[ACX]

Hi Tiffany.

I got my ass whooped by baneling busts in PvZ (was trying to do immo-sentry all-in, and I got baneling busted ez pz). I'm thinking this is a hard counter to the immo-sentry build, but surely it can't be? It hit before I moved out as well, so it was a fairly good timing from the zerg.

What's the best thing I can do to minimize or eliminate the damage taken from this zerg build?

Tiffany...

Anyways, before getting down to the nitty gritty side of this. We need to scout it coming in the first place. First off, I wouldn't do an immortal/sentry push against a 2 base zerg because of the possibility of these kind of builds such as 2 base ling/festors, all-ins involving blings/roaches, and being caught out.

To know that the zerg is doing a 2 base play or all-in is to check whether they got their third or not. Check their 3rd at 4:30~5:00 with your probe, if no hatchery is down, there is a good chance the zerg is doing a 2 base play. After knowing this, you should rule out playing a 2 base all-in because you will be ahead if you fend whatever is incoming. There are numerous possible things the Zerg can do on 2 base, including things like nydus play so build pylons around your base.

As soon as you get your robo, get obs out ASAP and send them out to their base to scout. Build at least 2-3, and place them in key areas. This way, you can see an attack incoming and more precisely the composition.

Once you actually know a ling/bling bust is incoming, pump out those sentries. I must note that a ling/bling bust when you push out (around 10 minutes~) is quite late... so handling it should be even easier imo. If you're not confident in your ability to FF off the ramp, build Gateways for additional buffer. Once you get a good amount of sentries for FFs, their build has pretty much been nullified, it's that simple. So depending on their composition, you build accordingly:
- Blings -> Sentries,
- Roaches -> Cannons, Immortals/Stalkers,
- Lings -> Zealots.

Note that if you don't see roaches in their composition, don't get any immortals and get a robo bay fast and build colossus and get thermal lance ASAP (chrono both colossus and upgrades).

To take things further, since they invested so much in their ling/bling bust which is an all-in, they will be behind in tech and economy. Once fending off their initial attack, grab your third and get 2-3 collosus and push out, if not sooner if you see that they don't have much (with your observer).

To sum it all up, play defensive and you just need a lot of sentries to FF off the ramp.