• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 09:25
CET 15:25
KST 23:25
  • 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
Rongyi Cup S3 - RO16 Preview3herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational10SC2 All-Star Invitational: Tournament Preview5RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0
Community News
Weekly Cups (Jan 12-18): herO, MaxPax, Solar win0BSL Season 2025 - Full Overview and Conclusion8Weekly Cups (Jan 5-11): Clem wins big offline, Trigger upsets4$21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7)19Weekly Cups (Dec 29-Jan 4): Protoss rolls, 2v2 returns7
StarCraft 2
General
StarCraft 2 not at the Esports World Cup 2026 Oliveira Would Have Returned If EWC Continued Rongyi Cup S3 - RO16 Preview herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational PhD study /w SC2 - help with a survey!
Tourneys
$21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7) OSC Season 13 World Championship $70 Prize Pool Ladder Legends Academy Weekly Open! SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-18 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
[A] Starcraft Sound Mod
External Content
Mutation # 509 Doomsday Report Mutation # 508 Violent Night Mutation # 507 Well Trained Mutation # 506 Warp Zone
Brood War
General
Gypsy to Korea [ASL21] Potential Map Candidates Which foreign pros are considered the best? BW General Discussion BW AKA finder tool
Tourneys
Small VOD Thread 2.0 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] Non-Korean Championship - Starts Jan 10 Azhi's Colosseum - Season 2
Strategy
Current Meta Simple Questions, Simple Answers Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Game Theory for Starcraft
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Beyond All Reason Awesome Games Done Quick 2026!
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread NASA and the Private Sector Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club! The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Navigating the Risks and Rew…
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
How do archons sleep?
8882
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1608 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
OSC
11:00
Season 13 World Championship
Solar vs ClemLIVE!
Classic vs herO
WardiTV1700
IndyStarCraft 222
LiquipediaDiscussion
RongYI Cup
11:00
Group A
ByuN vs TriGGeR
herO vs Rogue
RotterdaM691
Harstem261
BRAT_OK 141
Rex140
3DClanTV 74
CosmosSc2 58
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 691
Harstem 261
IndyStarCraft 222
BRAT_OK 141
Rex 140
CosmosSc2 58
ProTech55
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 3901
Rain 2980
Horang2 1550
Stork 939
GuemChi 734
ggaemo 508
Snow 488
firebathero 350
BeSt 321
Mini 221
[ Show more ]
Hyuk 221
Last 200
Mong 164
Soulkey 163
hero 137
Barracks 123
Zeus 93
Hyun 89
Backho 75
Sharp 55
Shinee 53
Movie 51
Shuttle 48
soO 47
Killer 39
Mind 38
JYJ 28
ToSsGirL 27
ajuk12(nOOB) 24
910 19
Terrorterran 19
Free 16
Noble 16
Yoon 16
GoRush 14
Icarus 12
HiyA 12
Sacsri 10
Dota 2
Gorgc4108
qojqva3096
Dendi656
Counter-Strike
olofmeister2543
byalli2176
shoxiejesuss1487
edward175
Other Games
Liquid`RaSZi1424
B2W.Neo1339
crisheroes344
Hui .146
Happy123
XaKoH 122
Mew2King96
QueenE84
Fuzer 80
Organizations
StarCraft: Brood War
Kim Chul Min (afreeca) 5
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 18 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• naamasc220
• iHatsuTV 14
• Kozan
• Laughngamez YouTube
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• sooper7s
• intothetv
• Migwel
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• FirePhoenix5
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 4548
• WagamamaTV340
League of Legends
• Jankos2481
• TFBlade917
Upcoming Events
RongYI Cup
20h 35m
Clem vs ShoWTimE
Zoun vs Bunny
Big Brain Bouts
1d 2h
Serral vs TBD
RongYI Cup
1d 20h
SHIN vs Creator
Classic vs Percival
OSC
1d 22h
BSL 21
2 days
RongYI Cup
2 days
Maru vs Cyan
Solar vs Krystianer
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
2 days
BSL 21
3 days
Wardi Open
3 days
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
[ Show More ]
OSC
4 days
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
WardiTV Invitational
5 days
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-01-20
SC2 All-Star Inv. 2025
NA Kuram Kup

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Rongyi Cup S3
OSC Championship Season 13
Underdog Cup #3
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S1: W5
Acropolis #4 - TS4
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Nations Cup 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
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.