[cure]

Answering multi-prong aggression with multi-prong aggression.

Most Protoss players lose to Terrans because of multi-pronged aggression. Their solution ? More static defenses and leaving more units lying around, leaving them more vulnerable to huge frontal pushes.

Theres a difference in the mechanics between both races. For a Terran's marine drop or widowmine drop to be effective, the Terran has to look at his drop, whereas for a 4zealot or 3zealot 1DT drop, you can just 1a the units and focus more on one front, assuring that you land better forcefields. Most Terrans, even at high levels can only kite effectively on 2 fronts while keeping strong macro.

Lets theorycraft a situation where the Terran would attack you with a small pack of units at your 3rd base, a drop in your main, while attacking you in your front.

The conventional method of dealing with this would be to have 4-6 stalkers in your main to catch the dropship, warping in units at your 3rd base to deal with the small pack of units and to defend your front with the bulk of your army. After the attack, if you have better multitasking and come out ahead, you can choose to go aggressive.

Lets look at the damage this would effectively deal and the amount of APM it would require from both sides to come out cost effective in this trade.

First avenue of attack, the drop:
Protoss POV : Focus medivac and warp in units to defend
Terran POV : Boost + Drop

Second avenue of attack, the attack on the 3rd:
Protoss POV: Warp in zealots + Photon overcharge
Terran POV: 1a

Frontal push:
Protoss POV: Forcefields, storm, blink, etc.
Terran POV: EMP, Kiting, Focus fire with vikings, etc.

Now lets look at another situation where you opt to take a different approach. As soon as you see the drop incoming on the minimap, you warp in 2 zealots with a proxy pylon (which you should ALWAYS make. It spots for drops and opens the possibility of offensive warpins / runbys) at his 3rd base and rally them to the mineral line of his 3rd via right-click, you send in a warp prism into his main base with 4 zealots and you engage into the Terran army.

Note: You can use shift rallies to ensure that the units go in at the same time.

At this very moment in the game, after you've sent the warp prism and zealots in via shift rally, the amount of APM you would require would be the same, but for the Terran, he would have to watch:
- His main base
- His 3rd base
- His dropship
- His units at your 3rd
- His frontal push
- His unit production
ALL AT THE SAME TIME

Like I've stated earlier, it is not humanly possible to be able to micro on that many fronts at once while keeping your macro intact. So somewhere here, you would definitely be able to deal damage, whether it be him missing production cycles or not watching his army. All the points listed above might be gamechanging, and by answering his aggression with even more aggression, you might be able to distract his focus and force mistakes. When he tries to look home to save his SCVs, he lowers his focus on the main frontal battle and the drops coming into your base. I assume you know how punishing it is for a Terran to sit in the full duration of Psi Storm, and making him look back home for a few seconds might just do that for you. Also, if you opt to use DTs instead of zealots and your opponent has no detection at home, you will definitely gain a huge lead as DTs require alot more effort to deal with compared to standard zealot warpins. The main point of this, is that the APM required from your opponent will be much more compared to what you will need to come out EVEN in this exchange. Hence, taking the lead and eventually winning the game.