Top Protoss Builds for Every Matchup

I will be showing you the most popular and top Protoss build for every matchups against Terran, Zerg and Protoss. These builds are a must know for you and deemed the most reliable builds and standard openings being used by top pro gamers in Korea and Internationally. If you plan to climb the Battlenet ladder, you should start practicing these builds and learn the main strength and weaknesses. SC2 best players like MVP, Nestea, DRG are the masters of builds. They have spend most of their time practicing the same build over and over again. When oGsFin,  (ForGG was his ID back in Brood War days) first transitioned over to Starcraft 2, he had been seen doing the same 1-1-1 build over and over again in his stream. He even use it in all the matchups. This is  how you should be practicing one build at time until you are a master in that build.

Protoss vs Terran Matchup
Let's start off with the Protoss and Terran matchup. Your main aim is to survive as long as possible and play a late game in PvT. This is due to the strength of Protoss late game army composition of Upgrades, Storm and Colossi. Terran is very efficient in the early game while Protoss in the late game. 1 Gate expand is deemed the most standard build nowadays. Long gone were the days of 3 Gate expand or 2 Gate Robo build. The main reason for the decreasing in their popularity is players are getting better in holding pressure from their opponents and larger macro maps. Thus, macro builds are preferred compared to pressure builds. This does not mean that these builds are not feasible. We can still see Gateway pressure timing builds once in a while. Sase and Naniwa are popular for
the 2 Gate pressure build with Zealot and Sentries. From the Terran point of view, 1 Barracks Gasless expansion is the standard to go build.

1 Gate Expansion   
MC, the Protoss President was the person to popularize this build during its early days. Now, 1 Gate expansion is the most commonly used build in the PvT matchup. First let's take a look at the build order.
9 Pylon (Chornoboost Probes 3 times)
12/13 Gate (Scout)
16 Pylon
17 Core
18 Zealot
22 Warpgate
22 Stalker (Chrono)
24 Pylon
26 Stalker
30 Stop Probes, Nexus, 2 Gates
*From here on the build varies from what you have scouted. You should know how to scout these builds by now. First thing to check gas or no gas by Terran. Wall or no wall. Top players can still hide their builds keeping their opponent guessing for a long time. Sending your first Zealot straight to the Terran's natural is a good way to determine his build. No point chasing the SCV around. Most Terran expand straight at the natural. If there's no expansion poke his front. If there's a Bunker, he is most likely going for a tech build either Marines/ Tanks or 1-1-1. If there's a reactor means its a 2 Barracks.

• Two Barracks Reactor Tech Lab 6:00 pressure, throw down 2 more Gates. You can delay your gas and continue to build units from your first Gateway
• 1-1-1 or No Gas Fast expanding Terran. You can get greedy here. After you put down a Nexus, continue to Chrono out Probes and get an Assimilator. Put down a Robo or 2 more Gates.
• Start preparing to defend drops from 10 minutes onwards if the Terran started with a Gasless FE.
• During the mid game, you have a choice of going for High Templars or Colossus. Each has their own strength. HT tech allows you for faster upgrades with Blink and Charge. I feel that Colossus are better at lower leagues as less micro is required. Higher league players and pros prefer the faster Twilight tech.
• You main strategy is to drag the game into 3 or 4 bases with full 3-3 Upgrades and a good mixture of Colossus and HTs. This is Protoss main strength. The late game deathball with around 16-20 Gateways. Protoss can warp in Zealots instantly during the battle for immediate reinforcement

Protoss vs Zerg Matchup
Lets start here by spending a bit of time analyzing the infamous Stephano Max Roach Army Build at the 12 minutes mark. With this build the Zerg player is on 3 Bases and having a max Roach army rallying towards the Protoss 3rd base. This is the most commonly used strategy on Battlenet now and even professional top Protoss players are falling to this pressure. However its still beatable with Godlike and perfect Forcefields and defense. Here I will be outlining on the 2 base Immortal All in build, as I feel this is a very strong strategy approach for this matchup. Zerg players are getting really good at scouting Protoss natural expansion Gases and at defending a 4 Gate +1 Zealot pressure at 8 minutes mark.

FFE into Immortal 7 Gate All in
Forge Fast Expo is the most common openings in PvZ now. So let's start with it.

• 9 Pylon (Low Ground)
• 14 Forge
• 17 Nexus, Gateway, Cannon (You can start anyway you want, even with 16 Nexus, 16 Forge)
• 18 Pylon
• 19 2xGas
• Get +1 Upgrade with first 100 gas, start +1 armor later
• Core (Upgrade WarpGate)
• When Core is done Build Sentries non stop and get a Robo
• 3rd and 4th Gas (Fully saturate both your bases)
•  When Robo done Build 3 Immortals and 1 Warp Prism
• 6 more Gateways
• You should be moving out during the 10 minutes mark with around 8 Sentries 3 Immortals and continue warping in units.
• The key to this build is good Force Fields on the Roaches. If you can land some money Force Fields, the Zerg is as good as dead.

Getting up a 3rd base can be hard in PvZ due to the popularity of the Stephano Max Roach build. However it can still be done with 6 Gate and a Robo with Twilight for +2 and Blink putting down the 3rd and then additional Gateways. You need to split your army properly and has some perfect Force Fields to survive. If you manage to secure your 3rd after holding off the Roach Pressure. It is time for you to build up the death ball. The key here is to hit before Zerg has Broodlords. This is their most vulnerable timing. Zerg will be planting down lots of Spine Crawlers to delay your push. So find a good spot to engage and kill him before Broods. If game goes on, Mothership with Archon toilet is the only way to go against the Max Zerg Infestor Broodlord army.

Protoss vs Protoss Matchup
Robo build is very common now. Either you opt for the 3 Gate Blink with Obs build or Robo openings. Robo builds skew towards the defensive aspect while Blink allows you to be aggressive. Expanding in PvP can be risky at times. However, maps such as Shakuras that allows 2 Force Fields to block off the ramp is a good example of expanding earlier. PvP is all about Robo>Twilight>Stargate>Robo. This is the circle where Robo build has an advantage over Twilight, while Blink/ DT builds rolls over Stargate. Stargate with Phoenix can often destroys Robo player with good timing.

• 9 Pylon
• 12 Gate
• 14 Gas
• 15/16 Pylon
• 17 Core, Zealot, Stalker
• 18-20 Gas (Early gas is very common now as 4 Gate is not as deadly anymore)
• Robo, Gate, expand (You need a few Sentries to help you defend your natural)
• Nexus done 2 more Gates and Robotics Bay
• Your aim is to have Colossus with 6 Gate available at 2 bases.

Thus, this concludes what are the best builds currently for Protoss in every matchup in SC2. Try these builds yourself and practice until you are familiar with them. Learn the strengths and weaknesses of each build and you are on your way to becoming a better player. Who knows you may be the next MC.