[G] STParting's Soulful Immortal All-in (PvZ)

Disclaimer: I think this goes without saying, but this push is designed to attack a Zerg who opened with a standard gasless triple hatch build. Against a 2-base Zerg, you must react to the fact that they could be going for fast Lair tech (Mutalisks, Infestors, Hydra + Nydus) or going for a hatch tech bust (Roach rush, baneling bust, or roach-ling all-in). Discussing how to react to 2-base Zerg is beyond the scope of this guide, however, I will say that Koreans facing this scenario in the GSL almost always go for fast Stargate with sentries into immediately Chronoboosting a Phoenix to scout what is going on, and then focus on countering whatever tech choice the Zerg went for.

Safer and more recent variant:

Thanks to TL-user oOOoOphidian for sending me this:

"Here are the most recent timings on his build. They're mostly the same as they were in September, but the small changes seem to help, especially the opener. The timings of the opener allow you to be completely safe against 14 pool, which the old opener did not (especially with Forge in main).

16 Nexus, Forge
17 Pylon, Gateway, Cannon
19 2x Gas
24 Core
30 Pylon
32 Stalker (Chrono once), Warp Gate
34 Robo (5:36), Gas
Pylon, Sentry, +1 Attack, Pylon (at main ramp)
Immortal, 3x Gateway (at main ramp), Sentry
Immortal, 4th Gas, 2x Gate, Sentry
(wg finish 8:00)
Warp in 2 Sentries

Push at 8:50 with 7 Sentry, 3 Immortal, 1 Stalker to set up a single proxy pylon
Rally warp prism and make 7th Gate
Wall off natural with 2 more pylons, wall off rest of main with 1 more pylon
Warp in 2 Sentries and 2 Zealots as you move out."

Greediest variant for maximum strength:

Thanks to Reddit user pandazrule93 for taking the time to write this up from a Parting VoD:

9 Pylon (in main)
Chronoboost probes 3 times
17 Nexus
17 Forge in main
17 Pylon at nat
17 Resume probe production
18 Gate at nat
18/19 Cannon at nat
20 Double gas in main
23 Pylon at nat
24 Cybernetics core @ gateway 100% complete
26 Research +1 ground weapons
30 Research warpgate @ cybernetics core 100% complete
30 Stalker (optional chronoboost on it)
36 Robotics facility
36 1st gas at nat
36 Pylon - place this for partial wall-off at the top of your main ramp
@100 gas start sentry
44 Add 2 gates
46 Build immortal + Chronoboost it
54 2nd gas at nat
54 Add 1 gate
60 Add 3 gates

Notes:
Stop producing probes at full saturation (44)
Go up to 3 immortals
Push out at 8:50 with 3 immortals, 1 stalker, 1 zealot, 7 sentries
Warp prism and observer after 3rd immortal
Wall-off your natural (and main) as push leaves
Hit at 10:00 - go straight for the Zerg's natural, don't waste time attacking his 3rd base (this lets you forcefield his ramp to isolate reinforcements if you get into position as well)
All chronoboost on probes and then immortals. Your robotics facility should never stop being chronoboosted once the first immortal is started.
Parting positions his stalker to deny overlord scouts, so don't keep it out on the map for very long

Here are some tips and tricks posted by Reddit user bearrosaurus (some slight paraphrasing on my part):

- Parting goes Nexus first, Forge in his main base, and no scouting until the 18 gateway to max his mining. All the scout does is look for the hatch building at the third, then it goes back home to mine.*
- No +1 armor. It looks like all the chronoboosts are on probes, and then on the robo nonstop.
- His stalker is placed to deny the overlord scout at 7 min.
- Probes cut when the first Immortal finishes (44 probes).

*RemarK note: on ladder, I would be scared of not scouting for so long versus a Zerg player, so if you aren't comfortable with it, feel free to 9 scout or build a blind 13 Forge and scout with the probe that builds the Forge - the build will still work!

One thought / comment I have on this build is that its effectiveness is directly correlated to how fast you can push out with it – if you aren’t succeeding with it, make sure that you are pushing out with the same amount of units at the same time that Parting does.

Axeltoss Video for MLG NOS Pro Performance Tip Series:

Rain vs ViBe - MLG NOS Pro Performance Tip #32

Day9 Daily on this build:

Day9 Daily on PartinG's Immortal Sentry All-in

Safer version VoDs:

Parting vs Losira GSL VoD - most recent VoD

Greedy version VoDs:

Parting vs Curious - WCS Asia Ro8

Parting vs Roro - WCS Asia - Two games here, starts at 1h39m

Parting vs Leenock GSL VoD (requires GOMTV subscription)

Example of good macro execution - this replay is just me practicing the build with a friend in the game. It hits pretty much all the macro benchmarks PartinG does, and moves out with the right immortal count on time.

RemarK vs Swarm - this replay was after I spent some time practicing the build versus my teammates and shows much better execution on the macro side than the other replays I have here.

Disclaimer: the replays vs Dreamizer and Hawk are only my 2nd and 3rd time executing the build ever - they are NOT an example of a perfect or ever close to perfect level of execution of the build. The VoDs will be more helpful for learning the exact build, the replays are here simply to chronicle my own experiences with this build.

RemarK vs MYiDreamizer – he played very interestingly. His response to this build was cutting lair + evo chamber, and never droning too hard. If I had read the situation properly, I could have just backed off after killing drones at his 3rd base and been ahead in both tech and economy. However, this was only my 2nd time trying the build and I overcommitted to aggression and lost the game. Also, my push was hitting later than it should so I believe just executing Parting’s build properly would have translated to a fairly straightforward win as well.

RemarK vs QuanticHawk– I’m not sure if Hawk misread my build or just messed up his control by letting me get into a deadly position with my units (especially sentries), but this game could been a lot closer if he had more units and better positioning. He was going for a very ling-heavy defense, but could not directly engage my army when I first moved out and his attempt to get the lings past my wall was ineffective. This game I moved out faster than the first game versus Dreamizer, but I still need to improve things like preemptively placing my gateways to wall of at my main ramp and moving my army across the map in a tight ball formation.

My name is Matthew "RemarK" Kramer, a Grandmaster Protoss player on the NA server. I come from a competitive Halo background and have been playing Starcraft II since 2010, starting out in bronze. If you want to learn more about me or support me, you can check out my hub thread here on teamliquid and comment! I am also a streamer (click here for my stream) - you can follow me on Twitter (@remarkiwa) for updates about when I will be going live or to further interact with me.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope this guide was helpful!