[G] PvP Immortal Drops

Pvp is a volatile matchup to say the least. Games often don’t pass the 10 minute mark, and if they do its almost never on equal terms. The bane of all existence in this matchup is the fourgate [no pvp guide would be complete without a quip about the 4gate ☺. Don’t worry I do it to), which can decide a game in under 7 in-game minutes, and which seems to only get stronger as one’s opponents’ skill increases. However, the 4gate is only one of many fast paced micro intensive “all-in” “coin flips” that come with the desolate, radiation scarred territory that is this match-up.

I’m sure you all have heard the legends of certain world-class protoss players using Immortal drops in this matchup. I like you, perhaps, thought this an incredible risk and a great way to feed nameless foes your ladder points [which is all that matters, of course]. I’m not gonna lie though, now that I have become comfortable with it, I love this tactic!

This is not a catch-all build for PVP. The nature of the match-up is such that any minor slip up, regardless of build order, can lose you the game. I’m sorry for this, I’m sorry I don’t know a build that is 100% full proof and will give you a guaranteed way to be safe from everything. The fact is, things can get dicey with this build just like any other in PVP, your success or failure with it could range from simply a build order win, a mistake on you or your opponent’s part, or one player truly outplaying the other. My desire is to put forth a solid guide to the execution of a build order/harassment technique that I feel has as much potential in this matchup as any other. I also hope to put up for viewing some replays of my own experience with the build, both to help others execute it, and for my own curiosity as to your reactions. Some days, this harassment seems to work almost TOO well.

In words, this is a 1gate robo style opening, with a warp prism and a robo bay immediately following the robotics finishing.
In numbers:
9 pylon
13 gateway
14 Assimilator
15/16 pylon (2)
17/18 Cyb core
20 zelaot
20/21 Assimilator (2)
*Assimilator can be built first if one so desires. Either way, you want to have the zealot to sweep your base for early pylon hiding.
22/23 Warp tech
24/25 Stalker (chrono on gateway)
*poke out with a zealot and stalker to see what you can see. Going all the way to his ramp is worth your time if he hasn’t moved out. Poke up the main ramp and see what you can see, but beware of forcefields
24/25 Pylon (3)
25/26 Robotics
28 sentry
30 gateway (2)
32/33 sentry (2)
32/33 pylon (4)
39 Warp prism (or immortal if pressure is anticipated)
39 Robo Bay
*depending on what information you are able to procure through being active on the map, it may be worth your while to get out an observer before warp prism or immortal. With chrono boost, the observer will only take 20 seconds to complete (per the last patch), and it will allow you to be a little more cautious with your drop play (per the chat )
44 ish warp prism speed (hotkey “G”)
44 ish immortal (1)
2nd immortal as you can afford it.
Rally 1st and 2nd immortals into the warp prism and move in for the harassment.
Move to expand as you move to harass, and start colossus production.

-Chrono probes twice, three times if you are feeling saucy (chronoing up to probe 14 and stopping is indicative of a 4gate/other aggression. This is a good way to keep your opponent guessing, as he’ll be able to recognize how many chronos you spent on probes), and chrono out your first stalker. Use the rest of your nexus energy as you feel is best. Considering you are going to be on one base for a while, unless you see aggression out of your opponent, at which point chrono warp tech/warp gates/ immortals to be safe, I would suggest chronoing out some more probes.
-If you see aggression out of your opponent, most importantly, if you see a fourgate coming (http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/4_Warpgate_Rush) , use the robo for an immortal first and than get a warp prism and speed (see replay 1). Forcefield the as long as possible, by making two sentries, you should be safe from most hardcore aggression if you react appropriate/fast enough.

With warp prism speed, you are essentially increasing the mobility and speed of your immortals. As such, you can out-micro almost any other unit, or at least pick up and get out anytime you need to. Your targets are really what you choose them to be. Sniping buildings, any from pylons/assimilators to cybernetics cores, is viable as well as targeting probes (immortals 2 shot probes-thus 2 immortals one shot probes. You can get a significant number of worker kills pretty quick). In addition to tearing down buildings incredibly fast, immortals hard counter stalkers, so in small numbers, you can feel free to engage the stalkers he sends to deal with you. Be careful with the warp prism [fly it out of range of the stalkers, and only fly it back when you want to evacuate], and focus stalkrs down one at a time. Be on the look out for lone colossi, as immortals can snipe them rather quickly. Zealots, especially combined with forcefields, are dangerous. You will need to run from them, but this shouldn’t be an issue. With warp prism speed, you can simply bounce to another part of his base/his natural and continue to ravage his infrastructure while his slow zealots and sentries scramble to keep up. Combined with warp prism speed, immortal drops can be devastating, simply because of how much damage immortals do and how beefy and tough to kill they are.

During the harassment, without losing track of your warp prism (*important), try and macro as best as possible. Your priority is probes and any high tech units you’ll want to include in your ultimate composition, since they will take lots of time to build (I.e. colossi or more immortals). Next is building the infrastructure for your late game composition, whether that be chargelot archon, mass colossi or what have you.

If you feel it will give you an advantage, go ahead and take a third, but a lot of times this is something you can wait for your opponent to go for before you need to. Obviously, it can skyrocket your economy, which will allow you to build up your maxed army faster. I’ve found that late game PVP stalls out until both players are maxed anyway, so it’s really up to you whether you want to expand aggressively.

The important thing is not to lose the warp prism/ immortals. Easier said than done. I’d suggest isolated practice with micro’ing warp prism speed, drop/pickup maneuvers, etc. in custom games. You should start feeling pretty confident once you’ve spent some decent time with it. One trick I use is to hotkey both the warp prism and the 2 immortals (I use 5-prism and 2-immortals) to save myself clicks when trying to get out of a bad situation.

These will hard counter drop builds, for obvious reasons. Even with warp prism speed, phoenixes will be able to chase you down and snipe the prism. It’ll be hard to spot a phoenix build before the phoenixes are out. Once you see the phoenixes, cancel/cut the warp prism and or the speed upgrade if you can, expand, and go for colossi (phoenixes can’t pick them up, although they can shoot them). Build up a lot of stalkers and play it out intuitively. Phoenix builds are hard to combat.
*if you see your opponent making a switch to phoenixes to take down your warp prism, leave the immortals at home, and try and harass with stalkers/zealots as best you can. Unless you leave it in your base, the warp prism is probably dead, and you might as well try to get some more value out of it.

If you see dt, or suspect dt, cancel whatever is building in the robo and get an obs out. If when you poke up his ramp with your zealot (1) and stalker (1) you see 2 zealots, he may be going dt. Get an observer first if this is the case. Its worth it, and if its not dt than no harm no foul, but you’ll be safe from the build order kill. Once the dt threat is neutralized, continue with the harass as you would’ve. Watch out for blink, as its an easy transition off dt. With good warp prism micro, you should be able to out micro blink stalkers.

Always the soul crushing elephant in the room. If, as you are poking around the map, you see what looks like a fourgate (probe, zealot and stalker coming at your base), chrono out warp tech, an immortal, and sentries (in that order of priority) and try and knock down as many proxies as you can. Do not start a robo bay until you stabilize, spend that gas on sentries. Force field the ramp, shoot from the high ground, try and kill the probe etc. Cue anti-fourgate maneuvers. Having already built a robotics facility and a sentry, you can definitely hold a fourgate if you react to it in time/appropriately.

*(I can’t write a double guide here guys. If you want, I can write a separate guide about how to best deal with fourgate [there are tons of vods, guides etc. on how to go about this if you are having trouble. Do a google search, I promise you’ll find things ☺). That discussion is pretty in depth though, and the defense often comes down to split second micro maneuvers).

From here you will be transitioning into late game PVP, or least beginning to build up your late game composition. It all depends on when he gets sick of your crap and comes after your throat. My usual composition is 2x robo colossi, eventually adding in charge and some archons with spare gas. If you prefer archon chargelot immortal, or chargelot colossi, or what have you, its totally viable as well. Go nuts and get a Mothership and vortex half his army! By the way I’m totally serious, Mothership in late game PVP is really useful. In any case, once the maxed army vs maxed army fight ensues snag your warp prism and gun it back to the fight ASAP for a flank. Deploy the field to warp in and use its carrying capacity to save weakened immortals/colossi from being killed. Using the immortals as a hit squad to focus fire his colossi from the back/side is a great way to turn the tide in a fight, and the warp prism gives you drastically increased mobility, making it much easier to flank your opponents forces.

You are definitely taking a risk, losing the warp prism and immortals sucks big time. But you have potential to do huge damage and really rattle your opponent, and it’s a lot of fun . I don’t dread pvp nearly as much as I used to, just cause with this build PVP means I get to dance around with speed prisms and wreak some havoc on my opponent while building up my war of the worlds death composition. Like I said in the intro, this is a build, all builds have weaknesses and holes. I love this build though, and it has as much potential as any other PVP build to crush your opponent.

More importantly, I’ve grown as a player from having to micro the warp prism. Its not only a fun way to play, but it will help your control and APM substantially to experiment with this sort of harassment.

Artosis did an analysis of Liquid’Hero a while ago (can you guys tell I like Hero yet?) where he uses immortal drops. Artosis gives some good analysis, and its an example of a pro player doing the build.
Drool over it!

Its PVP. If you hate the matchup, I’m sorry it’s the way it is, it definitely gets old after a while. If you do this build, I can only hope that the matchup will at least be more enjoyable for you. You probably won’t win every game though ☹, but it’s about fun right?