• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 09:00
CET 14:00
KST 22:00
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - Presented by Monster Energy5ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT30Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13
Community News
Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool31Weekly Cups (March 9-15): herO, Clem, ByuN win42026 KungFu Cup Announcement6BGE Stara Zagora 2026 cancelled12Blizzard Classic Cup - Tastosis announced as captains18
StarCraft 2
General
Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool Potential Updates Coming to the SC2 CN Server Weekly Cups (March 2-8): ByuN overcomes PvT block Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw? Weekly Cups (March 9-15): herO, Clem, ByuN win
Tourneys
World University TeamLeague (500$+) | Signups Open RSL Season 4 announced for March-April Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament WardiTV Team League Season 10 KSL Week 87
Strategy
Custom Maps
Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026]
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 517 Distant Threat Mutation # 516 Specter of Death Mutation # 515 Together Forever
Brood War
General
ASL21 General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Gypsy to Korea JaeDong's form before ASL BSL Season 22
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL22] Open Qualifiers & Ladder Tours Small VOD Thread 2.0 IPSL Spring 2026 is here!
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
General RTS Discussion Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile Dawn of War IV
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Five o'clock TL Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Canadian Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Mexico's Drug War
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Cricket [SPORT] Formula 1 Discussion Tokyo Olympics 2021 Thread General nutrition recommendations
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Money Laundering In Video Ga…
TrAiDoS
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
FS++
Kraekkling
Shocked by a laser…
Spydermine0240
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2457 users

[G] PvZ Anti stephano style build by EmpireMista - Page 10

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 8 9 10 11 12 Next All
CrAzEdMiKe
Profile Joined March 2011
Canada151 Posts
May 17 2012 14:53 GMT
#181
I wholeheartedly would like to thank Mista for sharing his build. Regardless of how many people feel the need to discredit or poke holes in the build, for a pro player to share some of his "tech" with the community is extremely refreshing, and I really do thank you for it.

I think there are some main points about the build which a lot of people seem to be forgetting. This is designed to work against the "Roach max" build, and if the Zerg player identifies this build and changes tactics, well, the Protoss is going to have to change up his strategy as well. Builds don't have to be set in stone like a lot of people think. There were many games where I went in thinking I'd be going for some kind of composition but based on what happened during the game, my plan got altered quite dramatically. This is no different.

The second point that I think is a little understated is that even if the Zerg changes tech and goes a different route (depending on how far in he realizes or decides to switch) you still will have a lot of infrastructure and a lot of tech set up and good to go. Protoss has to spend a LOT of money on upgrades and structures, and with that out of the way, even if you're taking a late expo you won't have to be spending that money on all these upgrades because they're already done. I feel like a lot of casters in vods will overemphasize advantages in game based solely on economy... When tech in itself can be a really key advantage. Once you have invested in all these upgrades and tech, that's money you (hopefully) won't need to spend again and can now spend on bulking up your army.

So to make a long story short, I really like this build and I'm very grateful that Mista chose to share it. It is definitely a niche build, but a well needed one. Also the thing is, a single build like this has the potential to shift metagames... Once a known "counter" to the roach 11-12min maxout has been absorbed and used by the community, people on the ladder will favor that style less and less... Similar to how the Protoss 3gate expand was phased out due to Zergs adapting and breaking it, if Protoss has learned how to break a Zerg doing this style, it will just fade into memory (hopefully).
Fortis-Et-Fidus
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States119 Posts
May 18 2012 01:28 GMT
#182
get 2 cannons at front, because i constantly get all ined on ladder, mid diamond to mid master level, they dont even scout my buildings but they roahc ling all in, and usually 2 cannons isn't enough...:/ any advice mista?

User was warned for this post
"Battle Crusier Operational"
Empire.Mista
Profile Joined August 2010
Greece150 Posts
May 18 2012 01:42 GMT
#183
Scout.
https://twitter.com/EmpireMista
birdseed
Profile Joined February 2011
19 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-05-18 03:24:14
May 18 2012 03:12 GMT
#184
my bad: shouldnt of presumed.
monk
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States8476 Posts
May 18 2012 03:18 GMT
#185
On May 18 2012 12:12 birdseed wrote:
Show nested quote +
On May 18 2012 10:28 Fortis-Et-Fidus wrote:
get 2 cannons at front, because i constantly get all ined on ladder, mid diamond to mid master level, they dont even scout my buildings but they roahc ling all in, and usually 2 cannons isn't enough...:/ any advice mista?

User was warned for this post

The reason you got warned is because the answer is implied by the OP and you gave bad advice. This build is meant to go against the stephano style roach max which requires 3hatch before gas. This means that if you don't scout 3hatch before gas you should not do this build. If you use the search feature I'd bet you can find threads where people give advice about playing against 2 base zerg (which means faster tech or an all in).

No, the reason he got warned was that he went completely off topic, using this thread as an opportunity to ask Mista an unrelated question.
Moderator
Keylime
Profile Joined July 2011
United States33 Posts
May 18 2012 03:26 GMT
#186
Thank you mista! this build is actually pretty good. I'm a mid masters terran player who recently switched to toss : P and after losing 3 games in a row to my mid/top masters zerg friend, (him going stephano style), I found this guide and used it on him, and low and behold it worked. Mindgames played a huge part and a lot came down to his corruptor timing, which was just a tad bit late. All in all, seems to be a good build, thanks for sharing it.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
ChrysaliS_
Profile Joined January 2011
United States261 Posts
May 18 2012 03:36 GMT
#187
Hey themis :D
Chrysalis.145
skasse
Profile Joined February 2012
United States2 Posts
May 18 2012 03:46 GMT
#188
I wanted to say thanks also, for sharing this build. I saw this post today, watched the replays, and gave it a try. I've walked all over my roach maxing opponents. Thanks!
Deleted User 81929
Profile Joined June 2010
243 Posts
May 18 2012 10:03 GMT
#189
--- Nuked ---
Empire.Mista
Profile Joined August 2010
Greece150 Posts
May 18 2012 10:34 GMT
#190
Dropping a 2 base protoss player not a good idea.
https://twitter.com/EmpireMista
Deleted User 81929
Profile Joined June 2010
243 Posts
May 18 2012 10:59 GMT
#191
--- Nuked ---
Empire.Mista
Profile Joined August 2010
Greece150 Posts
May 18 2012 12:53 GMT
#192
With an observer and a prism out is it possible to go for drops without me seeing it ? therefore i will have units ready to defend the drop.
https://twitter.com/EmpireMista
Harstem
Profile Joined January 2011
Netherlands263 Posts
May 18 2012 13:22 GMT
#193
Hey mista, nice guide u have here.
Looks like a strong build, How do you deal with people who will get like 6/7 festors at home and then basetrade you with roaches?
Progamer
Bananasword01
Profile Joined April 2011
Australia220 Posts
May 18 2012 15:33 GMT
#194
If the map sufficiently spacious couldn't the zerg expand to far bases for 4th and 5th. And then just base race you when youtry to attack? Obviously its not a perfect counter but I always thought base race to be a zerg weapon not used well enough
Xitac
Profile Joined April 2012
Germany25 Posts
May 18 2012 16:28 GMT
#195
I think more then 3 replays would be nice...

User was warned for this post. There are 7 replays in the OP......
StarBrift
Profile Joined January 2008
Sweden1761 Posts
May 18 2012 17:23 GMT
#196
The greatest thing about this build imo is that it disguises itself as an immortal all in if you deny scouting properly. So the zerg will be mortally afraid of taking a fast 4th and get those important 8 gas. If a zerg is 100% sure that this build is coming then he could probably just mass drone/spine and take 4th really early so that he can get spine+infestor+corruptor up in time to combat this. But you can't just blindly do that because its an instant loss against any early 2 base timing.

I think zergs are gonna have to have an exact 4th base timing when protoss shows no sign of attacking beyond some kind of time limit.
n0btozz
Profile Joined January 2011
Iceland115 Posts
May 18 2012 17:46 GMT
#197
Funny how a good pro player, granted - not the most famous, but still good, posts a strategy that he is using against "Stephano style" and we has a bunch of lower end players, homemade experts telling him it's a bad build.

I for one can say this. I had around 65-70% win ratio in pvz for ages, had this matchup in my pocket. Then I had my finals so couldn't play and when I got back to playing, shiiii, my best matchup had gone down the sink. I just couldn't beat Stephano style, currently I have a 80% win rate in pvp, 57% win rate in pvt but only 30% win rate in pvz. I tried this build and it worked perfectly, I denied scouting, he didn't know when I was moving out, he figured out what was going on too late and his blind response to some 10-11 minute push out from me failed him and I crushed him. Then the same happened next game.

Thank you man, you have just saved my pvz.
http://www.x2coaching.com/
The_Darkness
Profile Joined December 2011
United States910 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-05-18 19:44:04
May 18 2012 19:40 GMT
#198
I've lost to P doing something like this (turtle for 14 or 15 minutes and then pushout with Collosuses or a bunch of immortals) and I generally do the "stephano build". I'm high diamond. This build seems to work on maps where it's easy for Protoss to hold their natural with sentries (e.g., Ohana or Shakuras) but on Daybreak I've been able to kill it with superior production by simply breaking down their wall at around the 12 minute mark and eventually overwhelming their forces before a bunch of colossus can come out. If you're doing the Stephano build you'll have about 60 drones at 8 minutes and a fourth base before the 10 minute mark. If you see a warp prism you can safely drone to 65-70 in case you want to play for the later game. With patience, if you simply keep teching up (and killing or sacrificing supply as needed to replace roaches with infestors and corruptors), it seems like it would be hard for P to march across the map and beat 2 maxed out Zerg armies, but what seems hard and it was is hard in practice are obviously two different things.

Sorry for being lazy, but could you direct me to a game where you beat 2 maxed out zerg armies? (Or could someone who's watched the games do so.) I need to see it to believe it

Edit: I should add that when I lose to the build, i attribute it to the fact that I am idiot who insists on throwing half his army away by trying to force his way up the ramp to the nat on Shakuras and repeatedly losing half of his army until the Protoss is near maxed and I die.
To be is to be the value of a bound variable.
GadGet
Profile Joined April 2011
Germany24 Posts
May 19 2012 16:10 GMT
#199
Pretty strong timing push, but i think it doesn't work twice against the same zerg player (on really high level). Your only little aggression is the warpprism which is not too scary :p. If the zerg sees that you are so extremly passiv for such a long time he can build like no units and play extremly greedy. By the time the push hits he'll have 20 spines, infestors and broodlords out which deals with that push pretty ez.

User was warned for this post
StarBrift
Profile Joined January 2008
Sweden1761 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-05-19 16:44:18
May 19 2012 16:41 GMT
#200
On May 19 2012 04:40 The_Darkness wrote:
I've lost to P doing something like this (turtle for 14 or 15 minutes and then pushout with Collosuses or a bunch of immortals) and I generally do the "stephano build". I'm high diamond. This build seems to work on maps where it's easy for Protoss to hold their natural with sentries (e.g., Ohana or Shakuras) but on Daybreak I've been able to kill it with superior production by simply breaking down their wall at around the 12 minute mark and eventually overwhelming their forces before a bunch of colossus can come out. If you're doing the Stephano build you'll have about 60 drones at 8 minutes and a fourth base before the 10 minute mark. If you see a warp prism you can safely drone to 65-70 in case you want to play for the later game. With patience, if you simply keep teching up (and killing or sacrificing supply as needed to replace roaches with infestors and corruptors), it seems like it would be hard for P to march across the map and beat 2 maxed out Zerg armies, but what seems hard and it was is hard in practice are obviously two different things.

Sorry for being lazy, but could you direct me to a game where you beat 2 maxed out zerg armies? (Or could someone who's watched the games do so.) I need to see it to believe it

Edit: I should add that when I lose to the build, i attribute it to the fact that I am idiot who insists on throwing half his army away by trying to force his way up the ramp to the nat on Shakuras and repeatedly losing half of his army until the Protoss is near maxed and I die.


I don't think you understand what the point of the build is if you think you can trade units before the actual battle. The whole point is that if you spend money on more than 20 roaches you are most likely not going to afford the gas units you need to defend the push. Also if you stop drones at 60 vs this you won't afford mass spines in time either.

The whole point of this build is that you need to start reacting to it about 3-4 minutes before it hits and it's very hard for a zerg to decide if they should be safe against this build or safe against a normal sentry heavy immortal push.
Prev 1 8 9 10 11 12 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 3h
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Rex 110
DivinesiaTV 1
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 44220
Sea 16050
Calm 8665
Hyuk 2813
Horang2 1908
EffOrt 1362
Jaedong 1267
Flash 692
BeSt 536
firebathero 367
[ Show more ]
actioN 350
Larva 308
Mini 248
Last 226
Light 222
Soma 200
Mind 128
Shine 126
Rush 103
Aegong 84
Yoon 74
Pusan 71
Hm[arnc] 68
hero 66
Barracks 58
ToSsGirL 55
Sea.KH 41
GoRush 32
Free 27
Nal_rA 25
zelot 23
IntoTheRainbow 22
sorry 19
910 18
Noble 16
Terrorterran 11
SilentControl 10
ivOry 10
Icarus 7
eros_byul 1
Dota 2
Gorgc4873
BananaSlamJamma116
League of Legends
JimRising 49
Counter-Strike
fl0m3415
Fnx 2625
x6flipin452
edward103
oskar49
Heroes of the Storm
MindelVK13
Other Games
singsing2548
B2W.Neo867
XaKoH 461
DeMusliM375
Liquid`RaSZi353
Fuzer 182
Hui .167
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream71
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH279
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos2872
Upcoming Events
LAN Event
3h
BSL
7h
Replay Cast
20h
Afreeca Starleague
21h
Sharp vs Scan
Rain vs Mong
Wardi Open
23h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 4h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 21h
Afreeca Starleague
1d 21h
Soulkey vs Ample
JyJ vs sSak
Replay Cast
2 days
Afreeca Starleague
2 days
hero vs YSC
Larva vs Shine
[ Show More ]
Kung Fu Cup
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
KCM Race Survival
3 days
The PondCast
3 days
WardiTV Team League
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
WardiTV Team League
4 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Cure vs Zoun
herO vs Rogue
WardiTV Team League
5 days
Platinum Heroes Events
6 days
BSL
6 days
RSL Revival
6 days
ByuN vs Maru
MaxPax vs TriGGeR
WardiTV Team League
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Jeongseon Sooper Cup
WardiTV Winter 2026
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
BSL Season 22
CSL Elite League 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
Nations Cup 2026
NationLESS Cup
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual

Upcoming

ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
2026 Changsha Offline CUP
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
CSL Season 20: Qualifier 1
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.