1 Gateway Hold Expand (PvT)

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1 Gate FE (vs. Terran)

Matchups:	PvT
Type:	Opening
Creator:	kcdc, Markwerf, Knickknack
Popularized By:	Tester, Day[9], kcdc

Overview

This build is a surprisingly stable fast-expand build that will come out ahead against standard early-game pressure builds utilised by Terran players. While only 1 Gateway seems too little to hold off early-game Terran pressure, especially 2rax Reactor/Tech-Lab pressure, it does manage to survive and come out on top. This is due to the use of Chronoboost on the Gateway instead of on Probes or on Warpgate Research. If needed, Probes can also be pulled from the expansion's mineral line to aid defence as even with heavy probe losses you're still economically ahead of any Terran who puts on early-pressure.

Goal

The overall goal of the build is to expand quickly whilst also having a formidable defence against any early-game Terran attacks. This leads to an incredible economic advantage which quickly out-produces any one-base all-in the Terran might decide to commit to, whilst being economically ahead of or equal to any Terran fast-expand.

Basic Build Order

Basic Build
9 Pylon 13 Gateway 14 Gas 16 Pylon 17 Cybernetics Core 18 Zealot @100% Cybernetics Core: Stalker (Chrono), Warpgate Research (Chrono). 24 Pylon 26 Stalker (Chrono) 30 Nexus You May Need To Briefly Cut Probes At 33 33 Gateway 33 Robotics Facility 33 Pylon Resume Probe Production

See SC2planner build order (1 Gate FE)

Notes

• Your supply count may vary depending on the cleanness of your play and any loss of units (scouting Probes, for example).
• Depending on how pressured you feel upon getting your second Gateway, building a third Gateway after the Robotics Facility may be helpful. This gives you the option of cutting probes for additional units should they be needed to hold a push. If you intend to continuously build Probes, two Gateways and a Robotics Facility is optimal.
• It is important to place all of your buildings (except for the Nexus, of course) inside your main base. This way, if you need to sacrifice your natural then you're not going to lose any additional structures. Because of this, you should make sure that one Pylon can warp-in from your high-ground main to your low-ground natural to aid reinforcements against attacks.
• Feel free to harass with your first Zealot and Stalker if you feel comfortable doing so. The longer you can prevent an attack or expansion from the Terran, the better a position you will be in. The wealth of scouting information this poke provides, coupled with damage to Marines and structures, make this a very good idea. Bringing along a Probe to spot reduces the danger that Marauders with Concussive Shells will kill either the Zealot or Stalker. Be weary of fast Reapers if you choose to move out with your first Stalker, as you may lose a lot of Probes before your second Stalker is ready.
• Place your fourth Pylon near the cliff overlooking your natural expansion. This should preferably be in the direction that your opponent will retreat, rather than closer to your ramp. This will allow you to warp-in units behind their retreat path, giving you a chance to surround them.

Scouting

• You may scout after your first Pylon or after your first Gateway. Scouting later gives you an economic advantage, scouting earlier gives you more chance of getting inside your opponent's base should they choose to wall-off.
• If you scout that the opponent may be going for a fast Marine/SCV cheese, or any other early one-base all-in, you should choose a safer expansion build such as a 2gate Fast-Expand, 2gate Pressure Expand or a 2gate Robo Expand.
• In cases where no fast cheese is incoming, adapt your build using the transitions listed later in this guide.

Execution

Defending the Natural Expansion Against Early Pressure

• Defending your natural may take a lot of effort against any early Terran pressure such as the 2rax Reactor/Tech-Lab push or the 3rax Stim all-in. This may potential require you to pull Probes from the natural expansion in order to defend. Remember that losses of five or six probes will leave you at an economic advantage.
• If the opponent's pressure involves Marauders, it is best to target fire them down first. Stalkers can then be used to kill small numbers of Marines incredibly cost-effectively (often without taking any hull damage), assuming you have good micro.
• Letting the Nexus tank damage is nearly always a good idea as it can help delay for more units, or delay in order to get a better engagement. In the worst of cases, and especially against Marine/SCV all-ins, sacrificing your natural and Forcefielding your ramp may be necessary.

Harassment Prevention

• Early game, it is useful to have a Stalker in your main-mineral line if you cannot scout them quickly enough to confirm there will not be an early Reaper sent to your base.
• Ensure that you are placing important buildings in the area between your main base and your natural. This will help prevent both early and late-game drops from easily killing off your important tech structures.
• Later in the game, placing Pylons around the edge of your bases, putting an Observer on their main army, putting Observers and Pylons along obvious flight-paths, and using mulitple control groups for your army will all help prevent drop harassment.

Adaptation vs. All-Ins

vs. 1/1/1 All-Ins

Signs: Fast double-gas (before 20 supply), fast Factory, slow/no Barracks add-on, no Marauders built.

If you scout or suspect a 1/1/1 then you need to ensure that you get your Robotics Facility before 6:00. This is due to the threat of Cloaked Banshees. You should then chronoboost out two Observers, one for defending your Probes and one for scouting the Terran to see what they are up to:

• If your Observer scouts that they are going for a 2port Marine/Banshee all-in (2 Starports with Tech-Labs attached) then cut Probes when your second mineral line is saturated (~38 Probes). You should build a Stargate in order to build Phoenixes. A Zealot/Sentry/Phoenix composition will work very well against this type of all-in as your Zealots can kill Marines very cost-effectively (especially if Forcefields and Guardian Shield are properly used) and your Phoenixes can kill the Banshees very cost-effectively. Be careful about your Observer positioning - if the Terran snipes your Observer(s) with a Scan then you will have no answer to the Cloaked Banshees.
• If your Observer scouts that they are going for a 1/1/1 build (1 Starport with a Tech-Lab, 1 Factory with a Tech-Lab) then cut Probes when your second mineral line is saturated (~38 Probes). As there will not be as many Banshees out as in the above scenario, you should rely on Stalkers to kill Banshees. However, you will want to make as few Stalkers as possible (2 per Banshee) as the Terran will be relying more on Siege Tanks and Marines for damage output, the first of which are incredibly good against Stalkers. Focus on Zealot/Sentry/Immortal production from 5 Gateways and one Robotics Facility, and ensure you engage with Guardian Shield up and with good Forcefields for trapping Marines.

vs. 3rax Stim All-Ins

Signs: Only one gas taken, no expansion taken by 6:00, 3rax on one-base, Tech-Lab on first Barracks, Marauders.

This can be tricky to stand up against as the Terran's timing-attack with Stim is very strong. This will require good micro and pulling Probes off the natural is almost inevitable (especially if they bring their SCVs). Aim for a Zealot/Sentry composition once you've scouted that they're staying on one base and have built a Marauder. You may also want to make a faster-than-normal third Gateway, cut Probes and focus on making units as this is an all-in from the Terran; if you survive then you should be miles ahead.

Transitions

There are a number of transitions available to you assuming neither of the all-in scenarios given above are occurring. Your transition will depend heavily on what the Terran is choosing to do, so these transitions will be grouped based on what composition your Observers scout the Terran player building:

Against Standard Bio-Centric Play

Against Marine/Marauder/Medivac play, it is important that your army contains a unit capable of dealing splash-damage. This is as Gateway units alone cannot kill a bio-ball once it gets too large, mostly due to the effectiveness of Medivac healing and stim-kiting.

Chargelot/Templar

By slowly stopping the production of Stalkers in favour of High Templar with Psionic Storm, you can dominate almost every Terran bio-centric build up until the point where Ghosts are out. This is because the splash-damage provided by Psionic Storm is incredibly effective against a standard Marine/Marauder/Medivac composition and because Chargelots prevent the Terran from being able to stim-kite as efficiently whilst retreating.

The use of Feedback should also not be under-estimated. Using Feedback to prevent Medivacs from healing can make a Terran Marine/Marauder/Medivac army much less cost-effective, and Feedback can also be used to deflect Medivac drops by using Feedback to kill the Medivacs before they can drop their units.

As High Templar with Psionic Storm are the slowest of any transition available, you may be left without splash-damage against mid-game Terran attacks. In these situations, aiming for a Chargelot/Archon composition can be beneficial as the Archons will at least provide you with some splash-damage.

If the Terran starts to heavily counter your Templar with Ghosts and is neglecting to make Vikings, switching into Colossus production can be incredibly effective.

Colossi With Range

Similar to the High Templar transition, you're aiming to use the Colossi for splash-damage against a standard Marine/Marauder/Medivac composition. The difference here is that you can make use of your existing Robotics Facility to produce Colossi, which is faster than transitioning into High Templar. This is helpful if you are worried about a mid-game push by Terran and you need more than just Gateway units to hold it.

If the Terran starts to heavily counter your Colossi with Vikings and is neglecting to build Ghosts, switching into Chargelot/Archon or Chargelot/Templar production can be incredibly effective.

Against "Sky Terran" Builds

It is very rare that a Terran player will go for an air-centric build. Should they choose to do so (usually indicated by a 2port Banshee opening), there are two main options available to you:

Mass Air (Phoenix/Void-Ray/Carrier)

This transition is extremely effective if the Terran player goes for heavy air presence, and even more so if they intend on producing a lot of Banshees. To counter Banshees you only need build 1 Phoenix for every 2 Banshees (1:2), but if Terran responds by building Vikings then you will need superior numbers - or Blink Stalker support - to win the air war.

Once you have won the air war, Phoenixes can camp the Terran's production facilities to kill any air-unit as soon as it is produced, or to lift and kill any ground unit that the Terran might try to transition into. Using Graviton Beam to kill workers is another option.

Because of the effectiveness of Vikings against Carriers and Void Rays, Carriers and Void Rays are not a recommended transition unless you can ensure that you have enough Phoenix/Stalkers to fend off Vikings.

Blink Stalkers

It is worth noting that you can use Blink Stalkers to create a highly mobile army against any Terran air-play. However, they do not cost-effectively kill Banshees, meaning that either Templar (for Feedback) or Phoenixes will be required should the Terran start to mass too many air-units.

What Blink Stalkers do is give you many opportunities to harass due to their mobility. Combined with an Observer, you can quickly Blink into a base, deal considerable damage, and then Blink right back out again. You can also bypass destructible rocks to attack from unexpected angles.

Against "Mech Terran" Builds

As with "Sky Terran" builds, it is unlikely you will come across a Terran player going for this composition. This is as Protoss possesses unit compositions that are incredibly effective against the majority of mech-units.

Chargelot/Archon/Templar

Chargelots can quickly close the distance on Siege Tank lines, making them very good against Siege Tanks. Against Thors, Chargelots will quickly surround and kill any repairing SCVs and subsequently kill the Thor. Chargelots can be weak against Hellions, especially with the Blue-Flame upgrade, but this requires more micro from the Terran than it does from you.

Archons will help against Marine/Tank compositions by dealing splash-damage to the Marines. They will also be able to deal splash-damage to repairing SCVs. Blue-Flame Hellions are equally uneffective against Archons.

The Templar's psionic storm ability is useful in the same ways Archon splash-damage is. Feedback can also be used against Thors to incredible effect.

Chargelot/Immortal

As above, Chargelots are very good against mech-units.

Immortals, with their Hardended Shield ability, are very good against Siege Tanks and Thors as this ability negates a large amount of their damage output; Immortals also deal large damage to these units if effectively target-fired.

Maps

Pro features

• Long Rush Distances: The longer you have to establish yourself the better position you will be in.
• Easily Defended Natural: By having an easier time defending your natural, you will be more likely to hold it against a push. It will also make dealing with any kind of harass that much easier.

Con features

• Short Rush Distances: While not impossible, short rush distances make the likelihood of having to sac your natural higher.
• Awkwardly Defended Natural: There are many types of awkward natural to defend. A natural that is far from your main will be harder to hold against harass from Banshees, drops or Reapers, while a wide and open natural will give the Terran player more opportunities to kite.

References

• See kcdc's original thread for more information on how the build developed.
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