Ladies and Gentlemen, this week
darkstormmm has shared with us tips for pressuring a hatch-first Zerg! Read on.
PvZ: Harassing a "Late Gas" Zerg
14/15 Hatch is generally not a safe opening for a Zerg player, as it is hard countered by Protoss Forge-first openings. However on 4 player maps in far positions when you can not block the hatchery with your Probe/Pylon in time, and you've already opened Gateway first, and possibly started your gas it may be a mistake to transition into a Gateway-Forge Zealot-Cannon rush. In these situations you can still abuse the Zerg's late gas with fast Stalkers.
It is almost mandatory that you pressure the Zerg. Otherwise, Zerg will have a significant economic advantage that he can take into early game, where he is already really strong against Protoss. To ensure that you are able to apply this counter it is largely a good idea to start with a relatively early Gateway (11 or 12,). If you didn't make it in time with your Probe to block the hatchery chances are you already started your gas (13 or 14,). Here's a good way to play from this point:
Step 1:
Continue scouting with your Probe.Bring your Probe into your opponent's main to see his pool, and most importantly gas timings. If you have the in-game timer turned on (no reason not to,) seeing his gas timing will let you know exactly when you should start retreating (before Zergling speed finishes.) Zergling speed finishes 3 minutes and 15 seconds after the extractor first started building. It will generally go down between 3:10 and 3:35 minutes into the game.
Step 2:
Delay your Chronoboosts and Pylon.
Remember you want to apply pressure with Stalkers, because they can outrun and kite slow-lings. You are out to put pressure on your opponent in a timely fashion, so this is a good time to start saving your Chronoboosts. You should probably have Chronoboosted your Probes once already by the time you scouted the early hatchery, it is ok to do it once more for a total of 2 times, but from then on save your Chronoboosts for your Gateway.
If you're not Chronoboosting your Nexus, your supply is going up slower, so you will not need your Pylon as fast. Use the spare minerals as an opportunity to place your Cybernetics Core as early as possible. If you go 11 gate (like I recommended earlier,) and then placed a Pylon after gas (which is standard in a more economic opening when more Chronoboosts are allocated to Probes,) you can not place the Cybernetics Core immediately after the Gateway finishes while actually mining your gas. So delay your Pylon for a faster Cybernetics Core, and place it afterwards.
Step 3:
Deciding whether you want to get a Zealot first.If your opponent for some reason 15 hatched on a small map like Steppes of War, or you just wish to sacrifice a little more economy for a more damaging harass because you are so confident in your micro, then you can opt to cut Probes at 16, and after you start your Cybernetics Core, start your Zealot and Chronoboost it and THEN build your secodn Pylon. If this is your plan I suggest you retreat your scouting Probe as soon as you see the gas timing, as it can help your economy quite a bit, since you still won't have 16 Probes on minerals by the time he gets back.
Step 5:
Chronoboost 2 Stalkers.If you went 11 gate 13 gas, 15 cyber, then you will have just enough gas to start warp-gate upgrade, and Chronoboost 2 Stalkers non-stop. If you went for a Zealot first it may not be a bad idea to push with your Zealot and Stalker while rallying the second Stalker.
Step 6:
Doing damage.You don't need to kill much to do damage. If you've forced a spine crawler and some lings you've done good damage, continue micro'ing if you have the multi-task for it but remember not to lose your starting units. Most importantly don't forget to retreat before Zerg has speedlings. If he doesn't have a spine then killing drones is top priority.
Transition:
There's many ways you can transition out of this opening based on how much damage you're used to doing, and how well you keep up with your build order while micro'ing your Stalkers. I would recommend Chronoboosting Probes again, and either setting up an expo, or preparing an all-in if you feel like you've done enough damage to make him vulnerable.
