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Hi guess I'm back on Teamliquid with another one of my builds that I have created and refined. If people still remember (doubt it), I created the PvP Stronger 4 Gate thread here a while back, and surprisingly have been seeing the exact build pop up on ladder from time to time! Using that as inspiration, I decided to post another one of my PvP builds that I've just created Just to establish when and where this build works, I've beaten players like vileYong, coL.rsvp, cvgKnighter, and countless other Grandmaster players with it on ladder. Just a note about myself as well, I am currently a Grandmaster protoss on the North American server.
Here's the basic skeleton of the build in number form:
9 Pylon (Chronoboost when complete) 12 Gateway (Scout and chronoboost when you drop this gateway) 14 Gas 17 Cybernetics Core 17 Pylon Chrono when pylon finishes 19 Zealot (THIS IS A FAKE, cancel it once your cybercore finishes, I will explain down below as to why) 21 Stalker and warp gate research the moment cybercore finishes (Chronoboost warpgate search) Cut probes at 22/26 supply. 22 TWO gates as soon as you have money 22 2nd gas 22 2nd stalker (chronoboost warpgate again) 24 Probe 25 Pylon Put 3 probes instantly in gas (You can rally the 3rd probe that's building from your nexus to the geyser for a few extra minerals that'll help line up your stalker production better if you didn't mineral stack very well) 25 Make 3 stalkers at once (chronoboost warpgate) 31 Probe 32 Pylon 32 Warp in 3 stalkers when warpgate finishes
Although this build goes up to 32 food and tells you to warp in 3 stalkers, you can actually do a variation where you drop your tech structures before, and warp in stalkers later.
Now for the note about the zealot cancel.
Usually, while doing a 4 gate or similar strategy, you build a zealot for extra defense. While doing a 3 stalker rush, you straight up dont have the minerals to even fake a zealot as you drop a quick 2nd gate. Because my build is new and innovative in the way that you drop a 2nd and 3rd gate at the same time, the initial zealot can be faked. This accomplishes 3 goals:
1) It tricks your opponent on what type of build you're actually doing. This build relies on stalkers and stalker micro, and by seeing the zealot "building" will not be revealed as easily 2) Because you scout on 12 after your gate, on a 4 player map you MIGHT not find his base yet. If zealots enter your base because of a 2 gate proxy, you have a zealot 80% complete and can chrono a stalker out. With micro, you can come out of this situation alright. 3) If he cannon rushes, again you have the safety of the zealot to fall back on in case of a lack-of-scouting. Cancelling a building unit returns 100% of the cost, and these 100 minerals are not being used anyways.
The 2 stalkers in the beginning are very crucial. Like my previous build, your warp gate will be approximately 10 seconds later than a full out 4 gate. We will use these 2 stalkers to deny a probe building a pylon in your base. They will 2 shot probes, just as 3 stalkers in a 3 stalker rush would. As long as the probe doesn't drop a pylon IN your base, you should be able to 100% successfully repel a 4 gate.
The beauty of this build lies in the fact that although your warp gate is later, your unit cycle that comes out RIGHT before warp gate finishes would be about 10 seconds faster than his warp gate units, as it takes units 5 seconds to actually warp in. With 5 initial stalkers over his beginning 5 stalkers (his 6th one should be waltzing across the map) and ramp support, you should be able to win the battle. If you manage to delay him even 5 seconds, your instant warp in of 3 more stalkers at approximately 5:55 to 6:00 will net you 8 stalkers vs. 6 and a zealot, and with proper micro you should CRUSH the push.
Why did I create this build? For a long time people were trying to figure out how to hold a 4 gate, while taking a second gas. Then people found a few builds, and it turned into how to hold a 4 gate, while taking a second gas, while only building 1 sentry. I decided that with crisp timings, I would design a build to crush a 4 gate WITHOUT a sentry, as well as 2 gases and 20+ probes, and regardless of sim-city, as that would be map-dependent. I was inspired by a game where I actually played really poorly. I dropped my 2nd gate in a 3 stalker rush extremely extremely late due to probe microing, and saw that my gateway finished about 40 seconds before warpgate, and used the idea of the 3 stalker rush timing to concoct a similar one, but with 3 warp gates. The result? Enough to beat top Grandmaster protoss's and hold my ground against any protoss thrown against me. I hope you enjoy this build just as much as I did 
Replays, replays, replays!
http://drop.sc/69062 vs Anki http://drop.sc/69063 vs vileYong http://drop.sc/69064 vs Kowi http://drop.sc/69065 vs tQMewtwo http://drop.sc/69066 vs cvgKnighter http://drop.sc/69067 vs cvgKnighter http://drop.sc/69068 vs coL.rsvp http://drop.sc/69069 vs ObZen http://drop.sc/69070 vs cvgKnighter http://drop.sc/69071 vs cvgKnighter http://drop.sc/69277 vs Hype http://drop.sc/69276 vs cona http://drop.sc/76436 vs oGsVINES http://drop.sc/80127 vs PswBoSS
NEWER REPS
http://drop.sc/89633 vs stoicZukapin......People have been saying 1 gate robo will completely shut this down... http://drop.sc/89632 vs JawHun.............Also cracking a 1 gate robo http://drop.sc/98987 vs Ragnarok http://drop.sc/98988 vs LgNBoSs...........This game is hilarious because I SEE his proxy pylon in my base, but I let it survive until 4:45 where he is convinced he can 4 gate and win and then shut it down. http://drop.sc/98989 vs SoulRemapper....Again cracking a 1 gate robo http://drop.sc/98993 vs RGNPerfect........Against a pro on Tal'darim Alter, the infamous map for 4 gate, I absolutely dismantle Perfect's 4 gate with my build for the win. http://drop.sc/98994 vs BoX....................I'm confused as to what this even was. This was an even faster (?) version of the warp gate, where he did an 11 gate. Needless to say, my build is even safe against quicker variations of the 4 gate, and end his attempt of pressure  http://drop.sc/100889 vs puCK..................I LOSE this game. That's right, I lose it. I'm not afraid to post this up as you will see some simple micro mistakes, a bad warp in, and overall a greedy attempt by me. I tried to wall in my natural on ARID PLATEAU. That map has 2 entrances and no ramp, so obviously I was punished by a 5:38 4 gate warp in. That being said, with better micro i might have actually been able to hold that off! http://drop.sc/100891 vs ClanWater...........He tries a 3 gate robo, I decide to just go up his ramp, focus his immortal, and win http://drop.sc/100892 vs ClanWater...........He tries to hold his ramp with 5 (YES, 5) sentries, but I still manage to pressure far enough in to warp in zealots to harass his mineral line. In the background, I'm already on colossus tech because I've been on 2 gas, which results in 2 colossus and a larger gateway army that pushes in 4 minutes later. http://drop.sc/100893 vs Grape.................A "perfect" 1 gate robo hold I think. He manages to KILL 2 pylons without cancel and deny me with only 3 sentries. Little does he know I already have an expo building, and 5 sentries because of the gas waiting at home, and kill his all-in with my natural half-saturated because FF is OP  http://drop.sc/100894 vs oGsVINES..........He's back with a vengeance, and this game he manages to take the win from me. I suspect a 4 gate and therefore am too weary of pushing back out against him. Sadly to my dismay, he only made 1 zealot and 1 stalker before warp gate finished, and RUSHED blink (I mean like at 7 minutes because of 4 chrono boosts)
These next 2 reps are what I'm currently working on. It works atm on any map with a ramp at the natural, but currently I only have ladder reps vs. people on shakuras. It baits a 4 gate by building your 2nd and 3rd gate at the natural choke, but if you see something REALLY greedy you can also take an expansion behind the gateway wall and hold off 4 gate aggression.
http://drop.sc/89631 vs RiSK http://drop.sc/89630 vs EGAxslav http://drop.sc/91502 vs DaisyPrime.WE...(I actually messed up my BO by chrono'ing my stalker (1 less on WG), and still held off a 4 gate from a korean pro. http://drop.sc/98990 vs SoulRemapper.....I bait a warp prism 4 gate because of the feigned expo, and decide to just run up his ramp with my initial 8 stalkers and KILL him. http://drop.sc/98991 vs Fierytycoon.........I bait an expo out of him because he sees me gearing up for my own expo, and then just kill his expo because he obviously doesn't have enough units to stop my build with a makeshift one of his own. http://drop.sc/98992 vs tQkcdc................I ask him in game what he thinks of my build, and he thinks it's either an FE or 4 gate. Luckily for me, it's a 2 gas 3 gate, so not only did he guess wrong, but I moved up the ramp and a-moved to victory! http://drop.sc/100895 vs Bosnic................He thinks I am doing a fast expo, so he attempts his warp prism 4 gate. Luckily for me, my build order HARD counters that, and just a-move his base. http://drop.sc/100890 vs cLSThundeR........He tries a 4 gate because I build at my ramp, I decide to pressure. I bait his entire army into a dead end with my 3 stalkers (in hind sight I should have only used 2 or 1 even), and then wreck his entire 4 gate army with my 3 gate. I proceed to a-move his ramp. http://drop.sc/125620 vs erikwalser............Nothing special, just baiting a 4 gate and stomping it in front of my gateways. http://drop.sc/127540 vs city.....................I do my new expand variant I diverge to if I see them take an early 2nd gas and saturate it... I really mess it up this game with a supply block and a random nexus cancel, but still get out enough units in time to deflect whatever pressure he might put, as WELL as an obs in time to defend against DTs
Please feel free to critique and give me response, as I'll be glad to test out any possible counters, or answer any questions! If there are any specific things you want to see that can't be seen in the replay, I will be streaming from time to time on Teamliquid my Grandmaster ladder games, so feel free to drop by and watch for a bit!
EDIT: I changed the build order a bit after fiddling around, and it seems cutting the 2nd pylon to make a faster cyber fits in a lot better with the build. Both ways are still viable, it is really just a stylistic choice I guess. That being said, many of the earlier replays will show the old version of the build (16 pylon 17 core) whereas some of the newer ones will show the updated version (17 core 17 pylon)
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Sounds interesting, will give it a look.
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This is a good build but like most 3gate pressure variants it's has some weaknesses. First to apply pressure at a timing where your opponent is vulnerable your tech will be delayed since you're spending the resources on stalkers. 2nd is that the pressure itself is not as strong as a blatant 4gate. If your opponent knows that you're going 3gateway before tech he can respond accordingly and you will be behind. Here's a replay I played vs you on ladder: http://drop.sc/69078
The 2x gateways at 22 supply before your first stalker is out to chase away the scouting probe broadcasts what you're trying to do. This means all I have to do is hold my ramp with a sentry or 2 and drop my tech before my first warpin to deal with your attack. In the replay I chose blink as I would be warping in a significant amount of stalkers to deal with your own and I knew my blink would be finished before yours.
It is really good against other pressure builds or if he doesn't know it's coming though
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What happens if that initial push gets denied. Not saying that you lose the stalkers, but you just can't do damage with it (at all)?
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have you faced any of the 10/11 gate fast warpgate timings that have been making the rounds? Seems like, with 17 cyber and only 3 chrono on WG, these builds will have a 20-30 second timing window before your wg finishes to snipe a pylon.
This kind of build is exactly what I like, though, squeezing out lots of stalkers early to punish over extensions/slack play.
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Hi , looks really cool but what i need are ur transitions( to use it for me, because i would be lost without :D): -> after defend 4 Gate -> if u scout phoenix, blinkstalker, fe... Just way of transitions are very important for me and is it playable on tal aldrim, i think yes because u dont play with ff right?
Thanks a lot EmpTy
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Hero has been doing this on taldarim, only he does get the zealot. I dont get why you would want to use this build on other maps, there are more economic ways to stop 4gate, especially since the warp on highground nerf.
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I've been seeing HuK do this build not only on ladder, but at NASL 2 grand finals. Is the main purpose of the build just to hold a 4gate? Obviously placing 400 gas into 8 stalkers will delay tech. What's the transition if he doesn't 4gate? If you hold the 4gate and he simply falls back, what's the best move? Be aggressive or start teching to something like Blink Obs?
I believe HuK beat Hasuobs with this opening on Shattered Temple when Hasuobs decided to 4gate.
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On December 06 2011 05:34 Arcanefrost wrote: Hero has been doing this on taldarim, only he does get the zealot. I dont get why you would want to use this build on other maps, there are more economic ways to stop 4gate, especially since the warp on highground nerf.
I'm pretty sure I've seen this opening done by other korean protoss players too but I forget which one. They do tend to get the zealot in exchange for a later 2nd gas.
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On December 06 2011 05:10 name_lock wrote:This is a good build but like most 3gate pressure variants it's has some weaknesses. First to apply pressure at a timing where your opponent is vulnerable your tech will be delayed since you're spending the resources on stalkers. 2nd is that the pressure itself is not as strong as a blatant 4gate. If your opponent knows that you're going 3gateway before tech he can respond accordingly and you will be behind. Here's a replay I played vs you on ladder: http://drop.sc/69078The 2x gateways at 22 supply before your first stalker is out to chase away the scouting probe broadcasts what you're trying to do. This means all I have to do is hold my ramp with a sentry or 2 and drop my tech before my first warpin to deal with your attack. In the replay I chose blink as I would be warping in a significant amount of stalkers to deal with your own and I knew my blink would be finished before yours. It is really good against other pressure builds or if he doesn't know it's coming though
I have 8 stalkers way before the 2nd round of warp ins from a 4 gate can come in, and in lots of replays of ladder that's enough to actually break a weak contain that goes straight into robo blink. My game vs. vileYong, a previous GSL contender is proof enough of that.
What you're saying plays right into what this build is designed to do as well. You'll "hold your ramp with a sentry or two?" How much gas is invested in that defense, which in a straight up mid-game engagement will be useful?
On December 06 2011 05:12 DYEAlabaster wrote: What happens if that initial push gets denied. Not saying that you lose the stalkers, but you just can't do damage with it (at all)?
This isn't necessarily a push. If you can't do damage with it at all considering you have a higher stalker count, it means the opponent forcefielded you off his ramp. That means he has spent gas for sentries, which have a low offensive capability, especially against blink stalkers, which is the usual follow-up.
On December 06 2011 05:25 quillian wrote: have you faced any of the 10/11 gate fast warpgate timings that have been making the rounds? Seems like, with 17 cyber and only 3 chrono on WG, these builds will have a 20-30 second timing window before your wg finishes to snipe a pylon.
This kind of build is exactly what I like, though, squeezing out lots of stalkers early to punish over extensions/slack play.
yes I have. And to be completely honest, the moment I scout the early gate, I abandon the build. No build will work 100% against every build and pull ahead. It's just not feasible. If you scout the 10/11 gate and mass saved up chronoboost, feel free to do a 3 stalker rush, or just a straight up 4 gate with good micro and sim city.
On December 06 2011 05:32 EmptYy wrote: Hi , looks really cool but what i need are ur transitions( to use it for me, because i would be lost without :D): -> after defend 4 Gate -> if u scout phoenix, blinkstalker, fe... Just way of transitions are very important for me and is it playable on tal aldrim, i think yes because u dont play with ff right?
Thanks a lot EmpTy
After you defend a 4 gate, if it's a 20 probe 4 gate, as seen in many of the replays, the opponent just taps out. You not only have 22 or so probes, but have been constantly mining 6 workers in a 22 assimilator. Really any transition will net you a win in this circumstance.
If you scout phoenix with your build, you obviously use your extra gas to tech to blink stalkers. In the replay, when I warp in my initial 8 stalkers, if I don't warp in another round of units, I have over 250 gas. This means I can drop a robo AND a twilight if I really want to be safe. The large amount of gas, as well as stalkers (which are ALWAYS useful PvP) will open up a variety of possibilities for you.
To your question on Tal'darim, I defended tQMewtwo's 20 probe 5 chronoboost 4 gate on tal'darim without pulling probes or anything. With crisp execution, this build will work well on that map as well.
On December 06 2011 05:34 Arcanefrost wrote: Hero has been doing this on taldarim, only he does get the zealot. I dont get why you would want to use this build on other maps, there are more economic ways to stop 4gate, especially since the warp on highground nerf.
Not to but a damper on your post, but hero cant do this build, but get the zealot. What you're saying is he delays the gas to get the zealot, which was NOT the aim of my build. My build was to get a relatively fast gas, instantly saturate it, and not spend excess gas in survival units like the sentry, but rather mobile, pressure units like the stalker. If you want an economic way to stop a 4 gate, feel free to read my other build which nets 26 probes and 7 stalkers and 2 zealots at the 6:05 minute mark. Again, this build may not be for everyone, just throwing it out there.
On December 06 2011 06:10 Payson wrote: I've been seeing HuK do this build not only on ladder, but at NASL 2 grand finals. Is the main purpose of the build just to hold a 4gate? Obviously placing 400 gas into 8 stalkers will delay tech. What's the transition if he doesn't 4gate? If you hold the 4gate and he simply falls back, what's the best move? Be aggressive or start teching to something like Blink Obs?
I believe HuK beat Hasuobs with this opening on Shattered Temple when Hasuobs decided to 4gate.
Can you show me a replay of HuK doing this build? I've honestly not watched his stream for a while, and would be interested on his timings compared to mine. The 400 gas you put into 8 stalkers will not delay tech as long as you think. If you are getting blink first, for example, a player who drops their twilight earlier will NOT have the gas to continue stalker production with their blink. In that exact same situation, when you tech to blink after, you will NOT have the gas to continue stalker production either. That being said, 4 minutes later in each circumstance, both players will have an equal number of stalkers with blink, the only difference being the former had blink tech first, but not enough stalkers to do any sort of damage, while the latter is safer to early aggression.
To your question about the transition if he doesn't 4 gate? If you watch my replay vs. TT1, you can outright kill him. I understand people might say "oh you had a proxy pylon though"... he didnt have any sentries regardless. Even if that proxy wasnt in his base, I could've walked up his ramp and achieved the same victory. 8 stalkers isn't something that gets denied THAT easily.
In most of my games, I transition to what you said, blink obs. It allows the most versatility, but people are always shut down during the time interval when both buildings are being constructed. The 8 stalkers on the map will be more mobile than ANY early game army your opponent has (unless he does the same build) as he will have zealots, and you can buy yourself time, if not outright kill him with micro.
On December 06 2011 09:19 Skyro wrote:Show nested quote +On December 06 2011 05:34 Arcanefrost wrote: Hero has been doing this on taldarim, only he does get the zealot. I dont get why you would want to use this build on other maps, there are more economic ways to stop 4gate, especially since the warp on highground nerf. I'm pretty sure I've seen this opening done by other korean protoss players too but I forget which one. They do tend to get the zealot in exchange for a later 2nd gas.
Again, like my previous post, that means this opening is not the same. The only reason my zealot is building is for the security in case of a 2 gate or cannon rush. Even if they get the gas later too, the units will NOT line up as well as mine do, as the initial 300 minerals after my warp gate + stalker go to 2 gates, whereas the initial 300 of their builds would ALSO go into 2 warp gates. Alas, they build a zealot first, meaning their 2 gates are almost 5-10 seconds later, and considering my 3 stalkers pop out RIGHT as warp gate finishes, their timing wouldn't line up as well.
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Interesting build. I like the fake zealot into 2 extra gates part and I can see it being very powerful in terms of being able to hold off a 4 warpgate rush.
I've tried a few 3 gate builds that does 2 gas, and you really do end up with alot of surplus gas even if you are continuously pumping stalkers. If i successfully fend off a 4 gate with only 3 gates, it feels quite good and my followup is expansion straight away and preventing enemy expansion to secure economic victory. Personally I find delaying 2nd gas allows me to get an expansion up quickly after holding off the rush.
The beauty I find with this build is being able to surprise (I can see a 10 odd second timing window) the enemy when he strolls to your base with the zealot/stalker/probe with your 4 or 5 stalkers, letting you able to 'defensively pressure him' thus can snipe his zealot or probe fairly easily.
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I just dont understand the concept of faking the zealot. Any decent protoss will realize you cancelled it, thus giving away even more that there wont be a 4 gate. I think getting a later gas and getting the zealot is in fact better like the koreans do. Moreover, there's really no point of doing this on any other map besides tal darim...
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On December 06 2011 11:38 AxelTVx wrote: I just dont understand the concept of faking the zealot. Any decent protoss will realize you cancelled it, thus giving away even more that there wont be a 4 gate. I think getting a later gas and getting the zealot is in fact better like the koreans do. Moreover, there's really no point of doing this on any other map besides tal darim...
It's not so much faking the zealot as it is having the zealot as a safety net if they proxy 2 gate and you dont scout it in time. You will 99% of the time lose to a proxy 2 gate if you dont build the first zealot, that's just the truth of the matter. Again, if you really dislike the build, don't do it, but my goal was to get a LOT of gas (which is the most PRECIOUS resource for Protoss), and not spend it in defensive units like sentries, but rather units that work towards you goal (aka blink stalkers)
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some suggestions..
The fake zealot only tricks them for the 30 second window, I would rather get a quicker 2nd gas Also I suggest a chronoboost on your first stalker to force away the probe. You also want to chronoboost your 2nd stalker depending on map. This build works better if you don't scout for the extra minerals. You still need to send out a probe after 26/26 to put down proxy pylons. 34 pylon and onwards should all be proxied.
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On December 06 2011 12:43 W2 wrote: some suggestions..
The fake zealot only tricks them for the 30 second window, I would rather get a quicker 2nd gas Also I suggest a chronoboost on your first stalker to force away the probe. You also want to chronoboost your 2nd stalker depending on map. This build works better if you don't scout for the extra minerals. You still need to send out a probe after 26/26 to put down proxy pylons. 34 pylon and onwards should all be proxied.
Like I said before, the "quicker" 2nd gas doesn't work. That means instead of the following 300 minerals building 2 gateways, you need 375 before the 2 gateways. Quicker doesn't always mean better, especially when it has to do with gas timings. There's a reason why people dont just go 14 gas 16 gas. Your mineral saturation will be horrendous in comparison and you wont have enough minerals to even make stalkers.
A chronoboost on your stalker means 1 less chronoboost for your warp gate, which means 10 seconds of 4 gate in your face that you can't deal with.
I think your chronoboost "advice" is based off of different builds, as unfortunately this one doesn't allow you to carelessly misuse chronoboost, as it's a valuable asset in PvP.
This build was created by me, but if you really feel you don't need to scout til 26, be my guest. When proxy 2 gates or cannon rushes kill you because of the lack of 1st zealot in production, or a 11 gate 3 gate pressure hits you without you knowing, you might want to scout again.
Proxying pylons again is a personal preference. If I'm sitting back and want to take an expand with a robo follow up, why would I have to put pylon 34 and onwards "all proxied"?
On a side note, OP has been updated with new reps on ladder as I was streaming today!
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You should put all the replays in a zip together ^_^
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I am sorry, but while this build looks decent there is no need for more anti 4gate builds, actually a sentry is good for you since in later stages you will need 1 or 2 for GS and some force fields, also your build will be behind against any build that isn't 4gate.
And also how are you going to transition out of this? after so many stalkers i guess you will have to get blink, and that makes your predictable, so i really don't see this build being any good vs anything that is not 4gate...
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On December 06 2011 15:41 moskonia wrote: I am sorry, but while this build looks decent there is no need for more anti 4gate builds, actually a sentry is good for you since in later stages you will need 1 or 2 for GS and some force fields, also your build will be behind against any build that isn't 4gate.
And also how are you going to transition out of this? after so many stalkers i guess you will have to get blink, and that makes your predictable, so i really don't see this build being any good vs anything that is not 4gate...
Again, this isn't an anti-4 gate build. Every PvP build nowadays has to survive a 4 gate however to be considered viable, and that's why this post was generally focused on that. That guardian shield that is so "useful" in your later stages can actually be focused down in 1 shot by a handful of stalkers, so with micro that sentry is again, dead weight. I agree though, that sentry might be useful, but again, in the later stages. As the name suggests, unless this is a diamond level match where both sides sit on their newly acquired natural and macro up to 200/200 colossus with upgrades, then maybe this build is flawed in that sense. However for a master or grandmaster player, you want to be always applying some sort of pressure to your opponent.
If you watch the replays, you can see how I transition out of it lol. Yes, blink might be predictable, but when you hit a certain point on ladder you realize blink is ABSOLUTELY necessary. Blink stalker base race situations are not what you want to run in ever, and every protoss eventually gets blink. On the flip side, I normally go robo blink, which is about as hard of a transition as you can get o.O
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Awesome, always love your build write ups because of the detailed explanations behind your decision making. Tried this a few times on the ladder, it works like a charm because it crushes a 4 gate, but still isn't overly aggressive, meaning that if he doesn't 4 gate, you can skip the first warp in and throw down whatever tech you want. The obvious followup is blink stalker, but there is no reason you can't transition into either robo or stargate.
Awesome job dude!
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Thank you for the guide, always looking for different things to try in PvP. I hate this matchup
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