Fast expand and its variants have started to come under some scrutiny with the success of stargate play twindling. Zergs have learned how to fend off the 6gate blink stalker timing as well as the VR-Stargate units type builds while powering economy and ending up way ahead. I personally preferred the 6gate after expanding, but ling heavy play started to dominate me.
My PvZ knowledge from way back told me that either I needed to kill that third base/kill a lot of drones or I needed to expand very quickly so that I wouldn't fall behind in economy. However taking a very fast third isn't always an option and in my opinion leaves the protoss very vulnerable as adding an expansion after scouting with VR/Phoenix, I believe it is too late. My prior knowledge also taught me that adding a Mothership to your army instantly bulks it up.
So hence the Mothership/6gate came into existence.
The Plan
The plan is simple. Try to get away with building the least defence possible while teching to mothership (with blink as the beacon is building). We do this by using zealots to scout pre-stargate, then using a VR to scout once the stargate is done. Once the Mothership is in construction we build nothing but stalkers. Then we hit the Zerg third with Stalker/Mothership (and sentries, if you can manage
) and aim to kill it or severely damage the Zerg. At the same time we expand ourselves giving us a economic edge. The Build (a skeleton)
- Open with your favourite FE build.
- Once your first gateway is done build a zealot and use it to scout the Zerg (important so you don't die to dumb all ins)
- Otherwise, continue as normal until you add a Stargate (you'll probably end up making 3-4 sentries, thats not a problem.)
- After Stargate add 3 gates (total=4) and take all 4 gases if you haven't already
- Next up you want a VR and a Twilight Council.
- Scout with the VR (kill overlords near base!) and begin Fleet Beacon in a hidden place
- Add 2 more gates and start blink (if you want to chrono it make sure you have enough chrono left for Mothership)
- Once Beacon is done, begin Mothership and Chrono her out asap
- Build nonstop Stalkers from now on, if you can get a proxy pylon near the third this will help the attack
- Once Mothership is done, send her + Stalkers + Sentries + VR (it shouldn't die!) to attack the third (tip: hotkey mothership outside the rest of the units)
- At the same time expand to your third
A more refined build than this isn't possible at this stage. This is because I haven't had time to refine it properly and Zergs keep doing different things on the ladder. However, with no pressure I have been able to be attacking the Zerg third at 12:30. This does mean that the attack needs to do damage if you want to even things up again. However, you should be able to do that damage 9 times out of 10.
Why this works
First of all, this should look like a normal FFE-Stargate build and ideally you will be able to deny scouting and keep the beacon hidden for long enough to make this so. This means the Zerg should go into anti-FFE-Stargate mode straight away. This is fast third, spores, and lots of drones. The extra power added to the push by the Mothership means if he drones to hard, he dies instantly. The Vortex that you should accumulate by the time the Mothership reaches the third of the Zerg is insanely good at splitting whatever force the zerg has into two bits - think of it like a mega-forcefield - which means that your stalkers can actually kill things.
When you scout things like no third and whatnot, you can still get a Mothership (there isn't anything wrong with it) but you should be aware that he is going to cheese you some how (or is playing 2base infestor). My solution is cannons in lieu of stalkers to bulk up your front - and any appropriate unit to deal with the situation from the 4gates you should have (minimum). e.g. zealots vs 2 base infestor, VR vs roach all in, sentry vs baneling bust etc. You can even do what HUARGH does instead of this timing attack.
Once the attack is over, the Mothership can defend superbly (particularly on Antiga as exhibited vs Urbanizer - see reps at end). This means your 3rd base should 100% go up and any pressure the Zerg tries to put back on you should be easily neutralised.
What beats this
Two things
- Scouting it and preparing accordingly (see rep vs Baxter)
- Blind hydra/corruptor (see rep vs comogury)
I would classify the former as a soft counter, and the latter as a hard counter.
No comments:
Post a Comment