[G] Sase's PvP agressive 2 gate expo build

Hello everyone, I’m Tech and I’m a highish master protoss on EU server, and today I want to show you a build that sase has been doing on Korean ladder in the PvP matchup.

So you might ask: What is so revolutionary about this build that it deserves a guide? Because it’s a reasonably safe expo build while still putting on pressure in the early game!

This build is not for the weak stomached people, it has a high execution level so I would not recommend doing this until you can hit all the timings spot on. As a good example even I don’t have the build down 100%, even after doing it for at least 30-40 games. 1 mistake and you will lose to a lot of common builds. Besides that you don’t scout at all (!!!) on 2 player maps and you only scout very, very late on 4 player maps

9 Pylon
13 Gate
14 Pylon
16 Gas ( mine only with 2 probes )
17 Gas( mine only with 2 probes )
18 Zealot
21 Pylon
22 Cybernetics Core
22 Zealot
25 Second gateway
26 First stalker no Chrono

You spend 3 chrono’s on your nexus, so after first pylon finishes, 12-13 food probes and as soon as you have 25 energy again you chrono on the nexus again, 15-16 food probes. On 13, scout for the most obvious proxy locations ( i.e. shakura’s plateau in your base and in the middle between two naturals behind the bush ) to check for proxies.

4 Additional stalkers out of your 2 gateways and spend all your chrono on them to get them out Asap.
Once you hit another 25 energy on your nexus you chrono boost your warpgate tech once to have it finish up at the time where you will hit him.

At the 6:00 mark you have 400 minerals saved up to plant down a nexus. This is in the midst of your attack at the front so this requires a lot of multitask to get down correctly.

Do not cut probes for anything except your follow up tech choice after you get the nexus up. For example in case of a DT rush you need to cut probes for a few seconds to get the Robotics facilty ASAP.

As soon as you plant down your nexus put 1 extra probe on each gas to go up to the optimal 3 per gas geyser.

On a 4 player map you can scout once you put down your second gateway

Follow up:

Don’t be overly aggressive with your first two zealots and 1 stalker. This can result in your two zealots being picked off by a 3 stalker rush build and then you lose a lot of your firepower in your push. The 3 stalker rush into reactive 5 stalker build is the best way to “counter” this build because it can be hard to get a decent proxy pylon up.

If for some reason you cannot break him ( he has immortal out + sentry and it would be suicide for example ) warp in two sentries as you first units instead of 2 stalkers and delay him from getting out of his base. 3 gate robo can hit hard is you don't ahve the production yet so try to delay him as long as possible.

You need to get a proxy pylon up close to his base, and if you have a feeling you can kill him you also need to get on up at his ramp or even on top of his ramp. If he was too tech greedy you will damage him heavily while you get your expansion up safely. You have to pin him on his tech route with this aggression, or you have to play it ultra safe after you get your expo up. Your follow up tech choice will be dependent on what you see.

So there are a few follow ups that you can do with this build. Sase’s personal favourite is a 5 gate blink stalker follow up, with a late robo to get an observer out in case your opponent gets out enough immortals and sentries to defend a secondary ramp and get an expo up. I will list the most common 1 base builds and the correct follow up.

You need to cut probes to get a robo out as soon as possible. Add 2 more gateways and start adding in immortals as soon as the robo finishes. You can safely get a observer out after the first two immortals. Your gateway production will be same of his, but you have the econ to get immortals on top of that, so you will beat him in a war of attrition.

You want to go 5 gate blink stalker with a delayed robo for an observer. Once you have your expansion planted down you will start your twilight council as soon as you have the minerals for it. Stay on two gateways if you want to have a larger eco advantage, or cut probes if you want to be more aggressive once your blink hits. I personally prefer to keep the pressure on so I cut probes to put down 3 more gateways immediately after the twilight council. In order to support 5 gate blink stalker you need to get a third gas running at your natural, take it whenever your 3 extra gateways finish up. Start setting upf or a potential basetrade if he wants to do an 1 base colossi all in on you. You will win this if you have a few probes on the map to rebuild nexi and just keep killing off units where possible and snipe buildings with your blink stalkers

You will do damage to a DT rush build if he skips sentries. He will not have the fire power to actually kill off your initial 7 stalkers and 2 zealots( 2 stalkers from warp ins ) that are in his base. He will need to warp in at least 1 DT to defend your agresison, and even then you can sack your units to do damage to his econ so that you force him into a 1 base all in chargelot archon bust. If you scout the DT shrine, you need to cut probes to get the robo out as soon as possible. And depending on how close he gets a proxy pylon up to your base you’ll have ample time to get a obs out. On most maps if he warps in the DT semi close to your base, you will get an obs out in time. A smart DT player will go for your probes so you might have to run them away for a few moments. If he goes after your robo he’s an idiot and he will do no damage with his DT’s. Get a second obs, and start walling off your secondary ramp a little bit to funnel chargelots into a small place. Your army composition should be a lot of stalkers/zealots and a few sentries of 5 gateways.

There are two different phoenix openings, the 3 gate phoenix, or the 2 gate phoenix robo. 2 gate robo is safe against everything but gets a lot of tech on 1 base, so you should be able to do damage if his BO is not 100% crisp. the 3 gate phoenix build is the weakest variation for the midgame. Regardless of the build a 5 gate blink follow up is recommended. If he expo’s and gets a ton of immortals a chargelot archon bust off 8 gates is extremely viable

Thank him for going 4 gate because you just have an auto win. You will have more firepower at 5:45 then him, and with your superior stalker count he should never get a pylon up at your ramp or even close to your secondary ramp. Warp in 2 sentries as soon as your warpgates are done and go up to 4 gates. You will have a superior econ so expo as soon as you can handle his army, and go kill him. In worst case you force a lot of sentries. get a robo up to keep yourself safe from DT follow ups and blink follow ups. If he tries to expo I would go into a 6 gate chargelot archon bust or speed prism immortal drops to pressure him.

You can use this on all maps except tal darim altar, simply due to the fact that you cannot FF off his 4 gate while you are going up to 4 gates yourself. All other maps are completely viable and perfectly safe

Here are a few of my own replays where I managed to pull off the build pretty good and actually didn’t mess up too much . Some of the replays are against a same level protoss player from my team.

Phoenix follow up http://drop.sc/174389

5 gate blink follow up http://drop.sc/185596

Another 5 gate blink follow up with chargelot archon bust http://drop.sc/185595

Dt rush defense http://drop.sc/185594

Blink obs defense http://drop.sc/185593

Base race against 1 base colossus http://drop.sc/185592