When an idea about making a protoss strategy guide crossed my mind , I did not hesitate even a moment and... here it is : my first and I believe not the last guide I am presenting you I hope you will enjoy and read it till the very end and I will try to make it as brief , easy but on the other hand entertaining and useful as it can be. But first of all I would like to start with presenting myself in short .
My name is Peter Stawowski, my handle is "TheFreShOne". I am almost 19-years old cityzen of Łódź, coming from Poland and currently sitting in TOP 100 Granmaster league on european server. I won't be occupying you with my personal life so I will focus mainly on SC II and e-Sport. As strange as it may sounds, I have never played Starcraft Brood War so . My previous stage was Warcraft III that's why at the beginning of my " Sc journey" -let's call it this way,
I had a difficulty in being focus both on my macro and micro at the same time. I didn't play so long untill I started to understand what it is all about and playing in various online tournaments. What's more I have attended a LAN event here in Poland and I have to admit that I am since very into the e-sport and will try to attend as many offline events as possible. Ending this little bit long self-introductions I want to say that I am a proud member of german Playing-Ducks team which supports me much.
But ... it is not the case!
Time to start the real guide guys, what do you think?
Basically , protoss is considered by the most part of the SCene as the easiest race in the Starcraft Universe. But with the game development is is kind of ... liquid and has a tendency to change. The truth is though that Protoss has a variety of options to choose from in their psionic arsenal but on the other hand is not being used, or not being used properly. I am a strong opponent of having only certain builds for each match-up and sticking only to them in your gameplay. This game and the fun it entails requires creativity , thinking "out of the box" as famous Athene says so often. Is there a better race to be creative than protoss? And by this, I not necessairly mean "cheeses" of any kind. That's why in this first guid of mine, I will try to present regular tactics of protoss in every match-up that I use as well as some extra ordinary " special tactics" builds that I use mailny on ladder. So.... I hope you will enjoy it
First of all I present a replay part of mine to show various games possible. I want also to say that in some of those games I made crucial mistakes but anyone can really fully refrain from them
PvT Toss misery?
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PvT :
MilleniumDieStar - typical colossi - > HT build MilleniumDieStar
MilleniumDieStar #2 - standart macro game MilleniumDieStar #2 - NEW
H2KFunkay - typical colossi heavy upgrades H2KFunkay
K2KFunkay #2 - fast expand into colossi stargate push H2KFunkay #2
OoSwilice contain build OoSwilice - NEW
Unix - my 3 g robo colossi build Unix - NEW
PvZ time!
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PvZ
First of all , smth cheese-smell for you guys
Razbe - Master 1300 points - 2 proxy gates Razbe
SodoN - one of the best polish zergs - anti banelingbust Antibaneling - SodoN
Blackcidy - Master 1400 points - typical havy colossi stalker mix. I won only because of his poor macro / economy play Blackcidy
RG|Matiz great 1450 master zerg definitely nice game ,despite I lost
Matiz #1
PvP - definitely imbalanced
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eKSi - Top master Toss - game during GO4SC2 Premium Cup #1 June I won eKSi #1
eKSi #2 You can find here the 3G blink I have expanded below eKSi #2
TMC|KróLu Top 80 EU - standart 4G TMCIKróLu
ClasH my teammate from Playing-Ducks top master toss, 3G blink ClasH #1
ClasH #2 3G robo defense - > attack ClasH #2
The general thoughts about each match-up
( will be trying to develop this paragraph as much as I can in the near future)
1. Protoss vs Terran
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From the very beginning of the Starcraft 2 beta , Terran was considered as the best race against Protoss. As everyone knows, Terrans strength is either mobility with heavy bio or very hard to counter defense based on siege tank.
First and foremost early stimpacks pressure are still very good against careless tosses. That's why if you don't have good ff control and a couple of units , it is very hard for you to take the early first expansion , called " natural". Heavy bio strategy is widely used by almost every terran in every league.
Second thing is or are to be exact " are " drops with medivacs. Non-experienced protosses just simply don't know how to spot a drop and when they are being attack just pull all army to fight with such drops enabling the rest of the terran army to harras other expansions.
Other very irritationg stuff are any kinds of heavy factory units-based strategies like masss helions, thors and siege tanks. Although this strategy lacks mobility, terran can easily take other expansions and harras oppontents mineral line with blue-flame helions.
My general idea while playing terrans is having domination on the map based on early-midgame colossi which enables to have at least faster expansions than your opponent. Second thing is good army control based on spliting against ghosts and good forcefields. While playing against terrans, essential thing is having spotters all over the map. By this I mean pylons and stalkers that disable terrans dropping. I know that it may sounds not easy but it is the training that makes you better . Not only in gaming
( This is usually the standart army of late game protoss - rest are workers) Keep in mind that this army should be splitted even more. Should be 4 HTs and 4 sentries to be honest . Every casting unit is in different side of the concave just to be resistant to EMPs the same as to cast guradian shield in every side of the army.
This is the army against typical terran MMM+ vikings+ ghost type of build. Obviously it is not good against mass air Of course you don't want to count every unit you have and stick to this numbers , but it is a general idea and proportions in PvT
Contain build - Safety & Freedom - NEW BUILD
This is a second strategy I present in this guide( previously was the 3G blink strategy)
To begin with, I would like to say that as any build , there are both good at bad situations/ maps to use this very build and I will present the most usuful tips concerning this build as I can think of. Enjoy.
First of all , the word "contain" in this build pertains to all maps in the new ladder maps apart from TalDarim Altar and Scrap Station just because the ramp on the second one is to wide and on the first one... well... there is no ramp...
1.Main idea behind this strategy:
The contain in this build won't win you a game itself. I would call it a "force" which main purpose is to slow down the Terran as much as possible and having a strong economy based on 2 bases behind the contain. There are certain timings when Terrans try to be passive and agressive. If executed properly, this build deprives Terrans of the possiblity to be aggresive early. I cannot forget to say that this build doesnt give it doesn't give a 100% certainty to win the game and it works only when Terran is goin bio + expand ( standart terrans are).
You can find a replay of me playing with this build against OoSwilice in the replay part above.
2. Opening and scouting
As far as my point of view is concerned I tend to open with macro 9Pylon 13Gate 14Assimilator and 2 chronos on Nexus before the Gateway to have the best economy. The timings are standart on Cyber Core and 2nd pylon. I prefer to start making 2nd assimilator about 3:15 minute mark in this build
Two-times scout:
(Just checked if Terran is mining gas and if there is a wall- that would indicate some tech units like tanks or banshees.
Suiciding probe checking the base. 2 raxes with techlab and reactor indicate bioplay.
My answer with 3 G and a upcoming expansion soon
As you can see, I am opening with stalker what gives me nice mapcontrol and possibility to track down scouting SCV
Do not panic and make 2 sentries 1 zealot to defend it without losses
3. Beginning the siege
Obviously this is the time when everyhting matters even more.
As you can see on the minimap I have started making my expansion and he lacks the possibilty to leave his base thanks to sentries ff-ing ramp. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR SENTRIES in this situation. From now on , for certain amount of time I would suggest warping only zealots and sentries to gather energy and keep forcefielding the ramp. Stalkers are too expensive to tech behind the strategy and you really want fast colossi. Under no circumstance DO NOT enter his base right now.
The 10 minute mark is the timing when he should have his two medivaks ready so be careful to any elevator play from Terran right now. You can see it on the screenshot below
After killing the drop I usually throw last forcefield and going back to my base because I have a big advantage.
4. Finishing
After being contained and unable to expand for so long Terran will try to go all-in which are you ready for because of colossi and heavy gateway army.
5. Flaws of this build:
As every build, this has its flaws too. More than any other build . It calls for great skill in multitaskin just because you want to tech, expand and contain your opponent simultaneously. Great timing and map awareness is also the key thing. The main problem of this build is the risk that you want be able to continue contain bacause of various reasons and lose your sentries that are units you never want to lose. Good thing is suiciding a unit or two (I suggest zealots) to scout the ramp of Terran and be sure that he is not planning anything sneaky.Another thing is being wise with using the sentries energy. You want to have a lot of it in case Terran is allining with bigger army or has banshees/ ravens and lots of SCVs in the arsenal. Do not forget to put additional production facilities when you natural is ready.
Okey. I think that that would be all for now. Be ready for next set of replays and strategies in the near future. Thanks for your support and do not hesitate to comment and participate in the discussion below. What is more, I am going to stream my games now and would be lovely if you watch and enjoy it too ( being featured would be nice ♥ ^^) Thanks and see you soon again!
First and foremost early stimpacks pressure are still very good against careless tosses. That's why if you don't have good ff control and a couple of units , it is very hard for you to take the early first expansion , called " natural". Heavy bio strategy is widely used by almost every terran in every league.
Second thing is or are to be exact " are " drops with medivacs. Non-experienced protosses just simply don't know how to spot a drop and when they are being attack just pull all army to fight with such drops enabling the rest of the terran army to harras other expansions.
Other very irritationg stuff are any kinds of heavy factory units-based strategies like masss helions, thors and siege tanks. Although this strategy lacks mobility, terran can easily take other expansions and harras oppontents mineral line with blue-flame helions.
My general idea while playing terrans is having domination on the map based on early-midgame colossi which enables to have at least faster expansions than your opponent. Second thing is good army control based on spliting against ghosts and good forcefields. While playing against terrans, essential thing is having spotters all over the map. By this I mean pylons and stalkers that disable terrans dropping. I know that it may sounds not easy but it is the training that makes you better . Not only in gaming
( This is usually the standart army of late game protoss - rest are workers) Keep in mind that this army should be splitted even more. Should be 4 HTs and 4 sentries to be honest . Every casting unit is in different side of the concave just to be resistant to EMPs the same as to cast guradian shield in every side of the army.
This is the army against typical terran MMM+ vikings+ ghost type of build. Obviously it is not good against mass air Of course you don't want to count every unit you have and stick to this numbers , but it is a general idea and proportions in PvT
Contain build - Safety & Freedom - NEW BUILD
This is a second strategy I present in this guide( previously was the 3G blink strategy)
To begin with, I would like to say that as any build , there are both good at bad situations/ maps to use this very build and I will present the most usuful tips concerning this build as I can think of. Enjoy.
First of all , the word "contain" in this build pertains to all maps in the new ladder maps apart from TalDarim Altar and Scrap Station just because the ramp on the second one is to wide and on the first one... well... there is no ramp...
1.Main idea behind this strategy:
The contain in this build won't win you a game itself. I would call it a "force" which main purpose is to slow down the Terran as much as possible and having a strong economy based on 2 bases behind the contain. There are certain timings when Terrans try to be passive and agressive. If executed properly, this build deprives Terrans of the possiblity to be aggresive early. I cannot forget to say that this build doesnt give it doesn't give a 100% certainty to win the game and it works only when Terran is goin bio + expand ( standart terrans are).
You can find a replay of me playing with this build against OoSwilice in the replay part above.
2. Opening and scouting
As far as my point of view is concerned I tend to open with macro 9Pylon 13Gate 14Assimilator and 2 chronos on Nexus before the Gateway to have the best economy. The timings are standart on Cyber Core and 2nd pylon. I prefer to start making 2nd assimilator about 3:15 minute mark in this build
Two-times scout:
(Just checked if Terran is mining gas and if there is a wall- that would indicate some tech units like tanks or banshees.
Suiciding probe checking the base. 2 raxes with techlab and reactor indicate bioplay.
My answer with 3 G and a upcoming expansion soon
As you can see, I am opening with stalker what gives me nice mapcontrol and possibility to track down scouting SCV
Do not panic and make 2 sentries 1 zealot to defend it without losses
3. Beginning the siege
Obviously this is the time when everyhting matters even more.
As you can see on the minimap I have started making my expansion and he lacks the possibilty to leave his base thanks to sentries ff-ing ramp. YOU SHOULD ALWAYS BE CAREFUL WITH YOUR SENTRIES in this situation. From now on , for certain amount of time I would suggest warping only zealots and sentries to gather energy and keep forcefielding the ramp. Stalkers are too expensive to tech behind the strategy and you really want fast colossi. Under no circumstance DO NOT enter his base right now.
The 10 minute mark is the timing when he should have his two medivaks ready so be careful to any elevator play from Terran right now. You can see it on the screenshot below
After killing the drop I usually throw last forcefield and going back to my base because I have a big advantage.
4. Finishing
After being contained and unable to expand for so long Terran will try to go all-in which are you ready for because of colossi and heavy gateway army.
5. Flaws of this build:
As every build, this has its flaws too. More than any other build . It calls for great skill in multitaskin just because you want to tech, expand and contain your opponent simultaneously. Great timing and map awareness is also the key thing. The main problem of this build is the risk that you want be able to continue contain bacause of various reasons and lose your sentries that are units you never want to lose. Good thing is suiciding a unit or two (I suggest zealots) to scout the ramp of Terran and be sure that he is not planning anything sneaky.Another thing is being wise with using the sentries energy. You want to have a lot of it in case Terran is allining with bigger army or has banshees/ ravens and lots of SCVs in the arsenal. Do not forget to put additional production facilities when you natural is ready.
Okey. I think that that would be all for now. Be ready for next set of replays and strategies in the near future. Thanks for your support and do not hesitate to comment and participate in the discussion below. What is more, I am going to stream my games now and would be lovely if you watch and enjoy it too ( being featured would be nice ♥ ^^) Thanks and see you soon again!
2. Protoss vs Zerg
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In contrast to the previous match-up, PvZ is considered as the easiest for Protoss. It is bacause it is widely thought that combination of colossi/ stalker / sentry is unbeatable for standart roach/hydra/corruptor strategy. I on the other hand have the biggest problem in this mu.
First thing I should pay attention to is the ability of zerg to pomp out units in BIGGGGGGGGGG numbers when the game is in its late phase. Usually it is calll 400/200 zerg. If executed properly, I can make a serious trouble to any opponent.
Second this is the mobility of zerg. On "creep highway" zerg is the most mobile race in the Starcraft universe. Adding to this generally fast zerglings / fast raoches/ mutalisks and overlord drops enables zerg to make multiple attackes simultaneously.
For a long period of time also, zerg was thought to be deprived of really good casting unit. Infestors were used rarely, and usually only in ZvT. After the patch though, this , I am not scared to say , BUFFFFED unit, is making a serious damage which can be compared with EMPs and storms and in many aspects even exceeds them.
Eventually, zergs have arguably the best unit in the game - broodlord. From Protoss, those units call for great amount of micro( yes , we DO NOT only click "a-move") based on blink stalkers and army splitting.
My general gameplay against Zergs varies from the MaNa/HuK style based on early heavy gateway immortal style ->HTs and archons to my regular heavy colossi stalker count. When playing against Zergs, you should always apply pressure to your opponents, focusing on economy but not army when it is possible. I advise to use as many variation as possible - from DT's / voidrays / blink stalker harras to standart whole army push during which good forcefileds provide safety.
The key thing , also, is good army combination based on gateway units ( but withot zealots which are only good against zerglins and as a meatshield). When applying any kind of pressure you should always focus on defending your sentries. That is why at the later stages of the game you just simply cannot afford to build addiotional heavy gas units next to colossi and HTs/ Voidrays depending on waht you play. I know that everything I say here can be considered as empty words without proof in replays of mine nor screenshots or anything like that. But I assure you that with the matter of 1 week I will attach as many of those to support my thesis as possible.
3. Protoss vs Protoss
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I have to admit that for a long period of time where there was 4Gate and nothing more, my winstreaks in PvP were... long. Being faster that your opponent mixed with good early stalker control and a build known to everyone ( at least to the most part of you). But know , with the advent of new patch this didn't change a bit. I mean PvP it is "Russian roulette" but the patched opened ( at least for me) various roades to play this match-up. From early blink or DTs cheese and proxy 1 gate to immortal gateway fast expand and fast colossi. To my mind, everything in this match-up is based on a gamesense and being able to tell when to save money on tech and when to pomp units.
Sadly enough, 4G on map like TalDarim Altar is still viable BUT what would be a world without spicy 4G vs 4G after which loser whines about the state of just-played game?
Not to be undgrounded I would like to present here on of my most favourite build lately that I use on ladder.
3G Blink stalker build with defensive wall PvP + 3G blink
( when using presented strategy , don't focus on the exact timings of whole my build order because it changes depending on the situation. Just try to catch the key things- how to react to certain thing and think " in advance" about how YOUR opponent will react to your actions).
Early build order is a standart build depending if you want to go more economical 13 gate with 2 chonos before or 12 gate with only 1 chrono before. This is your choice
( I took his assimilator and he wanted to take mine. You cannot let it to happen
Stealing his gas forced him to play heave gateway units I was prepared for
( this wall you can even make fuller with putting one pylon and disable him to enter your base even more)
Keep in mind that I am still chonoboosting my cyber
( forcefielding the ramp is not a problem for blink stalkers , you can just pick one, blink up and let the rest of the stalkers to blink up too and make a party in your opponents base).
Thanks to the scouting stalker I had in his base ( you can check it in the replay above) I saw a robotics and was not afraid of any DT's so I didn't have any forge nor my own observer and could focus only on making stalkers)
Key thing when it comes to micro is that you don't want to exchange army with your opponent . You just need to irritate him as much as possible and kill as many units as possible with less damage to your army. You can also use the mobility of your army to harras his mineral line without bigger losses.
Ending
I would like to make a promise to develop this guide in every free time that I have. I know that it may look like unfinished. I will be trying to attach as many replays as possible and answer to any questions that you have concerning the Guide. I am also sorry if it is more a blog to you than a regular guide but as I said, I will mainly focus on making it a REAL guide.
Nonetheless though , I hope you enjoyed what I have written here and will follow the discussion about it below. If you have any questions , you can also ask them on :
Skype: smurfik0408
e-mail : ram-s@o2.pl
BNet : TheFreShOne.367
Stream
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I would also like to advert my stream if it is possible. http://www.teamliquid.net/video/streams/aFreShTV - Right here you can find my TL stream page where I show my laddering/ coaching sessions tourneys and much much more. If you are also interested in coaching and want to support me you can sign up for coaching session which cost only 15 € or 20$ per hour depending on which server you would like to be coached on.
I would really like to be more professional in what I do so even if you take 1 hour, it will really help me developing myself
I also offer discounts for first 10 clients
So if you want to get a coaching session and be coached by ambitious GM Protoss player who can teach you alot ( based on words of my previous students) do not hestitate even a moment and conntact me Every information needed you can find on my stream page
Thanks GUYS!