EPTI’ve been recently testing out a new strategy in the PvZ matchup. I’ll write down the build order and some pointers of it in a bit, but 1st let me start with a quick introduction of myself. My name is Patricio "Capoch" del Olmo, from Argentina and I’ve been playing RTS games competitively for many years. I've participated in BlizzCon 2010, Brazil Game Show 2010, and many nice online tourneys of SC2 over the past months (such as GGI tourney, FXO Invitationals, etc). You can check my RTS achievements (as well as other stuff) in my facebook page: www.facebook.com/capoch.ar
Now onto the build:
It's been having great success in the past few days against many good zergs I’m currently Top 25 in NA GrandMaster league. This build was also spotted by Day9 during his daily show on Monday. Build order:
9 pylon
12 gate
14 gas
16 pylon
17 cybernetics
18 Nexus
Now you would probably think what the fuck??? Well, the key here is that you only get 50 gas for the Warp Gate Research and only use 2 initial chronoboosts on the Nexus. The secret of the build is only mining gas with 2 probes, and once you get the 50 gas, you’ll pull them to mine minerals. After building the nexus on your natural, you’ll want to get a fast zealot to block the ramp or deal with any early ling aggression.
What you need to know for sure is that your opponent is also doing some kind of FE; this build is really vulnerable to any type of all in from the zerg player, so you will want to scout his base good before doing it. If you don’t see your opponent with any type of intend of expanding, then I'd suggest doing the typical 3 gate FE, or whatever you like to do. If you can, try to block a bit the zerg's early expansion yourself, probe dancing around his natural or blocking it with a pylon (if you notice that he sends a drone to his natural of course).
So, let’s go back to the point in which you saw your opponent taking his natural and you started building your nexus. Now what? Well, that’s easy, start doing the warp gate research and chronoboost it! I’d also suggest to either chronoboost your nexus or your 1st zealot and following a stalker if you spot some early harassment from the zerg with your probe scout. Of course, while you do this, you must keep doing probes in your main, and also take the 2nd gas as fast as possible to start doing some early sentries that will help a ton on blocking early rushes.
The zerg player will probably scout your early nexus and no forge and will think, “hey, this looks easy, I’ll make lots of units and take down that fast nexus”. Well, the key here is to do some sort of wallin with pylon-nexus-2 additional gateways making some kind of choke that you can block easily with 2-3 units. After you get 3 units out (ideally would be 1 zealot, 1 stalker and 1 sentry) you should have 2gates with warp upgrade done, and almost a 3rd gate up. This will stop most aggressions (except 1 base all in of course).
At this point, you can follow this build with whatever you prefer most. If you see some aggression from the zerg, I’d suggest throwing down 2 more gateways to mass more units or even do 2 more gates and go aggressive yourself! You will also want to take the natural gases early on too (after having the 3 1st gates up).
Pros and cons of the build:
Strong against: -Expanding zerg (careful here, the zerg might do some type of FE but you’re not sure if he’s gonna use the extra larva to make units and attack you or just build his eco up; scouting is essential and also some common sense works too!).
Weak against: -1 base zerg all in.
-zerg player spawning in close positions (this build is tough to do in close spots, I don’t recommend it).
So as I said, I’ve come up with this build a couple of days ago, and I’m testing it a lot, not only transitioning into 5gate push but also into stargate/robotics and grabbing another expo early.
Q&A
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-Why not just 15/17 nexus if your opponent is FEing?
The timing is just perfect with 18 nexus, that's why.
Just when you place the nexus with the 18th, your cybernetics will be done at the same time and you can begin the warp gate research upgrade.
-How does this build fare against fast muta's or hard droning by the zerg?
This build works just perfect vs fast muta's and hard droning zergs. The reason is because after you got your 3 gates up, you can research hallucination and scout a bit to see what's going on. After scouting with your fake phoenixes, you can just adapt accordingly, so if you see mutas, you can go for a 5gate early blink push. Do a fake phoenix and blink into his main and just win the game.
-When to build additional production structures if zerg expands. Do you cut probes shortly, like in the classic one gate FE vs terran?
Basically after putting down your nexus, you want to start your warp gate research and do a zealot. After that, start the probe production again, and move back 3 probes to the gas. You also want to start walling your natural in with a pylon-gateway-nexus-gateway-pylon or whatever necessary, leaving a small choke that will be blocked by 1 or 2 zealots. The chronoboost here depends on how the opponent reacts when he spots the nexus at your natural. If you want to be really safe, then chronoboost your gate and the warp gate research; if you feel comfortable, then chronoboost your nexus and warp gate research, or mix around a bit.
-What to do vs TWO-base all-ins, namely mass roach accompanied by a few lings. Maybe you need to implement an earlier forge on some maps to be safe?
This build is really good against pushes because you’ll be getting the warp gate upgrade fairly soon, and you’ll be pumping units from 3 gates early. It’s not good against pushes in close spawns, that’s why I don’t recommend doing it in that situation, but if the opponent is in other locations, then you can stop some pushes (shown in the replays I’ve posted). An early forge or even a semi early hallucination just to get some important scouting intel and reacting accordingly to what the opponent is doing might be good. The forge is nice for the +1 and just to be safe of burrowed roaches. The beauty of the build lies in taking a nexus so fast without a forge; by doing this, most opponents will desperately react by trying to take the nexus down as fast as possible with whatever small army they have, and you’ll defend it with not much trouble (as shown in the replays).
If the opponent is more passive, you’ll have a better economy than with the 3gate FE. Of course, you will only know this by having good scouting information, and that’s why you’ll always need a probe moving around the map trying to spot some sort of early push.
-What happens if the zerg dennies further scouting when his first lings pop out and he cancels his expantion and goes for an all-in?
Well, that's one of the big issues of the build. If he cancels his expo and goes all in against yours, it'll be a tough one to hold. That won't happen often though, it would be just like going 3gate expo, and then adding 2 gates and cancelling your expo and going all in into his, these type of tricks are hard to hold by the defensive player. You just gotta try to scout as much as you can and gather whatever intel helps to react fast to what the opponent might throw at you.
-What do you do against a greedy zerg? (Like a 6 minute-ish third)
A greedy zerg will get punished bad if he takes a 3rd. Basically, you can push to the zerg's 3rd with 5-6 gates and rape him badly (with good ff's of course).
The timing is just perfect with 18 nexus, that's why.
Just when you place the nexus with the 18th, your cybernetics will be done at the same time and you can begin the warp gate research upgrade.
-How does this build fare against fast muta's or hard droning by the zerg?
This build works just perfect vs fast muta's and hard droning zergs. The reason is because after you got your 3 gates up, you can research hallucination and scout a bit to see what's going on. After scouting with your fake phoenixes, you can just adapt accordingly, so if you see mutas, you can go for a 5gate early blink push. Do a fake phoenix and blink into his main and just win the game.
-When to build additional production structures if zerg expands. Do you cut probes shortly, like in the classic one gate FE vs terran?
Basically after putting down your nexus, you want to start your warp gate research and do a zealot. After that, start the probe production again, and move back 3 probes to the gas. You also want to start walling your natural in with a pylon-gateway-nexus-gateway-pylon or whatever necessary, leaving a small choke that will be blocked by 1 or 2 zealots. The chronoboost here depends on how the opponent reacts when he spots the nexus at your natural. If you want to be really safe, then chronoboost your gate and the warp gate research; if you feel comfortable, then chronoboost your nexus and warp gate research, or mix around a bit.
-What to do vs TWO-base all-ins, namely mass roach accompanied by a few lings. Maybe you need to implement an earlier forge on some maps to be safe?
This build is really good against pushes because you’ll be getting the warp gate upgrade fairly soon, and you’ll be pumping units from 3 gates early. It’s not good against pushes in close spawns, that’s why I don’t recommend doing it in that situation, but if the opponent is in other locations, then you can stop some pushes (shown in the replays I’ve posted). An early forge or even a semi early hallucination just to get some important scouting intel and reacting accordingly to what the opponent is doing might be good. The forge is nice for the +1 and just to be safe of burrowed roaches. The beauty of the build lies in taking a nexus so fast without a forge; by doing this, most opponents will desperately react by trying to take the nexus down as fast as possible with whatever small army they have, and you’ll defend it with not much trouble (as shown in the replays).
If the opponent is more passive, you’ll have a better economy than with the 3gate FE. Of course, you will only know this by having good scouting information, and that’s why you’ll always need a probe moving around the map trying to spot some sort of early push.
-What happens if the zerg dennies further scouting when his first lings pop out and he cancels his expantion and goes for an all-in?
Well, that's one of the big issues of the build. If he cancels his expo and goes all in against yours, it'll be a tough one to hold. That won't happen often though, it would be just like going 3gate expo, and then adding 2 gates and cancelling your expo and going all in into his, these type of tricks are hard to hold by the defensive player. You just gotta try to scout as much as you can and gather whatever intel helps to react fast to what the opponent might throw at you.
-What do you do against a greedy zerg? (Like a 6 minute-ish third)
A greedy zerg will get punished bad if he takes a 3rd. Basically, you can push to the zerg's 3rd with 5-6 gates and rape him badly (with good ff's of course).
More info
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This build is safe if the zerg player is expanding and not on close spawns (I've specified the pros and cons of it in the main thread, the good thing about this build too is that if the spawns don't favour you for it, you can opt for the 3gate FE). It even works out so good, that it can lure the zerg into a trap thinking that you're crazy of doing FE without forge, so he'll be aggressive, and that's really when the build shines, you'll stop early aggression if you block your natural and micro correctly.
The other good thing about it is having an expo up and the warp gate research fast! you can be really aggressive early on with 5 gates.
You only pull probes out of gas to build the nexus, after that, you pull them right back to the gas.
The thing with this build, is that is really situational. In safe maps, you can just opt for the FE Forge opening. In close spawn maps, you can opt for the 3gate FE or 5gate fake expansion, whatever you like. This build shines in semi open maps (such as Shattered Temple, Metalopolis) in far or opposite locations.
The main difference with the 3gate FE transition into a 5gate push, is that you're eco will be much stronger than it, and by pushing with this build, it wouldn't be much as an all in like it's in the 3gate FE transition into 5gate. As I said, the opponent seeing an early FE with no forge, might want to push himself, and this is where the build works out perfectly! By the time he hits you, you'll have a small choke blocked by 3 of your units (at least) and 2-3 gates up with warp gate research done. If he's pushing you, you gotta keep pumping units and chronoboosting your gateways while doing probes and trying to set additional gateways.
The other good thing about it is having an expo up and the warp gate research fast! you can be really aggressive early on with 5 gates.
You only pull probes out of gas to build the nexus, after that, you pull them right back to the gas.
The thing with this build, is that is really situational. In safe maps, you can just opt for the FE Forge opening. In close spawn maps, you can opt for the 3gate FE or 5gate fake expansion, whatever you like. This build shines in semi open maps (such as Shattered Temple, Metalopolis) in far or opposite locations.
The main difference with the 3gate FE transition into a 5gate push, is that you're eco will be much stronger than it, and by pushing with this build, it wouldn't be much as an all in like it's in the 3gate FE transition into 5gate. As I said, the opponent seeing an early FE with no forge, might want to push himself, and this is where the build works out perfectly! By the time he hits you, you'll have a small choke blocked by 3 of your units (at least) and 2-3 gates up with warp gate research done. If he's pushing you, you gotta keep pumping units and chronoboosting your gateways while doing probes and trying to set additional gateways.
Map analysis
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This build doesn’t work in close spawns, so please avoid it. Going 3gate FE is much safer here. It also doesn’t work against 1 base zerg players. Knowing this, let’s talk about the suitable maps for it:
-Scrap Station: this is a very zerg map. It’s really tough to defend early pushes from zerg because the ramp is big, so I’d suggest doing a more standard build here.
-Xel’Naga Caverns: I’d only do this build if I make the mistake in allowing the zerg player to do hatchery before pool first. In other case, I’d suggest doing a 3gate FE.
-Blackwater Gulch: This build is really powerful in this map. The choke points are so small, that it works out perfectly. You can pretty much hold on any type of 2base aggression from the zerg, no matter the spawn location. Again, if you don’t see the zerg expanding, delay your nexus a bit. It’s dangerous expanding faster than zerg because you might eat an early 1base push from him.
-Delta Quadrant: this map is just ugly… it’s so open that this build is impossible here. Avoid it.
-Metalopolis: Another good map for this build. I wouldn’t suggest doing it the zerg is in close location. Otherwise, it’s a good build for this map (see replay attached in thread).
-Shakuras Plateau: this map is awesome, but for Forge FE haha. If you don’t like opening with forge, then go ahead and use this build.
-Slag Pits: Forget doing this on close spots, you’ll get ripped apart. It’s even risky to do this on other spawns because the natural is wide open, so it’s really difficult to create a choke with buildings. I’d suggest 3gate FE opening in this map, to be safer.
-Tal’Darim Altar LE: doing FE Forge opening is a bit risky here, because you could easily get 6pooled and die. I’d suggest doing this build here no matter what the spawn is, just setting a choke first in your main to avoid cheeses, and then going for the nexus and setting another choke in your natural with pylon-gateways.
-The Shattered Temple: great map for this build, try avoiding it if zerg is in close spawn.
-Typhon Peaks: another good map for this build, no matter what the spawns are.
-Scrap Station: this is a very zerg map. It’s really tough to defend early pushes from zerg because the ramp is big, so I’d suggest doing a more standard build here.
-Xel’Naga Caverns: I’d only do this build if I make the mistake in allowing the zerg player to do hatchery before pool first. In other case, I’d suggest doing a 3gate FE.
-Blackwater Gulch: This build is really powerful in this map. The choke points are so small, that it works out perfectly. You can pretty much hold on any type of 2base aggression from the zerg, no matter the spawn location. Again, if you don’t see the zerg expanding, delay your nexus a bit. It’s dangerous expanding faster than zerg because you might eat an early 1base push from him.
-Delta Quadrant: this map is just ugly… it’s so open that this build is impossible here. Avoid it.
-Metalopolis: Another good map for this build. I wouldn’t suggest doing it the zerg is in close location. Otherwise, it’s a good build for this map (see replay attached in thread).
-Shakuras Plateau: this map is awesome, but for Forge FE haha. If you don’t like opening with forge, then go ahead and use this build.
-Slag Pits: Forget doing this on close spots, you’ll get ripped apart. It’s even risky to do this on other spawns because the natural is wide open, so it’s really difficult to create a choke with buildings. I’d suggest 3gate FE opening in this map, to be safer.
-Tal’Darim Altar LE: doing FE Forge opening is a bit risky here, because you could easily get 6pooled and die. I’d suggest doing this build here no matter what the spawn is, just setting a choke first in your main to avoid cheeses, and then going for the nexus and setting another choke in your natural with pylon-gateways.
-The Shattered Temple: great map for this build, try avoiding it if zerg is in close spawn.
-Typhon Peaks: another good map for this build, no matter what the spawns are.
Replays
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![[image loading]](http://www.gamereplays.org/community/uploads/repimgs/repimg-33-204393.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.gamereplays.org/community/uploads/repimgs/repimg-33-204395.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.gamereplays.org/community/uploads/repimgs/repimg-33-204624.jpg)
![[image loading]](http://www.gamereplays.org/community/uploads/repimgs/repimg-33-204625.jpg)
Please if you’ve enjoyed reading this, support me at my facebook page by clicking “I like”:
www.facebook.com/capoch.ar
And also my TL fan page (I gotta tell the guy to update it a bit, it's dying there lol!)
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=200944
I’ll try posting a couple of replays doing this build soon, so stay tunned! (also gotta figure out how to post it in the thread lol).
I’m sorry if the English is not so good, but as I said, I’m from Argentina
Cheers!
