Luppa Profile Joined June 2011 Ireland 32 Posts Last Edited: 2015-12-01 18:19:00 #1 ZvT 3 Ravager Opener









Good evening dudes and dudettes, this is Luppa from PsiStormGaming, I have been asked a lot about this build order since I have had a lot of success with it on GM/High Masters ladder so I decided to share it with you all!



Essentially it is a quick 3 ravager rush into macro. The ravagers do a lot of damage at the front of the terrans base and force them to bring scvs/repair/lose units and fall behind in their build. Behind this you are getting all the drones you need, and can follow up with whatever style you want!



MAPS



Strong = Prion Terraces, Ulrena, Central Protocol



Medium = Lerilak Crest, Ruins of Seras



Not the Best = Dusk Towers, Orbital Shipyard



The best maps are maps with low rush distance and where the main wall only defends their main and not their natural. While your aggression is going on you want to deny mining from their natural, which you cant do on dusk towers or orbital shipyard. Also, 4 player maps can be dependent on the overlord pathing, if your overlord doesnt reach their base in time to see their ramp then it can be tricky.



So without further ado,

And here is the build in writing:



14 gas (2 gas initially, 3 gas when pool is half way done, *THIS IS MIN-MAXING AND NOT ESSENTIAL)

14 overlord w/ extractor trick

16/17 Pool (This is personal preference. A later pool gets you a hatchery before roach warren, and a quicker pool accelerates the timing of the ravagers)

Drone to 20 supply

Hatchery + roach warren whenever possible

After this, make your queen as quickly as possible (This is to deal with the first reaper)

Then after your queen, make your overlord

Then as your overlord pops up, you should be able to make 3 roaches straight away!



***SEND YOUR FIRST OVERLORD OVER TO THE TERRANS RAMP, KEEP IT CLOSE ENOUGH TO SEE/ATTACK THE WALL, BUT NOT CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE KILLED BY MARINES, VERY IMPORTANT!***

The reason I get the gas so early is because making the ravagers as soon as they spawn accelerates the build as ravagers move quicker than roaches. So you want to make them at your base.



Immediately after your roaches, you want to make your next overlord asap, as you will not be able to make your 2nd queen + ravagers until you have more supply



And then send your ravagers straight to his base and MAKE THEM DRONES!



You want to macro up essentially as you are pressuring their front with the ravagers, my favourite response is to get nearly full 2 base saturation, and do a ling baneling bust. (speed with next 100 gas, and bane nest with next 50) But this is personal preference. Although against non hellion openings, this is extremely strong as a followup! And against hellion openings, a later roach bane timing is an almost certain win









EXECUTION OF THE PRESSURE





So when you are at the terrans base, there are a couple of things you need to keep in mind of, and I went through some of them in the video.







- When attacking bunkers, aim your bile shots at the edge of the bunker, this does damage without you being in range of the bunker so it is free damage

- DONT BE RISKY! Take the guarenteed damage IE. Supply depos/scvs/marines/mining time/addons

- KEEP THE RAVAGERS ALIVE FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. You are best off leaving if they get a banshee or a tank out.

- KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR WHAT HE HAS IN HIS BASE! If they are using their reactor on their barracks and not their factory, they arent making hellions, things like that. These can determine the best course of action after the aggression.







Thank you so much for your time, I hope you have enjoyed this guide and maybe learnt something. You can follow me on twitter @Luppasc2 for when im streaming ladder with commentary and analysis, and there are some other coaching videos I uploaded an age ago on my youtube. Let me know if you're having success with the build! And happy laddering!



ALSO PLEASE CHECK OUT @psistormgaming on twitter, or on their cool website











Good evening dudes and dudettes, this is Luppa from PsiStormGaming, I have been asked a lot about this build order since I have had a lot of success with it on GM/High Masters ladder so I decided to share it with you all!Essentially it is a quick 3 ravager rush into macro. The ravagers do a lot of damage at the front of the terrans base and force them to bring scvs/repair/lose units and fall behind in their build. Behind this you are getting all the drones you need, and can follow up with whatever style you want!Strong = Prion Terraces, Ulrena, Central ProtocolMedium = Lerilak Crest, Ruins of SerasNot the Best = Dusk Towers, Orbital ShipyardThe best maps are maps with low rush distance and where the main wall only defends their main and not their natural. While your aggression is going on you want to deny mining from their natural, which you cant do on dusk towers or orbital shipyard. Also, 4 player maps can be dependent on the overlord pathing, if your overlord doesnt reach their base in time to see their ramp then it can be tricky.So without further ado, I have a stream vod here of me going through a replay and explaining the build to a teammate of PsiStorm Gaming.And here is the build in writing:14 gas (2 gas initially, 3 gas when pool is half way done, *THIS IS MIN-MAXING AND NOT ESSENTIAL)14 overlord w/ extractor trick16/17 Pool (This is personal preference. A later pool gets you a hatchery before roach warren, and a quicker pool accelerates the timing of the ravagers)Drone to 20 supplyHatchery + roach warren whenever possibleAfter this, make your queen as quickly as possible (This is to deal with the first reaper)Then after your queen, make your overlordThen as your overlord pops up, you should be able to make 3 roaches straight away!***SEND YOUR FIRST OVERLORD OVER TO THE TERRANS RAMP, KEEP IT CLOSE ENOUGH TO SEE/ATTACK THE WALL, BUT NOT CLOSE ENOUGH TO BE KILLED BY MARINES, VERY IMPORTANT!***The reason I get the gas so early is because making the ravagers as soon as they spawn accelerates the build as ravagers move quicker than roaches. So you want to make them at your base.Immediately after your roaches, you want to make your next overlord asap, as you will not be able to make your 2nd queen + ravagers until you have more supplyAnd then send your ravagers straight to his base and MAKE THEM DRONES!You want to macro up essentially as you are pressuring their front with the ravagers, my favourite response is to get nearly full 2 base saturation, and do a ling baneling bust. (speed with next 100 gas, and bane nest with next 50) But this is personal preference. Although against non hellion openings, this is extremely strong as a followup! And against hellion openings, a later roach bane timing is an almost certain winSo when you are at the terrans base, there are a couple of things you need to keep in mind of, and I went through some of them in the video.- When attacking bunkers, aim your bile shots at the edge of the bunker, this does damage without you being in range of the bunker so it is free damage- DONT BE RISKY! Take the guarenteed damage IE. Supply depos/scvs/marines/mining time/addons- KEEP THE RAVAGERS ALIVE FOR AS LONG AS POSSIBLE. You are best off leaving if they get a banshee or a tank out.- KEEP AN EYE OUT FOR WHAT HE HAS IN HIS BASE! If they are using their reactor on their barracks and not their factory, they arent making hellions, things like that. These can determine the best course of action after the aggression.Thank you so much for your time, I hope you have enjoyed this guide and maybe learnt something. You can follow me on twitter @Luppasc2 for when im streaming ladder with commentary and analysis, and there are some other coaching videos I uploaded an age ago on my youtube. Let me know if you're having success with the build! And happy laddering!ALSO PLEASE CHECK OUT @psistormgaming on twitter, or on their cool website http://psistorm.com/main/ "Theres nothing wrong with liking music" Petraeus 2013

ossavi09 Profile Joined October 2014 Germany 441 Posts #2 Reading this with Luppa's voice in mind is torture =D

A_Scarecrow Profile Joined March 2013 Australia 721 Posts #3 nice build thanks for sharing!

Luppa Profile Joined June 2011 Ireland 32 Posts #4 On December 01 2015 10:25 ossavi09 wrote:

Reading this with Luppa's voice in mind is torture =D

Now that is just rude Now that is just rude "Theres nothing wrong with liking music" Petraeus 2013

EndOfLineTv Profile Joined February 2011 United States 741 Posts #5 Thanks for making this brother!

hunterzubrus Profile Joined November 2015 United States 20 Posts #6 Thanks m8. About to give this a shot on ladder. Will be back to report my findings

Cascade Profile Blog Joined March 2006 Australia 5405 Posts #7 This can work pretty well in 2on2 and higher as well, right?

Making the whole other team freak out a bit while I and my ally macro up.

Danglars Profile Blog Joined August 2010 United States 11643 Posts #8 Anything early ravager is a pain on Ulrena. I agree with that kind of pressure. I can't get behind delaying the hatch this long to achieve this brand of aggression. It'll throw terrans in a tizzy first time like many wacky builds, but I think the 2hatch earlier droning, later attack is the better. Great armies come from happy zealots, and happy zealots come from California!

A_Scarecrow Profile Joined March 2013 Australia 721 Posts Last Edited: 2015-12-01 10:09:24 #9 slight variation i went 14overlord double gas 2x drones cancel 1 extractor 17p 18h. still got 3 ravagers to the enemy by 3:20 on ulrena. pretty much the same.



PepperMintTea Profile Joined November 2015 187 Posts #10 Seems a pretty good way to make sure the Terran is being honest.



I haven't used ravagers in ZvT because it feels like an all in but this looks like an interesting idea.



Do you feel there is a minimum amount of damage you have to do with the ravagers?





Luppa Profile Joined June 2011 Ireland 32 Posts #11 On December 01 2015 20:02 PepperMintTea wrote:

Seems a pretty good way to make sure the Terran is being honest.



I haven't used ravagers in ZvT because it feels like an all in but this looks like an interesting idea.



Do you feel there is a minimum amount of damage you have to do with the ravagers?







There are a couple of things that are 99% guaranteed with this build. One is at least 1 supply depot should go down, as 1 bunker can not cover the auto-attacking of the ravager. Another is guaranteed minerals used to repair a bunker(from consistent bile shots), along with lost mining time, which as I said puts the terran behind in their build. Also, its guarenteed that they can not mine from their natural until they get either a starport unit, or enough bio to push down the ramp. Some of the desired damage includes scv kills, addon kills, and even marine kills.



As long as the execution is safe enough, there is guaranteed damage to be had and also you can get away with leaving with the ravagers at full health. If you have more questions, let me know! There are a couple of things that are 99% guaranteed with this build. One is at least 1 supply depot should go down, as 1 bunker can not cover the auto-attacking of the ravager. Another is guaranteed minerals used to repair a bunker(from consistent bile shots), along with lost mining time, which as I said puts the terran behind in their build. Also, its guarenteed that they can not mine from their natural until they get either a starport unit, or enough bio to push down the ramp. Some of the desired damage includes scv kills, addon kills, and even marine kills.As long as the execution is safe enough, there is guaranteed damage to be had and also you can get away with leaving with the ravagers at full health. If you have more questions, let me know! "Theres nothing wrong with liking music" Petraeus 2013

Luppa Profile Joined June 2011 Ireland 32 Posts #12 On December 01 2015 18:20 Danglars wrote:

Anything early ravager is a pain on Ulrena. I agree with that kind of pressure. I can't get behind delaying the hatch this long to achieve this brand of aggression. It'll throw terrans in a tizzy first time like many wacky builds, but I think the 2hatch earlier droning, later attack is the better.



I understand that there are variations of this build like a double gas hatch first variation that jaedong has done, but what I find that I cannot get behind mining out of 2 gas (which includes sacrificing an extra drone for the extractor). This being that by the time you start making drones to saturate your natural anyways, the hatchery in my build is up just in time, so the lateness of the hatchery does not hinder you as much as getting the ravagers out early gains you. With a normal seige tank build, a tank can be out for like 4 minutes, and if u sacrifice time to get there, you may not get the damage done before the tank is out. But again, if you want, try both ways and see which one you like more. <3 I understand that there are variations of this build like a double gas hatch first variation that jaedong has done, but what I find that I cannot get behind mining out of 2 gas (which includes sacrificing an extra drone for the extractor). This being that by the time you start making drones to saturate your natural anyways, the hatchery in my build is up just in time, so the lateness of the hatchery does not hinder you as much as getting the ravagers out early gains you. With a normal seige tank build, a tank can be out for like 4 minutes, and if u sacrifice time to get there, you may not get the damage done before the tank is out. But again, if you want, try both ways and see which one you like more. <3 "Theres nothing wrong with liking music" Petraeus 2013

Luppa Profile Joined June 2011 Ireland 32 Posts #13 On December 01 2015 16:14 Cascade wrote:

This can work pretty well in 2on2 and higher as well, right?

Making the whole other team freak out a bit while I and my ally macro up.



I dont have experience in 2v2, but I imagine if you want to allow your ally to macro up, you could go for a different variation and commit more to the aggression, IE getting 2 gas and delaying the hatchery for ages.



ON THE OTHER HAND. You could both commit a bit to being aggressive, depending on your teammates race and your opponents race. I wouldnt recommend this build against zerg opponents, as an early speedling rush from your opponent would make it hard for ravagers to get any worth.



But that being said, try it out and let me know how it works! Id love to hear about any success stories people are having <3 I dont have experience in 2v2, but I imagine if you want to allow your ally to macro up, you could go for a different variation and commit more to the aggression, IE getting 2 gas and delaying the hatchery for ages.ON THE OTHER HAND. You could both commit a bit to being aggressive, depending on your teammates race and your opponents race. I wouldnt recommend this build against zerg opponents, as an early speedling rush from your opponent would make it hard for ravagers to get any worth.But that being said, try it out and let me know how it works! Id love to hear about any success stories people are having <3 "Theres nothing wrong with liking music" Petraeus 2013

crbox Profile Joined August 2010 Canada 1132 Posts #14 I did the strat on gm mmr... let me tell you firstly that it's awesome and works wonders. On the other hand, I think your follow ups won't work at higher level of play, because once you open with this build, the terran is going to be extremely prepared for any kind of follow up.



I advise playing extremely greedy, especially on big maps, focus on making queens as soon as possible with 2 evos, scout for banshee tech and make lair accordingly. Have a ctrl grp of lings ready to counter attack if he decides to move out, and the victory should be yours.

Luppa Profile Joined June 2011 Ireland 32 Posts #15 On December 02 2015 08:56 crbox wrote:

I did the strat on gm mmr... let me tell you firstly that it's awesome and works wonders. On the other hand, I think your follow ups won't work at higher level of play, because once you open with this build, the terran is going to be extremely prepared for any kind of follow up.



I advise playing extremely greedy, especially on big maps, focus on making queens as soon as possible with 2 evos, scout for banshee tech and make lair accordingly. Have a ctrl grp of lings ready to counter attack if he decides to move out, and the victory should be yours.



The response works at gm, and the main reason is it denies complete scouting and preparation of the natural base. He won't be situated at his natural base for very long before you push in with a Ling bane attack, making it extremely unlikely he will have a bunker in time. The biggest thing you're going to be up against is 2 siege tanks, of which you can dive onto anyways.



I obviously would not recommend Ling bane against someone going reactor hellions. But the Ling bane all in follow up has worked way more than it has not. But again as I said, if you want to go extra greedy into the macro game that is completely fine. You do you boo boo, but the Ling bane all in follow up is great vs tank play if your macro is good and the execution was on point The response works at gm, and the main reason is it denies complete scouting and preparation of the natural base. He won't be situated at his natural base for very long before you push in with a Ling bane attack, making it extremely unlikely he will have a bunker in time. The biggest thing you're going to be up against is 2 siege tanks, of which you can dive onto anyways.I obviously would not recommend Ling bane against someone going reactor hellions. But the Ling bane all in follow up has worked way more than it has not. But again as I said, if you want to go extra greedy into the macro game that is completely fine. You do you boo boo, but the Ling bane all in follow up is great vs tank play if your macro is good and the execution was on point "Theres nothing wrong with liking music" Petraeus 2013

crbox Profile Joined August 2010 Canada 1132 Posts #16



Here's the link to the game. I doubt you can hold the low ground for too long vs tanks and marines to be honest. Unless I did something wrong, let me know!

DarKcS Profile Blog Joined November 2010 Australia 1237 Posts #17 3 roach rush is back bois...all hail the meta. Die tomorrow - Live today

Damusson Profile Joined December 2014 Canada 54 Posts #18 This is pretty sweet. Terran seems to be my worst matchup right now so I'm definitely going to give this a shot. Thanks Luppa!

Beelzebub1 Profile Joined May 2015 641 Posts #19 What do you feel like is the best transition after this? From my experience staying on Roaches against Terran hasn't been a great idea since WOL and I'm sure bio mows them down just as good as before.



Should you go for like a Roach/Hydra/Viper timing? Or immediately go to ling/bling/muta since they will start preparing tanks and marauders once they see you commit to the Roach tech?



Thanks for the replay, totally fucking awesome.

FabledIntegral Profile Blog Joined November 2008 United States 9204 Posts #20 How does this fare if the Terran responds by opening 1/1/1 and tank/medivac drops? I imagine that would be quite strong against this, but it's speculation, not sure if you've encountered it.

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