• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 01:36
CET 07:36
KST 15:36
  • 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
TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners9Intel X Team Liquid Seoul event: Showmatches and Meet the Pros10[ASL20] Finals Preview: Arrival13TL.net Map Contest #21: Voting12[ASL20] Ro4 Preview: Descent11
Community News
StarCraft, SC2, HotS, WC3, Returning to Blizzcon!33$5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship6[BSL21] RO32 Group Stage4Weekly Cups (Oct 26-Nov 2): Liquid, Clem, Solar win; LAN in Philly2Weekly Cups (Oct 20-26): MaxPax, Clem, Creator win10
StarCraft 2
General
Weekly Cups (Oct 20-26): MaxPax, Clem, Creator win TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners RotterdaM "Serral is the GOAT, and it's not close" 5.0.15 Patch Balance Hotfix (2025-10-8) StarCraft, SC2, HotS, WC3, Returning to Blizzcon!
Tourneys
Constellation Cup - Main Event - Stellar Fest $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Merivale 8 Open - LAN - Stellar Fest Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 498 Wheel of Misfortune|Cradle of Death Mutation # 497 Battle Haredened Mutation # 496 Endless Infection Mutation # 495 Rest In Peace
Brood War
General
[ASL20] Ask the mapmakers — Drop your questions BW General Discussion [BSL21] RO32 Group Stage BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ SnOw's ASL S20 Finals Review
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL20] Grand Finals [BSL21] RO32 Group B - Sunday 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO32 Group A - Saturday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Current Meta PvZ map balance How to stay on top of macro? Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Should offensive tower rushing be viable in RTS games? Dawn of War IV
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
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread SPIRED by.ASL Mafia {211640}
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine YouTube Thread Dating: How's your luck?
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! Korean Music Discussion Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread NBA General Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023 TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
SC2 Client Relocalization [Change SC2 Language] Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Coffee x Performance in Espo…
TrAiDoS
Saturation point
Uldridge
DnB/metal remix FFO Mick Go…
ImbaTosS
Why we need SC3
Hildegard
Reality "theory" prov…
perfectspheres
Our Last Hope in th…
KrillinFromwales
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1531 users

[D] High Level Mass SH Build with VOD - Page 4

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next All
Fliparoni
Profile Joined February 2012
205 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-04-07 01:24:39
April 07 2013 00:52 GMT
#61
Love what you've done here. A few things.

After how many SH's do you start your 1/1 upgrades? I've been trying SH's and often times I think I started 1/1 too early which cut into my SH count.

Also, how many SH's should I mass before starting to add support units like queens/hydras etc.

What is a critical mass of SH's for the end game? Sometimes I feel like I mass too many SH's and don't have any room for support units.

I would also love to see a video on how you utilize SH's against Terran Bio+Mine.

CrueltY
Profile Joined March 2011
Guernsey37 Posts
April 07 2013 01:15 GMT
#62
I really enjoyed the vods, was very nice to see solid demonstrations of Host play at a high level, haven't seen much of it on streams recently.

Couple of questions: - around when do you normally research Drops in your games? Is it there anything that a toss would be doing that would make you not get drops?

- Have you considered late game nydus use on maps like Whirlwind later on defensively since the Hosts are so extremely slow?

Thanks in advance
All warfare is based on deception - Sun Tzu
Rekatan
Profile Joined December 2008
United States172 Posts
April 07 2013 14:53 GMT
#63
On April 07 2013 09:52 Fliparoni wrote:
Love what you've done here. A few things.

After how many SH's do you start your 1/1 upgrades? I've been trying SH's and often times I think I started 1/1 too early which cut into my SH count.

Also, how many SH's should I mass before starting to add support units like queens/hydras etc.

What is a critical mass of SH's for the end game? Sometimes I feel like I mass too many SH's and don't have any room for support units.

I would also love to see a video on how you utilize SH's against Terran Bio+Mine.



It depends on what I'm up against, but generally speaking I like to wait until at least 8 to 10 SH before I drop the evo chambers.

Support units should be added immediately, even your initial 3-6 queens should be brought along for the start of your push, to begin getting the creep established on their side of the map.

16 - 24 is a healthy critical mass for your SH. I like to go well above 30 but anything more than 24 requires that you begin to multiprong your attacks. This is extremely demanding on the multitasking.

I finished recording a biomine ZvT just haven't uploaded it yet. I'll link it in this thread's OP when it's on youtube!

On April 07 2013 10:15 CrueltY wrote:
I really enjoyed the vods, was very nice to see solid demonstrations of Host play at a high level, haven't seen much of it on streams recently.

Couple of questions: - around when do you normally research Drops in your games? Is it there anything that a toss would be doing that would make you not get drops?

- Have you considered late game nydus use on maps like Whirlwind later on defensively since the Hosts are so extremely slow?

Thanks in advance


Double stargate often has me going into drops fairly quickly. Other than that I often will grab drops if my opponent has reached 4 bases and I still have not been able to snipe a nexus with my swarmhosts.

I do like the idea of late game nydus play, but I'm hammering out the other aspects of my late game first before I add a new element.
Kaoswarr
Profile Joined August 2011
United Kingdom9 Posts
April 07 2013 16:06 GMT
#64
Awesome guide Rekatan!
How would this build fair against something like a 7 gate attack? Also how do you normally deal with the early pressure a lot of Protoss seem to be doing (such as 2 Stalkers + 1 Zealot with MSC)? As these kind of early pressures are the builds that I have most problems with.

I'm Mid master EU
PwFClockWise
Profile Joined September 2010
Sweden49 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-04-07 17:10:55
April 07 2013 17:07 GMT
#65
On April 08 2013 01:06 Kaoswarr wrote:
Awesome guide Rekatan!
How would this build fair against something like a 7 gate attack? Also how do you normally deal with the early pressure a lot of Protoss seem to be doing (such as 2 Stalkers + 1 Zealot with MSC)? As these kind of early pressures are the builds that I have most problems with.

I'm Mid master EU


First of all, I'm mid master EU as well. I hope Rekatan doesn't mind me trying to answer this question, and please correct me if my answer is completely off ^^!

I haven't been playing this style at all yet, but since you have 3 queens on the map and connected your two bases with creep it shouldn't be a problem holding 2 stalkers, 1 zealot and MSC if you add 1 spine crawler. I don't really think you need to do more than that.

From what I've gathered so far when looking the vods and checking some replays of Rekatan, you generally have SH in production at 9.00ish. This is also the time where you take up your queen production again. A 7 gate doesn't hit until...like 11-12 minutes something? Which means you have 2-3 more minutes of constant SH and Queen production. Since the Protoss doesn't have any detection you should be able to hold it fine using some spines as backup.

Since your SH will be out well before his push you could potentially apply pressure to him while he is trying to walk over to your base, which means that you won't only delay his push a bit but also damages his units for free. Need to be cautious not to lose any SH though ^^!


Edit: Grammar.
I may have Alzheimers, but at least I don't have Alzheimers.
Kaoswarr
Profile Joined August 2011
United Kingdom9 Posts
April 07 2013 17:24 GMT
#66
On April 08 2013 02:07 PwFClockWise wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 08 2013 01:06 Kaoswarr wrote:
Awesome guide Rekatan!
How would this build fair against something like a 7 gate attack? Also how do you normally deal with the early pressure a lot of Protoss seem to be doing (such as 2 Stalkers + 1 Zealot with MSC)? As these kind of early pressures are the builds that I have most problems with.

I'm Mid master EU


First of all, I'm mid master EU as well. I hope Rekatan doesn't mind me trying to answer this question, and please correct me if my answer is completely off ^^!

I haven't been playing this style at all yet, but since you have 3 queens on the map and connected your two bases with creep it shouldn't be a problem holding 2 stalkers, 1 zealot and MSC if you add 1 spine crawler. I don't really think you need to do more than that.

From what I've gathered so far when looking the vods and checking some replays of Rekatan, you generally have SH in production at 9.00ish. This is also the time where you take up your queen production again. A 7 gate doesn't hit until...like 11-12 minutes something? Which means you have 2-3 more minutes of constant SH and Queen production. Since the Protoss doesn't have any detection you should be able to hold it fine using some spines as backup.

Since your SH will be out well before his push you could potentially apply pressure to him while he is trying to walk over to your base, which means that you won't only delay his push a bit but also damages his units for free. Need to be cautious not to lose any SH though ^^!


Edit: Grammar.



Yeah that's true, I didn't take that in to consideration with the spine
I've had 7 gate timings hit as early as 9 mins sometimes which could be quite problematic. Also i've been encountering really heavy zealot 7 gate timings and these seem to hit ALOT earlier.
Zheryn
Profile Joined December 2010
Sweden3653 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-04-07 17:33:39
April 07 2013 17:33 GMT
#67
On April 08 2013 02:07 PwFClockWise wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 08 2013 01:06 Kaoswarr wrote:
Awesome guide Rekatan!
How would this build fair against something like a 7 gate attack? Also how do you normally deal with the early pressure a lot of Protoss seem to be doing (such as 2 Stalkers + 1 Zealot with MSC)? As these kind of early pressures are the builds that I have most problems with.

I'm Mid master EU


First of all, I'm mid master EU as well. I hope Rekatan doesn't mind me trying to answer this question, and please correct me if my answer is completely off ^^!

I haven't been playing this style at all yet, but since you have 3 queens on the map and connected your two bases with creep it shouldn't be a problem holding 2 stalkers, 1 zealot and MSC if you add 1 spine crawler. I don't really think you need to do more than that.

From what I've gathered so far when looking the vods and checking some replays of Rekatan, you generally have SH in production at 9.00ish. This is also the time where you take up your queen production again. A 7 gate doesn't hit until...like 11-12 minutes something? Which means you have 2-3 more minutes of constant SH and Queen production. Since the Protoss doesn't have any detection you should be able to hold it fine using some spines as backup.

Since your SH will be out well before his push you could potentially apply pressure to him while he is trying to walk over to your base, which means that you won't only delay his push a bit but also damages his units for free. Need to be cautious not to lose any SH though ^^!


Edit: Grammar.


Since a immo sentry all in moves out at 8:50, a 7 gate will hit waaay faster than 11-12 min. I don't know exact timings here, but a standard no gas 3 base opener will be able to have SHs out in time to defend immo sentry, so a 2 base version should definately be in time to defend any ground focused 2-base all in.
hundred thousand krouner
PwFClockWise
Profile Joined September 2010
Sweden49 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-04-07 19:04:44
April 07 2013 19:02 GMT
#68
Oh, guess I was way off then lol ^^! Anyway, you will be able to scout the 7 gate with ease since you go for the quick Pneumatized Carapace and an overseer. When recognizing a 2 base all in I've seen Rekatan throw down a Hydra Den as well and Hydras pretty much cruches gateway units if they have lings/roaches to soak the damage.

Just thinking out loud here now, but I think this approach could work. Not really sure how it is with economy though, since you are two base and can no longer stay cost efficient due to not having free units from the SH it might not work. You might have to do a trade off between SH's and Hydras. Maybe 4-5 SH's could be enough and Hydras the rest, not really sure.

Edit: Grammar, once again.
I may have Alzheimers, but at least I don't have Alzheimers.
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20319 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-04-07 19:21:11
April 07 2013 19:18 GMT
#69
From what I've gathered so far when looking the vods and checking some replays of Rekatan, you generally have SH in production at 9.00ish. This is also the time where you take up your queen production again. A 7 gate doesn't hit until...like 11-12 minutes something?


It depends on the 7 gate. 7gate does not tell you anything other than an attack with 7 gateways - A HuK style 8gate can warp 8 zeals to a proxy pylon before 8:00 if you only build 2 units before that and are able to get pylons up outside of the safety of your FFE wall - Some unfortunate zergs at low master i've seen let a pylon get far too close to them and then they have 10 units with +1 attack hitting the third before 8:15 - but this is very scoutable. I mean he builds only 1 or 2 gateway units before the 8 minute warp - he has to drop all gates before 7 minutes (so starts at like 6:10 and drops as money comes in) and typically there's either 1 gas, or 2 gas with some probes pulled off - and a low probe count, as low as 35 or 36. You will NOT hold your third against this kind of attack with hydralisks, swarm hosts or 3 hatch muta - period, unless you read him like a book, cut drones early, kill the probe/s trying to proxy pylon multiple times, basically. Trying to defend a third with a lair tech unit is a strategical bad move against this specific kind of all in - you can't do it unless you have leads in the game (like you fuck up his timings) and trying will just lead to you getting overwhelmed completely. An 8gate of this style, i mean 9 +1 zeals a stalker and a mothership core at 8 mins at the closest pylon he has, you kinda dont want hydras at all. Hydra's are very bad against zealots in low numbers - Swarm hosts come too late, and Muta's require too much of a commital to hold the third. It's typically a roach ling queen spine defense, or a sack-third-without-competition, save drones, build a small or large spine wall and play 2 base vs 2 base because he has no tech, 36 workers and mostly zealot/stalker on the ground.

Edit: And im an idiot, this is 2hatch lair play. I knew that because i already read the entire OP, but failed to connect it to that post.. *facepalm*

However there are so many wildly different variations of 6-9gates that it's impossible to give any advice without much more specific information and scouting.

Immo sentry all in, with correct execution (at least WOL mode) will leave at ~8:50 and hit before 10:00 if he moves fast, plays zeal heavy and you dont delay him - most people take 12 mins though, even at low-mid master, or some higher up.
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
PwFClockWise
Profile Joined September 2010
Sweden49 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-04-08 22:35:03
April 07 2013 20:14 GMT
#70
+ Show Spoiler +
On April 08 2013 04:18 Cyro wrote:
Show nested quote +
From what I've gathered so far when looking the vods and checking some replays of Rekatan, you generally have SH in production at 9.00ish. This is also the time where you take up your queen production again. A 7 gate doesn't hit until...like 11-12 minutes something?


It depends on the 7 gate. 7gate does not tell you anything other than an attack with 7 gateways - A HuK style 8gate can warp 8 zeals to a proxy pylon before 8:00 if you only build 2 units before that and are able to get pylons up outside of the safety of your FFE wall - Some unfortunate zergs at low master i've seen let a pylon get far too close to them and then they have 10 units with +1 attack hitting the third before 8:15 - but this is very scoutable. I mean he builds only 1 or 2 gateway units before the 8 minute warp - he has to drop all gates before 7 minutes (so starts at like 6:10 and drops as money comes in) and typically there's either 1 gas, or 2 gas with some probes pulled off - and a low probe count, as low as 35 or 36. You will NOT hold your third against this kind of attack with hydralisks, swarm hosts or 3 hatch muta - period, unless you read him like a book, cut drones early, kill the probe/s trying to proxy pylon multiple times, basically. Trying to defend a third with a lair tech unit is a strategical bad move against this specific kind of all in - you can't do it unless you have leads in the game (like you fuck up his timings) and trying will just lead to you getting overwhelmed completely. An 8gate of this style, i mean 9 +1 zeals a stalker and a mothership core at 8 mins at the closest pylon he has, you kinda dont want hydras at all. Hydra's are very bad against zealots in low numbers - Swarm hosts come too late, and Muta's require too much of a commital to hold the third. It's typically a roach ling queen spine defense, or a sack-third-without-competition, save drones, build a small or large spine wall and play 2 base vs 2 base because he has no tech, 36 workers and mostly zealot/stalker on the ground.

Edit: And im an idiot, this is 2hatch lair play. I knew that because i already read the entire OP, but failed to connect it to that post.. *facepalm*

However there are so many wildly different variations of 6-9gates that it's impossible to give any advice without much more specific information and scouting.

Immo sentry all in, with correct execution (at least WOL mode) will leave at ~8:50 and hit before 10:00 if he moves fast, plays zeal heavy and you dont delay him - most people take 12 mins though, even at low-mid master, or some higher up.


Yeah, you confused me quite a bit with 3 bases there for a while ^^, but what you are saying is completely true and I thank you for that information - it will help me. I just did the build flawlessly(more or less ) against the AI and at 10.00 I have 5 SH's, 4 more in production 50% done, 7 queens, 2 spines with a bank of 400 minerals for additional spines. A 10 minute push should be no problem. But earlier than that might be a huge problem. You do get an overseer out at 7.30 and you can scout immediately after that. You can even scout before you get an overseer since the Pneumatized Carapace will be done at around 7.00ish if you want to be extra careful. If you see the HuK build you can probably throw down a few extra spines in time - not sure though.

I also have a question for Rekatan: When I watch your replays you pretty much always goes up to 55-60 drones immediately. Since you are still on 2 bases won't 44 suffice? As a rule of thumb I have 16 drones on minerals and 6 in gases on each base. You seem to be going way above this number making as much as 16 more drones, is there a specific reason for this?
I may have Alzheimers, but at least I don't have Alzheimers.
Zheryn
Profile Joined December 2010
Sweden3653 Posts
April 07 2013 20:46 GMT
#71
How do you deal with counter attacks? They seem to just go for a counter attack with 1-2 collosi and some gateway warpins while I am on my way to their base/nearly at their natural.
hundred thousand krouner
EndOfLineTv
Profile Joined February 2011
United States741 Posts
April 08 2013 21:31 GMT
#72
Yo rekatan! I have been trying your swarm host build over mine recently. And I really really like how your build flows.

So far I have a 90% win rate at the 1000point master lvl.

The only difference is. if I see air from the toss. I get a nydus. pop at their third. and lay down 5 spores.
EndOfLineTv
Profile Joined February 2011
United States741 Posts
April 08 2013 21:32 GMT
#73
On April 08 2013 05:14 PwFClockWise wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
On April 08 2013 04:18 Cyro wrote:
Show nested quote +
From what I've gathered so far when looking the vods and checking some replays of Rekatan, you generally have SH in production at 9.00ish. This is also the time where you take up your queen production again. A 7 gate doesn't hit until...like 11-12 minutes something?


It depends on the 7 gate. 7gate does not tell you anything other than an attack with 7 gateways - A HuK style 8gate can warp 8 zeals to a proxy pylon before 8:00 if you only build 2 units before that and are able to get pylons up outside of the safety of your FFE wall - Some unfortunate zergs at low master i've seen let a pylon get far too close to them and then they have 10 units with +1 attack hitting the third before 8:15 - but this is very scoutable. I mean he builds only 1 or 2 gateway units before the 8 minute warp - he has to drop all gates before 7 minutes (so starts at like 6:10 and drops as money comes in) and typically there's either 1 gas, or 2 gas with some probes pulled off - and a low probe count, as low as 35 or 36. You will NOT hold your third against this kind of attack with hydralisks, swarm hosts or 3 hatch muta - period, unless you read him like a book, cut drones early, kill the probe/s trying to proxy pylon multiple times, basically. Trying to defend a third with a lair tech unit is a strategical bad move against this specific kind of all in - you can't do it unless you have leads in the game (like you fuck up his timings) and trying will just lead to you getting overwhelmed completely. An 8gate of this style, i mean 9 +1 zeals a stalker and a mothership core at 8 mins at the closest pylon he has, you kinda dont want hydras at all. Hydra's are very bad against zealots in low numbers - Swarm hosts come too late, and Muta's require too much of a commital to hold the third. It's typically a roach ling queen spine defense, or a sack-third-without-competition, save drones, build a small or large spine wall and play 2 base vs 2 base because he has no tech, 36 workers and mostly zealot/stalker on the ground.

Edit: And im an idiot, this is 2hatch lair play. I knew that because i already read the entire OP, but failed to connect it to that post.. *facepalm*

However there are so many wildly different variations of 6-9gates that it's impossible to give any advice without much more specific information and scouting.

Immo sentry all in, with correct execution (at least WOL mode) will leave at ~8:50 and hit before 10:00 if he moves fast, plays zeal heavy and you dont delay him - most people take 12 mins though, even at low-mid master, or some higher up.


Yeah, you confused me quite a bit with 3 bases there for a while ^^, but what you are saying is completely true and I thank you for that information - it will help me. I just did the build flawlessly(more or less ) against the AI and at 10.00 I have 5 SH's, 4 more in production 50% done, 7 queens, 2 spines with a bank of 400 minerals for additional spines. A 10 minute push should be no problem. But earlier than that might be a huge problem. You do get an overseer out at 7.30 and you can scout immediately after that. You can even scout before you get an overseer since the Pneumatized Carapace will be done at around 7.00ish if you want to be extra careful. If you see the HuK build you can probably throw down a few extra spines in time - not sure though.

I also have a question for Rekatan: When I watch your replays you pretty much always goes up to 55-60 drones immediately. Since you are still on 2 bases won't 44 suffice? As a rule of thumb I have 16 drones on minerals and 6 in gases on each base. You seem to be going way above this number making as much as 16 more drones, is there are specific reason for this?


When you do get your third you can drone xfer.
PwFClockWise
Profile Joined September 2010
Sweden49 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-04-08 22:34:02
April 08 2013 22:29 GMT
#74
On April 09 2013 06:32 BuiBui wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
On April 08 2013 05:14 PwFClockWise wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
On April 08 2013 04:18 Cyro wrote:
Show nested quote +
From what I've gathered so far when looking the vods and checking some replays of Rekatan, you generally have SH in production at 9.00ish. This is also the time where you take up your queen production again. A 7 gate doesn't hit until...like 11-12 minutes something?


It depends on the 7 gate. 7gate does not tell you anything other than an attack with 7 gateways - A HuK style 8gate can warp 8 zeals to a proxy pylon before 8:00 if you only build 2 units before that and are able to get pylons up outside of the safety of your FFE wall - Some unfortunate zergs at low master i've seen let a pylon get far too close to them and then they have 10 units with +1 attack hitting the third before 8:15 - but this is very scoutable. I mean he builds only 1 or 2 gateway units before the 8 minute warp - he has to drop all gates before 7 minutes (so starts at like 6:10 and drops as money comes in) and typically there's either 1 gas, or 2 gas with some probes pulled off - and a low probe count, as low as 35 or 36. You will NOT hold your third against this kind of attack with hydralisks, swarm hosts or 3 hatch muta - period, unless you read him like a book, cut drones early, kill the probe/s trying to proxy pylon multiple times, basically. Trying to defend a third with a lair tech unit is a strategical bad move against this specific kind of all in - you can't do it unless you have leads in the game (like you fuck up his timings) and trying will just lead to you getting overwhelmed completely. An 8gate of this style, i mean 9 +1 zeals a stalker and a mothership core at 8 mins at the closest pylon he has, you kinda dont want hydras at all. Hydra's are very bad against zealots in low numbers - Swarm hosts come too late, and Muta's require too much of a commital to hold the third. It's typically a roach ling queen spine defense, or a sack-third-without-competition, save drones, build a small or large spine wall and play 2 base vs 2 base because he has no tech, 36 workers and mostly zealot/stalker on the ground.

Edit: And im an idiot, this is 2hatch lair play. I knew that because i already read the entire OP, but failed to connect it to that post.. *facepalm*

However there are so many wildly different variations of 6-9gates that it's impossible to give any advice without much more specific information and scouting.

Immo sentry all in, with correct execution (at least WOL mode) will leave at ~8:50 and hit before 10:00 if he moves fast, plays zeal heavy and you dont delay him - most people take 12 mins though, even at low-mid master, or some higher up.


Yeah, you confused me quite a bit with 3 bases there for a while ^^, but what you are saying is completely true and I thank you for that information - it will help me. I just did the build flawlessly(more or less ) against the AI and at 10.00 I have 5 SH's, 4 more in production 50% done, 7 queens, 2 spines with a bank of 400 minerals for additional spines. A 10 minute push should be no problem. But earlier than that might be a huge problem. You do get an overseer out at 7.30 and you can scout immediately after that. You can even scout before you get an overseer since the Pneumatized Carapace will be done at around 7.00ish if you want to be extra careful. If you see the HuK build you can probably throw down a few extra spines in time - not sure though.

I also have a question for Rekatan: When I watch your replays you pretty much always goes up to 55-60 drones immediately. Since you are still on 2 bases won't 44 suffice? As a rule of thumb I have 16 drones on minerals and 6 in gases on each base. You seem to be going way above this number making as much as 16 more drones, is there are specific reason for this?


When you do get your third you can drone xfer.


Yeah, but in the first VOD on Daybreak he says that you should add in saturation on the 3rd after the 3rd is taken and it feels safe. He also states in the VOD that you should add in drones together with units - not full drone cycles and that he went a bit overboard with the saturation on two bases. Even if I also think it's to saturate the 3rd instantly once it goes up, this contradicts what he says in the VOD.

The positive reasons I see to go for the 60 drones are:

1. You add the extra drones because you CAN. You have the larva and the minerals to do so.
2. You can instantly saturate your 3rd once it goes up.
3. Later your Queens won't be on inject duty which means that you will not saturate the 3rd as quickly and during the saturation of the 3rd you will most likely have no larvae for units.

The downside I see to having 60 drones on two bases is that you will mine out quicker. Depending on when your 3rd is taken you might need to be taking a 4th base since both your mineral lines could be a bit starving for minerals. I saw this a bit in the VOD against HuK. Rekatan was being denied taking his 3rd for a while and when he finally did it didn't take long until his main was mined out. He later needed a 5th base as well once the natural went dry, but didn't get one up. I'm not saying this is necessarily the case, I'm just curious to see if Rekatan has taken this under consideration and determined it to not be a problem.

I want to hear Rekatans motivation for those extra 16 drones since he's been toying around with this since the beta. The build also changes between replays and VODS which are either alterations made due to analysis or to forgotten timings. When I study the build in depth it's kind of hard to know if alterations between replays are intentional or not.

Edit: I just checked out Sheth's saturation guide, it's written way back so I'm not sure if still applies, but apparently 24 drones on minerals is better than having 16 on minerals. Which would be 24+24+6+6 = 60(2 bases of saturation with gases). Not sure why I've always thought that 16 was the magic number on minerals...?
I may have Alzheimers, but at least I don't have Alzheimers.
Markwerf
Profile Joined March 2010
Netherlands3728 Posts
April 08 2013 23:05 GMT
#75
swarmhosts definately have their uses but I don't like this strat of rushing for them on 2 bases. There's basically nothing stopping protoss from just going really quick third behind stargate, at which point you can of course get a third too but I feel you're behind.
As for fighting this I guess the key is to abuse the mobility of stalker/colossus/voidray. If you're splitting your waves protoss should be able to crush through one and kill the swarmhosts over there. Perhaps even just use his voidrays since you likely have a bunch of swarmhosts unprotected.

Overall swarm hosts have felt a bit lackluster compared to other options and I don't feel using them this way helps very much with laser toss or air toss.
Rekatan
Profile Joined December 2008
United States172 Posts
April 08 2013 23:23 GMT
#76
On April 08 2013 01:06 Kaoswarr wrote:
Awesome guide Rekatan!
How would this build fair against something like a 7 gate attack? Also how do you normally deal with the early pressure a lot of Protoss seem to be doing (such as 2 Stalkers + 1 Zealot with MSC)? As these kind of early pressures are the builds that I have most problems with.

I'm Mid master EU


Generally 7 gate it does great against (hard counters basically) it's those super fast 5 gate attacks, or even 1 base 4gate, that can be trouble since you're left with nothing but spines and queens to defend.

Just make sure you allow yourself to sac an overlord if necessary. I have lost a TON of games because I was too greedy and thought "pfft only 45 seconds until overseer can morph!" but those 45 seconds that I was wondering lost me the game...

*PS* Thanks Clockwise for helping answer some questions! I'm a bit overwhelmed lately with all the Q&A these threads have brought about ^_^


On April 08 2013 05:46 Zheryn wrote:
How do you deal with counter attacks? They seem to just go for a counter attack with 1-2 collosi and some gateway warpins while I am on my way to their base/nearly at their natural.


Your positioning is critical, you need to always be thinking "where are they, and where do I need to be relative to them". It's this constant back and forth where you are trying to anticipate their movements to ensure that your locusts make contact. If their army is outside of their base, the army is your target (rather than their base) so never bypass their army in favor of pressuring buildings (This only applies to ZvP).
Rekatan
Profile Joined December 2008
United States172 Posts
April 08 2013 23:29 GMT
#77
On April 09 2013 06:31 BuiBui wrote:
Yo rekatan! I have been trying your swarm host build over mine recently. And I really really like how your build flows.

So far I have a 90% win rate at the 1000point master lvl.

The only difference is. if I see air from the toss. I get a nydus. pop at their third. and lay down 5 spores.


Cool! I like the variation - may give it a try sometime!


+ Show Spoiler +
On April 09 2013 07:29 PwFClockWise wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 09 2013 06:32 BuiBui wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
On April 08 2013 05:14 PwFClockWise wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
On April 08 2013 04:18 Cyro wrote:
Show nested quote +
From what I've gathered so far when looking the vods and checking some replays of Rekatan, you generally have SH in production at 9.00ish. This is also the time where you take up your queen production again. A 7 gate doesn't hit until...like 11-12 minutes something?


It depends on the 7 gate. 7gate does not tell you anything other than an attack with 7 gateways - A HuK style 8gate can warp 8 zeals to a proxy pylon before 8:00 if you only build 2 units before that and are able to get pylons up outside of the safety of your FFE wall - Some unfortunate zergs at low master i've seen let a pylon get far too close to them and then they have 10 units with +1 attack hitting the third before 8:15 - but this is very scoutable. I mean he builds only 1 or 2 gateway units before the 8 minute warp - he has to drop all gates before 7 minutes (so starts at like 6:10 and drops as money comes in) and typically there's either 1 gas, or 2 gas with some probes pulled off - and a low probe count, as low as 35 or 36. You will NOT hold your third against this kind of attack with hydralisks, swarm hosts or 3 hatch muta - period, unless you read him like a book, cut drones early, kill the probe/s trying to proxy pylon multiple times, basically. Trying to defend a third with a lair tech unit is a strategical bad move against this specific kind of all in - you can't do it unless you have leads in the game (like you fuck up his timings) and trying will just lead to you getting overwhelmed completely. An 8gate of this style, i mean 9 +1 zeals a stalker and a mothership core at 8 mins at the closest pylon he has, you kinda dont want hydras at all. Hydra's are very bad against zealots in low numbers - Swarm hosts come too late, and Muta's require too much of a commital to hold the third. It's typically a roach ling queen spine defense, or a sack-third-without-competition, save drones, build a small or large spine wall and play 2 base vs 2 base because he has no tech, 36 workers and mostly zealot/stalker on the ground.

Edit: And im an idiot, this is 2hatch lair play. I knew that because i already read the entire OP, but failed to connect it to that post.. *facepalm*

However there are so many wildly different variations of 6-9gates that it's impossible to give any advice without much more specific information and scouting.

Immo sentry all in, with correct execution (at least WOL mode) will leave at ~8:50 and hit before 10:00 if he moves fast, plays zeal heavy and you dont delay him - most people take 12 mins though, even at low-mid master, or some higher up.


Yeah, you confused me quite a bit with 3 bases there for a while ^^, but what you are saying is completely true and I thank you for that information - it will help me. I just did the build flawlessly(more or less ) against the AI and at 10.00 I have 5 SH's, 4 more in production 50% done, 7 queens, 2 spines with a bank of 400 minerals for additional spines. A 10 minute push should be no problem. But earlier than that might be a huge problem. You do get an overseer out at 7.30 and you can scout immediately after that. You can even scout before you get an overseer since the Pneumatized Carapace will be done at around 7.00ish if you want to be extra careful. If you see the HuK build you can probably throw down a few extra spines in time - not sure though.

I also have a question for Rekatan: When I watch your replays you pretty much always goes up to 55-60 drones immediately. Since you are still on 2 bases won't 44 suffice? As a rule of thumb I have 16 drones on minerals and 6 in gases on each base. You seem to be going way above this number making as much as 16 more drones, is there are specific reason for this?


When you do get your third you can drone xfer.


Yeah, but in the first VOD on Daybreak he says that you should add in saturation on the 3rd after the 3rd is taken and it feels safe. He also states in the VOD that you should add in drones together with units - not full drone cycles and that he went a bit overboard with the saturation on two bases. Even if I also think it's to saturate the 3rd instantly once it goes up, this contradicts what he says in the VOD.

The positive reasons I see to go for the 60 drones are:

1. You add the extra drones because you CAN. You have the larva and the minerals to do so.
2. You can instantly saturate your 3rd once it goes up.
3. Later your Queens won't be on inject duty which means that you will not saturate the 3rd as quickly and during the saturation of the 3rd you will most likely have no larvae for units.

The downside I see to having 60 drones on two bases is that you will mine out quicker. Depending on when your 3rd is taken you might need to be taking a 4th base since both your mineral lines could be a bit starving for minerals. I saw this a bit in the VOD against HuK. Rekatan was being denied taking his 3rd for a while and when he finally did it didn't take long until his main was mined out. He later needed a 5th base as well once the natural went dry, but didn't get one up. I'm not saying this is necessarily the case, I'm just curious to see if Rekatan has taken this under consideration and determined it to not be a problem.

I want to hear Rekatans motivation for those extra 16 drones since he's been toying around with this since the beta. The build also changes between replays and VODS which are either alterations made due to analysis or to forgotten timings. When I study the build in depth it's kind of hard to know if alterations between replays are intentional or not.

Edit: I just checked out Sheth's saturation guide, it's written way back so I'm not sure if still applies, but apparently 24 drones on minerals is better than having 16 on minerals. Which would be 24+24+6+6 = 60(2 bases of saturation with gases). Not sure why I've always thought that 16 was the magic number on minerals...?


16 is optimal mining, while 24 is maximum mining. That said, I do (if I don't feel pressured) like to go to 60 drones on 2 bases. Sometimes I'll allow my main to mine out, but if I'm playing clean I'll pull 6-8 off main and nat to help my 3rd establish, and push that one up to 20+ if need be, since it has more time left on it. Thanks for the reminder btw I've been forgetting to do that lately! That said, an issue I always have is consistency, so don't be afraid to assume "he forgot" or "his build changed unintentionally". I am by no means a precision player like Stephano who can repeat the same build order every game down to the second. It's just not in my blood and I find I actually play worse when I do it. That said though, I always aspire to become more consistent without stifling creativity/flexibility :D so hopefully this gradually continues to improve.

Rekatan
Profile Joined December 2008
United States172 Posts
April 08 2013 23:31 GMT
#78
On April 09 2013 08:05 Markwerf wrote:
swarmhosts definately have their uses but I don't like this strat of rushing for them on 2 bases. There's basically nothing stopping protoss from just going really quick third behind stargate, at which point you can of course get a third too but I feel you're behind.
As for fighting this I guess the key is to abuse the mobility of stalker/colossus/voidray. If you're splitting your waves protoss should be able to crush through one and kill the swarmhosts over there. Perhaps even just use his voidrays since you likely have a bunch of swarmhosts unprotected.

Overall swarm hosts have felt a bit lackluster compared to other options and I don't feel using them this way helps very much with laser toss or air toss.


Fast 3rd on stargate topples instantly to swarmhost play. You don't even need to bother with the 3rd, you can just creep highway straight to their natural and wait for the GG. It's not even remotely viable so it's kind of hard for me to respond to this because it just feels like theorycrafting without any experience. I hope this doesn't come across as rude, it's just, in practice what you're describing isn't remotely how it plays out.
H2OSno
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
United States127 Posts
April 09 2013 02:31 GMT
#79
Why don't you ever make 1-2 infestors to Fungal Growth units and not let them escape? Seems a good way to force trades.
When in doubt, scout.
SweKenZo
Profile Joined December 2011
Sweden82 Posts
April 09 2013 06:29 GMT
#80
On April 09 2013 11:31 H2OSno wrote:
Why don't you ever make 1-2 infestors to Fungal Growth units and not let them escape? Seems a good way to force trades.


^- This is a really good question, although it will be too much micro for me too handle xD
Bronze->Silver->Gold->Platinum->Diamond-> ?
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Korean StarCraft League
03:00
Week 82
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Nina 214
ProTech125
StarCraft: Brood War
Zeus 634
Sea 418
Hm[arnc] 19
Noble 17
Bale 11
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm98
LuMiX1
League of Legends
JimRising 646
Reynor19
Counter-Strike
fl0m26
Other Games
summit1g17269
tarik_tv13013
C9.Mang0380
WinterStarcraft376
FrodaN147
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick764
Counter-Strike
PGL114
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Azhi_Dahaki11
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Stunt593
Other Games
• Shiphtur164
Upcoming Events
CranKy Ducklings
3h 25m
IPSL
11h 25m
dxtr13 vs OldBoy
Napoleon vs Doodle
LAN Event
11h 25m
Lambo vs Clem
Scarlett vs TriGGeR
ByuN vs TBD
Zoun vs TBD
BSL 21
13h 25m
Gosudark vs Kyrie
Gypsy vs OyAji
UltrA vs Radley
Dandy vs Ptak
Replay Cast
16h 25m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 3h
WardiTV Korean Royale
1d 5h
IPSL
1d 11h
JDConan vs WIZARD
WolFix vs Cross
LAN Event
1d 11h
BSL 21
1d 13h
spx vs rasowy
HBO vs KameZerg
Cross vs Razz
dxtr13 vs ZZZero
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
2 days
Wardi Open
2 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Kung Fu Cup
4 days
Classic vs Solar
herO vs Cure
Reynor vs GuMiho
ByuN vs ShoWTimE
Tenacious Turtle Tussle
4 days
The PondCast
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Solar vs Zoun
MaxPax vs Bunny
Kung Fu Cup
5 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
5 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Classic vs Creator
Cure vs TriGGeR
Kung Fu Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL 21 Points
SC4ALL: StarCraft II
Eternal Conflict S1

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
SOOP Univ League 2025
YSL S2
BSL Season 21
Stellar Fest: Constellation Cup
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual

Upcoming

SLON Tour Season 2
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXVIII
RSL Offline Finals
WardiTV 2025
RSL Revival: Season 3
META Madness #9
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026: Closed Qualifier
eXTREMESLAND 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals 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.