Starcraft 2: Protoss Versus Protoss Gameplay (Guide) Analyzation

Protoss Versus Protoss Gameplay:

PvP is the shit match up everyone hates. However I really like PvP I used ot hate it but I love it now. Because before it truly was only 4 gate versus 4 gates. I didn't lose many PvP I simply always went a defensive 4 gate and beat the opponents 4 gates. But this made the match up stale, boring etc. After Blizzard nerfed warp gate tech the match up become really great. However a lot of people hate it, and I do believe I know why. The thing with PvP is that its so full of cheeses, if you go to any podcasters pvp game. Its very easy to find comments from viewers asking for no PvP games etc. I think these people are wrong as the better people play the better the PvP game is. But their mentally is very negative because they have a lto of experience with shitty cheese games.

And I truly think PvP gameplay experience is something Blizzard should fix. So many of the games are that, “Oh I am gonna win with my proxy gates, OH! Shit he have canon rushed me BG”.
But truthfully this mainly is because people cant play PvP properly so they have to resort to using cheeses, the canon rush the proxy gate or the Korean 4 gate. When I see for example a canon rush I just laugh, its a Free win. IF you know how to deal with it. It’s easy And this is the problem, for game I would say. Because a lot of the viewers are in that beginner place they do not have enough experience to deal with all these cheeses that PvP is so filed of. And they get a very bad impression of the gameplay as a whole.
I like PvP because its a crazy micro battle. I always goes for a 2 zealot + 1 stalker build and it such an micro intense fiesta from the start of the game, probe battles zealot vs zealot. I love watching my replies and just see all the dots on the mini map at the early stages of the game. So really PvP is intense this leads people to lose, they need to cheese. One thing I really have experienced is that people are often really sucky when it comes to late late game PvP because they don't get there. What to do with 3+ bases. At lower ranks to me it seems like the users never get to even remotely late game, expect 2 bases pure colossi armies,.
PvP is a very hard nut to crack, but I like it as its truly is like the best player almost always wins(expect all the cheesers). Lastly when we are on PvP is how strong the Sentry is! The Sentry I would argue and say its the best Map Control unit in the game, while its very important unit in both against Terran and Zerg. It affects PvP the most as both user has them, but its more that each users expects the other users to have them. And as Sentries can block of Chokes etc, it really makes the gameplay kinda stiff.
I mean all mirror matches feels more mano a mano, but for me PvP feels that the most. It think its the very low number of units, and with a lot all this extra stuff hidden pylons etc. PvP in my eyes is like a hidden gem, its really, really great when you are good at it, But otherwise you will hate it.  I believe PvP surely has scared away a number of users from Starcraft 2, users that likes the control gameplay especially but then comes PvP which is like the opposite and they just hate it. I think that is really evident to, in how people play on the ladder. They get a PvP and they cheese just to get rid of it, either they get a fast lose or a fast win, because they love PvZ and they love PvT that's what they want to play.
One last thing about this, I assume that why the map pool is what it is right now, one of the factors is to reduce effective canon rushes, as its just so few maps where you can do them.



Myrmonden’s PvP Build

As noted PvP is very scary, DTs are scary cheeses are scary and so forth.

One note right away I can say is that late game Dark Templars are really strong. Sending out those Dark templars in the late game when the opponent has a death ball moving around somewhere else can be very effective, regardless of what has happened, regardless of that he/she has robotic facility for detection( and he/she will have that 99% of the time late game). Dark Templar can be very effective always keep that in mind, get canons and I mean canons not 1 canon. 1 Canon can easily be killed of by a couple of DTs I often support DT attacks with a couple of zealot to tank the canon damage.

Its kind hard to explain my personal build in PvP becasue I kinda go with the flow.

http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=details&id=269742#/replay_overview

I have a very set start build. Chrono bosst out probes 2 times. Save energy to chrono out zealtos and 1 stalker.

When I have built a 2 zealot 1 stalker army I will move out and often set a lot of pressure. It is not uncommon for me to win with just these units. Its a very good start set of attack. And a lot of where the problem of pvp becomes for people. Because after this the game will be constant battle.
PvP is really interesting as I describe earlier it will be one person trying to attack a lot and one trying to defend. As can be seen replay first I we will have a skirmish in the middle with our early units. This is extremely common having a 2-3 versus 2-3 units in the middle of the map. And when it comes to my build its crucial to take out his/her probe to not prevent a Korean 4 gate. Other 4 gate attacks such as a standard 4-5 gate all in. I can simply walk to him and kill him (usually) with the 2 zealot 1 stalker, of course its a little more complicated I will always had gates so I have 3 gates out from this and then take tech X. So if he take as lot of damage from my first units I will spam pylon in his base and warp with 3 gates to win.
But more interesting(as can be see in the replay) is how I will defend for the rest of the game against his stalkers. What can happen is that this might swap that I instead attack his base. This is how PvP as its core is.

My own build then its really important to push into his base with these first units. What I want to do, and why I am pretty successful in PvP( think I have around 66% win ratio), is to know his tech and respond accordingly. He goes Blink I go immortals, he goes robo I go Phoenix and if I see Phoenix I go Blink. This is the fundamental, then if its a map where Blink is harder to defend I tend to go my own Blink.
The hardest choice, you have from this is when to take a second base. There are key factors that makes the natural follow up to be to take a an expansion. This is really hard in PvP. From my build its mainly if I do a lot of damage with the first 3 units but not enough to just make more units to win. Its very hard to read, what I can say about this is simply play enough games watch enough of your replays to know when the opponent is weak but not enough weak to die.

Generally when you play PvP its very important to note how big the opponent armies and how many sentries he/she has. As I talked about Sentries are so strong in PvP battles until enough archons or colossus are on the field. And I want to emphasize “enough” number of massive units. Sure if you have 1 colo you can walk up the ramp, so 1 basing is not easy anymore. However I have many, many times been able to forcefield between massive units especially purely archons who are in the front is not enough. Still Archon + zealot works great as the zealot will be able to reach. But you can still force field away the stalkers etc (Why a pretty common build is pure zealot + archon). Sentry count is very important in those mid battles when either player tries to take the first expansion.. And I really think that when you use a Phoenix play picking up sentries and killing them is almost always more important then killing probes.




(Really) Late Game:
Its very hard to explain, because I feel its not much to say. Basically get enough colos like 20+... A big problem and why people feel PvP is boring is because what counters 1 colousus let me tell you 2 colousus counters 1 colusous. That is really one of the main boring factors. A player can of course go like mass void ray but its pretty ineffective against stalkers, but the main problem is the transition protoss has a hard time just building up a air force suddenly.

There is one thing that is really important to get in PvP which is the Mothership, the clock can be super annoying and a vortex can be used to group together colos but mainly to remove half his/her colo count and kill the rest. Almost each very very long PvP I have on the ladder turns into a world of the war scenario 10+ colo each 1 Mothership each and some ground units. I have many times tried to go like Phoenix to counters the colos, for a while I tried it extensively when the Phoenix had their 2+ range upgrade and it do work but only when the colos are in small numbers like 1-2 or then it works really good actually but more your ground army will be killed instantly. Having 200 food with Phoenix in it can do  1 really good thing. Killing of observers injunction with having a Mothership can be a huge win.

A last thing I feel a lot of protoss player misses is to add more buildings. People generally add in more gates. But when you are sitting on 4+ bases you can easily have 4+ robos. In the typical giant colo battle, 2 things can happen really. Either one army gets completely devastated and that armies owner has lost the other common occurrence is that a few colos are left for the winner. When the opponent has like 4 colos left and can keep warping in units, you can also warp in probably the same amount of units. But your colo count will be completely owned when they spawn out of the robotic facilities. This is very common, but if you have like 4-5 facilities. You can take yourself out from this as his/her units will have to walk to your main. And of course if this happens out on the field having a huge colo production you can quickly force another huger battle but now having more colos.
This is common to see in pro games at lower scales, when its 1 vs 2 robos. And after a big battle out in middle of the map(most of the time) the player with 2 robos can make a lot more colos and win the game.
In ladder games you can get into this 5+ bases games, so get more stuff.  I am surprised to see so few player ever builds  more robotic facilities. It is not that costly you have the resources.


http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=details&id=269746
This game kinda summarize the typical PvP gameplay. Defend 4 gate, be very aggressive with blink stalker for a week I went blink every game regardless because its safe and gives control of the map. Into using DT+ an attack. And this battle shows how important position is in Pvp to.