StarCraft II Strategies: The Offensive Nexus

Today I'm glad to be talking all about StarCraft II, a game that brings back an abundance of happy memories for me. It is the game where I met the Day[9]TV community, which I can say, without doubt and exaggeration, is perhaps the coolest community I have been a part of to date. You guys are seriously awesome, and for that you get a shout-out! I have played it on and off for the past few years, although I have only made it as far as 1v1 Platinum league, and I've been getting back into it lately, trying to brew strategies that can be safely considered unorthodox just to see how they pan out on the ladder (as well as giggle incessantly at my opponents' priceless reactions).

I will be sharing with you a strategy that I have devised and that you can take to the 1v1 ladder to see how well it does for you. Despite the fact that I originally came up with this for fun, it actually seems to be winning me most of my matches. Whether it is because it is actually a legitimate strategy or I simply played well will remain a mystery, although I'm sure someone who has mastered the art of strategy can lay the answer upon me. Regardless, if you find the StarCraft II 1v1 ladder to be intimidating, and you have somehow developed a phobia of hitting the 'Play' button, do give this guide a read, try out the strategy described, and see how hilariously badly you fail (or be surprised at how well it works)!

If you have read the title of this post, you would already have gathered what the strategy revolves around. It involves placing your second Nexus offensively, i.e. right next door to wherever your opponent is, and making use of the Mothership Core's Photon Overcharge ability to turn it into a sturdy Nexus cannon. This of course unfortunately means that you will need to be playing as Protoss, but worry not, for I will in the future write up a strategy for the Terran and Zerg players out there.

The basic strategy is to get a Mothership Core as quickly as possible, save up 400 minerals for the surprise offensively-placed Nexus, research Warp Gate, get a Forge, reinforce your offensive Nexus with a Pylon and Photon Cannons, then begin warping in Gateway units at your offensive Pylon and begin knocking on your opponent's front door with an army backed up by a Nexus cannon that can shoot targets from the other side of the world. If done right, your opponent should then be trapped on one base, unable to move away without being shot down. If done very right, your opponent will then congratulate you on pulling off the weirdest strategy, or express their dissatisfaction at losing.

The red Terran player dismisses the Nexus as being non-threatening...

...until this happens.

The build order can be found right here for you to follow. You don't have to precisely follow this step-by-step, but generally this is the order in which you will be building things:

• 9/10 Pylon
• 11/18 Chrono Boost on Nexus for Probes
• 13/18 Gateway
• 13/18 Send a Probe away to scout for the opponent's location. This will also be the sneaky Probe who will bring our second Nexus in
• 14/18 Assimilator
• 15/18 Chrono Boost on Nexus for Probes
• 16/18 Pylon
• 16/18 Put 3 Probes into Assimilator
• 18/26 Cybernetics Core
• 20/26 Mothership Core (around this time you should have 16 Probes mining Minerals and 3 Probes mining Gas, at which point stop building Probes)
• 22/26 Warp Gate at Cybernetics Core
• 22/26 Chrono Boost on Nexus for Mothership Core (use your Chrono Boost on Warp Gate from now on)
• 22/26 Offensive Nexus time!
• 22/26 Forge
• 22/26 Offensive Pylon (next to second Nexus)
• 22/26 Gateway #2
• 22/34 Photon Cannons at offensive Pylon
• 22/34 Start warping in Zealots/Stalkers at offensive Pylon

After being surprised by Photon Cannons and warp-ins, your opponent may start massing up defensive structures like Bunkers or Spine Crawlers. If this happens, build a Robotics Facility where your offensive Pylon is and start pumping out Immortals to deal with them. Most importantly, remember to keep your Mothership Core alive; if it dies you will lose your only source of reliable high-ground vision, and without the Mothership Core's Photon Overcharge, your Nexus will just be a miserable idle Nexus.

Since I'm not an expert on strategy, I shan't dabble on any further. Hope you have fun with this silly build, and remember, this shouldn't work.

Funnily enough, within minutes of uploading this blog post, I hit Platinum league using this tactic, so I guess it does work after all!