Showing posts with label Protoss. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Protoss. Show all posts

Protoss v Protoss: 2 Gateway Blink Expand

This is a very safe build which enables a fairly quick natural expansion as well as a strong army composition which can be changed easily if required. Blink allows for reckless scouting and harassing with your early stalkers before your opponent has anything to deal with them.

9 - Pylon
13 - Gateway
14 - Gas
16 - Pylon
17 - Cybernetics core
20 - Gateway
20 - Gas

Cybernetics core complete, get warp gate technology and a stalker out right away and chrono boost them both

23 - Pylon

When the second gateway completes make two stalkers

Twilight council as soon as possible

2 more stalkers then when you can afford blink technology out of the twilight council chrono boost it

When warp gate completes warp in two stalkers. You should be scouting with the stalkers you have out now to see your opponent's army composition. There are several possibilities you can encounter.

Plant down your natural nexus followed by an additional warp in of stalkers or sentries depending on the composition you scout and 2 additional gateways. There are a couple of dangerous builds your opponent can do to be aggressive against this build, here is the appropriate response to the most common:

4 Gate:
Around the time your 5th stalker is coming out the 4 gate should be hitting, with correct micro and probe pulling if necessary it should be fairly easy to hold. Good scouting information and looking for forward pylons your opponent places near your base with the stalkers you have out is a good strategy against the 4 gate.

Dark Templar:
This build does not incorporate a forge or a robotics facility so dark templars present a difficult challenge. The only way to deal with a dark templar build is to scout your opponent to check for any technology which would indicate dark templars such as 2 early gases, early twilight council and of course the dark shrine itself. If you think your opponent is going for dark templars it is wise to forgo extra units and gatways in favor of a robotics facility for an observer.

Robotics Facility:
If you spot a robotics facility when poking up into your opponent's base with your early (blink) stalkers your opponent will want to push out with either immortals or colossi, keep several stalkers around their base to scout them moving out and continue producing stalkers. Eventually you will want to transition into immortals and/or colossi of your own.

Protoss v Protoss: 4 Gateway Rush (4 Gate)

This is a very old aggressive build which can be used in all matchups. This build utilizes very quick warp gate technology combined with 4 early gateways off one base in order to attack with a large number of units early on and sustain the attack using a proxy pylon warping units near your opponent's base.

9 - Pylon
11- Gateway
14 - Gas
14 - Pylon
15 - Cybernetics core

Scout with the probe that builds the cybernetics core.Check for proxy pylons and then the position of your opponent's base and what build they are going

16 - Zealot
20 - Warp Gate research

Constantly chrono boost your warp gate research till it is completed

20 - Stalker
23 - 4 Gateways

At this point you want to constantly push out units, warp in as many stalkers as you can until you run out of gas and only make zealots when you are low on gas. Chrono boost your warp gates when you have a chance for faster warp ins and do not miss any warp ins. Put pylons in and around your opponent's base for warp in reinforcements.

Protoss v Zerg: Immortal Sentry PvZ

This build utilizes immortals and sentries as the main composition of the protoss army. Immortals are very powerful at killing roaches and sentries are good at force fielding the zerg's army into manageable groups. This build is very good at dealing with roach heavy zerg builds which are very popular right now.

This build is a continuation on the basic forge fast expand build v Zerg which can be found here.

20 - Double gas

Chrono Boost two zealots out of your first gateway. Send them straight to your opponent's third base to make sure you are playing against a standard quick third play.

Get +1 attack and Warp Gate research when you have enough gas. Constantly chrono boost the forge, followed by +1 armor.

30 - Third gas
34 - Robotics facility and three additional gateways

Immediately begin Immortal production when your robotics facility is complete and warp in purely sentries from your gateways.

Drop three more gateways, increasing the count to seven.

When you have two immortals and 8 sentries, move out. chrono Boost a warp prism and rally it after your army. Use warp prism to warp in stalkers or zealots (depending on your opponent's composition) and attack their third base. You can also use your warp prism to harass your opponent's main or natural base while attacking their third. From here you can either push for the win if the attack went well, if not get out an observer, take a third, continue making units and adjust your composition to what your observer sees.

Protoss v Protoss: Agressive 3 Gate

This is a very aggressive attack oriented protoss opener focusing on hitting an early attack with one zealot and 4 stalkers. You need to place a good proxy pylon early on in order to have good reinforcement warp ins.

9 – Pylon
Chrono boost probes twice.
11 – Gateway
14 – Assimilator
15 – Pylon
15 – Cybernetics core
16 – Zealot
18 – Warp gate
18 – Stalker
Chrono boost warp gate continuously
23 – Assimilator
23 – Gateway x2
24 – Pylon
Move out with zealot, stalker & probe
25 – Stalker
Cut Probe production
26 – Stalker x3 at proxy pylon

From here attack and continue warping units to support at your proxy pylon. If the attack fails or you are forced to fall back you may want to invest in some tech such as a robotics facility or blink at a twilight council. You may also want to expand or add additional gateways depending on how the initial attack went.

Protoss v Protoss: Three Stalker Rush

This is a good defensive protoss opener build which allows for three early stalkers to hunt for offensive pylons and deny scouting while gathering scouting information of your own. Though weak to aggressive 4-gate style builds it is very flexible and allows for many different builds to follow.

9 – Pylon
Chrono Boost probes twice
12 – Gateway
14 – Assimilator
15 – Pylon
17 – Cybernetics Core
19 – Gateway
20 – Assimilator
20 – Stalker
22 – Warp Gate
Chrono Boost warp gate research twice
23 – Pylon
25 – Stalker x2

Send stalkers to scout, sniping probe and stopping pylons

Following this you may want to add one or two additional gateways, twilight council for blink or a robotics facility. You will eventually want to get your second up, depending on the timing of your opponent's natural nexus you may want to get aggressive or build a natural of your own.

Protoss v Zerg: +1 Zealot Timing Attack

Zerg players tend to take an early third base agaisnt the protoss forge fast expand in order to edge out an economic lead agaisnt one of the most economical builds protoss has in their arsenal. This build is based around the strength of +1 zealots against non-upgraded zerglings which die in two zealot attacks rather than one.

This build is a continuation on the basic forge fast expand build v Zerg which can be found here.

19 – Assimilator x2
Build two zealots, then two sentries. The zealots are for early scouting, the sentries for defense
Construct a proxy pylon near the zerg’s eventual (or current) third base
100 Gas – +1 Ground Weapons
24 – Cybernetics Core
6:45 – Gateway x3
8:00 – Zealot x4

Pressure the third base with up to three rounds of zealot warp-ins
Retreat if large Roach numbers arrive, continue the attack if there are only zerglings, queens and/or spine crawlers. It is usually worth it to sacrifice your attacking zealots to kill your opponent's third hatchery.

From here hopefully you have done reasonable economic damage to your opponent or killed their third hatchery.  You can now fall back and defend any counter-attacks using sentry force fields and other units. You can now transition into colossi, immortals and blink stalkers or another composition to deal with your opponent's composition.

Protoss v Zerg: Forge Fast Expand

This build is the standard forge fast expand used frequently at every level of play against zerg. You give up the ability to be aggressive early in exchange for an economical edge. The build transitions very well into +1 timing pushes, 6 gate blink stalkers, robo heavy immortal sentry builds and stargate pressures. Note the point of this build is to create a wall at the top of your natural ramp with a cannon defending the buildings so your opponent can't just run roaches into your natural base. The positioning of the buildings are slightly different depending what map you're playing on. I advise you to look up videos or pictures outlining the proper building positioning. It is also noted that you should always have a hold positioned unit blocking the opening in the buildings such as a zealot as well as sentries for force fielding off the ramp in case of an attack.

9 – Pylon
Send Probe to scout.
13 – Forge

Hopefully you have scouted your opponent by now, you can now slightly adapt your build to suit the timing of your opponent's spawning pool

Early Spawning Pool (before 2:00)
17 – Photon Cannon
17 – Gateway
17 – Nexus
Be ready to block a Zergling run-by with a second Gateway.

Normal Spawning Pool (after 2:05)
17 – Nexus
17 – Gateway
17 – Photon Cannon

Don’t find him in time, but no rush
17 – Photon Cannon
17 – Nexus
17 – Gateway

Six Pool, you will lose your forge so  act fast about putting your cannon down. This essentially resets the game
– Pylon behind main mineral line
– Photon Cannon in main mineral line, off-center to cover geyser
– Gateway
– Chrono Boost Zealot
– Assimilator
– Cybernetics Core
Continue into three Gateways, 2 Assimilators, Zealot / Sentry until you expand

 In any of these scenarios aside from the six pool reset the game should continue into a normal midgame. Other builds outlined here will discuss where to take the forge fast expand because unless stated otherwise most protoss v zerg builds will revolve around the forge fast expand.

What next?

Protoss v Terran: 3 Gate Voidray

This Build relies on the element of surprise, where a hidden stargate throwing out voidrays combined with stalkers makes an all in attack on your terran opponents ramp. You should scout your opponents position on the map as well as their composition fairly early.

9 – Pylon
13 – Gateway
14 – Assimilator
16 – Pylon
17 – Cybernetics Core
18 – Assimilator
18 – Warp Gate Research
18 – Stalker

Chrono Boost Stalker and Warp Gate

23 – Proxy Pylon
24 – Proxy Stargate
26 – Sentry

Cut Probe production

28 – Gateway
28 – Gateway
28 – Void Ray

Chrono boost Void Ray twice

32 – Stalker
32 – Stalker
32 – Stalker

At this point continue rallying units into the attack unless the all in fails; if the attack didn't go as planned, fall back and try to regroup.

Protoss v Terran: 1 Gate Fast Expand

The key to this build is to scout using your stalkers as you are putting down your nexus, you should have scouted your opponent's position beforehand using a probe earlier on in order to determine the basics of the build they are going. 

9 – Pylon
Chrono Nexus
13 – Gateway
Chrono Nexus
14 – Assimilator
15 – Pylon
Chrono Nexus
17 – Cybernetics Core
18 – Zealot
22 – Warp Gate Research
22 – Stalker
Chrono Stalker
24 – Pylon
Chrono Stalker
26 – Stalker
30 –Cut probes
30 – Nexus
Push with stalkers up Terran's ramp

 The scouting information determines which path you continue with:

Marauder: 1 Barracks Tech Lab Fast Expand
30 – Gateway
30 – Gateway
30 – Assimilator
30 – Stalker
32 – Pylon
Resume probe production
34 – Robotics Facility

3+ Marines, no bunker or reactor already completed: 2 Barracks, Reactor + Tech Lab
30 – Stalker
Chrono Boost Stalker
32 – Gateway
32 – Gateway
32 – Pylon
32 – Stalker
Chrono Boost Stalker
34 – Assimilator
Resume probe production
35 – Robotics Facility

Bunker or reactor building: Many possibilities (including drops, 1/1/1 all-in, banshees)
30 – Gateway
30 – Gateway
30 – Robotics Facility
30 – Assimilator
Resume probe production, Chrono Boost Probes
31 – Pylon
Construct two observers before Immortals, unless you scout an immediate push