Starcraft 2 Protoss Build Orders

As a Protoss player, many of your strategies focus around Gateways and the units they make. This is especially true in the early and mid games, where you may not have access to more advanced units like the Void Ray or Colossus yet.

You will always build at least a single Gateway in any match. In fact, the number of Gateways you  construct is integral to your build order. Let’s take a look at one popular Protoss build order and a variant to it.

The 3Gate Robo

The basics of this build are in the name. You get three Gateways in and you also build a Robotics Bay. This build gives you some flexibility in army composition. You can get Stalkers and Sentries for anti-air and ranged attacks as well as the powerful Forcefield skill. The Robotics Bay gives you access to an early Observer, letting you scout your enemy.

More importantly, you also get access to the Immortal. This unit pulverizes armoured ground units like the Roach, the Siege Tank, and Stalkers. It also takes reduced damage, letting it live longer.

The Build Order

To execute this build, you have to follow certain directions. This is a basic build order you can change slightly to suit your playstyle.

At 9 supply, build a Pylon. At 12 supply, build your first Gateway. At 14 supply, build your first Assimilator. At 15 supply, build your second Pylon. At 17 supply, build your Cybernetics Core. As soon as this finishes, begin training a Stalker at your Gateway and researching Warpgates at the Core. Get your second Assilimator sometime between 21 and 24 supply. You need lots of gas for Stalkers and Immortals. Get your second and third Gateways up as you have the minerals to do so. Build your Robotics Bay either when you have the minerals to do so AFTER starting construction of the Gateways, or after the second and third Gateways have finished. Don’t forget to convert your Gateways to Warpgates as soon as the research has finished.

From here, you can train an Observer to check your opponent’s unit composition. If he is training units vulnerable to Immortals (like Stalkers, Roaches, or Siege Tanks) then begin training your first Immortal. Push as soon as you have two or three Immortals trained.

Versatility

This build is great because it lets you easily adapt to various situations. For example, if it turns out your opponent has gone heavily into biological units, such as in a Terran Bioball, tech up to the Colossus and train a few of them.

Against a Zerg player, you can use all the units you’ve created to expand quickly to get more minerals and gas. That’s called the 3Gate Fast Expand. Here, as soon as you have three Gateways up, you go build a Pylon and a Nexus at your natural expansion.

Where to Go From Here

From here, if you think you need more Stalkers or Zealots, just add another Gateway or two as your minerals allow.

As a Protoss player, you have to use your Gateways to their best advantage in the build order. There are other popular Protoss Gateways build orders, such as the 4Gate, that you can look into after mastering the 3Gate Robo.

After mastering some build orders, you can find information to work on the rest of your game.