10 Pylon 10 Gateway Zealot Pressure

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10 Pylon 10 Gateway Zealot Pressure

Blistering Sands is a map where this opening is very common.

Matchups:	PvZ
Type:	Opening

Overview

This used to be a common PvZ opening aimed at pressuring the opponent with a stream of Zealots early on without getting any gas or tech and is usually followed by an expansion. As Zealots are cost effective against queens and lower numbers of Zerglings, this build sacrifices a little economy but forces the Zerg to commit many early larva and funds to lings, spinecrawlers, and things that are not drones.

Build Order

Basic Build
9 (Rally Nexus to Natural) 10 Pylon (do not queue the 11th probe) 10 Gateway, Probe, Chrono Boost Nexus and send probe to scout 13 Pylon 15 Zealot and Chrono Boost on Gateway Keep making Zealots and Pylons, Chrono Boosting as it becomes available

Times and Mining

	Built in main		Built at natural choke
	2:30	4:00	2:30	4:00
Minerals gathered	905	1815	880	1780
Gas gathered	0	0	0	0
Workers made	14	19	14	19

• Gateway finished at 2:30
• 1st Zealot out at 3:00
• 4 Zealots out by 4:00

Adaptation

• If you scout an earlier pool than your gateway and can 1-gap wall-in your ramp before lings arrive you have likely won the game; block the ramp with probes until your first Zealot comes out (keep blocking!) and continue to chronoboost Zealots to defend, teching up to stalkers when possible.
• If you are scouted very early for some reason, you may wish to simply transition into a 1-gate forge FE while still attacking with the first zealot, as spinecrawlers will likely be available to defend. Make a forge to create a wall-in and add a Zealot, Nexus and Canon as funds permit while probe scouting as much as possible.
• Roaches will eventually be able to counter your Zealots, but the Zerg should not be able to quickly afford this investment. If you scout a roach warren try to kill as many drones as possible while teching up to stalkers and/or cannoning up your natural!

Notes

• One Chrono Boost is used on Probes. This way you should have enough energy to Chrono Boost 4 Zealots non-stop. You can save that first boost for Zealots or use more on Probes depending on how much pressure you want to apply.
• All times are in-game time.
• Times and resource gathering may vary depending on the map, starting positions etc.
• Make absolutely sure that you wall-in at your ramp or choke with a 1-gap wall asap, to defend from speedling run-bys. While the Zerg should be committing to defense, you will have no early gas for sentries and as little as 4-6 zerglings can cause a ridiculous amount of damage. If zerglings get past your zealots, block the ramp with probes until your next zealot comes out to finish the wall-in and continue to micro your offensive zealots; your army should be at an advantage at their base.

Zealot Micromanagement

• Zealots are not cost effective against Zerglings in a straight up fight where all Zerglings can attack at once. However, Zealots can utilize mineral patches, gas geysers, walls, cliffs and structures to create artificial chokes and deny surface area to the zerglings. A Zealot in between two mineral patches becomes a superhero, able to take on many zerglings/drones for a very long period of time and often deny mining from that patch.
• Despite being melee units, Zealots can still target fire to make themselves more effective in small groups. Target down Zerglings/drones to kill them quicker with 2-3 Zealots that all have access to the same ling, but never force Zealots to move to be able to attack.
• If you find yourself with 3-4 Zealots you can form a line to block the ramp between the Zerg's main and natural on small-choke ramps. Use reinforcing Zealots to attack the natural/spinecrawlers and deny mining while reinforcements from the main are blocked, and hold position the Zealots on the ramp. If you can get into this position, its a great time to expand and get ahead!

Transitions

The Gateway is almost always built at the choke of the Natural expansion and the opening is followed by a fast expansion protected by a Forge (creating a wall with the Gateway) and cannons. The time that the Forge and Nexus are built depends on the opponent's opening and how the game plays out until then.
Alternatively a second Gateway may be built for a two gate opening.