Strategy Tutorial: The Protoss Bisu Build

First and foremost, what is commonly referred to as the ‘Bisu Build’ is a method by which You, the Protoss player, makes life a real pain for Your Zerg opponent. By doing so You get an early lead, enabling You to secure all the resources and advantages necessary to win later while the Zerg player is combusting with despair. It’s not a strategy by which You win right away. That’s the basic idea.

For detailed build orders, video tutorials and a strategy podcast - follow the links. Read below to find out more about what the ‘Bisu Build’ actually is and how it works.

So how is it achieved, where does it come from and why does Bisu – the only progamer in the world who would look at home in a boyband – get all the credit? Let me start with the last bit.

In what now seems like a very distant past, one fearsome Zerg ruled the entire realm of Starcraft. His name was IPXZerg but is better known as sAviOr – though he was truly more akin to an ultimate tyrant, being unstoppable in his might. He is one of very few progamers to have been called a bonjwa – unrivaled dominator of the scene. No one could stop him, least of all anyone playing Protoss. That is, until Bisu unveiled his hidden dagger.

Technically speaking, what has become known as the Bisu Build should be attributed to the player Daezang, but it was the young Bisu who used this strategy to take down the mighty sAviOr and made himself known as ‘The Revolutionist’, and one of the best Protoss players to have ever lived. In the videos below, You may watch how it all went down back in early 2007.

The Bisu Build is all about harassing a Zerg player’s economy to the point where he or she cannot possibly catch up with the Protoss, leading to a win for the latter in the later stages of the game. It’s not designed to destroy the opponent right away.

In short, the Bisu Build dictates that the Protoss makes an early expansion that contains gas (i.e. not a mineral-only expansion because this strategy is costly in Vespene gas) and fortifies it with Photon Cannons. You then quickly construct a Starport and build Corsairs by which You scout and hunt the Zerg’s Overlords – as well as defend against Mutalisks. You then get a swift Templar Archives and deploys Dark Templars – which can successfully take out Drones in the Overlord-less Zerg bases.

Combining Corsairs with Dark Templars is of course nothing revolutionary in itself, people figured that one out the first day the Brood War expansion set was released. However, Zerg players found ways of dealing with that – it was only through the systematic thought and exact details of the Bisu Build that an ultimate window of opportunity could be opened and used to achieve victory.

Returning to the fall of sAviOr, his style of play was based on massive and fast early expansion – he used to take an overwhelming amount of bases early on and then overpower the Protoss opponents. The Bisu Build was designed to specifically counter that strategy, since the extreme mobility of a Corsair armada is all the more lethal if the Zerg spreads out his or her bases. With the Overlords out of the way, the Dark Templars could freely roam, forcing sAviOr to spend all his resources on defense – which only put Bisu further ahead in the game.

Nowadays, professional Starcraft has continued to evolve and Zerg players seldom use the strategies that were sAviOr’s rise and fall alike. They have dealt with the original Bisu Build in new ways; expanding less and getting early Scourge, for example. However, the Corsair-Dark Templar combination is an incredibly powerful one, and every aspiring Protoss player out there ought to know it, because it’s the purest form of the strategy.

As always, for exact details and instructions, we turn to Liquipedia. Listed below You find the best and most current variations on the theme, including many deviations from the actual Bisu Build, such as the Corsair-Reaver strategy. It’s important to remember, however, that an exact build order is only a helpful aid in winning games – what You really need is an understanding of the idea behind Your overall strategy.

The idea behind the Bisu Build is early harassment of the Zerg economy as well as containment through intimidation. You make him or her fear You, staying behind heavy defences in the base, not daring to move out while You seize the entire battlefield. The details may change over time, but that idea never goes out of style. Sounds fun, right?

Build orders:

From Liquipedia:
Fast Expansion - the basic building block for the Bisu Build, which hence can only be performed on maps with suitable natural expansions

The Bisu Build - the recommended way to pin back a Zerg player in the base while You get Dark Templars and win with style

Variations:
Sair/Reaver - i.e. a Corsair armada with Reavers in Drop Ships, a strategy that is designed to quickly destroy Zerg expansions. It requires a lot of speed and multitasking ability from You as a Protoss player, but its a hardcore way of winning

Archon-Zealot Push - a quite different approach, based on the same initial Fast Expansion strategy, where You get quick Archons and upgraded Zealots to fight the Zerg with force early in the game. The purpose is to crack a Zerg that deploys a large number of low tech units early on with the intention of overrunning the Protoss defenses before the late game tech kicks in, ‘Sauron style’. The Archon-Zealot push is one big hammer in the face of such a strategy

DAY[9]’s podcast

A New Look at Build Orders - presents the appropriate way to think about build orders to allow for flexibility and understanding. Length: 34:18
Here Sean ‘Day[9]‘ Plott talks not about specific builds or strategies - but how to see the bigger picture behind every game, and use that to win

Video Tutorials

Bisu vs Savior
From the GomTV MSL Season 1 2006-07 - with strategic analysis and commentary by Starcraft scholar Sean ‘Day[9]‘ Plott and Protoss progamer Tyler ‘NonY’ Wasieleski. All explained in voice and video

Fast Expand/Bisu Build explained
In this video with strategic commentary by scTeamRune, a non-progamer performs the Bisu Build on the map Blue Storm. For a slower, more steady and accessible walkthrough of this strategy - this is the video to watch: