Ok, now that that's out of the way, we can get on to playing like we expect the game to last longer than ten minutes. Wingweaver over at The Starcraft Noob recently wrote about practicing his early game over and over against the AI so he can get it down quick and effortlessly. There's a lot of sense in that idea, but what if you don't really have an opening strategy to practice? I know when I first started, I didn't.
I started each game differently. I built nothing but drones until 20 supply(that lost every time, by the way) or I built 10 drones, an Overlord, and then never built another drone for the rest of the game(which was also pretty short considering I also never expanded). The point is that without a consistent game plan, your chances of consistent wins go way, way down. Today, I thought I'd talk a little about a few opening plays that I personally use to good effect.
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| "I wanna 14pool now! I wanna do it now!" |
This build is as standard as they come. Unless your opponent cheeses, you'll be getting Zerglings out in plenty of time to hold off any harass and you have a good enough economy to defend while you expand. All the way through Bronze, I started every game with this build and it worked really well most of the time.
The only caveat I'd mention would be to avoid using this against Zerg. At least in the games I've played, Zerg are so paranoid of Zergling rushes that they never opt for a standard opening. The non-cheesers will go with a 10 pool or a 12 hatch while the cheesers will of course aim for a 6-8 pool rush with workers. So yeah, don't do this in ZvZ.
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| Sometimes you're Zen. Sometimes you're just a guy sitting in the dark getting 6pooled. |
This is an extremely macro-oriented build that I saw Idra use quite often in his matches. It sets you up for a super-strong economy and if your opponent lets you do it, allows for a really heavy mid-late game advantage. Unfortunately, in Bronze or Silver, I don't often get left alone long enough to really get the most out of this play.
Once your opponent sees an early expo, it is quite likely they'll rush their push in and try and take you out early. The key to this is surviving this early aggression. Spine crawlers, Zerglings, and Roaches once you get them are really what save your bacon here. If you can survive this, you'll be way ahead of your opponent.
This build is extremely vulnerable to early rushes, so you need to send a drone to scout early, probably around the 9th or 10th drone. If you see signs of a rush or a cheese, slap down a pool immediately and prepare to defend.
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| This fellow's game doesn't seem to go past worker rushes. |
This is my new weapon in the ZvZ madness that I constantly contend with in the ladder. By combining a double extractor trick and an early Hatchery at 12 supply, you put yourself in an early lead economically against an opponent who will 90% of the time be going for a much less economic build.
The great thing about this build is that even against an early ling rush(say a 10 pool), you'll have 10+ Zerglings out by the time they reach your base. From here, you can build into Roaches to completely negate his early pressure and because you've already expanded, can beat him with a stronger mid-game with Mutalisks or a Roach/Hydralisk combo.
This build just gets better that farther away you are from your opponent.
The most important thing is to find a build to use against each race(some aren't race specific, so more the better) and practice, practice, practice. This is where practice partners really come in handy. Better than AI and you don't need to lose ladder points just to get your strategy down solid.
Or you can hit me up on Battle.net and I'll practice with you. :P
I totally agree with what you said about finding a build for each race. While 4 gating works against Zerg to great effect, trying to use it against Terrans is suicide. Marine Maurader balls are too powerful to stand up against with an even amount of units. Terrans will always win in a straight up fight(NERF EM!)
ReplyDeleteIm currently working on a 3 gate Immotral build that will help with this. I hate moving away from my safe 4 gate, but i also realize i couldnt have gotten this build without first experiencing where i was falling short.
Oh and Apollo, we need to have a practice match some time, i try to get on but it seems your always loggin off by the time i get home from work and am ready to play :p
ReplyDeleteThat 12 Hatch strat looks interesting, I'll have to read up on that. I Think I remember reading something bout it up on liquipedia. ZvZ is pretty tough, probably my worst match up so if that works it could really help me.
ReplyDelete@Wingweaver: I haven't be around recently in the evening due to other activities, but I'll try to show my face more often. I could always use some ZvP practice.
ReplyDelete@Sean: Liquipedia is like my Bible. All my openings can be found in there and in much greater detail. ZvZ went from my worst match up to "my worst match up unless they try to 6 pool" as that seems to be all I'm facing these days, so I've become much better at repelling it.
Don't 15 hatch FE expand against a Protoss that knows what he is doing. Maybe it will become doable once the patch comes out (if they insist on the madness that is increasing the build time for zealots).
ReplyDelete@Fafner: That's why I mentioned that Scouting was important with that opening. If you're seeing a 2 gate forming with chrono'd Zealots, probably best to smack down a pool ASAP. I'm really hoping the patch comes out today.. I'm suspecting there's more goodies coming that haven't been announced. :) (CHRONO COOLDOWN!)
ReplyDeleteif the toss is 4 gating you should be safe, unless he put a proxy pylon down. i did that to a diamond player, 3 minutes later he lost, i took his expansion down around 7 min in, his main fell around 10. The distances between you and he are what makes a difference, Desert oasis, your almost always safe to expand. Steppes of war is a bit ify. Lost temple is good if you on compelte oppisite sides of the map.
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