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[H] [red] Tempest Deathball [/red] - Dealing with?

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 HotS
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TibblesEvilCat
Profile Joined March 2010
United Kingdom766 Posts
November 24 2012 11:49 GMT
#1
Basically, im at silver level in Hots, and most if not all my games that i don't match vs gm (hots) and get raped,

points in my games that happen

* 1 or even 2 bases ahead of the Protoss
* mass units at 12 min mark when i see he doesn't position to take 3rd
* sac changelings to scout composition (see's tempest)
* in response to tempest i get spire and mass mutalisk (normally i get to about 30ish and herass why attempting to take 5th for gas so i can make more muta's lol)
* attack hits around 13 -17 min mark
* his composition is very similar to wol's voidray collous+ stalkers and zealots ball but with tempest instead

so basically what do you guyz do? the old counter used to be get infestors and ramm down fungles on the ball so disable his mirco and ff's spamm, but tempest are veyr good at countering infestors.

mutas trade well with tempests without support but seems to be one sided when it comes with stalker support, hydraslisk just lol really just lol, im not confident in rushing hive from 3 base to get defliers.
Live Fast Die Young :D
AfricanPsycho
Profile Joined December 2011
South Africa158 Posts
November 24 2012 12:07 GMT
#2
Tempest have pretty bad dps and are very expensive, it is unlikely he will be able to deal with a mass roach or roach hydra counterattack as his ground force will be very small, tempest are slow, and will always lose base trades. You can run in and keep sniping his expansions, those tempests are just gonna tickle you if they even manage to get close.

As a direct counter, corrupters will dominate them and I can see vipers working pretty well if you have already have hydras, or even corrupters (to pull them away from AA support)
gg no re
ETisME
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
12493 Posts
November 24 2012 12:17 GMT
#3
you don't have to trade with mutas, the advantage of muta is its speed and that is exactly what tempest and voidray lacks. This will force him to put in cannons and more stalkers while buying you time to expand, upgrades and get the usual broodlord infestor ultra deathball.

just keep harassing, try to snipe off gas, back stabbing.

You can also try to snipe off tempest when their stalkers are out of position.
其疾如风,其徐如林,侵掠如火,不动如山,难知如阴,动如雷震。
gCgCrypto
Profile Joined December 2010
Germany297 Posts
November 24 2012 15:51 GMT
#4
against the air based Protos a mix of corrupters, Hydras and infestors seems ideal. If you can just add some Vipers.
The basic idea is to hold the air stuff in place and dps it down with Hydras.
When the tempest are out of range however the corrupters really shine.
Most importantly you need to get hive relativly quick for hydra speed.
Also i can only recommend opening spire before eny other lair tech enyway and going for some muta herras. This saves you from a lot of early losses to tempest who shoot down your drones from far out in air space, where you cant attack them without corrupters or Mutas.
hope it helpes
L E E J A E D O N G ! <3
ejozl
Profile Joined October 2010
Denmark3438 Posts
November 24 2012 17:38 GMT
#5
Corruptors counter Tempest hard.
SC2 Archon needs "Terrible, terrible damage" as one of it's quotes.
avilo
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States4100 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-11-24 17:59:22
November 24 2012 17:58 GMT
#6
Tempest + templar counters everything from all 3 races (well, except bio Terran). It's broodlord infestor 2.0. Blizzard should know about it by now, we'll see if they see it as a problem. Something tells me they're just gonna let it wreck the game for quite a while =/
Sup
Rabiator
Profile Joined March 2010
Germany3948 Posts
November 24 2012 18:10 GMT
#7
On November 25 2012 02:58 avilo wrote:
Tempest + templar counters everything from all 3 races (well, except bio Terran). It's broodlord infestor 2.0. Blizzard should know about it by now, we'll see if they see it as a problem. Something tells me they're just gonna let it wreck the game for quite a while =/

There is the standard way to deal with it though ... "dont let him get there" ... which is stupid, because every type of unit combination should be fightable with units and not through preventing it from happening. At 22 range and probably cloaked the Tempest is a huge pain to fight if massed and I wonder when Blizzard recognizes this. With Carriers you can at least shoot the Interceptors to deal with it temporarily, but Tempests dont afford you such a luxury.

Sure the stuff is expensive to mass up, but as a Protoss you can cannon up your 3rd and 4th base massively while having just a few units to defend and just add in some fire from Tempests or some Templars while rushing through the necessary tech.
If you cant say what you're meaning, you can never mean what you're saying.
Decendos
Profile Joined August 2011
Germany1341 Posts
November 24 2012 18:25 GMT
#8
wait for the incoming hp nerf of the tempest. right now it has the by far best hp/supply ratio of all units in the game. a range 15 unit with the best hp/supply ratio in the game is...well its beyond stupid ^^

meanwhile you will need to go spire + IP once you scoutet stargate (you need spire because otherwise tempest behind your base will be unkillable. you need IP for infestors if he goes mass phoenix/oracles). once you see which he chooses either go infestor or corruptor and add the other one as needed. you will need a roach warren to deal with zealot harrass.

then: get drop, expand a lot and kill him. tempest are really bad at killing overlords and take a lot of gas so there wont be a lot of stalkers that can kill your roach ling (optional: hydras, blings, queens) drop.

if you let him get the ultimate deathball see avilos statement. a tempest + storm + colossus/whatever support army is unbeatable right now (btw even hard for bio in combination with some oracles for timewarp...).
gCgCrypto
Profile Joined December 2010
Germany297 Posts
November 24 2012 19:47 GMT
#9
On November 25 2012 02:58 avilo wrote:
Tempest + templar counters everything from all 3 races (well, except bio Terran). It's broodlord infestor 2.0. Blizzard should know about it by now, we'll see if they see it as a problem. Something tells me they're just gonna let it wreck the game for quite a while =/

You have literaly no idea about HotS do you?
Maby learn to play your own Race before commenting on Balance for Matchups that dont include your Race ...

Tempest Templar is very well defeatable for Zergs with some basic spreading, and for Terran Bio murders it (as you rightfully stated)


User was warned for this post
L E E J A E D O N G ! <3
avilo
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States4100 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-11-24 20:48:10
November 24 2012 20:39 GMT
#10
On November 25 2012 04:47 gCgCrypto wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 25 2012 02:58 avilo wrote:
Tempest + templar counters everything from all 3 races (well, except bio Terran). It's broodlord infestor 2.0. Blizzard should know about it by now, we'll see if they see it as a problem. Something tells me they're just gonna let it wreck the game for quite a while =/

You have literaly no idea about HotS do you?
Maby learn to play your own Race before commenting on Balance for Matchups that dont include your Race ...

Tempest Templar is very well defeatable for Zergs with some basic spreading, and for Terran Bio murders it (as you rightfully stated)


I play Protoss and Terran in HOTS beta, GM/pro level. I actually play more Protoss in beta right now than I do Terran. I play Zerg at GM level as well, but I have not played much Zerg in the beta.

You probably (wrongfully) assumed that I only play Terran. I know every race's lategame very much in depth. Tempest + templar right now is the god composition for Protoss. It beats essentially everything Zerg can throw at it, as well as everything from Terran mech, and in PvP it is also the end-game unit composition that Protoss now aims for.

Also from the ZvP's I've played in beta I do not think Zerg has an answer to this unit composition, because hydras are still pretty bad, and the only other option is to make obscene amounts of corruptors which don't even trade well with mass tempest + templar and the protoss remaxes on ground (similar situation with tempests vs Terran mech + vikings, vikings don't trade well, Protoss remaxes on ground).

I've played games where I've made 40 corruptors, and still had trouble trading well against tempest + templar + other units as well in the protoss deathball. I've also played the other side, PvZ, where Zergs have tried mass infestors for infested Terrans, mass corruptors, mass hydras, vipers, etc. and they've thrown it at my tempest + templar and barely even dented into it, or they trade so cost inefficiently that i just warp in 25 zealots/archons and kill them afterwards with multiple warp prisms on the map.

I am not theorycrafting here, I'm telling you from play experience in every match-up, PvP/PvT/PvZ. A lot of people have the misconception that tempests are not good, but they're borderline OP at this point in time.

+ Show Spoiler +
p.s. Don't make me write a guide about this damnit! :D i'm almost tempted to write up a guide on tempest + templar and how to abuse it right now. Dun get me angry! When I get angry i write strategy guides damnit!
Sup
ddrddrddrddr
Profile Joined August 2010
1344 Posts
November 24 2012 21:53 GMT
#11
On November 25 2012 05:39 avilo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 25 2012 04:47 gCgCrypto wrote:
On November 25 2012 02:58 avilo wrote:
Tempest + templar counters everything from all 3 races (well, except bio Terran). It's broodlord infestor 2.0. Blizzard should know about it by now, we'll see if they see it as a problem. Something tells me they're just gonna let it wreck the game for quite a while =/

You have literaly no idea about HotS do you?
Maby learn to play your own Race before commenting on Balance for Matchups that dont include your Race ...

Tempest Templar is very well defeatable for Zergs with some basic spreading, and for Terran Bio murders it (as you rightfully stated)


I play Protoss and Terran in HOTS beta, GM/pro level. I actually play more Protoss in beta right now than I do Terran. I play Zerg at GM level as well, but I have not played much Zerg in the beta.

You probably (wrongfully) assumed that I only play Terran. I know every race's lategame very much in depth. Tempest + templar right now is the god composition for Protoss. It beats essentially everything Zerg can throw at it, as well as everything from Terran mech, and in PvP it is also the end-game unit composition that Protoss now aims for.

Also from the ZvP's I've played in beta I do not think Zerg has an answer to this unit composition, because hydras are still pretty bad, and the only other option is to make obscene amounts of corruptors which don't even trade well with mass tempest + templar and the protoss remaxes on ground (similar situation with tempests vs Terran mech + vikings, vikings don't trade well, Protoss remaxes on ground).

I've played games where I've made 40 corruptors, and still had trouble trading well against tempest + templar + other units as well in the protoss deathball. I've also played the other side, PvZ, where Zergs have tried mass infestors for infested Terrans, mass corruptors, mass hydras, vipers, etc. and they've thrown it at my tempest + templar and barely even dented into it, or they trade so cost inefficiently that i just warp in 25 zealots/archons and kill them afterwards with multiple warp prisms on the map.

I am not theorycrafting here, I'm telling you from play experience in every match-up, PvP/PvT/PvZ. A lot of people have the misconception that tempests are not good, but they're borderline OP at this point in time.

+ Show Spoiler +
p.s. Don't make me write a guide about this damnit! :D i'm almost tempted to write up a guide on tempest + templar and how to abuse it right now. Dun get me angry! When I get angry i write strategy guides damnit!

Get angry. I want to read that guide.

Your mother wore leather. Does that help?
denyeverything
Profile Joined March 2012
25 Posts
November 24 2012 21:57 GMT
#12
Don't build Mutas. Build Corruptors (if anything at all).

Mutas are poor as generally as their advantage (speed) is greatly reduced due to Stalkers speed and warp-ins. Further, they have poor transitions (ie. they eat up gas that isn't going towards Infestor+Broodlord). Even in this case, the extreme range of Tempests greatly increases the risk of harassment. And additionally, they come with 2 native armor making Mutas terrible head to head too as the Muta bounce is greatly reduced (second bounce does nothing, first bounce does one). I haven't done the math, but head to head Mutas might just end up doing as atrocious damage against Tempest as Tempest do to everything else.

Corruptors kill Protoss tech (air anything and Colossus) or lead to something that does (Broodlords beat Templar). The only time you don't build Corruptors is if they focus on Immortals.

From a defensive standpoint, unless something novel is being done with them (i.e. not deathball), Tempests don't really play any differently than Colossus. Protoss is just trading away some of the reward (much lower DPS) for mitigating risk (can fight back against unit counter, range and HP make them harder to take down). But they get countered the same way, beat them before they come out/hit a numerical threshold or build air-to-air.

Tempests are good for 2 things.
1) Holding an advantage. Huge life, long range, means that they can go for small advantages safely is fairly novel for Protoss.
2) Punishing people who cheat to get out tech. It's harder to avoid getting hit by a Tempest then anything else in the game. So banking a lot on a low life unit, can be risky.

On November 25 2012 05:39 avilo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 25 2012 04:47 gCgCrypto wrote:
On November 25 2012 02:58 avilo wrote:
Tempest + templar counters everything from all 3 races (well, except bio Terran). It's broodlord infestor 2.0. Blizzard should know about it by now, we'll see if they see it as a problem. Something tells me they're just gonna let it wreck the game for quite a while =/

You have literaly no idea about HotS do you?
Maby learn to play your own Race before commenting on Balance for Matchups that dont include your Race ...

Tempest Templar is very well defeatable for Zergs with some basic spreading, and for Terran Bio murders it (as you rightfully stated)


I play Protoss and Terran in HOTS beta, GM/pro level. I actually play more Protoss in beta right now than I do Terran. I play Zerg at GM level as well, but I have not played much Zerg in the beta.

You probably (wrongfully) assumed that I only play Terran. I know every race's lategame very much in depth. Tempest + templar right now is the god composition for Protoss. It beats essentially everything Zerg can throw at it, as well as everything from Terran mech, and in PvP it is also the end-game unit composition that Protoss now aims for.

Also from the ZvP's I've played in beta I do not think Zerg has an answer to this unit composition, because hydras are still pretty bad, and the only other option is to make obscene amounts of corruptors which don't even trade well with mass tempest + templar and the protoss remaxes on ground (similar situation with tempests vs Terran mech + vikings, vikings don't trade well, Protoss remaxes on ground).

I've played games where I've made 40 corruptors, and still had trouble trading well against tempest + templar + other units as well in the protoss deathball. I've also played the other side, PvZ, where Zergs have tried mass infestors for infested Terrans, mass corruptors, mass hydras, vipers, etc. and they've thrown it at my tempest + templar and barely even dented into it, or they trade so cost inefficiently that i just warp in 25 zealots/archons and kill them afterwards with multiple warp prisms on the map.

I am not theorycrafting here, I'm telling you from play experience in every match-up, PvP/PvT/PvZ. A lot of people have the misconception that tempests are not good, but they're borderline OP at this point in time.

+ Show Spoiler +
p.s. Don't make me write a guide about this damnit! :D i'm almost tempted to write up a guide on tempest + templar and how to abuse it right now. Dun get me angry! When I get angry i write strategy guides damnit!


Yes, Tempest+Templar is good. However, both techs aren't particularly good early on. So it's different than Broodlord+Infestor. Infestors are amazing against Protoss whereas Templar are poor to decent against Zerg. Broodlords come from Corruptors which beat very important Protoss tech. Tempest don't really counter anything.

40 Corruptors is an obscene amount of gas to be throwing at units that are the worst DPS per supply units in the game. Also, mass infested Terrans is bad against Storm. So are mass Hydras. And I don't even know what you were planning on trying to achieve with mass Vipers. Obviously, mass Corruptors are bad against storm too. The answer is mass roach, go, go, go with a transition into Corruptors after beating down the ground army. The point is to crush the ground, stop Tempest/Templar production, and slow roll into a superior force of Corruptors where you transition into Broodlords, if necessary.

Now if you are telling me, they went Sentry, Immortal, High Templar, Tempest.... well, I really don't know what to tell you. But the problem with Broodlord+Infestor is not just that it's an amazing late game composition, but that it is probably the most natural thing to transition from and into. If you can transition into a late game High Templar+Tempest composition, you deserve to win.
SolidZeal
Profile Joined October 2010
United States393 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-11-24 23:44:35
November 24 2012 22:11 GMT
#13
I'm not doubting your skill Avilo, I'm certain you're better at the game than me, and it's cool you play random. I'm surprised that you've had so much trouble with templar/tempest. With both of the core units being so slow and so pitiful when attacking buildings, couldn't you as a zerg or terran just base race the toss into oblivion? I mean, both of this death ball's core units are sooo slow, i would think you could just abuse mobility to win. Or, if they turtle, then mass expand, then trade somewhat unevenly, as long as you can crush the ball.

I like protoss the best of all the races, but i really hate turtle into deathball style of play, problems like this ruin sc2 as a spectator game. I watched a GSL PvZ recently that just made my head want to explode. 25 minutes of ineffective harass, building perfect armies, into a fight that looked silly and was over in 5 seconds. I never want to see that ever again in something that I watch for "entertainment". So, if that problem is built into HotS I'd hope we can weed it out. My initial reaction is that it won't be as bad of a problem with this new protoss death ball, because tempests are low dps and neither them or templar can slow/stop units. Couldn't you, for example, use a roach hit squad to run in and snipe templar? They are way fast, basically expendable and tough enough that storm/low tempest couldn't stop them before they started killing templar.
In the clearing stands a boxer and a figher by his trade
avilo
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States4100 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-11-25 01:19:11
November 25 2012 01:14 GMT
#14
On November 25 2012 06:57 denyeverything wrote:
Don't build Mutas. Build Corruptors (if anything at all).

Mutas are poor as generally as their advantage (speed) is greatly reduced due to Stalkers speed and warp-ins. Further, they have poor transitions (ie. they eat up gas that isn't going towards Infestor+Broodlord). Even in this case, the extreme range of Tempests greatly increases the risk of harassment. And additionally, they come with 2 native armor making Mutas terrible head to head too as the Muta bounce is greatly reduced (second bounce does nothing, first bounce does one). I haven't done the math, but head to head Mutas might just end up doing as atrocious damage against Tempest as Tempest do to everything else.

Corruptors kill Protoss tech (air anything and Colossus) or lead to something that does (Broodlords beat Templar). The only time you don't build Corruptors is if they focus on Immortals.

From a defensive standpoint, unless something novel is being done with them (i.e. not deathball), Tempests don't really play any differently than Colossus. Protoss is just trading away some of the reward (much lower DPS) for mitigating risk (can fight back against unit counter, range and HP make them harder to take down). But they get countered the same way, beat them before they come out/hit a numerical threshold or build air-to-air.

Tempests are good for 2 things.
1) Holding an advantage. Huge life, long range, means that they can go for small advantages safely is fairly novel for Protoss.
2) Punishing people who cheat to get out tech. It's harder to avoid getting hit by a Tempest then anything else in the game. So banking a lot on a low life unit, can be risky.

Show nested quote +
On November 25 2012 05:39 avilo wrote:
On November 25 2012 04:47 gCgCrypto wrote:
On November 25 2012 02:58 avilo wrote:
Tempest + templar counters everything from all 3 races (well, except bio Terran). It's broodlord infestor 2.0. Blizzard should know about it by now, we'll see if they see it as a problem. Something tells me they're just gonna let it wreck the game for quite a while =/

You have literaly no idea about HotS do you?
Maby learn to play your own Race before commenting on Balance for Matchups that dont include your Race ...

Tempest Templar is very well defeatable for Zergs with some basic spreading, and for Terran Bio murders it (as you rightfully stated)


I play Protoss and Terran in HOTS beta, GM/pro level. I actually play more Protoss in beta right now than I do Terran. I play Zerg at GM level as well, but I have not played much Zerg in the beta.

You probably (wrongfully) assumed that I only play Terran. I know every race's lategame very much in depth. Tempest + templar right now is the god composition for Protoss. It beats essentially everything Zerg can throw at it, as well as everything from Terran mech, and in PvP it is also the end-game unit composition that Protoss now aims for.

Also from the ZvP's I've played in beta I do not think Zerg has an answer to this unit composition, because hydras are still pretty bad, and the only other option is to make obscene amounts of corruptors which don't even trade well with mass tempest + templar and the protoss remaxes on ground (similar situation with tempests vs Terran mech + vikings, vikings don't trade well, Protoss remaxes on ground).

I've played games where I've made 40 corruptors, and still had trouble trading well against tempest + templar + other units as well in the protoss deathball. I've also played the other side, PvZ, where Zergs have tried mass infestors for infested Terrans, mass corruptors, mass hydras, vipers, etc. and they've thrown it at my tempest + templar and barely even dented into it, or they trade so cost inefficiently that i just warp in 25 zealots/archons and kill them afterwards with multiple warp prisms on the map.

I am not theorycrafting here, I'm telling you from play experience in every match-up, PvP/PvT/PvZ. A lot of people have the misconception that tempests are not good, but they're borderline OP at this point in time.

+ Show Spoiler +
p.s. Don't make me write a guide about this damnit! :D i'm almost tempted to write up a guide on tempest + templar and how to abuse it right now. Dun get me angry! When I get angry i write strategy guides damnit!


Yes, Tempest+Templar is good. However, both techs aren't particularly good early on. So it's different than Broodlord+Infestor. Infestors are amazing against Protoss whereas Templar are poor to decent against Zerg. Broodlords come from Corruptors which beat very important Protoss tech. Tempest don't really counter anything.

40 Corruptors is an obscene amount of gas to be throwing at units that are the worst DPS per supply units in the game. Also, mass infested Terrans is bad against Storm. So are mass Hydras. And I don't even know what you were planning on trying to achieve with mass Vipers. Obviously, mass Corruptors are bad against storm too. The answer is mass roach, go, go, go with a transition into Corruptors after beating down the ground army. The point is to crush the ground, stop Tempest/Templar production, and slow roll into a superior force of Corruptors where you transition into Broodlords, if necessary.

Now if you are telling me, they went Sentry, Immortal, High Templar, Tempest.... well, I really don't know what to tell you. But the problem with Broodlord+Infestor is not just that it's an amazing late game composition, but that it is probably the most natural thing to transition from and into. If you can transition into a late game High Templar+Tempest composition, you deserve to win.


The game doesn't work like that. You're acting like Protoss is not building collosus or other things. Tempest + templar is quite easy to get once the game gets to a certain point (usually 3-4 base). You're not going straight tempest + templar, you play standard blink stalker/collosus/sentry etc. and later on transition into it. Nothing beats it right now.

And no, you don't deserve to win if you can transition into high templar + tempest because it's easy to do. If you really have that mentality, I guess you'll be fine with Protoss winning every game lmao :D

Here are a few games I just played today, have a look. And btw, regardless of perceived skill, imagine once all progamers know to use this composition (most know about it already) and "get there." That's when the problem is, because there's no answer to it.

PvZ: Standard PvZ into tempests + templar with mass archons. I take damage here and there, but once I have the god composition it's impossible to lose with good micro.
http://drop.sc/278414

PvZ: Standard PvZ again into tempests + templar, once again, no answer to this.
http://drop.sc/278415

PvZ: Same thing
http://drop.sc/278416

I barely even utilized the mothership in the above replays as well, so I could have played a tiny bit better. Perhaps you thought I was only "theorycrafting" maybe seeing is believing? I have not lost a PvZ yet when it gets to this stage, and I have a suspicion other Protosses that are doing this are having a lot of trouble losing when it gets to this point too.
Sup
TibblesEvilCat
Profile Joined March 2010
United Kingdom766 Posts
November 25 2012 01:43 GMT
#15
Watched my replays before going out and while sitting Dow. I did realise that, the issue was tempests an Templar (TT) for short , basically people advise to mass exspand and trade before he gets to 200/200
Live Fast Die Young :D
BronzeKnee
Profile Joined March 2011
United States5217 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-11-25 07:19:33
November 25 2012 07:18 GMT
#16
Thanks for the replays Avilo, I look forward to analyzing them.
Cyro
Profile Blog Joined June 2011
United Kingdom20318 Posts
November 25 2012 07:51 GMT
#17
Balance at the pro level has nothing to do with a silver league player, or even a diamond one.

Fix your fundamentals, hit injects, dont have idle larvae, scout properly, spread creep, dont get supply blocked, you cannot possibly lose til higher end of diamond unless you fuck it up, regardless of strategy.
"oh my god my overclock... I got a single WHEA error on the 23rd hour, 9 minutes" -Belial88
Decendos
Profile Joined August 2011
Germany1341 Posts
November 25 2012 12:45 GMT
#18
On November 25 2012 16:51 Cyro wrote:
Balance at the pro level has nothing to do with a silver league player, or even a diamond one.

Fix your fundamentals, hit injects, dont have idle larvae, scout properly, spread creep, dont get supply blocked, you cannot possibly lose til higher end of diamond unless you fuck it up, regardless of strategy.


read the thread before posting maybe. GM player avilo stated he has the same problems if playing zerg against this or 100% winrate as toss vs zerg once he gets this composition.

tempest is OP right now but hey its almost 4 months til the game comes out. a lot of balancing will happen in that 4 months and after game is out.
TheLunatic
Profile Joined February 2011
309 Posts
November 25 2012 16:42 GMT
#19
the tempest is no where near OP, seen plenty of m/ gm zerg streamers wreck the composition on the streams advertised on this very site
AfricanPsycho
Profile Joined December 2011
South Africa158 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-11-25 18:42:21
November 25 2012 16:50 GMT
#20
On November 25 2012 10:14 avilo wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
On November 25 2012 06:57 denyeverything wrote:
Don't build Mutas. Build Corruptors (if anything at all).

Mutas are poor as generally as their advantage (speed) is greatly reduced due to Stalkers speed and warp-ins. Further, they have poor transitions (ie. they eat up gas that isn't going towards Infestor+Broodlord). Even in this case, the extreme range of Tempests greatly increases the risk of harassment. And additionally, they come with 2 native armor making Mutas terrible head to head too as the Muta bounce is greatly reduced (second bounce does nothing, first bounce does one). I haven't done the math, but head to head Mutas might just end up doing as atrocious damage against Tempest as Tempest do to everything else.

Corruptors kill Protoss tech (air anything and Colossus) or lead to something that does (Broodlords beat Templar). The only time you don't build Corruptors is if they focus on Immortals.

From a defensive standpoint, unless something novel is being done with them (i.e. not deathball), Tempests don't really play any differently than Colossus. Protoss is just trading away some of the reward (much lower DPS) for mitigating risk (can fight back against unit counter, range and HP make them harder to take down). But they get countered the same way, beat them before they come out/hit a numerical threshold or build air-to-air.

Tempests are good for 2 things.
1) Holding an advantage. Huge life, long range, means that they can go for small advantages safely is fairly novel for Protoss.
2) Punishing people who cheat to get out tech. It's harder to avoid getting hit by a Tempest then anything else in the game. So banking a lot on a low life unit, can be risky.

Show nested quote +
On November 25 2012 05:39 avilo wrote:
On November 25 2012 04:47 gCgCrypto wrote:
On November 25 2012 02:58 avilo wrote:
Tempest + templar counters everything from all 3 races (well, except bio Terran). It's broodlord infestor 2.0. Blizzard should know about it by now, we'll see if they see it as a problem. Something tells me they're just gonna let it wreck the game for quite a while =/

You have literaly no idea about HotS do you?
Maby learn to play your own Race before commenting on Balance for Matchups that dont include your Race ...

Tempest Templar is very well defeatable for Zergs with some basic spreading, and for Terran Bio murders it (as you rightfully stated)


I play Protoss and Terran in HOTS beta, GM/pro level. I actually play more Protoss in beta right now than I do Terran. I play Zerg at GM level as well, but I have not played much Zerg in the beta.

You probably (wrongfully) assumed that I only play Terran. I know every race's lategame very much in depth. Tempest + templar right now is the god composition for Protoss. It beats essentially everything Zerg can throw at it, as well as everything from Terran mech, and in PvP it is also the end-game unit composition that Protoss now aims for.

Also from the ZvP's I've played in beta I do not think Zerg has an answer to this unit composition, because hydras are still pretty bad, and the only other option is to make obscene amounts of corruptors which don't even trade well with mass tempest + templar and the protoss remaxes on ground (similar situation with tempests vs Terran mech + vikings, vikings don't trade well, Protoss remaxes on ground).

I've played games where I've made 40 corruptors, and still had trouble trading well against tempest + templar + other units as well in the protoss deathball. I've also played the other side, PvZ, where Zergs have tried mass infestors for infested Terrans, mass corruptors, mass hydras, vipers, etc. and they've thrown it at my tempest + templar and barely even dented into it, or they trade so cost inefficiently that i just warp in 25 zealots/archons and kill them afterwards with multiple warp prisms on the map.

I am not theorycrafting here, I'm telling you from play experience in every match-up, PvP/PvT/PvZ. A lot of people have the misconception that tempests are not good, but they're borderline OP at this point in time.

+ Show Spoiler +
p.s. Don't make me write a guide about this damnit! :D i'm almost tempted to write up a guide on tempest + templar and how to abuse it right now. Dun get me angry! When I get angry i write strategy guides damnit!


Yes, Tempest+Templar is good. However, both techs aren't particularly good early on. So it's different than Broodlord+Infestor. Infestors are amazing against Protoss whereas Templar are poor to decent against Zerg. Broodlords come from Corruptors which beat very important Protoss tech. Tempest don't really counter anything.

40 Corruptors is an obscene amount of gas to be throwing at units that are the worst DPS per supply units in the game. Also, mass infested Terrans is bad against Storm. So are mass Hydras. And I don't even know what you were planning on trying to achieve with mass Vipers. Obviously, mass Corruptors are bad against storm too. The answer is mass roach, go, go, go with a transition into Corruptors after beating down the ground army. The point is to crush the ground, stop Tempest/Templar production, and slow roll into a superior force of Corruptors where you transition into Broodlords, if necessary.

Now if you are telling me, they went Sentry, Immortal, High Templar, Tempest.... well, I really don't know what to tell you. But the problem with Broodlord+Infestor is not just that it's an amazing late game composition, but that it is probably the most natural thing to transition from and into. If you can transition into a late game High Templar+Tempest composition, you deserve to win.


The game doesn't work like that. You're acting like Protoss is not building collosus or other things. Tempest + templar is quite easy to get once the game gets to a certain point (usually 3-4 base). You're not going straight tempest + templar, you play standard blink stalker/collosus/sentry etc. and later on transition into it. Nothing beats it right now.

And no, you don't deserve to win if you can transition into high templar + tempest because it's easy to do. If you really have that mentality, I guess you'll be fine with Protoss winning every game lmao :D

Here are a few games I just played today, have a look. And btw, regardless of perceived skill, imagine once all progamers know to use this composition (most know about it already) and "get there." That's when the problem is, because there's no answer to it.

PvZ: Standard PvZ into tempests + templar with mass archons. I take damage here and there, but once I have the god composition it's impossible to lose with good micro.
http://drop.sc/278414

PvZ: Standard PvZ again into tempests + templar, once again, no answer to this.
http://drop.sc/278415

PvZ: Same thing
http://drop.sc/278416

I barely even utilized the mothership in the above replays as well, so I could have played a tiny bit better. Perhaps you thought I was only "theorycrafting" maybe seeing is believing? I have not lost a PvZ yet when it gets to this stage, and I have a suspicion other Protosses that are doing this are having a lot of trouble losing when it gets to this point too.


Not a single zerg took advantage of your greedy teching that game. One game you open 2 stargate, get one oracle, then go into triple robo colossus, all while taking a fast third and getting templar with storm too. I have feeling that any heavy zerg aggression that keeps you on 3 bases will destroy this. You were ridiculously greedy and the zergs just sat on their asses and assumed their imba brood infestor would win the game for them. This composition beats brood infestor + sitting back with 7000 spines, which it is suppose to. Zergs have to start making stuff happen instead of just camping behind spines and an unbeatable army, the tempest accomplishes this.
gg no re
avilo
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States4100 Posts
November 25 2012 19:30 GMT
#21
On November 26 2012 01:50 AfricanPsycho wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 25 2012 10:14 avilo wrote:
+ Show Spoiler +
On November 25 2012 06:57 denyeverything wrote:
Don't build Mutas. Build Corruptors (if anything at all).

Mutas are poor as generally as their advantage (speed) is greatly reduced due to Stalkers speed and warp-ins. Further, they have poor transitions (ie. they eat up gas that isn't going towards Infestor+Broodlord). Even in this case, the extreme range of Tempests greatly increases the risk of harassment. And additionally, they come with 2 native armor making Mutas terrible head to head too as the Muta bounce is greatly reduced (second bounce does nothing, first bounce does one). I haven't done the math, but head to head Mutas might just end up doing as atrocious damage against Tempest as Tempest do to everything else.

Corruptors kill Protoss tech (air anything and Colossus) or lead to something that does (Broodlords beat Templar). The only time you don't build Corruptors is if they focus on Immortals.

From a defensive standpoint, unless something novel is being done with them (i.e. not deathball), Tempests don't really play any differently than Colossus. Protoss is just trading away some of the reward (much lower DPS) for mitigating risk (can fight back against unit counter, range and HP make them harder to take down). But they get countered the same way, beat them before they come out/hit a numerical threshold or build air-to-air.

Tempests are good for 2 things.
1) Holding an advantage. Huge life, long range, means that they can go for small advantages safely is fairly novel for Protoss.
2) Punishing people who cheat to get out tech. It's harder to avoid getting hit by a Tempest then anything else in the game. So banking a lot on a low life unit, can be risky.

Show nested quote +
On November 25 2012 05:39 avilo wrote:
On November 25 2012 04:47 gCgCrypto wrote:
On November 25 2012 02:58 avilo wrote:
Tempest + templar counters everything from all 3 races (well, except bio Terran). It's broodlord infestor 2.0. Blizzard should know about it by now, we'll see if they see it as a problem. Something tells me they're just gonna let it wreck the game for quite a while =/

You have literaly no idea about HotS do you?
Maby learn to play your own Race before commenting on Balance for Matchups that dont include your Race ...

Tempest Templar is very well defeatable for Zergs with some basic spreading, and for Terran Bio murders it (as you rightfully stated)


I play Protoss and Terran in HOTS beta, GM/pro level. I actually play more Protoss in beta right now than I do Terran. I play Zerg at GM level as well, but I have not played much Zerg in the beta.

You probably (wrongfully) assumed that I only play Terran. I know every race's lategame very much in depth. Tempest + templar right now is the god composition for Protoss. It beats essentially everything Zerg can throw at it, as well as everything from Terran mech, and in PvP it is also the end-game unit composition that Protoss now aims for.

Also from the ZvP's I've played in beta I do not think Zerg has an answer to this unit composition, because hydras are still pretty bad, and the only other option is to make obscene amounts of corruptors which don't even trade well with mass tempest + templar and the protoss remaxes on ground (similar situation with tempests vs Terran mech + vikings, vikings don't trade well, Protoss remaxes on ground).

I've played games where I've made 40 corruptors, and still had trouble trading well against tempest + templar + other units as well in the protoss deathball. I've also played the other side, PvZ, where Zergs have tried mass infestors for infested Terrans, mass corruptors, mass hydras, vipers, etc. and they've thrown it at my tempest + templar and barely even dented into it, or they trade so cost inefficiently that i just warp in 25 zealots/archons and kill them afterwards with multiple warp prisms on the map.

I am not theorycrafting here, I'm telling you from play experience in every match-up, PvP/PvT/PvZ. A lot of people have the misconception that tempests are not good, but they're borderline OP at this point in time.

+ Show Spoiler +
p.s. Don't make me write a guide about this damnit! :D i'm almost tempted to write up a guide on tempest + templar and how to abuse it right now. Dun get me angry! When I get angry i write strategy guides damnit!


Yes, Tempest+Templar is good. However, both techs aren't particularly good early on. So it's different than Broodlord+Infestor. Infestors are amazing against Protoss whereas Templar are poor to decent against Zerg. Broodlords come from Corruptors which beat very important Protoss tech. Tempest don't really counter anything.

40 Corruptors is an obscene amount of gas to be throwing at units that are the worst DPS per supply units in the game. Also, mass infested Terrans is bad against Storm. So are mass Hydras. And I don't even know what you were planning on trying to achieve with mass Vipers. Obviously, mass Corruptors are bad against storm too. The answer is mass roach, go, go, go with a transition into Corruptors after beating down the ground army. The point is to crush the ground, stop Tempest/Templar production, and slow roll into a superior force of Corruptors where you transition into Broodlords, if necessary.

Now if you are telling me, they went Sentry, Immortal, High Templar, Tempest.... well, I really don't know what to tell you. But the problem with Broodlord+Infestor is not just that it's an amazing late game composition, but that it is probably the most natural thing to transition from and into. If you can transition into a late game High Templar+Tempest composition, you deserve to win.


The game doesn't work like that. You're acting like Protoss is not building collosus or other things. Tempest + templar is quite easy to get once the game gets to a certain point (usually 3-4 base). You're not going straight tempest + templar, you play standard blink stalker/collosus/sentry etc. and later on transition into it. Nothing beats it right now.

And no, you don't deserve to win if you can transition into high templar + tempest because it's easy to do. If you really have that mentality, I guess you'll be fine with Protoss winning every game lmao :D

Here are a few games I just played today, have a look. And btw, regardless of perceived skill, imagine once all progamers know to use this composition (most know about it already) and "get there." That's when the problem is, because there's no answer to it.

PvZ: Standard PvZ into tempests + templar with mass archons. I take damage here and there, but once I have the god composition it's impossible to lose with good micro.
http://drop.sc/278414

PvZ: Standard PvZ again into tempests + templar, once again, no answer to this.
http://drop.sc/278415

PvZ: Same thing
http://drop.sc/278416

I barely even utilized the mothership in the above replays as well, so I could have played a tiny bit better. Perhaps you thought I was only "theorycrafting" maybe seeing is believing? I have not lost a PvZ yet when it gets to this stage, and I have a suspicion other Protosses that are doing this are having a lot of trouble losing when it gets to this point too.


Not a single zerg took advantage of your greedy teching that game. One game you open 2 stargate, get one oracle, then go into triple robo colossus, all while taking a fast third and getting templar with storm too. I have feeling that any heavy zerg aggression that keeps you on 3 bases will destroy this. You were ridiculously greedy and the zergs just sat on their asses and assumed their imba brood infestor would win the game for them. This composition beats brood infestor + sitting back with 7000 spines, which it is suppose to. Zergs have to start making stuff happen instead of just camping behind spines and an unbeatable army, the tempest accomplishes this.


You missed the entire point. When the game gets to max 200/200 tempest vs templar there's very little chance to lose the game at that point for Protoss. Just like you shouldn't be able to get a freewin or an advantage for simply surviving to broodlord/infestor and massing infestors like Zergs currently enjoy in wings of liberty, it's the same design problem that now Protoss gets a free advantage for simply surviving to mass tempest templar with no answer from Zerg.
Sup
kcdc
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2311 Posts
November 25 2012 22:01 GMT
#22
Avilo, have you had anyone magic box corruptors to kill your tempests? Corruptors are good for cost vs tempests, but they take big splash damage from storm and archons. I suspect this is a problem that will solve itself as players learn the micro and timings.
avilo
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States4100 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-11-26 03:06:11
November 26 2012 03:04 GMT
#23
On November 26 2012 07:01 kcdc wrote:
Avilo, have you had anyone magic box corruptors to kill your tempests? Corruptors are good for cost vs tempests, but they take big splash damage from storm and archons. I suspect this is a problem that will solve itself as players learn the micro and timings.


I've had people try to spread before (as well as doing this myself ZvP games), and it makes it so when i have 16-20 tempests/15/16 templar, they have 2-3 corruptors attacking different tempests on the outskirt of my "tempest ball." Meaning they're not killing anything and i'm still storming/using archons/stalkers regardless. Not to mention you can avoid an arc easily just by moving away but yeah, i haven't lost to corruptor arcs yet either.

I don't know what other protoss/zerg experiences are like when games get to this stage. I think not enough Protosses know about this yet, which obviously means not many Zergs have played against it either. The reason I say that is because I still see people that think tempests are too weak right now @_@
Sup
knOxStarcraft
Profile Joined March 2012
Canada422 Posts
November 26 2012 03:19 GMT
#24
As a zerg, I've played against this a couple of times, with little success. One of the times I had 6 base against 3 on antiga but I didn't kill the toss in time so he got a critical mass of tempest with templar, collosus, and stalker. At that point I remaxed 3 times on corruptor infestor and couldn't kill him. The problem is the infestors cant get close enough to do any damage and corruptors just get killed too fast/don't kill the tempest fast enough.
SolidZeal
Profile Joined October 2010
United States393 Posts
November 26 2012 03:34 GMT
#25
Write up a strategy guide for this, make it more commonly played and we'll see if its an issue.
In the clearing stands a boxer and a figher by his trade
kcdc
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2311 Posts
November 26 2012 14:48 GMT
#26
It's hard for me to imagine that Protoss can get 16-20 tempests without opening themselves up to taking damage on the way up to that tempest count. As others have pointed out in the thread, roach floods are going to be scary if you invest heavily in tempests. Perhaps some maps will make it too easy to turtle on 3 bases with forcefields, but this could potentially be fixed through map design. And aggression with drops and/or swarm hosts should be an option on any map. Lastly, there's always the option to send corruptor hit squads when there are 5-10 tempests instead of 16-20. You see this with motherships in WoL--Zerg will send a bunch of corruptors to snipes a mothership before a battle, sit back, remax, and THEN push with a proper army.
Hattori_Hanzo
Profile Joined October 2010
Singapore1229 Posts
November 26 2012 14:54 GMT
#27
I second a strategy guide, need to let Blizzard see how OP this is and let them decide on what to do.
Same as how they nerfed Thor with an mp bar
Cauterize the area
AfricanPsycho
Profile Joined December 2011
South Africa158 Posts
November 26 2012 22:44 GMT
#28
@Avilo

I think the main problem is zerg have no idea how to play ZvP now. They have been relying on BL infestor, and now there is a counter to that. Protoss armies need to beat zerg armys lategame, if that doesn't happen the game is broken since zerg always has a supply and economic advantage + there tech costs nothing compared to protoss.

Give it a few months while zerg re-learn how to play, and the metagame shifts. I don't think this will be a problem.
gg no re
avilo
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States4100 Posts
November 27 2012 00:55 GMT
#29
On November 26 2012 23:48 kcdc wrote:
It's hard for me to imagine that Protoss can get 16-20 tempests without opening themselves up to taking damage on the way up to that tempest count. As others have pointed out in the thread, roach floods are going to be scary if you invest heavily in tempests. Perhaps some maps will make it too easy to turtle on 3 bases with forcefields, but this could potentially be fixed through map design. And aggression with drops and/or swarm hosts should be an option on any map. Lastly, there's always the option to send corruptor hit squads when there are 5-10 tempests instead of 16-20. You see this with motherships in WoL--Zerg will send a bunch of corruptors to snipes a mothership before a battle, sit back, remax, and THEN push with a proper army.


Well, you don't need to imagine it! Because i posted replays!

Roach flood? What? Collosus still exist in HOTS! Don't mistake templar + tempest in the way I'm showing and describing it as some "noob rush" to tempests templar as quick as possible. Watch the replays I posted. It's standard Protoss collosus + gateway composition into tempests + templar later on in the game.

Any competent Protoss will just chrono out collosus if someone "masses roach." Even then, you don't really need to because you're going to end up with infestor-levels of high templar, where you get 10+ high templars and when you get to that number, high templars counter everything that the tempests don't, including roaches which are terribly supply inefficient for Zerg at that point in the game.

Hydralisk/corruptor/infested terrans/viper maybe? But once again, i've played ZvP and tried this and played PvZ against this, and hydras still suck hard at that point in the game. Psi storm wrecks hydras, and feedback insta-gibs vipers if the Zerg tries to use those.

I don't think corruptor hitsquads are anywhere realistic, that sounds like a dream. The thing I see similar for both T and Z vs this templar + tempest (what i now call the "god composition" because it seems to beat everything and anything) is that the only realistic counter to the tempest from the other races is to mass corruptors or mass vikings.

For Terran that's bad because vikings don't even trade effectively once storm is in play, and in the catch-22 scenario that you do trade efficiently (you won't), you land them and you lose anyways.

For Zerg, you need a ridiculous amount of corruptors to make a dent in this god composition, and in the event you somehow trade efficiently (you won't) then the Protoss just warps in all archon/stalker/chargelot and rolls you.

Even in PvP, theoretically in lategame, as well as in my own experience a couple times playing into lategame PvP, the counter to this tempest accumulation is...building mass tempest of your own lol.


On November 26 2012 23:54 Hattori_Hanzo wrote:
I second a strategy guide, need to let Blizzard see how OP this is and let them decide on what to do.
Same as how they nerfed Thor with an mp bar


I may!
Sup
YyapSsap
Profile Joined September 2010
New Zealand1511 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-11-27 01:32:03
November 27 2012 01:31 GMT
#30
Im not sure about the other matchups.. but tempest/HT/stalkers murder any mech composition in TvP Hots. The fact that mech timings are very difficult to pull off since it lacks muscle means that Protoss often can cut alot of corners to amass tempests on top of setting up their econ + tech switches incase the T wins the air war. Its quite sad really, when protoss has their own version of broodlords/infestor.

I mean in TvT, a tech switch to BCs/air against a meching player does give some options for the mech player to apply the appropriate pressure AND have a way of dealing with the air threat (turrets/mass vikings/thors etc).. but range 15 + insane hitpoints just kills off everything. Get PDDs? theyll just fly away and maybe snipe the pdd afar. With tempests out of the picture for mech TvP, I think its not too bad. With tempests, its 200% bio all the way.

Maybe blizzard have realised, but they've created a super BW guardian in the form of a protoss unit.. man you get to a certain number of these units, the critical mass they hurt alot.
AfricanPsycho
Profile Joined December 2011
South Africa158 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-11-27 02:37:51
November 27 2012 02:25 GMT
#31
@Avilo

Templar's are bad in PvZ they have always been, roaches just soak up the damage and regen it. I don't know how you got to masters playing as greedy as you do, looking at gsl matches, mlg where people play normally you get crushed.

Tempests and templar are slow, how to you deal with counter attacks / base snipes? Realistically speaking in proper pro level match you are either going to go gready tech of 3 bases / go for a strong collusus ball and take a 4th base. Yeah you might have a stong push of 3 base, but a good zerg will remax and crush through with macro.

WhiteRa tries to go for this composition and struggles alot to get of the ground, most games he just straight up gets roflstomped before he gets the composition. When he does get off the ground, he struggles vs corrupters and roaches, and heavy aggression. Unless you think you are a better player than him, I suggest you quit QQing about balance, and get your MMR up to where zergs actually attack before 25minutes with something other than muta's.
gg no re
kcdc
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2311 Posts
November 27 2012 04:22 GMT
#32
On November 27 2012 09:55 avilo wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 26 2012 23:48 kcdc wrote:
It's hard for me to imagine that Protoss can get 16-20 tempests without opening themselves up to taking damage on the way up to that tempest count. As others have pointed out in the thread, roach floods are going to be scary if you invest heavily in tempests. Perhaps some maps will make it too easy to turtle on 3 bases with forcefields, but this could potentially be fixed through map design. And aggression with drops and/or swarm hosts should be an option on any map. Lastly, there's always the option to send corruptor hit squads when there are 5-10 tempests instead of 16-20. You see this with motherships in WoL--Zerg will send a bunch of corruptors to snipes a mothership before a battle, sit back, remax, and THEN push with a proper army.


Well, you don't need to imagine it! Because i posted replays!

Roach flood? What? Collosus still exist in HOTS! Don't mistake templar + tempest in the way I'm showing and describing it as some "noob rush" to tempests templar as quick as possible. Watch the replays I posted. It's standard Protoss collosus + gateway composition into tempests + templar later on in the game.

Any competent Protoss will just chrono out collosus if someone "masses roach." Even then, you don't really need to because you're going to end up with infestor-levels of high templar, where you get 10+ high templars and when you get to that number, high templars counter everything that the tempests don't, including roaches which are terribly supply inefficient for Zerg at that point in the game.

Hydralisk/corruptor/infested terrans/viper maybe? But once again, i've played ZvP and tried this and played PvZ against this, and hydras still suck hard at that point in the game. Psi storm wrecks hydras, and feedback insta-gibs vipers if the Zerg tries to use those.

I don't think corruptor hitsquads are anywhere realistic, that sounds like a dream. The thing I see similar for both T and Z vs this templar + tempest (what i now call the "god composition" because it seems to beat everything and anything) is that the only realistic counter to the tempest from the other races is to mass corruptors or mass vikings.

For Terran that's bad because vikings don't even trade effectively once storm is in play, and in the catch-22 scenario that you do trade efficiently (you won't), you land them and you lose anyways.

For Zerg, you need a ridiculous amount of corruptors to make a dent in this god composition, and in the event you somehow trade efficiently (you won't) then the Protoss just warps in all archon/stalker/chargelot and rolls you.

Even in PvP, theoretically in lategame, as well as in my own experience a couple times playing into lategame PvP, the counter to this tempest accumulation is...building mass tempest of your own lol.


Show nested quote +
On November 26 2012 23:54 Hattori_Hanzo wrote:
I second a strategy guide, need to let Blizzard see how OP this is and let them decide on what to do.
Same as how they nerfed Thor with an mp bar


I may!

Since you main Terran, I'm not sure you understand all the subtleties of PvZ. Protoss is always behind in income, so trading inefficiently is often a winning play for Zerg. You say that Protoss can stop all ground-based aggression by building a bunch of colossi to set up the templar+tempest transition, but what you may not know is that this transition conceptually mirrors a carrier transition in WoL. Carriers+templar is a "god composition" in WoL PvZ if you can get up to 6-8 carriers with good support. The problem is that Zerg doesn't have to let you get there because Zerg can constantly trade as Protoss attempts to transition, keeping the air fleet from reaching critical mass. Protoss wants colossi, archons, templar, stalkers, and air units, and unless you're at least even on economy (very difficult to achieve), you just don't have the gas to bankroll a proper carrier transition if Zerg stays aggressive.

Tempests are easier to build as support because they're cheaper and have shorter build times, but their DPS is shit, so the critical mass is much further away than it is with carriers. Well-timed aggression is the key to stopping carriers in WoL. I suspect Zergs can find ways to deal with tempests in a similar manner.
SolidZeal
Profile Joined October 2010
United States393 Posts
November 27 2012 05:15 GMT
#33
It's interesting that you call 6-8 carriers "god mode" because the last protoss I saw get 8+ max upgraded carriers in a PvZ was beaten down super hard by the default zerg deathball. Still, I like the idea of using Tempest and templar, sounds hard to get to but a lot of fun.

How often do Terran respond with mass raven to this btw? Seems like with well position PDD the mass tempest would be rendered much less useful.
In the clearing stands a boxer and a figher by his trade
GrassEater
Profile Joined July 2010
Sweden417 Posts
November 27 2012 05:46 GMT
#34
On November 27 2012 14:15 SolidZeal wrote:
It's interesting that you call 6-8 carriers "god mode" because the last protoss I saw get 8+ max upgraded carriers in a PvZ was beaten down super hard by the default zerg deathball. Still, I like the idea of using Tempest and templar, sounds hard to get to but a lot of fun.

How often do Terran respond with mass raven to this btw? Seems like with well position PDD the mass tempest would be rendered much less useful.


Thats why tempest sucks vs Terran unless you have ht for feedback against the ppd or ravens.
ant-1
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
Canada149 Posts
November 27 2012 15:16 GMT
#35
On November 27 2012 10:31 YyapSsap wrote:
Im not sure about the other matchups.. but tempest/HT/stalkers murder any mech composition in TvP Hots


Anything from protoss murders terran mech.

More to the point, Avilo I watched your replays and while the composition seem very strong, I have a few remarks :
- First, you seem to not really get templar/tempest, more tempest + collo + templar + archon. collo and archons are here to dispatch the broodlings and locusts. Because contrary to what you say, storm is not fast enough to dispatch the free units from zerg, and you may run out of it anyway.
- It seems like you outmatched the zergs you faced. On one replay, you won almost from the start with an efficient cannon rush and could have ended the game around 10 minutes. I reckon your P is very good!
- It looks like the Zs have no idea what to do against this composition. They stick to inf+BL, which may not be the ideal (actually, it may be the worst as tempest murder BLs). They do not really try to drop/runby/generally outmaneuver your slow army, like toss learned to do against inf+BL. One thing I saw one Z do but only once, was to send a pack of corruptors in your base when your army was away, to kill the tempests popping out of the stargates. He killed 2-3 of them, for almost no loss. He did not realize that was a tactic worth repeating alas

All in all it seems quite strong, but not BL+inf strong. At no point you could really engage head-on the Z (and you did not). You lost numerous bases even though they did not put a strong emphasis on attacking at multiple places. You mostly won through attrition because the Zs were not able to imagine a counter.

That's only my view of these 3 random replays, I could be wrong ofc. To really be the "god composition" you mention, I think you have to prove you can transition safely to it before the very late game and explain how it fairs against various tactics. Show us a guide!
The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills
YyapSsap
Profile Joined September 2010
New Zealand1511 Posts
November 27 2012 19:33 GMT
#36
On November 28 2012 00:16 ant-1 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 27 2012 10:31 YyapSsap wrote:
Im not sure about the other matchups.. but tempest/HT/stalkers murder any mech composition in TvP Hots


Anything from protoss murders terran mech.


Not really.
Resistentialism
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
Canada688 Posts
November 27 2012 19:44 GMT
#37
So how was storm changed in HoTS that it now apparently counters roaches?
AbideWithMe
Profile Joined October 2012
207 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-11-27 19:55:53
November 27 2012 19:53 GMT
#38
On November 27 2012 11:25 AfricanPsycho wrote:
@Avilo

Templar's are bad in PvZ they have always been, roaches just soak up the damage and regen it. I don't know how you got to masters playing as greedy as you do, looking at gsl matches, mlg where people play normally you get crushed.

Tempests and templar are slow, how to you deal with counter attacks / base snipes? Realistically speaking in proper pro level match you are either going to go gready tech of 3 bases / go for a strong collusus ball and take a 4th base. Yeah you might have a stong push of 3 base, but a good zerg will remax and crush through with macro.

WhiteRa tries to go for this composition and struggles alot to get of the ground, most games he just straight up gets roflstomped before he gets the composition. When he does get off the ground, he struggles vs corrupters and roaches, and heavy aggression. Unless you think you are a better player than him, I suggest you quit QQing about balance, and get your MMR up to where zergs actually attack before 25minutes with something other than muta's.

What you try to bring up is basically the same argument Zergs used for month to justify the Imbanesss of Broodlord Infestor Corruptor. It's so hard to get there. What is about counterattacks....bla bla bla bla. This argument doesn't change in anyway that there is a new god composition and once somebody gets to it he wins. Just like in ZvX where Zerg found ways to get to the god composition people will find ways to get to this composition safely as well. And then you have the same problem like in WoL. 2 Races play against the clock while one plays in favor of it and this is shitty design.

On November 28 2012 04:44 Resistentialism wrote:
So how was storm changed in HoTS that it now apparently counters roaches?

By introducing a counter to Broodlords called Tempests.
Roaches were never the counter to late game Archon Templar Compositions. Never. People went Broodlords and Templars hit a brick (broodling) wall.
""I abused a child today" -Stephano" - nmetasch
ant-1
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
Canada149 Posts
November 27 2012 21:17 GMT
#39
On November 28 2012 04:53 AbideWithMe wrote:
What you try to bring up is basically the same argument Zergs used for month to justify the Imbanesss of Broodlord Infestor Corruptor. It's so hard to get there. What is about counterattacks....bla bla bla bla. This argument doesn't change in anyway that there is a new god composition and once somebody gets to it he wins. Just like in ZvX where Zerg found ways to get to the god composition people will find ways to get to this composition safely as well. And then you have the same problem like in WoL. 2 Races play against the clock while one plays in favor of it and this is shitty design.


Hmm, I guess I was not clear enough: from the replays, it seems the zergs were outclassed, that the composition is very late game at best, and only desirable if the Z go for inf + BL. I mean, storm + shitty tempest DPS, on paper, should be rolled over by speed roaches killing your expansions left and right and a final corruptor push to clean the tempests.
I'm not convinced it's a god composition, is all. But I'll try it more to make up my mind about it.
If Avilo makes a guide
The Days Run Away Like Wild Horses Over the Hills
AbideWithMe
Profile Joined October 2012
207 Posts
November 27 2012 21:40 GMT
#40
On November 28 2012 06:17 ant-1 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 28 2012 04:53 AbideWithMe wrote:
What you try to bring up is basically the same argument Zergs used for month to justify the Imbanesss of Broodlord Infestor Corruptor. It's so hard to get there. What is about counterattacks....bla bla bla bla. This argument doesn't change in anyway that there is a new god composition and once somebody gets to it he wins. Just like in ZvX where Zerg found ways to get to the god composition people will find ways to get to this composition safely as well. And then you have the same problem like in WoL. 2 Races play against the clock while one plays in favor of it and this is shitty design.


Hmm, I guess I was not clear enough: from the replays, it seems the zergs were outclassed, that the composition is very late game at best, and only desirable if the Z go for inf + BL. I mean, storm + shitty tempest DPS, on paper, should be rolled over by speed roaches killing your expansions left and right and a final corruptor push to clean the tempests.
I'm not convinced it's a god composition, is all. But I'll try it more to make up my mind about it.
If Avilo makes a guide

You somehow forget that you have a good amount of archons and a mothership in that composition to defend and an enormous and most importantly uncontested siege potential yourself with the gigantic tempest range. How is a zerg supposed to invest that heavily into roaches without simply dying to the tempests knocking on his door.
Tempests honestly don't seem that hard to mass as they are considerably cheaper and faster to build than carriers which Protoss where able to mass in certain games against zerg pretty well (With not that much succes due to the suckiness of carriers though)
""I abused a child today" -Stephano" - nmetasch
kcdc
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States2311 Posts
November 27 2012 21:52 GMT
#41
Avilo's so-called "God Composition" of 20 tempests, 10 templar, and 5 archons, costs 120 supply and 7,000 gas, and it has pathetic DPS against anything that's not either heavily clumped up or massive. There are going to be avenues for Zerg to attack and punish that composition.
SirPinky
Profile Joined February 2011
United States525 Posts
November 28 2012 07:55 GMT
#42
Master Hots and High Master WoL T here:

Tempest is a joke at this point. I go fast gas and kill all the probes in the probe line, I follow it up with a bunch of marines and a bunker for defense...no matter...they went fast tempest. One Tepest sieges my marines and bunker. Cant do much because there are 3 stalkers there (o ya' did I mention it takes 3 vikings to kill a tempest? - thats if you have a starport). By the time siege tank is out 2 tempest are there. Cloak banshee or mines? Nope, b/c mothership core is sitting right there for detection. The irony in all of this is Terran already sucks late game and between the mothership core and all the T3 units introduced to both Protoss and Zerg, Terran is weaker than ever.

There needs to some additional requirement for Tempest. It is like me making Thors without an Armory.
How much better to get wisdom than gold; to get insight rather than silver!
bgx
Profile Joined August 2010
Poland6595 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-11-28 08:18:57
November 28 2012 08:18 GMT
#43
On November 28 2012 06:52 kcdc wrote:
Avilo's so-called "God Composition" of 20 tempests, 10 templar, and 5 archons, costs 120 supply and 7,000 gas, and it has pathetic DPS against anything that's not either heavily clumped up or massive. There are going to be avenues for Zerg to attack and punish that composition.

Clumped up or massive sums up every possible composition :x
Stork[gm]
AfricanPsycho
Profile Joined December 2011
South Africa158 Posts
November 28 2012 10:23 GMT
#44
On November 28 2012 16:55 SirPinky wrote:
Master Hots and High Master WoL T here:

Tempest is a joke at this point. I go fast gas and kill all the probes in the probe line, I follow it up with a bunch of marines and a bunker for defense...no matter...they went fast tempest. One Tepest sieges my marines and bunker. Cant do much because there are 3 stalkers there (o ya' did I mention it takes 3 vikings to kill a tempest? - thats if you have a starport). By the time siege tank is out 2 tempest are there. Cloak banshee or mines? Nope, b/c mothership core is sitting right there for detection. The irony in all of this is Terran already sucks late game and between the mothership core and all the T3 units introduced to both Protoss and Zerg, Terran is weaker than ever.

There needs to some additional requirement for Tempest. It is like me making Thors without an Armory.


A master T losing to a tempest rush, replay please, I need to see this.
gg no re
Decendos
Profile Joined August 2011
Germany1341 Posts
November 28 2012 11:42 GMT
#45
On November 28 2012 17:18 bgx wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 28 2012 06:52 kcdc wrote:
Avilo's so-called "God Composition" of 20 tempests, 10 templar, and 5 archons, costs 120 supply and 7,000 gas, and it has pathetic DPS against anything that's not either heavily clumped up or massive. There are going to be avenues for Zerg to attack and punish that composition.

Clumped up or massive sums up every possible composition :x


this!

its not like you can go roach ling or something like that vs the above composition since that wont do anything and wont even be able to kill the bases that are protected by cannons and 1 HT per base. meanwhile he will just kill your bases.

you need to fight that army at some point, especially since range 15 tempest are able to protect at least 4 bases by just sitting there...
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