Protoss vs Terran and 1-1-1

I am starting to wonder is Protoss the weakest race in Starcraft 2. Watching the GSL SC2 tournament is hard for me as top world class professional Protoss gamers are falling left and right. Lets take a look at the recent Code A GSL August. Out of the 32 players from the Code A, 9 are Protoss, 8 Zergs and finally 15 Terrans. After the round of 32 only 2 Protoss are left. This is a really bad result for the Protoss players.

(This post is not a Balance Whine, just an opinion and view of the current PvT)

The first thing that comes to mind is most Protoss players are having an extremely hard time facing Terrans currently either in Tournaments and online game plays. Protoss win rate against Terrans stood at a measly approximately 40% win rate or even lower when facing the 1-1-1. The main culprit and reason behind the fall of Protoss players during these few weeks is the emergence of the Terran 1-1-1 all in build. If you are not familiar with the Terran 1-1-1 build, this deadly build is where the Terran player goes for a 1 base 1 Barracks, 1 Factory and 1 Starport Build. Terran players will often start off the haress with Cloak or unclocked Banshee haress followed by a large push around the 9-11 minutes mark with Marines, Siege Tanks, Banshees, SCVs and with or without Raven. This is probably the hardest build to hold as Protoss players.

During the push, Terran players will walk across the map and Siege Up the tanks outside the Protoss base or
expansion. Sometimes, the Terran player will just build Bunker to force a hard contain outside the Protoss base or other times the Terran can just attack into the Protoss army. The game often ends here.

Lets take a look at why is this build so strong.
1. Protoss players can know the 1-1-1 push is coming and still lose to it. 
This is probably the strongest point of the 1-1-1 Terran build. I have lost countless games in my online games even when I know its coming. The build itself is so strong due to the high DPS Marines and the long range of Siege Tanks.

2. Build order Lose (Banshee)
As you know Protoss players generally gets a free game lose against clocked units such as Banshees and Dark Templars if there are no detector such as Observers and Cannons. Thus, to be on the safe side, Protoss has to always prepare for the Clocked Banshee.

3. Timing
As a Protoss player, the best openings in the current PvT matchup is probably a 1 Gate expansion or 3 Gate expansion followed by a Robotics Facility. If you are opening with a 3 Gate expansion, you may have probably lost the game at the point. This is because, the Terran 1-1-1 push often times hits before your investment from your expansion kicks in. The best bet currently is probably the 1 Gate expansion as by the time this pushes come, the expansion has probably paid itself at this point.

4. Perfect play by Protoss
In order to hold the Terran 1-1-1, Protoss players has to play perfectly without making a single mistake in micro and position. A wrong move can end the game instantly. This creates a very weird scenario where the push itself is very easy to pull off by Terran players and extremely hard to hold as Protoss.

5. Terran setting up a Hard Contain
Once the Terran managed to set out a hard contain by Sieging Up Tanks and Bunkers outside the Protoss base, its basically over for the Protoss.

6. The 1-1-1 Hits Twice not Once
Even if you hold the first push, the second push consisting of basically the same unit composition of Marines, Banshees and Tanks with SCVs are as deadly as before. The outcome of the first battle is very important. If you have lots a lot of Probes, the second All in push is as deadly as the first.

1 Gate Expansion or 1 Base
Some people claims that the best bet in holding this 1-1-1 Terran push is by going 1 base for the Protoss players and others are favouring the 1 Gate expansion build. Both of these can be good. I am much more inclined towards the 1 Gate expansion build as this build is superior against most other Terran openings including 2 Barracks and 1 Rax Expansion. With the 1 Gate expansion timing, the investment from your expansion will kick in before the push comes. Thus, your main priority now is to delay the push and build up an army as fast as possible. Another critical point is during the first 7 minutes, there will be no haress or pressure. Use this time to macro up asap.

Going for the 1 Base route can be probably good against the 1-1-1 but is bad against the other builds. In the event of 1 basing Protoss, if the Terran failed to scout the expansion by Protoss and knows that the Protoss is on 1 base, the Terran can always puts down a Command Centre within his base and never attacks. The 1-1-1 push often only comes when the Protoss player expands. The Protoss will fall behind in macro and loses.

Extremely high Win Ratio favouring the Terran 1-1-1 in TvP
If you are a Terran player, I seriously recommend that you use this build as much as possible against Protoss players if you are looking for fast and easy TvP wins. The win ratio for this build is probably as high as 80% for the Terrans at the moment.

Holding 1-1-1 as Protoss

1. The best opening against the 1-1-1 is probably 1 Gate expansion build and stays on 2 gas. A total of 16 Probes on each mineral and 6 in Gas is more than enough. 38 Probes in total.

2. Try to engage the Terran as many times as possible to delay the push. Use your Stalkers Force Fields or whatever to buy yourself time in delaying the deadly push. Each time the Tank sieges up you are a way closer in holding the push.

3. A total of 4 Gates and Robotics Facility producing Immortals and Gateway units none stop. The more units you have, the higher chance of you holding this push.

4. Use your Immortals to tank the Siege Tank shots. This can get tricky at times, when the Marines are at the front dealing insane DPS to your Immortals.

5. Stalkers or No Stalkers? Some people claims that Stalkers are bad holding the 1-1-1 due to its low DPS. You always need some Stalkers to deal with the Banshees. However, I am more inclined in getting a higher Stalker count than 4-5. This enables you to delay the push from coming as much as possible by engaging the 1-1-1 army from this base to your base. You can pick off some SCVs and marines.

6. It is extremely hard to hold 1-1-1. A perfectly pulled out 1-1-1 is nearly impossible to hold in close spawn location. You need to play perfectly to defend.

7. Go all in your self. I have been trying some 4 Gate Warp Prism all in variation in my online game plays with some success. Basically with the 1-1-1 build, the Terran is at their weakest before the 6 minutes mark. Try to exploit this timing where Terran generally has only a Bunker with 4 Marines at this time. Explore yourself with Warp Prism abilities such as unit Elevating from low ground bypassing the Bunkers.

Good luck to all Protoss players out there holding the deadly Terran 1-1-1 pushes. As for Terrans try to use this build as much as possible if you are looking to be promoted into higher ladder ranks. Finally Zergs should stay laughing in the corner recalling their experience during the early release phase of SC2 when the deadly Protoss Death Ball is near unbeatable.