Community Manager
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Strategy, tactics, and skill. At the heart of StarCraft II are the legion of skilled tacticians and brilliant strategists leading armies of zerg, protoss, and terrans to war across the scarred battlefields of the Koprulu Sector. Knowledge is power; the greatest commanders throughout history earned their victories not merely by virtue of strategic brilliance, but also by applying themselves to rigorous study of warfare and the tactics used by those who fought before them. You too can tap into this valuable resource, and that’s where StarCraft Art of War comes in.
Are you a veteran player? Are you new to StarCraft II and striving to improve your skills? In this weekly feature, we invite players of all skill levels to ask questions, share their tactics, post replays, and provide advice for understanding and defeating today’s most popular units or strategies. This week, we’re analyzing: Rushing. How do you perform rush strategies, how do you scout for them, and how do you defend against them? Art of War Rules:
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#1
11/11/2011
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Edited by Mike on 11/11/11 6:58 PM (PST)
I only rush in TvZ, and only cause i fail every game anyway, so i end it quicker.
every 20 games though, my quad nuke rush works and i get a win :D QUAD NUKE RUSH: A tactic involving hiding 4 ghost academies while building 4 ghosts. Research cloak then arm the nuke silos to destroy the lair and all tech in the zergs main. Ends the game if not scouted. Now for rush defense. Terran: Wall off, fast tech to tanks. Rush solved Protoss: get 3 sentries ASAP, use cannons and forcefields to hold off the rush Zerg: Queens Spines and spored help a lot here. keep a zergling at the bottom of the ramp while your overlords are watching out for drops to prevent failing to some kind of airborne rush. |
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I rush in PvZ, because I can't win late game PvZ.
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I won a PvZ against a platinum in a custom game yesterday :D of course, it was the HotS one, and i 4-gated while cutting off his reinforcements by abusing oracles but... |
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the only matchup I really fear rushes in are ZvZ.
You can spot 20 speedlings streaming out of your opponents base and that gives you only a few seconds till your base is swarming with the buggers. The only way I can stop it is either staying on 1 base till roaches or expanding and getting defensive banelings. just a few banelings spread at the top of your ramp on hold position and a bunch of lings there too is enough to prevent this from happening. Other matchups I don't really fear rushes. There are a lot of counter measures you need to have done to prevent them from killing you but they are right at the start of the game so if you can act on memory and know what do do you should be fine. |
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Any strategy executed before 7-8minutes, after that rushes become less effective. I've tried a few unorthodox ones like pure baneling vs zerg, and ghosts + mm. Somewhat effective if you can hide what you're doing. Early worker, or tier1-1.5 unit (marine,zergling,zealot,stalker). Sometimes with an overlord if the map is small enough. Build hard counter units asap, and/or turtle up with static base defenses. |
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rush depend so much on the surpise element, rush to certain high tech unit, or just massing tier 1 units, kan kill an unprepared opponent. and terrans is the best for these things, for they can block the ramp (deny scouting), and can make their buildings anywhere on the map.
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Edited by Joniro on 11/12/11 10:08 PM (PST)
4 hellion harass at 6 mins. mark followed by 8-10 maras with 4-6 hellions always makes me win in TvZ since i am usually successful at killing a lot of drones and/or destroying natural expo no matter if the zerg goes ling/bane or roach.
The only weakness to this opening is going straight for mutas though i have yet to encounter a zerg who goes straight for mutas in 1v1. |
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TvP
Marine Hellion rush Open 15 OC, don't stop Marine or SCV production, put down factory when you have enough gas and start building hellions, when you have 3 hellions move out with all marines and 6 scvs. and put down a CC behind it. Marines kill stalkers, Hellions kill Zealots and stop the protoss from pulling probes like they normally do or end the game if he does. If you scout a 4 gate put down 2 bunkers and position hellions near his base ready to go and kill all his probes when his units are all at your base. this has been working so well I don't even try to kill the proxy pylon if I scout it, I want him to have his units away from his base ;) and if you have been keeping up hellion production there will be a few behind the bunkers roasting any zealots trying to spank your depots or bunkers too |
..... You mad bro? Stalkers counters marines, somewhat similar to stalker vs roaches. It all comes up to who has better micro, surround and stuff. |
Haven't you heard? Marines counter everything :P Killing stalkers is their role in the rush not a general statement and with auto repair scvs tanking and hellions demolishing Zealots they have a much easier time staying alive. I'd like to have marauders but getting the hellions to stop the toss from defending with probes is a higher priority. I've lost so many marauder rush games because the toss pulls all his probes. |
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It all depends what race you are in, for example zerg, one of the most famous rushes are six pool or mass up rush, zergling rushes usually fails to terran but if you six pool rush, it could be more chances that anyone could wall of the ramp fully in 3 minuites it can also easilly defeat protoss players but just have to spawn as you attack their base! In case a zealot and their probes can finish you off.For protoss, its very ironic that you can win the rush unless you mass up and attack at 6 minuite or later. Protoss are expensive because they have strong units but takes long time to produce good agaist zerg unless they got queens. For terran marine rush are not bad because marines are the only basic unit that has ranged attacks and it has quite high damage- 9 but their armor are weak. Usually good agaisnt protoss but careful for cannons. Always destroy the probes and pylons first.
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QFT, Yes...cannon zeal into void if it last that long (expand behind) is my only success story against Zerg who aren't bronze :( those muta ling balls, or just mass roach just MAUL me :( |
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I Thor rush in TvP and find it's very successful. Spend no gas at all on anything except a Factory, and Armoury, and then a Thor. Have marines training constantly, and when your first thor pops out, take off 4 scvs to escort it on auto-repair. The protoss will lose to this if unprepared, a standard gateway opener is not enough. Keep your marines behind the Thor if he has cannons set up, slowly blast them down. Sentries are useless, and stalkers get blown to bits if you micro your Thor to target them over other units.
The only thing that has beaten it is a protoss who goes 1gate, cyber, then robo for an observer. When he spots the quick armoury/thor, he'll mass zealots and immortals and move out into the open where the Thor loses his advantage. |
Try going against 10 infestors who spams fungal growth, or maybe 10 broodlords ripping your army apart. |
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Scouting for rushes:
Don't just scout THEIR base, scout around your own. There can be proxy pylons, gateways, barracks lurking around the corner. Defending for rushes: Depends on the type of rush. Pulling workers of the mineral line helps a lot, although you miss on significant mining time. Rushing...for fun! I am a fan of the 8 pool rush. I do not like 6 pool as the economy is just too limited. It is all in or die. In an 8 pool scenario however, I can keep producing Zerglings without trouble. |
