, 3 gate into phoenix or dt isn't very viable and if the 3 gate player opts for blink, it will be very late.
- 1 gate tech: Contrary to popular belief, a 1 gate tech opening is able to defend any 4 gate. For more information, check this thread. I will say, however, that this is a very tight hold that requires perfect control and timing. If, however, you can get away with it, you will usually end up in a very favorable position. For example, you will be able to hit 7:10 dts, a 7:00 10 stalker blink attack, or a very fast colossi all-in. Even if you don't opt for aggressive options, you will be in the dark for a shorter amount of time with either observers of phoenix.
- 2 gate opening:+ Show Spoiler +
Cybernetics Core
2nd Gateway
2nd Gas
Stalker
Warpgates
Pylon
2 Stalkers
The 2 gate opening, commonly known as the 3 stalker opening, is the other common opener in PvP. It relies on the dominance in the early game of your initial 3 stalkers to deny the initial proxy pylon on the map. One version of a standard defensive 2 gate/3 stalker opening can be found here.
There are a few ways to be greedy with this opening:- Delaying the 2nd and 3rd stalker for a tech building: Especially if you really don't think any aggression/pressure will be coming from your opponent, you can delay 2 stalkers(250/100) in favor of any tech building. This allows you to get a tech structure at the same timing as if you were doing a 1 gate build. However, keep in mind that this doesn't allow you to push out as aggressively to either deny pylons, put on pressure, or scout.
- Not getting a sentry: Sometimes players will assume no aggression will come from your opponent when doing a 3 stalker opening just because the 3 stalker opening is known for being really solid against aggression. Skipping a sentry is completely viable against all but the most aggressive options and can get you ahead when you're planning on doing blink or dt builds.
As with the 1 gate opening, the 2 gate opening allows an opportunity for some pressure. By pulling off gas, you can actually perform a close to standard 4 gate, something some players won't expect. Other less extreme options include either a 5 or 7 stalker poke. - Delaying the 2nd and 3rd stalker for a tech building: Especially if you really don't think any aggression/pressure will be coming from your opponent, you can delay 2 stalkers(250/100) in favor of any tech building. This allows you to get a tech structure at the same timing as if you were doing a 1 gate build. However, keep in mind that this doesn't allow you to push out as aggressively to either deny pylons, put on pressure, or scout.
Mid Game: Picking Your Tech:
After the initial openings, there exists a period of time where both players pick their tech, usually somewhat independent of one another, and clash them in unique interactions based on the type of tech(s) by either player, the timing of their techs(usually based on how greedy each player was), and the mindset of each player. Because this guide is meant to mostly educate observers and not players, I won't go too deep into each option. For a more visual and slightly more comprehensive guide on how builds interact, check this thread. For more information on each individual style, check the guides that go along with each particular style.
The following 4 mid-game techs are what I consider to be the "safer" or more well rounded builds.
- Blink Robo: Also known as robo twilight or blink obs, for the past year, blink robo has been the "standard" of PvP. It isn't autoloss versus anything, doing quite well straight up vs blink, dt, and phoenix builds. It can also threaten base trades vs straight all-in colossi builds. The only thing it struggles with are fast expand builds on certain maps. While on maps like antiga and cloud kingdom, you have a lot of room to harass if your opponent takes an expo, on a map like daybreak where an expanding protoss can defend both his natural and blink paths to his main at the same time, you will be very behind.
Here is a very old thread I wrote on the blink obs style. Keep in mind that it is very outdated back in a time when 4 gate was very deadly, blink all-ins were way more common, immortals were weaker, maps were very different, and the metagame was completely different. One big change, for example, is that modern blink obs style gets the twilight much faster, either before the robo or directly after the robo, because it's much safer to do so these days. - Phoenix: Phoenix is a somewhat new and developing style. It is possible to combine it with a robotics to play an extremely safe version of it. Phoenixes rely on easy harass and the inability of protoss units to easily deal with them. Phoenixes themselves, especially in the late game, are terrible fighting units. Here is a guide for further information on phoenix play.
- Robo: Robo into reaction is a viable, abet not very aggressive style of play. Many times, it's hard to tell a player is actually going for this style, because it deviates into either robo blink or colossi play.
- Speed Prism Immortals: Contrary to popular belief, Speed Prism Immortals is NOT a build. It is a reaction to your opponent's robo only play. That is, you scout your opponent only has a robo and no twilight/stargate. In most cases, this only happens when both players are going colossi. Another thing to note is that if both players are going colossi, both players should also be going speed prism immortals.
- 2 Gate Expand: There actually exists a relatively all around safe expansion build on some maps. It has been used multiple times by Oz, Parting, and Huk. The only things it will die to are warp prism 4 gates and dedicated phoenix all-ins, so it's basically the safest expansion build that exists. I might write something short on this eventually.
The following are a bit more coin-flippy: (high risk, high reward)
- Other Expansion Builds: Other expands are usually not as solid as the standard 2 gate expand or they come after aggression, such as the 3 gate aggression. Super greedy expansion builds rely on your opponent not going for any aggression including the rather common 3 gate aggression and are thus rather gimmicky.
- Blind Colossi: Versus phoenix or some types of early expansions on big maps, this build is auto-loss. However, it does quite well versus everything else.
- Blink Stalker: Most blink stalker builds without a robo are a result of the blink stalker player getting an extremely fast blink and then reacting by not getting a robo, usually because his opponent is either also going for mass blink stalker or doing a phoenix or expansion build. The tradeoff is that you can cut corners versus those builds but aren't safe versus dts.
- Dt Expand: Dts can be used to transition into a macro build. However, this is a bit gimicky as it heavily relies on how much damage your initial dts can do. A guide of this can be found here.
- All-ins: The common early mid game aggressions you have to worry about include 4 gate warp prism all-in, phenoix gateway all-in, dt into bust the ramp aggression, and ~7 minute blink stalker aggression. The common late mid game aggressions include 1 base colossi and blink stalker all-ins, usually both versus expansion play.
End Game: Colossi Wars:
Colossi wars in end game PvP are unavoidable and almost every extremely long macro game ends up in a mass colossi war with supporting units. The following is a chronological summary of how a standard 2+ base macro PvP should go:
- Double Robo Colossi: Eventually, both players will eventually transition into double robo for mass colossi production. Double robo gives you the ability to produce as many colossi as possible off of 2 base. Although you don't want double robo initially if your opponent isn't going colossi, because you'll get all-in'd too easily, eventually both players will always want to head for double robo in a long macro game.
- Forges: Once it's confirmed that both players are going into the macro game or once you feel safe from all-ins, throw up a forge to go into the macro game. There is a lot of debate as to whether 1 forge or 2 forges are better at this stage. Hasuobs is a player who has always gone for 2 and 2 is beginning to become more and more popular, but as of now, 1 is still the standard. One argument as to why 2 forges isn't as useful is that in the end stages of the game where colossi are doing 90% of the dps, +1, +2, and +3 armor together are worth the same as +1 attack.
- Archon stage: Archons and chargelots are needed eventually to act as the buffer between yourself and your opponents' colossi. Archons are usually added on about the time you take your third in a standard macro game. An archon/gateway buff is necessary, because if you try to max out on solely colossi, you'll end up dying with 180 supply of pure colossi to 200 supply of colossi + gateway/archon.
- Mothership stage: Motherships are the current endgame of PvP, only gotten on 3+ bases after both players are maxed. If you vortex your opponent's army, he will have to put everything in, because he can't fight with half his army. And if he puts everything in the vortex, you'll be able to form an effective concave around his army that essentially wins the game for you given the armies are at least somewhat equal. The reason motherships aren't gotten earlier is 2 fold. It's a huge investment and your opponent can kill you with gateway/archon/colossi if you try to get them too fast. Also, one single templar with feedback can negate the whole purpose of the mothership.
Who wins a fight?
In colossi wars, there are 4 main things that determine who wins a fight. The 3 main ones include concave/positioning, number of colossi, and upgrades, while the fringe one is number of buffer units.
- Concave/Positioning: As the colossi numbers grow and grow,concave matters more and more. A defensive position held by a protoss can be impossible to break in the end game, so the only recourse is to attack another position and force your opponent to come to you. Another consequence of this is that if your opponent gets in a defensive position at one of your bases, that base is dead.
- Upgrades: Attack upgrades are king. The +1 upgrade for colossi makes colossi take 1 less shot to kill every protoss ground unit (except probes, sentries, and templar which aren't used in combat anyways). The +2 upgrade for colossi lets colossi kill immortals, archons, and other colossi faster. Finally, the +3 upgrade lets colossi take 1 less shot against every unit.*source
- Number of Colossi: Pretty simple. More colossi > less colossi
- Number of Buffer Units: As the colossi numbers grow, small differences in buffer units end up not mattering as much as long as there are buffer units. Buffer units on different levels or lines of battle are even better to diversify colossi fire. For example, Zealot fight at melee range, archons fight at range 3 and don't take much from splash, and immortals fight at 6 range.
Out of Game: Playstyles:
Besides knowing about the game, it's important to know the styles of each of the players so you can have an expectation of what these players will do. Thus, your expectation can either be met or broken. Korean PvP is more focused on mechanics and winning with those mechanics/micro abilities. This is why Korean PvP is so 1 base/all-in focused and 4 gate dominated so much in the Korean metagame for so long. Foreigners, on the other hand, rely on more macro based defensive play and generally do better in long term games. This is why in both the IEM championships and the MLG Arena, you had so many long 2+ base PvP's. MC even said during IEM that he learned a lot about PvP from the Europeans. As a sidenote, I found it interesting that in MLG Arena, the longest PvPs occured between the only 2 NA players, Ddoro and Minigun.
Threads for Further Reading:
1 Gate Openings by Alejandrisha
2 Gate Openings by CecilSunkure
Comparison of PvP Midgames by NrGmonk
Blink Obs Midgame by NrGmonk
Pheonix Midgame by Geiko
DT FE Midgame by CecilSunkure
SC2 Strategy Recommended Threads
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/BcJoy.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/f4jT6.jpg)
