EPTTSL always is cast from replays, except the finals.
[TSL4] Ro32 Day 1 - Page 54
| Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Tournaments |
Teoita
Italy12246 Posts
TSL always is cast from replays, except the finals. | ||
|
Testuser
6469 Posts
Oh ... lolz | ||
|
Fragile51
Netherlands15767 Posts
On July 29 2012 04:52 HaXXspetten wrote: No Lee's being a good boy and keeping it an inside joke as intended Yeah, not my fault Drazerk is being lose with his inside jokes. | ||
|
ClueClueClue
Sweden1203 Posts
| ||
|
Badfatpanda
United States9719 Posts
| ||
|
Ysellian
Netherlands9029 Posts
On July 29 2012 04:50 Whatson wrote: Why weren't you saying this the first two games? Because I didn't watch them? But let me guess, he played ultra greedy and just overwhelmed his opponent. Either that or Major got caught in a couple of poor engagements, because frankly he's the better player. Oh and I'm not saying Hyun is bad. It's just I'm not going to put my hopes on him anymore. | ||
|
Jaaaaasper
United States10225 Posts
| ||
|
Teoita
Italy12246 Posts
![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/gpvz.png) Written by Alejandrisha, CecilSunkure, rsvp, and monk, with additional support from wo1fwood and GMarshal ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/preface.png) top
All assertions will be backed up by a recent top level ![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/7/73/Replay_Icon14.png) replay, ![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/0/0b/Vod.png) vod, or both if available. A replay pack will be provided at the end of the guide including every replay mentioned.![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/toc.png) top
iii. Table of Contents iv. Definitions v. Introduction to PvZ 1. EARLY GAME: OPENINGS
1.2. Timings 1.3. Forge Fast Expand
1.3.1. Intro 1.3.2. Builds 1.3.3. Early Pools 1.3.4. Scouting 1.3.5. Denying Scouting/Map Specifics 1.3.6. Defending all-ins
1.3.6.2. In-Base Hatchery 1.3.6.3. Proxy Hatchery Outside of Base 1.3.6.4. Roach/Ling with Hatchery Cancel 1.3.6.5. Roach/Ling on Two Bases 1.3.6.6. Baneling Bust 1.3.6.7. Three Base Baneling Bust 1.3.6.8. Two Base Ling/Baneling Drop all-in 1.3.6.9. Nydus Play 1.3.6.10. Spine Crawler Rush
1.5. Other One Base Builds
1.5.1. Four Gate 1.5.2. Three Gate Stalker Aggression 1.5.3. One Base Robo all-in 1.5.4. Two Gate Stargate Expand 1.5.5. Blink Stalker all-in 1.5.6. Dark Templar Expand
1.6.1. Introduction, Pros/Cons 1.6.2. Early Game Nuances 1.6.3. Early Pools 1.6.4. Follow-ups
2.1.1. Stargate, Follow-ups
2.1.1.2. Variations of Four Gate, Robo 2.1.1.3. Seven Gate all-in 2.1.1.4. Templar 2.1.1.4. Colossus all-in 2.1.1.6. Robotics into Third
2.1.2.2. Blink Stalker all-in 2.1.2.3. Seven Gate with Immortals 2.1.2.4. Dark Templar 2.1.2.5. Robo Twilight Macro Play
2.1.3.2. Colossus Play 2.1.3.3. Immortals Into Fast Third
2.2.1. Zealot/Stalker Gateway all-in 2.2.2. Blink Stalker, with/without Sentries 2.2.3. Immortal/Warp Prism all-in 2.2.4. Zealot/Stalker/Sentry Gateway all-in 2.2.5. Colossus all-in
2.3.1. Double Stargate 2.3.2. Fast Third Base
2.3.2.2. Blink Stalker +2 Follow-up 2.3.4. Dark Templar
3.2. Two Base Play from Zerg
3.2.1. Two Base Cheese
3.2.1.2. Ling Nydus 3.2.1.3. Ling/Baneling Drop all-in
3.2.2.2. Infestors 3.2.2.3. Delayed Third from Zerg 3.4. Colossus versus High Templar 3.5. Tempo 3.6. Zerg Strategies
3.6.1. Introduction/Zerg Mentality 3.6.2. Roach Based Play
3.6.2.2. Burrow/Tunneling Claws Roach Max 3.6.2.3. Roach Pressure into Roach/Zergling/Mutalisk 3.6.2.4. Roach Pressure into Roach/Zergling/Infestor 3.6.4. Roach/Hydralisk/Corruptor 3.6.5. Roach/Ling/Infestor 3.6.6. Roach/Baneling Drop 3.6.7. Roach/Baneling/Infestor 3.6.8. Ling/Baneling/Infestor 3.6.9. Mutalisk
3.6.9.2. Against Delayed Mutalisks/Transitions to Mutalisk 3.6.9.3. Tech Paths Against Fast Mutalisks
3.6.9.3.1.2. When to Make Archons 3.6.9.3.1.3. Protoss Harassment Against Zerg 3.6.9.3.1.4. Attacking/Moving Out 3.6.9.3.1.5. Transitions after Blink Stalker/Templar: Mothership 3.6.9.3.3. Option 3: Double/Triple Stargate 3.6.9.5. Other Tips
4.2. Dealing with Broodlords
4.2.1. Timing Pushes 4.2.2. Prerequisites for Macro 4.2.3. Warp Prism Play 4.2.4. Map Considerations 4.2.5. Mothership/Archon Stage 4.2.6. Carrier Stage
5.1.1. Daybreak 5.1.2. Cloud Kingdom 5.1.3. Antiga Shipyard 5.1.4. Talderim Alter 5.1.5. Metropolis 5.1.6. Shakruas Plateau 5.1.7. Metalopis 5.1.8. Atlantis Spaceship 5.1.9. Ohana 5.1.10. Dual Sight 5.1.11. Korhal Compound 5.3. Replays B. Credits/Acknowledgements ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/definitions.png) top
![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/intropvz.png) top
![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/earlygameo.png) ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/general.png) top![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/timings.png) top
1:56 - 7 Pool 2:03 - 8 Pool 2:11 - 9 Pool 2:17 - 10 Pool 2:40 - 11 Overpool 2:05 - 15 Hatch 2:40 - Zerg reaches 300 minerals after 14 pool 3:02 - Zerg reaches 300 minerals after 14 gas, 14 pool build 3:15 - Time elapsed from when zerg starts his first extractor to when ling speed finishes ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/ffe.png) topIntroduction Builds
Forge First Genius Forge-Nexus Alpha Genius Forge-Nexus Beta Early Pools
If you scout an early pool, place your forge and immediately place a pylon in your mineral line such that you can place a cannon that guards every mineral patch as well as one of your geysers. Do your best not to hamper your mining, but placing a single cannon in your mineral line is alright. You will want to keep one probe on the map to check for your opponent’s expansion and/or gas(es). Consider this build a guideline to transition from here: From here, you can either add more gates or take re-take your expansion depending on what your scouting probe sees. If your opponent takes gas and does not expand, add at least 1 or 2 more gates immediately. If your opponent expands, you can safely re-take your expansion with just your one Gateway or with one additional Gateway. Genius vs Nestea on Entombed Valley from GSL Parting vs Yugioh on Entombed Valley from GSL 8 pool-MC vs Nerchio from HSC V Squirtle vs Hyun on Entombed Valley from IPL Fight Club, 3 gate expand into 5 gate follow-upCannon Rush Hero vs JookTo on Atlantis Spaceship from GSL Hero vs Symbol on Entombed Valley from GSL Tear vs Byul on Whirlwind from GSTL, vs hatch first Younghwa vs Miya on Whirlwind from GSTL JYP vs Curious on Daybreak from GSLScouting Denying Scouting/Map Specific
Defending all-ins
Build two cannons instead of one, and ensure that both can defend your entrance and attack the Hatchery. Continue your build as planned, but start a zealot as soon as your gateway finishes. If the hatchery finishes, check for whether or not a Queen is in production, and start a pylon at the top of your ramp in case his intention is to use the larva and run into your main. Queen production will be evident based on the Hatchery’s production animation. If he is making a Queen, it means he wants to lay creep tumors to further prevent your expansion. Adding a Robotics will help you kill the tumor(s), and will enable you to transition somewhat normally so teching in this manner is not entirely detrimental. In-Base Hatchery You should be able to scout this based on seeing your enemy’s base, or having seen a drone enter your base. If you don’t scout an expansion his natural nor his 3rd and see him start his pool at around 3:00, you can be sure there is a Hatchery somewhere on the map. Scout your main and the area outside of your natural. You’ll need to keep an eye on his gas income. If he is not mining gas, that means he is planning to use slow lings and/or spine crawlers. If he is mining gas, that means he is planning to use roaches or speed lings. You will be able to get scouting information from his main for longer than usual because he will want to focus his production on his proxy Hatchery. Use this time to figure out what is coming your way. If the Hatch is in your base, you want to start a pylon for 2 cannons that can reach the hatchery as where as where the Larva will spawn. Cancel your cannons (if possible) if he cancels the Hatchery. In-Base Hatchery into Roaches If he does not, and you have figured out that he is going to be using Roaches, you will want to get up to Stalkers as soon as possible and add cannons close to your Nexus to prevent the roaches from taking pot shots at your probes while you are getting your stalkers out. The most important part of holding this all-in is not letting the pressure stop you from opening as normal. Start your gas and core as you normally would, though they will be delayed because of cannon production. You will want income from 1 gas and stalker production out of two gateways. His Roach production will stagnate after the Hatchery falls, and you will be able to defend with Stalkers with correct Stalker micro. That being said, if you are unable to kill the Hatchery with your cannons and he is able to continue Roach production and use his proxy Queen to inject and spread creep, you will lose. In-Base Hatchery into Slow Lings and Spine Crawlers You will need to make more cannons than you had to against roaches, and your cannons will need to be positioned as to deny his spinecrawlers from attacking your Nexus. Once again, You will want 1 gas and 2 gateways worth of Stalker production. If you can deny his spines from attacking your Nexus, you will win by attrition. In-Base Hatchery into Speed Lings In this scenario, you will have a new element to contend with. That is the dynamic of defending your main as well as your natural. You may secure your main nexus, only to find that your opponent send his speedlings into your natural with rallied speedlings from his main Hatchery. So, you will need to protect your main Nexus while securing your Natural somewhat, and prevent the flow of units between your Main and Natural with a wall-off. This should be done at the bottom of your ramp and preferably with a 1 zealot-choke so that you don’t need to remove any structures once you have dealt with the proxy. Proxy Hatchery Outside of Base Same as spine crawler rush (there's no reason for a zerg to do this other than for a spine crawler rush), although it's easier to see coming since you should be able to tell when a zerg is missing a hatch or has a really late 2nd hatch. Scout both inside your main and right outside your base with a probe. Respond by cannoning in front of your wall, preferably within range of the hatchery morphing in. Roach/Ling with Hatchery Cancel Squirtle vs Sniper on Entombed Valley from GSL, Squirtle doesn’t know until last minute and still holdsSame as a 1 base 7RR or 3RR, except a bit tricker since the zerg is trying to hide it. Anytime a zerg gets an early gas in today's metagame (i.e. he gets gas sometimes while your scouting probe is still in his main before the first zerglings hatch), you should always be extra diligent with your scouting and look for the possibility of all-ins. This means sending an extra probe out to scout, trying to get back in his main to scout for a baneling nest/roach warren/gas count (is he going lair?). For example, as his initial lings are chasing away your initial scouting probe back to your base, send a second probe out in a different direction. Also, when your gateway finishes you can chrono it out and scout with that as well. You should be able to see the disappearance of a natural hatch, in which case you need to stop everything and add additional cannons asap. Roach/Ling on Two Bases Seed vs Curious on Daybreak from TSL4 Korean Qualifier 1 Seed opens with a standard Forge-Nexus expand. His probe scout cannot confirm that Curious took his natural, so his first Stalker needs to collect more information. He scouted a pool-gas opener from Curious, so the Zergling Speed he sees at 6:35 does not come as much of a surprise. What is important is that he does not skip the first Sentry after his Stalker and Chronoboosts out a second Sentry just in case. Because he sees 5 Zerglings at the Xel’Naga Tower on his side of the map, he begins to suspect that Curious is going to be aggressively denying scouting information so he adds a second Cannon at his natural expansion. Curious hits Seed’s natural expansion at around 7:30 with 5 Roaches and about 16 Zerglings. From here, you need to spend your bottom dollar on additional Cannons to hold your natural because if you hold your expansion, you will have a substantial economy lead despite investing so heavily in defenses. Seed’s Zealot blocks the hole, but both of his Cannons fall to the Roaches. Forcefields are used exclusively to stop the Roaches from breaching the wall, and Probes are pulled when Forcefields run out. When the smoke clears, Seed has invested 750 minerals into 5 Cannons, but he now has a worker lead, 40-20. Baneling Bust Crank vs Line on Ohana from GSL shows an almost perfect defense expect for missing a forcefield. MC vs TLO on Metropolis from HSC V shows good response/defense Hero vs Stephano on Daybreak from MLG Summer Arena, extremely late all-inDefending a baneling bust is similar to defending against any other 1 or 2 base (or even 3 base) roach all-in - reinforce your wall with additional cannons, and chrono out sentries for forcefields. If you have a pylon as part of your wall, make sure to reinforce it by making buildings and pylons behind the wall so it's still a wall if the pylon goes down. Don't hesitate to make a complete wall, the extra 100 or 150 minerals is well worth your safety now even if you need to kill it to move out of your base later. The hard part of course is to see it coming. Your probe should be able to check for regular gas timings (i.e. no gas by the time it's being chased away by lings), and regular expansion timings (around 2:30 for the start of natural, and around 4:30-5:30 for the start of the 3rd if you are doing a standard FFE). You should follow up the probe scout with a zealot scout or zealot/stalker poke, don't hesitate to sac your zealot into the zerg main if you're given the chance to. Look out for suspicious things such as more than 4-6 lings early on, speedling tech, or low drone counts. Three Base Baneling Bust MC vs Zenio on Daybreak from GSL Creator vs Byul on Cloud Kingdom from GSTL JYP vs Dimaga on Cloud Kingdom from Dreamhack Summer Mana vs Dimaga on Cloud Kingdom from Dreamhack Summer shows defense against a harder-hitting delayed baneling bust Hero vs Cytoplasm on Metropolis from MLG Summer Arena, shows a very quick reaction, canceling a robo, chornoing a sentry, and adding cannonsTwo Base Ling/Baneling Drop all-in Seed vs Suhoshin on Entombed Valley from GSLIf you know for sure that this all-in is coming (for example, you were fortunate to somehow spot a large group of speed overlords moving across the map at around 7:00-8:00, accompanied by a large number of lings), the best way to defend it is with mass zealots and strategically placed cannons in your mineral lines (actually, against banelings, it's better for the cannons to be behind the mineral lines rather than inside - that way banelings can't blow up both cannon and probe at the same time). Banelings do not really counter zealots especially in smaller army sizes and when you micro zealots properly. Optimally, you'd also want to do some sort of nice sim city inside your main, but pre-emptive sim city is not advised since usually you'll want buildings around the outskirts of your base to spot for nydus, which looks almost identical to this build. Unfortunately, it's near impossible to scout this build out in time, and usually the best you can do is realize that he's doing some sort of 2 base lair build. Even better, if you can see that he hasn't taken his natural gasses (such as with a zealot scout) then you can probably rule out 2 base macro builds like muta or infestor. Against any 2 base play (others include nydus, hydra, etc.), my general strategy is to make sure my warpgate is chronoed out as fast as I can, and have 4 gates ready by the time it finishes. My first round of warp-ins will be zealots - I either attack/poke with them, or if I scout a large number of zerglings on the map, I'll warp them in at home. The 4 warpgates should be accompanied with either a fast robo or stargate for scouting purposes. By 8:00 at the latest you should have an observer, phoenix, or void ray travelling across the map to see exactly what the zerg is up to if he hasn't attacked by then. While you do need a small number of small number of sentries to defend your natural choke, I would not spend money on more than 2 since they are generally not as useful against most other lair strategies, especially this one. Also, I like to pre-emptively get a cannon in each mineral line, not only is it good against this all-in it helps against other 2 base lair strategies as well such as nydus and muta. As a final note, a fast stargate alone is not enough to defend against any sort of drop play. Sure you can get a void ray out by the time the drop hits, but it won't be able to kill everything before your base is gone. This is why it's imperative to have warpgate tech out as soon as possible so you can warp in additional gateway units to help defend. Nydus Play Squirtle vs CoCa on Tal’darim Altar from IPL Fight Club Hero vs Suhosin on Cloud Kingdom from GSL, 1 base nydus at 5:40Nydus play is something you should always look out for against 1 or 2 base play. The answer to defending against it is pretty obvious - kill the nydus worm in your base before it finishes. Place buildings near the edges of your base to provide vision, make sure there are no dark corners. Don't forget about your natural as well. Many fast nydus strats can get a nydus into your main fairly early, such as between 6:00-7:00. This will definitely be before the fastest warpgate off a FFE, so if the nydus goes up the game is most likely over. You'll probably have to make additional pylons that you don't need just to provide vision in time, or you can patrol with a probe/gateway unit any remaining dark corners left in your base. Make sure to keep a constant eye out on your minimap. Spine Crawler Rush There are a ton of different variants of spine crawler rushes, as well as units that can accompany them. The fastest spine crawler rush will have a zerg walk his first queen across the map, followed by a hatch cancel to provide the starting creep. A proxy hatch outside your base can also be used. The most common variant however is the fast lair ovie creep spine rush, which hits a bit later (but still before you get your tech building or warpgate tech finished) but is much more difficult to scout, and will be accompanied by a large number of speedlings, banelings, and/or additional queens. If you see it coming early enough, put up cannons in front of your wall that can be protected by the cannons behind your wall. This can be difficult though if the zerg already has a large group of zerglings that can force a cancel before they take too much damage from the cannons behind your wall. Either way, meanwhile you should be going mass zealots in response. If you think you can finish your warpgate tech before your cy core (which normally is part of your wall) goes down to spines, by all means chrono it out. Otherwise you'll just have to use chronos on your gateways. Since this is pretty much an all-in by the zerg, don't forget to stop probe production for more resources to make additional gateways/zealots/cannons. I should also note commons responses that may seem more intuitive but actually don't consistently work as well. Hydra Nydus Crank vs SuHoShin on Daybreak from GSL Vampire vs SuHoShin on Daybreak from GSLLing Nydus Life vs Vines on Atlantis Spaceship from GSLLing/Baneling Drop all-in Dimaga games ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/gatewayopenings.png) topIntroduction
MC vs Jaedong on Whirlwind from GSL, 1 gate fe into 4 gate push Squirtle vs Sniper on Whirlwind from GSL, 1 gate fe into 5 gate sentry based push Seed vs Symbol on Daybreak from GSL, 1 gate fe into robo twilight macro gameThere are two Gateway openings in PvZ, the 3 Gate Expand and the 1 Gate Fast Expand. There are other variations such as the 2 Gate Forge, though these are non-standard and will not be covered. Gateway expands are for the most part deprecated from modern play as of the time of writing this guide, however they can be useful to occasionally know how to execute. These openings are actually standard versus random players, as there isn’t really an ability for FFE playing a random Zerg. 3 Gate FE Opening Order: Seed vs Curious on Daybreak GSL season 3 2012 Ro32 Pros/Cons
Sample Expansion Build
Early Pools
MC vs. Idra on Xel’Naga Caverns from Dreamhack Stockholm 2011 InvitationalAgainst pools of later nature such a drastic measure as destroying your own Pylon should be avoided if possible. Walling with a Pylon and destroying the Pylon shortly after with pools as late as on 10 supply can be useful, simply because scouting info was limited the ability to chrono a Zealot may not be available. However with any pool after 7 supply, you should be able to simply Chronoboost units out of your single Gateway and fend off the aggression perfectly fine. [REPLAY] - Sentry/Zealot FF micro against Lings on wallThree Gate FE vs Early Lings: With a 3 Gate Expansion, early lings (a 14 pool or later) are very easy to deal with. Keep your Sentries near your ramp while you take your Nexus in order to avoid a Ling surround. Place a Forge on the low ground to help create a wall from your ramp to your Nexus. Using a simple wall and Sentries you should be able to survive from near-infinite amounts of Speedlings, and even Banelings. Just practice your Force Field micro, and make sure to have a cannon! [REPLAY] - A couple replays on simple standard 3 Gate Expands surviving some early aggressionOne Gate FE vs Early Lings: The 1 Gate FE rose out of the realization that with proper sim-cities, early aggressive lings can be thwarted without the early second and third Gateway from the 3 Gate Expansion. In trade for these two Gates, a faster Nexus can be achieved utilizing interesting sim-cities and choke utilization. MC standardized the 1 Zealot 2 Sentry 1 Gate FE, which uses the bottom of the ramp and a single Pylon as a small ramp Sim-City. Pylon on Low Ground and Other Sim Cities: There are two different sim-cities that need to be known. The first is the Pylon on low ground. This Pylon is on the low ground at a slightly unusual time; it's early, before your Zealot even finishes. What if lings attack it? You want lings to attack it. Observe the following pictures: ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/J69Uz.png) ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/fEig6.png) These two sim-cities will prevent lings from running up your ramp! Since your first Stalker is Chrono'd it will arrive in time to chase lings away with ease. Once you pull your Stalker and Zealot back in time to defend against speedlings (more on this further down), you can put a probe on hold in front of your Stalker to cut it's surface area down, and a Sentry will be just about to finish! This sim-city is perfect for just before or just as the Nexus is placed. Next is the Gateway placement. Observe: ![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/IQ35M.png) This sort of Gateway placement allows your Sentries early game to be in range of your ramp in the event of an attempted ling run-by, but more importantly protects your units from a ling surround while being in range of the ramp and Probes. There should be one tile of space between your two gateways. It should be noted that this setup is great for Xel'Naga caverns, but for Shattered Temple you should have that single tile of space between the second Gateway and the Nexus. Your Zealot is covering the front, and a poor player a-moving their lings at your natural will be frustrated as all their lings dance in front of the two Gateways. A single well-placed Force Field will also do the trick in stopping all ling movements around the Nexus through the mineral fields. It should be noted that after you get 4-5 Sentries + whatever else you warped in, you should move your army into position in your Probe line, or wall entrance such that you won't lose any probes to a quick harass of lings, or fast banelings. First Zealot and Stalker: You need to know when to return to your Natural Expansion. Speedlings are the real danger. A Zerg opponent can have ling speed finished, at the fastest, 3 minutes and 15 seconds after their first Extractor is placed. Knowing this, you can know when your opponent cannot have Ling Speed. You need to be back before this time hits! If you lose your first Stalker (the Zealot is probably okay to lose, but you really shouldn't unless you get into their natural) it's basically going to be game over. Most of the time your opponent should do a speedling expand with 14 Extractor and 14 Pool. If this is the case speed will be done around 5 minutes 15 seconds. If you see no Extractors anywhere, Chrono out more Stalkers from your first Gateway instead of Sentries and keep up the Stalker aggression. Defending all-ins
On maps like Antiga and Shakuras earlier third base or fast Tech can be opted for off of just 3 Gateways due to the narrow choke protecting me from Allins. This is something to consider. On maps with a wider natural such as Xel'Naga you will likely need to opt for more Gateways before anything if your opponent is not taking their third base. In order to tell if the opponent is going to all-in you or not, the best way is to get fast Hallucination and look for a third base. No third base means they are making units. If you feel confident, you can scout around the map with a probe or lone Zealot movements in search of a third base -this cuts the cost of Hallucination granting you 100 Vespene leave. Checking for Third Hatch and Gas Timings When checking for aggression or an allin, you should note in the early game before speed how many extractors the opponent has. More than one most certainly means some sort of non-standard build. Vespene can be used on fast Lair, and/or Roaches. The next most important thing to check is for the presence of a third Hatchery. If a third hatchery is laid down during the Mid-Game, there’s very unlikely going to be a 2 base allin coming your way. Take advantage of this and either tech or secure more resources. Roach/Ling Roach Ling allins are defended by having a proper sim-city along with proper macro. Having strong building placement allows for good engagements (see above pictures). Extra cannons and Gateways along with good Force Fields will secure a win in most scenarios as a strongly defended allin will leave a Zerg player in a poor position economically. It’s important to have you Stalkers firing at Roaches, and to conserve Force Fields. Don’t try to take on 5 Roaches attacking your Gateways if you don’t have any Stalkers. Your Force Fields will be wasted as Sentries take forever to kill Roaches, and speedlings will promptly engage your Sentries anyway. Ling/Baneling In defending Ling/Baneling, there isn’t much to it. You simply need a good number of cannons, Zealots and Sentries along with a Proper Sim-City and good Force Field usage, with emphasis on the Force Field usage. Strong Force Fields will secure your victory. It is most dangerous to play against a 2 base ling/baneling allin if you opt for very fast tech, perhaps a Voidray as Stargate and Robo tech help very little in the event of many cheap lings and banelings. http://drop.sc/packs/391 (3 Replays)![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/otheronebase.png) topFour Gate Three Gate Stalker Aggression
someone vs Nestea on Antiga from GSL MC v Stephano on ? from IPL Challenge One Base Robo all-in
Two Gate Stargate Expand
Blink Stalker all-in Dark Templar Expand
![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/gatenexforge.png) top Naniwa vs. DongRaeGu on Whilwind Naniwa vs Sniper on Antiga Shipyard from GSL, Naniwa loses, but he shows a good openingIntroduction, Pros/Cons
An early Gateway provides Zealots, which can fill the role of the stationary cannon. However Zealots can also do more; they walk around. It sounds like some so simple that everyone would simply overlook this fact: Zealots can walk in the early game. This alone provides the ability to attack the opponent in a way that Cannons just cannot. For example, you can Chrono out a few Zealots in reaction to the absence of scouting lings or pool, and then waltz into a mineral line shortly thereafter. You can also simply take a Zealot and place it into a position that would be uncomfortable for a Zerg opponent, such as denying a scouting tower thus disrupting a Zerg’s habitual pylon/probe scouting during the early game (as most Zergs would leave a single Ling on the tower, while three others scout the map skirts). Lastly, an early Gateway provides the option to tech to Core at times that aren’t really plausible with a Forge first. The Cybernetics core opens up early WarpGate timings, Stalker timings, and provides Sentries as well. All of these tools can be accessible in ways a FFE cannot provide, allowing for great diversity in early game nuances. Early Game Nuances
Usually the Protoss will require only a single Zealot in the early game, as the opposing Zerg will only construct four lings. In order to stay on a single Zealot (and funnel the cost of subsequent Zealot towards other things, like Probes or tech), the Protoss must know that no more lings are in the vicinity. Often times scouting with a probe as the first Zealot finishes is sufficient. For example, a Zerg will take a third Hatchery and chase away a Probe with four Lings, as the Probe heads back to the Protoss Nat. This isn’t a dangerous situation for the Protoss, so long as there aren’t two or more Lings behind the initial four. To check this, the Probe must dart around the 4 Lings heading towards the Nat at a time when more Lings would be dangerously close behind. If more Lings are spotted, an additional Zealot can be Chrono-boosted. This sort of reactive play is essential for capitalizing on the flexibility of the opening. These gives life to the mantra: with great flexibility comes great responsibility. Often times when mid-tier or low level players attempt the Gateway Nexus opening, they simply die to Lings in the early game. They construct a single Zealot, do no active Scouting or critical thinking, and then become overrun by six Zerglings and lose the game. You must realize that this opening takes practice and thought to execute. Early Pools
6 Pool To defend a six pool with Gateway first (13 Gateway) you must pull all probes except for about 6-8 that are left mining. These probes are only going to be buying time for your Zealot to finish constructing (which should be being Chronoboosted). The probes need to engage Zerglings as Zerglings engage your Pylons. Once the Zerglings engage your Probes, pull them away before you lose any. You’re buying time for this Zealot to finish, and once finished you can freely engage the Lings as long as Ling reinforcements are not on the way, so long as you keep a buffer of Probes around the Zealot so it cannot be surrounded. If the Zerg continues Ling production, you simply continue Chronoboosting your Gateway and making additional Pylons as necessary. Eventually you’ll have more and more Zealots, and can place some of your combat Probes back onto your mineral line; this is essentially ensuring victory, as the opponent will not be able to Drone and make many Lings at the same time. Once you feel like your Zealot count is high enough, press the Lings away and do whatever you like. Take a Nexus, 4 Gate, anything will work. If the Zerglings run into your main (instead of engaging Pylons) you should be able to easily micro and surround the Lings and avoid losing a single Probe. If you cannot do this, read the next paragraph, if you can do this then skip it. Lings in the Minerals Whenever Zerglings enter your mineral line in the early game, it’s really quite easy to handle. Select all probes (don’t leave them at your Nat defending Pylons if there’s no Lings down there) and right click on a mineral patch to mineral-walk through the Lings. This is to surround them. If the opponent lets you do this, then you’ve won the game! As Probes lose shields, select them and mineral walk them out to the edge of your Probe ball. Doing this will ensure you take no Probe losses during the engagement. Often times a Probe surround won’t be realistic when facing a strong opponent, though engaging may still be necessary. Simply engage with a good amount of Probes, but don’t chase! When a the front line of Probes lose their shields, mineral walk them back like they are Blink Stalkers. Never leave the area between the Minerals and Nexus! Chasing lings around will lose mining time, you only need to engage if the Lings engage you. Early Pools that are not 6 Pool Other early pools, like 10 Pool, are handled in the same way, except you have to pull your Probes later. Against a 10 Pool you’ll have to buy less time, and your first Zealot will come out much quicker. Simply follow the instructions of the 6 Pool section, but be more mindful of returning Probes to your mineral line as necessary; a 10 pool is much stronger economically, and needs to be treated as such. Gateway in Main
 However it should be noted that the Nexus in the Natural will be much more open, due to the lack of two Pylons and a Gateway to provide a wall from ramp to Nexus. Flexibility
Starting with the earliest point in the game: Zealots. Zealots off of a single Gateway can walk, as mentioned in the introduction to Gateway Nexus. This provides the ability to attack the Zerg’s mineral line, if the opportunity arises. With a single Zealot a Protoss can actually punish a Zerg player for only making two Zerglings in the early game. The Zealot can walk into the opponent’s Nat and attack Drones. The Drones will be forced to either engage or run away, both of which disrupt the Zerg’s income. Note: this should happen before two Queens are present, and if there is a single Queen it’ll likely be just finishing in the Main. The Gateway also allows for small squads of Zealots to be built in the early game, perhaps 2-4, and can disrupt a Zerg’s early game greatly given poor scouting by the Zerg opponent. For example, the Protoss can go: Gateway, Nexus, Forge, followed by Zealots. The Zealots can act as an escort for a Probe in which to cannon the Zerg’s third base. The Gateway allows for this opportunity to exist in ways that a traditional FFE cannot. Additionally, a small Zealot squad can attack the Zerg while a Sentry is being constructed back at the Nat, thus providing a defense against potential Ling counters. Similarly, two Zealots and a Stalker are wildly efficient at escorting a Probe to place down proxy Pylons, thus allowing fast 3-4 Wargpate attacks to hit at odd times. Two Zealots and a Stalker are also very great at killing off a Queen and a couple Lings, and as such will force a few more Lings onto the field, whereas the Protoss will not be cutting a single Probe -- this is not possible with a traditional FFE. A Protoss can also get a Forge after the Nexus, and the end-result will be the exact same as a traditional FFE, except the ordering of the Cannons/Forge/Gateway are all slightly different. This allows for Cannons to be on the field at any time a FFE would allow, in terms of defending against Roach-Ling allins. However, the ability to discern a Roach/Ling allin is required for a Protoss to actually take advantage of such flexibility. Due to these wide range of possibilities, it suddenly becomes much more difficult for a Zerg player to accurately predict what will happen once the first Stalker is in the Protoss base to shoo away Overlords. This means that a Zerg player will suddenly be required to start mining Vespene before taking a third base, in order to be able to fend of a 4 Gate timing. A Zerg player will likely have to cut small amounts of mineral income in the early game when faced with a Gateway Nexus opening, than compared to a situation that arises from a FFE opening. Follow-ups: Fast Warpgate Pressure (Warpgate all-in) Standard Play as if Progressing from FFE
Gateway Nexus openings are openings that are very strong vs early pools, however they can be a bit tedious if the Zerg opponent has good Zergling control. The idea of Gateway Nexus openings is to cut the early Cannon and Forge in trade for a Zealot or two in the early game. These Zealots have more utility than a Cannon due to mobility, and the Gateway grants access to fast tech via the Cybernetics Core. Gateway Nexus openings are largely un-explored and so only a mention of them will be present in this guide. For reference see Socke at MLG: - Note, Socke’s execution was quite lack-luster The point of Gate Nex Forge openings is to utilize the mobility of a Zealot and perhaps kill a Drone, or force a few more Lings in the early game. Maintaining constant Probe production is also one of the points of using a Gate Nexus Forge opening. Often times when a Zerg opponent is unfamiliar with a Gate Nexus Forge opening, it can result in a Probe to Drone discrepancy of anywhere from 2-10 workers. Here’s a general guideline for the opening: ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/earlygamet.png) ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/commonfollowupsffe.png) topStargate, Follow-ups
Brown vs Lucky on Dual Sight from GSL Younghwa vs Sheth on Daybreak from HSC V MC vs Stephano on Ohana from NASL 3 finals, into a warp prism all-inVariations of Four Gate, Robo MC standard build(Stargate into 4 gate into robo) MC vs Stephano on Daybreak from NASL 3 finals, vs roach pressure into roach dropCreator vs Sniper on Daybreak from TSL4 Qualifiers Rain vs DRG on Entombed Valley from Auction OSL-no voidray, into 3 base push Hero standard build(Stargate into robo into 4 gate) Hero vs Stephano on Metropolis from EGMC Hero vs Stephano on Entombed Valley from EGMC Tear vs Curious on Ohana from GSTL-Fast phoenix into colossi Hero vs Cytoplasm on Daybreak from MLG Summer Arena, vs light Roach/Ling pressure into roach/ling/infestor play Puzzle vs Ret on Daybreak from NASL 3 finals Hero vs Stephano on Daybreak from NASL 3 finals, into 3 base push vs fast hive Alicia vs Ret on Daybreak from NASL 3 finals, into macro play vs fast hive Hero vs Soulkey on Cloud Kingdom from WCS Korea, vs fast hive Rain vs horror on Ohana from WCS Korea Seed vs Symbol on Daybreak Set 1 from GSL, into 4 colossi push Younghwa vs Miya on Whirlwind from GSTL, from a cannon rushSeven Gate all-in Squirtle vs Ret on Cloud Kingdom from Red Bull Battlegrounds-Squirtle doesn’t kill Ret with the all-in, but gets in a decent position and wins in the eventual macro game. Parting vs Yugioh on Metropolis from GSL-straight forward push that wins the game Parting vs Yugioh on Ohana from GSL-Parting gets a huge advantage from the first push and it turns into a drawn-out game, but Parting gets overconfident and eventually loses, because he refused to tech. Squirtle vs Coca on Daybreak from IPL Fight Club Alicia vs Ret on Dual Sight from NASL 3 finalsTemplar Replay/Vod: MC vs DRG on Cloud Kingdom from some MLG The Stargate into Templar build was heavily used by Hero and he used it exclusively in every game on Talderim. His previous teammate, MC, also employed it heavily on many maps. This build previously only worked on extremely large maps where it’s hard to pressure with roaches or hydra. However, with innovations like the Stephano Roach max, this style is no longer viable on most maps. Colossus all-in Seed vs Curious on Whirlwind from GSL Squirtle vs Symbol on Whirlwind from GSLRobotics Bay
San vs Life on Ohana from GSTL San vs Line on Atlantis Spaceship from GSTL Inside-outside Parting vs Symbol on Entombed Valley from GSL Warp Prism Cannon Rush Crank vs Sniper on Metropolis from GSTL Gets a lead from the opening, but then bungles up the following attack Warp prism harass into third base Hero vs Violet on Metropolis from MLG Summer Arena, standard light warp prism harassment Seed vs Life on Antiga Shipyard from GSL, warp prism harass into robo twilight play Hero vs Leenock on Cloud Kingdom from GSL, vs roach/ling/mutaColossus Play Huk vs Stephano on Antiga Shipyards from Dreamhack Immortal Expand Puzzle vs True on Cloud Kingdom from GSLSeed vs Zenio on Atlantis Spaceship from GSL Puzzle vs Seal on something from GSTL JYP vs Dimaga on Daybreak from Dreamhack Summer Sase games from MLG Spring Sase vs Dimaga on Metropolis from HSC V Sase vs Dimaga on Ohana from HSC V MC vs DRG on Ohana from GSL Hero vs Effort oh Daybreak from GSL, robo into 4 gate into expand into robo vs roach/ling/infestor Parting vs Leenock on Cloud Kingdom from GSL, robo twilight into 4 gate into expandGateway Twilight Robo Expand
Parting vs Symbol on Daybreak from GSL Oz vs JKS on Metropolis from GSL, 4 gate, twilight, robo, expand Oz vs JKS on Entombed Valley from GSL, 4 gate, twilight, robo, expand Oz vs Violet on Cloud Kingdom from MLG Sumemr Arena, 4 gate, twilight, robo, expand, vs roach/ling heavy pressure into infestors Oz vs Stephano on Entombed Valley from MLG Summer Arena, 4 gate, twilight, robo, expand Creator vs Idra on Ohana from IPL TAC 4, gate, twilight, robo, expand Squirtle vs Hyun on Metropolis from IPL Fight Club, 4 gate, twilight, robo, expandFast Third Base JYP vs Miya on Atlantis Spaceship from GSL Sase vs Dimaga on Entombed Valley from HSC V Oz vs Violet on Daybreak from MLG Summer Arena, into fast stargate vs roach/ling/infestor Oz vs Stephano on Daybreak from MLG Summer Arena, into fast stargate, shows excellent defense versus fast speedlings Hero vs Effort on Entombed Valley from WCS Korea, into 7 gate all-in, hits at 10:00 Seed vs Ret on Entombed Valley from WCS Korea, into 8 gate blink stalker +2 timing-no time Seed vs Symbol on Entombed Valley from GSL, into 8 gate blink stalker +2 timing at 11:30 Younghwa vs Dark on Entombed Valley from GSTL, into 8 gate blink stalker +2 timing at 10:30+1 Four Gate Pressure, Follow-ups
MC vs Violet on Daybreak from HSC The theory behind this build is that Zergs don’t often suspect an all-in followup as it is uncommon. If the Zerg neglects to scout after he reaches lair, he might go back to droning instead of preparing for the all-in. Blink Stalker all-in MC vs Violet on Metropolis from something MC vs TLO on Daybreak from HSC V Seven Gate with Immortals Dark Templar MC vs Idra/Ret on Shak from early tournament MC vs Dimaga on Cloud Kingdom from HSC VMC vs Ret on Cloud Kingdom from HSC V MC vs Stephano on Belshir Beach from NASL 3 finals, shows how much damage you have to doRobotics Based Macro Play Younghwa vs Sheth on Cloud Kingdom from HSC V, with Warp Prism and twilight First vs Zenio on Entombed Valley from IPL TAC3 finals, stalkers as first warp-in Babyknight vs Ret on Ohana from WCS Europe Babyknight vs Vortix on Cloud Kingdom from WCS Europe![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/commonallinfollowupsffe.png) topZealot/Stalker Gateway All-in
Vines vs Lucky? on Antiga Shipyards from GSL Puzzle vs Seal on Atlantis Spaceship from GSLGrubby vs Nerchio on Ohana from WCS Europe, 8 gate with +1/+1 Without +1 MC vs Stephano on Ohana from Red Bull Battlegrounds MC vs Golden on Atlantis Spaceship from HSC V Immortal/Sentry All-in
Parting games vs Ret from Red Bull Battlegrounds Alicia vs Ret on Bel'Shir Beach from NASL 3 finalsMana games vs Stephano Squirtle vs Coca on Metropolis from IPL Fight Club Hero vs Symbol on Antiga Shipyard from GSL, goes into long macro game Vampire vs Yugioh on Antiga Shipyard from GSL vs ling/infestor finale vs Jaedong on Abyssal City from GSL finale vs Jaedong on Ohana from GSLZealot/Stalker/Sentry Gateway all-in Blink Stalker All-in Squirtle vs Symbol on Daybreak from GSL, Delayed push with nexus cancel Oz vs Stephano vs Metropolis from MLG Summer Arena, with sentires, absues map Squirtle vs Symbol on Atlantis Spaceship from IPL TAC, without sentries CJHero vs Effort on Ohana from WCS Korea, without sentries Parting vs Leenock on Daybreak from GSL, without sentries, with nexus cancelColossus all-in (Two Base Turtle Vairant)
See this thread for more information on the 2 base turtle variant of the 2 base colossi all-in. Unlike a traditional all-in versus zerg that pushes as soon as possible with optimal saturation, this style is meant to blind counter the Stephano style of maxing roaches to defend all-ins. Stephano usually beats all-ins by engaging them as they move out, trading his roaches for army, then crushing the all-in with a re-max at the Zerg base. Usually with a 2 base all-in, you will move out around the 10 minute mark at the latest, maybe a bit later if you're doing a normal delayed colossi all-in. However, this build vigorously tries to deny overlord scouting and tries to really turtle and move out much later, only when you can trade extremely efficiently versus a zerg who's maxed on only roach ling. Then, you'll be able to defeat the re-max as well, being that the zerg only stayed on 65 drones and 4 gas. As this build is a blind all-in, your opponent easily beat it by scouting or not going for the Stephano Style roach defense. Either blind or reactionary mass early muta or roach corruptor can defeat this easily. ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/lesscommonfollowups.png) topDark Templar
Double Stargate
Hero vs DRG on Metropolis from IPL Hot Import Nights Showmatch MC vs Dimaga on Ohana from HSC V, shows good defense by Dimaga but then a bad follow-up.Gateway Pressure into Third
With immortals-Puzzle vs Lucky, Squirtle vs Nestea MC vs Stephano on Cloud Kingdom from IPL Arena ChallengeSentry Ramp Blocking from Robo, Stargate into Robo, or as an Elevator
Stargate into Prism Drop-Hero vs Idra on Shakruas somewhere Elevator-MC vs DRG on Daybreak from MLG Spring Arena I Set 1 Popularized by Hero, this strategy involves getting a warp prism inside your opponent’s base and force fielding his ramp so reinforcements can’t get up the ramp. If you get the forcefield off, your opponent will probably lose his main hatch, catapulting you into an extremely favorable situation. Blink Stalker/Warp Prism Sentry Block all-in JYP vs Miya on Metropolis from GSLProxy Robo Dark Templar Drop
Proxy a robotic facility, drop 4 dark templar, and warp in more to snipe the lair. This is very gimmicky. Double Robo all-in
Sase vs Shelth on Daybreak from Redbull Battlegrounds The double robo all-in can do fairly well versus any type of roach defenses. Be wary of flanks, as you don’t have many forcefields. Mutas can be autowin versus this Zealot/Archon all-in
Mana vs Dimaga on Antiga Shipyards from Dreamhack Summer Two Stargate Macro Play
Someone vs someone on Ohana from Proleague ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/midgame.png) ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/scouting.png) top![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/twobaseplayzerg.png) topMutalisk
Two base muta Like any 2 base zerg strategy, the most difficult part about playing against it is scouting it and identifying exactly what tech they're going for. In general, you use probe scouts to identify 2 base play by a lack of a 3rd base, then you use your first few gateway units (zealot, zealot/stalker, or 2 zealots) to differentiate 2 base lair versus 2 base all-in play, and finally you use your cyber core tech (phoenix from stargate, obs from robo, or 7:30-8:00 zealot warp in from warpgate tech) to figure our exactly what the lair tech is. See the earlier section on playing against 2 base play for more info on scouting. As soon as you confirm that 2 base mutas are coming, defending against them is no different than defending against 3 base muta or any other muta play. Simply get a cannon or 2 in each mineral line and tech to blink asap. If you opened stargate then keep getting phoenix to help shut down the mutas, but do not try to reactively make phoenix if you don't already have a stargate. The majority of 2 base muta openers are geared towards setting up for a macro game, so expect the zerg to expand behind it. You should also plan accordingly, and take your own 3rd as early as possible. The later you wait to take your 3rd, the more difficult it will be due to the increasing size of the muta ball. See the section on playing against mutas for more info on fighting mutas as the game goes on. Infestors
There are two ways this zerg opener can go - it can either lead to a timing with an infestor/ling attack, or it can lead to a 3rd and standard macro play. The best response against infestor/ling is to get colossus asap with mass zealot support. Keep your sentry and stalker counts low since they are not very effective against infestor/ling. Upgrades will also help immensely against this composition. Eventually you'll also want blink stalkers but don't let your progress towards this tech path delay your colossus. Keep an eye out on the zerg - if you see him transitioning towards a standard game by getting a 3rd, you should follow suit as soon as you get colossi out on the field. Note that as an alternative to colossus, zealot/archon also works extremely well against infestor/ling. The only caution I have against zealot/archon is that if the zerg doesn't attack and instead gets a 3rd, turtles up, and transitions to roach/infestor, your zealot/archon composition will get countered hard by the roaches and it's much more difficult for you to switch out of that comp. You can consider going zealot/archon and going for a 2 base zealot/archon attack if you already have a council by the time you scouted the infestors (for example if you did a stargate into blink opener, or a dt opener), but if you had the choice between archons or colossus, colossus is definitely the safer choice. Seed vs Suhosin on Daybreak from GSL, shows a safe reaction versus 2 base play, which turns out to be infestors.Delayed Third from Zerg/Other two base into macro play
![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/takingthird.png) top
Stephano Style Roaches This strategy revolves around denying the Protoss third. In much of early 2012, Protoss macro play had to be revolutionized to account for this build. Any build must specifically prepare for this style to have a chance against it. Because of this, many modern macro PvZ builds have begun to include immortals. See the Stephano Style Roach section for more information. Mutalisks Mutas are special, because they warrant a much different response than every other build. Your build must either apply pressure to delay mutas or have an easily accessible counter to mutas, such as a fast twilight or phoenix already on the field. See the muta section for more information. For reference, the standard third base expansion timing in PvZ is between 9:00 and 10:30. Anything earlier is considered slightly risky, depending on the build, and anything later is considered late and will fall behind the Zerg. ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/colossusvstemplar.png) top
Colossus ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/tempo.png) top
For example, if your opponent is getting a spire, prepare for potential mutalisks. Eventually, mutas will show up at your base, and you’re not close to a counter, you have lost the tempo and will be forced to wait begrudgingly in your base until you reach that counter. Meanwhile, your opponent can get free econ and tech up to something like mass broodlords. Again, you will not be able to attack at all until you reach the appropriate counter, the mothership, which takes forever to build. For this reason, you should almost never aim for both templar and colossi in the mid-game as Protoss. These two units fulfill similar roles in your army as both can deal with low tier Zerg ground units fairly well. However, if you attempt to get both while your opponent goes for broodlords, you will not have enough resources to successfully get a mothership in time. Only when you somehow know your opponent will be sticking to lair tech should you delay the inevitable mothership for the other AoE tech. The key to keeping tempo is scouting and anticipating what your opponent is going to make. As you play more games and gain more experience, you will be able to learn the flow of the game and choose a tech path that accounts for all of your opponents’ tech possibilities. ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/zergstrategies.png) topIntroduction/Zerg Mentality
Efficient Army Trading The Zerg army, supply for supply, is weaker than yours until broodlords come out. Thus, if Zerg chooses this type of strategy, which includes the majority of all Zerg strategies, he will be trying to throw his economy at you, trying to hit you while they are maxed or close to maxed and you are still hovering between 120 and 150 supply. They hope to trade at least somewhat efficiently so that you can never max out with a deathball that can 1a over them. This style wins by either overwhelming you with hordes of units, or doing enough damage so that it’s not viable for you to push out and kill them while they’re investing money into hive tech, usually broodlords. Examples of this strategy include: Your goal versus these types of strategies should be to hunker down and take the brunt of their attacks. Do not feel pressured to commit to an attack until you are close to maxed as it is your opponents’ job to trade armies with you, not vice versa.Your priority should be to trade as efficiently as possible versus the Zerg when he inevitably tries to attack. One way to do this is to take defensive positions such as forming a concave in the location your Zerg opponent is poised to attack from. Especially attempt to save your key units(sentries, immortals, colossi, templar) so that when you rebuild whatever your opponent has killed, your army will be even stronger. If you indeed get get to a maxed army with a good composition (sentries, immortals, colossi, templar heavy) and decent upgrades, and your opponent does not high level tech in the form of a large amount of infestor/broodlords, go for the push, and it should be an easy win. This will happen when the Zerg doesn’t manage to do with enough damage with his pushes or if he’s overly passive, trying for a misguided late tech to broodlords. Harass With this strategy, the Zerg tries to pin you down in your base, threatening base trades. This is usually done with muta, but can also be accomplished with multi-prong attack and drops. The Zerg usually tries to out multi-task you and do enough damage to your infrastructure until you give up and are forced to base trade or they delay enough to get higher tech. Your goal should be to turtle while focusing on not taking damage from the harass. As with Terran drops, the most important thing you can do versus this harass is vision. If you know where the harass is most likely coming from, you’ll be able to position your army accordingly to intercept the harass. However, unlike with Terran, spotter pylons and taking xelnaga towers don’t work so well and you’ll most likely have to rely on obs for most of your spotting purposes. Fast Infestor Broodlord This strategy attempts to get the ultimate Zerg composition asap. Don’t expect much if any pressure early on and prepare for the late game More on this later. Specific Styles/Openings Roach-Based Pressure Openings
The Stephano Style Roach Max is an extremely specific build. Since early 2012, Stephano's 11-12 minute roach max has been the central focus of PvZ and every Protoss build has to be built around how to deal with this style. Two of the best zergs in the world, Stephano and DRG, almost exclusive employ one form or another of this build and it is largely because of this standardized build that they hold much more ZvP success than any other Zerg in the world. The build consists of 2 parts: As the Stephano Style of Roach Max is the earliest hitting and hardest hitting style of Roach “Pressure”, it is the hardest to defend. Thus, all the tips provided to defend against the Stephano Style can be effectively applied to any other type of roach pressure. The key problem you will have to deal with against any roach aggression is securing a third base. The average Protoss third base goes down between 8 and 11 minutes, while the roach attack can start hitting around 11 minutes. Thus, your third base won’t have kicked in much in time, and you’ll have to rely on essentially a two base economy to withstand the initial blow. The following are some things to focus on against the Stephano Roach style. Scouting: Refer to the mid game scouting section for more information on this. The faster you can identify that mass roaches will be coming, the faster you can gear your build towards specifcally dealing with them. Sim City: When you can put gateways in sim city, you should; they work just as well, if not better than depots as blockers. In many cases, you can make gateways just to sim city even if you don't need them for protection as they can be more useful in defense than cannons or stalkers for the same price. Over the past few months, sim cities have become much more standardized. For example, on Cloud Kingdom, it’s become common to wall off the ramp at your natural. On Daybreak, you’ll generally find walls connecting your third nexus to the edge near your fourth. It’s recommended that you watch some recent professional games to find some optimal sim cities on certain maps. Cannons: Especially behind sim city, roaches cannot focus fire cannons well. Cannon and sentry combos are generally a more efficient use of minerals/gas for defense than pure stalkers. This, of course, does not mean you can mass cannons. Cannons, after all, cannot bounce back a forth between bases and Sentries/Forcefields: Good forcefield usage is one of the, if not the most important aspects of roach defense. This is just something most Protoss have to work on. Sim city also lessens the amount of forcefields you have to use. It’s also generally more efficient to use forcefields to trap and kill roaches instead of just delaying and blocking roaches out of your base. One innovation seen mostly in PvT, but also PvZ, is getting faster but fewer sentries. Because sentries hardly do damage, getting 6 sentries early on can equate to the same number of forcefields as 10 sentries later on. Macro: Your opponent has an efficient macro build, that with decent macro, maxes between 11 and 12 minutes; you should have good macro build as well, backed by sufficient macro. A good macro build gets your 3rd as fast as possible so that when the roaches do hit, you have the economy to back up your defense. It should also end up with the correct types of units with which you can defend a potential roach attack. Some good builds have been suggested in the previous section. Finally, spending all your money, especially under roach pressure, is just mechanics. Unit Composition: Sentries are the most important units by far. Voidrays can work, especially when backed up by sim city/forcefieds to allow them to charge; modern Protosses who rely on voidrays to hold off attacks usually get 2. Immortals also obviously work and are the best unit you can make vs roaches. Blink stalkers, on the other hand, aren't as helpful if you're relying on primarily sim city/forcefields/cannons to defend. This doesn't mean they're bad, as you usually need them to defend possible mutalisks if you didn't open stargate. Colossi are generally a terrible choice, as they cost a lot, their tech costs a lot, and they build very slowly. Army Splitting: As you're defending 2 positions, you will need to split your army into 2 parts. There are a few things you can do to more efficiently and correctly place your troops. First is scouting. An observer/voidray/phoenix/hallucination in the area outside your base between your natural and third allows you to devote the proper number of units to each of your two vulnerable bases. Your sim city also allows you to delay the roaches, allowing you to reposition your army. Transitioning: The first sign that your opponent is backing off is when you see him taking additional gas. As soon as you see your opponent taking additional gas(5th and 6th), his mindset has switched from relentless attacking into teching. You will know the pressure has subsided for now, so you can begin to opt for your next transition, either templar archives, robo bay, or more gateways for a big push. One ray of light against this build is that if your opponent commits a lot and you defend it well, you will almost always be able to go for a push shortly after to take the game with a stalker/immortal based push. Your opponent will not have the gas count to transition to enough infestor/broodlord to hold off your push. Nor will he have any upgrades past +2 ranged, so his lings will not do well either. The following games demonstrate such successful counter-pushes after holding off a Stephano Style-like Roach Max: Squirtle vs Nestea on Daybreak from IPL4 Puzzle vs True on Cloud Kingdom from GSL Burrow/Tunneling Claws Roach Max This is similar to the Stephano Roach Max, except it maxes slightly slower in favor of burrow and tunneling claws. Prepare in the same way. Tunneling claws and burrow is a huge investment, so you know your opponent will be committing to roach play for a very long time; prepare accordingly by committing a similar amount of resources into roach defense and countermeasures. Roach Pressure into Roach/Zergling/Mutalisk Puzzle vs Lucky on Daybreak from GSTL Roach pressure builds are very common and can transition into a variety of tech paths. The key to doing well against roach pressure into tech is diverting resources from holding off the roach pressure to teching alongside the Zerg and keeping the tech tempo in your favor. For example, if you scout a spire and anticipate mutas incoming, cut a round of stalker production in favor of getting cannons and templar archives up. If you are unsure of your opponent’s tech switch (generally mutalisks or infestors), templar is a more catchall safer tech switch. If your opponent commits to mutalisks, refer to the mutalisk section, with the knowledge that strong Roach/Zergling/Mutalisk attacks can also come at any time. Roach Pressure into Roach/Zergling/Infestor MC vs Stephano on Daybreak from HSC IV?? MC vs DRG on Ohana from GSL, shows defense into a standard pushThis attempts to do heavy roach pressure and then transition into ling/infestor with a few roaches to counter the immortal heavy composition you will inevitably forced to make. Unlike standard roach/ling infestor this roach pressure into roach/ling/infestor style is usually defensive in nature, only used so the Zerg can survive until he can get broodlords out. Refer to the roach/ling/infestor section or the broodlord section for more information on how to deal with this style. Especially pay attention to the timing pushes subsection in the broodlord section, as if you defended the roach pressure well, your push should have a very high chance of seceding. Roach/Ling Drop Agression
Parting vs Symbol on Daybreak from GSL Squirtle vs Hyun on Metropolis from IPL Fight ClubDrop play, especially only roach/ling drop play, can be hard to spot. Often times, when you don’t see any additional tech besides roach warren Your first clue is speed overlords, as most Zergs will not opt for the overlord speed upgrade without also researching drops at the same time. If you spot overlord speed, it can’t hurt to make one or two cannons at each base just in case. Another hint is the lack of Zerg units compared to what they should have at the time, accounting for the 300/300 resources it takes to research speed/drop. However, at anything below top masters, this isn’t a very good hint as more likely than not, poor macro is to blame for missing resources. Make sure you have good vision of the map, especially the areas surrounding your bases with either observers, hallucination, or air units. If you suspect drops, think about in which directions the drops could possibly come from. For example, on Daybreak, the only possible drop position is from the side of your main base. Place a few cannons in drop positions and position blink stalkers there if you can. Try your best to stop the drops from dropping off their payload, as the resulting attack will be extremely hard to hold off. You probably won’t be able to fight with your entire army, and forcefields will be useless. As soon by Symbol, a common transition from Roach/ling drops, if it doesn’t kill the Protoss, is roach/baneing drops, as you already have the tech for drops. Roach/Hydralisk/Corruptor Puzzle vs True on Atlantis Spaceship from GSLTassadar vs Hyun on Ohana from GSTL Shows some successful roach hydra play: Even though the protoss traded somewhat “efficiently”, he was still caught out of position and lost all his important units(colossi), thus partly contributing to his loss This composition was once the standard, but it has gradually been phased out bit by bit, so much so that there is only perhaps only a small handful games of this strategy employed this year. This is because of map size increases, map configurations that don’t allow for successful frontal attacks, Protoss having gotten very adapt at defending against hydralisks. The first thing to note about this composition is that it will not trade well with an equal supply of Protoss army. Maxed roach/hydra/corruptor will lose brutally to both maxed colossi compositions and maxed templar compositions. Thus, if your opponent is playing this strategy, his goal will be to throw hoards and hoards of Zerg units at you until you eventually collapse. Usually, he will remax with a different composition each time, depending on what units you have. An example of Zerg tactic when using this composition is to attack with an overabundance of corruptors so that he can trade roach/corruptor for colossi. Then, you won’t be able to pressure or attack for a very long time against a re-max that is more ling-hydra heavy. In addition, because of the high gas requirement of both hydralisks and corruptors, transitioning into any type of late-game with a roach-hydra army is extremely difficult. Infestor/broodlord requires a lot of additional tech/gas and anything involving ultralisks is not viable for a myriad of reasons(lack of upgrades/synergy/tech requirement/gas requirement). Because of this, a roach/hydra/corruptor tech choice by the Zerg is a rather large commitment, and your opponent must do significant damage with this composition in order to progress with the game. As this type of play is an example of an Efficient Army Trading Style of Zerg play, refer to that section for more general information and how to generally play against this type of style. Be wary of drop play, especially if you see speed overlords and no spire, as this tactic is fairly common with roach/hydra. The most common transition from roach/hydra play is by far infestor/broodlord. Another choice is adding baneling drops into the composition. Finally, a mutalisk transition is always on the table, if the player has not committed too much into corruptors. Roach/Ling/Infestor
MC vs Sheth on Daybreak from NASL, an example of a passive rendition of this style. Hero vs Effort oh Daybreak from GSL, defend into pre-hive push Rain vs Jaedong on Ohana from WCS Korea, shows a double robo reactionCreator vs Life on Antiga Shipyard from TSL4 Creator vs Life on Cloud Kingdom from TSL4 Seed vs Life on Antiga Shipyard from GSL, shows how saving key units and getting both colossi and storm can wreck lair tech ZergThere exist a number of ways to play a roach/ling/infestor style, all of them characterized by the level of aggression. As a Zerg, you can choose to lean towards ultra aggressive, pushing with swarms of units when you initially max, or you can play more passively, similar to a fast infestor/broodlord rush, but slower and with more potential aggression. The best way to distinguish between the two paths is the hive timing and the existence of a spire. If neither of these exist, look forward to an a huge attack in the near future. The best and most easy way to deal with this composition if your opponent opens with roach/ling/infestor, especially of the aggressive type, is with colossi, as they are Broodlord/infestor is the most common transition Mutalisks are also viable, especially if your opponent feels you’ve made too strong a commitment to colossi. Roach/Baneling Drop
Parting vs Symbol on Entombed Valley from GSL First vs Losira on Daybreak from MLG Summer Arena, shows good splitting versus baneling drops in the last battleIf your opponent chooses this composition, he will be looking to open with roaches but also incorporate baneling drops, which can ignore forcefields and potentially devastate almost any Protoss army. Although harass and multi-pronged drops are definitely worry-some, the main threat of this composition is a frontal attack Any composition involving banelings has the potential to be very volatile; that is, depending on how both players engage, either player could come out of the battle with an overwhelming advantage. The entire Protoss army could be obliterated or Protoss could lose 10 supply while Zerg loses his entire initial army. Use forcefields to block off roaches. Then, your entire army will be able fight the overlords and banelings dropping from the overlords, instead of also having to deal with roaches. Immortals are especially useful against this composition, as they obviously do well versus roaches, but can also take 19 hits from +2 banelings. The most important concept against this strategy is to spread your units to minimize baneling splash damage. Blink your stalkers into a concave. Sometimes, Zerg will add infestors into the mix to pin down your units so that baneling splash damage will be even more effective. Against this, it’s even more important to pre-split your army. As this type of play is an example of an Efficient Army Trading Style of Zerg play, refer to that section for more general information and how to generally play against this type of style. From roach/baneling, infestors are the most common transition in order to keep Protoss units still. Both broodlord and ultralisk transitions are viable in the late game, as unlike most other styles, you’ll have melee upgrades already done in the mid-game. In addition, speedbanes have great synergy extremely well with ultralisks. Zergling/Baneling Play JYP vs Dimaga on Daybreak from Dreamhack Summer, shows a templar response. Tear vs Hyun on Entombed Valley from GSTL, shows how effectively ling/baneling infestor can trade with a stalker/colossi army. Tear eventually does win however, because of his effective opening, effective harass, and effective splitting in the last fight. Sase vs Dimaga on Entombed Valley from HSC V, shows a typical colossi based macro response Sase vs Dimaga on Ohana from HSC V, shows a templar based response*Your opponent will be relying on baneling drops to do most of his damage with lings used to surround and clean up. *Head towards either templar or colossi immediately after you scout this. Regular gateway units will not be able to deal with this effectively. Colossi are better initially in smaller numbers for engagements, but templar allow for some better harass ability. *This is one of the only mid-games for Zerg for which you should be heading towards both templar and colossi. Once you secure three bases and one of these tech paths, immediately begin gunning for the other, especially if your opponent is sticking to mainly lair tech. *Spread out your units in any engagement. Banelings can trade effectively against almost every unit if the units are clumped. *Spread out cannons. You don’t want banelings to do extra splash on your cannons. *Beware of baneling drops on your mineral lines, which can be devastating. Place cannons in the likely drop paths to your mineral lines. Another trick is to place a stalker in the path so that banelings will auto-target the stalkers. *As with the roach/baneling style, Zerg will often add infestors into the mix to pin down your units so that baneling splash damage will be even more effective. Against this, it’s even more important to pre-split your army. *As this type of play is an example of an Efficient Army Trading Style of Zerg play, refer to that section for more general information and how to generally play against this type of style. *This composition can effectively transition into infestors, ultras, or broodlords. As your opponent is transitioning, make sure you get the appropriate counter: Colossi/templar for ling/bling/infestor, a huge archon/templar/immortal/colossi deathball versus ling/bling/ultra, and a mothership versus broodlords. Refer to the appropriate late game sections for more information. Mutalisk
If you want to play a macro build, first you have to make sure your build can handle muta in some way. Many losses to mutas are actually lost before any mutas even pop out. Any build that can potentially hold mutas should include either some type of aggression, a 3rd base already up, or the mean with which to take a relatively fast 3rd base after the mutas come out. Aggression or perceived aggression forces units that are not mutas and will delay the mutas. For example, if you have colossi already out and suspect a muta switch, but are unsure if your opponent is making mutas or corruptors, push out a bit. This will force your opponent to make other units, better at fighting, delaying his mutas. Or it will force him to make corrupters instead; then you can retreat. A 3rd base already up saves you the trouble of taking the 3rd, which is one of the biggest complaints when dealing with muta. The means to take a 3rd, such as blink already finished, accomplishes something similar. Examples of bad builds include sitting on 10 sentries or a blind commitment to colossi versus fast muta. Establishing your Third Against Mutalisk Openings The following is a common frustration: Against Delayed Mutalisks/Transitions to Mutalisk If you suspect a possible mid-game transition to mutalisks, consider pressuring your opponent when you think the mutalisks are about to pop out. This situation occurs most often when you’ve opening colossi. If you allow your opponent to pin you down with 10ish mutas when your tech solely consists of colossi and blink stalkers, it will be a long time before you can sucessfully secure your bases and move out. By that time, Zerg will have all the bases and tech he needs to crush you. Instead, move out as you scout the spire to give yourself more options. Often, your opponent will be forced to make actual fighting units instead of really fast greedy mutalisks. If your opponent makes corruptors, safely retreat home. But if he too greedily makes mutalisks, you have the option to go for the kill. San vs Line on Atlantis Spaceship from GSTL is an example of a successful execution of this concept. Tech Paths Against Fast Mutalisk
There are 2 tech paths that can deal with mutas. The first is a blink stalker into templar with mass cannon defense, which should be your response to mutas in a vast majority of games. Blink stalkers allow you to zone the mutas out and delay for your eventual templar. The templar allow you to leave your base as you can defend bases from mass muta with just 1-2 templar at each base and a bunch of cannons. They also provide the AoE to effectively combat mutas out in the open as well as the means to deal with banelings and infestors. With most builds, this is the tech path you will be choosing. Defending Multiple Bases Against Harass You’ll need a few cannons in each mineral line early on, which will mainly serve to buy you time for your stalkers to get there. I usually get 2 cannons per mineral line, but anywhere from 1-3 should be fine. As the muta ball gets bigger, you will need to start leaving at least a HT in each mining base. Add additional cannons as your excess minerals allow and as you see the muta flock increase in size. Especially leave units that aren’t stalkers in your 3rd, as it is usually the only base that is susceptible to attacks and nexus snipes from a Zerg ground force. Cannon placement is very important against mutas, especially the first few cannons. You want your cannons to do the most work as possible for each 150 minerals you spend. Keep cannons close to each other so that mutas cannot pick them off 1 at a time. Also, build them on the side of your minerals that face the direction mutas will likely come from. For example, if you are at 9 o'clock on shattered and the zerg is at 6, you should place the cannons near the bottom of the mineral patches below your nexus. Screenshot? As with against Terran drops, the most important thing versus muta harass is vision and awareness of where the mutas are and where they can hit. A good piece of advice is to make lots of observers against muta if you already have a robotics to spot where the mutas will be coming from. Spread the observers around the map so that you can detect where the muta ball is at all times and then you’ll have a lot of advance warning where the mutas will strike next, giving you time to move your stalkers in position to defend. It can also be helpful to split your stalkers into 2 separate groups and keep them in separate bases. However, if you get your observer network set up, this isn’t even really necessary. Yes, observers cost quite a bit of gas, but it’s well worth it. You will be utilizing valuable robotics time, which you wouldn’t be using anyways, so that is a non-issue. When to Make Archons As you transition to templar, you will also have archon tech available to you. However, because gas is valuable, 90% of the time, you will want to invest this gas into templar and more stalkers. Archons, in comparison to templar, are worse against both mutas and lings. Archon splash is rather pitiful and can be combated via magic box. Their cooldown is not that great so when the muta flock gets really big archons can be picked off while getting in only 2-3 shots. Meanwhile storm has a much larger radius, a much larger range. Templare are also much more useful in base defense against mutas, as they’re not as big and clumsy as archons and their range is much better for zoning the mutas out of your base. There are three situations when you do want to make archons: Protoss Harassment Against Zerg The strength of muta play is the ability for the Zerg to expand everywhere and keep the Protoss in his base. The Zerg will have map control and he can possibly have overlords spotting every bit of the map in addition to uncontested creep spread if he wants to. As such, harass against mutas can be extremely difficult. Most of the time you’ll have to rely on harass via DTs and/or zealots to try to kill expansions since if you move out with your main army, mutas will just counter into your base as soon as you leave. DTs are also a bit of a gamble since they are a huge gas investment, but can be really effective at taking out expansions. If you get lucky, zerg won’t spot your hidden pylons, but you usually have to sneak a probe out for pylons before the mutas come out. If you use warp prisms, try to make sure the Zerg doesn’t see it by knowing where the mutas are, scouting a clear path with observers, and avoiding watch towers. Attacking/Moving Out One of your main goals against muta is securing your bases well enough so that you can move out. This means a huge number of cannons with spread out templar support at each base. In addition, you will want a large number of gateways to support your push and some templar in your main army for actual combat. I want to emphasise that storm is the key to both attacking and defending as it will provide large amounts of damage and be effective against most Zerg units for little supply. In most cases, you will be close to maxed at this point, but it’s fine to attack earlier if you secured your bases early, you look little to no damage with the initial muta harass, and you don’t see lots of low tech units on the map such as banelings or roaches. Don’t feel pressured to move out too early as it will be risky and you may lose in a base trade. It's perfectly ok if the Zerg takes the entire map and a billion expansions if he can't kill you with your invincible army. Transitioning after Blink Stalker/Templar: Mothership The next step with this tech path is usually mothership. The mothership transition accounts for all possible transitions from mutas and stalker/templar/archon/mothership ball is unbeatable except by a large well-spread group of broodlords covered by infestors. The mothership can either be gotten on 3 base if your opponent is really putting on the pressure with tons of mutas and low tech units or 4+ base if you don’t feel as much pressure. Do not start heading for mothership until you have secured all your bases well and until you have secured a 4th if at all possible versus what your opponent is doing. Also keep in mind that you don’t always have to transition into a mothership. Sometimes, it’s better to stay on gateway/templar/immortal and kill your opponent off. More on this transition can be found in the muta into Zerg transitions section and the dealing with broodlords section. Replays of this Execution: Seed vs Suhoshin on Entombed Valley from GSL shows perfect defense into a push versus mutalisks http://www.gomtv.net/2012gsls4/vod/70579Hero vs Dimaga on Talderim from ?? Naniwa vs someone on Belshir Beach from some GSL thing Seed vs Curious on Entombed Valley from GSL-shows an extremely standard pvz involving mutas into hive play in addition to observer usage to defend against mutas Puzzle vs Leenock on Entombed Valley from TSL4 Qualifers shows perfect reactions and play versus mutas into banelings into broodlords. Option Two: Phoenix with Range: The second option you have versus mutas is a phoenix tech path. Using phoenix to deal with muta can only be done if you have a substantial amount of phoenix already on the field when the mutas pop. Thus, this response to muta can only be done when you have opened stargate and made a few phoenix to harass. Do not try to make reactive stargates and phoenix to counter mutas. It will not work as the muta ball will get too big before you can get substantial phoenix numbers and you’ll take too much damage before your range upgrade is online. As soon as you spot the spire for potential muta, throw down a fleet beacon and get the anion pulse crystals(phoenix range upgrade) while going to around 7-8 phoenix. This allows you enough to deter any phoenix harass. Plant a few cannons at each base, but much fewer than you would with a templar response, as these cannons are just to buy some time for your phoenix to get to whatever base is being attacked by the mutas. Do not be too offensive with the phoenix, especially if you know infestors are out, because if your phoenix are fungaled, it’s pretty much game over. As soon as you have the gas, you’ll want to be shooting for colossi. This may seem counter-intuitive, but colossi are required to deal with any ground force your opponent can muster while your phoenix take care of the mutas. Phoenix + gateway units just aren’t strong enough to deal with lings, banelings, roaches, or hydras. Templar would not be a good complement to phoenix as colossi are. Their strength against mutas is already covered by your phoenix and they take too much gas and don’t do well versus roaches. Late game with phoenix/colossi versus mutas plays much differently than with blink stalker/templar. Play as if you’re using a stalker/colossi ball while using the phoenix as a separate entity to chase down the mutas. Hero vs Curious on Metropolis from GSL MC vs Stephano on Entombed ? from IPL Challenge Hero vs Stephano on Entombed from EGMC Option Three: Double/Triple Stargate A rather uncommon way to fight mutas is to throw down 2-3 stargates as soon as you see the spire being thrown down. This only works when you have 3 base economy and if you scout the spire extremely quickly. Puzzle vs Lowely on Daybreak from NASL Sase vs Leenock on Entombed Valley from MLG Spring Championship Zerg Transitions The most common transitions from muta in relative order is as follows: Other Tips Upgrades are extremely important against muta ling, including armor and shields. They’re also very important versus a potential broodlord transition. Keep your forge spinning and consider getting a 2nd forge. Keep expanding! There’s no reason to be satisfied with 3 bases. When your 3rd base is secure, start looking to expand to your 4th. Then your 5th. Don’t stop expanding, expanding doesn’t cost gas. When engaging mutas with blink stalkers, don’t blink into them. Walk up to them as far as you can, and only blink to chase as they start to run away. Spend your minerals: Gas is what you really need to deter mutas, so often times, you may find yourself with a mineral excess. Spend it! Add gateways to a minimum of 12 and to an average of 16 on 3 base blink/templar play. Add pylons so you’ll never get supply blocked and all your buildings don’t get unpowered from one Artosis pylon. And most importantly, add cheap cannons so you don’t lose needless probes. Keep important tech buildings away from the edges of your base. There’s no need to put pylons around the edges of your base against mutas. Never base race against mutas. Sometimes the mutas may get into a mineral line and cause some damage, and you may be tempted to just say screw it and go all-in, but resist the urge. You will lose if you do. Stay calm and focus on defending. A note on storming: make sure you're targeting underneath the mutas(their shadow). Turn flyer helper on in settings. Ling/Infestor, Turtle to Broodlords
Scout this asap by seeing an infestation pit and a fast morphing hive. The first broodlords will pop out at 15:00, so plan everything around that timing. You should be gearing towards either dedicated aggression or more passive play into heavy tech. MC vs DRG on Metropolis from MLG Arena II Set 2 Keep in mind however, that this 15 minute broodlord build can hold almost any aggression if your opponent doesn’t make an mistake except for extremely fast colossi pushes. For example, in this(link) game, MC hides 3 colossi and tricks DRG into doing the broodlord build. MC easily wins with this push. Keep in mind, however, that colossi this fast usually isn’t a viably safe build. Naniwa vs Slivko on Metropolis from Dreamhack Summer In this game, Naniwa hits a perfect reactive 4 colossi timing push that kills Slivko. Tear vs Symbol on Entombed Valley from IPL TAC youtube.com/watch?v=ZUeRWyGrutI&feature=player_detailpage4 colossi timing Refer to the late game section on broodlords for more information. Versus any other strategy, you will have to choose to dedicate into either colossi or templar as your area of effect damage before broodlords come out. One interesting aspect about playing versus fast broodlords is you have free choice over your AoE tech. Colossi allow for a better initial army to fight off broodlords, while templar and storm allow for a more harass based response. Both are viable and there’s no current consensus on which is better. Ace vs Bbongbbong on Cloud Kingdom from GSL shows an example of a standard templar-based response. Crank vs Freaky on Entombed Valley from GSTL shows an example of a standard colossi-based response. ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/lategame.png) ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/ultrabased.png) top
That is why when used, ultralisks are most often coupled with banelings. Banelings and ultralisks cover each others’ weaknesses very well. Ultralisks stomp on forcefields, clearing the path for banelings and banelings kill zealots fast, letting the ultralisks reach the meat of the Protoss army. If banelings didn’t exist, ultralisks would be completely useless and this guide would simply tell you to make zealots. However, this is not the case, so the rest of this section will talk about how to deal with the combination of ultralisks and banelings. The money units you want are archons, templar, immortals, and colossi. Thus, try to keep your stalker count to a minimum. Yes, a mostly archon/templar/immortal/colossi composition is very gas intensive, but an ultra/baneling based army is one of the most expensive armies in the game. Like with certain mid-game compositions, this composition attempts to throw army after army on you, hoping to crush you with economy. Your job is to be extremely cost efficient in your trades and play defensively to that aim. If you can somehow turtle while slowly maxing out on this composition, your army will be invincible. To do this, try to position your army in defensive positions, such as in chokes or in a concave. Spread out your army as much as possible to reduce baneling and ultralisk splash damage. Other Tips As you scout a hive, you should have a mothership up anyways to deal with a potential broodlord switch. The mothership is useful for vortex, but do not throw all your units into a vortex. Ultralisks and banelings will out-damage archons coming out of the vortex and you will lose your entire army instantly. After all the banelings blow up, feel free to warp in rounds of zealots to tank ultralisk shots. If you have sentries left in your army, research hallucination. Hallucinated archons can make great tanks against ultralisks when you can’t forcefield. Symbol vs Seed on Ohana from GSL shows somewhat effective ultralisk usage in PvZ. Seed vs someone on Entombed Valley from GSL shows how ultralisks can get bungled in a choke. Parting vs Symbol on Daybreak from GSL shows how being overly aggressive versus baneling ultra can easily result in a loss. Passive play while building up an archon/templar/immortal based death ball would have won the game. Parting vs Symbol on Cloud Kingdom from GSL ends in just one second and shows just how powerful this composition can be. ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/broodlords.png) topPrerequisites for Macro
Timing Pushes
Judging Whether a Push Can Work It’s easy to judge whether a push against 15 minute broodlords can work, because the game will be very controlled. It is much harder if the game is a 25 minute slug-fest with many army trades where hive only starts at the 25th minute. To judge whether your push will work, first consider the hive or greater spire timing. Especially if you see when the hive beings to start morphing, you can start an internal timer in your head, counting down to when broodlords pop out. For reference: Infestation Pit build time: 50 seconds, Time till broodlords: 4 minutes 44 seconds Hive build time: 100 seconds, Time till broodlords: 3 minutes 54 seconds Greater spire build time: 100 seconds, Time till broodlords: 2 minutes 14 seconds Broodlord morph time: 34 seconds Next, imagine your potential army you will have about a minute before broodlords will pop out. Is this army strong enough to beat anything your opponent can muster minutes the broodlords? If the answer is yes, then go for the push. As a guideline, you will usually want at least 170 food supported by at least 3 colossi. Unit compositions that do not include colossi will generally not work, because infestors and spines can cover any compositions that don’t involve colossi. Try this method in replays where you’re indecisive about a timing push or in pro games when you try to judge whether the pro should push or not. Anyways, as soon as you confirm hive tech, make a snap judgment whether you want to go for an all-in timing push, whether you want to play an extremely passive macro game, or something in between. If you decide on the timing push, begin adding gateways in preparation for the push and begin to cut robotics units in favor of a warp prism. Keep in mind that if your opponent get broodlords out, it’s still not over. The holy trifecta is broodlords, spines, and infestors. As long as there’s not a substantial number of all three up, there’s still hope for your push. See MC vs Stephano on Daybreak from some tournament for an extremely close call. MC does a push when broodlords are already out, but because there are few infestors and no spines, MC still breaks through. See MC vs DRG on Metropolis from MLG Arena I for a failure due to unit count. See MC vs DRG on Metropolis from MLG Arena II for a extremely tricky build/timing push that punishes the 15 minute broodlords. Alicia vs DRG on Cloud Kingdom exploiting map/bypassing spines Sase vs Dimaga on Metropolis from HSC V shows a unique chargelot/immortal/templar timing http://www.twitch.tv/taketv/b/323978625?t=7h35m3sSeed vs Symbol on Daybreak Set 1 from GSL- 4 colossi timing against later hive http://www.gomtv.net/2012gsls4/vod/70607/?set=3&lang= Concaves Always form a concave around your opponent’s spines when sieging. In contrast to versus roach/hydra where you prefer a ball when attacking, you want to attack in a concave against spines supported by infestor. Protosses should move in deathball formation only to prevent getting surrounded and to most efficiently use forcefields. It is highly unlikely that you will get caught off-guard and flanked by a strong army if your opponent is massing spines and try to tech to infestor/broodlord. Also, infestors will absolutely destroy units attacking in a ball if they are clumped up. If you attack in a concave, your units will cover each other better and fungals will hit fewer units. See Puzzle vs True on Cloud Kingdom from the GSL for a game demonstrating the importance of attacking with a concave against spine/infestor. One of the many reasons Metropolis is such a good map for broodlords is that it’s extremely hard to attack in a concave against a spine wall on Metropolis’ narrow corridors. Warp Prism Play
Effective warp prism harass, just like effective drop harass in TvP, pulls your opponent back and forth between multiple threats. If you present only one threat, your opponent can focus all his attention to that one threat and fend it off easily. With that in mind, always either be harassing with at least two prisms or at the very least posturing with your main army in addition to your one prism harass. If you can, clear your opponent’s overlord spread and creep spread as much as possible before dropping, lowering his map vision and giving him less time to react to your drops. This is similar to Terrans scanning and killing your observers. Load up your prism before dropping. Sentries and zealots begin to become useless in the late game, so use this chance to get rid of them. Sentries can be used to forcefield your opponent’s main ramp and keep his army outside, letting you ravage his main. Templar drops are especially effective as they cannot be prevented by spines, unlike zealot harass. Zealots are, of course, should be the main warp-in unit and are a good mineral dump. You should get charge as soon as you feel you can afford the gas. This makes your harassing zealots twice as effective. Dt harass can be good, but it’s risky to invest so much money into both a dark shrine and dts if you’re not sure it’s definitively going to do damage. Hero vs Dimaga on Shattered Temple from something shows classic multi-pronged Hero harass that involves templar, chargelots, and archons. Ace vs Bbongbbong on Cloud Kingdom from GSL shows great warp prism harass with sentries, templar, zealots, and dts. Squirtle vs Ret on Metropolis from Red Bull Battlegrounds shows warp prism harass bringing Squirtle back into the game from an unfavorable position. Squirtle vs Stephano on Entombed Valley shows more great sentry drops, which allows Squirtle to snipe a spire and threw Stephano off enough that Squirtle was able to beat Stephano’s broodlord head on, because Stephano forgot spines with 7k minerals. Map Considerations
Another thing that taking the center does is that it pins your army down. Base trading versus broodlords is a very valid strategy, as broodlords are very slow in reacting to base trades. Going back to the example on Daybreak, if you take the central base and your opponent attacks, you have to defend it, because if you try to base trade, he will easily be able to go back quickly and defend. In contrast, if you take a side base and your opponent tries to attack a base, you can theoretically try for a base trade. Threatening base trades is especially effective on maps that have many paths and are open such as Cloud Kingdom and Talderim Altar. More on this later. Hero vs Ret on Daybreak from Dreamhack Summer is ones of the best games to learn how to deal with broodlords in general. It showcases many topics discussed in this portion of this guide including dealing with 15 minute broodlords, correct tech paths, multitasking, warp prism harass, pulling the Zerg army in different directions, and taking the correct bases. http://www.twitch.tv/dreamhacksc2/b/321773208?t=5h29m30sMothership/Archon Stage
Even against the splash damage of colossi and Templar, Zerg always wants to keep his broodlord army clumped together if at all possible. When the Zerg army is clumped, all their units cover each other, so you cannot pick off individual Broodlords Normally, an army consisting of ten broodlords, a handful of Infestors, and ground support will easily beat an army of colossi, stalkers, and archons. But as soon as you add in the mothership, the whole dynamic of engagements changes. Zerg is forced to split his army so that one vortex cannot single-handedly take out half his army. Idealy, he will want to split his broodlords in clumps of 2 or 3 so that any one vortex doesn’t take out a majority of his most important units. Because your opponent is forced to split his broodlords, this gives you more opportunities to pick off stray broodlords. It also prevents each broodlord from doing their maximum potential damage, as or fear of the vortex, broodlords are usually on the hold position command, so not all the broodlords will be attacking all the time. The following is a demonstration of a game where the Zerg loses because he over-splits his broodlords in fear of a possible vortex from the mothership. Hero vs Stephano on Metropolis from EGMC Squirtle vs Ret on Cloud Kingdom from Red Bull Battlegrounds In addition, the threat of vortex forces your Zerg opponent to be much more careful when moving across the map. He must control each small group of broodlords individually, which requires a lot of apm. You can abuse this by darting back and forth between Zerg’s bases on certain maps. In order to move his army to defend these bases, it will take much more effort and strain for your opponent to move his army than it does for you. If your opponent makes a mistake, you can capitalize by vortexing his army and winning the game. Or you can take advantage by harassing somewhere else at the same time, further diverting his attention. Archon Toilet Archon Toliet should be mentioned, but there’s not much strategical to say about it. Get a good vortex, put a few archons in it, and kill off your opponent’s whole army instantly. There are a few things the Zerg can do after the vortex hits his broodlords. The first is putting lots of banelings in the vortex along with the archons to instantly kill archons as they pop out. For this, don’t put all your eggs in one basket as in don’t put all your archons in one vortex. Throw in just a few archons so your opponent will think twice about throwing all his banelings in. Then, rely on templar to damage the broodlords. Another option you have is saving enough energy for two vortexes so your opponent will need even more banelings to prevent the archon toilet. The other option Zerg has is to throw infested terrans in and around the vortex so that archons cannot splash the broodlords for maximum damage. Storm the infested terrans around the vortex and storm the units as they come out of the vortex to kill both the broodlords and broodlings. Don’t lose your mothership! If you carelessly lose your mothership or get it nerual in late game PvZ, the game is as good as over as your opponent won’t be force to spread and can easily 1a to victory. Such is PvZ. The following games should provide some cautionary tales. Hero vs Leenock on Antiga Shipyard from GSL http://www.gomtv.net/2012gsls4/vod/70597/?set=6&lang= Squirtle vs Leenock on Cloud Kingdom from GSL http://www.gomtv.net/2012gsls4/vod/70597/?set=8&lang= Judging Your Opponents’ Army If you can, try to get a good idea of how many broodlords your opponent has. 6 broodlords play a lot differently from 10 broodlords. And 20 broodlords means that if you don’t get an insane vortex off, you have no chance of winning. The Zerg’s supporting army can tell you a lot as well. Any ground units that aren’t infestors are only meant to discourage blinks under the broodlords and lings are generally better for this than roaches just based off of the dps they do. A broodlord army supported by a ton of roaches is usually weaker than one supported by lings and much weaker than one with more broodlords and just a handful of lings. Engagements Always try to engage broodlords in open ground if at all possible. This will allow you to more easily pick off stray broodlords out of position.. It will also prevent broodlords from hiding above impassable ground, thus making them hard to target with stalkers. Try to spread out before you engage so you don’t get your entire army trapped in some chain fungals. Base Trade-ish Style One style that can be effective against broodlords and infestors is a multi-pronged harass and base trade style, one that aims to delay the zerg maxing on complete broodlords and tries to dodge the Zerg army as much as possible. This strategy is fairly good on open maps with many paths such as Cloud Kingdom or Talderim Alter. It is bad on maps that don’t have many multiple paths of attack such as Daybreak. Use warp prisms in combination with your main army to pull the immobile Zerg army in all directions. Use your mothership’s recall ability to get out of sticky fungal situations. All Protosses should use this tatic somewhat in PvZ, but Ace vs Bbongbbong on Cloud Kingdom from GSL show an extreme version of this style. http://www.gomtv.net/2012gsls3/vod/67541/?set=11&lang=Prevent your opponent from pinning you down with his broodlords. If he does this, you lose your ability to base trade as your are either forced to engage his army or your opponent will get a huge head start on the base trade. Try to keep track of where your opponent’s broodlords are at all time with observers and general good vision of the map and move your army into position accordingly. Carrier Stage
JYP vs Dimaga on Dual Sight When zerg turtles on only infestor/broodlord supported by creep spread and mass spines, carriers are required to break this turtle style. In addition, on certain maps, spines can be used to slowly walk up and siege your bases. If you somehow get yourself into this scenario, carriers are also a requirement. Engaging with carriers: Unless you have an exorbitant amount of carriers, you still cannot engage an infestor/broodlord army directly, even without spine support. Use the carrier’s range to siege your opponent’s broodlords while your ground army covers them from corruptors. Which brings me to a very important point, do not just mass carriers. A pure carrier army is very vulnerable to corruptors, but one supported with a few archons, templar, and perhaps some stalkers while you’re transitioning, is much more solid. One important piece of information to have in the back of your head is that a healthy amount of carriers, supported by archons, templar and a mothership is an unbeatable army in a straight up fight in PvZ. You probably won’t have many games at all that get to this point, but just knowing this information can be helpful. Often times, both players will play a game of chicken in a game in any match-up. If you know that your end game army is stronger, you can be confident while turtle and not do something rash like panic and attack into your opponent. You may be wondering why we very rarely see carriers. First, not that many people are really familiar enough or comfortable enough with carriers to use them. As can be easily seen in the JYP vs Dimaga game, JYP would have easily won that game if he had built carriers. The reason people are so unfamiliar with this unit is that very few games get to the stage where carriers are useful. Zergs often try to aim for a broodlord/infestor attack before carriers can come into play. And while you should always eventually aim for carriers, they aren’t the best choice in every situation. Obviously, if your opponent is turtling with infestors, broodlords, and mass spines, carriers are a good choice, but a lot of games don’t come down to this. Currently, when Protoss wins in late game PvZ, it is usually due to the Zerg making a mistake. The Zerg either didn’t split his broodlords properly and lost to a vortex or his army was out of position and lost to a flank. Or perhaps he lost too much to harass from Protoss, because he didn’t fortify his bases enough and couldn’t muster enough units in his broodlord ball. Whatever the case, Protoss won because the Zerg made a mistake. Yes, the Protoss might have played well to force that mistake and he capitalized in it, but in the end he won still because of a mistake from Zerg. As Zerg get better, they will stop making these mistakes and Protoss will have to find ways to win in the true PvZ late game. Demonstration of Carrier Play in PvZ Hasuobs vs Darkforce in NASL Hero vs Dimaga on Shattered Temple Naniwa vs Ret on Daybreak from Red Bull Lan Crank vs Freaky on Entombed Valley from GSTL JYP vs Dimaga on Daybreak from Dreamhack Summer http://www.twitch.tv/dreamhacksc2/b/321642242?t=7h51m58sCreator vs Sniper on Daybreak from TSL4 Qualifiers-another example of an ideal switch to carriers Squirtle vs Coca on Entombed Valley from IPL Fight Club shows extremely fast carriers, made possible by the metagame on Entombed Valley youtube.com/watch?v=z7PQWKX5MnI![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/appendix.png) ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/mapconsiderations.png) top
In general, the following factors are what determine the balance of a map in the PvZ matchup Daybreak
Cloud Kingdom
Antiga Shipyard
Tal’darim Altar, with rocks
Metropolis
Shakruas Plateau
Ohana
Entombed Valley
![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/history.png) top
The future. 1 gate fe carrier transitons ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/replays.png) top![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/closing.png) ![[image loading]](http://www.nikolasjeleniauskas.com/com/tl.net/pvz_guide/proxima/credits.png) Writers Alej: early game Cecil: gateway expands, gateway nexus expands, map considerations monk: mid game, late game, map considerations, history rsvp: early game, 2 base Zerg builds Formatting: wo1fwood Finding Replays: Special thanks: | ||
|
IPA
United States3206 Posts
Not a fan of Juan but he deserved the win. Grats. | ||
|
Deleuze
United Kingdom2102 Posts
That said, aren't the replys of only very recent games - less than an hour/half hour old? | ||
|
MangoMountain
Norway2044 Posts
| ||
|
Talin
Montenegro10532 Posts
 | ||
|
Whatson
United States5357 Posts
On July 29 2012 04:52 IshinShishi wrote: Major is not what you would call a smart player either, but I concur, Hyun has nothing but his mechanics, I doubt he will win anything *major in sc2. You posted something similar when Taeja just joined Liquid'. | ||
|
Teoita
Italy12246 Posts
Proleague mostly. By ex Kespa players i meant those that transitioned quite late, for example Hyun. I wasn't referring to Mvp/Nada etc. | ||
|
Fusilero
United Kingdom50293 Posts
| ||
Porcelina
United Kingdom3249 Posts
The added layer of irony of course being that Major lives there as well. | ||
|
Brandish
United States339 Posts
liiiiiine em up | ||
|
Dodgin
Canada39254 Posts
| ||
|
Lorizean
Germany1330 Posts
| ||
|
Hubble
Germany248 Posts
| ||
| ||
