EPTSo I've been playing this pvz style recently that has been pretty successful for me. I've also been playing custom games with people where I tell them what I plan to do and ask them to blind counter me with whatever they think best and found this build pretty resilient.
I'm writing this in hopes that it might help some people who were in a similar place I was in the pvz mu and also that people can discuss it and help me tweak it. Replays of people beyond my skill level playing this build are particularly welcome.
This is meant as a response to the current standard zerg opening of 3 base before gas. I've been playing this against other openings to see how viable it is, but it is based on the assumption that you scout 3 hatches going down for the zerg between 4:00 and 4:30.
Basic Idea
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I open with a standard forge fast expand, but delay getting assimilators and a cybernetics core in favor of a second gateway. Chronoboost is spent almost completely on probes, and both gateways will constantly produce zealots.
Get 2 gasses just before you move out with your zealots (around 6:45 in game time. Should have 4-6 zealots with 2 more building). Also add core after and third gas shortly after that. I'll add details about timing these below.
While zealots are attacking and forcing non drone production, continue probe production, get a stargate and 1-2 voidrays as well as 4 more gates and a third base. Start +1 and warpgate research after 1st void ray starts production.
After voidrays, make at least 1 phoenix and add gates (usually to wall in third).
This should get you to a point in game where you have an economy approximately even with the zerg if not better. Use the phoenix to scout, and play diverges based on what tech is scouted.
Mentality
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I feel that most of the current pvz builds come in two flavors. There are the builds that rush tech and try to have a strong attack or harass around the 8 minute mark, and there are very passive builds that go for early thirds with sentry immortal openings.
The tech builds feel weak if zerg prepares correctly. They allow zerg to drone freely to around 50-60, and they leave you in a position where you need to do damage. If your tech doesn't pay off, most zergs will never let you take a third. This is how I interpret Stephano's comments concerning how protoss needs to do something surprising off 2 base while zerg can play more standard and react. I'm not saying you can't play a long game off of a two base tech opening; I just find it more difficult to do so as your 8 minute attack often decides the game.
The quick thirds off sentry immortal suffer from passivity. You need to pressure zerg in some way to prevent them from skipping roaches and going fast tech off 3 bases. Fast spire, 12 minute roach max, and old school roach/hydra aggression all require very different reactions from protoss. With mutalisks in particular, it is almost impossible to react after the fact.
This build I'm offering delays gas in favor of economy focus. Indeed, all tech, including sentries, before the 10-11 minute mark is made purely to hold 3 bases and have complete scouting information. Once you've gotten to this point you have the economy to overcome minor mistakes in control or composition. The whole point is that you can play your standard game and not worry too much about what zerg is doing. That isn't to say you don't scout and react. Scouting is extremely important, but you have this overwhelming economy to react to whatever you scout and to move into late game without worrying about the money mix of brood lord/infestor.
Maps This is Best/Worst On
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Certain map features will greatly help this build out. Having a relatively short attack distance to the zergs third is nice, but more important is having one that doesn't require you to run through open field for long distances. This makes cross positions on antiga shipyard difficult. Zealots can easily be surrounded in transit and picked off efficiently.
Having a xel naga watch tower up against a wall helps out. Maps like Cloud Kingdom have a xel'naga tower which you can put a zealot behind. The zealot is between a high ground wall and the tower, so you can hold it early game and only be attacked by 2 lings at a time. This helps to deny zergs scouting. He still has the overlord positioning on Kingdom, but he has to be watching it constantly to count each zealot that goes out or comes back in to know exactly how many you are making.
You need your third to be reasonable close to your nat or have some feature that makes defending it easier. This would not be great on tal darim altar, as you don't have time for zealots to work down the rocks and the third isn't guarded by a ramp. Entombed is also tricky though more doable as you need the rocks down pretty quickly, but you can start the cannons and nexus before they are down and make it work.
Being able to expand away from your opponent is nice as well. Daybreak doesn't have a ramp to the third, but the third is farther from the zerg than your nat is, so this works well there.
Opening
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There are several threads related to the ffe, so I'll be quick in this and try to talk mostly about things important for this specific build.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=287970
This is an example of an ffe, however my build does not involve the assimilators around 20 supply.
Since this is an econ focused build, anything that gets the nexus up first is ideal, however forge on 12 or 13 supply is needed to defend 6 pools if you haven't scouted zerg first
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Ideally, you can open:
9 Pylon (scout)
17 Nexus
17 forge
17 gateway
17 pylon
18 cannon
Don't get the gas, and chrono boost probes whenever possible.
Sacrifice a second scout probe if you must, but make sure you either see the 3rd base taken between 4:00 and 4:30 or the lack of gasses taken by the zerg before this time.
*Again, I have been playing this against zergs that open differently and have found it fairly viable, however I haven't done so enough to say for sure and all timings are assumed to be against a 3 base before gas zerg opening.
Do your best with probe harassment, and be willing to place pylons to block hatches as long as it doesn't delay your own nexus significantly. The later you can delay their hatch placement, the better. However, it is best that the base you plan to attack with your zealots be the last to start. As such, make sure you don't force zerg to take your target as their 2nd base.
Once you confirm 3 base, place your second gateway. The exact supply count will vary based on your harassment, but this should be happening before the first gate is finished. The placement of this gateway should be in the natural but out of vision range for any scouting overlords. Don't worry if zerg does scout your 2 gates, but you stand a chance of catching to zerg unprepared if he thinks you are on 1 gate. Continue to chronoboost probes, and note that you will saturate your main very soon after your natural nexus finishes.
Preparing before zealot push
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Both gateways should produce zealots constantly, but you don't have to chronoboost them. Poke out with 1-2 zealots before the actual attack to deny ling scouting and kill any unattended lings, but be sure not to lose any of your initial zealots. Rally the second gateway away from vision range of any scouting overlords.
Once you have about 3 zealots, (maybe 4 if your second gate was placed early) you should be building up minerals. Take both gasses in the main and continue chronoboosting probes.
Saturated your geysers immediately and add a cybernetics core as your minerals allow. (you should be able to afford it as the assimilators are finishing; money is coming in very quickly now)
Send out your zealot force, which should be 4-6 strong. If you need to, use a chronoboost or two on the gateways to make their production cycles line up as best you can.
The Zealot Push
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Gather your zealots together and attack while rallying your next couple to reinforce.
You want to be sure that lone zealots are never wandering the map. This attack does not have +1, so the strength of your zealots comes through micro. This means you must not let zerg get an easy surround. Stay near walls and use a chronoboost or 2 to line up production cycles from your gates so that reinforcements zealots move in pairs.
If possible, you would like to have prevented scouting to the point that zerg is uncertain about the exact number of zealots or even completely misses the push until it is outside his base. Don't worry if that is not possible as surprise is a bonus but not a requirement
As the core is building (it started just as your push was moving out), add a third gas at your nat. The moment your core finishes, while the zealots are attacking, add a stargate. You should have slightly more than enough gas to do so if you added the third at your nat on time.
The zealots should target the most vulnerable base. Factors that you should look for are:
which hatch was started last?
which one is closest to your natural?
which has the least open space where zealots can be surrounded?
The zealots do not need to do major direct damage, so you should prioritize keeping them alive longer and forcing more units from zerg. The purpose of this attack is to prevent the zerg from droning and keep your worker count very near or above his.
They should be arriving at the zerg base just before the 7 minute mark. At this time you will usually find some combination of 3 responses from the zerg:
1)Roaches
Roaches out before the 7 minute mark off 3 bases are relatively early. You wont be able to engage well on creep, but you can just run off creep. Consider attacking 2 locations, using the rallied zealots to target another base. Try to force more roaches and delay zerg from counterattacking, but don't suicide the zealots for no purpose. If zerg has made enough roaches to defend well (that is usually 5+), just pull the zealots back. The edge you gain here is that early roaches means very early gas and delayed layer. It also cuts into the drone count, though somewhat slightly.
2)Spine crawlers
Against building spines or 1 completed, you can feel free to engage. If 2 or more spines are already completed, just send the zealots to a different base. I've actually never seen a zerg who has multiple spines at both his third and natural before the 7 minute mark, but you've really already done the damage if you've forced all this. As your reinforcements continue to come in, you will be able to continue forcing even more spines at each base or just move in for the kill on one of them. Against building spines or only 1 completed, engage and target the spines to force him to pull drones or bring lings. Balance trading with the units against the likelihood of losing all your zealots while targeting a spine that might cancel production. Remember, your goal here is just to prevent zerg from droning.
Some zergs will surround a spine with drones and use stop to mess with the zealot ai. Target fire drones in this case until he runs them, then focus the spine to force more lings or force the drones to engage.
Your edge in this case is wasted minerals and mining time for the zerg.
3)Zerglings
Zerglings is by far the most common response, and you'll likely see people produce zerglings in addition to other defenses if they went with either of the previous options. Position the zealots against walls or in the mineral line to prevent zerglings from engaging efficiently. If you are unable to do so or find the zerg prepared with a ling force you can't efficiently engage, then kite back towards your reinforcements. Your goal here is just to force as many zerglings as possible. Your edge comes in larva management. Zerglings are very larva inefficient, so zerg won't be able to produce drones unless they are hitting injects perfectly, and even then they are likely to have some trouble.
You will find many zergs try to delay you for a spine to finish, for roaches to complete, or just for a suitable mass of lings ot be made. Force zerg to engage before he is ready by target firing drones or, if he runs drones, the hatch.
Continue zealot production and rally as you feel you need. In my experience, you are unlikely to send more than 4 reinforcement zealots, and will often only be able to send 2. Most zergs will have either defended adequately or be massing up a force that will overrun your attack, and further reinforcements are just a waste.
During the Zealot Push
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Remember, the zealot push was not meant to do any massive direct damage. The real damage is being done back at your base.
While the zealots are engaging, your stargate and 4th gas should be finishing. Make a voidray and 4 additional gates. Also start warp gate research and +1 attack as you get the gas to do so.
Send a probe, as well as the last zealots you started before deciding not to reinforce the push to your third. Make a third base and some cannons. You can use some of the 4 additional gates as a part of a wall at your third, however I prefer to just add gates 7 and 8 to make a wall after the cannons are started. The speed at which you do this will depend on when you added the 3rd and 4th gas at your nat. If you were too busy microing the zealots and missed your 3rd gas timing or decided to skip the 4th entirely (you don't need the 4th to have nough gas to get the stargate and voidray started immediately), then you can add the extra gates at the same time as the cannons.
Your zealot attack should die out while the voidray is building. make sentries from your gates as your minerals go into the cannons and nexus. Also, I prefer to add on a cannon or two at the natural in case zerg decides to counter attack there.
After the Push, Stabilizing on 3 Bases
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Once the voidray is out, you can either produce another void or a phoenix. In either case, make certain that you do eventually produce at least one phoenix.
The voidrays and phoenix have 4 purposes:
1) Harass the zerg and force anti air
2) Prevent a 4th base from being taken immediately by the zerg
3) Defend your own third
4) SCOUT
This is essentially listed in order of increasing importance.
The initial voidray basically forces any aggression by the zerg on your building 3rd base to be a suicide attack. Zerg should only have lings and slow roaches at this point, so the void, cannons, and some good force fields can defend your third. If your zealot push went extremely poorly, you may want to make a second void to help defend this. If zerg does not commit to such an attack, send the air units to harass. You may want a second voidray for this if your zealots damaged or killed multiple queens.
Make certain you do not lose your air force while harassing. Remember, this is the least important use for them. After zerg defends the harassment, place the voidray(s) in position to either prevent the zerg from taking a 4th or to scout any incoming attacks on your base. Prioritize defense as you should have a stronger economy then the zerg at this point. Send the phoenix to scout the zerg tech and army. The phoenix should essentially tell you exactly what the zerg is doing. You can scout the rally points to see how strongly the zerg is commiting to units, and fly by the main and nat to see tech.
Vision is extremely important at this time. Your gateways haven't completely kicked in yet, and your ground army is going to be small. You need to see when and where the zerg is going to attack in order to be able to make the right amount of cannons and place force fields correctly.
Many zergs will commit to trying to kill your third at this point. Almost any serious threat is essentially an all-in from them, since you have a superior economy, and they will be fighting into cannons and force fields.
Teching Further and Preparing for Late Game
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At this point you are really in a very good economic position and can do a variety of things. The following are my preferred responses depending what I scout.
For zergs going maxxed roach push:
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The voidray(s) will not fend off roaches once their numbers become anything significant and they get speed upgrade. Of course this will happen after you have established your third with plenty of cannons and at least a partial gateway wall. The voidray(s) will allow you to have complete vision of the attack paths to your base. This means you will always be able to judge the approaching army and know how much to force field off. Get a twilight council and blink stalkers asap. Also, continue upgrades at the forge. If you are really worried, continue adding voidrays and cannons.
You will need a robo for observers against burrow before you move out, but the cannons will be all the detection you need against his push, so don't rush to robo unless you just really prefer immortals.
For zergs going hydra/roach/ling push:
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This is a very strong and very committed push that has to kill you. Some zergs will get hydras to defend the air harass and allow them to take their 4th base. If you see several hydras, 10 or more, or you see no 3rd base, you need to prepare for the all-in. Certainly add cannons, because you will be floating a good deal of minerals. I like to continue void ray production. They aren't very strong against hydras, but they offer a couple distinct advantages. With good force fields, you can section the hydras so that they can't all attack at once. Then, in small numbers, the voidrays and cannons can deal with them efficiently. Also, zerg will need to continually reinforce the push. As long as you have any number of voidrays, the zerg has to worry about what ratio if hydras to roaches he should reinforce with. This is a relatively small concern for the zerg, but it can be a problem if the zerg has not made a nydus or creep highway to allow hydras to reinforce easily.
For zergs going fast infestation pit:
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Zergs playing this style are playing for a late game. They will expand, using either infestors or good creep spread to fend off your voidrays. You can't allow them to both tech and expand without a response. I prefer to get a robo and tech to collosus while taking a 4th base of my own. Infestors take a while to get out, and they aren't the greatest at being aggressive against cannons. Also, zerg wont have the gas to both make fast infestors and produce constant roaches to kill off your new expo (aka the 300 food push). You may want to get a second robo to really churn out the collosus, but this is stylistic. Do you best to poke and prod at the zerg to force roach production and kill creep, but don't commit to an engagement until you are maxxed and have several collosi. Be certain that you can always force field off his attack if he manages to fungle you in place.
If you scout the infestation pit soon enough, it is possible to add on several gates and go for a 3 base mass gateway attack. If you can catch them before a good amount of infestors with energy are out, you just beat their roach army with your force. You should be well above the 140 supply point if you commit to this, so you can use forcefields and stalkers to kill a pure roach army very cost efficiently. I don't like this very much as it is somewhat risky. You need to do huge damage and hopefully kill him. If the infestors get out in time, you wont be able to retreat, and you can lose a very expensive force while having no tech behind it.
For zergs who go spire:
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This is actually the tech I have the least experience against. Few zergs will want to go spire tech after seeing you phoenix and knowing you are on a 3 base economy. I like to get a twilight council for blink stalkers and eventually storm while taking a 4th base on maps that allow it (i.e. shakuras). I also really push the upgrades. As with every other tech option, you will find yourself floating plenty of minerals. Since your blink will not be done by the time mutalisks are out, make plenty of cannons in your mineral lines and build your tech buildings close to said cannons and away from the edges of your base. The real benefit of this, imo, is that your upgrades should be well ahead of the the zerg. Also, you already have plenty of gates and will be able to get a force that can move out without too much fear of a base trade almost immediately upon completion of storm.
You could, of course, decide to just continue with phoenix production. With 6 gasses, you can afford 2 starports and even the fleet beacon for phoenix upgrades. I have almost never gone for mass phoenix for my own reasons, but plenty pros have shown their viability. I suspect that doing this could make this tech route almost as all in as the hydra/roach attack is. I'd be happy to see any replays of people trying this out and teching that way.
For zergs who make a big non-infestor army but just don't attack:
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It is, of course, possible that a zerg will make a good number of roaches and maybe even a small number of hydras purely for defense while they expand and tech. This is where the phoenix scouting is critical. The phoenix allow you to get a rough count on their units and judge if they are really committing to breaking you. If they are just getting a few units for defense, you need to force as many as you can. You don't want to let them tech straight to infestor/brood lord with a small number of roach/hydra behind. What you want to do is force them to make plenty of roach/hydra so that they will both delay hive tech and need to lose some units before they can make brood lords. Against pure roach I like to get blink and just poke at the zerg to force more roaches while teching to collosus with 2 robos eventually. Against hydras I will sometimes do the same, but I will also sometimes skip the twighlight council in favor of an immediate double robo collosus. Use the phoenix to scout when their hive tech of choice if about to kick in and just attack before it does.
Additional notes
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You are almost always going to be getting way more minerals than you need. Gas is the limiting factor even as you get to 4 base. As the game goes later, I like to add plenty of gates and get a warp prism or two. That way, you can easily afford to throw a couple dozen zealots at random corners of the zerg.
This isn't really specific to this strategy, but runbys are always a concern. Try to have a zealot blocking your choke when you can, but beyond that I like to add my stargate or additional gateways around my main nexus in a way that makes it difficult for lings or roaches to target fire it. I mentioned this above, but having a couple additional cannons at your natural helps with this also.
I have seen a very few zergs try to go for ling/baneling into ling/baneling drop/roach. Honestly I don't know why more zergs don't just add baneling drops as a standard part of their midgame as I think this is just generally a very strong choice that allows for harassment and direct engagement options. You can choose to go for archons as your tech upon getting the third, and this will really do very well against pure ling/baneling, but I don't think it is really needed. Good control and forcefiel usage can also work. I'm not a 100% on this because most zergs treat the ling/baneling as an all in on the third and don't get past there.
I've recently been trying to just blindly get a twilight council every time. I still rush or delay blink based on the scouting information, but I like being able to constantly upgrade. In some games the zerg target fire down my forge. I've been reacting to that by building double forge and getting 3 3 really fast. I'm thinking it may be worth just going double forge by default at some point, perhaps after +2 or +1 armor finishes. The gas is difficult to spare, but it means your throw away zealots will be even better.
Replays
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http://drop.sc/172116 This is basically the best things could have turned out for me.
http://drop.sc/172118 This zerg did something really clever to take a fast 4th then went to infestors and was just really passive.
http://drop.sc/172119 The zerg gets an early pool and extremely late third. I adjust and take a huge lead only to waste it trying to gate way all in against infestors. I both attack too late and don't commit by making extra gates. I manage to pull it back with a clutch warp prism.
http://drop.sc/172120 I try to send fewer zealots earlier and chrono gates a little. It works poorly, partly because this is a bad map and worst spawns for it. Zerg goes mutas, and I'm terrible so I don't scout it in time. I barely win after doing huge damage before hive tech.
http://drop.sc/172127 Zerg does a really strange 2 base openings, and I try this build anyway. I suicide zealots and see a roach warren, so I play extra defensive. After nothing happens I feel way ahead and play just awfully. I make bad trades, target fire down my own nexus, and let zerg have a free base. Manage to starve him on 4 base though.
