Topic
A PvP build with a >80% winrate in high Diamond
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Edited by Canyarion on 23/04/12 22:54 (BST)
Byaka’s PvP
Welcome to the Byaka Build guide 2.0. We (Byaka and me) originally posted this build in September 2011. It is now April 2012 and more and more people have been successful with it. (Recently even HuK uses a variation of this build, we sometimes like to think that he was at least a little bit inspired by our strategy… ^_^) We have also improved the build, so we thought it was time for an update. Byaka is a Master player, I am high Diamond (close to promotion?). We know Master players who also use this build. In the last 8 months we’ve had an 80-90% win rate in our PvPs. We discovered that the build is hard to hold off even when you know it’s coming. The build consists of 3 steps. You can skip 1 of the first 2 steps, depending on what you scout. The steps are: - Early pressure from 1 Gate (2x Zealot, 1x Stalker, all chronoboosted) - Dark Templar rush - Archon + charge Zealots None of these elements are new, although you don’t often see 1gate pressure. And when we first posted the build, Archon + Chargelots was very rare in PvP. It’s the surprise and the transitioning that makes it a strong strategy. - 1Gate pressure: Chronoboost your workers twice (on 11 and 13). Attack with 2 Zealots and 1 Stalker, all chronoboosted. If you build the Cybernetics Core after starting your 1st Zealot, and you only start mining gas after the CC is planted, you have the fastest build order. The early pressure serves to buy you time and to scare your opponent. Don’t do this step when: + Your opponent is going for the 3 Stalker rush + Your opponent is smart and scouts your 2x CBd Zealots + Your opponent is going for the Adelscott FE or something else that involves many units in the early game One of the goals in this pressure is to deal economical damage. The average Protoss will have 1 Zealot and 1 Stalker by the time you come to his base, with a second Stalker on the way. This gives you enough time to take out his Zealot and his first Stalker. Send 1 of your Zealots into the mineral line, etc. Try to keep as many units alive, at least your Stalker. This push will delay his pressure. You don’t have to implement this part, you can skip it, carefully scout your opponent and quickly go to step 2. - DT rush After you throw down your Cybernetics Core, get a 2nd gas, a Twilight Council and a Dark Shrine as fast as possible. Slowly add Gates for a total of 4. Don’t chronoboost your warpgate tech! The time between when your 1gate pressure ends and when your DTs are ready is the weakest link in this strategy. Usually your opponent is so scared and feels so behind that he won’t apply pressure at this moment. When they do (4Gate for example), your defense can get a little messy. What I do is get as many Zealots as I can afford from the first 2 Gates. With them I scout around my base for proxy Pylons and I micro them vs Stalkers on the ramp. Another option is to get a Sentry for FF, but the 100 gas investment delays your Charge tech. My back-up defense is pulling Probes. Just don’t let him snipe your Shrine or too many Pylons, you need them to warp in your DTs. Before you warp in your first DTs, start the Charge research and immediately spend all your chronoboost on it. You should have a proxy Pylon near his base. You will have enough gas to warp in 2 DTs. Walk them into his base, but not both at once. If he has detection at the ramp, you want to pull them back. Do as much damage as you can, but don’t waste your DTs, because you’ll need them for the next step. - Archons + Chargelots Who knew that this powerful combination in PvT turns out to be even stronger in PvP? When we originally posted this build, almost nobody used it in PvP. We’re glad that it has become more popular in recent months. You should have started your charge upgrade before your DTs warp-in, so it finishes not long after your DT harass. Move to his base, morph 1 or 2 Archons and just force your way up his ramp. Only reinforce with Chargelots and maybe Archons. Your Archons break Forcefields, your Chargelots surround every unit the Protoss has. Don’t fight in narrow spaces, you need to get that surround. Oh, get a Sentry for Guardian Shield. There’s not much to say here except that this army composition is ridiculously strong. Seeing Protoss players try to FF a ramp with Archons on it is just so satisfying. - Expanding Since the launch of SC2, people have hardly ever expanded in PvPs. You started to see some PvP expand strategies in season 6. This build is a very strong 1base strategy, but you can probably also go for a fast expansion instead. HuK prefers to go expand + Colossi… Whenever we see him do that, we cry out in agony. Why do that if you can just win the game right now? I only grab an expansion when I see a walled off main and/or cannons near the ramp. Play passive and wait for him to move to your base. - Building order I don’t really believe in specific building orders, although I did give some details about the 1Gate pressure. We encourage you to find your own timings and adapt the strategy to your own style. In my next post I'll list some tips and link to a ton of replays. |
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Edited by Canyarion on 23/04/12 23:00 (BST)
Byaka's PvP
- Tips + Put down your buildings as fast as possible! Remember it is partly a DT rush. Delaying every building with 5 seconds means your DTs will be 20 second later! + It’s a bit of a meta-game playstyle. The first step gives the opponent the feeling he’s behind, while he doesn’t have to be. After getting scouting vs the DTs of the second step, he feels ahead while he’s not. Take advantage of this. + Remember to start your Charge upgrade after you put the Shrine down and before you warp in the first 2 DTs. + You can pretty much constantly warp in from 4 Gates. If you’re sloppy, you have room for a Forge. + You have every right to be skeptical, but in our experience this build destroys 90% of Protoss until mid Master. Higher than that… we haven’t really had the chance to test. + A counter to DTs is… DTs. Be warned. + Check your base for proxy Pylons (instant G_G). + Don’t forget that your Archons are mostly vs his Zealots and his Forcefields. Your Chargelots deal and tank most of the damage. + Every DT is half an Archon. If you can find holes in his defense/detection: great! But don’t go wasting your precious units. + Don’t let him steal your 2nd gas! + A wall buys some time for your DTs in case your opponent comes with fast pressure. + We used to have trouble versus 1 base Colossus… until we learned to get Charge fast and just waltz up his ramp. If he’s lucky, he’ll have 1 Colossus out, but you can easily take it down with Chargelots alone. + When you kill lots of Probes, your opponent will likely use his chronoboost to catch up in worker count, giving you a big lead. + Feel free to experiment with a fast +1 upgrade! + We might be cutting ourselves in the fingers here by giving away such a strong build but hey… it’s the SC2 community, love is all around us! + If you want to give this build a name, call it Byaka’s PvP or the Byaka Build. :) Others who contributed: RedShift, Canyarion. + Oh and thanks to Day9 for giving me the tip about 1gate pressure! He said that you can squeeze out 2 Zealots right before finishing your CC, the man didn’t lie. + We appreciate all the positive comments and critical remarks in this thread! It makes us happy. :) Here are some replays that show the general build order (with some variations between different players) and the power of the build. I tried to describe every replay as good as possible. http://drop.sc/165643 My opponent went for a fast Robo. Every step of the build did much damage, making this replay a schoolbook example. http://drop.sc/165644 Opponent went for a 10gate (probably for a fast 4gate), but got punished hard by the 1st step. He had around 7 workers left when it was over. http://drop.sc/160968 Opponent went 1gate Stargate. He held off the initial pressure with 3 Stalkers and the DTs with FFs and an Obs. But his Phoenices were useless against Chargelot Archon. http://drop.sc/165645 The 1gate pressure did hardly anything. The opponent had detection up at the ramp, so there was no DT harass. With the third step, TVB attacked too soon. He lost the game. http://drop.sc/157400 Aether’s 1gate pressure was ineffective vs a 3 Stalker rush, DTs did hardly any damage. Chargelot Archon won him the game. http://drop.sc/165646 Opponent got early Sentry, then went for HuK’s DT opening. The first step was quite successful. The DTs of the Byaka Build were so much faster than the opponent’s, so the Dark Shrine was sniped before it was finished. DTs won the game. http://drop.sc/165647 My opponent also went for the Byaka Build (^^) and he actually did some nice damage with his 1gate push. He tried to counter my play with a fast 3gate and a Forge for Cannons… but my DTs were just too fast. http://drop.sc/165649 First step did good damage, DTs did some. I was late with my DS and I messed up my army positioning a bit, but I still won easily with step 3. http://drop.sc/165655 Vs an aggressive 4gate. Opponent his 4gate hit me before my DTs were done and I lost a few Pylons. I warped in an offensive and defensive DT and I won the game. Good luck! If you’re having trouble with PvPs, try this build. If you’re already great at PvP, try this build. If you want to have some fun and feel overpowered, try this build. |
yeah that was for you. This is PVP so i dont see either where OP enters here. PS: the best EU player in GM is a ZERG. Not only that but he is like 300 points ahead of the nearest rival. You obviously dont know what you are saying. |
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Just today I did something like this (not knowing of this post). It was a blinkstalker into hidden DT rush, but I failed at using it properly.
Still gotta work on my basics but I will forever be doing abnormal stuff regularly. I hate cookie cutter builds. |
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Edited by Canyarion on 13/05/12 18:53 (BST)
Edit: Chargelot Archon hits the opponent around the time his 1st Colossus is out. Just don't wait too long before attacking (and start your Charge before your first 2 DTs).
This was the original reply: Versus 1base Colossi you want to expand, fight in a place where you can surround his army (try flanking). So far we've tried adding a Stargate for Chronoboosted Phoenices... and that worked really well vs Colossi. You can agressively take out Colossi in his base if you get the chance. Oh and if you add an observer, you can snipe his, enabling DT play again. ;) By the way, the first 2 steps mess up the opponents build order and chances are big he won't tech to Colossi. But yeah there you have it, the strongest play against this seems to be 1base Colossi. So far we encountered it three times and we lost 2 of those. But that was before we expanded and added a Stargate. I'd like to know what the Diamonds/Masters think of this build. |
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Wauw! so awesome is this build.
Its actually a build with a tactic behind it! seeing those ''3 steps'' :) You try to make your opponent crazy with this! You try to pressure him in the beginning and from that point on you try to counter his counter. Really nice man, Sticky requested +1!! |
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Dt's are lame :D
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Hm the 1Gate pressure can do some damage, but as soon as you lose your units, Zerg can counter you really fast. Byaka and me have been using the 1Gate opening in 2v2 for half a year now, but we decided it's not worth it vs Zerg. But yeah, DTs and Archons are great vs. Zerg. Fenris, what's your build? Want to maybe 1v1 in a few days? |
