TvP 5 Factory Mech Guide

StimmedProbe's 5-1 Mech Strategy

Introduction

Hey everyone StimmedProbe here again with another build that I have been having a lot of success with. Bio is frustrating to use vs protoss.  You have to make sure your engagement is exactly correct. If you are out of position, miss a few emps or get behind in upgrades you can lose easily, not to mention your army control has to be crisp.

Mech is a little bit more forgiving in terms of control, but requires equal or perhaps more decision making and you need good multi-tasking to execute the build below. Players of all levels can find success with the build, but it will be most effective in the hands of a masters or grand-masters player. This is a 2 base timing attack, but it is not all-in.

 

Build Order

-10 Depot
-12 Rax
-15 Marine + Orbital
-16 CC on low ground

-Large Maps/No Pressure coming -> Cut Marines at 1, double gas, depot, bunker
-Small Maps/Pressure coming -> Constant Marines, Depot, double gas, bunker
-You can watch the replays to see the slightly different openings I do on Ohana and Antiga.

[email protected] gas -> Factory (4:30 if you got double gas before depot, 5:00 if you got a depot before double gas)
-2nd bunker (Make sure you have at least 8 marines, or you will lose to a sentry bust, spread the bunkers out a bit if possible
-3rd gas
[email protected]% Factory -> Starport + 4th gas
-Tech lab on factory -> Swap starport onto tech lab
-Banshee + Cloak + 3rd bunker if needed
-Tech lab on factory -> siege tank/siege mode (this helps you survive counter-attacks, make sure your tanks are setup in nice positions)
-Finally, 4 more factories (3 tech labs, 1 reactor, ~8:30)

 

Follow-up

If you do everything right at 10 minutes you should have the following (assuming no real pressure):

-2 banshees with cloak done (1 harassing, the other on the way)
-70-80 supply
-2-3 bunkers full of marines
-5 factories (4 tech labs, 1 reactor) , 1 starport (tech lab)
-45-50 scvs, 4 refineries

Other things to note:

-After making two banshees, make a raven. This will allow your raven to store up 150-200 energy for your push. Resume banshee production after.
-Pump tanks/hellions out of your factories. Prioritize tanks, but you will have to make hellions sometimes.
-Harass with your banshees -> use them to scout a possible stargate.
-When you have 400 minerals, make a 3rd cc (around 12 mins)
-Get blue flame a minute before you move out.
-Move out at around 13-14 mins and bring some scvs along for repairs.

  

The attack

Notice how I killed only 3 workers, but I am 40 supply ahead. And this is not weaksauce 40 army supply like roaches or marines/mauds this is 40 supply in MECH up!!!

Your goal now is to get into a nice position and use your banshees and hellions like your octopus arms and the seige tanks as the core home base. Leap frog your tanks if you need to.  Make sure you cloak your banshees, and use the pdd when the battle begins. Try not to get caught un-sieged by scanning ahead. You can put your banshees with your main army, or you can send them off to harass a weak position. Very few protoss know how to split their army against a mech push + 4 banshees harassing I found. 4 banshees are much stronger than a 1 medivac drop, and have insane mobility.

 

Conclusion

This is my go to tvp mech build, and I found it very potent against most of my opponents. As long as I don't die early game because I didn't scout or skipped a bunker or two, I often straight up kill my opponent at the 14 minute mark. My mech army overpowers the protoss army with sheer strength, something that reminds me of the brood war days. The rumble of the seige tanks blasts are music to my terran ears =] Go out there and try it! If you have any questions feel free to ask them, I'd be happy to answer them!

 

Replays

Notice how little damage I do with my banshees because my opponents played very safe/standard/properly. My push still comes out over 30 food ahead. Now imagine if I got more than 2-3 probes, how strong it would be =] All opponents are GMs.

Rank 70 GM, Antiga
Opponent's Build:
1gate expansion -> 3gate -> robo -> 3rd/4th gas -> twlight/forge -> colo + charge + upgrades -> 5 gate
Description: Very standard play from my opponent. My harass does hardly any damage (3-4 probes). I push out at around 13 minutes and get into a nice position outside of the natural. My opponent has a nice arc, but I simply have too many units, and his colossus are nearly useless against the lines and lines of sieged up tanks. His army melts to mine in the final engagement and he taps out.

Rank 6 GM, Ohana
Opponent's Build: 1gate expansion -> robo -> 3gate -> 3rd/4th gas -> forge -> colo -> 5 gate

Description: Again, very standard play from my opponent. My harass gets like 1 probe because my opponent got a fast obs into my base and scouted it. The push was a bit slow to get into the sweet spot between the natural/3rd, but eventually I was able to push there, and force and engagement. Notice when my opponents army attempts to hit from a different angle I dart into his main with 6 hellions. Also, if you are able to kill all his obs, your banshees can eat up his colossus.

 

Rank 34 GM, Cloud Kingdom
Opponent's Build: 1gate expansion-> 3gate -> robo -> 3rd/4th gas -> colo (2 base stalker/colo timing attack)

Description: My opponent opened up fairly standard and did one of the best builds on this map, the stalker/colo 2 base timing attack.  Notice how even though with only 4 factories and rallying my raven like a nublet my army is still much stronger than his.  His army attempts to engage mine, but his front line evaporates in a second.  He pulls back to his natural, but my tanks get a vice grip on his natural and he is forced to engage into my fortified position.  He taps out after seeing his army disappear for a second time.