• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 16:36
CEST 22:36
KST 05:36
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL22] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!9[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
Evil Geniuses - shutting down14ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier5Weekly Cups (October 12-18): 5.0.17 era begins1[$1250] International ShieldBattery League61Weekly Cups (October 5-11): Farewell to 5.0.167
StarCraft 2
General
No more SC2 streamers on team liquid? REPORT: StarCraft 2: Remastered In Development Evil Geniuses - shutting down How do you feel about the mass reverts in the 5.0.17 PTR? Daily SC2 Player Grid - feedback wanted
Tourneys
ScienceCraft (October 24-25) - Live Event RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament WORTEX Challenger Series — Open SC2 LAN in Budapes
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[G] How to playtest arcade maps [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Sweltering Sands
External Content
Mutation # 548 Shining Bright The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 547 Temple Of Terror Mutation # 546 Catch the Train
Brood War
General
Starcraft player cRuZa Passed away. Bot on ladder Battle.net abbreviations list Young Players Tournament Announced by SOOP Do we even care about balance?
Tourneys
[$1250] International ShieldBattery League [BSL23] RO24 Group C Small VOD Thread 2.0 2v2v2v2 Tournament
Strategy
Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) 50,000-Word Terran Builds Memo 2026-10-22 Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Armies of Exigo - YesYes? General RTS Discussion Thread Dawn of War IV
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25!
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Artificial Intelligence Thread
Fan Clubs
Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Innovate or Game Over?
TrAiDoS
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 8111 users

Zerg: A Balancing Act

Blogs > Dance.
Post a Reply
Dance.
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States389 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-10-08 11:17:27
October 08 2010 11:09 GMT
#1
This was originally going to be a response to a thread, but the thread was closed. I just wanted to give my thoughts on zerg and the happy medium of micro and macro needed to succeed.

As a zerg player, I feel like all my games require equal attention to micro and macro. No matter how good your macro is, if you don't engage in the right position at the right time, you are done. The opposite is also true. Even if you can micro the shit out of your units, if you are not keeping up with larvae inject and balancing your drones right, the game is over. Though all races arguably suffer from this, I don't think many people would deny that zerg suffer the most (or maybe they would...).

Wether it's early game or end game, zerg can't get away with just strong micro or macro alone like the other races can. It is a constant balancing act for zerg. This is why I love playing zerg. It is so easy to just warp in a bunch of stalker/sentry and spamming force field, but engaging an army like that demands patience and a good game sense.

Please share your thoughts. Is there any aspect of your macro/micro play that you feel is significantly lacking? Specifically, how do you go about improving (I don't just mean more games.)? Let me know if you feel other races demand just as much of a balance that I think zerg do and why.

Thanks TL, you guys are great.

Edit: I put screenshots of some of my more terrible zerg engagments tomorrow.

*
It is what it is...
village_idiot
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
2436 Posts
October 08 2010 11:36 GMT
#2
I feel that zerg is all about defending, macroing and scouting.

You need to know your opponent's army composition at all times and be able to spread creep while larva injecting at the same time. Once you have half of the map creeped it will be much easier to set up flanks and spot possible drops and other enemy movement. Defending your expansions also becomes much easier.

I also find changelings very useful when scouting as you can see enemy tech and army composition for just 50 energy.
keioh
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
France1099 Posts
October 08 2010 12:03 GMT
#3
I feel we zerg are too much a reaction race, as some claim for a little while now.

Learning to play Zerg has tremendously improved my macro and my multitasking ability (it's not great still). I also have to consistentely look at the map and know what is going on at least at my opponent's ramp. Playing zerg FORCES me to have constant attention to most aspect of a game.

When I play the other race, first it's always in team game, second I feel I have not so much thing to do. T & P armies feel so strong when you played zerg, it's almost funny how you can steamroll a poor zerg fellow with just 50 pop. I do think they are easier to handle, but I don't think at all they're easier to master. Playing terran is so freakin' hard when you have to look at positioning... Protoss feels the same way, you feel strong but then suddenly you have no more units, 2K minerals and no gas and opponent is couter pushing.

Now my biggest problem is about decision making and when to strop droning. Which I believe is the hardest thing to master as a zerg.

By decision making I also count how and when to engage a fight, when to pull back, and which transition to do. I still find myself droning too much and losing poorly when the first protoss push come, like "hmm okay I can drone a little bit more, I saw him with only 2 stalkers and 1 zeal OH SHI- HE'S AT MY EXP AND I HAVE NO LARVAE m^ù$ùm^ù$ùm^!ù$ù ".

To improve I just try to learn some timings and to adjust better to what I have the time to scout with my first drone. I do this by playing more. And more. And more.

Sometimes though, I want to kill protoss users so badly I have to stop playing for a while ^^
GIMME ALL THE BELGIAN WAFFLES I CAN GET FOR THIS MONEY !!!!!! BELGIAN WAFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFLEEEEEEEEES
Scorcher2k
Profile Joined November 2009
United States802 Posts
October 08 2010 12:58 GMT
#4
I think this is honestly how all the races are now. I honestly miss the play style of reaver+goon and Bisu build from BW a lot when I play because I felt that if I could pull off some good micro then I could seriously turn the tide and make up for my poor macro (vice versa of course). The game kind of feels bland at times right now because it doesn't have this kind of play imo.
SubtleArt
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
2710 Posts
October 08 2010 15:29 GMT
#5
I feel that zerg is all about defending, macroing and scouting


Three general terms that apply to all races....
Morrow on ZvP: "I'm not very confident in general vs Protoss because of the imbalance (Yes its imbalanced, get over it)."
AssuredVacancy
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
United States1167 Posts
October 08 2010 15:32 GMT
#6
On October 09 2010 00:29 SubtleArt wrote:
Show nested quote +
I feel that zerg is all about defending, macroing and scouting


Three general terms that apply to all races....


Really.. half of the terrans I play don't scout besides the initial scv, and push blindly on one base while cutting scv at 26. There's nothing about defending/macroing or scouting in there.
We spend our youth attaining wealth, and our wealth attaining youth.
SubtleArt
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
2710 Posts
October 08 2010 15:36 GMT
#7
On October 09 2010 00:32 AssuredVacancy wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 09 2010 00:29 SubtleArt wrote:
I feel that zerg is all about defending, macroing and scouting


Three general terms that apply to all races....


Really.. half of the terrans I play don't scout besides the initial scv, and push blindly on one base while cutting scv at 26. There's nothing about defending/macroing or scouting in there.


Then you play horrible Terrans
Morrow on ZvP: "I'm not very confident in general vs Protoss because of the imbalance (Yes its imbalanced, get over it)."
AssuredVacancy
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
United States1167 Posts
October 08 2010 16:04 GMT
#8
On October 09 2010 00:36 SubtleArt wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 09 2010 00:32 AssuredVacancy wrote:
On October 09 2010 00:29 SubtleArt wrote:
I feel that zerg is all about defending, macroing and scouting


Three general terms that apply to all races....


Really.. half of the terrans I play don't scout besides the initial scv, and push blindly on one base while cutting scv at 26. There's nothing about defending/macroing or scouting in there.


Then you play horrible Terrans


Probably, I don't know the level of 1400-1500 diamond terrans right now because of point inflation. But most of them do some sort of blind one base push involving thor/marine/hellion, or banshee/marine/hellion, or marauder/hellion/scv while cutting scvs.
We spend our youth attaining wealth, and our wealth attaining youth.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
AI Arena Tournament
02:00
RO8 - Day 1
FEL
18:00
ScienceCraft - Day 1
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
mouzHeroMarine 426
JuggernautJason101
StarCraft: Brood War
Shuttle 837
ZZZero.O 220
Dewaltoss 142
HiyA 40
Hyuk 27
Mong 20
Dota 2
canceldota70
syndereN54
febbydoto2
League of Legends
JimRising 639
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox173
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu757
Trikslyr69
Other Games
Grubby3177
FrodaN2020
Liquid`RaSZi1932
Cr1tdota1581
B2W.Neo850
ToD185
KnowMe116
QueenE41
CosmosSc2 11
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1709
StarCraft 2
angryscii 37
[ Show 18 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• printf 291
• Adnapsc2 29
• HeavenSC 24
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• ChaeLyn 7
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos3802
• Nemesis3402
• Scarra1291
Other Games
• imaqtpie801
• Shiphtur530
• tFFMrPink 13
Upcoming Events
FEL
13h 24m
Sparkling Tuna Cup
13h 24m
Replay Cast
1d 2h
WardiTV Weekly
1d 15h
IntoTheTV X SOOP
2 days
ByuN vs Lambo
MaxPax vs Bunny
PiGosaur Cup
3 days
The PondCast
3 days
Kung Fu Cup
3 days
IntoTheTV X SOOP
4 days
SHIN vs GuMiho
Clem vs Classic
WardiTV Invitational
5 days
[ Show More ]
GSL
5 days
Epic.LAN
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Epic.LAN
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #5 - GSC
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HCC Season 3

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
BSL Season 23
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026

Upcoming

IPSL Winter 2026-27
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
eXTREMESLAND 2026
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.