• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 16:43
CEST 22:43
KST 05:43
  • 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
[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt2: News Flash6[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy11ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT30Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book20
Community News
Weekly Cups (March 16-22): herO doubles, Cure surprises3Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool49Weekly Cups (March 9-15): herO, Clem, ByuN win42026 KungFu Cup Announcement6BGE Stara Zagora 2026 cancelled12
StarCraft 2
General
What mix of new & old maps do you want in the next ladder pool? (SC2) Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool Potential Updates Coming to the SC2 CN Server
Tourneys
RSL Season 4 announced for March-April Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament StarCraft Evolution League (SC Evo Biweekly) WardiTV Mondays World University TeamLeague (500$+) | Signups Open
Strategy
Custom Maps
[M] (2) Frigid Storage Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026]
External Content
Mutation # 519 Inner Power The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 518 Radiation Zone Mutation # 517 Distant Threat
Brood War
General
BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ [ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt2: News Flash Pros React To: SoulKey vs Ample ASL21 General Discussion RepMastered™: replay sharing and analyzer site
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro24 Group D [ASL21] Ro24 Group C [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Ro24 Group B
Strategy
What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Starcraft Tabletop Miniature Game Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Darkest Dungeon
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
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
TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT] Tokyo Olympics 2021 Thread General nutrition recommendations
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
[G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Money Laundering In Video Ga…
TrAiDoS
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
FS++
Kraekkling
Shocked by a laser…
Spydermine0240
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1571 users

[G] StimmedProbe's 5 Factory Mech TvP - Page 6

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 4 5 6 All
GhandiEAGLE
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States20754 Posts
November 28 2012 06:47 GMT
#101
Thank you so much, man. Your builds are the only ones I can find that are clear-cut terran builds that lay out the strategy in a way that a noobish plat player like me can actually use for himself. In platinum I usually have to get wins by completely outplaying my opponent mechanically, because I didn't know how to open or any builds or anything. Now that I have a build, I can put my superior mechanics to good use, and I am tearing up low masters ^_^
Oh, my achin' hands, from rakin' in grands, and breakin' in mic stands
RampancyTW
Profile Joined August 2010
United States577 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-11-28 16:13:24
November 28 2012 16:13 GMT
#102
On October 27 2012 02:31 Nightmarjoo wrote:
http://drop.sc/268041
http://drop.sc/268040
Food for thought.
How were these in any way food for thought? Why would you even post these?

In both cases you deviate from SP's build in ways that put you severely behind where he would be at a similar point in the game. You weren't even coming close to his army strength and supply at similar timings, because you kept delaying yourself for no real gain.

I guess what we can pull from this is that if you do a really awful version of this build it's not very good? Thanks for the info buddy!
RampancyTW
Profile Joined August 2010
United States577 Posts
November 28 2012 16:21 GMT
#103
On October 26 2012 22:26 Methy wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 26 2012 22:08 DKR wrote:
On October 26 2012 21:38 Methy wrote:
I have a big problem with this sort of guide - something that all 'Mech in TvP' posts fail to recognise - your opponents are essentially misreading your build, and reacting terribly, which is what allows you to win.

Mech will always be the 'catch em with their pants down' in WoL, because if a protoss knows mech is coming, he should never lose. The standard 1 gate expo => 3 gate => colossus + double forge is about the worst possible thing the protoss could be doing. Colossi are not all that useful against pure mech, and upgrades are flat out a waste of time vs mech. As such, any time your opponent gets colossus + double forge, you should treat it as a horrible misread.

This makes mech a wonderful laddering strategy, the overwhelming majority of Protoss simply have no idea how to deal with mech, and will play standard and get crushed. On the other hand, those that do respond correctly will similarly crush you with little difficulty.

That being said, the strongest thing about this build is the fact that it *looks* so much like a 1/1/1 in the early stages - which will often cause a protoss to cut probes at ~30 at which point they fall too far behind to catch up.

I just feel it's always worth mentioning that builds like these can never become the standard because of how bad they are when your opponent is expecting them. (If you don't believe that, consider that Mech TvP is similar to broodwar TvP, but the terran has a few disadvantages - tanks are weaker, hellions are way worse than vultures - while protoss has a few advantages - dragoons can blink, zealots can charge, immortals stomp everything. The only 'new' thing for the terran that could threaten that balance is the thor - which is vulnerable to templar anyway)


People were saying very similar things about Mech TvZ until a few months ago. For the timing the build hits it's clearly very hard for a Protoss to deflect no matter their composition. If they go for a 2 base play then the Terran can take a defensive advantage and get his/her third up.

Until enough high level players truly experiment with Mech TvP it's incredibly hard to say that it definitively won't work.

Also, whoever is right or wrong in the mech debate doesn't particuarly matter. The majority of people are not Masters+ and are only really looking for ladder builds anyway.


It's not about composition - it's about playstyle. Fundamentally, Mech cannot put on substantial pressure until *at least* 10 minutes, and even then usually 13 or 14, they can harass, sure, but that's it. Standard Protoss play involves making sure you're safe from attacks in the early parts of the game. Think about how long it took protoss to figure out straight up 50 food stim timings? A long time, and builds that they do now incorporate being safe against them (early 3 gates + sentries)

Against mech this isn't an issue, you play it out like broodwar, a third base off 1 or 2 gates and maybe a robo (though you don't need the robo because of the lack of mines). Taking a third at 6 minutes, walling it in tight to prevent hellion run byes, chronoboosting right up to 70 probes at 10 minutes, ignoring upgrades all together, skipping sentries (except for maybe having 1 to deflect hellions), and then flooding with gateway units/immortals. That is how you deal with mech, and it is incredibly effective. On the other hand, that playstyle will cripple you against bio.

If you're trying to match 2 base vs 2 base PvT mech, the Protoss player should always lose, no one is disputing that. This build is immensely strong in those situations because of how efficient mech armies are.

The issues with TvZ mech *WERE* simply 'composition' issues - roach busts before siege mode were crippling, but getting early tanks against mutalisks was similarly crippling, the solution was to add in banshees to keep you safe against roaches, and effectively transition straight to thors for protection against mutas.

If Protoss takes a third that quickly AND has multiple gateways AND a Robo AND makes himself safe to hellion run-bys, he'll be incredibly vulnerable to cloaked banshee harrass, and frankly any non-zero number of units before the 10 minute mark. If you do this build without deviation and fail to punish an extremely greedy opening by Protoss, and he hard-counters mech units with his composition, sure you'll probably get crushed. That's to be expected. Thanks for the heads up!

Every strategy is going to have strengths and weaknesses. This strategy is incredibly strong against "standard" play, and provides the infrastructure needed for deviation if the Protoss goes for something super greedy.
Pursuit_
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States1330 Posts
November 28 2012 16:28 GMT
#104
On November 28 2012 15:30 scrubbingbbl wrote:
Great build.
how do you deal with an early blink obs with this build? bunkers in main?


You die more or less. You need to rule out 3/4 gate before nexus or any tech all-in / pressure build before going double refinery off of 1 rax. Anything else is a gamble in my opinion.
In Somnis Veritas
headnut
Profile Joined August 2009
Belgium58 Posts
December 02 2012 12:45 GMT
#105
http://drop.sc/280837

new replay vs high master protoss
shamanas
Profile Joined August 2011
Greece7 Posts
December 10 2012 13:54 GMT
#106
I have been trying to play with this style with moderate success (2 wins 4 losses) in EU platinum.
I'm having a lot of toruble dealing with zealot heavy compositions and HTs/archons though.
Here is a replay of me crushing a platinum protoss: http://drop.sc/283319
Mia
Profile Joined November 2012
75 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-11 08:57:08
December 11 2012 08:40 GMT
#107
On November 29 2012 01:21 RampancyTW wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 26 2012 22:26 Methy wrote:
On October 26 2012 22:08 DKR wrote:
On October 26 2012 21:38 Methy wrote:
I have a big problem with this sort of guide - something that all 'Mech in TvP' posts fail to recognise - your opponents are essentially misreading your build, and reacting terribly, which is what allows you to win.

Mech will always be the 'catch em with their pants down' in WoL, because if a protoss knows mech is coming, he should never lose. The standard 1 gate expo => 3 gate => colossus + double forge is about the worst possible thing the protoss could be doing. Colossi are not all that useful against pure mech, and upgrades are flat out a waste of time vs mech. As such, any time your opponent gets colossus + double forge, you should treat it as a horrible misread.

This makes mech a wonderful laddering strategy, the overwhelming majority of Protoss simply have no idea how to deal with mech, and will play standard and get crushed. On the other hand, those that do respond correctly will similarly crush you with little difficulty.

That being said, the strongest thing about this build is the fact that it *looks* so much like a 1/1/1 in the early stages - which will often cause a protoss to cut probes at ~30 at which point they fall too far behind to catch up.

I just feel it's always worth mentioning that builds like these can never become the standard because of how bad they are when your opponent is expecting them. (If you don't believe that, consider that Mech TvP is similar to broodwar TvP, but the terran has a few disadvantages - tanks are weaker, hellions are way worse than vultures - while protoss has a few advantages - dragoons can blink, zealots can charge, immortals stomp everything. The only 'new' thing for the terran that could threaten that balance is the thor - which is vulnerable to templar anyway)


People were saying very similar things about Mech TvZ until a few months ago. For the timing the build hits it's clearly very hard for a Protoss to deflect no matter their composition. If they go for a 2 base play then the Terran can take a defensive advantage and get his/her third up.

Until enough high level players truly experiment with Mech TvP it's incredibly hard to say that it definitively won't work.

Also, whoever is right or wrong in the mech debate doesn't particuarly matter. The majority of people are not Masters+ and are only really looking for ladder builds anyway.


It's not about composition - it's about playstyle. Fundamentally, Mech cannot put on substantial pressure until *at least* 10 minutes, and even then usually 13 or 14, they can harass, sure, but that's it. Standard Protoss play involves making sure you're safe from attacks in the early parts of the game. Think about how long it took protoss to figure out straight up 50 food stim timings? A long time, and builds that they do now incorporate being safe against them (early 3 gates + sentries)

Against mech this isn't an issue, you play it out like broodwar, a third base off 1 or 2 gates and maybe a robo (though you don't need the robo because of the lack of mines). Taking a third at 6 minutes, walling it in tight to prevent hellion run byes, chronoboosting right up to 70 probes at 10 minutes, ignoring upgrades all together, skipping sentries (except for maybe having 1 to deflect hellions), and then flooding with gateway units/immortals. That is how you deal with mech, and it is incredibly effective. On the other hand, that playstyle will cripple you against bio.

If you're trying to match 2 base vs 2 base PvT mech, the Protoss player should always lose, no one is disputing that. This build is immensely strong in those situations because of how efficient mech armies are.

The issues with TvZ mech *WERE* simply 'composition' issues - roach busts before siege mode were crippling, but getting early tanks against mutalisks was similarly crippling, the solution was to add in banshees to keep you safe against roaches, and effectively transition straight to thors for protection against mutas.

If Protoss takes a third that quickly AND has multiple gateways AND a Robo AND makes himself safe to hellion run-bys, he'll be incredibly vulnerable to cloaked banshee harrass, and frankly any non-zero number of units before the 10 minute mark. If you do this build without deviation and fail to punish an extremely greedy opening by Protoss, and he hard-counters mech units with his composition, sure you'll probably get crushed. That's to be expected. Thanks for the heads up!

Every strategy is going to have strengths and weaknesses. This strategy is incredibly strong against "standard" play, and provides the infrastructure needed for deviation if the Protoss goes for something super greedy.

if he makes himself safe from runbys(cannons/stalkers) he is safe vs banshee harras to.

The counter to this build is fast third, just as you scout he is meching at 8min, you drop your third nexus, and tech to zealot archon, while building up immortal count.
When terran push out, just flank him from 3-4 sides and he will be screwed. Though i agree doing normal build with later third for toss might be insta lose vs this.
The idea is force his obs to state at home with banshee and if he tryes to scout you out with obs kill it with scan and marines before finding out your build. This will force toss to play in blind and not do optimal build agains your mech.
Also i think Supernova does somwhat similar opening with fast cc and cloack banshee and fast third, but he transitions into bio, so researching his play might be useful. Also consider doing 12rax 13gas builds with cloack banshee to make opponents think its 1-1-1, while you cut corners(stop marine production at 4, get fast 3oc), since he will cut his probe production, while doing just small damage with your banshee,, might make you miles ahead of your opponents, and then you do your mech push, also there will be large posibility that toss will tech to colossus suspecting 1-1-1 and have totally wrong composition. Basically smart play is very important for terran mech play, good multitask/micro/macro wont be enough. just my 2cents.
"Terran, who is missing in action" - me
Sated
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
England4983 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-12-12 02:50:18
December 12 2012 02:34 GMT
#108
--- Nuked ---
HelioSeven
Profile Joined February 2012
United States193 Posts
December 12 2012 05:57 GMT
#109
On December 12 2012 11:34 Sated wrote:
Basically, I think this is only working for you because your opponent's haven't seen it before and don't know how to react. This doesn't surprise me, as you seem to be a master of creating gimmicky builds that will only work against someone who hasn't seen them before. Not that this is a bad thing, I just feel like I should point out how weak this build will be against a proper response as it's strength seems to lie in catching the opponent off-guard (as in they've gone for a standard composition instead of tailoring their composition to compete with yours).


So, moving off this point, has anyone played this build against against Skytoss? I mostly play Skytoss PvZ, occasionally PvP, and I feel like a gate robo gate expand would scout this plenty early enough to respond with a 5 phoenix opener. Phoenixes will hard counter both banshee and hellion play early on, and will be a major thorn in the side of siege tank lines later on. Additionally, they force either turrets, thors, or vikings, none of which are very good against the logical follow-up to phoenixes, carriers.

I'd be very interested to see how this build fares against a good Skytoss player.
If I smite you, have you been smitten?
Generalul
Profile Joined March 2011
Romania114 Posts
December 12 2012 10:21 GMT
#110
Thanks man, been following your builds since i saw the million man marine one I have to note that this build is somewhat vulnerable to some crazy toss allins, like the 4 gate prism, and is hard to scout sometimes (best to send the first helion in, but it will be later that in a standard 1 base 1-1-1 push and it may be too late).
www.comanda-caricaturi.ro
Sated
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
England4983 Posts
December 12 2012 11:51 GMT
#111
--- Nuked ---
Sweetfrost
Profile Joined October 2010
Sweden211 Posts
December 14 2012 06:45 GMT
#112
I appreciate that you've taken your time to make this guide. I'm a big fan of mech and I hope I can improve my game sense and mechanics so I'll win more games with it! Thanks for helping me out with this guide!
Before practice, we ate Kimchi soup made my MMA. His cooking has made me so depressed that I think we may lose GSTL." -Miya
Hot_Ice
Profile Joined January 2013
139 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-05-10 05:20:40
May 10 2013 05:06 GMT
#113
--- Nuked ---
mrslunk
Profile Joined January 2013
6 Posts
May 10 2013 05:34 GMT
#114
First thought to me is that the opening will flat out die to any proxy oracle build and there are plenty of them.
Something may still be salvageable out of it however.
Qikz
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
United Kingdom12027 Posts
May 10 2013 09:21 GMT
#115
On May 10 2013 14:34 mrslunk wrote:
First thought to me is that the opening will flat out die to any proxy oracle build and there are plenty of them.
Something may still be salvageable out of it however.


The big thing is if you're going mech there's little to no reason for you not to get an early ebay if you scout 2 gas. It not only keeps you alive vs oracles but it also stops dts killing you too. I don't play with this exact build, but that's what you need to do as mech.
FanTaSy's #1 Fan | STPL Caster/Organiser | SKT BEST KT | https://twitch.tv/stpl
RyLai
Profile Joined May 2011
United States477 Posts
May 10 2013 10:33 GMT
#116
I was super excited when I saw a StimmedProbe's mech build (even more excited when I saw it was TvP). Now I find to my disappointment that it was made for WoL (and during a time when I quit the game). The big tipoffs was opening 1 rax CC and the use of Blue Flame and normal Hellions. The severe lack of AA also worried me as a build that could straight up die so easily in HotS.

IMO, the safest current TvP build is Reaper->Reactor Marines expansion->Widow Mine drop. The first mine is up fast enough to defend you from Oracles, and you have plenty of Marines to defend the natural and fend off a Mothership Core poke. From there, I suppose you can go into Tanks+Banshees into more Factories. However, I feel weird trying this build as I don't know how well I could get the gas timings to line up so that I can actually get the tech I want at the WoL benchmarks. Also, Void Rays would tear this shit apart (especially with the buff). In the long term, Stargate play in general seems very problematic. If you see air, you need to make the right amount of Thors.

Makes me really sad too... I'd LOVE to play Mech TvP... I might just go back to WoL just to play this build... Hehehe. This and Mech TvZ.
BurningRanger
Profile Joined January 2012
Germany303 Posts
May 10 2013 11:59 GMT
#117
Firstly nice find there Hot_Ice and certainly thanks to StimmedProbe for this guide. It looks like it fits very well into my current playstyle.
Yes, it's for WoL, but there's not too much to change to get it to work in HotS imo. As was already mentioned, I'd add an early ebay to deal with Oracles. In exchange you don't have to research Siegemode anymore. The idea to get one more reactored Factory instead of a Techlab'ed for WidowMines is also nice.
I'll definitely try it... maybe even in the other matchups with some appropriate tweaks.
My Livestream: http://www.twitch.tv/burningranger | My youtube channel: https://www.youtube.com/user/BurningR4nger
Prev 1 4 5 6 All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Monday Night Weeklies
16:00
#46
RotterdaM1376
TKL 452
SteadfastSC239
IndyStarCraft 198
BRAT_OK 144
EnkiAlexander 53
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 1376
TKL 452
SteadfastSC 239
IndyStarCraft 198
BRAT_OK 144
Hui .110
UpATreeSC 94
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 2736
ggaemo 218
Dewaltoss 122
Shine 13
Bale 6
Dota 2
monkeys_forever248
elazer40
Counter-Strike
pashabiceps2343
byalli305
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu573
Other Games
summit1g6455
Grubby3261
KnowMe214
shahzam180
C9.Mang0158
ZombieGrub33
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV131
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• kabyraGe 178
• IndyKCrew
• sooper7s
• Migwel
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• intothetv
• Kozan
StarCraft: Brood War
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota21272
• WagamamaTV1175
• lizZardDota269
League of Legends
• TFBlade1272
Other Games
• imaqtpie1392
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
3h 17m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
13h 17m
Afreeca Starleague
13h 17m
Rush vs PianO
Flash vs Speed
PiGosaur Cup
1d 3h
Replay Cast
1d 12h
Afreeca Starleague
1d 13h
BeSt vs Leta
Queen vs Jaedong
Replay Cast
2 days
The PondCast
2 days
OSC
3 days
RSL Revival
3 days
TriGGeR vs Cure
ByuN vs Rogue
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
4 days
RSL Revival
4 days
Maru vs MaxPax
BSL
4 days
RSL Revival
5 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
5 days
BSL
5 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

2026 Changsha Offline CUP
WardiTV Winter 2026
NationLESS Cup

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
CSL Elite League 2026
CSL Season 20: Qualifier 1
ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
StarCraft2 Community Team League 2026 Spring
RSL Revival: Season 4
Nations Cup 2026
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual

Upcoming

CSL Season 20: Qualifier 2
Escore Tournament S2: W1
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
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.