Zealot Rushing
Protoss Zealot Rush
A lot of people think it's important to set up three Gateways right off the
bat to have optimum Zealot production. The fact is that doing that hurts
your Zealot production in the very early stages (less than 7 min). It's a
better idea to start off with two Gateways and then add third or fourth ones
later when your production can support it. This is particularly important on
medium maps like Hunters. You'll find that a two Gateway start can give
you a little edge in terms of whipping out the first 3-4 Zealots faster. Be
sure to test your skills with this build order on our tutorial scm.
Start with this build order
1.Make a Probe, and put the first 4 Probes on Minerals. Click here to
learn a fast way of doing this.
2.Make your sixth Probe, put it on minerals
3.Make your seventh Probe, put it on minerals
4.Queue up an eighth Probe, DON'T queue up the ninth Probe
5.You'll get 100 minerals before the eighth Probe pops out; pull a
Probe off of minerals and start up a Pylon
6.Put the 8th Probe on minerals, and queue up the 9th Probe
7.When the 9th pops out, make a Gateway
8.Queue up a 10th Probe, when it pops out, make a second
Gateway
9.Queue up Probe 11
10.When the first Gateway finishes, start up a Zealot
11.Make another Pylon right after starting up that first Zealot
12.Grab a Probe and scout the map a bit
13.Start making Zealots in each Gateway constantly, but DO NOT
QUEUE. Make sure your Gateways are not idle.
14.Make Pylons before you hit the max. Your third should go up
around when you are at 21/25 or 23/25
15.Once you have around 5 Zealots, send them off. You should also
have enough money by then for another Gateway if need be.
16.After your first attack you should decide if you need another
Gateway or two for more Zealots or to go Assimilator/CyberCore for
tech
You may want to wait until after that first set of Zealots attack before
making a decision on where to go: more Gateways or advance in tech?
The point of that first attack isn't necessarily to beat the other guy, but to
see what he's up to and react accordingly. If the other guy was skipping
up to Mutas and he had a weak defense, you may want to press the issue
and go with more Zealots to finish him off before the Mutes pop out. If he's
going hard Hydras, maybe another Gateway and pressing up to Templars
(Psi Storm) could be a good idea.
Naturally you're not going to pull this build order on an island map. This
build is a good solid foundation for medium sized land maps like Hunters.
On smaller maps, you may need to build a Pylon and first Gateway
sooner to defend the early rush. Of course, if you're playing,
say...Bloodbath, who's crazy enough to pick Protoss =P. On larger maps,
you'll probably be able to get away with building 3 Gateways right off the
bat, but GX-Cross and I have tested: If you rip out the 3rd Gateway right
after the 6th Zealot on this build order, it's almost exactly the same as a 3
Gateway start.