An Introduction

Hey guys, my name is Gemini and I'm a past three time Grandmaster Protoss player who has been making guides since 2011 on various sites. The Build of the Week is my most popular series of build order guides that I've been making for about three years now on /r/allthingsprotoss. With the help of TeamLiquid.net and Spawning Tool I'm now bringing my guides over to TL as well!

Each write-up includes build order notes, an explanation/analysis of how the build works, and a VOD section so you can check out the source game and how it should go. I'll also include the Spawning Tool link so that you can practice it in game yourself and download the replay of me doing it. I hope you enjoy and be sure to read the whole write-up before asking any questions as I'm sure some of them will be answered in here!

How to use Spawning Tool
Link to the Spawning Tool Build
Link to /r/allthingsprotoss Guide.

[PvZ] Classic's Immortal Drop Into 3-base Soul Train

A map pool with a lot of small chokes and a meta revolving around ling/bane early game defense? You heard right, it's time for immortal sentry all-ins to come back! PvZ has been lacking in the all-in department for a while now with the matchup revolving heavily around stargate turtle, adept pressure, or archon drop openings. Robo openings have fallen to the wayside mostly due to ravagers, but some windows have opened up for timings due to the ZvP meta favoring ling/bane defenses. This all-in shown by Classic from GSL last week is the perfect way to abuse those greedy zergs. Rejoice HotS players, we've come full circle.

Build Notes



*Note: The build displayed in Spawning Tool will show each step of the build without context. This is an elaborated version of the build to be used as a supplement.

Build Explanation

Just like most all-in builds, there's not much to explain other than actual execution. I'll quickly go over some key points to remember when practicing this build and then go into more depth on why Classic brought this build out.

Starting with a normal 19 Nexus opener Classic stays as safe as possible even on a map like Proxima where you technically can be greedier with a Nexus first. Classic decided to make it easy on me by not using a build catered to GSL so that we can all use it in our ladder games. After the cyber finishes you get WG and a stalker to deny overlords. This is also something I've missed from many builds that get adepts out first. The downside to this of course is that you give up the ability to scout. Classic ends up getting one adept out of the gate as well so if you feel like you aren't sure if the zerg will be all-inning, or if you would rather have the early adept for scouting purposes you can easily switch the stalker and adept. I think Classic just went for stalker first since he determined Dark wasn't all inning based off of his initial probe scout. The benefit to the fast stalker is of course to try and deny overlord scouts on the robo.

The part that will give you the most trouble while executing the build is fitting the two extra gates down. Classic is able to do it without cutting probes for more than a second or two to fit the 43 pylon but I was having trouble getting that super tight when practicing. So just be aware that there will be a slight cut while getting the gates and pylon down at 43. After that it's quite smooth, and even after practicing a few times and toying with getting supply blocked at certain points you can still line up the push to leave and hit at the same time with an accidental supply block along the way.

After you get an immortal out and warp gate is done you take an extremely safe 3rd base. There's really nothing except for a ravager all-in that will break that 3rd. From there you harass with the units that aren't sentries to keep the zerg pinned back a little bit (I'll talk about this a little more below) while you mass up sentries and gateways and prepare for your push to leave your base at 6:00 with 10 sentries, 2 adepts, an immortal and the units still in the warp prism that will meet up half way.

Strengths and Purpose of the Drop

Like I said earlier, this build is coming back during a time where the meta revolves around early ling/bane defense to shut down any aggression or harassment from the protoss. Sometimes a few roaches are added in as well to help, but mostly you'll see lings and banes. That style is great against pushes without forcefields, like the adept pressure builds, but if you have 10 sentries worth of forcefields then that's where it can crumble quite quickly. Anyone who played WoL or HotS will understand this very well. Ravagers were the other reason why sentry-based styles were killed off. However since you're getting so many sentries it can be very difficult to knock down that many forcefields. It also is hitting so early that the ravager count shouldn't be that high if they decided to go that route, which means their overall unit count will also be lower, making it even more difficult to hold. So this type of push is perfect for the current meta, and the many maps with small choke points (Proxima, Cactus Valley, Abyssal Reef, and Paladino) only enhance the sentry's power.

In addition to the current meta trends of early game unit compositions, the nature of fake 3rd builds will always have an inherent advantage vs greedier zergs. The initial set up of this build is to be a very defensive throwback style with many sentries and immortals with a fairly quick 3rd while defending to go up to blink +2 like during the late HotS era of PvZ. Many zergs, upon seeing that defensive setup, will either do one of two things:

1. Try to kill it

2. Sit back and macro

Classic's build solves both of those things. If they try to sit back and macro then that's where this build shines the most. You're all-inning very shortly after that 3rd base goes up so you will absolutely crush any greedy zergs attempting to cut out units and focus on economy. The large sentry count will only make it harder for them and should result in a very quick win for you. This is very similar to the old PartinG fake 3 base gateway all-in that I used to continuous success throughout HotS. Zergs just never expect an all-in to hit so quickly after seeing a 3rd base complete and forcefields can make early engagements snowball heavily in your favor.

The other thing zergs can try to do when seeing such an early 3rd is to try and all-in it. This is where the quick warp prism comes into play. If the zerg commits fully to canceling the 3rd, then your warp prism on the other side of the map should be able to get some good damage done. An immortal, stalker, and adept is a rather strange harassment force, however it can be quite deadly if left alone. The zerg needs to respect the drop, so it keeps them honest while you take your 3rd. Because of this, don't expect your drop to actually do too much damage. If the zerg is well prepare, then they're well prepared. Do not try to force anything with the drop. This is shown very well in Classic's game vs Dark. Dark was very well prepared for the drop, having seen it across the map, and Classic wasn't really able to do anything with it. However, just keeping it on the map and keeping Dark from attacking was enough. The drop fulfilled its purpose of distracting Dark enough that he didn't see or expect the follow up all-in. The other thing you can focus on with the drop is denying creep spread once the observer comes across the map. Remember that creep tumors are armored structures so immortals one shot them.





Also be sure to really sell the 3rd base. Get another round or two of probes and transfer any extras from the other bases so that if any overlord or ling scouts the 3rd, they see what looks like an actual 3rd that just finished. If you see any overlords near your 3rd, wait until just before you push out to clear them out just to really sell the act of a defensive sentry opening. Wanna try this vs the same opponent twice in a row? Do the exact same thing but instead get a twilight and forge instead of 5 extra gates and keep chronoing probes and immortals. Deny overlords in the same way and they'll think you're all-inning again. Whereas you were actually probing up, which then forces them to all-in you with the army they just made which will leave you far ahead if you defend. I personally would go right into disruptors after faking the all-in to really punish a zerg trying to attack into me.

This combined distraction and creep denial with the early warp prism, deception with the fake early 3rd, and high sentry count to snowball early engagements makes this all-in from Classic very potent in the current meta.

VODs

Classic vs Dark - GSL Code S Ro16 Group B Match 1 Game 1