What are some nice strategies, match-ups, build orders and resource sharing tactics for teams?

I wonder if there are some nice strategies / match-ups / build orders / resource sharing / tactics for 2x2, 3x3, 4x4 player teams? (3x3 is most interesting for me.)

I want to know more about:

  1. unit synergy of different races
  2. is there some kind of roles in good teams (like harvester / warrior / man that do map control and harras etc.)?
  3. specific build orders

Any short tips/tricks are also welcome!


For 2v2:

  • Check out the bottom section of Liquipedia Wiki - Strategies.
  • You can learn much just by watching YouTube videos and practicing things you learned there.

For 2v2, check out these

For 3v3, there are existing articles out there:

  • Basic Tips
  • Early-Game: Defensive Builds
  • Mid-Game: Protoss
  • Mid-Game: Terran
  • Mid-Game: Zerg
  • End-Game: Options

I guess that once you're good at the above the 4v4 doesn't differ much, I wouldn't suggest playing it either as you will need to find more people and will have to wait longer. It isn't competitive either, as Tzenes has pointed out earlier in one of his answers. The maps aren't made for it which can make the choice of races unbalanced...

unit synergy of different races

I would suggest every race to create his own composition of units, why?

  • If you create only one type of units instead and your friend the others,
    you will depend much more heavy on one resource. (Example: Marines would be minerals only)

  • When controlling your army, if you are alone it's much more easier to command your different types of units so they don't accidently die. Then you avoid sending in vikings over a group of enemy marines... If you were separated, you would have to share such thoughts with your friends and then his vikings might arrive to early or too late.

When talking about different races, you can ask and plan what units to create to accompany your friends' army. If he's planning an air assault, you could create some ground units just to distract the opponent away from the air as you both attack...

is there some kind of roles in good teams?

This could be done, but can be risky depending on how you do it...

For example, if you have a player that's only harvesting, his defense/army would probably be weaker and thus you will need to defend his base to counter that. But by doing that, you weaken your own base and have less units where you actually would want them...

So, for that role for example, don't just point one out as the harvester but also plan for his harvesting to not fail as you will be dependent on it. Think of his base as one of your expansions. This is probably an early-game problem to think about, maybe he initially should create an army to defend against people rushing him...


A lot of the answers to your question vary with the specifics of the situation.

For example:

is there some kind of roles in good teams?

If you are playing on a map with a shared base, having one member wall in and cannon/bunker up the choke can be a good strat, allowing the other player to quickly tech up. In another example, if you have a composition of units that tries to leverage synergy between spellcasters (fungal and storm for example) you might want one player controlling the "normal" army full of stalkers/zealots/immortals/hydras/whatever while another player is dedicated to handling the infestors and templar. that way, the spells can be cast together, at the right time.

However, if you are playing on a map with relatively independent bases, you will both need to have some defensive capability, and some macro capability, and maybe some detection, anti air, etc, depending on what you scout the enemy doing.

unit synergy of different races

Having each player specialize can be very useful as long as you properly respond to what the enemy is doing. If you build all air units, and your buddy builds all ground units, you can focus all your minerals/gas on getting air upgrades. by specializing, you can get +3/+3 units much faster. If you mixed your units, you might only be able to afford +1/+1 units, because you'll have to build a lot more tech buildings.