Protoss to Zerg; Again!

First post in a series of updates I will be doing chronicling my transition from Protoss to Zerg. With Protoss I have never been past B-, which I had reached in Season #6 on [url="http://www.iccup.com/gamingprofile/gH-Salv.html"]gH-Salv, and then again in Season #10 on [url="http://www.iccup.com/gamingprofile/SCC-KnowN.html"]SCC-KnowN.

In season #11 I played Zerg exclusively for the majority of the season and hit C on [url="http://www.iccup.com/gamingprofile/SCC-KnowN.html"]SCC-KnowN. At the time, [url="http://www.iccup.com/gamingprofile/D4.Ahzz.html"]Ahzz was helping me to improve, so I went from D+ to C, but then the season ended and I lost interested in the game. I haven't been playing since the season before last and it has been about four months. In that time I've played World of Warcraft [much to the dismay of my Starcraft friends] and other time-consuming MMORPGs. With the start of a new season though, I am going to try my hand once again at Zerg and aim for B-. Usually a goal like this would be lofty at best, considering even jumping one rank per season is difficult, but with Ahzz's help, it's possible and if nothing less if should make some interesting blog posts in this thread.

The way I'll structure this is that I will update every day or few days and give in-depth explanations to what I've learned, what's changed in my match-ups and things of that nature. At the very least, it should be helpful to lower-level Zergs like D/D+ and depending how high I can get to, perhaps even C- or C. For everyone else, hopefully it'll just be an interesting blog to read and something to look at when you're bored. I'm not making this blog to boast or look impressive, it's just something to do and I know a few people who may find it interesting.

I'll be playing exclusively on [url="http://www.iccup.com/starcraft/gamingprofile/Salv.html"]Salv with no resets or smurfing. I'll also keep an up to date replay pack at the bottom that I will update every time I update. First update will be tomorrow, where I will spoiler all this and begin the actual blog. Hopefully there are a few people that find this interesting, otherwise there isn't much point in doing it!

[size=5]Update #1[/size]

iCCup Profile: [url="http://www.iccup.com/gamingprofile/Salv.html"]Salv
Stats: 3-2 / D / 1322

So these games were actually played a between yesterday and the day before. Here is a list of the basic thoughts I had on each matchup when I decided I was going to start playing again:

• ZvZ : Do not play it. This matchup is easily my least favorite and I don't enjoy it at all. The problems here are pretty simple: There isn't really any extensive guide on how to ZvZ. There is Ahzz's guide, but he doesn't actually ZvZ and all the other guides seem to give the basics. Secondly, even if there were a guide, I am not sure how much it would help. ZvZ seems to change so radically depending on the map and your overall game-sense that I'm not convinced one could simply read a guide and start practicing the proper way to play. I made the decision earlier this week that I would simply ZvP and ZvT; ignoring ZvZ, or play PvZ. Haven't decided which it will be yet, but suffice to say I have played no ZvZ regardless.
  
  
• ZvP : A matchup I find to be easy. Not easy in the sense that I can play and immediately be very good at it, but I find it easy to see where I made my mistakes and what corrections would yield the largest improvements. Also, I find that when starting or playing an off-race, one of the hardest hurdles to overcome is when you're thrown off your build. Being able to improvise is a skill that takes time to acquire, one I do not have. I have improvise slightly ZvP and not at all ZvT. My point here is that most Protoss FE and then generally leave you alone for the entire early game besides a few probe scouts here and a zealot attack there; it's all easy to deal with and you can stick to your gameplan.
  
  
• ZvT : What a nightmare this matchup is, I won't get into how many builds I've gone through so far, I will save that for when I talk about what I've learned thus far, which will be further done. I will say that I wasn't looking forward to re-learning this matchup at all. By re-learning, I mean that I had reached C before, but I have totally forgotten almost all the knowledge that got me there. For example, I was talking to Ahzz about three hatchery muta and I saw a game where the Zerg went 12hat, 11pool, 14 hat, then a gas. I thought this was uncommon and strange. Then Ahzz replied it's the standard three hat muta opening and I felt like a tool, shortly thereafter I admitted I could remember barely anything and he would have to re-teach me. He was not pleased.
  

Now when coming back from any period of inactivity, you will always have that period where you are unsure what you're supposed to do next and just general brain-dead moments. Most of these games contained a lot of that. One thing that I was pretty sure I was going to encounter was a lot more mech builds. When I played before, it still wasn't very common and I would even say rare for me to start off a game and see him going mech; unless I was playing Colosseum.

[size=5]Z v P[/size]

I'll start with ZvP, since there is not as much to talk about here as in ZvT. I'm going to write down the builds I've been generally losing, but keep in mind that at this point I am 3-2, so nothing I write is supposed to be taken as, "You should do this". Actually, quite the contrary because I fully expect to change everything as I begin to hit D+, C- and so forth [hopefully so forth ^_^].

The advantage I have ZvP, and probably the reason why I enjoy it more then ZvT is that I already have a base knowledge of Protoss. I have a good idea of what Protoss' find annoying, and what builds I don't like to play against against. This is helpful and it also makes my ZvP style one that's mostly just a pain in the ass, which is kinda' cool. The build I use the neo-sauron five hatchery hydra. I usually open with an overpool, but I've done 12hat too and they are basically the same in my mind. One way you sacrifice economy, but he does as well by having a slower nexus. The second way you get a better economy and so does he by getting a faster nexus. Only difference being that if he went two gate or one base, you'll have to adapt differently; and I am not going to bullshit you guys, I know very little on what to do versus a one base toss, that's one thing I need to fix.

You can read a guide on how to do this build on TL in the recommended thread, but it's basically:

- 12 hat
- 11 pool
- 14 hat at third gas expo
- Gas immediately after
- Lair and then ling speed; spire once lair completes
- fourth hat around 30
- fifth hat around 35
- immediately after your fifth you throw up a den, 2nd gas, evo. chamber
- upgrade +1 missile, hydra speed, ovie speed
- mass them hydra!

That's what I've been using. One difference or option you'll find is that you have the choice to make mutalisk later on to snipe his HT, which allow your hydras to fight a temp-less army; or simply continue to mass hydra and get quicker lurkers. I prefer to get quicker lurkers. So after my hydralisk speed I get range and then lurkers. The reason I like this build is because it is a versatile build that doesn't have a counter. There is no anti-sauron build as far as I know and if there is message me it because my PvZ will love you for it.

I also like to play with three evo. chambers, after my +1 missile finishes, I make two more evo chambers and start all three. At the end of the game, assuming all is going well, I like to use ultralisk, hydralisk and zerglings, not just ultra/ling. I don't know why, I just find that it's a harder style to play against and is more effective. It could be because I don't like using defilers, so I put hydralisk in there instead to try to compensate, who knows.

Like I said, the Protoss usually don't touch you until a bit after their first or second corsair is out, so you have plenty of time to do whatever you want without being thrown off your gameplan, which I like. I have yet to have a game [iCCup or friendly] where the Protoss has attacked me after I have begun to mass hydras and won. As a matter of fact, I think I have pushed them back each time and from that point on, I like to think I have the advantage for I have map control, an extra base and more units.

I probably will continue to use this build, I have lost friendly ZvP's while using it, but I think I know the mistakes from those games [mainly just playing bad and not controlling my units well] so I don't hold that against the build or the style that it makes me use. I used this last time I got to C and as far as I know, there haven't been any recent revamps to Protoss strategy that makes me think this won't work. I'll be able to say more when I have played more games.

[size=5]Z v T [/size]

Grrr... To all those who say things like, "Who said T > Z? This matchup is impossible!" Trust me, the feeling is often felt by Zerg's but reversed. The main problem I have with this matchup is that there are very few games where I get to use a build and play a 'regular' game. Almost all my ZvT start with something odd like a bunker rush, or a one base mass build, or a timing attack. So I never really get to practice a whole lot; I get a lot of unorthodox build practice, but that's it it seems.

Allow me to describe some things I don't like about Zerg, and from this you'll see why ZvT is hard for me.

• Mutalisks : My mutalisk harass is good. I have good control and rarely lose mutalisk needlessly. As a matter of fact, my mutalisk harass is one thing that hasn't diminished or become worse. Usually when I get my first nine mutalisk, the Terran is in for a world of hurt, so why do I put mutaliks on this list?
  
  They fuck up everything else I do!
  
  When I use mutalisk, my macro becomes really bad, I forget what I was doing before the harass and everything becomes delayed. In a matchup/build that relies on getting your lurkers out quickly, I fail very hard. I often have one of two situations:
  
  - I concentrate on my mutalisk control, dealing a good amount of damage and keeping the Terran in his base, while at the cost of getting lurkers out in at a decent speed or macroing well. Result? Eventually the Terran pushes out, even great mutalisk control cannot keep him in his base forever. When this happens, I have too few lurker and not even in position, so I wind up getting rolled.
  
  - I concentrate on macro. I get my lurkers out at a decent speed and get my drone saturation to a good level, at the sacrifice of good mutalisk control. Result? I either lose my mutalisk needlessly, or I don't use them enough and he decides to push; which means I am getting rolled because I couldn't keep him in his base long enough to get my lurkers out and in position.
  
  
  
• Defilers or more specifically, swarm. It's not that I even hate the spell or the unit, because when I use it well, it's great. The problem is that the standard progression of a ZvT is that you mutalisk harass to keep him in his base and do damage, your lurkers come out and further contain him. Meanwhile, you tech to hive, get defilers and eventually push on his natural. If you can swarm his natural, you've essentially won. Because of my latter point, my defilers usually pop out as he is just finishing off my natural and about to move on my main. I greatly prefer to use plague. I always theorycraft that I will be one of the only Zergs on iCCup to tech to quick defiler and just plague everything instead of swarm.
  

Because of what I listed above, it's not hard to see why ZvT is hard for me and it's because of this I have gone through a lot of builds, trying to find out what's worked and what hasn't. I don't like to try to stall or delay the Terran either, it feels a lot like PvT, and in PvT I would only use offensive strategies because I hated having to be the recipient of the attacks and trying to figure out how to deal with them. I would rather do the attacking, so I would reaver or DT drop a lot. Because of this I use a massing style, more hatcheries, later Hive. It has it's pitfalls, but it's much easier to use is a bit more unique, which I also like. So far I have gone through:

• Three hatchery mutalisk: It's pretty much listed above. I don't think I cannot do it, it's just that right now I am very, very bad at it.
  
• Hydra / lurker: Neat idea, kind of impractical. Both units costs a lot of gas when making them in mass and because of it you wind up having to make a lot of lings. Result? Mostly lurker, few hydralisk, lot's of ling. It looks like lurker/ling but with some hydras you forgot to morph. It can work, but has a lot of downsides too and I think good Terran's would simply counter it by adding a second factory to produce a lot of tanks.
  

My ideas now are two hatchery mutalisk, for I am really concentrate on microing the mutalisk and there isn't too much to manage back at home; or three hatchery lurker. If I went three hatchery lurker into massing style, I could avoid mutalisk altogether, use drops, which are somewhat uncommon and more unique and avoid teching a quick hive, which means having to rely less on my defilers. Haven't tried either of these out too much this season, so my next update will probably shed some light on what I think of these.

[color="#FF0000"]That's it for this update. Just let me know if the blog was too long, or if it sucked or w/e comments you have haha. I just wrote and didn't really pay attention to length. If there is something I should do or mention also let me know, otherwise I'll just be spending time to write this blog that nobody likes, and that would suck![/color]

Reppack: [url="http://rapidshare.com/files/280569780/Reppack.zip.html"]http://rapidshare.com/files/280569780/Reppack.zip.html

Update # 2 in a day or two probably.

[size=5]Update # 2[/size]

iCCup Profile: [url="http://www.iccup.com/gamingprofile/Salv.html"]Salv
Stats: 8-3 / D / 1922

Much better day then the previous. I had a string of players to play against that were between 900 - 1400 points, I don't think any of them were above 1500, maybe one or two, but not many. My struggle with ZvT continues as all three of my loses have been to Terrans. On the bright side, I am a pleasant 5-0 versus Protoss'. Once again I attribute this to my knowledge of Protoss and the fact that I am almost always able to do my entire build with little to no resistance. The only Protoss that has given me any problem thus far is Ry-. We didn't play iCCup games though, so I won't talk about those, although for now he is a good practice partner as I get back into shape.

First I will talk about ZvP and leave ZvT to the end, because I have a lot to say there.

[size=5]Z v P[/size]

My ZvP has been coming along, that's the best way to describe it. I have been playing Ry- and getting back into form that way, as well as playing some easy Protoss' on iCCup. I may have had just a string of good luck, playing actual D level players as opposed to D+/C-/C and such that are just starting again at the D rank; that's actually most likely what's happened. Regardless, every game I am getting progressively better and learning things, which I will share with you now:

• Don't make six zerglings. This I found out on my own and actually seems to help me more ZvT then ZvP, but I'll still discuss it here too. I only make two zerglings and chase the probe. I had a few games where I would make six and send them to my opponents natural, without actually thinking what the hell I was doing. Here is what I've concluded when it comes to lings:
  
  - I don't care if you see my base. I am no longer going to try especially hard to kill the scout probe, I really could care less if he sees what I am doing. If it's a good Protoss, he will find out what I am doing regardless, so the only advantage I gain really is versus bad Protoss', which I feel I can beat without that leg-up, so I don't see the point. It wastes my time and it causes me to macro less then perfectly early on.
  
  - Because of the above point, I only make two zerglings. I chase the probe that's it. It will eventually die when my opponent misses important micro, or when I get hydralisks. The build I use doesn't rely on surprise and I fully expect them to know what I am doing regardless, so there. Also, if you think about it, if I purposely put forth little effort to kill the scout, he must continue to use his actions to move it around, which gives the chance that he might have less then perfect macro. Considering that I gain little out of killing his scout, I guess I could say that I gain more of an advantage by letting him use his actions to micro the scout. Either way I don't care.
  
  
• Make sure you have a scout at the natural. Whether it's an overlord or a ling, there have been multiple cases where I can see 90% of the natural choke, but it's that 10% where he sneaks his units out. In either case, nothing sucks more then thinking you know he hasn't pushed out and then he shows up at a main of yours.
  
  I debated the best way to do this, since usually an overlord is enough to see everything. On maps like Python, which is the biggest offender of wide-choke's, I have no choice but to always keep a ling close-by. It sounds easy, but I often lose track of them and I really don't make that many early game to begin with, but it's something I'll have to do.
  

Other then that, I think there is a build that involves regular neo-sauron style of:

• Three hat
  
• Lair
  
• Spire
  
• Fourth/Fifth hat -> gas
  
• Hydra den
  

At this point this, it changes from hydralisk & scourge to lurker & scourge. I am pretty sure a build like this exists. I am theory-crafting here, but if I were to start the lurker upgrade instead of hydralisk speed, and upgrading carapace instead of +1 missile, I am thinking lurkers would be done before or just as he pushes out. I'll need to do some testing [or just ask Ahzz lol], but if that's true I might just do that. I'll have to check on that and then see.

On the other hand, I haven't lost a game yet on ICCup using the hydra build, so maybe I shouldn't mess around with what seemingly works.

[size=5]Z v T[/size]

Last time I said I was done with three hatchery muta and hydra lurker, and I did not stick to that at all. I went three hatchery muta and won a game, then I went a lurker build and lost a game. The last one I played I was talking strategy with Ahzz while playing [note: don't do that all, it messes up your play] and before I knew it, the SCV had killed a drone and my overlord was shot down my marines; all in the first three minutes! I had no choice but to add a gas, make speed and go mass zergling. I won and he was pretty mad, you can see it in the replay package that I'll update about 5:00 PM EST tonight when I am able to upload it.

Regardless, I plan to go three hatchery lurker from now on because I feel I have learned some important lessons:

• Two zerglings at the beginning ya'll. I do fuck all with the zerglings anyway, and three hatchery lurker calls for a quick sunken at the natural anyway, so I feel I am fine with two to chase the SCV. The problem here is that SCVs scouting you can be a problem, but the way I see it, it'll look just like three hatchery mutalisk, and I will simply put my den behind the minerals of my natural if he is still in my main. If he does to scout there, the sunken will kill it, so I am fine with that.
  
  
• A lurker opening is far cohesive with a massing style. I don't like to rush hive. I like to play off of three bases for a bit and get a fourth, while getting upgrades. I've yet to have a problem with this and I know it's a legitimate style, so that's what I like to do. It throws a lot of Terran off-balance because they are unaware of how many units a Zerg can get if they focus on it. Macro is my strong suit, not micro, so I want to tailor my Zerg play to show it.
  
  
• Hotkeying. This one is really important. I don't mean like, "Make sure you hotkey" because that's true for any MU, I am saying the way I do it now is much better. Here were some problems I had before.
  
  - I hotkey lurkers to 1; Lings to 2,3,4; hatcheries to 0,9,8,7,6,5
  Now I do this
  - I hotkey lurkers to 1; lings to 3,4,5,; hatcheries to 9,9,8,7,6
  
  It looks the same, but I leave the hotkey 2 open for a second lurker group. It seems silly, because you could just hit 2, hotkey it to 5 or 6 and then there you go, free hotkey open. I've tried this and it just messes me up. It makes little sense, since logically it should be just as easy, but I don't like to alter hotkeys once they are set. Also, it helps because now I know I will always 1 right click, 2 right click, 3a4a5a; I don't have to remember whether I have lurkers or lings on 2. It actually made a big difference.
  
  
• Overlord timing: I actually have it now.
  

One thing that has consistently screwed me up is hotkeying lurker eggs. What I mean is, I will make hydralisk, create eggs and then I can't decide whether I should hotkey right away or wait. If you hotkey right away, it's cool, but if you need to unburrow real fast and the eggs hatched into lurkers, they will burrow first so that all are burrowed, then all will unburrow; might be a problem. At the same time, if you don't hotkey them, you might forget about them or not bring them immediately which could cost you a battle.

Overall I think I will just hotkey them with my regular lurkers and take the bad with the good. The only situations I can really think of where I need to quickly unburrow them all is if:


[*] There is a big attack somewhere and I need to get there ASAP.
[*] He sieged a whole lot of tanks and if I don't unburrow ASAP they will all die.


Both seem pretty unrealistic to me. The first one for instance, let's say I lose this game, it wouldn't be because of the additional three or four seconds it took for my lurkers to show up, it would be because I wasn't aware of his army and he showed up when I didn't expect it. The late lurkers didn't help, but had the first mistake been corrected, it wouldn't have been an issue at all.

The second one is a bit more realistic, but if he is sieging one or two tanks, the extra three seconds to unburrow probably equals one additional shot. This can suck, but I doubt it would be game-changing. If he sieged a whole pile of tanks, once again the blame would on other things, such as lacking proper scouting of his army. Also, lest we forget that I could simply ctrl-click the lurkers and unburrow them that way, won't break my hotkeys and won't take longer to unburrow. Seems the best option, really.

Overall second day of playing was pretty good because I only lost once and gained several hundred points. If a complaint of mine is resolved I believe I'll even be D+.

Update # 3 in a day or a few!