From the Forum…

Beating Mutalisk Play

by Whitewing » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:09 am

In order to play the Protoss well you need to understand how their mechanics work and their advantages and disadvantages. Every race in Starcraft 2 is very unique. The units in Starcraft 2 are largely asymmetrical. There is a basic idea of tech levels, but otherwise the units found in each level are much different. The Protoss Zealot, for example, is much different from the Terran Marine or the Zerg Zergling.

The differences between the races go even deeper than that, however. Each race has its own way of building structures and units. In this guide we’re going to take a look at the basics of the Protoss and highlight some of their unique mechanics. These mechanics are very important, and they make it possible for the Protoss to execute strategies that are not available to any other race.

The Protoss race has the quickest, easiest and most efficient building mechanic in the game. Protoss buildings are not built, but are rather “warped in.” The idea is that the Protoss already have all of their structures built elsewhere, and the buildings merely need to be teleported to your location. Because of this no construction is required. In order to build a new structure, you merely need to send your Probe to the location and place the building. The warp process will begin, and the probe is free to go back to mining resources or whatever other task it was performing.This provides a small benefit to the overall efficiency of the Protoss mining operation, since workers have to be taken off the line less often. Building a base simply requires less micro-management for Protoss players.

Another real advantage of this comes in the construction of buildings which are not in your base. A common part of Protoss strategy is the construction of proxy buildings. A probe can easily move to a location, construct a Pylon and a few other buildings, and then move on. Note, however, that Protoss buildings can only be built in the radius of a Pylon. Protoss strategy must always be mindful of this. Pylons are your lifeblood – they provide supply for building units and they provide power for buildings in your radius.

If a Protoss building is within the radius of a Pylon and that Pylon is destroyed the building WILL NO LONGER FUNCTION. This is very important to remember! New players often use Protoss strategies which require a proxy base to be built near an enemy base, but they place their Pylon in a vulnerable position. You must place your Pylons behind other buildings so they are hard to get to!

One of the most important mechanics in Protoss strategy is the Warp Gate. The Warp Gate is built by converting a Gateway. It costs nothing, but you have to research the Warp Gate technology at your Cybernetics Core. Warp Gates produce units, but when you construct a unit at a Warp Gate it can be instantly teleported to anywhere within the radius of any Pylon you have. Instead of taking time to build, the construction of the unit has a “cooldown” timer – once it is refreshed, you can teleport in another unit from that Warp Gate. Overall, Warp Gates do construct units slightly quicker than standard Gateways, so there is no reason not to obtain Warp Gates as soon as possible. The importance of the Warp Gate in Protoss strategy can’t be overstated.

The Protoss is the only race which can instantly call in reinforcements to a battle. Many Protoss players use this strategy defensively, but good Protoss players also use Warp Gates offensively. Remember, you can warp units anywhere in the radius of any Pylon. If you hide a Pylon near the enemy base you can warp in units to his front door. This is a very effective way to maintain pressure on your opponent – do this often!

Protoss units are the only units in Starcraft 2 which have shields. Shields are like a unit’s health, but shields regenerate. Also, note that Protoss units cannot be repaired at all (unless you are in 2v2 and your partner is terran, he will lose gas and inerals by repairing Mechanical units, note that buildings are not mechanical) once they take damage to their actual health, which means that Protoss units which are damaged in battle remain somewhat weaker than the units of other races, which can either be healed or can be repaired.

The Chrono Boost is a special ability given to the Protoss Nexus. It requires 25 energy, and the effect of Chrono Boost is that it increases the production or research speed of a building for a short period of time. Your Nexus can hold 100 energy, so you can store a maximum of four Chrono Boosts at a time. Of course, any energy beyond 100 is wasted, so you don’t want your Nexus to be sitting around with 100 energy. Chrono Boost is an important part of Protoss strategy because it gives the Protoss player the ability to accelerate certain parts of a build order. For example, let’s say that you’re playing Protoss and you’re going for a two-gate rush strategy. If you do this, you’ll be using a lot of Chrono Boost on your Gateways in order to produce Zealots as quickly as possible. You’ll need to do this to beat Zergling rushes. On the other hand, let’s say you have decided to try and rush out Void Rays. With this strategy you’re best using your early Chrono Boosts on your Nexus to rush out more workers, and then once your Stargate is complete you can start using the Chrono Boost to rush out your first Void Ray. Many players neglect Chrono Boost in their strategies. It can hard to remember to check and make sure your Chrono Boost is constantly being used. Remembering is important, however, as it can mark the difference between a strategy that succeeds or fails.

Now the Protoss are a powerful race, but as with any race in Starcraft 2 you need to use their mechanics well. If you don’t make proper use of their benefits you will have trouble once you start getting into the Gold and Platinum leagues. On the other hand, simply remembering the mechanics and executing strategies which take advantage of them is often enough to put you into high Platinum, if not Diamond. Learn the race well and you will be rewarded. Good Luck, Have Fun

OpGKnight

Protoss as a race has a very interesting Macro mechanic, Chronoboost . Located at the Nexus, this ability can be activated using 25 energy and is used to increase the production or research speed at the target building by 50%. Chronoboost is used in 3 different ways, Economy, Technology, or Production. This allows the building to do 30 seconds of work in 20 seconds, so production/research will complete 10 seconds earlier. This will work on any of your unit production buildings, as well as research buildings, creating interesting decision making scenarios where you must choose between opting for faster tech or faster unit production. (Little know fact it makes shields regenerate faster, Who knew!) Now for the newer players and/or those in Bronze Silver, Gold, or low Platinum, think of Chronoboost as a build fixer. What i mean by this is: If you forget to lets say get charge right away, or your gas count was a little low, you can use Chronoboost to get you back up to speed. Your being attacked? Warp in and Chrono out your Warp Gates for ease of use. In the higher tiers of Starcraft, think of Chronoboost as a part of your build, for example: devoting Chrono only to workers, or getting super fast Warp Gate/blink etc. In most cases you will find Chrono best used for workers, however tailor the game to your needs not the other way around. Now with this said, I am not Tassadar, use Chrono often and wisely and you can turn a close game into an easy win. Good Luck, Have Fun.

This was pulled from the Forum

PvT killer build

by Tailz » Sat Nov 05, 2011 2:08 am

You either use it or you’ve run into it. The most standard opening for any Protoss player. Don’t worry guys, stay tuned to the blog, we’ll roll out some unique builds shortly but we need to build steam on the classics. It allows you to stave off any Zerg rush, beat back any Terran aggression, and apply some pressure of your own if you so choose. Reliant primarily on Gateway units make sure you get that early sentry for walling your ramp and giving your early units that armor boost. If you’re going to pressure then it’s a Proxy pylon FTW to reinforce on their doorstep. When it comes to StarCraft 2 strategy guides this one is always included.

• 10 – Pylon
• 12 – Gateway
• 14 – Assimilator
• 16 – Pylon
• 17 – Cybernetics Core
• 19 – Gas
• 21 - Warp Gate Research
• 22 – Zealot
• 24 – Pylon
• 24 – Gateway
• 27 – Stalker
• 30 – 2x Gateways
• 30 – 2x Sentries
• 32 – Twilight Council
• 32 – Pylon
• 32 - Convert Gateways to Warp Gates
• 32 – 2x Stalkers

Now… several variations of the build, of which the above is only one, have you getting the 2nd-4th Gateway all at once. This one allows for a quicker Stalker/Sentry early on though sacrifices a small amount of economy which we feel is better against Terran/Zerg. Against Protoss you may choose to get minerals over army early and save up for those 3 Gateways all at once.

So… Protoss players… what variations do you employ? Any tweaks you can recommend? This build is sitting in the forum as well under Protoss Builds if you’d like to head over there to discuss and make yourself eligible for our Heart of the Swarm drawing.

Cody Conners writes the following to Day 9 about his standard “two-gate” protoss strategy starting build order:

In a number of dailies you’ve mentioned your preference for two-gate style Protoss builds. Figuring that you, with your heart of hearts, wouldn’t try and lead anyone astray I decided to give it a shot. All I can say, my friend, is hoooooly shit.

I used to favor a four-gate build (ala WhiteRA a month or so ago), with a big, daunting push around 58 food (around 7 minutes). But let me tell you, Day9, the two-gate style builds that I have experimented with just feel so natural. First off, it’s extremely pleasant to be able to get that expansion up earlier. Second off, the build … See Morephilosophically/ideally satisfying. Because I’m two gating early and getting the cybernetics core up sometime later, I have this solid proletariat, zealot push I can make in the early game. It’s so gratifying seeing my blue-collar, zealots rolling five deep and cleaning up any poorly planned zerg FE expansion builds. Do you know how many zerglings a zealot can kill, Sean? A lot, a whole lot. And the cool things is, the number of zerglings that can be killed increases exponentially with the number of zealots you have. It’s like the number of zealots you have squared will give you the number of zerglings you can slay. I can’t even count how many gallons of zergling blood has been spilled since I started two gating.

Good lord, and the economy, Sean, the fucking economy. Like I said before, I was expanding sometime near 58 food before (as/after I was making my first four-gate push). Now, because four-gating served me well for weeks and weeks, so I’m not going to talk too much shit about my old habits, but the transition to the mid/late game is just so much … See Moresmoother with this two-gate, earlish expand build. I have so much money flowing in, so early. Like tons of money. I feel like Battle.net should take in to account inflation and adjust my mineral/gas account accordingly, because I’m making so much bank.

I went 15/0 right before the beta closed, 15 and fucking 0. Obviously, success like that comes with rewards. My girlfriend can barely keep her hands off me, strangers on the street cannot help but notice the steeze that I exude as they walk past me, and I think the Korean foreign exchange student my girlfriend tutors looks at me differently now. We haven’t ever talked, but I think he just knows I kill it at Starcraft.

Thanks a million Day9. (Sorry it took 4 posts, was hella long.)