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Introduction
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Have you ever watched zerg players drone up to 70 on 3 bases then miraculously defend your 7 gate all-in with perfect timing on unit production?
How would you like to do that against Terrans while getting the most OP ability in the game?
With this build, we focus on harassing the opponent early with blink stalkers, or occasionally DTs, then expand behind and quickly tech to storm or charge in time for incoming attacks. Once such an attack is held, you will be in a commanding lead, and if the Terran aims instead to play a more passive macro game, blink stalkers and greedy expansions will give you the leverage you need going into the late game.
Build Order
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9 Pylon
13 Gateway
14 Assimilator
15 Pylon
Typically I send the scouting probe around here. I want to send the probe early enough to send the zealots to the correct base, but I also want as many minerals as possible. If we scout on 9 in order to see gas/no gas, we lose quite a lot of minerals, and I do not feel that it helps very much, as our opponent's build becomes transparent with the zealot+stalker harass
Upon completion of the gateway, produce a zealot, then a cyber core, then another zealot and then a stalker. Use 3 chronos on the units. The primary goal here is to prevent or delay a 1 rax FE, though any other harassment is good as well.
23 Pylon
28 Assimilator
30 Twilight Council
31 Gateway
At this point we must react strongly to what we are scouting from our opponent.
Possible Responses
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-Against gasless 1 rax FE (see only marines, very fast CC and bunker is typical), you can generally delay the expansion and kill a few scvs and marines with your 2 zealot+1 stalker pressure. Assuming you did damage, you can get blink quickly and take your expansion after warping in 4-5 blink stalkers. Add a robo after to get obs for harassing, then get charge ASAP and add 2-3 more gates and forge(s). Robo is not 100% necessary here.
If they have the bunker in time and you do not delay them at all, I think the best response is to expand very quickly and rush storm. Get a forge early and stall any pushes with blink stalkers while throwing up 3-5 cannons. See game against Rain for an example (the cannons were a little late this game).
-Against marauder FE (typically 1 marine+1 marauder when your first zealot arrives, and they are on low ground with an scv or bunker making), be more cautious with pressure, and you can take your expansion more quickly, before the 2nd gateway is finished. Against this it is very difficult to delay the expansion at all, but their expansion is later and it is safer to expand quickly yourself, as you can get a fast DT shrine rather than blink. They will not have a raven out for a long time, and if they save many scans it will slow them even further.
Often against marauder FE I feel that it is safe to double expand behind the DTs and then get charge and get on 7+ gates very quickly
-Against 2 rax pressure, don't lose units trying to harass, and produce a few extra units before attempting to expand. Usually I think robo before expanding here is safe, as the obs will help a lot and immortals are very strong as well. Alternatively, make a 3rd and 4th gate and a lot of units and kill them.
-Against 1-1-1 (you see bunker at ramp, only marines), get robo after starting blink, play safely with stalkers (i.e., keep them and the obs close enough to your base to defend well against banshees. Expand quickly and rush storm and get a total of 4+ gates.
Later On
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Make lots of obs! Until the late game when you add a 2nd robo and robo bay to start pumping collossi, you do not need to use the robo to produce many immortals. Use this time to make a lot of observers so that you can ward off drops and hidden expansions.
Use blink throughout the game to harass and control the map. With blink stalkers and lots of observers, you can constantly harass any terran army safely, picking off medivacs and marines as they traverse the map, or blinking into their main and picking off supply depots and scvs.
Use HT to feedback incoming medivacs. This makes drops far less potent, and between this and blink, you can clean up drops and other harass very easily.
Some Micro Tips
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With blink stalkers, you can be very aggressive since terran cannot catch blink stalkers without using multiple stims. Against marauders and banshees you can dodge the projectile, so you can move in, shoot, then blink as soon as your stalkers shoot to avoid taking any damage. Against tanks and marines this is not possible.
Also, when poking up ramps, right after you start being shot, blink the first 2-3 stalkers back and then the rest back a little afterward. This way your leading stalkers will not take much damage but the rest of your stalkers will still be able to get off a few shots.
On maps with a lot of cliffs, try to abuse blink to take the shortest path possible when moving around with blink stalkers.
Replays
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EDIT: Added another game vs 2 rax. I completely fell apart in the midgame after I had my units positioned poorly, but it shows that you are at worst ok going into the midgame.
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Thanks for the guide!
In your 2rax pressure replay, the terran doesn't wall and lets you see 2rax while losing his scv to zealots, and then goes for some sort of 2/1/1 without shields or concussive. Could you give us a replay of a terran actually engaging you with his 2rax pressure while expanding behind that?
Also, what do you do against the 1-1-1 allin? Do you expand faster against it? Would you still get blink (the general consensus from the two guides on these forums is that stalkers are bad, and so getting blink isn't optimal)?
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I like how you come up with so many builds all the time 
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what's the point of early council really? blink is not a gamechanging ability in PvT as it sucks against any build with heavy marauder usage in it. Skimping on sentries is also too risky really.
Blink shouldn't be rushed in PvT except for the blink stalker opening which is only good against the gasless expo imo. Fast twilight play is immensely behind against any 2 rax play etc.
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On August 21 2011 07:55 Markwerf wrote:
what's the point of early council really? blink is not a gamechanging ability in PvT as it sucks against any build with heavy marauder usage in it. Skimping on sentries is also too risky really.
Blink shouldn't be rushed in PvT except for the blink stalker opening which is only good against the gasless expo imo. Fast twilight play is immensely behind against any 2 rax play etc.
Against any kind of 1-1-1 variation with either banshees or hellions blink is very strong. Against reactor/techlab 2 rax they are pretty marine heavy, and same with most 3-4 rax pressure after gasless expand.
I haven't had any problems skimping on sentries with this build. It is very difficult to pressure with 2 rax cross map against 4-6 blink stalkers which kill a marine or damage a marauer every 10 seconds as you are pushing, and delay any push by quite a bit.
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Want to try this out vs my friend?
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On August 21 2011 07:38 greggy wrote:
Thanks for the guide!
In your 2rax pressure replay, the terran doesn't wall and lets you see 2rax while losing his scv to zealots, and then goes for some sort of 2/1/1 without shields or concussive. Could you give us a replay of a terran actually engaging you with his 2rax pressure while expanding behind that?
Also, what do you do against the 1-1-1 allin? Do you expand faster against it? Would you still get blink (the general consensus from the two guides on these forums is that stalkers are bad, and so getting blink isn't optimal)?
I included a replay against 1-1-1 and some comments about what to do vs 1-1-1. In my experience I never have any trouble getting storm in time (except one game I accidentally warped in a HT before I started researching storm).
TBH I don't have any particularly good replays against 2 rax. I have many games where I kill a lot of their marines with early zealots before the marauder is out (against reactor first 2 rax), or they do not try to be aggressive. I think most terrans are not going to be aggressive after scouting you chrono boosting 3 units out of your gateway, since going up the ramp blind in that spot is dangerous. Also, as you can see in some of the replays, I build a sentry before or after I start blink if I feel that it is necessary.
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On August 21 2011 08:07 iamke55 wrote:
Want to try this out vs my friend?
Sure. vVvTime.316
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I was doing a similar to this build shown by JYP vs Taeja
standart 2 gas CB stalker + core
zealot -> stalker -> stalker
robo around 4:40
5:20 twilight
then he went for 5:55 3 more gates and following with 4 gate + blink + obs
Definitely going to watch the replays and experiment with the build thanks
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that storm in the 1-1-1 replay just absolutely crushed lol! The problem is if you do manage to get the 1 storm ready in time, i feel like if he just snaps it off with a well micro'd banshee and you invested so much in that one high temp. Worst case u can feedback the banshee though but now you have no storm. You are so tight on gas too that you really cant find time to build another high temp and wait for another storm. You had alot of other units though and killed off alot with the 4 stalkers so i think you would have been fine in this game but not sure if its viable long term but i like the idea and i think i will experiment with it as well.
another few things
1) the 2 zealot 1 stalker push i feel like cant be that effective if he walls initially. I watched a few mc replays in a row and noticed if there was a wall he'd skip the zealot but if no wall he'd always get it. He even cancelled the zealot when it was halfway built after scouting the wall a little late. all it does is delay your expo. watching a few of your replays you definitely dont do any damage really vs a bunker or a wall off. still not sure how i feel about delaying wg and expo for a few more units to sit around.
2) the biggest thing i am going to take from your games is omg your 4 blink stalkers do SO much damage each game. not only that but it gives you great scouting and great early harass with an early obs as well. The only problem could be if he gets a cloaked banshee to ur base u now have to rush to get another obs and invest in more stalkers vs terran which i dont love either. have you had any problems with this? i dont feel like you can scout for cloak research due to delayed robo either so it seems like ur gonna auto lose a good amount of probes while dealing with this. Maybe u go for a 2nd obs if u see a severe lack of units?
3) since ur aggro with ur zealot zealot stalker i feel like he can walk freely into ur base while ur being aggro. some things u can do is either hide ur twilight council or maybe wall ur ramp and use a probe on hold pos/pray he doesnt mineral click past in time idk
other than those i really like the idea of this build. buys you alot of time and gets great scouting information while doing damage. you can tech switch super easy since u basically go 2 gate twilight robo. there were a few non build problems i saw in the game like army positioning and where you decide to fight, along with delayed 2nd and 3rd bases but id imagine this is due to the constant 4 stalker micro. if anything this should help you multi task more which is something ive been looking to work on.
thx for the reps and the build i will be for sure taking that early 4 stalker blink play god thats sexy and seems so annoying for terran
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When do you get the robotoics facility? Wouldn't you just straight up die to a cloaked banshee because of having no detection? Is there a forge timing that you have for detection?
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On August 21 2011 08:48 drybones wrote:
1) the 2 zealot 1 stalker push i feel like cant be that effective if he walls initially. I watched a few mc replays in a row and noticed if there was a wall he'd skip the zealot but if no wall he'd always get it. He even cancelled the zealot when it was halfway built after scouting the wall a little late. all it does is delay your expo. watching a few of your replays you definitely dont do any damage really vs a bunker or a wall off. still not sure how i feel about delaying wg and expo for a few more units to sit around.
Is there a reason you want WG faster? I just tested some games with NGry and unless you lose a lot of zealots stupidly or can't blink micro well you should never die to 2 rax.
Without taking the second assimilator earlier, you cannot have blink faster, and I don't feel that you can safely expand before blink or DTs are out. Many games the early zealots and stalker do no damage, but with this particular build I don't think that there is a more efficient way to spend your money early game.
Other people can of course do w/e they want in the opening, and I doubt it's the only way to play it, but I have found the zealots and stalker pressure to be very effective.
2) the biggest thing i am going to take from your games is omg your 4 blink stalkers do SO much damage each game. not only that but it gives you great scouting and great early harass with an early obs as well. The only problem could be if he gets a cloaked banshee to ur base u now have to rush to get another obs and invest in more stalkers vs terran which i dont love either. have you had any problems with this? i dont feel like you can scout for cloak research due to delayed robo either so it seems like ur gonna auto lose a good amount of probes while dealing with this. Maybe u go for a 2nd obs if u see a severe lack of units?
When I see bunker at the ramp I 90% assume they are going 1-1-1. If no bunker at the ramp you can almost always just walk up with 2 zealots and get good scouting to see the 1-1-1. In this case I am much less agressive, keeping the observer at home and warping in stalkers when the banshee comes, or making a second observer. It depends on the map and what I am seeing whether or not I bring the first obs to put pressure on.
Also, on some maps you can take the towers with your zealots and put stalkers around the rest of the map and catch banshees on the way to your base. Most notably, on xel'naga it's basically impossible for terran to sneak banshees to your base if you are positioned correctly.
3) since ur aggro with ur zealot zealot stalker i feel like he can walk freely into ur base while ur being aggro. some things u can do is either hide ur twilight council or maybe wall ur ramp and use a probe on hold pos/pray he doesnt mineral click past in time idk
Yeah, sometimes my stalker kills their first scv sometimes it doesn't. I mostly don't care if they see the twilight, though I know some protoss players like to rely heavily on deception.
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Can u post more replays vs good executed 1-1-1.. This terran screwed totally everything + no wall and zealots did a ton of dmg + his units dying unnecessary + the storm killed all his marines lol.. I don't think on his play can be based whether or not this build counters 1-1-1 or not..
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what happened in the game between you and iamke's friend?
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On August 21 2011 09:12 Shankapotamus wrote:
what happened in the game between you and iamke's friend?
I have not been contacted by his friend.
I'll upload more replays of 1-1-1 builds when I play against them. I have a few really sloppy games against 1-1-1, but probably those wouldn't convince anyone that it works any more than the one I already uploaded, so I'll wait till I have better ones.
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Time I think you saved my life, thank you thank you thank you... I just dropped about 200 ladder points in the span of 2 days to mostly Terran. I was doing a 14 gate 1z 2s push and then expoing behind it, but skipping blink and going to storm with cannons... most of the time I either don't have enough sentries or I couldnt pressure back to stop/stall his expansion. Again thanks, I use this it's very smart
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just a quick question... if you open 2gate twilight into robo, how do you decide to get high temp or colli next? Is there a specific mixture u are looking for in terrans army?
I think ghosts would be the only decider in choosing but even then, id imagine colli does better vs ghosts than high temp in large numbers but in small numbers i have to figure its easy to get 1 or 2 feedbacks off and destroy his investment completely.
Also, while playing around with this build, i am struggling to figure out when to add more gates and when exactly to expo. These seem to be more based off feel whereas a 3gate or 1 gate expand lends itself perfectly on when to expo and when to get a certain # of gates.
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dude you are a god! This build is fuckin ridiculously good and I did it poorly my god. that early pressure is gross x10 vs almost anything and vs 1/1/1 terran just lose like seriously this is fuckin amazing I delayed for so long I had time for charge and 3 hts like fuck dude. You are my hero.
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On August 21 2011 07:21 vVvTime wrote:
as our opponent's build becomes transparent with the zealot+stalker harass
dont post generaly misleading stuff in a strategy forum properly seen what is going on you will be blind of what terran is doing you cant break that pokerface.
Other then that GL with ur build is something else but nothing safe use it on ur own danger.
User was temp banned for this post.
User was forum banned for this post.
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United States2266 Posts
This build looks really cool, I will have to try it out! I do have a lot of experience with the DT variant against FE builds though, and on that part I will have to disagree with you about being safe to double expand. After the terran stabilizes from your DTs, 90% of the time he's going to come and attack you. I find that the 3rd base just doesn't pay off in time to help defend against that attack. I think it's better to just go on 7+ gates off 2 base with charge asap, and only after you get a nice chargelot/archon army then should you expand again. The other thing with double expanding is that another common reaction to DTs is to go straight to heavy drop play, and extending yourself on 3 bases before you have a lot of infrastructure/army is going to give you a really tough time in defending.
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EPT
