• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 22:07
CET 04:07
KST 12:07
  • 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
[ASL22] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!12[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
Weekly Cups (Oct 26 - Nov 1): MaxPax, herO, Solar win0Weekly Cups (October 19-25): Clem triples first in 5.0.175Evil Geniuses - shutting down23ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier7Weekly Cups (October 12-18): 5.0.17 era begins1
StarCraft 2
General
[D] Hacker peak in sc2 ? No more SC2 streamers on team liquid? Liquibets sc2 season 30 Evil Geniuses - shutting down Weekly Cups (Oct 26 - Nov 1): MaxPax, herO, Solar win
Tourneys
SC4ALL: II Venue Change Announcement! Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament WardiTV Mondays ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20)
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[G] How to playtest arcade maps Starcraft 2 Advance [D] the control group Simple Questions/Answers
External Content
Mutation # 550 Graveyard Shift The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 549 Endless Sparkles Mutation # 548 Shining Bright
Brood War
General
List of top players active on ShieldBattery [Megathread] Daily Funny Videos BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion Rollback Netcode in Brood War
Tourneys
[$1250] International ShieldBattery League [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Small VOD Thread 2.0 KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
Strategy
50,000-Word Terran Builds Memo 2026-10-22 Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile Stratus: Battle for the sky now on steam Early acc Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Deus Ex 3!?
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25!
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Trading/Investing Thread Dating: How's your luck? Artificial Intelligence Thread
Fan Clubs
Fan Club Resource Thread Reynor Fan Club The Flash Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Why I built Repalyzer (1.1.…
BlueStar
Innovate or Game Over?
TrAiDoS
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 5566 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 Ireland27478 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
TL+ Member
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 Ireland27478 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
TL+ Member
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 7h 53m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RuFF_SC2 144
WinterStarcraft89
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 14126
Rain 1296
scan(afreeca) 47
LuMiX 2
League of Legends
Doublelift5731
Other Games
summit1g9591
JimRising 510
XaKoH 283
NeuroSwarm89
ViBE56
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick789
BasetradeTV150
Counter-Strike
PGL114
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 20
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• EnkiAlexander 97
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• Pr0nogo 10
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Other Games
• Scarra803
• Shiphtur287
Upcoming Events
IntoTheTV X SOOP
7h 53m
IPSL
13h 53m
Azhi_Dahaki vs ggnore13
Double vs WIZARD
BSL
16h 53m
Cross vs Puma
Artosis vs Spine
Replay Cast
19h 53m
Replay Cast
1d 19h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
WardiTV Invitational
2 days
YoungYakov vs Lambo
SHIN vs TBD
Percival vs Shameless
Solar vs TBD
PiGosaur Cup
2 days
The PondCast
4 days
KCM Race Survival
4 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
CranKy Ducklings
6 days
IPSL
6 days
TerrOr vs IJ_Terran
rasowy vs Hazorath
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-11-05
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HCC Season 3

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
International ShieldBattery League
BSL Season 23
IPSL Winter 2026-27
Calamity Cup Div. A Season 8
IEM Beijing 2026
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026

Upcoming

Sector 951
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Underdog Cup 2026 Div 2-3
PGL Bucharest 2027
BLAST Bounty Winter 2027
eXTREMESLAND 2026
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
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.