[G] Stalkerless PvZ

Open with a forge fast expand. Confirm that Zerg is playing standard by either scouting a third base or scouting that Z is not mining gas beyond 100. If Z opens with a speedling expand, you have a narrow window before speed finishes where it will be possible to scout whether Z has continued to mine gas, so be sure that your probe gets in there before 5 minutes.

We want to execute a zealot+void timing at about 8 minutes, so our early game is geared around getting this attack out quickly. Start your gateway ASAP. Most often, you will place your gateway on 17/18 before your cannon or 2nd pylon, but depending on Z's pool timing, you may need to get a cannon first.

Build 2 assimilators after your 2nd pylon while your gateway warps in. Fill them with probes as soon as they finish. Build your cyber core at as the gate finishes, and begin WG tech as soon as the core finishes.

Spend your next 150 gas on a stargate, and the following 100 gas on +1 weapons. When you have 300 minerals, add 2 gateways. Depending how your macro has gone to this point, you may be able to start only 1 gateway before starting your first void ray. That's okay--the void ray is more important.

Spend your chronoboost on WG tech, +1 weapons and your first void ray. Make sure to use the chronoboost energy on your main nexus as it will hit 100 if you don't click it individually to spend its energy.

Use your first zealot and a probe to secure a proxy pylon as close to Z's third as possible. Hiding a probe on the map is a good idea, but good Zerg players are very active scouting for hidden probes, so it doesn't always work out.

If everything goes smoothly, you can have 5 +1 zealots (2 built from your gate, 3 warped in) and a void ray at Zerg's third by approximately 8 minutes. We don't need to do big damage with this push, but we do need to slow Zerg's droning. If you hit the 8 minute timing, Zerg can't have 45+ drones and an adequate defense, so you want to punish Z if they've over-droned. Be sure to target fire your void rays on roaches and spines, and don't let your zealots chase units in circles. Have them hit the hatchery rather than chase a microing queen.

If Z hasn't over-droned, try to preserve your units if you see roaches and queens in place. Pick off what you can what you can with the voids and use the zealots if you see a favorable situation.

Whether you do big damage or have to back off, this timing attack keeps your 2-base economy more or less even with Zerg's economy.

While you're putting the finishing touches on preparing your timing attack, you need to begin setting up your transition to templar/void/immortal. With chronoboost on storm tech, it takes 3 minutes from the time that you start your twilight council to finish storm, and we need it by ~11 minutes, so at 8 minutes, invest in a twilight council.

Add a robotics facility when resources (and micro) allow, and a templar archives as soon as the twilight finishes. Research storm and build 2 templar when the archives finishes. Build an observer out of your robotics facility and then constantly produce immortals more or less until lategame. This is one of the most difficult stages of the build because you need to be macroing efficiently toward templar while you're doing a micro-intensive zealot-void attack.

After your second or third void ray (depending on the game state), build a phoenix to scout Z's chosen lair tech. Most often, it will be roach-hydra, but this build has little AA and cannot afford to be surprised by mutas. If you see a spire, you're in good position with storm, a twilight council, a stargate, and a timely third, but you need to scout the spire before muta production begins in order to adjust.

This build leaves you with the infrastructure to deal with a muta transition. For information on how to play against muta from this point, see: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=287788.

As your zealot-void attack winds down and storm completes, take your third. This can be as early as 10:30 or as late as 12:00 depending on the game state.

At this point, you should also know Z's chosen lair tech. If you see a hydralisk den, Z is going to be annoyed at your choice to take a fairly quick third while teching straight toward late-game, and will throw wave after wave of roach-hydra try to break you. An infestation pit signals roughly the same thing, except with less AA and quicker hive tech.

This is the vulnerable stage of the build, but in my experience, you can reliably defend if you play well. Continue constant immortal and void ray production chronoboosting immortals, spend your gas on templar and your minerals on zealots, pylons and gateways.

You're turtling, so massing cannons will be tempting, but Z will likely have a choice of multiple points to attack, so if you invest too much in cannons, you'll likely die at the spot that you had less cannons. After a couple cannons at strategic location near your third where they might also be useful against an attack against your natural, zealots are a better investment.

Also, I don't recommend investing in charge too early. The zealots are there to tank damage, and they'll do that with or without charge. Research charge after you've defended an attack successfully and you feel that your third is safe.

Target hydras first with your storms, and do your best to retain your void rays and immortals as these are the backbone of your army. If you can survive the first wave without having your immortals and voids cleaned out, you've probably won.

Remember to always include at least 2 templar in your in-battle reinforcement round. It's tempting to warp in only zealots because they'll be able to fight immediately, but you'll have morphed your templar into archons during the fight and you'll need to start accruing storm energy ASAP in order to defend the next wave. Zerg is going to throw wave after wave at you until you break or you outproduce him, and if you're ever caught without storms, the game can quickly spiral out of control. Make a point to think about having storms to defend the next wave even if you're freaking out wondering how you will defend what's already at your door.

After I feel that I have enough storms banked up that I'm not in any immediate danger (maybe around 100 or 120 supply), I like to add my 2nd stargate. You can sometimes hit a point of diminishing return where more storms, zealots, and even immortals won't do as much for you, but more voids is almost always a very good thing, and having a second stargate can help against a late batch of mutas. If you're set on zealots and templar and feel like you can bring the fight to Z, you can also make a round of stalkers and push, but be very careful about engaging on creep. Zealots and storms are both MUCH better off creep, so expect your army to feel a lot weaker when it's used offensively.

If you find yourself dying at this stage, watch your replays to find out what you could have done better. Usually, if I die during this phase, I find that either my storm was late, my void/immortal production had big idle gaps, or I failed to punish an over-droning Z with my zealot-void timing.

After you've stabilized on 3 bases with your immortal/void ray backbone in place, it's time to take a fourth. If you've defended the 3-base stage of the game successfully, your army will be much stronger than any lair tech Zerg army, and it shouldn't be too hard to move out into the middle of map for your fourth.

The only composition that can give you trouble at this point is infestor-broodlord, so you you want to be aware of Zerg's hive transition. Keep your scout phoenix alive to keep tabs on Zerg's base count and his hive timing. As soon as you see a hive, add a fleet beacon and begin your carrier transition. If the hive is late, you can start your carrier transition whenever you feel comfortable on 4 bases.

If you haven't been able to defend your third cleanly and Z is able to reach hive tech before you secure your fourth, you still need a fleet beacon and you can start your transition to your carrier deatbhall before you take your fourth, but you're definitely behind at this point.

When you decide to begin your carrier transition, you should get +1 air weapons, a fleet beacon, and 4-5 stargates. Carriers are there to provide range against broodlords and resilience against fungals, so after 5-6, you can switch back to void rays since they're better against corruptors.

As you max out, sacrifice your zealots to add more archons and carriers. Try to trade them for hatcheries at remote bases, but either way, you want the supply freed up.

Once your deathball is complete, attack and win. Vortex and archon toilet corruptors and storm everything in sight.