Terran Build Orders Updated 8/17/2010
vs PROTOSS Protoss will tend to have a lot of Zealots & Stalkers or go Void Rays. Marauders kill Stalkers easily, and Marines kill Void Rays. Ghosts are a vital part of your army, an EMP will do heavy damage to a group of units. Siege Tanks are great support units, but Immortals are a very hard counter to Siege Tanks, so don't go too heavy on the Siege Tanks. Use Vikings to take care of Colossus. Colossus do a ton of damage to an infantry army. Stay on top of scouting with Protoss, they have a lot of choices mid game. You don't want to be caught off guard by Dark Templar, Void Rays, or Colossus. vs ZERG In general, Terran mech armies will win in a straight up fight against Zerg. Siege Tanks do a ton of damage to Hydras and Roaches, Hellions deal with Zerglings, and Mutalisks are shutdown by a handful of Thor. However, Mech is extremely slow. Good Zerg players will take advantage of this, and harass you constantly while expanding. Denying expansions to Zerg players is extremely important. You want to get up in the Zerg players face so they are forced to fight you while you have your tanks Sieged up. Beware of burrowed Roaches, get a Raven or build Turrets as you push. vs TERRAN Terran vs. Terran tends to have the following transition. The other guy is making infantry units, so I'll make Siege Tanks! Oh the other guy is making Siege Tanks, I get some Banshees. Ah, well I guess I'll need Vikings to counter those Banshees. Hmm I would make Marines to fight those Vikings.. but the Siege Tanks would wreck them, so I guess I'll just try to get more Vikings than he has. This ends up being a fight for air control with Vikings. Siege Tanks can shoot farther than they can see, so whoever has air control can give vision to their Tanks in order to win the ground battle. Some players have been going Thor/Marauder instead of Tank/Viking. | TvZ Hellion / Banshee Harass 10 supply 12 gas 13 rax @100 gas 3 scvs to gas @100% rax make factory @150 minerals make orbital (differing number of marines you need affects this) @50 gas reactor @100% reactor swap factory and rax, make 2 hellions, make tech lab on rax @100 gas make starport @100% starport swap rax and starport and make banshee @400 minerals build CC in base transition to bioball TvZ Terran Mech 10/11 Supply Depot 12/18 Barracks (Continually pump marines, use them to deny scouts) 14/18 Refinery 16/18 Refinery (You need a lot of gas) 17/18 Supply Depot 18/27 Factory (As soon as you have 100 gas) 20/27 Add Reactor on Barracks (As soon as you have the gas) Starport as soon as possible If they deny your hellions: swap the factory with the starport and pump out 2 vikings. If your hellions are working: keep pumping out hellions and build 1 viking from the lone star port. As soon as you get 400 minerals make another CC. Throw down 2 more factories with tech labs (so you have 1 with a reactor and 2 with tech labs). TvZ Siege Expand 10 Supply Depot 12 Barracks (Marines throughout) 13 Gas @ 100% Barracks Orbital Command @ 100 Factory @ 100 % Factory Hellion @ 100% Hellion Move out Tech Lab (Factory) @ 100% Tech Lab Siege Mode Siege Tank Command Center | TvT Siege Expand 10 Supply Depot 12 Barracks 13 Refinery (3 on gas upon completion) 14 Scout 16 Orbital Command + Marine 17 Marine 18 Supply Depot xx Factory (first 100 gas) xx Tech Lab on Barracks (next gas) xx 2nd Refinery Swap Barracks and Factory Siege Tank Siege Mode Command Center (StarPort) Make Vikings, Tanks and Marines and enjoy the long drawn out game. Use sensor towers and missile turrets as you spread out over the map. Marines are to shield your tanks from Marauders, do not suicide them into an enemy tank line. Try to stay one base over the other Terran at all times and deny his expansions. If they made banshees, save scans and drop turrets as you push across the map. TvP Ghost Marine Push 10 Supply If you scout a 3/4 gate attack, build another bunker or two after your CC and another tech lab. After holding off the attack, you will be almost set to win, so do not skimp on production. | TvP Thor EMP Expand 10/11 - Supply Depot (and throughout) 11/18 Barracks (wall) 12/18 Refinery Scout 100% Barracks - Orbital Command Marines throughout Variation: Get a reactor after the first Marine. 100 - Factory Refinery (2) 100% Factory: Hellion upon completion Armory upon completion 150/50 - Ghost Academy 100% Hellion Techlab Factory 100% - Thor Techlab Barracks @100% - Ghost Command Center in-base Thor (2) Float out, Factory (2), Infernal Pre-igniter and double gas upon expanding TvT Marauder Rush 10 Barracks - Scout with this scv upon completion 10 Refinery 10 Supply Depot *Upon completion of Refinery, put total of 3 scvs mining the gas 12 Techlab on Barracks *Upon start of construction for Techlab, take away 2 scvs in the gas (1 scv mining the gas) 13 Marauder - Continue pumping Marauders * Stop scv construction at 13 and begin pumping Marauders until 19/19 17 Orbital Command 17 Supply Depot *Upon completion of Orbital Command, calldown MULE and put 2 scvs back in the gas (3 scvs mining the gas) |
Zerg Build Orders Updated 8/17/2010
Scout early, and scout a lot. information is the most important resource you have as Zerg, due to the reactive nature of zerg play. Once you've got your build orders down, don't be afraid to deviate from your plan with the information you have gathered. It's generally good practice to place a spotter zergling at your opponents ramp so you can see when your opponent pushes out or when he wants to expand. Place overlords at ridges on much used routes so you can see whatever your opponent is doing. It's also a good idea to place overlords at expansions so they can spew creep to slow down your opponent expanding. Be active with your speedlings, set a small group of them on patrol over every expansion. You should also place one or two overlords near their main so you can sacrifice them to get some info if he's tightly walled in. Make sure you get view on your entire main with overlords. Creep is incredibly important because of the speed increase of your units and the scouting information it gives you. Once you've creeped to the opponents base, you can see when he is pushing out.. It's good practice to sacrifice some time to spread creep tumors and let some overlords spread creep. You can use this overlord creep and hatch a tumor in the middle of it to speed up the building of your creep highway. Creep is especially important if you're going mass queen/roach or mass hydra. Important to note, if you place multiple tumors close together they'll generate creep a lot faster. You can use a creep tumor to spawn ANOTHER creep tumor! Seriously! Hotkeys: 9 for queens and 10 for hatcheries is very useful. In case you didn't know, you can hit 5 to select your queens, hit v and click on a hatchery on the minimap to let the closest queen vomit larva. Once you've forced yourself to use this method of vomiting you'll save a lot of time. Droning: This is why scouting is so important, you should generally try not to have enough attack units to defend, keep just enough spare larva to build up your attack units when you scout your opponent pushing. Power drones as much as you can. It'll take you a while to find out when you should power drones and when you should build units, but it's something you can only learn by playing a lot and getting a feel. Harass can be pretty important to keep your opponent's army immobile or to scare him into not expanding. Mutas are pretty nice for this, but they cost quite a bit of resources. When you muta harass, bounce between his expansions, forcing him to keep his army on the move. Pull back before you lose too many expensive mutas. Stay active with your speedlings and harass his workers in his expansions. | ZvTP Roach Hydra This build sacrifices economy and you may be a bad spot if you do not cause significant damage to or kill your opponent. 9 Overlord 14 Spawning Pool 14 Gas 15 Overlord 15 Queen 17 6x Zerglings 20 Zergling Speed 20 4x Zerglings 22 Roach Warren 21 Overlord 21 6x Roaches 33 Overlord 33 3x Roaches 39 Overlord 39 4x Zerglings - More Zerglings / Overlords - Expand / Tech to Mutalisks ZvT Roach Fast Expand Starting from the 13 Pool, 14 Pool, or 15 Pool 16 Extractor 15 Overlord @100% Pool - Queen, 2 Zerglings @300 Minerals - Hatchery at natural @100 Gas - Lair, pull one Drone off gas @150 Minerals - Roach Warren ZvT 1 Base Muta 9 Overlord 14 Gas[1] (3 Drones asap) 14 Spawning Pool 16 Overlord 16 Queen 18 Metabolic Boost 18 4 Zerglings 20 2 Drones 22 Lair (as soon as Queen finishes) 22 Gas[2] 21 Drone 22 Overlord 22 4 Drones 26 6 Zerglings 29 Spire (as soon as Lair finishes) 28 4 Drones 32 Overlord 32 Hatchery (Expand) 31 Queen 33 2 Drones, Overlord 35 Save up Resources @Spire 100%: 5 Mutas (or as many as you can) | ZvP Two Hatch Hydra 10 Overpool 11 Scout with Drone Drones to 13 13 4 Zerglings, 1 Queen 17 2 more Zerglings when this larva pops be aggressive with 6 first lings 18 Overlord 18 Extractor when larva is about to pop. 17 Drone 20 Hatchery (expansion) 25 Lair (with first 100 gas) 25 Overlord Keep making Drones. Add Spine Crawlers if playing blind or vs. confirmed rush. When Lair is 2/3 to 3/4 finished add second extractor. ~34 Hydra den (Lair finishes) Drones to ~37 Overlord, then stop producing! ~37 You should be able to make 4 hydras simultaneously, followed by a quick 5th. Add 3rd extractor. Hold off the rush and power Drones. If 2 Gate Stay on 1 base. ~21 Roach Warren (Drones up until 21) Drones until ~25/26 25 Overlord 25 Zerglings. 26 3 roaches 29 If he is being passive make Drones. If aggressive more Roaches. ~31 Lair ~34-37 Hatchery at expansion. if Fast Expand Lair with first 100 gas. Get 2nd gas early. Get 3rd and 4th before expansion Hatchery pops. Deny scouting and power drones (if possible). Make mutalisks! Keep taking expos and powering while harassing. if Protoss is Passive Stop producing hydras. Move forward with Hydras and threaten your opponent into overreacting and investing in defense, thus delaying tech. Power drones hard. Take additional expo. Try to fend off first attack with only ground. If opponent goes ranged Colossi, you'll need to tech switch to Mutas at some point. | ZvZ Mass Roach/Queen 9 overlord 14 pool 16 hatch 15 spine crawler 14 spine crawler 16 queen 18 overlord 22 queen 25 gas 24 roach warren ZvZTP Baneling 9 Overlord. 9 or 10 Scout 14 Spawning Pool 13 Extractor 2 Drones immediately @100% Extractor: 3 drones to gas 14 Overlord @100% Spawning Pool: 3 Zerglings, 1 Queen (you should have 300 minerals, and 3 larvae when your Spawning Pool finishes) 17 Drone (If ZvZ, get Baneling nest before Zergling Speed) @100 Gas: Zergling Speed all-in Pump Zerglings to 22 @Next 50 Gas: Baneling Nest 22 Overlord Pump Zerglings Banelings when nest finishes Attack with Banelings and Zerglings safer with Lair Pump Zerglings to 26 @Next 50 Gas: Baneling Nest @Next 100 Gas: Lair 26 2nd Extractor 25 Overlord, Attack ZvT Zergling Infestor 9 Overlord 14 Gas (+3 drones) 13 Drone 14 Pool 15 Overlord 16 Drone @100% Pool: Queen, Zergling Speed 19-20 Drones 21-26 Zerglings @100gas Lair, Expand Evolution Chamber, +1 attack Overlord Speed ASAP @100% Lair: Infestor Pit @30s left on Infestor Energy Upgrade, build as many infestors as possible Queens, Lings and Drones all game as needed. |
Protoss Build Orders Updated 8/18/2010
vs TERRAN When you're at about 20 supply and terran only has 1 refinery, his second gas is free game - steal it. In general, scouting with your first stalker is pretty important. They're fast and have enough shields that you can walk up to his wall, peek around, and walk back down without taking any real damage. You can't skip building a robotics facility unless you can completely rule out banshees for whatever reason. If you scout an early expansion, you'll want to either expand yourself or set up a timing attack to hit him before his expansion investment pays off and he outproduces you. vs ZERG 4gating or 3gate robo in this matchup will give you lots of easy wins because most zergs don't have a a good enough understanding of zerg macro to defend against it, until you get to mid-diamond at which point it's probably time to vary your gameplan a little. vs PROTOSS Ramps are unbreakable except by colos and blink stalkers. Trying to move your army up your enemy's ramp will result in you getting forcefielded and raped. Colos break forcefields so when you have these you can go on the offensive, but unfortunately this means that colos are completely uncounterable in pvp since they break forcefields you can no longer kill them with immos. Once your opponent is ahead in colo count you're usually fucked. Pure stalkers is beat by a healthy zealot/stalker mix. Pure zealot is beaten by stalkers or sentries. Expanding in this matchup is pointless until you're in the colo-phase, since by expanding you will sacrifice your ramp advantage, your army advantage and your tech advantage for a far-off econ advantage that you most likely won't live to see. If you wall in, your enemy can shoot your gateways and pylons even if you forcefield your ramp. If you build your base around your nexus, you can make a nice arc around your ramp and be very safe vs early ramp bust attempts. | PvZ 2 Gate 9 Pylon 10 Chrono Boost Nexus 12 Gateway (Send scout, save Chrono Boost) 14 Gateway 15 Pylon 16 Zealot (stop making Probes, use Chrono Boost on Gateways) 18 Zealot 20 Zealot 20 Pylon 22 Zealot 24 Zealot 26 Resume probes 27 Zealot transition into 2 base Robo Each saturated base can sustain continuous production from three warp gates and one robotics facility. Building more than that because you fall behind in Macro is a waste but can save you in a pinch. PvZP 4 Warpgate Rush 9 Pylon[1] 12 Gateway [1] + sent Probe to scout 14 Assimilator 16 Pylon 18 Cybernetics Core (19 Zealot)[2] 23 Pylon 24 Stalker 25 Warpgate research. 27 Gateway 28 Sentry 30 Two Gateways 31 Proxy Pylon PvZ Immortal Rush Probe production and Chrono Boosting is assumed throughout 9 Pylon 13 Gateway 13 Assimilator 16 Pylon 18 Cybernetics Core 19 Assimilator 20 Robotics Facility 21/22 Zealot 23/24 Immortal (Chrono Boost is imperative) | PvZ 1 Gate Stargate 9 Pylon 10 Chrono Boost Nexus after Pylon finishes 12 Gateway, send scouting Probe 13 Chrono Boost Nexus 14 Assimilator #1, on completion move 3 Probes 15 Pylon 16 Zealot, save Chrono Boost for this Zealot in case you scout a <13 Pool 18 Cybernetics Core 19 Assimilator #2, on completion move 3 Probes. 21 Zealot 23 Pylon Sentry after Core finishes Forge after Core if you scout Roaches, followed by 1-2 Photon Cannons depending on Roach count Stargate after Overlords are driven out by Sentry; start saving Chrono Boost 31 1st Void Ray, Chrono Boost Stargate 34 2nd Void Ray, continue Chrono Boosting Stargate If 1 Base Mutalisk or Speedling/Muta Phoenixes instead of Void Rays to shut down Mutalisk threat and harass Overlords. PvZ Forge Fast Expand 9 Pylon at Choke Point of Natural Expansion, scout 12 Forge at Choke 14 Nexus at Natural Expansion 14 Two Photon Cannons Behind the Forge Gateway to further restrict choke | PvT 1 Base Colossus Probe production and Chrono Boosting is assumed throughout 9 Pylon (1) 13 Gateway (1) 14 Assimilator (1) 16 Pylon (2) 18 Cybernetics Core 19 Assimilator (2) 20 Robotics Facility 21 Stalker 23 Research: Warpgate - Chronoboost 24 Gateway (2) 24 Pylon (3, at choke/ramp) 25 Robotics Bay 27 Observer 28 Gateways -> Warpgates Do not stop Colossus production once started. If terran has starports 1 Stargate for each Starport with a Tech Lab, 2 for each Starport with a Reactor, pump Phoenix to kill vikings, chrono boost if behind. PvT 1 Gate Robo 1gate robo build (In my experience this is the most standard pvt opener): 9pylon (boost nexus) 12gate 14gas 16pylon 18cyber 18gas 20stalker (boost) 22gate 24pylon 27robo 29gate As soon as your robo finishes, make an observer, find out what he's doing, and build to counter it. This build isn't the most aggressive and you should avoid wandering about too much with your first stalker or you risk losing it to marauders. It is 100% safe against every terran build I've encountered in ladder though. Following this up you typically want to get templar tech ASAP. |
08/18/10 Strategy Information
Protoss vs Terran: Skip Warp Gate for fast Void Ray. Get Void Ray really fast and poke at the Terran to limit the options the Terran has and force him to get units that can shoot up and limit the amount of Marauders the Terran can make, destroys Fast Marauder push. Bring out 5-6 Probes to help Zealots against Marauders until Void Ray comes out. Poke around to keep Terran in base while you expand, try and get Tech Labs to prevent Stim from researching and stop Ghost production but don’t lose Void Ray. If Terran is vulnerable make a second Void Ray (or more) but don’t over commit to them. Get Zealots with Speed Upgrade, and a few Stalkers to counter the Mass Marines. If Terran early expands, take a third base, otherwise tech to Dark and High Templar to counter the forced Mass Barracks units and to feedback Banshees and Medivacs. | Terran vs Protoss: Fast Marauder push, follow up with 2 Reactor Marine and Ghost. This opening dominates 3 Warp Gate but is weak to fast Void Ray. Tight base to limit Void Ray ability to charge up on buildings. Ghosts are GREAT against Protoss. 3 Fast Marauders and then a ton of Barracks, pull guys out of Gas and Early Expand with Mass Marine helps deal with fast Void Ray. Barracks scout to allow Mule usage. After expanding make 4 Starports and pump Banshees and a couple Vikings. |
Protoss vs Zerg: 2 Gate into Forge Fast Expand. ~5 Zealots are when they get Roaches out if they built it right after scouting so be careful about being too aggressive. Pump out Stalkers to try and end the game before Hydralisks come out. Lots of Zealot, Sentry and Stalker to punish Roach and Hydra while you tech toward High Templar/Archons and Dark Templar. Transition into Speed Zealot, High Templar, Dark Templar with just a few Stalkers. Psionic Storm and Archons deal with a weak Mutalisk transition. Feedback Infestor. | Zerg vs Protoss: Roach Warren after 2 Gate is scouted. Spine Crawlers to hold at Natural and massive Hydralisk count beats unlimited Gateway units. If Protoss techs to Colossus, get a few Corrupter but use creep spread and Hydralisks to punish Protoss every time he moves out. Infestors to deal with Charge Zealots using Fungal Growth, Mutalisks to harass probes to keep the Protoss distracted. Do not fight off creep unless you can snipe the High Templar with Mutalisks, Hydras will get stormed to death otherwise. Protoss has no answer to Brood Lords backing a Roach/Hydralisk/Zergling army. Use them as eventual tech. |
Terran vs Zerg: 1/1/1 opening. 2 Reactor Hellions then swap Starport and Vikings to eliminate Overlords and take map control back from Zerg and to discourage Mutalisk production by producing more and keeping them visible by harassing with cliffs and by keeping the Zerg supply blocked. Hellions, Siege Tanks, Thors, Planetary Fortresses, and Vikings allow you to bunker in, expand and protect yourself everywhere. Get 3/3 upgrades as fast as possible. Pressure the Zerg into attacking you somewhere that gives you the advantage or slowly creep your Siege Tank line towards the Zerg base. Thors with Cannon lock down Ultralisks, the biggest threat to Mech. | Zerg vs Terran: Gas before Pool to get Speedlings up ASAP, you will need them to shut down Reapers and Hellions. Be sure to spread creep actively, it is incredibly important. Get Lair quickly with second 100 gas. Infestors with Fungal Growth to shut down Vikings or Banshees and to reduce Terran mobility. Mutalisks if Terran does not have a high Viking count but not too many because Thors melt Mutalisks. Ultralisks are necessary against mech, Brood Lords are great as well provided the Viking count has been sufficiently shut down. Drops are essential against Mech but don’t risk it against a heavy Viking count. Nidas worms typically only work if someone isn’t paying attention but try that anyway. Expand everywhere and try to prevent the Terran from expanding himself, Terran Mech armies are incredibly strong, do not attack while tanks are sieged and try to hit and run bases and keep the Terran moving around. |
Terran vs Terran: | Protoss vs Protoss: Blink Stalkers, if you have more stalkers early on you can really punish the other Protoss because they’re so fast and before charge make Zealots worthless. Need to be careful not to blow this advantage by trying to run up a ramp and get force fielded into losing half the army but push up ASAP if you can snipe the Sentry. Feel free to use an observer to abuse different entrances into the base but you can do the same thing at the ramp with a superior army. Crush force fields with hallucinated Colossus which assists in pushing up a ramp. Try and pick off units and conserve the Stalkers while you accumulate them towards critical mass. Get one Sentry after two Stalkers to help protect your ramp if put on the defensive. Add in Zealots later with your push and add Dark and High Templar or Robo units. Zealots with Charge and Archons force back any army that doesn’t have sizable Colossus count, Blink Stalkers to snipe Colossus. |
Zerg vs Zerg: |