I keep getting rushed by Reapers... help!

In my last couple games as Protoss, I keep getting rushed by 5-10 Reapers at the beginning, which screws my economy. I try to build early defenses i.e. pcannons and dragoons... or whatever they're called now, to prevent this but they always seem to get around it and wipe my harvesters and sometimes destroy my base. Plus zealots are worthless before the speed upgrade, and its tough for the dragoon things w/o blink upgrade. Is there something specific I should do or do I just need to get better in general? Any advice much appreciated.

 

A lot of Protoss players will skip the first Zealot and just get Stalkers out straight away because of the chance of a Reaper rush. Keep them near your mineral line because that's where they are most likely to attack. You might have to chrono-boost that Stalker to get it out before the first Reaper comes, but I'm not sure since I don't play Protoss that much.

 

Over anything make sure you scout his base to find out if he has gone for the early gas. If he has, expect a Reaper rush and pump out Stalkers.

To protect the mineral line you could put a few cannons near your resource line.

One other strategy which is a slight cheese is to proxy build just outside his base and get a rush in of your own. It's risky but if you can keep the pressure on you can over-run him.

 

ok thanks, I think I might just switch to Terran because its a relatively simpler race to manage. I'm still relatively new to Starcraft, and I think Ptoss takes more micro-managing/is more complicated.

 

Caiaphas' advice is good.

I go pylon on 8, gateway on 12, gas on 13. When the gas is up, put 2 probes on gas. When the gateway is up, immediately make a cybernetics (no zealot first). Once your cybernetics is warping in, make 1 zealot (as long as it doesn't interfere with your probe and pylon production). As soon as your cybernetics is finished, queue 1 stalker.

If he proxy Reaper rushes you, he could get 1 reaper into your base before the stalker comes up. It's ok. Just send the zealot to attack it. He'll run away and you won't be able to kill it, but you're really just buying time until your stalker comes up. Once you have a stalker, put everythig in your mineral line. Queue another stalker or two, he won't be able to hurt you.

If he is coming with 5–10 reapers, you should have plenty of stalkers, and maybe even a sentry or two. Group your stalkers and focus fire on one reaper. Pick them off one at a time and don't let him lure you away from your minerals. If you do have to leave your mineral field to chase him (becuse he's wasting one of your buidings), leave a stalker or two in the mineral line.

Bottom line--don't be discouraged when this happens. As annoying as it is and as much as it slows you down, it slows him down more. It's harder to micro the reapers than the stalkers, and since everything is happening in your base, you can build while the harrass is going on. He has to divide his attention between his base and yours. As long as you don't lose many workers, the harrass actually slows him down more than you.

 

A Terran can produce a Reaper faster than a Toss can make a Stalker. However, if you go straight Stalker, you can probably have yours out by the time his first Reaper gets to your base.

You should have NO problems taking a reaper out with a Stalker. You can also use your workers to trap the Reaper in.

 

cannons don't work well against reapers. I play zerg not toss so my towers are a little crappier but in 2 games last night I built 3 in my mineral line to defend against the early game reapers. those guys do so much damage against buildings it's crazy, a small group of 3 reapers can one shot a tower.

go with something ranged like the stalkers others are suggesting.I know it's hard to get them out in time but that's about the best bet.

 

Yeah, don't get cannons. It's too much money to spend on static defenses. Oh, and I don't know if Terran is a simpler race to manage. At least that's what I feel whenever I play Protoss. Terran has so many buildings to deal with when they are macroing because of different add-ons and different production buildings. Maybe the micro is easier though, it depends. I just like Terran because it's what I started with.

 

Forget cannons. Get stalkers. Reapers have too good range with theire bombs for you to be able to costeffectively cover everything. If you are unlucky he can snipe a pylon powering 2 cannons at the nexus and then you have just wasted all those minerals. Stalkers are mobile and protect the entire base. First get stalkers near your nexus and when you have a few, maybe 5, keep 2 at the edge and 3 at the nexus or something like that. If you have all stalkers at the nexus he might be able to snipe pyllons powreing your gateways if you have them placed at the entrance. I guess how you place your stalkers depend on how you build your base but definately get stalkers and not cannons.

 

if its only 1 or 2 reaps get ur probes into as surround posiition to quickly eliminate, usually i suffer very little loss

 

I have to laugh on this one as I got caught with this yesterday and I didn't even realize the reaper was back there sniping my probes, lol. I was so wrapped up in the macro of my base my team mate had to come over with some zealots and kill the reaper for me. By the time I realized what was going on I had like 5 probes left, lol talk about feeling like a noob.

 

scout him and find out if he gets a techlab on his barrack right away, chrono boost that stalker and basically you need half the amount of stalkers to his reapers. micro them

 

on some maps there is only one entry point for reapers to climb the cliff, block it off with buildings or place some units there, that way when they jump onto the cliff they get slaughtered easy.

 

You can try paying a little more attention to where you place your cannons. You should have around 2-3 cannons up by the time a single reaper reaches your base, if you're smart.

Place them around the edges of your mineral flow, especially on the sides that reapers love to hang out in, then build a few stalkers to back up the position in case they get overrun.

Just don't leave your mineral flow guarded by one or two cannons. Reapers will rape that. 3 minimum, if you think it's going to be a problem.