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Comment by alnayyir | Hacker News Reader

Yeah I was going to say, I'm a silver level and this strat does not work that well even in that tier.

I just played 17 games using this strat, in the Gold League 1v1 and Bronze league 2v2. And some of the 1v1's where against Diamond league players. 12 wins, 5 losses. Trust me, it works.

1. Against Toss it's almost always a win, especially if you go all in (attack using queen and half your drones). Unless he's got a closed wall with cannons, he can't stop you. In my experience, no-one does this in just about any league.

2. Against Terran, it's very succesful, if not quite as succesful as against Protoss. If they put up a bunker with marauders, or they micro 2 or 3 marauders behind a wall, you need to fall back. But in general, it works amazingly.

3. Against Zerg it works very well, as long as they don't six pool - if they do six pool and you haven't scouted it then you are in trouble. But in general, it worked well.

Bottom line? Although it seems like it's similar to the traditional zerg rushes, it's actually a very impressive rush. I would say that well executed it's got a 90% success rate on maps with short to medium rush distances. So definitely give it a try :)

1. Wouldn't a sentry forcefield ramp block off do just well? Stalkers have superior micro.

Usually when the first three arrive, they don't have a sentry yet (The first three are about 15 to 20 seconds ahead of the next 4). If they do have a sentry, and they block, then you fall back and then attack with all 7. If they don't use it, you can usually use those three to start killing their units, and the next 4 come in and finish the job. If they are rushing an immortal (high level players often do this vs Zerg) then you can usually snipe the pylon. If there is more than one pylon powering the building, then it's tougher.

In 1v1, a variation on this strat is to go all-in - send your queen after you spawn larvae, and then when the second 4 come out send most of your drones. With 7 roaches + drones + queen, it doesn't matter if he gets out the Immortal, or infact what he goes for. Only thing I've seen is a hard cannon wall, which then commits him to a single base Void rush - which is easily countered.

So yes, this strategy is very unbalanced. Played 22 games tonight, 7 losses. 2 of those losses where on 2v2. Last 10 games I played? 9 wins, 1 loss.

I hope Blizzard fixes this soon :( it's going to make Terran and Toss very susceptable early game.

As an aside, I find it interesting that you're Gold 1v1 and Bronze 2v2. I'm Silver 1v1 and Gold 2v2. I'm not convinced the ranking system for 2v2 and above works very well.

Well, I'm 2v2 Bronze in a specific team with a friend (we ranked a few months back and haven't played much together.) On 2v2 Random, I'm also Gold.

But I do agree that ranking for larger teams is poor - for example, I'm 3v3 Platinum, and I'm definitely out of my league - I think I ranked their as a result of being lucky in terms of getting good team mates.

Are you sure you are timing it correctly, using it on the right map, and microing ok? It should decimate most Protoss players unless they scout, discover, forge up, delay possible cannons until last min, dual exp, and quick air or go all in sentries.

> It should decimate most Protoss players unless they scout..

It should (annhilate|destroy|overwhelm|<etc>) most Protoss players unless they scout...

FTFY

That usage of decimate is as grating to me as it is common. :/ I don't blame you, I'm just shaking my fists at the heavens in impotent rage.

I sympathize and agree. For those who don't know, the word "decimate" comes from a practice of the Roman army in which they would kill one out of every ten soldiers as a punishment for mutiny.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decimation_(Roman_army)

That is the origin of the word, but I don't see why there is anything wrong with using it as the original poster did: "to cause great destruction or harm to" is a perfectly valid meaning of the word.

http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/decimate

And like many other words decimate's current usage and meaning has deviated from its original use.

Are you suggesting people should only and exclusively adhere to original meanings and "trve" origins of words?

Knowing where a word came from can certainly help us understand more but let's face it, languages are very alive and change a lot.

I reasonable protoss player will scout. This build cuts out a lot of zerglings and unless you can deny a probe scout it will be very transparent that you're going for a 7RR. A zerg who does not take an expansion quickly or lets at least a few lings to scout / deny scouting is very suspicious. Additionally protoss have access to the sentry and zealots will kill a roach in a 1v1 battle. They key is to force the roaches halfway up your ramp then cutting them off in half. Ideally 3 on top of your ramp and 4 below. A few stalkers should be able to hold them off.

Forging up, and dual expoing (correct me if I misread you when you said dual exp) into "quick" air is not a viable strategy.

A reliable strategy would be to hold off the initial push and securing your natural. You should be in an economic lead since he sacrificed 7 larvae early on in the game for the attack. From there the game should transfer into a standard ZvP with the protoss being slightly ahead due to a higher probe count.

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