• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 05:08
CEST 11:08
KST 18:08
  • 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
[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt2: Take-Off7[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt1: Runway132v2 & SC: Evo Complete: Weekend Double Feature4Team Liquid Map Contest #21 - Presented by Monster Energy9uThermal's 2v2 Tour: $15,000 Main Event18
Community News
Weekly Cups (Aug 18-24): herO dethrones MaxPax6Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris34Weekly Cups (Aug 11-17): MaxPax triples again!13Weekly Cups (Aug 4-10): MaxPax wins a triple6SC2's Safe House 2 - October 18 & 195
StarCraft 2
General
Greatest Players of All Time: 2025 Update A Eulogy for the Six Pool BoxeR's Wings Episode 2 - Fan Translation #1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time Geoff 'iNcontroL' Robinson has passed away
Tourneys
$5,000 WardiTV Summer Championship 2025 Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris $5,100+ SEL Season 2 Championship (SC: Evo) Esports World Cup 2025 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 488 What Goes Around Mutation # 487 Think Fast Mutation # 486 Watch the Skies Mutation # 485 Death from Below
Brood War
General
Post ASL20 Ro24 discussion. BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ No Rain in ASL20? How do I speak directly to Coinbase?1-(888)-419-97 Recent recommended BW games
Tourneys
[ASL20] Ro24 Group F [ASL20] Ro24 Group E [IPSL] CSLAN Review and CSLPRO Reimagined! [ASL20] Ro24 Group D
Strategy
Muta micro map competition Simple Questions, Simple Answers Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
General RTS Discussion Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Mechabellum Nintendo Switch Thread 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
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine The year 2050 European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
INnoVation Fan Club SKT1 Classic Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread High temperatures on bridge(s) Gtx660 graphics card replacement
TL Community
The Automated Ban List TeamLiquid Team Shirt On Sale
Blogs
How Culture and Conflict Imp…
TrAiDoS
RTS Design in Hypercoven
a11
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
INDEPENDIENTE LA CTM
XenOsky
[Girl blog} My fema…
artosisisthebest
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1753 users

[D]SC2 Notes: The Sangate PvZ

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
EsportsJohn
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States4883 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-12-29 08:02:25
December 29 2013 07:33 GMT
#1
Apparently San nearly won IEM Singapore on the backs of hundreds and hundreds of zealots warping in and slaughtering millions of zerglings. Specifically, he used a special 4-gate rush to easy win half a dozen games. Unlike the more common zealot pressure builds that hit at 7:00 with 3-4 gateways, San's build hits at 6:15. Let's take a look at why San is being called "The Zealot King".

VoDs:

San vs. EffOrt G2 on Bel'Shir Vestige
San vs EffOrt G3 on Akilon Wastes
San vs. Hydra G2 on Polar Night
San vs. Hydra G3 on Whirlwind


[image loading]
ZEALOTS TROLLOLOLOLOLOLOL



Build Order:
9 pylon
12 gate
15 gas
16 pylon
18 core
18 zealot
22 *probe scout*
23 warp gate
23 nexus
23 MSC (chronoboost)
25 pylon (at natural)
**Chronoboost warp gate nonstop**
26 gateway x2 (4:35)
27 sentry
30 gateway (5:00)
31-32 proxy pylon
@6:00 warp in first round

First 4 zealots hit @6:15
Hide probe after initial pylons


The single most important thing to note is that San gets an early gateway on 12 (instead of 13) and gets a late gas (on 15 instead of 14). The early gate is to allow him to get warp gates 15 seconds faster; the later gas is simply an adjustment to make up the mineral economy he lost with getting an earlier gate (and besides, he doesn't need that much gas early on). Most players normally build the zealot and cancel it if they don't see early lings or a proxy hatch or let it finish and use it to scout instead of a probe. San always lets the zealot finish while still probe scouting. This is because the zealot is very important in escorting the proxy pylon probe across the map.

The initial probe scout simply checks to see if there is a natural and if the zerg took an early third or not and then hides somewhere on the map. If this probe is not found, San will use it to build a pylon instead of escorting a probe. Around 4:30, once the wall at San's natural is complete, he moves out with a zealot and a probe. He generally clears both watchtowers with the MSC while warping in a pylon close to the zerg's third. Once his probe plants the initial pylon (which he can get very close to the third), it will swing around to the other side of the map and hide another pylon. The second pylon allows San to hit from multiple locations or swing around and attack at a different angle if he wants to (in one game versus Hydra, it outright won him the game). San cuts probes briefly in between his first and second warpin, then resumes production afterwards.

If his opponent finishes ling speed early, San will wait for his second warpin before attacking. Against roaches, he splits up his zealots to individually attack and uses time warp to prevent the roaches/queens from kiting. The purpose of this build is to snipe the third, Almost every time San has used this build, he has managed to snipe the third.

The wall + sentry is strong enough to hold any ling counterattacks. If San senses a ling attack incoming, he will use his very early warp gate to warp in reinforcements at home while still warping in zealots.

To followup, San normally takes his natural gases and goes for a robo into a two-immortal all-in. If he snipes the third, this pressure is especially powerful as it hits shortly after the hatchery completes and the zerg player wants to drone again. In addition, it forces the zerg player to amass units off of two hatcheries instead of three. The immortal all-in followup is somewhat akin to Dear's Immortal All-in PvZ. In a couple of cases, San follows up with a stargate and gears up to take a third. Again, in this situation, he's done so much damage by sniping the third that he can comfortably take an expansion while parrying all roach/ling attacks with void rays and zealots.

The downside to this build is that it's very recognizable. It's very cleverly disguised as a normal expansion build, but it's very easy for the zerg player to spot the chronoboost on warp gate and scout the probe moving out across the map to build a pylon. The protoss player also stays on one gas, which is easily scoutable. The best response to this build has generally been just building a few extra lings at 5:00 and sniping the probe/pylon before the pressure even gets started.

Overall, this is a transitional build that can allow the protoss player to get ahead in economy by investing in some early zealot pressure. It's perfectly viable to follow up with almost anything after this pressure: robo all-in, robo expand, stargate expand, blink all-in, DTs, etc. Hope this was enjoyed! Happy zealoting!



_
StrategyAllyssa Grey <3<3
Jer99
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Canada8157 Posts
December 29 2013 08:31 GMT
#2
so that's the sangate you were talking about!

Poor Hydra getting sangated twice in a row, but what a brilliant move killing your own hatchery for the broodlings
StrategyTaeJa #1 || @TL_Jer99 || "seeker seeked out his seeking"
tar
Profile Joined October 2010
Germany991 Posts
December 29 2013 10:27 GMT
#3
It's always funny how the game developes in cycles: Expand into 4 gate zealot is such an old concept. It gets popular, is super successful and then zergs adapt and it fails miserably most of the time. Then no one uses it, zergs don't account for it any longer and the 4 gate comes back. The cycle continues.

Gonna give it a shot on ladder.
whoever I pick for my anti team turns gosu
Qwyn
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States2779 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-12-29 10:58:49
December 29 2013 10:53 GMT
#4
Oh my god first 4 zealots hit at 6:15 instead of 6:45? What...the...fuck...god damn that's really depressing.
Oh my god this timing seems unstoppable...thanks for making my worst fear even more scarring...holy shit. Seven/eight zealots by 6:50 instead of 5...

God damn.

The scariest thing is that this looks like a three gate at the wall O_O.
"Think of the hysteria following the realization that they consciously consume babies and raise the dead people from their graves" - N0
justnny
Profile Joined October 2010
United States171 Posts
December 30 2013 15:05 GMT
#5
Thank you for the summary. I'm going to try it now!
Yamato
Profile Joined February 2010
United States33 Posts
December 30 2013 17:14 GMT
#6
Are there any probe cuts in this build? Also, do you keep building probes even after you are warping in zealots?
ETisME
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
12458 Posts
December 30 2013 17:28 GMT
#7
i hate this push soooooooooo much, it's like zerg rush, except a billion times stronger and the 'lings' don't die
其疾如风,其徐如林,侵掠如火,不动如山,难知如阴,动如雷震。
EsportsJohn
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States4883 Posts
December 30 2013 17:43 GMT
#8
On December 31 2013 02:14 Yamato wrote:
Are there any probe cuts in this build? Also, do you keep building probes even after you are warping in zealots?


I mention it briefly in the summary, but San usually continues probe production during this pressure, doing only a slight cut between the first and second warpin. I imagine he also probably stops when he reaches full saturation at his natural (24/24, no gases).
StrategyAllyssa Grey <3<3
Yamato
Profile Joined February 2010
United States33 Posts
December 30 2013 18:09 GMT
#9
On December 31 2013 02:43 SC2John wrote:
I mention it briefly in the summary, but San usually continues probe production during this pressure, doing only a slight cut between the first and second warpin. I imagine he also probably stops when he reaches full saturation at his natural (24/24, no gases).


Ah cool, I missed that - thanks! Sounds like an excellent aggressive option that I'll have to try out. Thanks for the excellent guide!
hellokitty[hk]
Profile Joined June 2009
United States1309 Posts
December 30 2013 19:49 GMT
#10
On December 29 2013 19:53 Qwyn wrote:
The scariest thing is that this looks like a three gate at the wall O_O.

No, actually it looks like an obvious 4 gate at the wall unless you hide your gateways.
People are imbeciles, lucky thing god made cats.
EsportsJohn
Profile Blog Joined June 2012
United States4883 Posts
December 30 2013 19:57 GMT
#11
On December 31 2013 04:49 hellokitty[hk] wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 29 2013 19:53 Qwyn wrote:
The scariest thing is that this looks like a three gate at the wall O_O.

No, actually it looks like an obvious 4 gate at the wall unless you hide your gateways.


Well, for some maps you only need 2 gates to complete the wall (i.e. Frost, Yeonsu, Polar Night, MAYBE Bel'Shir if you include your initial pylon in the wall). So yeah, obviously it works better on maps like that .
StrategyAllyssa Grey <3<3
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 52m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft: Brood War
Larva 367
BeSt 274
Mind 227
Hyuk 130
TY 108
Leta 107
ZerO 105
Zeus 77
Hyun 74
ggaemo 64
[ Show more ]
ToSsGirL 61
sorry 56
NotJumperer 39
Mong 28
Sharp 28
Sacsri 26
Rush 20
Light 19
soO 8
Dota 2
XcaliburYe161
XaKoH 78
League of Legends
JimRising 442
Reynor42
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K556
zeus178
oskar5
Super Smash Bros
Westballz36
Other Games
summit1g7832
singsing1371
ceh9655
Happy129
Hui .93
SortOf90
NeuroSwarm39
ZerO(Twitch)6
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL6769
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH246
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota253
League of Legends
• Stunt731
• Jankos585
Upcoming Events
LiuLi Cup
1h 52m
MaxPax vs TriGGeR
ByuN vs herO
Cure vs Rogue
Classic vs HeRoMaRinE
Cosmonarchy
6h 52m
OyAji vs Sziky
Sziky vs WolFix
WolFix vs OyAji
Big Brain Bouts
6h 52m
Iba vs GgMaChine
TriGGeR vs Bunny
Reynor vs Classic
Serral vs Clem
BSL Team Wars
9h 52m
Team Hawk vs Team Dewalt
BSL Team Wars
9h 52m
Team Hawk vs Team Bonyth
Code For Giants Cup
13h 22m
SC Evo League
1d 2h
TaeJa vs Cure
Rogue vs threepoint
ByuN vs Creator
MaNa vs Classic
Maestros of the Game
1d 6h
ShoWTimE vs Cham
GuMiho vs Ryung
Zoun vs Spirit
Rogue vs MaNa
[BSL 2025] Weekly
1d 8h
SC Evo League
2 days
[ Show More ]
Maestros of the Game
2 days
SHIN vs Creator
Astrea vs Lambo
Bunny vs SKillous
HeRoMaRinE vs TriGGeR
BSL Team Wars
2 days
Team Bonyth vs Team Sziky
BSL Team Wars
2 days
Team Dewalt vs Team Sziky
Monday Night Weeklies
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
PiGosaur Monday
4 days
LiuLi Cup
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
The PondCast
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Maru vs SHIN
MaNa vs MaxPax
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL Season 18: Qualifier 1
WardiTV Summer 2025
HCC Europe

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21 Qualifiers
ASL Season 20
Acropolis #4 - TS1
CSL Season 18: Qualifier 2
SEL Season 2 Championship
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025

Upcoming

CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
LASL Season 20
BSL Season 21
BSL 21 Team A
Chzzk MurlocKing SC1 vs SC2 Cup #2
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
EC S1
Sisters' Call Cup
Skyesports Masters 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
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open 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.