How do you defend 4 proxy gate zealot push?

It's a joke on steppes of war: Went scouting and saw a pylon and a gate in front of my base. Rushed my scvs to destroy the gate in the build (rax was not yet done). Then went on to produce marines and threw up 2 more rax. Suddenly I saw three new gates in the middle of the map when I went for his base. Although I tried to pump units (marauders) I didnt stand a chance when he got four zealots out. Isn't the loss of two pylons and a gateway (= 350 mins) supposed to hurt a player? I'm so much looking forward to the zealot build time nerf!

But what can I do in the meantime against a heavy 3-4 gate zealot push?

 

You could've scouted earlier (on steppes people go for all kinds of cheese) Then chase away his probe and destroy pylon.

He built those outside of your base? Then wall off, pump out marines and he's pretty much screwed. When you have enough forces destroy his gateways and then his base.

Marines can kite zealots, learn how to do it and he won't touch you.

Hell, even workers with some marines can handle a couple of zealots. And if he's cheesing he's behind economically too. I guess the mistake you made was building tech lab to get marauders, and you barely had 1, maybe 2, when what you should do is make some marines without building add on when you saw his rush.

 

Pretty much what Xern said. People DO cheese a lot on Steppes. Just have to anticipate a cheese and do some major scouting, Then adapt properly to it, like just pumping marines and getting a wall put up asap

 

Just anticipate his attack, either by scouting or guessing. Then just wall off your base with barracks and supply depots. Pump out marines, and once your reach the critical mass, they will be able to easily take down zealots.

 

Actually you are right, probably the tech lab cost me too much time, I really only had one marauder. But I thought marauders were absolutely necessary to kite zealots - esp since my micro is not so good to kite them with marines.

And would walling in and massing marines not end in me being contained forever by zealots and stalkers and him expanding and so on?

Are hellions actually good against zealots, after all they are light units?

 

Hellions are a good choice against Zealots (especially with their +15 damage upgrade) but I think your real option here is to go for Reapers. I always suggest going Reapers for Terran players (at least one). It doesn't mean you have to commit to a Reaper heavy strategy but you can at least put one out to help you scout.

This can absolutely screw an opponent if he goes for a proxy as you can harass his workers while his proxy is in the middle of nowhere. You can also churn out Reapers (with a proper wall-off) and absolutely destroy his Zealots. Win-win.

You need the tech lab anyway for your Marauders so work on the timing. Or check out some of my Terran articles.

 

Mass marines, they do pretty good against zealots once you have a decent wall

 

You need not let yourself get contained forever. You should push out quite soon, when you got a decent amount of marines/marauders/reapers, before he gets stalkers. But even if he gets stalkers, just get more marauders and push out.

 

You made the mistake of sending out a bunch of SCVs out.

While you send that many out to destroy his gate/pylons, he has all his probes still mining resources.

And marines can kite Zealots foreverrr.

 

what as zerg? are you just inable to early expand and have to be content with spines and ling/bane to counter his push? I did win one game by early expanding at a gold that he didn't see, but you can't rely on that kind of strat working, and on some maps is impossible.

 

I don't get it. I have lost four games in a row to toss now. Even if a wall in, I just can't produce marines fast enough - he always comes with 4 or 5, when I have two marines. If I get a second rax, walling in and scv production suffer. And on one occasion he just build cannons, so breaking the wall with a cannon whil massing zealots at the same time. And if I wall in completely and mass marines I risk being void ray rushed - the rays having charged up on something else, so my marines melt like butter in the sun. Toss is such a no brainer race... *yuk*

 

First of all, If he brings 4 zealots and you only have 2 marines you're doing it wrong (read: too slow). Zealots cost twice as much as marines and I even think they take longer to build (not sure about that last part). Anyway, let's say you walled off and only have 2 marines, what is he doing? Is he hacking at your supply depots while your marines just blast away? Then bring an SCV or 2 over and start repairing. Eventually he'll run (with some losses most likely) and you're free to continue massing units. If it's not safe for a push out yet just wait for a few tanks, siege them up, and then you should be able to advance in position. I know it's not ideal, but always realize that whenever your opponent does any type of tricky suprise strat (cannon rushes, proxy pylons/gateways/barracks) he has to make economic and positional sacrifices to do that. I know i'm always super pissed when I lose to that kind of stuff, but looking back I always realize I lost because I freaked out instead of capitalizing on the sacrifices my opponents made and not exploiting them. I hope that helps.