EPTChangelist (Oldest to Newest Descending order):
◕Reworked the entire Game Flow list!
◕Rewrote most of the Game Plan section.
◕Created a youtube video of me detailing this style between HerO and AliveFan!
◕Other minor clarifications and changes.
◕Clarified expansion timings!
◕Reworked Game Flow list. - New!
◕Removed most information about Forge before Robo. - New!
◕Rewrote most of the Game Plan section. - New!
◕Updated engagement notes. - New!
Overview
I'm finally confident that a completely viable way to play PvP is now with Twilight tech. For the longest time you'd see one of three things: 1) Blink [into base trade if vs Robo]*; 2) 4 Gate; 3) Robo. *Blink would go into a Robo transition if the game went on long enough, or into a base trade. I have yet to see a common Stargate focused mid-game, and Templar tech for the longest time was rather cheesy and risky. However with the new Archon range buff and Massive buff, Twilight tech is a completely viable option for mid-game!
I've developed most of the information here through trial and error, as it's just really hard to get replays of professional Protoss trying new things out. However in the below spoiler detail about a player who won a game with Twilight Toss. As such you might want to take what is here with a grain of salt, and expect the Twilight tech path standard to change over time as reactions/strategies are refined.
Generally the game flow you want is like this:
- Opening build, survive any aggression and/or be the aggressor. Ultimately you both come out even and then choose tech. This is where you lay down the Twilight Council.
- Blink finishes -> go try to kill them! Against a 3 Gate Robo, your chance to kill them is before 2 Immortals are out.
- Detection. You will either get a Robo (Observers) or Forge.
- Forge + Cannons for Detection. A single cannon is all that is needed if you have good mechanics. If not, lay down 2. If you're sure he does not have DT tech, skip the Cannon.
- Research Charge followed by +1 attack (or armor, armor better early on, attack better in the long run), cut Stalker production.
- Expand behind your Blink Stalker pressure, leave your warping in Zealots near your Natural Expansion.
- Place Templar Archives after Charge is researched, and follow up with Archons whenever you have the vespene.
- Research Charge followed by +1 attack (or armor, armor better early on, attack better in the long run), cut Stalker production.
- Robotics Facility for Observers
- Use your Robotics Facility and Observers with extreme mobility. Expand behind this if opponent does not have Blink. Expand if you get an advantage in any situation at this point.
- Research Charge. Be sure not to do this too early! It takes practice with a unit tester to find out what sort of army can beat what sort of army. Against Robo armies with Colossus in them (around 1-3 Colossus), you only need enough Stalkers to 3 shot Colossus. Against Blink Stalker/Immortal you need a whole lot more Stalkers before going into Chargelot/Archon (about 30).
- Place Templar Archives. You will now switch into Chargelot/Archon/Immortal!
- Use your Robotics Facility and Observers with extreme mobility. Expand behind this if opponent does not have Blink. Expand if you get an advantage in any situation at this point.
- Forge + Cannons for Detection. A single cannon is all that is needed if you have good mechanics. If not, lay down 2. If you're sure he does not have DT tech, skip the Cannon.
- +1 Attack (if not yet researched, and if no Forge get one for the +1 Attack!).
- Archon + Blink Stalker + Zealot + Sentry (Guardian Shield). Immortals should be added for population efficiency.
You should be able to see why I've dubbed this Twilight PvP! You use up all your tech access with the Twilight council, instead of a Robo-centric army composition. It should be noted that there are two styles I am aware of: 1) Robotics Facility before Blink. This uses Immortals to take an expansion at the Natural and press a Blinking player away from you. Follow up with Blink Stalkers as the Natural Expansion is taken; 2) Blink aggression off of 3 Gates, followed by either a Forge or a Robotics facility. The Forge allows for a faster armor or attack upgrade, although a Robitics facility grants access to Observers for insane Blink mobility, along with the very pop-efficient Immortals. The Forge also allows you to get Archons out faster, as you can allocate your vespene into an aggressive timing earlier on than with a Robotics.
Note: I don't think anyone really goes for Forge before Robo anymore due to the extreme necessity of Observers because of the ramp vision change! Since I've seen no replays of Forge + Blink, it's basically a stagnant strategy (I'm not even using it, I go for Obs).
Choose Opening
There isn't necessarily a single opening that is best, but I have my own triple Stalker variant modified from YongHwa's play I usually run in PvP. Most notably Liquid`Tyler beat ChoyaFou with a twilight tech path, only using a Robotics Facility for Observers. He opened with a defensive 4 Gate and immediately obtained Blink the moment he realised a 4 Gate wasn't going to come from Choya.
I'll share my opening with you all as an example:
- Standard Pylon -> Gateway -> Assimilator -> Pylon -> Cybernetics Core
- If you chrono twice and 13 Gate, you have enough minerals to get either a Zealot or an Assimilator before your second Gateway. I suggest an Assimilator (as it requires no supply and prevents a gas steal).
- Second Gateway @50%-75% Cybernetics Core
- Stalker + WG Research @ 100% Cybernetics Core
- Pylon
- 2 Stalkers (Chrono'd) @100% Second Gateway
- Send 3 Probes to mine on second Assimilator
- Gateway
- Depending on opponent's presence, order 2 more Stalkers or place a Twilight Council.*
- *If he's 4 Gating, you'll want to order 2 more Stalkers followed by another Gate. If you for some reason with your triple Stalkers kill off a couple enemy Stalkers, you can actually get a Twilight council instead of another Gateway. You just have to keep your Stalkers alive, and keep the opponent's Stalker count low. This is often times possible because your Stalkers can pick off a stray Stalker, or take down an enemy Stalker warping in.
+ Show Spoiler [3 Stalker Video] +
The Overall Game Plan (the Build)
You can either get Blink then Robotics Facility or Forge, or Robotics Facility then Twilight Council. Blink then Forge is uncommon these days, so I won't talk about it anymore. I've had trouble getting it to work, and moved onto fast Obs.
I usually have Blink finish just at 8 minutes. This is often times too late for you to kill an opponent that went for Robo tech and has sat up their ramp all game. If however you perhaps held off a 4 Gate, then you should immediately try to kill your opponent (assuming you have a lead) when Blink finishes. Either way, you need to have your Blink Stalkers at the bottom of your opponent's ramp once it finishes, and this will allow you to get your Observer -which is where the real fun begins.
An Observer should be constructed the moment you realize you cannot kill your opponent shortly after Blink finishes. The faster your observer, the faster you can expand. This is because once you have an Observer on the map an opponent without Blink cannot take their Natural Expansion easily at all. You can blink into your opponent's main and snipe buildings, then blink back out if the opponent has a slower army. Due to this, you can effectively expand safely while delaying or punishing an expansion from your opponent, for a significant amount of time.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/66nDc.png)
Applying Blink Pressure while Expanding!
If the opponent went for Gateways + Robo for Immortal, then he'll likely go for either Colossus tech, or Blink + Immortals. Against Colossus tech you simply delay their expansion and abuse your mobility by blinking into their bases, while expanding yourself. If the opponent tries to Colossus allin you off of one base, simply Blink into their base as they leave! You will have the advantage in a base trade.
Against Blink + Immortals, you can either Blink + Immortal yourself, or go for Charge + Blink. I've played successfully with both, and I prefer Blink + Charge due to higher mobility. The key to winning a battle against Blink + Immortal with Blink + Charge is to get a good engagement. You want to slam Zealots into his Immortals first, and you don't want your Stalkers to be shot by his Immortals. This means a lot of the time I don't send in my Chargelots to the battle until after the battle starts. This is important! Imagine your opponent with a ball of Blink Stalkers. Your Zealots will run up, and all the Stalker will begin firing at your Zealots all at once, and then they'll die. After that all you have is a bunch of naked Stalkers and your Zealots won't have killed anything. When you engage, you want the Zealots to run in once both of the armies form more of two parallel lines. This is because when this happens, his Immortals will be more exposed, and not all of his Stalkers will be firing at your Zealots while your Stalkers are still behind!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/NaLV8.png)
Blinking up the ramp with a Blink into Obs style!
If you went Robotics First, you'll definitely need Blink (or charge) to match your opponent's mobility. Once you take your natural you need to lay down a Twilight Council and up your Stalker count. You should be expecting your opponent to be abusing Blink + Observers to try to pick things off or catch your army out of position. Be prepared for this, as you'll have less Stalkers for a good amount of time. Once your Stalker count matches the opponents, or somewhere close, you want to make the switch into your next tech of choice. It's highly common for the next tech of choice to be Colossus tech. Colossus + Blink is a really strong composition! The idea behind Blink into Colossus is to delay whatever your opponent is doing as long as possible (or punish them if they expand too fast), while teching to Colossus. Once your Colossus count is up to 3+, you can hold off the likely push coming from the opponent with an equal army value. Another option is to go into Chargelot/Immortal/Archon, which is super badass and fun to play compared to Colossus tech.
It's my understanding that Blink Stalker Chargelot Immortal Archon > Colossus Stalker Sentry Zealot. If Colossus aren't in play, Immortals are probably going to be pretty unnecessary. Assuming your opponent went for Immortal/Blink Stalker (which I feel is the strongest option against Blink Stalker), a strong timing attack can be dealt once they try to start adding on Colossus, with your Chargelot/Archon/Blink Stalker army. Just don't engage up a ramp.
The biggest problem I've had in PvP going with Twilight Protoss is when the opponent gets out 5+ Colossus. When this happens they seem to dominate the ground too heavily and sorta negate your Zealots from the battle. You must engage an army of 5+ Colossus in a very open area, or you just won't be able to kill the army off.
Personally I like to add in Storm for late game to blanket the enemy in insane DPS, followed by a morphing of Archons that come into battle near the end. I also like to add in a group of voidrays late game into my army to start focusing down Colossus once a battle starts, as they take down Colossus so so fast. However how good either of these ideas are has no backing or sources, as it's just my own opinion.
Notes for Engagements
If your army consists of Blink Stalker/Chargelot, you're most likely going to be up against Immortal/Blink Stalker. Although often times opponents will not get Blink, and perhaps go for DT or start Colossus Tech (I think Blink is the best option for the opponent at this point [Source, Set 5]). You want your Zealots to charge in and slam into his Immortals. This will not only kill them, but up the probability that an Immortal will start shooting a Zealot instead of a Stalker. Against Blink/Immortal it's important to engage properly. This will take some practice, go to a unit tester map! Imagine your opponent with a ball of Blink Stalkers. Your Zealots will run up, and all the Stalker will begin firing at your Zealots all at once, and then they'll die. After that all you have is a bunch of naked Stalkers and your Zealots won't have killed anything. When you engage, you want the Zealots to run in once both of the armies form more of two parallel lines. This is because when this happens, his Immortals will be more exposed, and not all of his Stalkers will be firing at your Zealots while your Stalkers are still behind!
Once you have your Archons, you want them spread about your army so that Force Fields can do absolutely nothing. If all your Archons are on one side of your army, the other side can be potentially devestated by Force Fields, as you really need a good surface area for your Zealots. Your Archons are also going to want to target enemy Zealots first, as they do plus damage to bio, and the small collision radius of Zealots makes Splash all the better. Archons murder Zealots.
In the event you don't need Immortals, you more than likely have an idle robo. Make use of it and get a Warp prism! Use it to drop off some Zealots into mineral lines during engagements, or just before. Warp in behind your army to reinforce in the battle. Anything! Just use the Warp Prism to your advantage. It only costs 200 minerals (2 Zealots), but can easily be used to grant much much more than 2 Zealots into key areas at key times. I've even loaded it up with Immortals and dropped them onto Colossus during large battles.
The Opposing Viewpoint
I currently feel the best reaction to Blink Stalker, if you have a Robo up, is to get Immortal/Blink Stalker. Immortals will win you a direct engagement, but your own rabble of Blink Stalkers grants you mobility equal to the opponent. The idea behind this timing is that just as Blink finishes you engage down your ramp with your Immortals/Sentry/Zealot, and Blink down the ramp with your Stalkers. If your natural expansion is choky, you can often times just trap all enemy Stalkers with your own, and force them to blink over you, thusly wasting a blink and allowing the rest of your forces down the ramp.
While you chase the enemy Blink Stalkers with your own + Immortals, the enemy Protoss will either have to lose a lot of Stalkers just running from you, or they will engage you when you Blink chase. This isn't very bad for you, as this should allow your Immortals to come into range and deal more damage than the opponent's higher Blink Stalker count can dish out to your smaller Blink Stalker pursuers. The goal is to kill as many opposing Blink Stalkers as possible, while taking your Natural Expansion. From here I'm not very sure of what to do, as I'm usually on the other side of the battle, but what seems most dangerous is DT tech into Archons, or DT tech + Colossus. The Colossus seem risky as if the opponent attacks your Natural before you get a critical mass it seems the opponent's Archon/Chargelot/Blink Stalker will beat you, though the DT tech beforehand allows you to harass the oppponent's side of the map rather freely.
Sources/Examples
- Set 5 - The famous IMYongHwa 3 Stalker opening. This is my source to show that Immortal/Blink Stalker beats Blink Stalker during mid-game.
- Tyler vs ChoyaFou - MLG Anahiem. Tyler loses some Stalkers to the Immortal/Blink timing, but survives and crushes the offense of Choya with Charge/Blink timing defense. Tyler follows this up with a timing attack of Chargelot/Archon/Blink against Archon/Zealot/One Colossus. The timing hit before Choya could get a few Colossus out, so Tyler had more Zealots and more splash dealers to kill opposing Zealots. Yes I used the word timing a lot just now, but honestly these are all timings, as the result of each battle is heavily dependent on when a tech or research finishes.
- CecilSunkure vs CCalms - Bnet. This game was close pos Shattered Temple, and I came out on top. It was very close, but what won the game was the combination of +1 attack for my Zealots, and my Archons tanking SO much damage. I feel if the opponent is pushing you like CCalms did this game, the Archon is pivotal for the engagement. +1 attack I know helps tremendously as well.
- Squirtle vs Hero - GSTL Set 1. Squirtle uses Immortal/Archon/Chargelot/Blink against Blink/Zealot/Colossus to great affect. The immortals seem pivotal against Blink/Colossus.
- Liquid`HerO replay pack! - Watch all of these replays honestly they all rock... The one in particular to watch is HerO vs AliveFan.
- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2koIkKrAByE
Video analysis of HerO explaining a style of Twilight PvP!- CecilSunkure Vs Ladder Dude - Blink Allin vs Immortal Expand
- More to come as I get in touch with my PvP practice buddies and find more pro games!
