PiGStarcraft Profile Blog Joined December 2010 Australia 945 Posts Last Edited: 2017-01-04 04:11:45 #1



Early this season I was struggling with the PvZ matchup and one day Probe told me about a cool build idea he was working on opening with the new faster chargelots and voidrays. I tried it out and despite having no tight build I won 4/5 of my first games using it.



I immediately made a video giving an intro to the style as a "hey this is cool, try this guys!" -



Hey guys,Early this season I was struggling with the PvZ matchup and one day Probe told me about a cool build idea he was working on opening with the new faster chargelots and voidrays. I tried it out and despite having no tight build I won 4/5 of my first games using it.I immediately made a video giving an intro to the style as a "hey this is cool, try this guys!" -





BUT SINCE THEN I've actually refined it to the point where I win most of my games using this style (rank 150-100 GM NA).



There's a lot of changes since the video. I might do another video and add that in here at some point too. Since that first VoD I've used the style in every single PvZ and have refined it a lot





For now the main points of the build are:



Opening



Standard gate-gas-nexus-core-gas opening



Adept + Warpgate Research



Chrono Gateway - leave it here until warpgate is finished



Twilight with next 100 gas



Nonstop zealot production (3x Zealots) as soon as the adept finishes



@100% Twilight - start charge



After you start charge, add 2 more gateways (~3:30)



Adjust chrono onto gateway + twilight



1st adept starts shading back to 3rd base around 3:20 (ling speed kicks in at 3:30)



Zealot + adept wedge in minerals at 3rd, other zealot holds the natural wall



Probe builds /46 pylon at the 3rd base + another pylon in the main base



Nexus + MSC (Nexus should be down no later than 4:15, and can be down by 4:05 if you're execution is tight



Warp in 3 zealots (warpgate should time out to finish with all 3 gateways and your 3rd zealot popping out - all should be within 15s if you execute tight)



Zealots go to pressure (and potentially commit)





From there

Natural Gases go down as your natural hits 16+ probes



Double SG in the main base, bonus pts if it's somewhat hidden, but often I don't care if overlord sees it. This is a solid build.



Add extra pylons at 3rd and 4xgates when you can spare the minerals.



Double oracle production - usually up to 4 - but depends on the situation



If you see lots of roaches early - add a single VR for safety



Zealots are fast now, so remember that committing on creep with no information can be dangerous - usually it's best to clear up towers, walk around the edge of creep to threaten and dart in and out - only committing if you see too many drones on the 3rd etc.



You can also outrun roach-ling unless they have a RIDICULOUSly sized army. You run away, a-move into lings as they surround, run further, rinse and repeat. Your charge will keep cooling down allowing you to 2-shot lings and only a huge army of lings can surround you. Even if your first lots get surrounded, just keep warping in and you will have enough to crush any number of lings soon enough - especially with oracle support. Even +1 melee lings are not a problem, they still get 2-shotted.



Keep warping in zealots for at least 2-3 cycles early on - they're very cheap and force a lot of units out for zerg - if they don't build enough units you can crush them









How to finish?

Attack a lot - as you get better with this build you'll learn to identify when you can just keep warping in chargelots and go



My common finishing move is dumping all my gas into 6-10 archons and hitting a huge attack whilst hitting the econ with a zealot counter or two



VS hydra-bane I send the zealots to hide and counterattack when he moves out - I add storm asap and rely on it for clearing armies



Some games you eventually have to go carriers - but usually you can finish it with chargelot/oracle, or chargelot/archon.



Notes



The Oracles purpose is to dive into a base once you have all 4 or just with the first 2 if you see no spores/think you can surprise them. Focus down a lot of drones, hopefully force a big response into anti-air whilst you're actually just going back to focus on your ground army.



You can go for a group of 4 Voidrays rather than oracles and try to sneak around the map with the "douche-squad" sniping hatcheries and recalling



You can go mass phoenix if you prefer - I haven't experimented with this as much but it seems pretty damned good



It's important to add the extra 4 gateways, and another 4-6 gates (total of 11-13 gates), at least begin producing the extra ones the moment your 3rd hits saturation. Zealots are cheap and you need a lot of them.



You can tech for storm, or simply keep attacking with chargelot + archon



Since chargelots are hard-hitting units that are very fast you want to multi-prong wherever possible and avoid fighting a single-angle engagement vs a ball of roach hydra that can stutter step on creep, or a big group of banes that negates your zealots ability to engage. Basically you play quite a bit like a Zerg and are the one hitting all over the place



A fast robo + prism can help facilitate mass counter-attacks



Forge timing is very flexible for me - I tend to go very late upgrades as this is a very tempo-focused style, but I always eventually add a forge or two after going up to 11-13 gateways.



You could tech to carriers a lot faster and focus on mass air off this opening - that's not my flavour though. I usually only go there if the game drags on long enough. It's a smooth transition since you already have 2SG up.











NEW and NEWISH REPLAYS: https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0suoovMS9qxSzhMNUllUU52ODg





Follow the genius Probe on Twitter/Twitch:



https://twitter.com/SC2Probe

https://www.twitch.tv/rinehart_sc2 http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Probe_(player)



More updates will be forthcoming. Post any questions below and I'll edit any clarifications into the build + respond in the comments BUT SINCE THEN I've actually refined it to the point where I win most of my games using this style (rank 150-100 GM NA).There's a lot of changes since the video. I might do another video and add that in here at some point too. Since that first VoD I've used the style in every single PvZ and have refined it a lotFor now the main points of the build are:https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B0suoovMS9qxSzhMNUllUU52ODgFollow the genius Probe on Twitter/Twitch:More updates will be forthcoming. Post any questions below and I'll edit any clarifications into the build + respond in the comments Progamer www.twitch.tv/x5_pig | pigrandom88@gmail.com | @x5_PiG | www.facebook.com/pigSC2

Granas1988 Profile Joined August 2016 14 Posts #2 Thanks for the guide Even though I think that faster Upgrades would benefit A LOT from this style. The +1 Attack advanage vs Zerglings are just too good. Also I always wonder when to add the robo. What areyour experences, when is the best timing. (and how many robos)

A_Scarecrow Profile Joined March 2013 Australia 721 Posts #3 would instead of a second stargate be better to go colossus verse mass hydra styles?

ruypture Profile Joined May 2014 United States 314 Posts #4 interesting, I'll try this out next time I get pvz. kinda bored of voidray allins 어윤수|이신형|이재동|이승형

PiGStarcraft Profile Blog Joined December 2010 Australia 945 Posts #5 On January 04 2017 16:10 Granas1988 wrote:

Thanks for the guide Even though I think that faster Upgrades would benefit A LOT from this style. The +1 Attack advanage vs Zerglings are just too good. Also I always wonder when to add the robo. What areyour experences, when is the best timing. (and how many robos)



The SG go down too early for hydras to be on the way yet. However I'm sure you could add sentries, double robo and collossi tech instead of storm/archons if you prefer that tech path. Not sure how it'd play out. The SG go down too early for hydras to be on the way yet. However I'm sure you could add sentries, double robo and collossi tech instead of storm/archons if you prefer that tech path. Not sure how it'd play out. Progamer www.twitch.tv/x5_pig | pigrandom88@gmail.com | @x5_PiG | www.facebook.com/pigSC2

PiGStarcraft Profile Blog Joined December 2010 Australia 945 Posts #6 On January 04 2017 16:10 Granas1988 wrote:

Thanks for the guide Even though I think that faster Upgrades would benefit A LOT from this style. The +1 Attack advanage vs Zerglings are just too good. Also I always wonder when to add the robo. What areyour experences, when is the best timing. (and how many robos)



Tbh lately I almost always forget the robo. It's something I want to remember to add in around the time templar archives goes down but I keep forgetting it. I'm doing really well without it - but definitely the power of prism would be great.



Remember that with charge upgrades don't count on the first ling kill, so even though the boost seems huge, once you factor in that zealots charge once every 8 seconds, and slaughter lings really hard, it's not that important.



This is a tempo focused style - chargelots controlling the map and forcing mistakes/looking for damage. Followed by oracles diving in and doing damage/forcing defence. There's many opportunities to make things happen because of that tempo. It's a lot like playing a 2-1-1 with Terran - it's vital you stay threatening the zerg unless they MASS units like crazy.



If you try to squeeze in upgrades too early you risk giving up tempo - so those upgrades need to help you out. If I struggled at all vs heavy ling styles I would probably find somewhere to squeeze it in. However right now that's not an issue. Chargelots, archons and oracles all do great vs lings.



We'll see if I change my mind after a while longer playing it though. I don't think a single forge after air units start up production would be the absolute worst - that's where I'd try to squeeze it in if I was set on it. Tbh lately I almost always forget the robo. It's something I want to remember to add in around the time templar archives goes down but I keep forgetting it. I'm doing really well without it - but definitely the power of prism would be great.Remember that with charge upgrades don't count on the first ling kill, so even though the boost seems huge, once you factor in that zealots charge once every 8 seconds, and slaughter lings really hard, it's not that important.This is a tempo focused style - chargelots controlling the map and forcing mistakes/looking for damage. Followed by oracles diving in and doing damage/forcing defence. There's many opportunities to make things happen because of that tempo. It's a lot like playing a 2-1-1 with Terran - it's vital you stay threatening the zerg unless they MASS units like crazy.If you try to squeeze in upgrades too early you risk giving up tempo - so those upgrades need to help you out. If I struggled at all vs heavy ling styles I would probably find somewhere to squeeze it in. However right now that's not an issue. Chargelots, archons and oracles all do great vs lings.We'll see if I change my mind after a while longer playing it though. I don't think a single forge after air units start up production would be the absolute worst - that's where I'd try to squeeze it in if I was set on it. Progamer www.twitch.tv/x5_pig | pigrandom88@gmail.com | @x5_PiG | www.facebook.com/pigSC2

Ej_ Profile Blog Joined January 2013 47288 Posts #7 So this is the Naniwa/sOs HotS cancer PvZ? "Technically the dictionary has zero authority on the meaning or words" - Rodya

DinoMight Profile Blog Joined June 2012 United States 3331 Posts #8 "Douche squad" ROFL !!! "Wtf I come back and find myself in camp DinoMight all of a sudden, feels weird man." -Wombat_NI

AusProbe Profile Joined July 2012 Australia 219 Posts #9 On January 05 2017 00:37 Ej_ wrote:

So this is the Naniwa/sOs HotS cancer PvZ?



Who calls that stuff cancer xd Who calls that stuff cancer xd

Teoita Profile Blog Joined January 2011 Italy 11893 Posts #10 On January 05 2017 03:24 mGGrinehart wrote:

Show nested quote +

On January 05 2017 00:37 Ej_ wrote:

So this is the Naniwa/sOs HotS cancer PvZ?



Who calls that stuff cancer xd Who calls that stuff cancer xd



SC2 players are known for their "fondness" of Protoss builds



Also holy shit it never occured to me that with the new charge, Zealots always 2shot lings. That's massive. I remember watching you do this on stream and thinking you were just trolling... SC2 players are known for their "fondness" of Protoss buildsAlso holy shit it never occured to me that with the new charge, Zealots always 2shot lings. That's massive. I remember watching you do this on stream and thinking you were just trolling... Moderator Protoss all-ins are like a wok. You can throw whatever you want in there and it will turn out alright.

ArtyK Profile Joined June 2011 France 3106 Posts #11 On January 05 2017 06:57 Teoita wrote:

Show nested quote +

On January 05 2017 03:24 mGGrinehart wrote:

On January 05 2017 00:37 Ej_ wrote:

So this is the Naniwa/sOs HotS cancer PvZ?



Who calls that stuff cancer xd Who calls that stuff cancer xd



SC2 players are known for their "fondness" of Protoss builds



Also holy shit it never occured to me that with the new charge, Zealots always 2shot lings. That's massive. I remember watching you do this on stream and thinking you were just trolling... SC2 players are known for their "fondness" of Protoss buildsAlso holy shit it never occured to me that with the new charge, Zealots always 2shot lings. That's massive. I remember watching you do this on stream and thinking you were just trolling...



Well not always, only when the charge cooldown resets right? So +1 is still a strong addition to this later on Well not always, only when the charge cooldown resets right? So +1 is still a strong addition to this later on Sup dood ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ KiWiKaKi | SLush | uThermal | PtitDrogo | SortOf | Clem ~ "I told my mom she should vote for me in Nation Wars, she said 'I dunno, I kinda want Finland to win'" – Luolis ~ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m_NScWV9h8k#t=1h01m

Teoita Profile Blog Joined January 2011 Italy 11893 Posts #12 Yeah it's once every 8 seconds, but realistically a +1 zealot without charge does not engage a new zergling that much more often.



Oh also I forgot to mention, I used to do 3gate adept > double stargate and I found that against anything but the most committed allins, oracles were pretty great units for defense, even against roaches, and that void rays weren't necessary unless I was in huge trouble. Moderator Protoss all-ins are like a wok. You can throw whatever you want in there and it will turn out alright.

straycat Profile Blog Joined May 2011 228 Posts #13 ¿¿Porqué PiG, porqué?? I'll never sub now, traitor!

B0stonSC Profile Joined November 2016 United States 59 Posts #14 What can Zergs do against this?

bjornkavist Profile Blog Joined June 2009 Canada 1234 Posts #15 Very cool, I wonder what the best Zerg answer for this is? Bane, Ravager, infestor + Queens? https://soundcloud.com/bbols

Teoita Profile Blog Joined January 2011 Italy 11893 Posts #16 I imagine it's similar to what they had to do in 2011/2012 to defend +1 zealot pressure - just get roaches up in time without compromising economy too much, then go into the midgame. Moderator Protoss all-ins are like a wok. You can throw whatever you want in there and it will turn out alright.

PiGStarcraft Profile Blog Joined December 2010 Australia 945 Posts #17 Banes mixed in as the armies get bigger will stop this. However it's all similar to stopping an adept timing - having enough roaches ready, and together when they hit you (lingbane can work but its a little dicey if the chargelots split really well).



As the game goes on it's about vying for map control to stop the charge player surprising you with counters - and really just spreading lots of creep and struggling to get up that 4 base economy. From there roach hydra bane, hydra-lurker-bane, etc all can work. It's important to try and scout the followup to prepare for mass oracle or whatever comes next! Progamer www.twitch.tv/x5_pig | pigrandom88@gmail.com | @x5_PiG | www.facebook.com/pigSC2