EPT
This guide was mentioned in Plexa's Analysing Replays guide. I started this guide a long time ago and I think it's time I get rid of it
I spent some time with Koanic, a lurker on TL, who started off in bronze and followed this guide to work his way up to gold league. I had 3-4 sessions with him where I analysed his replay and gave my thoughts on where he could make some changes. I will be uploading chunks of the sessions (or maybe the entire unedited versions) in a few days.
Introduction
This guide is aimed to help players of all skill levels. It will be a solid guideline for weaker players and hopefully give some new ideas to the strong players. Most players probably follow this guide at some level but I find that laying everything out can provide the visibility needed to take your game to the next level. I am a Terran player so this guide will be more applicable to designing Terran and Protoss build orders. Zerg players should find that a fair share of this guide is still applicable to improving their play.
In this guide, I propose a reliable method of creating a solid build order for a specific match-up. This guide doesn’t tell you any build orders nor will it instantly take you to the top of your division. However, if you follow these steps, you will notice incremental improvements in all areas of your play, including analysis and mechanics.
In general, the more experience you have with Starcraft 2, the more time you want to be spending on build orders. A simple explanation is that experienced players will benefit a more by spending time working out the kinks in their build orders whereas inexperienced players will benefit more by improving their mechanics. Knowing this, inexperienced players should spend less time on Steps 3-5 and focus on Steps 6 and 7. There is no one build order that works well against everything. However, if you are able to plan out the right adjustments to your play based on what you scout, you can create a build order tree that lets you play comfortably against a wide range of what your opponent can do. With that in mind, let’s get started.
Step 1: Determine the general idea of the build.
The first step can be the easiest or it can be the hardest. You have to decide what you want this build order to do. You may get an idea from watching a high level player or you may decide that your current go-to build order is not competitive enough. If you prefer the long, drawn-out games, your goal may be to find a build order that is safe and lets you get in to the macro game. It may involve being able to defend many different openings but does not give you a significant advantage. Maybe you prefer the short cheesy games or want to mix things up and want to design a map specific 1-time strategy for ladder or bo-x series play. If you are a more advanced player, you may choose to design a build order that counters a popular build on ladder.
You still have a long way to go before this idea becomes a full build order but this is a good start. If you have no idea what you want to do, look at other players for inspiration. Look for that one game that makes you go “wow, that’s awesome”.
Step 2: Find a starting point.
If your idea is inspired from a replay or a VOD, then this part is pretty straight-forward. For replays, you can copy the build exactly. For VODs, it can be a little tricky but if you make good use of the production/unit tabs that are being shown and the supply, you should be able to pick up the important points.
If you simply have an idea, then you need to fill in the gaps. If you haven’t done so already, choose a unit composition for your build (or possibly multiple compositions for different stages of the game!). Then you must determine what structures will be built, how many you will build, and in what order they will be built. Note that you need to lay this out for the entire duration of how long you expect the game to last. If you want to do a 2 base timing push and don’t know when to build your second CC, then you are in trouble. The next requirement is what you intend to do with your buildings/units. This will typically be things such as floating buildings to a different location (be it CC floating to your natural or switching buildings) or pressuring/committing to an attack. The three elements (unit composition, structures, intentions) above can be combined to create the full build order.
If you’re not sure on any of these points, that’s okay! Just pick whatever you think will work best and we will improve it in Step 3. Before moving on though, find yourself a practice partner who is around your skill level. It is very beneficial to have a friend to drill games with you for the upcoming steps.
To summarize, you should have the following elements at this point:
- A unit composition(s)
- A specific build order up to a certain point (e.g. until 3rd base, until timing attack, etc.)
- Intentions of certain actions at specific points in the game (e.g. attack)
- A practice partner
Step 3: Pick your opponent’s build order.
Now you need your opponent’s build order. I recommend that you pick with the most standard and economy-oriented build since it will let you look at the longest possible horizon. If you practice against 6 pool, you won’t be able to execute your build so pick a build that lets you execute everything that you have planned.
You will never be prepared to react to every single possible build order but you can prepare for most of the popular and commonly seen builds. There can only be so many deviations from your opponent’s build order before it starts to become inefficient. Out of the remaining build orders, pick the one that you think is the most likely one you will face. Then analyse the difference between your opponent’s original build order and the new one. Based on the analysis, you may choose to change your build order.
To list a few possible build orders for TvP, I will prepare to play against 2 or 3 gate robo into observer/immo/colo, 4 gate, 1 gate FE into gate & robo, 1 gate FE into mass gate, etc. This list is by no means exhaustive (Void Rays!) but they are commonly seen on ladder and thus you should know how to play against it.
Step 4: Refine your build order.
This is where all of the heavy analysis comes in. In this step, I strongly recommend you pick one map and stick to it to reduce variability. The sky is the limit when it comes to refining your build. However, since most of us don’t play 14 hours a day, we need to focus on efficiently improving our build orders first. In order to do that, you must focus on a handful of key factors and try to optimize your build based on that.
You need to remind yourself of your intentions here. Do you want to get into a macro game? Then you want the economic advantage. Do you intend to win with a timing push? Then you need an army advantage at the time of your attack. You can also look at the details. Can you improve your unit mix so that it is flexible but still powerful? Can you produce so much more than your opponent that you can afford to trade armies then remake your own much faster? This concept is not only applicable to Zerg players. Can you exploit specific features of the map to gain an advantage? Is the rush distance short enough to make your build order successful? What difference does it make if your opponent spawns on the close position compared to diagonal spawns?
You want to be asking yourself countless questions to see if there are ways to improve the build order. At the beginning, the refining process will be more of a product of trial and error. Be creative with what you adjust. If you think your adjustment can take you one step closer to your goal, give it a try. After you become more experienced with this process, you will be able to easily figure out a working response to the majority of your opponent’s build orders. Regardless of your experience, you will always want to play out the scenario in order to make sure.
Don’t forget to consult your dedicated practice partner. You can discuss how to improve the build order or possibly something that you may have overlooked. Also, you will have the perspective of someone who is playing against your build which is invaluable to the whole process.
When you are actually playing the build out, you will invariably face some losses and run into roadblocks. Watch the replay and figure out why you lost. If the mistake was in the execution, such as a micro mistake or attacking at the wrong time, try it again. If you are reasonably certain that your loss was due to the build order, try to figure out why the build order failed. Always know why you are doing certain things. Why are you making your Barracks at the top of your ramp as opposed to beside your Command Center or even at the front of your natural expansion? Is it consistent with what you plan on doing? Looking at the factors that I’ve mentioned will help with this process, as well as any other factor you can think of.
The big factors to consider:
- Economy -- more specifically mineral & gas income (e.g. base/worker count)
- Army strength (e.g. army size/composition)
- Production capacity (i.e. number/distribution of structures)
- Map variables (e.g. terrain, rush distance)
Step 5: Repeat Steps 3-4 until the entire build order tree is mapped.
The idea is to think of a reasonable reaction to what you scout for all of the reasonably likely cases. There is a caveat to this approach, however. You cannot change your main build order completely for every build your opponent can do. You must deviate from your main build order when you scout that your opponent has chosen a certain branch of build orders. On the plus side, there are less choices available so you don’t have to rip the rest of your hair out trying out all the different counters you can think of.
For example, if you start with a 2 rax build against Protoss, you cannot decide to go 1 rax expand after you scout a fast expansion even though 1 rax expand works reasonably well against 1 gate expand. Instead, you may choose to pressure with what you have and take your own expansion or you may even choose to all-in with SCVs. You will never know what works best until you try out different things. As you become more experienced, it will be easier to generate ideas from your wealth of knowledge.
I said previously that you should stick to one map to reduce variability. Let’s say your 1 rax expand build worked on Shakuras Plateau against a 2 gate robo but didn’t work on Steppes of War against 3 gate robo. Did you lose because 4 gate is more aggressive or did you lose because the rush distance is shorter on Steppes of War? You’ll never know until you play another game. Keeping the map variable consistent will save you that extra game.
Step 6: Practice against a wide range of players.
Now you want to take your shiny new build order and test it out against the ruthless strangers on Battle.NET or even some clan mates if you’re in one. Your goal is to test your build order against a wide range of styles to ensure that you were not exploiting your practice partner’s weakness. You will generally want to play it enough until you are comfortable that you didn’t miss anything significant. You will also get a chance to test it out on different maps to see if your build order is applicable there. Generally, unless you devised a very map specific build order (e.g. abusing specific terrain), you will only need minor adjustments, if at all, to make your build order work on different maps.
Don’t give up even if you lose some games. You could have lost because you made a mistake while executing the build or maybe your opponent is more mechanically sound than you. Maybe your build order is hard countered by one specific build but still works well against 95% of the things you will encounter. That is no reason to give up on your build order. Keep practicing against different players until you are satisfied that your build order does what you want it to do.
Step 7: Play the main build order... over and over again
Now get back to your original practice partner. This is the real mass gaming part. Mass gaming is good for two reasons. First is improving your mechanics, specifically in executing your current build order but it is not a stretch to say most of it carries over to other builds. After a while, you may notice your APM has increased noticeably. That is because you are no longer focused on following the build order correctly and can focus almost entirely on executing it.
The second benefit of mass gaming is being able to see where you can make minor adjustments to your play. Maybe if you don’t queue up an SCV, you can put up your second Barracks 3 seconds earlier and do a slightly faster timing push. Maybe you can delay building your Supply Depot until you get that additional Factory and still not get supply blocked. You would have never noticed these things before because you were too busy trying to build the Factory at the right time. You should keep your build refining hat on and constantly be looking for ways to tweak the build slightly.
The reason why I suggest to play the main build order is that it is the most likely scenario. Also, if your build is designed to give you an advantage but not win outright, you can see the entirety of your plan in action. That way, you will be a better all-around player by practicing your late-game and macro.
Conclusion
So you may ask, “What’s the point of all this? My ladder games never go the way I planned it.” The answer is to constantly adapt to your opponent. The process of refining your build in Step 3 is exactly what you need to do here, albeit much faster. With practice, you can make sound adjustments on the fly and truly outplay your opponent. If you fall behind for whatever reason, you will know what risks you need to take in order to come back and win the game. On the other hand, if you get ahead, you will know how to play in order to maximize your chances of winning.
That’s it! I hope this guide motivates you to go try it out. Constructive criticism is always appreciated. Let me know if you have a question or think that there’s a way to improve the process. Maybe this entire guide is just common sense but if I can end up helping a handful of people with this guide, I’ll be satisfied. If you guys are stuck at any point, post here with as much detail as possible and I'll try my best to help out.
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank Salv, Plexa, and SchOOl_VicTIm for their feedback.
Special thanks to Koanic for sticking with the guide and sending me his notes
Appendix
+ Show Spoiler [Koanic's BO notes] +
Core build:
Gate-robo-gate (or gate-gate-robo if early push scouted)
scout on 9, first gate at 13.
Build zealot after core
Build second gas asap without cutting probes
Research warpgate and build stalker when core finishes.
@27ish, build gateway or robo (depending on scouting)
chrono observer out of robo if no push scouted. If FE or lots of marauders, chrono immortal first
if no push, go sentry heavy and start expo as the obs leaves the base
Scouting:
w/ scouting probe:
• harass
• look for normal barracks timing (wary of proxy), gas timing (no gas may mean FE or marine all-in)
• try to leave when barracks start producing marine. If no wall, then leave as the marine is produced, try to see what Terran does next with his barracks (another marine or tech lab?)
@~4:15 scout
• if T went with second marine (or anything other than tech lab) then concussive shell won’t be finished; send zealot, stalker, and probe.
• If tech lab scouted, either scout with probe to confirm, or wait outside ramp (concussive shells will kill a stalker scout). May be worth it to lose the probe to confirm concussive shells. If he uses just one marine to stop the probe, he’s hiding something (probably not a FE)—likely marauders (baiting a push up his ramp) or banshees.
• If probe scouts lots of MM, throw down 2nd gate instead of robo. If marines (4-5) throw down robo, chrono obs.
• If scouting push isn’t possible, send the zealot back to base, stalker to the Xelnaga Tower, and keep probe outside the base to scout for expand.
• If T pushes with small MM, expect bio expand. Should be able to hold off and counter. Wait for my expo, build 2 gates, either go all-in timing (if natural looks breakable) or stargate/colossus.
@~6:10, scout with obs
• If T on 1 base, cancel expo, build another gate, cut probes (if 1 base mech timing, add stargate, go phoenix/immortal)
• If T expo, continue macro, add 2 gates
• If banshees, cancel immortal, chrono another obs immediately, keep expo, add stalkers.
Gate-robo-gate (or gate-gate-robo if early push scouted)
scout on 9, first gate at 13.
Build zealot after core
Build second gas asap without cutting probes
Research warpgate and build stalker when core finishes.
@27ish, build gateway or robo (depending on scouting)
chrono observer out of robo if no push scouted. If FE or lots of marauders, chrono immortal first
if no push, go sentry heavy and start expo as the obs leaves the base
Scouting:
w/ scouting probe:
• harass
• look for normal barracks timing (wary of proxy), gas timing (no gas may mean FE or marine all-in)
• try to leave when barracks start producing marine. If no wall, then leave as the marine is produced, try to see what Terran does next with his barracks (another marine or tech lab?)
@~4:15 scout
• if T went with second marine (or anything other than tech lab) then concussive shell won’t be finished; send zealot, stalker, and probe.
• If tech lab scouted, either scout with probe to confirm, or wait outside ramp (concussive shells will kill a stalker scout). May be worth it to lose the probe to confirm concussive shells. If he uses just one marine to stop the probe, he’s hiding something (probably not a FE)—likely marauders (baiting a push up his ramp) or banshees.
• If probe scouts lots of MM, throw down 2nd gate instead of robo. If marines (4-5) throw down robo, chrono obs.
• If scouting push isn’t possible, send the zealot back to base, stalker to the Xelnaga Tower, and keep probe outside the base to scout for expand.
• If T pushes with small MM, expect bio expand. Should be able to hold off and counter. Wait for my expo, build 2 gates, either go all-in timing (if natural looks breakable) or stargate/colossus.
@~6:10, scout with obs
• If T on 1 base, cancel expo, build another gate, cut probes (if 1 base mech timing, add stargate, go phoenix/immortal)
• If T expo, continue macro, add 2 gates
• If banshees, cancel immortal, chrono another obs immediately, keep expo, add stalkers.
