Hi, I'm new to online but not new to starcraft. I have been playing the original starcraft since about 2005 and I got the trial for SC2 from a friend and I started playing 2v2 right off the bat. I love Protoss, as you can see by me posting on the protoss forum, and I'm pretty good we won with my mass zealot rush and his mass ling rush. So no big deal after several matches I started playing 1v1 won my first 2 matches but just crashed from there and on. So my trial is over and I know for a fact I'm getting it before Thanksgiving so until I have it I could use a lot of tips on the protoss race and some pVp, pVt, and pVz strategies. Your tips are appreciated!
Post a replay for pointers 2-3 obersvers out by 15 minutes at critical map points or following enemy army: PVP: Chargelots, Blinkstars and immortals, throw in the occasional sentry for shield. The key here in most early battles is to target fire the stalkers with immorts. PVT: Getting charge ASAP (Under 8 minutes to deflect early MM push), Blinstars, more chargelots and Psi storm (Or colusi, but only if you have excellent micro, (Last replay illustrates how important it is to get charge super duper Fing fast vs T) PVZ: Well I have a favorite build I like to do vs them, phoenixs ftw. Ill leave replays for that. (Works best on island maps or maps with alot of rocked off expansions, Otherwise you can just do the normal mass chargelots, handful of stalkers and colusi)
There's practically a counter for everything. Learn and remember them. Play every unit to its strengths and you're good. Massed Marines/Marauders/Zerglings: Collossi Slightly tougher units (Reavers/Hydralisks); Immortals Dark Templars are good for disrupting supply lines...assuming your opponent has no detectors. Attack an SCV/Drone/Probe 1 every 3-5 seconds and he won't get a notification that his forces are under attack (Only works if there are no detectors, though. Almost impossible vs Zerg because of the Overlords)
Don't worry too much about what your opponent is getting. A good army/build should be effective against most things your opponent will throw at you. Get as many probes as you can. Double pump them after you expand and use chrono boosts on probes when you have nothing else to use them on. Spend all your cash. Make sure you don't have extra money sitting around when it could be put to use. If you're going to lose a battle then just retreat. Keep pressure on your opponent and have a clear strategy in mind for every game you play. Watch lots and lots of professional gamer replays. Review games you lose to figure out why you lost them, and review games you win to figure out why your opponent lost. Learn and improve. Don't strain your improvement. Focus on what's important first...macro and hotkeys. All it takes to get to upper diamond is solid macro. Use hotkeys for all production, and make sure you hotkey your Nexus buildings, army, and scouting units. Experiment with different strategies and rushes, but always focus on at least one solid strategy for each match-up. For example, you might have 4 cool rush strategies against Terran, but make sure you study at least one solid strategy for beating Terran. PvP: Get 3 warp gates and a robotics facility, then expand. Get forge/more gateways and create an army of stalker/zealot/sentry/colossus. PvT: Get 2 warp gates and a robotics facility, then expand. Get forge/more gateways and create an army of stalker/zealot/sentry/colossus. PvZ: Get 3 warp gates, and then expand. Add a robotics facility and get forge/more gateways. Create an army of stalker/zealot/sentry/colossus. In all cases, make your colossus count as high as you can. Expand when you believe it's safe to. If you see your opponent doing an all-in then delay the expansion and get more units.
At the lower levels of play the most important things to do are get the basics down - once you do that you will win the majority of bronze/silver games. Always build probes and dont get supply blocked. After this the next most important things are scouting, always building from warpgates etc and expanding when possible. You can win these lower level matches simply by" having more stuff" (Day9tv). Thats how I started and its worked for me!
I'm personally the best either Zerg or Protoss in Starcraft 2. But I have to admit Protoss is easier to play. First I find with some small exception almost ever Protoss builds Starcraft some sort of 12 Gate opening. Anyway, Personally I would just that you read and learn 1 or 2 different build order. This way you can get abetter grasp of Starcraft 2. I know you played Starcraft 1 and that's a great bonus but there are enough difference. I personally recommend something like the 4 Warpgate as it's powerful and effective for most lower league games. Here is the build order. or something like the 3 Gate Robo build that Galaxy.ein suggested. Build Order
