Obligatory OP credentials..
+ Show Spoiler [As of 12/01/2010] +
2407 Diamond 2v2 RT, #7 World #3 NA on SC2Ranks, and #1 Protoss World/NA
11.30.2010
This new post should be relatively long - have plenty of time to waste while watching GSL
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The SAFE maps
All 4 maps share the property of a shared ramp. High Orbit has a backdoor entrance via destructible rocks whereas Twilight Fortress does not, but the ramp on Twilight Fortress is somewhat large, and the back rocks on High Orbit can only be accessed from the main ramp via a long path when attacking. So, once they commit at one location, they cannot have a large number of forces at the other very quickly, so you have an advantage defending due to the extremely short distance you need to move in order to go from one entrance to the other. Tempest is a bit special - I'll get to that.
In order of safeness from supersafe to less supersafe,
- Tempest + Show Spoiler [Map Image] +
- Discord IV + Show Spoiler [Map Image] +
- High Orbit + Show Spoiler [Map Image] +
- Twilight Fortress + Show Spoiler [Map Image] +
The AVERAGE maps
In the same decreasing order of safeness,
- Scorched Haven + Show Spoiler [Map Image] +
Scorched Haven has the property that while there is not a shared ramp, the entrance between the two cliffs is not very large. In fact, if you are a PT team, you can safely wall it off. You may have to cut probes to do it though. - War Zone + Show Spoiler [Map Image] +
War Zone is interesting. While there is a common ramp, there are 2 side entrances blocked by destructible rocks, for which you actually have a slight defender's disadvantage since the attacker can actually bounce from location to location faster than you can. You are forced into building a lot of early units, especially sentry, unless you are absolutely certain there is no early pressure coming. So, this map CAN be safe, but at the same time it can be very, very difficult to defend, due to the general slowness of protoss and the wideness of each ramp.
The DIVORCED rest
These maps all share the property of separate ramps wherein the space between is not particularly easy to defend. If the opponents push hard early and you are both defending on your own ramps, you will have a very difficult defending time as PZ, and even as PT, though to a lesser extent. If you are out in the open there are many harassive options open to the opponent unless you went double early pressure as well.
In no particular order of safeness...
- Arid Wastes + Show Spoiler [Map Image] +
- Monlyth Ridge + Show Spoiler [Map Image] +
- Tarsonis Assault + Show Spoiler [Map Image] +
We will discuss the safe maps from a PT perspective.
On Safe Maps
On the safe maps, it is not recommended that you go for any early game all in, or any early game push that involves econ cutting due to the ease with which any such shenanigans can be defended - you're really relying on your opponent to make a trivial error if you want any success with such play.
On Twilight Fortress, due to the fact that you can both expo fairly easily, and due to the long rush distance (if you don't want to be spotted by watch towers which are not easy to take simultaneously without being caught), any attack that does not rely heavily on opponent error will hit mid game. So, if you want to all in (bring scvs and whatnot) do it after you take your nat, then cut probes at around 44 (16 per base on minerals, 3 on each gas), and you may have slightly more probes on minerals, and go for an all in push once you have a few colossus and a few tank or thor. Otherwise, try to take position at the ramp in front of the opponent's nat, hold it, and expand whenever you scout that your army is capable of holding theirs, and you have at least equivalent reinforcing ability.
Note that the shared ramp is quite large, so if you scout a 10 pool speed or 7 pool coming along with comparable early game pressure from the zerg's ally, you will have to help your terran ally wall off. Thus, you should build your first pylon at the ramp. Choose the side you will be walling off - your ally starts from the other side of the ramp. In case of double 7 pool, cut probes and wall off immediately with 2 gateways to help your ally wall off - do not build a forge UNLESS you intend on pushing after 4 warpgate, because if you do so intend, then immediately put down a forge after first gateway at 12, and get +1 attack. Then,
- Go for 4 warpgate with double gas, chronoing the warpgate research. Your ally goes 4rax pure marine, no tech. Do get combat shield and stime though
- Scan one of the zerg mains after first round of gateway units warp in.
Now, if you scout very few drones still, you do not need to push (although you can, and will probably win - slight element of risk though, and if you do, make sure to chrono +1 attack and have a lot of zealot). Spend chrono boost on probes, expand, and make a lot of sentries. Your ally expands as well, and techs medivac. You don't need to worry about banelings EXCEPT through burrowed banelings, as any unborrowed ones will be dealt with via your copious sentry energy. You can then transition into a mid game attack with 1/0/1 (def/shield/atk) upgrades.
Other than this, there is no early game pressure you really need to worry about. Anything else you can handle through a 3rax expand and a 3 gate expand. Mid-game play is really quite variable based on what your opponents do. Just make sure to get a robo immediately after expand, or, if you suspect fast dt rush, go 3 gate robo expand. Really funny stuff can happen in 2v2 that seems crazy but is hard to deal with if you don't scout it - for example, cloaked banshee + phoenix. It may sound funny, but when you can safely expand relatively quickly by 2v2 standards, such play is completely possible, and has a tendency of killing observers and forcing scan. You have to go phoenix yourself in such cases, and have terran go marine, and some thor if possible, as thor prevent his phoenix from clumping, and if his phoenix cannot clump but yours can, you can always engage a small portion of his force with your entire force.
High Orbit and Discord IV are similar in that while the shared ramp is easy to defend and easy to fully wall off if necessary, expos are harder to secure. On High Orbit, expoing at the double natural is hard to defend since it makes the distance you have to move to defend your destructible rocks abhorrent. It is possible to for you to both expo by your rocks and hold the cliff by the watch tower, but then your main is very, very vulnerable to mobile air play. On Discord IV, expoing past the sole natural is difficult.
On Discord IV your best option is either to play to take a natural, leaving your team with 2 bases + 1 base, or double one base tech cheese. For the former, you then either power units to push down their team's 4th base whenever it is about to finish OR, if you want to play it safer, temporarily gas trade to one person so as to gain more t2 units of a particular flavor faster - the strongest version I think is 2 robo colossus + 1 gate zealot (which is actually sustainable off 1 protoss base funny enough, with terran resource support). Your terran ally builds barracks units (this is before expanding). You will almost certainly have a timing window wherein you have more colossus than they have colossus + tank due to your chrono boost being used purely for robo, and your terran ally will have more bio than the opposing team does. At this time you can push them purely for the intent of at least trading armies and forcing them to cancel any expands, and you both expand behind it whereas they cannot unless they mirrored your build due to the power of many colossus.
Whatever builds you choose, know that on High Orbit and Discord IV you must have a mobile army if you intend on playing a macro game past 3 bases. There are just so many directions from which you can be harassed when your team has 4 bases. For example, on Discord IV warpins can be done into your main across the gap from the 3 and 9 o'clock double expands. There may also be warp prism play, or a warp in to the main while pushing your team's 4th, or a small warp in to your 3rd via warp prism. Nydus is actually not as worrisome, because it is not really cheap and you can scout for that.
I don't really have a set build for High Orbit because so many things can happen on that map, as there is not a single "safe" expo. However, against TZ I often go fast upgrade (it's in one of the replays in the part 2 replay pack), where I get fast +3 armor with blink stalkers, or 2/0/1 if I see them get an armor upgrade + roach/marauder. That build lets us expand pretty safely after blink is complete. and we have good mobility. Plus, marines and zerglings don't do anything to you! You will need colossus or templar for later in the game though. You don't play aggressively with this build though, as they can defend in prepared positions. However, if you are the one in the prepared positions, you can defend as well, and your mobility allows you to move to new prepared positions quickly, so this is really a management build despite the fast upgrades (literally all chronos going to upgrades).
In general, on the safe maps I'd prefer to play a safe, macro game where I work to never be vulnerable, take expansions, and play my opponent into an inferior position from which I gain accumulated advantages. I usually don't try to force a win until the advantage is pretty high. That's not to say you shouldn't be constantly harassing, because you should. Just shouldn't be devoting too much to a concentrated attack in early or mid game.
The "odd" safe map
I did mention that Tempest is a bit of an oddity. Indeed it is because it actually is a 4 team 2v2 map. So, one extra consideration on this map is that you must double scout - both you and your terran ally send out an early scout, so you can quickly determine if there is some sort of a superb all in coming. However, once you scout it, you will be able to prepare against whatever it is they are trying to throw at you.
Notice that although you don't have a shared ramp, the space between the ramps is actually quite small, so you can easily do a shared block at that common choke. You can then play for an expand. However, any bases beyond your natural are not easy to take unless you control the watchtower and have mobility to deal with any attacks, as the ground distance that you will have to cover to defend your bases is quite large. As such, if your opponents go air, you will have to as well unless they do it badly and there is a window of opportunity for you to simply push them down.
In practice, there are often many vulnerabilities and the army positioning and base setup weaknesses on this map due to the many angles of attack, so do poke around and look for openings after taking your nat. In particular, there are openings for drops and reapers from the direction of the adjacent spawn positions, so reaper transitions are quite powerful here if they do not expect it.
On Average maps
Although Scorched Haven is a bit safer than the "divorced" maps, oftentimes the opponents do not or cannot wall their common choke. Thus, they effectively have separate ramps. Now, on separate ramps, early attacks are very strong. If you can get into position before they have many units, you can permanently ff one of them in their base. I like to 4gate (but with 2 gas) + 3rax into expand quite a bit.
Otherwise, if you do not go for early game fun, note that you cannot take a 3rd base very easily - there are so many attack routes into any 3rd you can take, and the golds are spectacularly difficult to hold. Thus, if you are diligent on scouting and find then taking a third, and you have tanks/colo (which you should if you didn't go for early game weirdness and there is not something strange coming out of the opposing team), scout where their army is, and then position yourself so as to split their base + army in half, so that there is some base they cannot defend without attacking into your pre-set army.
On War Zone, if your opponent is 1 basing, you are forced into 1 basing until you have a sufficiently large force to defend your ramps. If there is a zerg on the opposing team, I like to take the initiative and get a lot of units out as fast as possible due to the ridiculous mobility of zerg. If he tries to expand, or if I scout that there seems to be slightly fewer units than usual, and both of my rocks are still up, I go balls deep on the other team, which is easy to do since at any rate my terran ally opens up 3rax regardless. With no zerg on the opposing team, I try to play a management game with a slightly faster expand than they get, and go for a mid game push with the goal of at least gaining map control and preventing them from expanding past their elevated area.
There is a lot of air space around your elevated area, so be wary of drops and warp prisms. Your main and side naturals are not as safe as they seem to be....
On a related note regarding your naturals, notice that you actually have 3 - one on each side and one in the middle. I prefer to take the middle and the one by the closest rocks. For example, if you spawn at the bottom, then you take the middle natural + the right natural. The reason for this is the two ramps there are the easiest ones for the attacking force to bounce between, so chances are that they will be harassing both simultaneously while have a smaller force breaking down the left rocks. At any rate, you will want to wall off two then 3 ramps as quickly as economically feasible if there is a zerg on the other team, because otherwise the threat of speedling backstabs makes it very difficult to hold your entire plateau safely.
On "Divorced" maps
These maps feature separate main ramps without easily wallable common chokes. As such, early pressure is a very common thing to do. In fact, I really like to do high early game pressure on these maps. Sometimes it kills the opponent outright, if they are a bit too greedy, sometimes we end up expoing and doing a mid game push, and sometimes it goes late game, but these maps are really built for early game aggression, so that is what I will be discussing here.
There are a few different considerations based on the different map structures. Note that Tarsonis Assault has a large ramp, so if you scout zergling cheese, then you must cut probes and quickly wall off. Otherwise, you will be in some trouble. Also, it is possible to warp in across the ditch into either base, so be aware of proxy pylons above your main! Note that Arid Wastes has a nromal ramp at the mains, but a Tarsonis Assault type ramp at the naturals. Note also how far apart the mains are, and how if an attacking army manages to go up one of the naturals, they effectively have split the opposition in half, because you will not be able to easily go up that natural ramp against two armies. As such, I prefer to wall off at the natural ramp, with my terran ally doing the same. Note also that there is a backdoor for exactly one person of each team. Whoever spawns in the position with the backdoor will have to make extra early game units in order to be able to hold so that your ally can get into position to help defend. Arid Wastes is simply a normal ramp at each main with separate ramps, so it is similar in considerations to Scorched Haven, with the caveat that you can't really do an effective combined wall off even if you wanted to.
Now, on to the build order matchups. Here we assume your terran ally opens 3 rax regardless, and the protoss might 4 gate with 20 probes, or maybe not chrono the warpgate research and instead chrono unit production off 3 gate and get a slightly later warpgate, or a variety of other builds. If you end up going to midgame, I prefer having my terran ally going part mech part bio, and I go 2x chronoed robo if there is not heavy air play from the opposition (scouted by scan + obs), or otherwise transition into stargate + gateway.
These will necessarily be brief - ask in thread for any clarifications/more detailed explanations.
- vs ZZ
- vs double 7 pool
Immediately wall off your ramp (COMPLETE wall off - no gaps at all, no pylon in wall in), with the protoss going 12 gate, then forge (+another gateway on wide ramps) before restarting probe production. Then transition into a 4gate + 4 rax push, spending an extra chrono on probes. - vs double 10 pool
Wall off completely again, but this time do a 4gate + 3rax expand, as the zerg can actually manage to defend if you go for a real serious push. Threaten pressure though - if there are overlords nearby, kill them, and keep pushing towards their base, showing a probe along with your army as if you are going for a forward pylon into serious pressure, but then pull back after the remnant overlord vision fades away. - vs both pools after overlord
Go for a double gas 4 gate, with your terran ally going 3rax. Make sure you have a lot of sentries, and then push hard into one of the zergs, making sure to use ff to split the other zerg away. - vs 7 pool + a non rushing ally
Full wall off again, but this time when you transition into 4gate + 4rax, push hard. - 10 pool + non rushing ally
3gate 3rax expand. - vs any sort of double fe or double tech or fe/tech build
Mass marine/zealot all in. All chrono on zealot after you scout the double eco/tech.
- vs double 7 pool
- vs TZ
- vs mass speedling + marine
Quite a powerful early game rush this is, especially on wide ramps. If you don't scout a gas on terran, or it is late, or scout the zerg and see that he is going speedling and foregoing expand, then spend all your chrono on units, and your terran ally going mass marine, with combat shield and stim as fast as possible. You need stalker sentry as fast as possible - don't wait for warpgate research to finish before building units. It will be too late. Your job is hold until you have a noticeably superior force of stalker as opposed to the opposing marines, and then you and your army can move out simultaneously and push. - vs 3rax + mass speedling
Same as vs mass speedling + marine, but you can get your second gas and have a stronger economy, as the early game push is actually not as strong at the outset. you then transition into stalker sentry, and let ff win the day for you. Don't screw up on micro though - the entire point is to keep your units alive and get a lot of sentries with a lot of energy. You then push before siege tank, and you should be able to deal a lot of damage and possibly kill the opponent. Make sure to use ff to block reinforcements from the player you choose NOT to attack. Preferably, this would be the terran, as going up a terran ramp is difficult. - vs bio/roach
Same 4 gate with sentry + 3rax, but do not go up the zerg's ramp until you have cleared out any nearby terran units and ff the terran's ramp. Bad things can happen if you are shooting at roaches up a ramp and stimmed bio shows up in your rear. - vs one or more fast teching/expanding
All-in fast and hard.
- vs mass speedling + marine
- vs PZ
- Korean 4 warpgate + mass speedling
Full wall of at ramp, and then just play to counter a 4 warpgate, that is, chrono your units. Don't bother trying to push them, just play for an expand. - Korean 4 warpgate + econ or tech
Move out and kill the pylon/probe - you cannot risk doing this against mass speedling zerg. When you are sure there is not a hidden pylon somewhere that will bite you in the ass, push them. Immediately. - Korean 4 warpgate + roach
Once again you can move out and kill the pylon/probe, but this time pushing them is not a good idea until you have sentries, which you should have faster than the opposing protoss. Make sure to ff his zealots out of the battle, and shoot/pull back to kill as many zealots as possible before stimming and engaging the bulk of their army. - 4 warpgate + non fast expo/tech
All up to your control. Enjoy!
- One or more fast tech/expand
Just attack. No need even to make it all in.
Against PT, it's a mirror, so whoever executes better... wins! I actually don't particularly like doing early aggression against mirrors unless one of them techs or expands. Otherwise, I just try to defend into expo.
Haven't really played against much TT or PP. I think PP sucks though ^^;;
- Korean 4 warpgate + mass speedling
Whew, finally finished typing all that. Ask away ~!
+ Show Spoiler [Part 2 (Replay Pack)] +
11.12.2010
Haven't had the time lately for a lot of writing. Hopefully I'll get some done during the upcoming thanksgiving break ><
Until then, here are some replays (7) of various qualities to maybe keep you 2v2 lovers entertained! Played all of these today, finally remembering to save them since there is no lovely iccup autosave
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http://www.2shared.com/file/CtXYSB86/2v2.html
PS I'm Protoss.
+ Show Spoiler [Part 1 (Outdated - patch 1.1.1 stuff)] +
Episode 1: What should I play?
Well, that depends on what you are asking. Perhaps you are concerned with team composition, that is, should I play PT or PP or ZZ, etc. Or, perhaps you are thinking of a playstyle, about how you want to try to control the game. Let's start with the former.
You cannot simply choose any two races, combine them together, and expect to get to the top unless you are insanely better than everyone else you play. Some combinations just are no good, or rather, they seem no good at my current level (1299 Random 2v2, 107-61 as P).
Consider PP vs TZ on Scorched Haven:
+ Show Spoiler [Scorched Haven preview] +
![[image loading]](http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft/images2/thumb/a/aa/Scorched_Haven.jpg/800px-Scorched_Haven.jpg)
Terran opens with 7 rax reaper, zerg with 7 pool. There a few popular options currently for protoss. Either you initially 1 gate, with gate around 10 to 12, or you 2gate, or you build at the common choke and try to expand. If you try to do the latter as PP again TZ, it doesn't matter if you go the forge route or with gateway. With gateway, you cannot cover all your options against reaper. If you go forge, you certainly cannot cover all the reapers' options.
Suppose you don't build at your choke. Let's say you build at your ramp. The TZ focus on one protoss, whichever one seems more vulnerable. The other one will not be able to help him. Stalkers will not be out, only zealots. The reaper/ling will deal with zealots easily. If you go down your ramp to try to help your ally, TZ can simply pull back, surround your zealot, and kill. If you don't block at your ramp, you have even less of a chance because now the TZ has plenty of maneuvering room in your base.
Another possibility is to simply sac one of the protosses, so that they simply try to delay/mine resources and give it to their ally for a timing push. While this might work against lower level TZ as they focus too heavily on completely killing someone before moving on, the weakness with this strategy is that the TZ need only conquer the ramp. Once that is done, it is expedient to keep just one reaper in the base of the protoss that has just been defeated, and immediately turn the rest of the army and reinforcements to the other protoss so that he cannot execute a timing attack. Note this assumes that the first protoss to be attacked built at his ramp. If not, simply unpower the gateways/any cannons and proceed from there.
The amazing thing about opening 7rax/7pool again PP is that even if by some miracle the protosses pull off the sexiest micro ever and survive, you are NOT dead. You do not go hardcore reaper or hardcore ling. Terran immediately switches to factory + tech lab for siege tanks around 22 supply assuming that the protosses are being controlled well, which they should be, and zerg transitions into roach/hydra. You research siege immediately, hold your choke, and expand. You then attack in that time interval where you have expansion, the effects of theirs have not kicked in yet, and the difference between your forces is greatest.
All in all, TZ vs PP is pretty damn hard for the PP, if it is even possible given equally (very) skilled players...
I like playing as PT the most. I play either the P or T in this, I'm about the same with both, and perhaps a little better with T in 2v2. The reason is that the T can exert insane map control while the P helps, expands, and utilizes the amazing power of protoss warpgate/robo tech along with casters. Terran has the amazing ability to be extremely effective at harassing no matter how small the numbers, especially on 2v2 maps, which have many avenues of entry for reapers, vikings, banshees, medivacs. One of my favorite builds as T against PZ is to open 2 or 3 rax reaper into helion if the Z goes ling, or banshee if he goes roach, while my protoss ally goes stalker/sentry. I strive to keep my reapers alive as long as possible, so that hopefully by the time my next phase of harass arives, be it helion/medivac or banshee, the reapers are still alive, so I can attack from many angles at once, while my ally safely expands and goes colossus.
I really cannot imagine playing without a T in 2v2 - they are just so good for it. Also, if you are playing PT, please Mr. P, go scout at 9. It makes a terran sad to have to go scout
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Controlling the game
If you plan to play aggressively, play very aggressively. If you plan to play a passive macro game, do it like Savior in 2006. It's really hard to strike a balance between the two extremes and do well. Of course, if you have just dealt a tremendous blow to your opponents, say you killed their expansions and they will momentarily be mined out. You should stop your aggression and play defensively so as to absorb the attack that is almost certainly imminent, assuming you have and they know you have a great economic advantage. That's an easy case of walking the line between the extremes. In general you just have to play a lot and get experience so as to better judge what you need to do. The general rules are just like those in 1v1, so I won't get into those. However, it is supremely important to coordinate with your ally.
One should not simply mass units. Coordinate with your ally what you are building. Zerg forced to switch to mass ling because of something you did to his economy? Fine, let the protoss continue with stalker/sentry to deal with what the zerg's ally could do. You go helion and everything is fine if you keep your armies positioned together properly. If you go helion, don't say anything, and he goes zealot, well, that's a waste. It probably won't make you lose, but it's a waste regardless because you already have what you needed to counter the lings, and not having stalkers makes you more vulnerable against say, mutas.
Are you harassing from a certain angle? Well, have your ally hit from another simultaneously. Count it down if you must. Alternatively, have your ally focus purely on his economy and army while you keep the opponents busy. Your actions should complement each other. Playing two 1v1s on the same map is not how one plays 2v2.
Force different counters -> if my ally goes speedling/baneling, a PP team will be hard pressed if they go stalker/sentry because I will have marauder. In that case, they will have to build some zealots and rely on positioning along with force field. Well, I will just make some ghosts and bring them with our attack, and emp the zealots and sentries. If possible, empd stalkers are nice too. The point is that once the zealots are dead, the stalkers are done for. Sentries that can't cast force field are a bonus, so they get the next priority.
Ghosts are super powerful in 2v2, especially against protoss. It is incredible how fast you will melt the protoss army if you have ghosts. The best part is that if the protoss goes heavily stalker/sentry, his concave will take a lot of space. Stalkers have long range, so it is possible that they might block his terran ally, and prevent his mmm from hitting you until the stalkers die. Given that your ally can make whatever while you making ghosts, and Stalker/sentry die easily enough as it is in 1v1.... you can imagine what happens when you give an army (your ally's) free emps.
Do not get caught in places where there is not much room for your army to arc! 2v2 maps are not that much more open than 1v1 maps - in many cases, they are even less open in important areas. That is disastrous if you and your ally get stuck in a place where half your army can't attack while the other part fights! To keep this from happening, keep observers or burrowed units in the areas where armies would normally have to pass through.
Well, that's a few things that I could find off the top of my mind. Any suggestions for the next topic? Post it here if you have any D:
P.S. CSL has 2v2 this season fuck yea~!
Time's a burning while weaiting for GSL. Give me an Episode 2 topic suggestion someone!