[G] [D] PvZ Understanding the 1 gate FE

Most pvz 1 gate FE discussions so far have focused around some “magic sauce” build order that relies on highly specific build orders and timing attacks. This has led critics to make dismissive claims: “ffe with nexus first has better econ.” “It will always die to ling rush/roaches/baneling bust.” “Cannons are better at defending 6 pool.” “1 gate FE has no answer for hatch first. They will just out macro you.” “Zerg can defend x timing with y, so gate first is pointless.”

My thought on following these threads was: “FFE isn’t a rigid build -- why should 1 gate fe be?“

My philosophy as I experimented was to treat the build almost exactly like a FFE -- to be flexible, scout effectively, and expand as aggressively as possible with exactly the right amount of defense.

The basic build should feel very similar to a forge fast expand.

In a normal FFE, you will usually go:
Forge, (cannon) Nexus, Gateway, Gas, Cyber

The cannon cam be moved earlier or later based on scouting.

While learning a 1 gate gasless FE, I tried to change as little as possible, resulting in a build akin to Yuffies (which I discovered later):
Gateway, (zealot) Nexus, Forge, Gas, Cyber

The Zealot, like a cannon, can be early or late based on aggression from zerg.

Swapping the gateway and forge offers a few interesting perks:

1. Effortlessly safe from ling cheese. You will have 1-2 early zealots and a cute low ground ramp wall, making runbys impossible. (more on this later)

2. Possibility of early pressure such as a 4 gate or +1 zealots discourages early 3rd and greedy droning from zerg.

3. Slightly faster tech than FFE. Cyber is usually done ~ 10-20 seconds earlier vs pool first, and has the potential to be much sooner vs hatch first.

4. Early zealot map presence and option for zealot/cannon contain vs very greedy zerg

Of course, the build also has disadvantages -- it is slightly less economic than FFE, and relies on specific sim city that isn’t ideal on all maps.

Like a forge fast expand, the build will have a range of options depending on scouting and maps.

Generally, the build should have:

Pylon - at natural
Gateway (on 10-13)
Pylon - In base, or blocking hatchery
Zealot (1 or 2)
Nexus (on 18-22)
Forge (can be before nexus in some cases)
Gas
Cyber (advanced -- can be before forge vs greedy/passive zerg.)
Gas
Pylon - at natural, to allow wall off at wider chokes
@100% forge -+1 weapons, 1-2 cannons if you sense roach or ling aggression,
@100% cyber - warpgate, Constant sentries from 1st gate
@100% pylon - 2-3 more gateways, walling natural

For those who like numbers, here is a sample build order, but this is only one possibility:

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Your actual play will vary highly, depending on what you see. Much like FFE, the number of zealots and cannons can be adjusted to match the zerg’s level of aggression.

Your main decision point is around 17, after you build your first zealot. Scout on 10-12 to check, his pool timing, and adapt accordingly:

Early pool (6, 8, 11) or have not scouted

- Chrono boost zealots
- Forge ASAP.
- 1 cannon. 2 if you see more than 6 lings.
With good sim city, 3+ zealots and 1-2 cannons you can hold any ling pressure he throws at you. If you see roaches, add more cannons as necessary.

13-14 pool
- Expand after first zealot.
- Get forge and second zealot after Nexus.
- Keep your probe alive as long as possible. If you see more than 6 lings, build more zealots and drop 1-2 cannons.

Hatch First
- Nexus ASAP (before zealot or forge if possible)
- 1-2 zealots
- Can get Gas and Cyber before Forge in some cases

Hatch first - Late scout
- Cannon aggression.
If you scout last on a 4 player map, and already have 2 zealots and a forge started when you see his hatch first, you can move out with your zealots and a probe and threaten to cannon rush/contain (see nyast’s “enter the 10 gate.”) This isn’t necessary, but can force some spines/lings to even out the economic lead, and sometimes kill inexperienced players.

As I have mentioned, this build is extremely safe against a ling runby, due to some cute sim city. You will wall your ramp on the low ground with just 1 pylon and 1 gateway.

There are a few variations of a basic sim city shape you need to know. It will work for every map with a standard ramp. This shape allows you to wall off on the low ground and prevent ling runbys, making you immune to early ling cheese. It also sets you up for a full wall off of your natural.

Variation 1: Pylon goes in the very center of the ramp (it’s easy to find this point with practice)
Gateway goes in front of it, blocking the forward crack in the ramp.
1 zealot can then wall the ramp, completely shutting down ling runbys.

The low ground gateway allows you to create a natural wall in very early on maps that allow it.


On many maps, The forge will fit in range of your first pylon, giving you a nice wall in with the nexus-.
Metalopolis:
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Antiga Shipyard -
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Shakuras Plateau -
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Cloud Kingdom
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Variation 2: In some cases you will want to place the first gateway slightly farther back to wall tightly with the nexus. In these positions, you will simply place the pylon at the back corner of the ramp, and leave a 1 space gap between the pylon and gateway like so:
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This shape is just as secure, but slightly touchier to execute, as you have to know where the corners of the ramp are. It is also slightly harder for zealots to chase off lings, as there is more surface area exposed.
Make sure to practice wall in shapes at each spawn location so you know what works.

When learning this build, I usually placed my second pylon and cyber in
side my main.
However, you can also choose to place your second pylon on the low ground. This gives a little extra protection from ling cheese, and lets you wall off faster. However, it can leave your cyber vulnerable to roaches.




Finally, adding another pylon and additional gateways can quickly build a secure wall.

+ Show Spoiler +

You can have this wall finished well before 2 base roach or baneling aggression hits on most maps. Note that if he is not doing a roach all in, you don’t need this many cannons, just 1 plus a few zealot/sentry is fine to hold against ling harass.

Because it relies on specific early pylon and gateway placement, this build is only effective on maps where your ramp is close to your natural wall off. I would NOT recommend using this sim city on a map like Entombed. The awkward ramp placement makes the ramp wall-in not viable. Similarly, while the build works fine on maps like Cloud Kingdom and Shakuras, the ability to simply wall your natural with 3 structures makes this larger wall seem inefficient.
Finally this wall in will obviously not work on Tal Darim, as there is no ramp.

In these cases, a high ground gateway or traditional FFE is more reliable.

PLEASE NOTE: The 1 space gap left by the pylon at your ramp will NOT allow massive units like archons to pass! If you are planning on having archons run around inside your base, you will need to kill this pylon in the late game. This is actually true of any ling-tight ramp wallin, high or low ground, and sometimes messes with inexperienced players trying this build for the first time.

Your two first zealots can cause a lot of confusion for a passive zerg player. If you scout a late pool, you can move out safely to take map control.

Make sure you scout after gateway to get a read on his pool timing:

vs 11 pool or faster, don’t attempt pressure, just chill at home and defend happily. You will have 2 zealots out in time to clean up any 6 ling rush, and can expand and tech freely. If it is a 6 or 8 pool, don’t expand, and drop a forge and cannon by your ramp. On ladder maps, you can place a second pylon to wall off the ramp fully-- this will free up your zealots to keep the lings away from your wall, and you can cancel it once you have 3+ zealots out.

vs hatch first, start moving out early with your first zealot and scouting probe to his natural. Your goal is to make him build spines and lings by threatening a cannon contain. Your zealots can defend your proxy pylon and cannons as they warp in, making it extremely difficult to stop the contain with just drones. Once he builds defense, you can cancel your pylon and pull back.

vs 13-15 pool, you can move to watch tower and kill any scouting lings, and poke around his natural and third to check timing. Drop 1 cannon at your natural as you leave.

If he runs past you with his first few lings and tries to counter, don’t panic. Just chrono out 1-2 more zealots at home and continue to attack his natural. This will make him either turn around or build even more lings to defend.

Tactical notes:
*Keep your probe alive in his base as long as you can to keep an eye out for ling count and speed timing, or a switch to baneling/roach. Make sure to be active with the probe in small ling engagements: he will attempt to micro back wounded lings to kill your zealots. 2 zealot hits +1 probe hit kills a ling, so snipe lings in the red with your probe.

*If he spams mass lings with a 13 or 14 pool you will need to build cannons asap and may have to pull a few probes if your wall doesn’t finish in time.

*In most cases speed will finish ~5:00 so have your wall done and at least 1 cannon up by then.

*If you scout roach pressure you must immediately build 3-4 cannons and finish your wall off asap. chrono sentries. if you have 2-3 sentries and 4 cannons complete when he arrives, you should hold and have an econ advantage.

1 gate gasless FE can be played out almost exactly like a FFE. In most cases, you will get cyber and 2 gas after your forge, and can tech normally.

The main difference I find is that you can often get an even faster third than normal due to slightly quicker warpgate, and the zerg will usually be slower economically than with a FFE due to the early threat and later 3rd.

See replays section for some examples of high level play.

Some typical paths:

+1 attack 4 gate zealot pressure (good to punish fast 3rd)
+2 blink timing attack (see adonminus’ guide for examples)
Stargate > fast third (standard ffe follow up)
Prism drop play (See Cecil’s VOD)

For those new to it, 1 gate FE can be played almost identically to an FFE on some maps, with a few nice perks.

The 1 pylon 1 gate low ground wall off allows you to safely expand before gas and prevent ling runbys with minimal units.

The early gateway allows for some map control with zealots and threatens a greedy zerg.

This build will not replace the FFE on all maps. However, in some cases it can provide a nice alternative with slightly faster tech options.

Please feel free to submit your replays, and I will link them here.
I can also add replays of how the wall in fairs vs various cheese/allins upon request.

Masters/Pro examples:

YUFFIE

http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Gate_Nexus_YufFE#Replays
Yuffie is the go to source for examples of pro 1 gate fe. His play is aggressive and flexible, and every game is a little different. The replays linked show some good demonstrations vs various zerg timing attacks and a range of mid game transitions.


CECINSUNKURE
Cecil does a variety of 1 gate fe builds, with and without gas. His builds are flexible and vary widely, and while he doesn’t use everything I’ve laid out here, he is a good example of masters 1 gate fe play.
http://www.twitch.tv/cecilsunkure/b/312413913.

Best Example: 3rd Game @ 32:00. Antiga Shipyard. Gateway first, nice low ground wall in. Early 3rd and sweet ling/roach defense. Fun game to watch.

Two other pvzs:
1st game 1:00
Gateway first opening. Zerg evo blocks and rushes with zerglings, Cecil demonstrates a simple cannon/zealot defense. The defense could have been made even easier with sim city discussed here. Cecil follows up with his trademark prism > immortal/templar!

2nd game @18:00. 1 gate gasless FE vs pool first. Ling poke is poorly controlled, but you can again see how some simple sim city would make it even easier to deal with. Ultimately loses to a nice corrupter/roach timing in mid/late game, but still shows a nice macro transition.

I'll add links to more VODs as I find them.

- When is it safe to play gas/cyber before forge? What scouting information do you look for?
- When should you scout on a given map? after pylon? after gateway?
- What gateway timing do you use? (10, 11, 12, 13, 14) What advantages does each provide?
- What are some effective timing attacks that take advantage of the faster cyber?
- What other map specific sim city should a player know to get the most out of 1 gate fe?