Starcraft – How to counter early marauders in PvT (Protoss versus Terran)

First off, you should be getting Stim before Concussive, I'll explain why in a second.

The Marauder is both a vastly overrated and underrated unit. It has pitiful dps (against anything that isn't armored) and largely exists as a meat shield for the much higher dps, much lower hp, Marines. The ideal Marine/Marauder ball is relying on Marauders to tank while Marines dish the damage. Let's take a closer look at the Marauder:

125 HP
1 Armor
10+10 damage (or 6.67+6.67 dps)

Against your average Zealot that 1 armor is going to cost him ~15% of his damage, while the much more cost effective Marines dps him down. Additionally, any Stalkers only do 70% as much dps (as the Marauder).

So Marine/Marauder is already set up nicely against Zealot/Stalker, which brings me to Stim. Marines, being your real dps here, really need Stim to help take out the slower Protoss units and it also gives them the ability to kite. Compared to that Concussive Shell is just icing. In fact, you'll see a lot of Terran (like Jinro) move out just as Stim finishes and Concussive starts, because they want to maximize the timing window Stim represents (and because Concussive's shorter build time often means it'll finish just as they start engaging).

Now you asked about earlier pushes than Stim, and the list is very short:

• Marine Rush
• Bunker Rush

Both of these plays fail against a 1 basing Protoss player. The truth is, Stim is very early, and very powerful, you're not going to find anything better before it. If you're consistently losing a Marauder heavy ball while dealing early pressure, then I suggest you reexamine your composition. Most 3 Rax play has an even amount of Marauders and Marines. Earlier pushes (like 2 Rax), tend to be very Marine heavy, with a few Marauders thrown in to act as meat shields.

I hope this helps

Short answer: Scout, detect the roach build before the Roach Warren, and change your build as necessary. Alternatively, start with marine/marauder and change to your hellion build if you detect a non-roach build.

Long answer: Let's assume you detected the Roach Warren 10 seconds after it went up.

If you detect the roach warren early enough, you can immediately throw a tech lab up (25 seconds) on your Barracks and build one marauder (30 seconds) in the same amount of time it takes the Zerg player to build their Roach Warren (55 seconds).

• 0: Roach Warren goes up.
• 10: Roach Warren detected.
• 15: Barracks starts building a tech lab; 2nd Barracks starts to be built.
• 40: Tech lab complete; Marauder 1 started.
• 55: Roach Warren complete, Roach 1-3 started.
• 70: Marauder 1, new, larva, Roach 4 started.
• 82: Roach 1-3.
• 95: Barracks 2, tech lab started.
• 100: Marauder 2. Marauder 3 started.
• 102: Roach 4.
• 120: Tech lab complete; Marauder #4 started.
• 125: Marauder 3. Marauder 5 started.

If at this point you see 4 roaches on your doorstep, you'll have 3 marauders complete (assuming a rush takes 23 seconds from when their 4th roach came out).

• 4 roaches = 32 DPS, 580 HP
• 3 marauders = 40 DPS, 375 HP

Statistically-speaking, the roaches will win without stim. If you researched stim, it'll be very close. If you had a bunker, you'd be fine.

Now, if they wait until they have 6 roaches:

• 85: Roach 5 started.
• 100: Roach 6 started.
• 112: Roach 5 completed.
• 127: Roach 6 completed.
• 150: Marauder 4 completed.
• 155: Marauder 5 completed.

Given the rush of 23 seconds, 6 roaches would appear in between your 4th and 5th marauders completing.

• 6 roaches = 48 DPS, 870 HP
• 5 marauders = 66.65 DPS, 626 HP

You're slightly better off. Without stim, it's close. With stim, you win. With a bunker or two, you are fine.

Note that this is all theory. Going for a hellion rush and having to bail out on it is not good news. Wasted time, resources, and a sense of panic can cause you to falter in this position. Even if you're able to stick to the example above, you won't be in an excellent position. You'll be forced into trying to scout to detect when the Zerg player changes their build to counter it and you'll be in a position where you're constantly reacting rather than being proactive and causing the Zerg player to react.

The best solution is to detect the roach build before the Roach Warren drops and get a head start.

If you watch a standard roach opener, you'll notice that rather than expanding after their 13/14 pool, the Zerg player is forced to save the minerals, wait until 18 to throw out the roach warren, and build up minerals for roaches rather than an expansion. When you don't see that expansion after the pool, it's a good sign that Zerg is going with a roach build. This is especially true if you do not see an upgrade happening at the spawning pool right after it is done. The upgrade happening at the spawning pool, in combination with an extractor being built early, usually hints at a baneling bust build instead.

If you swap over early, you'll be in a much better position than you would be if you waited for the Roach Warren to start building. You'll be proactive, the Zerg player will be reacting, and you'll have the upper-hand.