Most streamers are trying new, fancy things in LotV. Openings are adapting for the economy changes. New units are everywhere. Not Apollo. Apollo knows HotS builds, and he’s using HotS strategies. And they seem to work, more or less. It might not be the most innovative StarCraft play, but this is really helpful for us because it helps us compare timings from old HotS builds versus LotV builds.
We have some writeups from his past tutorials, though the most useful one is probably his Terran in HotS. Here’s an example build he used in TvT. It is a very standard Reaper Expand into Starport
Apollo’s HotS TvT
- 1:00 10 Supply Depot
- 1:37 12 Barracks (at ramp)
- 1:50 12 Refinery (delay next SCV slightly)
- 2:45 15 Orbital Command, Supply Depot (at ramp), Reaper (scout)
- 3:40 18 Reactor (Marine x2 when ready)
- 4:00 19 Command Center (in-base)
- 4:12 20 Factory
- 4:36 21 Marine x2
- 24 Marine x2
- 5:15 27 Starport, Hellion x2, Swap, Orbital Command
Compare this to a build he just used on stream against ForGG.
Apollo’s LotV TvT
- 14 0:20 Supply Depot
- 16 0:42 Barracks
- 16 0:52 Refinery
- 19 Reaper, Orbital Command (continuous Marines afterwards)
- 20 Command Center (at natural)
- 21 Supply Depot
- 23 2:10 Factory
- 23 Refinery
- 30 2:56 Starport (delayed because of pathing, Medivac when it’s done), Tech Lab on Factory
- 35 3:00 Bunker
- 35 Cyclone (Tank next)
- 4:26 Command Center, Barracks x2
- 4:45 Tank drop starts
- 5:30 Barracks x3
There are a few differences we have to account for between HotS and LotV builds:
1. Supply counts are about +4 from before. This begins with the Supply Depot going down at 14 instead of 10 and continues forward. This, of course, affects the minerals available, but most builds are timed out based on the tech tree, not minerals, so it works out
2. Times start about 40 seconds earlier. Because of the increase from 6 to 12 starting workers, builds start earlier. Use this as a delta on your builds.
3. The game clock is faster by a factor of ~1.4. Legacy of the Void has blessed us with a game clock that is the same as real-time, so your 15 minute game actually takes 15 minutes, not 11 minutes.
These changes lead to the build adjustment formula for HotS Terran builds to LotV Protoss builds, which I will coin as “Apollo’s First Law of Void”
LotV = (HotS – 40) / 1.4
By the way, Apollo crushed ForGG in that game. My rough analysis is that Cyclones are good in small numbers, but they aren’t a backbone to a Mech army, because mass Marines work pretty well.
Tune into Apollo’s stream if you get a chance. He’s a great player to learn from.
