EPT Guide: Chargelot Immortal PvZ
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XCPt0fU.png)
Making PveZ again
Table of Contents
>Introduction
>Early Game
>Midgame
>Reactions
>Execution
>Replays
>Q&A
Introduction [Top]
Seeing all the protoss players on twitter, reddit, here struggling and complaining about PvZ was making me really sad. I can see and understand why protoss were struggling, but personally I had been having a great time in the matchup. Therefore I thought I would write a guide on my style.
For people that don't know me, my ID is Probe and I am an Australian Protoss player for Ecko Esports. I was just at dreamhack and choked a few times. I am a GM Protoss and PvZ has always been my best matchup. Before you criticise the build, please try it out! I hope you will be plesantly surprised. Since I started doing this style, it has changed a lot. So if anyone does it slightly differently and thinks it is better please write it below. I am always looking to improve it.
The basic goal of this build is to use a chargelot immortal based army off a phoenix opener to secure 4 bases safely. Opening phoenix might be considered old fashion, but because of the strength of mutalisk switches, especially against zealots and immortals, phoenix stop zerg from building them, meaning you can focus on just dealing with ground.
The 8 damage charge buff is huge, and ever since it was added I have been doing this general sort of build to great success. People may doubt me when I say that chargelot immortal can deal with lurkers, but with a bit of splitting and focus fire with the immortals, lurkers melt. Skipping disruptors also means that the zergs ultralisk transistion is weaker, as you already have the immortals ready.
Early Game Build Order [Top]
The goal of the early game is to safely get phoenix off 2 bases, before taking a third around 4:30. At this point a robo and twilight is added to move into the midgame.
I have included 3 opening builds. First opening is Gate Nexus, which is safe against everything. However, nexus first is almost 100% safe as well so I have included the standard nexus first into 2 gate adept, and nexus first into gate forge(my personal favourite at the moment).
Gate Gas Nexus
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14 Pylon (at wall)
16 Gateway (scout)
17 Gas
19 Nexus
20 Core
21 Gas
22 Pylon
@100% Core Adept + Warpgate
Chrono adept
@100 Gas Mothership Core
Build Stalker, sentry out of gateway.
@300 minerals 2 Gateways
Nexus into 2 gate adept
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14 Pylon
17 Nexus (scout)
17 Gate
18 Gas
19 Gas
20 Gate
23 Core
@100% Core 2 Adepts + Warpgate + Mcore
Chrono adepts
2 sentries afterwards
@150 minerals 1 Gateway
Nexus into gate forge
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14 Pylon
17 Nexus (scout)
17 Gate
18 Gas
19 Gas
20 Forge
23 Core
@100% forge +1 attack -> +1 armour (no chrono)
@100% core Adept + Warpgate + Mcore
Stalker sentry afterwards.
@300 minerals 2 Gateways
Follow up
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Stargate (5 phoenix)
@3:40 Forge (if not added already)
@4:00 Double Gas (3:30 for gate forge opener)
Warp in for total of 2 adepts 2 sentries
Move down to take nexus and add twilight and robo immediately
Mid Game Build Order [Top]
At this point in the game, you third base should be finishing, twilight and robo both on the way.
Get Charge and +2 attack
2 immortals -> observer -> constant immortal production
Start to add a pylon wall at your third base for overcharge against timings
Go up to 7 gates quickly
Stop at 16 probes on the third, don't take gas there.
Warp in Zealots and immortals constantly. Feel free to add adepts and their ugprade after charge.
Add Templer archives for archons and a 4th base
This is a really quick 4th base, and the reason for this is because your main will start to mine out really quickly and you need a strong economy to overwhelm your opponent.
Go up to 12-16 Gateways and add gases at third and fourth.
Add second robo/bay and stargates depending on what you see.
Against lair tech zerg -> disruptors. Against hive tech zerg -> immortals/safety stargates
Reactions [Top]
Dealing with Roach Ravager: Immortals obviously do well against roaches, and chargelots will be able to trade against this army composistion if they don't get kited forever. You might have to be a bit defensive behind pylon walls until you get 4-5 immortals, but once you reach that point chargelot immortal archon handles this composistion easily. If you are still struggling adding some adepts can provide the tankiness that your army needs to get the critical mass of chargelot immortal.
Dealing with Ling Hydra: This can hit before you get enough chargelots to deal with it effectively. Therefore, I build 10 adepts and then going into chargelots. Adepts obviously do really well against ling hydra, so with this small deviation you should be able be aggressive on the map.
Dealing with Roach Ravager Hydra: This is similiar to dealing with roach ravager, but if they clump up into a ball, your chargelots are going to melt. Defensively this should not be a problem as with good forcefields and pylon positioning you can defend fine. However, once they are maxed, you will not be able to kill them and they will take the map away from you. In this situation I add a second robo and robo bay for disruptors. After 4 disruptors I go back into Immortals and you are fine.
Dealing with Ling Ravager Muta: This style showcased by solar is extremely good. They try to distract you and then fly in with mutalisk to win the game. However, this style works a lot better against stalker/disruptors than this. Chargelot immortal obviously destroys ling ravager if you decide to attack, and you have phoenix and a stargate ready to deal with the mutalisk. Stay on top of your scouting and if you suspect this, feel free to build some more phoenix and add some stalkers into your main army. Some signs that this is coming is obviously a spire, but also a lack of hive means that you need to extra careful and defensive. Being defensive against no hive is fine, as your army will end up being stronger than the zergs.
Dealing with Lurkers: Chargelots and immortals do surprisingly well against lurkers. Continue with your build but you have to be very careful with your army movement. DO NOT engage into lurkers that are being defensive. You will simply die. However, if they are in the middle of the map, make an arc, attack move your composistion and then focus fire them down with immortals. Once you break the lurker line once, you have full control of the map and can continue to expand and tech up to double robo/triple stargate.
As a general rule, if they are being very defensive with mass lurker and teching to hive, or are staying on lair tech, you need to add disruptors. Including warp prism drops in the main also works wonders as you have the more mobile comp that can deny bases forever.
Dealing with Mutalisk in general: You already have 5 phoenix that deter that zerg from building mutalisk, but they might still do it. Stay on top of your scouting with hallucinations and once you scout it, add stargates, phoenix and a fleet beacon for phoenix range. Pylon Overcharge can secure one base, so have your phoenix defending 2 bases, mcore defending one, and your main army defending the front.
Dealing with Baneling composistions: Banelings obviously hard counter zealots and adepts. But, they suck against archon immortal. Do not commit to an engagement. Use warp prisms and recall to deny bases without taking a fight as you slowly add archons and more immortals into your army. When you do decide to fight, a bit of splitting goes a long way!
Dealing with Upgraded Lings -> Infestor Ultralisk: I believe this is one of the stronger unit composistions from Zerg. Infestors can fungal your zealots and make you extremely sad as ultralisk cleave their way to victory. You have to be extremely careful against this unit comp, and when you want to fight, make sure you are split so that all your zealots don't get fungaled and die. Adding a second robo for more immortals whilst adding archons will make your lategame army as good as his, and with good focus fire with immortals, you should be fine.
Dealing with Broodlords Simply put, have safety stargates so that when you scout them, you can begin immediate tempest production. Try and delay as long as you can by counter attacking. Your army is more mobile and you can use this to deny bases and just recall away when he gets there. Immortal Archon Tempest can then effectively deal with Broodlord/ultralisk comps.
Transitions: Your lategame ideal army is Immortal Archon. This will completely destroy any zerg ground force. Have 3-5 stargates and fleet beacon ready incase they muta switch or Broodlord switch. Counter attack with warp prisms and trade off your zealots trying to deny bases as you add more immortals, archons and expansions.
In the super lategame against broodlord viper corruptor, add storm so the corruptors don't dominate your tempest.
Execution [Top]
Early Game Defense: The key to defending early game attacks is firstly scouting. With your initial scout see if zerg has a third base and taken gas. If they have no third base, hide your probe out on the map to check the third base around 3 minutes. If they don't have a third at this time, they are doing a 2 base build and you need to react. You can also sac the adepts if you have no information in order to see what is coming.
I often build a stalker in order to push back any droplords that might be around, as well as to deny scouting. If it is a frontal attack, add pylons at your natural and just build gateway units off 3 gates. If you need a void ray build one. Oracles also kill ravagers really quickly so they can also be built. Any later drops you will have phoenix that can deny them.
Phoenix use: Your first 2 phoenix are used to kill the overlords around your base, as well as on the map. When you get your third phoenix, move across the map and scout what the zerg is doing, as well as kill a few drones or queens if you are lucky. Once you have 5 phoenix, you can pretty much always get drone kills off the gas if you have enough apm to multitask this. If you can get no damage anymore, or you would rather focus on your main army, pull them back to your base to deny any drops and to defend muta switches.
Pylon walls: If you struggle to hold your third base, ask yourself this question. Did I build enough pylons? If the answer is no, build more pylons. If the answer is yes, make sure you are getting 7 gates very quickly. I often forget to get the gateways and slowly die to a sustained push, even if I have enough pylons. 3 gateways is not enough for this build, you need 7+. As for pylon placement, try to spread them out to cover all attack points into your base. Also don't bunch them together as ravagers deal even better with them and they will block your chargelots.
Chargelot micro: Pretty simple micro, but against ranged units you need to control click your zealots and pull them back if they get too far away from the immortals.
Forming an Arc:This is the MOST IMPORTANT part of this build when dealing with lurkers and other AOE units. Just remember, before you engage, pull your units into 3-4 groups and then a move behind the units. Against lurkers, continue to split as you go forward to lessen the damage.
Replays [Top]
herO also showed this build in gsl. He did it slightly different, and it shows how versatile the style is.
http://www.twitch.tv/gsl/v/30542136?t=3h6m55s
Replay: Me vs Bly at Dreamhack
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Description
This series shows the strength of this style against one of the best lotv players. I couldn't seal the deal in the series because he is better than me, not because of the build.
Only the replay for Game 2 is there, but the whole series was casted as well.
Replay
http://www.twitch.tv/wardiii/v/27765439?t=4h32m00s
http://lotv.spawningtool.com/4361/
This series shows the strength of this style against one of the best lotv players. I couldn't seal the deal in the series because he is better than me, not because of the build.
Only the replay for Game 2 is there, but the whole series was casted as well.
Replay
http://www.twitch.tv/wardiii/v/27765439?t=4h32m00s
http://lotv.spawningtool.com/4361/
Replay: Me vs Korean on KR Ladder
http://sc2replaystats.com/replay/2184069
Replay: Me vs Korean on KR Ladder
http://sc2replaystats.com/replay/2184068
Replay: Me vs EsDeath on KR Ladder
https://sc2replaystats.com/replay/2158081
Replay: Me vs aier on KR Ladder
https://sc2replaystats.com/replay/2158071
Replay: Me vs Jardozer on KR Ladder
http://sc2replaystats.com/replay/2184070
Replay: Me vs Chinese on KR Ladder
https://sc2replaystats.com/replay/2158086
Replay: Me vs ColoUrDFiSsT on KR Ladder
https://sc2replaystats.com/replay/2158082
Q&A [Top]
Will add to this section later.
I hope that people might try this build, and feel like they have something that works solidly in all PveZ games. Good luck have fun.
