I am new to SC and have seen the word cheesing tossed around, yet I haven't seen details to actual strategies that cheese. What strategies fall under this category? Can you please let me know what tactics are considered cheesing, possibly approximate percentage of games you may see who incorporate said tactics, and how they are viewed by the community? What are common counter strategies? As I am trying to learn the game, I am reading everything I can get my hands on and I don't want to use tactics that are looked upon unfavorably. Thanks for any information.
protoss 4 gate zerg 6 pool probably a lot more but dont feel like thinking. these two builds are very fast and pump out units consistently. hard to beat. zerg 6 pool is almost impossible to stop if done correctly. protoss 4 gate you just have to block your choke and tech up.
Most cheese builds are early all-in builds, meaning they sacrifice everything to try and get an early win. If the cheese fails, they will most likely lose. For Toss: Proxy cannons in enemy's base - Counter: Early T1 units asap, might have to use workers to assist - try to take out the Probe Proxy 2 gateways in enemy's base - Counter: Stop all worker production/gas and try to outproduce him, you'll gain a huge advantage by taking out his Pylons first For Terran: Proxy Barracks in enemy's base - Counter: Same as above, stop worker production and out produce All-in marines - Counter: Helps a lot if you see this coming (3 early rax, low worker count), just simply out produce him For Zerg: 6-8 pool - Counter: You should have your first T1 units out by the time his 6 lings come, use workers to surround lings Proxy Spine Crawlers + ling rush (rarely seen ZvZ) - Counter: stop any tech/FE, build lings and use your workers to take them out This is not the full list, but you should get the general idea of what cheese builds are and how to counter them.
I actually may have invented my form of cheese building (probably been done before though). As a Terran player, after getting your SCV in there base to scout bring it into a corner where they are not likely to see it. Build a Bunker as your Barracks (at choke point) finishes. Send Marines to the Bunker and also build more Bunkers ready. Get a barracks near their base and keep reinforcing. You can use your Marines to harass and get them back in the bunker when under attack. It often doesn't come to that. If you manage to get a couple of marines in early on you can pretty much hinder their production. By the time 4 marines are there it's over. It's not an all out cheese either, because your choke is blocked and you can manage your base simultaeniously (although it's more difficult). Even if it fails you've gained a lot of time before they can make any kind of push. It's not something to throw all your eggs in for though. Sometimes your SCV will be spotted and destroyed before you can reinforce the position.
cheese? its really just builds that people think are overpowered and shouldn't be in the game. scv rushing, protoss cannon rushing, or mass cannons in general... if you're rushing and in his base before the opponent has his first unit producing structure done or near done, they will probably call it cheese. any other abuse of game mechanics...
Cheeses are counterable and it's not cheap imo. If they manage to outproduce you early on and before you have any defense at all they deserve the win really.
Cheese is unpopular though because despite the occasional effectiveness, it takes away from a player's ability to play the game at higher levels. If anyone goes to cheese as their go-to strategy it is perfectly reasonable but they should know that after a while it stops working at all, and they are left without good fundamentals to fall back on. Basically if you cheese a bad player, then yeah... congrats you won. If you cheese a moderately skilled player then you are just flipping a coin (one that becomes increasingly rigged as time goes on in the other person's favor). And finally, if you cheese a good player then you concede the win.
@ jpd5184 i dont know what you are talking about... a 4 gate protoss isn't cheese, that's a standard aggressive build. cheese refers to any strategy that is considered out of the ordinary... here are some other ones that sc2strategy hasn't mentioned: Protoss stargate outside of your base and close to his, and rush a voidray 2 gateways outside of your base and close to his, and rush zealots with chrono boost warp prism stalkers in and out place a proxy pylon in their base without knowing and warp all your units in his base and attack Terran: rush 1 reaper and building a bunker in front of their hatchery/command center/nexus zerg: rush mutalisk without pumping anything else. im mainly a toss player.
Cheese is some sort of early "all-in" strategy that can be very hard to defend against, but often results in a loss if it fails. There are 5 major cheeses: Protoss - Cannon Rush Protoss player gets a forge instead of a gateway, and attempts to build photon cannons in the opponents base. Protoss - Gateway Proxy Rush Protoss player sends one of his initial probes into the opponent's base and hides his first pylon there. When the pylon is complete, he builds two gateways and then chrono boosts zealots to attack. Zerg - 6 Pool Zerg player doesn't make any drones at the start, instead he saves up and creates a spawning pool immediately, and does nothing but make zerglings and attack. Zerg - Baneling Bust Only applicable if the opponent walls off his ramp with supply depots or a pylon. Zerg player gets a quick baneling next, makes 5-7 banelings, and uses them to destroy the enemy's wall and flood in with zerglings. Terran - Proxy Reaper Rush Terran player sends one of his initial SCV's to build a barracks near the opponent's base, and at the same time get a refinery so he can get quick reapers.
I cant see how sending one reaper is cheese really, wouldint change my strategy as terran, and if they did spot my barracks then il blast off to my base, nothing much lost. Exactly. I would say this is just a measly rush, you ca use it in higher levels, wont screw you over unless you dedicate everything on it.
I don't see why 4 gate build is cheese.. I think It's standard opening for protoss players , cannon rushing on the other hand is cheese.
A "cheese" strategy is one that has a low percentage chance of working, but is fatal if pulled off successfully. Normally, these strategies are not used since, by definition, they don't usually work. However, certain circumstances increase the success percentage of "cheese" strategies, making them not so cheesy and causing victims to cry foul. In reality, there is no such thing as a cheese strategy. Everything is fair. The six pool is a good example. Normally, maps are set up so that the six pool is out of the question. Either the distance between the two bases is too great, or there are multiple starting spot options so that the 6-pooler would have to guess where to send the lings. But, in a 2v2 with only 4 starting spots, zerg allies can both 6 pool and cheese rush an unsuspecting opponent. All's fair. The double 6-pool victim has no one to blame but himself for not scouting it. Cannon rushing is another cheese strategy. Again, all's fair. Scout for it and don't whine if someone catches you sleeping. I have been playing SC for 12 years and I still get cannon rushed occasionally. Yes, I accuse the cannon rusher of being a cheese-tactic noob, but in the end it's my own fault and he walks away with a legitimate win. (Unless I hold it and come back for the win, then there is much abuse at the end of the game .)
Oh, and if someone accuses you of using a cheese strategy, they are accusing you of catching them being lazy.
How is the baneling bust cheese? That's just knocking down the wall to get into the base, it's just a counter to an otherwise very effective strategy against zerg and toss. And IMO it takes long enough so the terran gets out enough marines/marauders, except he rushes to banshees or thors himself.
A smart terran wouldn't go marauders and marines against that situation. A good terran player would go siege tanks to defend the wall, and tech up to shees.
A baneling bust is cheese because you use 300 minerals and 150 gas worth of banelings to desroy 1-2 supply depots. If the resulting attack fails, you will very likely be far behind in army count.
That's like 3 Mauraders. I wouldn't say far behind army count. A Baneling bust is not an all-in tactic.
