Sunday, September 26, 2010

Protoss: 4 Gateway

The 4 gate has become one of the most used Protoss openings, due to its balance and effectiveness. The main idea is to wall off with a gateway and a cybernetics core to prevent early rushes. This will give you time to get your macro going and get 4 gateways (made into warpgates) to build up a sizable force.

Build order:

* 9 – Pylon
* 12 – Gateway (at ramp)
* 14 – Assimilator
* 16 – Pylon
* 18 – Cybernetics Core (to finish walling off ramp)
* 18 – 2nd Assimilator
* 21 – Stalker (chrono burst)
* 21 – Warpgate Research (chrono burst it constantly)
* 24 – Pylon
* 25 – Gateway
* 27 – Sentry (you want one early so it can start building energy)
* 30 – 2 more Gateways
* 30 – Use Probe to plant Proxy pylon
* 31 – Stalker

After you have your warpgates, produce a mix of sentries, zealots and stalkers at your proxy pylon. If your rush fails to defeat your opponent, progress into the late game as usual. Happy hunting!

Friday, September 24, 2010

Dealing with Terran Air as Zerg

An opponents switch to air in the mid game can be an annoying this to deal with. Luckily, Zerg air can counter Terran air quite effectively.

First, before deciding to raise a Zerg air force, you must first make sure you have a minimum of 2 bases, with all 4 gases being mined. without this, your income will be insufficient to support your air army.

Against vikings:
If your opponent decides to go all viking, there is a simple way of countering. Build up your anti air defenses, and keep a group of mutalisks out of sight. When he flies his vikings in to attack, he will most likely land them. This is when you swoop in with your mutalisks for the easy kills.

Against Banshees:
The main threat with these is holding off the early attack on your mineral line. As long as you have enough queens and overseers to hold them off, you should be fine.

Against Rave:
Ravens prove to be a little difficult. If you try to attack with mutas, he will use point defense drones. If you attack the drones, he will hit you with hunter seekers. Micro is key when dealing with these. Ravens are usually backed up by a marine ball, so try to split up his forces.

Against Battlecruisers:
Corrupters do a good job at staving these off. If there is a sizeble amount of BCs in his army, infesters can be vital in cutting their numbers. A counter attack on their base is also an option.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Cool game I just watched

Hey guys. I figured instead of another strategy today, I'd post an interesting game i found. This game features TheLittleOne (Terran) Vs. Dimaga (Zerg). This is game two in a series between these top ranked players. I chose to share it with you guys because it contains some interesting tactics from both side, and is a very enjoyable game to watch. Hope you enjoy!






P.S.

More tactics are on the way so stay tuned!


Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Dark Templar and You!

The Dark Templar is undoubtedly one of protoss' most effective Units. With its permanent cloaking and reletivly high damage output, it can easily wreak havoc before some opponents even realize whats going on.

Build Order:

1. Build Probe #5.
2. Have the 4 probes to gather from different mineral patches.
3. Build up to probe #8.
4. Build a Pylon and a Gateway.
5. Build up to probe #10 and build an assimilator.
6. Get zealots and try to slow any terran attacks.
7. Build Probes non-stop.
8. Build a cybernetics.
9. Around the 13th probe build a second Gateway.
10. Build citadel of adun.
11. Build a templar archives.
 
After completeing this, send a pair of DTs into your opponents base to scout. If his base is undefended, pump out more DTs and go to town. Even if you fail to eliminate your opponent with this, you will still be able to stave off and early ground attacks with the DTs.
 
*Note: This is intended to be used against Protoss and Terran. It is less effective against Zerg due to the overlords chance of detecting your DTs.

Here is a video with some good DT harrasment:

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Marine, Marauder, Medvac (MMM)

Marine, Marauder, Medvac is a very common Terran strategy. MMM can move reletivly quickly compared to Terran mech. It also allows for attacks on multiple fronts.

Basic Build order:

1. Get 10 SCV cap, then make supply depot.
2. Continue to make SCV, then on 12 cap, go with Barracks, and do non-stop scv pump. Also get gas and have the orbital command after the barrack is built.
3. On 16 Cap, build your 2nd depot, then put tech lab on your barrack, then pump out those marauders
4. Build the second barrack, get the MULE when orbital command is done, and produce reactor on your 2nd barracks. Pump marines and marauders continuously.
5. You can then build factory, then starport to make medivac, or probably siege tank.
6. When you have the MMM combo, it's time to go for a push on your enemy.

This is just a basic outline of the strategy. It is important to know how to adjust and react to your opponents plan.

Here is a good video explaining it:


Strats to come!

Hello! This blog is dedicated to those who wish to improve their Starcraft 2 game. I will post updates usually every few weeks or so.