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1 Rax Marauder (vs. Protoss)

From Liquipedia StarCraft 2 Wiki


[e][h]Terran1 Rax Marauder (vs. Protoss)
A Stalker must retreat because it auto targets the SCV instead of the Marauder.
Strategy Information
Creator(s):
Matchups:
TvP
Type:
Opening
Popularized by:
[[Terran qxc]]

Overview[edit]

1 Rax Marauder is an aggressive TvP opening for Terran, involving fast Marauders with Concussive Shells allowing the Terran player to expand or tech aggressively. It tries to take advantage of fast tech or fast expand openings where the Protoss player has few units. Attacking with the scouting SCV provides bonus health to the Marauder by acting as a shield and distracting the unit AI, requiring the Protoss player to micro to damage the Marauder.

Goal[edit]

The goal of this build is to trade armies with the Protoss player in small numbers, when Terran units are extremely cost-effective, allowing you to expand or tech safely. Against Protoss builds that cut early Gateway units, this build has the secondary goal of dealing economic damage or harassing buildings.

Basic Build Order[edit]

Notes[edit]

Please note that in order to arrive with your first Marauder on time, these buildings must be made as soon as possible once the necessary supply is reached.

On a related note: if the Refinery is not made as soon as possible once the first Barracks has begun, it will be necessary to wait for gas in order to build the Tech Lab.

The Calldown: Supply is necessary because in the gap between 13 and 17 supply, the Marauder opening harassment begins and it is imperative to use the 100 minerals to pay for the extra Marauder from the Barracks.

Reinforce your attack with as many Marauders as you can in the early stages of the harassment so that the Protoss will be forced to meet your threat with even more Stalkers, which cost 25 minerals, 25 gas, and 12 seconds more per unit. This will at the very least delay his tech, provided that you present yourself as a proper threat to him.

At 26~28, the choice of Barracks, Factory, or Command Center is determined by whichever you feel is appropriate for entering the mid game.

Scouting[edit]

The primary thing to watch out for when Scouting the Protoss is the timing on the Cybernetics Core and Stalker:

  • If the Protoss goes 1 Gate Core, it is likely that he is aware of this opening strategy and will Chrono Boost Stalkers as soon as possible to gain a numerical advantage and discourage containment.
  • On the other hand, if the Protoss goes 2 Gate Core, it is unlikely that your opponent will be able to meet the Marauder force with enough Stalkers in time once the harassment begins (unless he saved his Nexus energy so that he can Chrono boost both of his Gateways at once).
  • In the event that the Protoss attempts an FE — in which case your opponent was most likely unaware of your opening — the Marauder harassment will be extremely effective due to the lack of Protoss defenses and will therefore most likely result in an early GG.

Execution[edit]

The primary goal of the opening phase of this build is to establish an early containment so that it can either be safe to FE or to tech, whether it be to Siege Tanks, in which case it is advisable to push your way into the Protoss main for the win, or Banshees, in which case it is advisable to use them as a way to split or otherwise draw away the Protoss forces — most likely by attacking the mineral line — so that the Marauders can move and tighten the containment.

Micro[edit]

The opening phase of this build may demand an intense level of micromanagement in order to properly harass the Protoss once Stalkers are discovered. Because it is impossible to kite them, as Marauders and Stalkers have the same range, it is advisable to play conservatively once the Protoss reveals his Stalkers until the Concussion Shells have finished researching, at which point it is imperative to chase the Protoss forces deeper into their main. On top of that, the Protoss may build a Zealot to perform the same duty as your SCV: a human shield. Such a situation will make micromanagement much more involved.

If the Protoss Stalkers outnumber the Marauders when Concussion Shells have finished, it is advisable to abandon the harassment and setup a containment whilst still producing Marauders to make up for the lack of numbers. It is unlikely that the Protoss will pressure outward at this point when he realizes that the Concussion Shells will prevent him from retreating without losing too many of his forces. If your opponent notices that they have a significant number advantage over your remaining Marauders, though, your opponent will most likely force you to retreat to your base and take map control from you.

Also, note that it is important to keep the scouting SCV alive — preferably at full health — so that it can serve as a shield (because the AI will target SCVs before Marauders in many situations if not directly told to attack the Marauders) for the initial Marauder harassment, thus prolonging the lives of the Marauders and making them more cost-effective. If the scouting SCV dies, cut an SCV from the mineral line to join the first Marauder on the way to the Protoss main.

Lastly, it is a good idea to retreat your Marauders temporarily when reinforcements are arriving from the Barracks so that you can continue the harassment with even more forces.

Adaptation[edit]

When the Protoss becomes aware of the Marauder opening, your opponent will abandon any economy-centered opening strategy and be forced to invest in Stalkers. your opponent will either try to play aggressive in order to prevent containment before the Concussive Shells have finished, or turtle on your opponent's ramp and eventually tech to either High Templar, which your opponent will use to chase you away with Psi Storms, or Void Rays, which your opponent will most likely use to harass your mineral line. In order to know what your opponent is going after your containment has been set up, use the Orbital Command's Scanner Sweep ability on the Protoss base once the initial fighting begins to die down.

Note: If the Protoss is aggressive, or believes that you are not assertive enough to keep them on their toes with the containing forces, a Warp Prism drop could occur, forcing you to call back your containing forces.
If you Scan and see a Robotics Facility or a Stargate, make sure to build the necessary Missile Turrets or Vikings in response

As in Brood War, the most natural choice after completing the initial containment is to expand, in which case this build will turn into 1 Rax FE. However, the Siege push is advisable if an early win is desired and the Protoss is far behind going into the mid game. The Marauders can either maintain the containment or provide a human shield for the Siege Tanks.

If this build has ended up putting you behind (probably because the Protoss cheesed or because you were too aggressive with your Marauders against his fast Stalkers), the most advisable course of action is to switch back to Marines and try to produce a Reaper or two with which to pressure or harass the Protoss while you try to setup a transition into the mid game and rebuild your forces.

It will be unlikely that an expansion can be made for some time if the Protoss has broken your containment. Therefore a transition to the Siege Expand build, which is frequently used by Tarson when playing against an unknown Protoss build, with roughly 5 Marines and 1 Marauder for every Siege Tank allows an attempt to expand as soon as possible. This offsets economic losses due to the lost Marauders in the opening.

Please note that in this scenario, the Protoss will most likely gain map control and force you into a turtling situation... however as Terran this will not be so bad of a position going into the mid game.

... and of course there is always the follow-through mid game strategy of going for a Barracks-heavy build where you simply try to overwhelm the Protoss. After all, there will already be at most 2 Barracks available by the time for the mid game transition.

Maps[edit]

Pro features[edit]

Maps where early aggression from the Protoss is discouraged are precisely where this build shines the most. Maps without a ramp at the main entrance (like Kulas Ravine) also gives a big advantage to the aggressor, as the Marauders will not have their line-of-sight hindered by any high ground.

Con features[edit]

Intuitively, maps where the Protoss is encouraged to invest in military — particularly Stalkers — in the opening stages of the match are precisely where this build requires the most amount of attention to micromanagement in order to pull off successfully.

Notes[edit]

This build has been performed at least once in a Tournament by the player qxc, a successful Terran player. LzGaMeR also uses this build rather frequently when playing against Protoss on his stream.