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[PBOTW] PvZ: Stats' 2 Oracle archon drop into IAC

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
12 CommentsPost a Reply

[PBOTW] PvZ: Stats' 2 Oracle archon drop into IAC

Text byTL Strategy
Graphics byshiroiusagi
December 30th, 2017 02:56 GMT
An IntroductionStats' 2 oracle archon drop into IACBuild ExplanationIAC: An Old Comp in a Slightly New MetaVODs

An Introduction


Hey guys, my name is Gemini and I'm a 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.

INTRODUCTION

I'm going to continue to keep it relatively simple for the influx of newer players that we have in the game and on the sub, so this week we're sticking with the safe oracle openers but now we're going into the more common PvZ unit comp which is chargelot/immortal/archon. For anyone who is capable of doing it, this build also has an archon drop follow up to the oracle opening to keep the pressure on the zerg if they're being greedy. This is probably the safest and most standard PvZ style right now that doesn't open for gladepts (which will most likely be featured next PvZ) so it's a great style to emulate if you're having problems vs zerg.

[PvZ]Stats' 2 Oracle archon drop into IAC



Build Notes

2 Oracle archon drop into IAC
14Pylon
16Gate [Chrono Nexus]
17Gas --> Rally probes in
20Nexus
20Cyber
212nd Gas
22Pylon
@100% Cyber --> Adept [Chrono] + WG
Chrono Nexus
29Stargate
@100% Adept --> 2nd Adept [Chrono]
@100% Stargate --> Oracle [Chrono]
@100% 2nd Adept --> 3rd Adept
422x Pylon
@100% Oracle --> Phoenix [Chrono]
462x Gate
@100% Phoenix --> 2nd Oracle
4:00 Natural Gasses
54Pylon
4:15 Robo
4:30 Twilight Council + 4th Gate
@100% WG --> 3x Zealot
5:00 3rd Nexus + Templar Archives
@100% Robo --> Warp Prism
Extra Pylons
5:30 Charge + Forge + 2-3x Gate
When prism is on their side --> 2x Archon
@100% Forge --> +1 Attack + Storm + 2x Gate
Immortal production
~7:20 2nd Robo
~8:00 4th Nexus



Build Explanation



Welcome to This Week in Chrono Timings, brought to you by your host: Gemini

With the recent change to chronoboost making it be a 50% boost over 20 seconds instead of a 100% boost over 10 seconds, it completely rules out chrono before pylon being a thing. You should always do chrono after your pylon finishes except in PvP where you'll want to do it sometime between your first and second gasses so that you can fit them both in early enough. You then want to save your 2nd chrono in PvZ and PvT just in case they're doing any sort of one base all ins or proxies. Saving it in PvP is just dependent on if you want to do a double gateway chrono or just leave one to go on WG. In PvT and PvZ you then wait until your 2nd pylon is done to chrono next (which will be your first gateway unit) and then depending on the build you either use the other banked chrono on probes or on another gateway unit. Now back to your regularly scheduled educational content, back to you Gemini.

Wow thanks Gemini. Like I mentioned in the intro, I'm keeping these builds as simple and solid as possible to give everyone new a good overview of the most basic styles in each match up. Since the last PvZ macro build was stargate into blink colossus, this one is an updated stargate build into chargelot/immortal/archon which is the more common PvZ composition as of the last year to year and a half. You start off with the normal 20 Nexus (I still prefer going 19 Nexus to get stuff down earlier, but you lose like the tinniest bit of gas mining with this, but that's solved by putting an extra probe in gas earlier) and a chronod first and second adept for scouting purposes. Small note: Stats goes for Stargate and both adepts before starting WG as a way to cut corners, if you want to be a little greedier then feel free to do this. Sending the shade through the mineral line allows you to check their drone count and if it's lower than 10 when your first adept gets there and doesn't increase by the time the 2nd adept comes, then they're most likely doing something aggressive even if they have a 3rd hatch. Otherwise they're playing normal and you'll see a healthy drone count. From there your oracle will be coming across and your adepts will be back home with their 3rd sibling that came out while they were gone so that you're safe vs any early pressure. From there you get a phoenix to clear out any overlords and two gates to finish your wall off and to reinforce and then a 2nd oracle to keep up the pressure while you expand.

Just before you expand you'll need to set up your follow up. A robo, twilight council, and fourth gateway all come up before your 3rd Nexus to set up an archon drop to keep the pressure up vs the zerg and abuse any potential greediness out of them. This part of the build is an example of something that is NOT necessary for the majority of players to do. If you don't think you can pull off the multitasking required to use oracles and a prism while macroing back home, then don't. This is for people wanting to push themselves to better their multitasking skills or for people who are already capable of doing this. If you want to instead just make two archons to keep home to keep your expansion extra safe and use the robo for observers or earlier immortals, then that is perfectly fine.

Once you get your 3rd started you'll start charge, a forge for upgrades, and also get some extra gates to help round out your production. Remember to get storm once you have the money to, which should be around when your forge is finished, and immortal production starts when you have the money as well. A 2nd robo comes down relatively quickly for Stats this game for more immortals and if all is going well then you can get your fourth at around eight minutes.

IAC: An Old Comp in a Slightly New Meta



For about as long as anyone can remember, chargelot/immortal/archon with storm has been the standard for PvZ and it continues to be about a month into patch 4.0. For zerg, hydra/bane still is very prevalent but now there's an added increase in lurker popularity again due to the fact that the lurker den can be made as an independent building now instead of an upgrade from the hydra den, and their hive tech upgrade to burrow faster is absolutely nuts. Due to this rise in lurker popularity, it has kept some protoss from switching to different compositions that go away from storm and immortals as the main damage. Chargelot/immortal/archon with storm is by far the best composition you can have vs lurker compositions since immortals stay alive for so long and deal good damage, archons also take forever to kill, storm is absurd, and chargelots can actually get on top of the lurkers unlike anything else.

With these lurker comps being more and more popular, so too does the reaction from protoss to be continuously scouting. Once lurkers are on the field it's so super important for protoss to always know where the zerg army is. Lurkers are an extremely punishing unit positionally speaking. If they get into a good choke point and you didn't see it coming then the game can simply end right there because there's no way you're getting a favorable engagement vs lurkers in a choke. The key to beating lurker comps is about army positioning and army movement. If you can see where they're going and respond quickly, then you'll be able to set up a good engagement vs them and potentially even catch them unburrowed. Going for two oracles early instead of just one helps with this as you'll have much more energy for revelation, so this is a great opportunity in this new meta to train your multitasking skills by trying to tag the enemy army as much as you can. The more you see the better you'll be able to fight it.

If neither of you are able to break each other though, the game can get a bit turtley. Mass lurker defensive play can be extremely obnoxious to break, so it's at this point that you'll need to be transitioning into carriers and SkyToss. This would also be the time to add in an extra warp prism and abuse the fact that lurkers need to reposition themselves. Unfortunately, the new upgrade makes doing that much easier, but it's still a downside that can be abused with well timed double pronged or triple pronged attacks. This game from Classic is a great example of how to handle this style and transition in the late game.

Hopefully this style gives anyone struggling with zerg a bit more success. It's even more safe vs early pressure builds with the addition of a 3rd adept and a later 3rd base. It has the potential added pressure of the archon drop after the two oracles and is the best style to go for if lurker compositions are giving you trouble. If anyone would like to see some more tricky/fun builds in future BotWs instead of these overall safe and solid builds then be sure to let me know.

VODs









Thank you all for reading and if you have any questions/comments please leave them below and I'll try to get to all of them!

Brought to you by the TL Strategy Team in collaboration with Overwolf and Spawning Tool.


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Duckman
Profile Joined August 2009
United States158 Posts
December 30 2017 05:31 GMT
#2
Another amazing BO from Gemini, thanks!

One thing I have never been sure about: why do you rally into first gas instead of rallying to mineral line and then moving 3 probes into gas once it finishes? Surely this method is strictly better as it allows for more minerals at your disposal in the early game? There's hardly enough action going on at this stage of most games that one couldn't spare the extra second to select 3 probes and move then to gas.
T.O.P. *
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Hong Kong4685 Posts
December 30 2017 06:55 GMT
#3
Thanks for the guide. Do you get adept upgrade and make adepts once you have so many zealots that it would cover all of the available surface area in a battle?
Oracle comes in, Scvs go down, never a miscommunication.
Gemini_19
Profile Joined June 2010
United States1238 Posts
December 30 2017 07:45 GMT
#4
On December 30 2017 14:31 Duckman wrote:
Another amazing BO from Gemini, thanks!

One thing I have never been sure about: why do you rally into first gas instead of rallying to mineral line and then moving 3 probes into gas once it finishes? Surely this method is strictly better as it allows for more minerals at your disposal in the early game? There's hardly enough action going on at this stage of most games that one couldn't spare the extra second to select 3 probes and move then to gas.


By the time the gas is done you'll already have 16 on minerals so you're not going to get anything extra. You want the next probes going into gas. If you send 3 from minerals you'll actually be losing mineral income because you'll have less than full saturation. It ends up being 16 probes on minerals, 1 going to make the nexus, 1 in the gas, and 1 scouting at 19. If you do 20 nexus then it'll be 2 mining gas.

On December 30 2017 15:55 T.O.P. wrote:
Thanks for the guide. Do you get adept upgrade and make adepts once you have so many zealots that it would cover all of the available surface area in a battle?


I'm not really sure what you mean with the last part of this comment, but no you don't want glaives and adepts in your composition. It's a waste of gas and upgrade time for a unit comp that is passed it's power spike in the matchup.
@GGemini19 GM Protoss | http://www.twitch.tv/geminisc2 | I <333 HerO & Trap | Check out my Build of the Week series on /r/allthingsprotoss, TL, or Spawning Tool
Waxangel
Profile Blog Joined September 2002
United States33339 Posts
December 30 2017 09:05 GMT
#5
PROTOSSED

I mean thanks
AdministratorHey HP can you redo everything youve ever done because i have a small complaint?
TypeOfT
Profile Joined July 2015
14 Posts
December 30 2017 13:41 GMT
#6
Thank you for the guide!
leublix
Profile Joined May 2017
493 Posts
December 31 2017 11:52 GMT
#7
Good stuff, thanks for making it.
MoonyD
Profile Joined December 2013
Australia191 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-01-01 03:01:44
January 01 2018 03:00 GMT
#8
Thank you so much for providing me with a build to practice for PvZs. Dealing with lurker/hydra/banes has been pretty frustrating lately.

EDIT - Would you recommend putting down any shield batteries at all at the 3rd base for defence purposes?
The world wants to be deceived
Gemini_19
Profile Joined June 2010
United States1238 Posts
January 01 2018 05:57 GMT
#9
On January 01 2018 12:00 MoonyD wrote:
Thank you so much for providing me with a build to practice for PvZs. Dealing with lurker/hydra/banes has been pretty frustrating lately.

EDIT - Would you recommend putting down any shield batteries at all at the 3rd base for defence purposes?


Yeah you can always put shield batteries down if you see them about to do a large attack. They're built on a case by case basis so I they don't get put in the build, but they should be made if you ever feel you don't have enough to defend something that might be coming.
@GGemini19 GM Protoss | http://www.twitch.tv/geminisc2 | I <333 HerO & Trap | Check out my Build of the Week series on /r/allthingsprotoss, TL, or Spawning Tool
Romnel
Profile Joined January 2018
11 Posts
January 04 2018 09:27 GMT
#10
Thanks Gemini for the build. I am struggling PvZ because of Lurkers and I think this could definitely help
Salivanth
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Australia1071 Posts
January 04 2018 15:40 GMT
#11
Thanks for this build! Hits all the things I love to do in PvZ at once. A Stargate and fast 3 gates vs. all-ins. Ability to pressure the Zerg off 3 bases. Ability for this pressure to turn into "Oops I killed you" if the Zerg messes up. Transitioning into an ICA style which I prefer vs. Lurkers. The perfect build for me. I've already won a couple ladder games with it, and it's getting smoother every time.
<@Wikt> so you are one of those nega-fans <@Wikt> that hates the company that makes a game and everything they stand for <@Wikt> but still plays the game <@Wikt> (like roughly 30% of blizzard's player base, maybe much more...)
Romnel
Profile Joined January 2018
11 Posts
January 12 2018 09:51 GMT
#12
Hi, how about adding disruptors to the composition vs. lurkers later in the game?
Gemini_19
Profile Joined June 2010
United States1238 Posts
January 24 2018 00:22 GMT
#13
On January 12 2018 18:51 Romnel wrote:
Hi, how about adding disruptors to the composition vs. lurkers later in the game?


Disruptors are not good against lurkers. Chargelot immortal archon is the best comp vs them.
@GGemini19 GM Protoss | http://www.twitch.tv/geminisc2 | I <333 HerO & Trap | Check out my Build of the Week series on /r/allthingsprotoss, TL, or Spawning Tool
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