EPTI will mostly cover 3v3 and 4v4 as I play those formats more often than 2v2.
short introduction, I'm 1v1 masters random and also play all team formats, combined more than 1v1
highest rankings are 2v2:13 3v3:1 4v4:5 as for what experience this information is based on.
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what do I need to know before jumping in to teagames
teamgames are overall highly aggressive due to the nature of 1 action 2 reactions, and for that reason will see a lot of early tech being abused.
because of that you will often find yourself playing low economy micro wars, completely different from 1v1.
races can also compensate for each others weaknesses, which causes a few unit compositions to really stand out from what you would normally see in 1v1's.
teamwork is highly important, having someone on your team that doesn't understand how a match up is played or takes a lot of bad engagements is likely to lose you the game, this makes playing with randoms rather annoying and it can be much more fun to play with a full team line up, don't worry if you don't have a team before jumping in teamgames, just playing with randoms will find you someone at some point that you want to play with and vice versa.
also I highly recommend to learn your offraces or random, as teamgames are heavily focused on early to midgame not knowing what race your opponent is can have quite an impact, and playing multiple races is an advantage when it comes to setting up/finding arranged groups to play with.
Race strengths and common builds
okay, so what are the strategies for my race
2v2 is a bit more macro heavy because there aren't as many combination strategies as in 3v3 and 4v4 so the strategic options there are always a bit wider with less forced responses.
Zerg
the strongest aspect of zerg is swarming high amounts of fast low tech units, and that's usually what you bring out for your team, early ling rushes to delay opponents tech, masses of speedlings to surround and grab armies, do runbys, or alternatively mass roach busts.
builds include:
6pool, only on short rush distance maps and when you have another zerg in your team for a follow-up ling flood.
10pool, there are many variants of these, but they're generally out there to test opponents defense, as well as defend any super early rushes, like other early pools, 2rax/2rax and cannonrushes.
-10pool no gas, 6 fast lings for a fast hit and trying to snipe key structures early on.
-10gas 9pool, fast lings, fast speed, fast map control, this build is all about it and setting up your team for whatever they want to use the map control for.
-10gas 10pool, same as previous, little more economic for when you plan to play defensive
remember to pull workers off gas after mining 100 for speed.
14/14
generally only done on larger maps with good defenders advantage, while in 1v1 it counters the 10pool which is a common sight in teamgames, you often find yourself unable to help allies because of the difference in speed timing.
15hatch
only do this when you don't need early lings at all, so never when an opponents team has a zerg or random.
you're more likely to get away with this in 2v2, partly because the lower risk of running into at least 1 zerg/random
transitions to mid/lategame
after the early pools zerg transitions can be painfully slow due to lacking economy, because of this it's more common to stay on low roach tech and bust down the opponent at any given chance.
should you find yourself in the lategame, ultralisks are strong options provided you have a solid economy.
low economy options are infestor or viper support, or simply feeding your allies.
if there are no protoss playing phoenix on your opponents team, mass mutalisk is an option, though an expensive one.
what your allies expect from you and what you should expect from allies
- lots of lings for map control, protecting your allies from early rushes so they can go for a tech heavy opener.
- roaches for eventual busts, but never at the cost of early game security
- air support and other tech based counters
Terran
terran fills the midrange role in teams, filling crucial areas in support, whilst slowly transitioning to a strong lategame.
options are:
12/12/12 rax gas rax reapers
quite an uncommon sight as it's low tech and only good for early rushes/pressure, whilst your team really needs your tech.
12rax 12or13gas reaper into expand or tech
more common in 2v2 as expanding early in 3v3 and 4v4 brings great risks to your team, transitions well into just about anything, but has a slight vulnerability window between the reaper and followup.
gas first reactor factory.
a common sight, as this is the norm to shut down a zerg player from harassing your team with mass lings, which zergs transition to from their 10pools.
because of this and its high mobility is the staple build for 3v3/4v4 terrans.
it's quite straightforward, make hellions all day and micro well, outside of that there are some transition options.
-2nd factory blue flame
highly recommended in hellion mirrors.
-2nd factory reactor
highly specific build where you feed gas to a phoenix build, not recommended unless you play arranged and know exactly what you're doing.
-starport
when you don't have a protoss going phoenix on your team, it's highly recommended to get a starport for emergency vikings against early air play, besides that vikings do quite okay on ground in hellion mirrors.
other options include banshee if the enemy team has no protoss as phoenix can shut it down hard.
medivac to drop hellions is slightly less riskier than banshee as it's more mobile.
1/1/1 marine tank medivac
quite uncommon nowadays as hellions are popular, and outside of that aren't required to be as defensive, but still a strong defensive option on a multi terran team.
transitions to mid/lategame
depending on if you opened expand or tech after the initial reaper, you may favour bio or mech respectively, overall it's very flexible in adjusting to opponents and what your allies do.
2factory builds are better of transitioning into mech as some of the expensive infrastructure is already in place, as well as the reasons for going 2factory are often the same as why wou would prefer staying on mech for the lategame.
what your allies expect from you and what you should expect from allies
- potential reaper scout
- hellions against zerg teams
- scans in case of DT rushes
- early lings protecting you whilst teching to factory
- preferably air support from allies
- raw army strength
protoss
considered weak by many, but extremely powerful in the right settings, protoss offers a strong early fighting force with gateways units, and has strong tech options.
the weak points come from how easily protoss can be exploited by well timed harassment options, hence requiring the right setting.
this is what protoss brings to the table:
cannon rush
laughable in concept, the consequences are anything but it, a well executed cannon rush with a friendly overlord can outright kill a single opponent.
because of its strength it's common for good opponents to account for it and thus weak to blindcounters in the form of early pools.
not all that recommended unless you have a zerg allie that you can rely on to help you, and also know all the good cannon spots.
2gate stalker rush
one of the strongest early poking strategies, only vulnerable to early lings, which are no problem with well timed lings and hellions from allies, can kill opponents or allow you to take expands.
also a great defensive option against early rushes, and allows for a blink transition.
4gate
quite old but sometimes still seen, the good old 4gate hits with a strong force on a sharp timing, because of the weak transition it is not that common.
robotics
provides early detection and immortals as a strong counter to armoured units, which are not that common of a sight and because of that robotics isn't that common, unless intended to transition into colossus on higher economy.
as bonus theres the early colossus drop harass which can be funny to mess with against lower teams.
stargate
outside of early gateways, probably the most common and strongest option, especially in bigger team formats.
while some opt for oracle, phoenix openers counter not only your opponent doing the same, but also allow picking off the enemy team their hellions and any other expensive units, giving your zerg free reign with ling harass.
on top of that phoenix allow full air control for your team.
massing phoenix requires a 2nd stargate to work to full effect.
in phoenix mirrors a deciding move can be requesting money from your allies and going for a 3rd stargate of 1base, this is also where double reactor factory for terran originates from.
transitions to mid/lategame
robo builds definitely have the easiest transition into deathballs, this comes at the cost of their weak early game.
stalker builds can transition to and stay on blink stalkers for quite a while and later on add more tech units.
mass phoenix builds will want to build up a solid phoenix counter, from there on you can opt for a painfull transition into the ground deathball, or the alternative air ball, which has become much more of an option due to infrastructure being in place.
tempest give your team the ability to force fights, whilst upgraded carriers are a strong fighting force, void rays and phoenix are your anti armour/light specialists respectively.
(yes you read that right, lategame airtoss is viable in teams)
what your allies expect from you and what you should expect from allies
- potentially early stalkers as fighting army vs rushes
- full air support from phoenix
- picking off expensive units
- detection if robotics
- lings and or hellions defending you
- an occasional 50gas feed for the 2nd stargate
- a ground fighting force (often large mech/bio force from your terran, or roaches from a zerg)
team formats and compositions
moving on to the possible team setups in different team formats and their most favourable strategies.
2v2
mixed teams
ZT
known as the strongest 2v2 composition for a long time, and depending on who you ask still by today.
ZT is highly mobile and allows you to pick off pieces of your opponent little by little.
the early game exists mostly out of lings and reapers of hellion depending on the opposing teams.
this very first composition is already one that grabs control of the map early with high mobility, allowing your own expands whilst denying those of the opponents.
zerg can transition to mutaling for strong harass options, or the less mobile but stronger roach hydra.
terran has similair options in this, bio is flexible in mobility and also a strong harass option, mech being the less mobile but strong fighting alternative.
it's recommended to align your composition and your strategic goals with your allie, you can for example have double harass with both mutalisks and bio drops, or poke with your mutalisks whilst a mech force defends home.
alternatively you can have high damage output bio behind a strong roach force to bust down opponents.
ZP
zerg and protoss share a weak midgame, but can bring a variety of cheeses to the table and their lategame can be troublesome to deal with given the number of spellcasters this combination has at their disposal.
banelings are recommended against lings, which also protects stalkers from the protoss against enemies closing in, giving stalkers free reign.
stalkers are a great option for this reason, as well as warding of hellions to protect the zerg from hellions.
the midgame can consist of mutaling, lingfestor or roach hydra, each having their own strengths as harass, lategame transition, and midgame force respectively.
protoss can opt for various tech compositions including immortals, colossus, templar, and sometimes void ray/gateway.
mass phoenix is also a possibility, but very fragile.
lategame includes lots of spellcasters behind a solid army backbone consisting out of midgame units, locking down fights in ZP's favour.
TP
the more defensive of the mixed teams, TP lacks early mobility and is generally defensive during the early game.
terrans options are bio or mech as always, depending on if you want mobility or fighting strength in the MU you're playing.
protoss also has harassment options in the form of blinkstalkers, which can transition into a stalker/colossus ball.
other options include marine/phoenix, a fairly popular composition on high level, phoenix pick of any expensive units whilst masses of marines gun down anything small.
another composition reliant on phoenix is air/mech, usually building momentum as a mobile hellion/phoenix composition, the terran keeps adding on tanks to lock down the ground, whilst protoss masses up phoenix grabbing air control whilst harassing and picking of expensive units.
once the lategame is reached this particular composition is extremely dangerous, with mech shutting down almost all ground based compositions, and air protoss providing full air defense, as well as slowly forcing engagements with tempest.
non mixed teams
most of these are played out as if you were playing 1v1's, as no mixed compositions are available to them.
ZZ
the biggest problems double zerg faces are the vulnerabilities they have to account for whilst also accounting for others, ling bane wars for example are quite troublesome when there are stalkers or hellions in the mix from opposing teams.
both zergs will also have to account for early air, which is troublesome for zerg.
hellion based timings will leave lings out of the question, and phoenix compositions shut down mutalisks, constricting options, which leads to double zerg being mostly reliant on either cheeses, or the strength of double creepspread for a slow build up to a potent lategame force using queens.
TT
unlike most double race lineups, double terran can vary in styles between the 2players, in the form of one player going mech and the other bio, bringing bio/mech on the playground as a 2v2 composition, which can be considered a more potent marinetank army which was more common in WoL
outside of that double terran is quite simple with bio and mech options being available to both players.
cheeses include double 2rax reaper to snipe single terran teams their terran, or double early marines, which can be strong with 2players controlling a bunch of marines.
PP
characterized by early gateway strength, or otherwise defensive posture and high tech options, PP can be a nightmare for some compositions, and a laugh for others.
as in 1v1, double protoss struggles with widespread action, but can be very strong when everything happens in the same place, double stalker rushes are similar to buffed up early marine rushes, but instead of marines kiting you, there are now the much stronger stalkers.
lategame compositions can consist out of the standard ground ball, as well as more mobile air mixed in to swiftly respond to harass.
3v3/4v4
single race teams will not be discussed here as the strategies are similar to single race teams in 2v2 but with amplified vulnerabilities.
when you overlap races, it's recommended to branch different tech paths, for example 1zerg goes ling, the other roach, 1terran goes bio, the other mech etc.
ZZT/ZTT or ZZZT/ZZTT/ZTTT
just like their 2v2 equivalent, ZT, a highly mobile offensive force and just like in 2v2 during the greatest length considered the best lineup in 3v3.
this composition plays far more aggressive than their 2v2 component, often wanting to end games before higher tech is achieved, and if not avoid dealing with it by choosing harassment based strategies in mid to lategame.
ZZP/ZPP or ZZZP/ZZPP/ZPPP
a composition with great variance, ling bane stalker is great for aggression whilst lategame is also great due to the mass spellcaster strategies also exploited in 2v2, again this composition is weak in the midgame.
the more protoss heavy of the two will often find themselves more defensive and better at transitioning to the lategame.
both of these compositions have the ability to go for phoenix based builds, which are incredibly potent, ridding ZZ of their air weakness, and gets the best out of protoss in ZP.
TTP/TPP or TTTP/TTPP/TPPP
just like 2v2 TP, again this is the defensive composition, with multiple branches of either T or P tech this composition has a wide variety of tools to shut down the early and midgame, transitioning to a very powerful lategame if other teams let them.
ZTP
the trinity of races, and my personal favourite composition.
historically being the jack of all trades, master of none, and while originally quite weak, this composition saw a drastic rise in popularity with the rise of phoenix styles, as ZT allows for great early game defense, setting up for a mass phoenix army.
all 3 races combined in the strength of ling/hellion/phoenix, countering almost everything whilst being highly mobile, this composition is both great at getting map control allowing expands, and denying the opposing team from going out on the map.
this makes the composition sound almost invincible, but it has weaknesses in the form of TTP, TPP and PPP, as it doesn't have that many ways of dealing with stalker rushes when lings are denied by their own hellions, protected against phoenix by the stalkers, and mass stalker rush is also a good tool of busting this composition down before it gains momentum.
mid to lategame often has the protoss staying on phoenix til an eventual air army transition.
zerg remains on a mobile ling or roach composition to deal with fast ground forces.
terran usually transitions to mech as the backbone fighting force, locking down areas when in defensive posture, but abuses the range of tanks and tempests for offense.
ZTP in 4v4
strategies using all combined races are set by their 4th addition.
- adding a zerg makes it more favorable to rush out games with mass lings
- adding a terran allows either more hellions vs zerg teams or the 4th terran fills the role of a carry going for early economy and then mass dropping opponents with a strongly upgraded force.
- adding a protoss gives the option of stalker busts whilst maintaining phoenix strength, or be a more defensive composition using the strong protoss lategame.
final words
if you have any questions regarding teamgames/specific mirrors, I'm putting in a Q/A section below for in-depth stuff
also, any feedback or tips for this guide are welcome.
