• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 03:53
CEST 09:53
KST 16:53
  • 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
Serral wins Maestros of the Game 237ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7
Community News
BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion5BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion5Weekly Cups (June 29-July 5): Solar Doubles0MC vs IdrA, Boxer vs Nal_rA to be Legacy Matches @ BlizzCon445.0.16 Hotfix (June 30) - Balance + Bug Fixes40
StarCraft 2
General
Serral wins Maestros of the Game 2 Most successful SC2 players of Q2 2026 MC vs IdrA, Boxer vs Nal_rA to be Legacy Matches @ BlizzCon Is the larve respawn broken? 5.0.16 patch for SC2 goes live (8 worker start)
Tourneys
RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event GSL CK #5 Race War HomeStory Cup 29 Vespene Cup #1 — $300+ USD, July 10 Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond)
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
Mutation # 533 Die Together The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family Mutation # 531 Experimental Artillery
Brood War
General
ASL22 General Discussion BW General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion ASL 22 Proposed Map Pool
Tourneys
[ASL22] Wildcard Qualifier [Megathread] Daily Proleagues IPSL Spring 2026 Top 4! CSLAN 4 is Coming!
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies
Other Games
General Games
Summer Games Done Quick 2026! General RTS Discussion Thread Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Dawn of War IV
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance TL Mafia Community Thread TL Mafia Power Rank Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread UK Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The HerO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Tennis[sport] Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard? Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Major Shifts in the Gaming I…
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 4848 users

What is the math on 17 nexus vs 20 nexus?

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
quillian
Profile Joined April 2010
United States318 Posts
Last Edited: 2022-05-06 15:09:16
May 06 2022 15:06 GMT
#1
Hello,

I have been playing around with Nexus before core openings, experimenting with both greedy eco and weird cheeses based loosely on Has.

One of my recent builds is 15 gate - 16 gas - 17 nexus - 18 core, where you stay on 1 gas in the early game to either rapidly ramp up eco, or do 2 base a Chargelot immortal all-in around 5:00.

I'm not 100% certain of the value of 17 nexus vs 20 nexus, though as I know 20 nexus has been the standard for a long time.

It appears I can get the nexus much earlier than normal this way, get core started by 1:30, and still end up with more workers than a 20 nexus at the 3:00 mark, but I'm not 100% sure of the math.

Does anyone else have experience with 17 vs 20 nexus? Would you be able to articulate the advantages of one, or state definitively which is better economy?
MJG
Profile Joined May 2018
United Kingdom1451 Posts
Last Edited: 2022-05-09 11:49:56
May 09 2022 09:38 GMT
#2
I remember that Harstem made some (somewhat sensationalised) videos covering these types of build:

18 Nexus vs. Zerg:

17 Nexus vs. Terran:
puking up frothing vitriolic sarcastic spittle
WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland27202 Posts
May 09 2022 12:58 GMT
#3
On May 07 2022 00:06 quillian wrote:
Hello,

I have been playing around with Nexus before core openings, experimenting with both greedy eco and weird cheeses based loosely on Has.

One of my recent builds is 15 gate - 16 gas - 17 nexus - 18 core, where you stay on 1 gas in the early game to either rapidly ramp up eco, or do 2 base a Chargelot immortal all-in around 5:00.

I'm not 100% certain of the value of 17 nexus vs 20 nexus, though as I know 20 nexus has been the standard for a long time.

It appears I can get the nexus much earlier than normal this way, get core started by 1:30, and still end up with more workers than a 20 nexus at the 3:00 mark, but I'm not 100% sure of the math.

Does anyone else have experience with 17 vs 20 nexus? Would you be able to articulate the advantages of one, or state definitively which is better economy?

What are you transitioning to and what are the timings of various things off this opener?

It may be the case that by itself you can get better eco doing this, but in a match scenario end up with a worse eco by cutting/delaying certain things that your opponent can take advantage of
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
meadbert
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
United States681 Posts
Last Edited: 2022-05-09 21:56:29
May 09 2022 21:54 GMT
#4
Your way:
https://burnysc2.github.io/sc2-planner/?&race=protoss&bo=002eJyLrlbKTFGysjDRUSqpLEhVslIqzy/KTi1SqtUhJGNmAJcpLikqTS4pLUolRpsRedoMydKGsCwxuSQzPw8uYWpJlnnmdHU9mUGM09PmCC2leZklCA04deCxxJB0PeTIkGMPvdxmhssa0iVMaSkRCwBWnzsE
29 Probes but two building probes are a combined 19/12ths complete.
744 mins and 432 gas in bank

Standard:
https://burnysc2.github.io/sc2-planner/?&race=protoss&bo=002eJyLrlbKTFGysjDRUSqpLEhVslIqzy/KTi1SqtUhJGNmAJcpLikqTS4pLUolQhtuGSNDuExicklmfh7CKiOyrDIzpLYLcTkQtxZTSzxuMKerv8iMMJyeNkdoKc3LLEFoICOYcMc9OfE08PaY4UzKuCRMB5dELADeqkr6
30 Probes but two building probes are a combined 10/12 complete. This means you are really only a quarter of a probe ahead.
838 mins and 420 gas in bank.

So Standard gives you an extra quarter of a probe and an extra 82 resources.


Your way starts a Cyber Core 4 seconds earlier so it might be better for fast tech.

WombaT
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Northern Ireland27202 Posts
May 09 2022 21:58 GMT
#5
Interesting
'You'll always be the cuddly marsupial of my heart, despite the inherent flaws of your ancestry' - Squat
Grab The APK
Profile Joined March 2022
Pakistan2 Posts
Last Edited: 2022-05-12 13:35:22
May 11 2022 18:19 GMT
#6
--- Nuked ---
Timothy3
Profile Joined May 2022
United States1 Post
May 12 2022 13:58 GMT
#7
Interesting
KirstenKnight
Profile Joined May 2022
4 Posts
May 31 2022 01:52 GMT
#8
--- Nuked ---
chaseronald
Profile Joined June 2022
1 Post
June 01 2022 12:18 GMT
#9
--- Nuked ---
Charles F. Eggert
Profile Joined June 2022
1 Post
June 04 2022 10:53 GMT
#10
--- Nuked ---
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 7m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft: Brood War
Mong 174
Leta 133
Pusan 95
Soma 89
HiyA 61
Mind 50
NaDa 40
Aegong 38
JulyZerg 32
sSak 16
[ Show more ]
Nal_rA 14
Light 0
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm207
League of Legends
Doublelift2396
JimRising 859
Other Games
WinterStarcraft663
ceh9385
UpATreeSC47
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 13
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• OhrlRock 8
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota2122
League of Legends
• Jankos2007
• HappyZerGling116
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
1h 7m
Solar vs Rogue
Maru vs NightMare
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2h 7m
IPSL
8h 7m
Bonyth vs Hawk
GSL
1d 3h
Replay Cast
1d 16h
WardiTV Weekly
2 days
The PondCast
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
CrankTV Team League
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
[ Show More ]
CrankTV Team League
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Clem vs Lambo
Scarlett vs Cure
CranKy Ducklings
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

ASL Season 22: Wild Card Qualifier
HSC XXIX
Eternal Conflict S2 E1

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
YSL S3
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
SCTL 2026 Spring
Eternal Conflict S2 E2
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S3: W3
ASL S22 SEASON OPEN Day 1
Escore Tournament S3: W4
ASL S22 SEASON OPEN Day 2
Escore Tournament S3: W5
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E3
Logitech G Connect 2026
StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
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 © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.