• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 01:58
CEST 07:58
KST 14:58
  • 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
RSL Season 1 - Final Week6[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall12HomeStory Cup 27 - Info & Preview18Classic wins Code S Season 2 (2025)16Code S RO4 & Finals Preview: herO, Rogue, Classic, GuMiho0
Community News
Esports World Cup 2025 - Brackets Revealed11Weekly Cups (July 7-13): Classic continues to roll4Team TLMC #5 - Submission extension3Firefly given lifetime ban by ESIC following match-fixing investigation17$25,000 Streamerzone StarCraft Pro Series announced7
StarCraft 2
General
Esports World Cup 2025 - Brackets Revealed Who will win EWC 2025? RSL Revival patreon money discussion thread The GOAT ranking of GOAT rankings Weekly Cups (July 7-13): Classic continues to roll
Tourneys
FEL Cracov 2025 (July 27) - $8000 live event RSL: Revival, a new crowdfunded tournament series $5,100+ SEL Season 2 Championship (SC: Evo) WardiTV Mondays Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
How did i lose this ZvP, whats the proper response Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 482 Wheel of Misfortune Mutation # 481 Fear and Lava Mutation # 480 Moths to the Flame Mutation # 479 Worn Out Welcome
Brood War
General
Flash Announces (and Retracts) Hiatus From ASL BW General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Starcraft in widescreen A cwal.gg Extension - Easily keep track of anyone
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Cosmonarchy Pro Showmatches CSL Xiamen International Invitational [BSL20] Non-Korean Championship 4x BSL + 4x China
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers I am doing this better than progamers do.
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Path of Exile CCLP - Command & Conquer League Project The PlayStation 5
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
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Stop Killing Games - European Citizens Initiative Summer Games Done Quick 2025! Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
SKT1 Classic Fan Club! Maru Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 2024 - 2025 Football Thread NBA General Discussion NHL Playoffs 2024
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Men Take Risks, Women Win Ga…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
StarCraft improvement
iopq
Trip to the Zoo
micronesia
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 683 users

Tips on Infestors

Blogs > PrinceXizor
Post a Reply
PrinceXizor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States17713 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-03-29 01:26:05
March 29 2011 01:06 GMT
#1
Background on me + infestors:

So, with the patch 1.3 infestors are being experimented with by a big group of zergs who never touched their stronger 1.2 self because it was not shiny and new.

My name is Dice, some of you may have watched my streaming, and some of you may have never heard of me, others have played me on the ladder and ran up against a bunch of infestors. I am known among my fans as an infestor zerg. My builds incorporate infestors seemlessly and use them instead of mutalisks in the mid game to great success. I want to help the zergs out there by giving many of the tips I've found with infestors in an organized and easy to understand fashion. there are alot more to the flesh-reavers than most of what you have seen in professional situations (most of them have horrible infestor control, due to a lack of practice).

Survival Tips

For those of you just starting to use these lovable little monstrocities you first should know the very basics about how to keep them alive.

1. Keep them on a separate hotkey.
Advanced version: + Show Spoiler +
this hotkey should be a comfortable distance from the Fungal growth hotkey and preferably you should be able to position your hand so that you can go quickly back and forth between the hotkey and the fungal growth hotkey rapidly, I use 3 and F with my 3 pressed with my left middle finger and the F key with my left index finger.


2. Do not keep them near a ball of units. Infestors are horrible with pathing (as bad to sc2 pathing as dragoons were for sc1 pathing).
Advanced version: + Show Spoiler +
They should be kept extended in the front by a good margin, in order to fungal and remove themselves pre engagement, or off to the side and back some, in order to not be visible to ghosts, and armies and have easy paths in and out of the battle without messing up any concaves or becoming trapped.


3. Never leave them unattended if they are vulnerable, this means keeping them with your army when it is idle, but distanced from the army when it is on the move
Advanced version: + Show Spoiler +
Put them next to your hatches when you are macroing, this provides a few functions: they won't be sniped without you looking, they can be used as emergency detection if needed, they can protect vs drops, and your queen will not be lonely. then move them back to where they belong when no longer macroing.


4. Always cast from max range, This includes using the radius of the fungal as added range.
Advanced version: + Show Spoiler +
Units like the infestor turn around faster if yuo shift queue a perpendicular movement after the cast, and then as soon as the unit starts to turn, tell it to retreat, this makes the infestor spin faster than it would normally, allowing you avoid being hit (as much) and much more likely keep the infestor alive.


5. Have Burrow Researched. Even if the Infestor is not moving when burrowed consistantly having burrow allows a few more escape options if you somehow let the infestor get chased or caught out of position.

Spellcasting and General Tips

1. Smart cast hinders the speed of your fungal growth casts unless queued from a distance.
Advanced version: + Show Spoiler +
using the advanced tip from survival tip 1. alternating rapidly from infestor hotkey, fungal hotkey, click. allows the infestor/infestor group to ignore smart cast and repeatedly cast more accurate fungals, this is only true if you get very fast at it, though your fungals are always more accurate. also, queuing multiple spells with a group of infestors is typically bad and should be used almost never, it makes them suffer the full backswing animation adding a quarter second to their recovery before they can move, which will add up greatly over a infestors life.


2. Increase fungal radius whenever possible by targetting corners of many units instead of covering a few. It is possible to increase the size of a fungal growth to three thors wide. This takes familiarity with the size of all units radii and knowing exactly where they become vulnerable in their circle. this works with air units, though significantly less (you can only add half the width of a supply depot to the radius vs air units)

3. Always lead flying units slightly below them in order to hit them.
Advanced version: + Show Spoiler +
It also helps to mentally realize you will have to be moving your cursor to where the units will be by the time your cursor makes it to the unit will be flying to, but again slightly below them. For instance against mutalisks you will have to know the mutas will not be where they currently are by the time your fungal cursor makes it to that spot, so predict their movement in order to maximize the amount of mutalisks fungal'd.


4. Fungal growth as a damage spell mid battle is much less effective than fungal growth as a damage spell leading up to and during the engagement of the battle. During battle fungal is merely a roach targetting every unit (or a hydralisk vs armored) which is much less effective than having a couple roach volleys on every unit by the time the battle begins and preventing the opposing side from having a concave until yours is set up. This requires you having your infestors ahead of your army before an engagement and you being able to sneak barely within range of sight in order to fungal.

5. Siege tanks are not a counter to properly controlled infestors. You can use the enhanced range and radius from survival tip 4 and casting tip 2 in order to cast fungal on sieged tanks without being in sight range of their tanks though if spotted you only take a SINGLE shot which keeps the infestor alive. This allows infestors to harrass tank lines risk free, and if they move units out in order to spot for the tanks, fungal those and kill them with mutalisks/corruptors/hydras/zerglings in order to continue the harrassment. this requires practice and a careful eye.

6. Learn your own handspeed and exactly how many units you can make/larva injects/creep tumor spreads you can do in the timeframe of a single fungal, and DO IT. Odds are if harrassing with infestors you should be out of the way and able to do a bit of macro and come back to the infestor to refungal EVERY TIME. this is the key to making infestor bases strategies work, and the reason that your macro should be better than going mutalisks. while mutas require constant care while in use, and have downtime when not in use to macro, Infestors are kind of the opposite, you can macro through use, but have to take care of them when not in use.

7. Learn that you can defend more bases with infestors than you can with mutalisks, and use this to gain a production, flanking, and economic advantage in every game. This also requires great overlord spread and alot of map vision, so don't be afraid to send 10-14 lings and overlords around the map to burrow, and spot in case of any attack at any time. This means hotkeying the locations of your infestors with F keys in order to defend any drop or harrassment at any time.

8. Use Fungal to kill observers whenever you see them. 1 fungal + 1 queen hydra or mutalisk will kill an observer.

Hope you enjoy these few tips and definitely think about these when trying to improve your infestor play in games. Enjoy the most versatile caster in the game.

****
Redunzl
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
862 Posts
March 29 2011 01:20 GMT
#2
Lovely OP here. Thanks for your time. When I go back to Zerg I have already vowed to incorporate infestors since they are so cute and nasty. I will study this hence.
mucker
Profile Blog Joined May 2009
United States1120 Posts
March 29 2011 02:00 GMT
#3
You got any choice 1.3 reps or vods of when you go infestors first thing after lair? I've personally been having a lot more success going with a muta harass first, I can expand again so I have lots of gas and it encourages my opponent to make infestor friendly stalkers or thors. When I go infestors first I've been struggling with the lack of map control, especially against players that make early vikings or phoenix and kill my spotter overlords.
It's supposed to be automatic but actually you have to press this button.
PrinceXizor
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States17713 Posts
March 29 2011 02:03 GMT
#4
On March 29 2011 11:00 mucker wrote:
You got any choice 1.3 reps or vods of when you go infestors first thing after lair? I've personally been having a lot more success going with a muta harass first, I can expand again so I have lots of gas and it encourages my opponent to make infestor friendly stalkers or thors. When I go infestors first I've been struggling with the lack of map control, especially against players that make early vikings or phoenix and kill my spotter overlords.

1.3 was the death of that build, you have to delay your infestors and get roaches and spines beforehand now otherwise you will die due to the fungal duration nerf. I have a couple replays of me getting my ass handed to me when i could hold off the same attack pre 1.3 if you REALLY want, but it's not even educational, it's just depressing (and the reason i've switched to Toss)


On another note: Expect some serious Archon and Pheonix Shenanigans from me in the future, i've decided i like the way those units can control the game similar to infestors.
tre
Profile Joined December 2010
8 Posts
April 03 2011 11:20 GMT
#5
Thanks for the great write-up PrinceXizor.

I was personally having trouble knowing how to actually cast it, whether or not to use the group of infestors and shift-cast over blobs of units, or just to hit F multiple times. Your writeup clarified that! Thanks!
RibsNGibs
Profile Joined January 2011
64 Posts
April 05 2011 17:38 GMT
#6
Thanks for the post.

I am a super scrub (gold) and had some newb questions:

What is a good minimal critical mass for infestors (if any)? I feel like if I have just 1 or 2 infestors that it doesn't really do anything, but if I have 8+ that I really crush, but since my macro and micro is pretty bad, I'm having a hard time telling if my 1-2 infestors suck because my micro sucks or because there's fundamentally crappy about having just a few... and I'm having a hard time telling if 8+ infestors kicks ass only because if I have 8+ infestors it means my macro is already just miles ahead of my opponent and I would have killed him no matter what.

Is the minimal critical mass of infestors different for the different matchups?

Does your infestor control change when using NP? e.g. if attacking a big blob of mech and marines, would you still NP/fungal first so your other units can attack without getting attacked by the tanks/thors and your banelings can attack rooted marines? Or would you send in your army first to soak up hits first so your infestors don't get immediately melted?

Sometimes after f-click-f-click-f-click I also shift-R burrow and right click behind my army so they don't get in the way of the charging roaches/lings/whatever. Good idea or bad? Are they too vulnerable during the burrow animation, or am I taking them out of the fight too early?

Thanks.
GreatFall
Profile Blog Joined January 2010
United States1061 Posts
April 05 2011 20:14 GMT
#7
This is sweet! Thank you man, great content as always. I miss your stream to!
Inventor of the 'Burning Tide' technique to quickly getting Outmatched Crusher achivement :D
dggg
Profile Joined March 2011
Canada12 Posts
April 13 2011 23:26 GMT
#8
If you have all your infestors on 1 hotkey, if I pressed my hotkey to select all my infestors and I cast fungal (or neural parasite), will all the infestor cast it or only 1 will do?

So if I cast it 3 times with all my infestors selected, only 3 infestors would use their energy?

dggg
Profile Joined March 2011
Canada12 Posts
April 14 2011 01:49 GMT
#9
No one can answer this??
Torte de Lini
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Germany38463 Posts
April 14 2011 02:51 GMT
#10
On April 14 2011 08:26 dggg wrote:
If you have all your infestors on 1 hotkey, if I pressed my hotkey to select all my infestors and I cast fungal (or neural parasite), will all the infestor cast it or only 1 will do?

So if I cast it 3 times with all my infestors selected, only 3 infestors would use their energy?



http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=187808

A good place to ask questions such as yours.
I'll answer it however! If you have all your infestors on one hotkey and you use Fungal growth once. Only one of them will cast. If you do it again, another one will cast it and it will keep casting each time you press the hotkey.

If you want to cast simultaneously (two fungals at the same time for two bundles of enemy units) hold shift and just press f and left-click while holding shift..
https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
dggg
Profile Joined March 2011
Canada12 Posts
April 14 2011 03:55 GMT
#11
On April 14 2011 11:51 Torte de Lini wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 14 2011 08:26 dggg wrote:
If you have all your infestors on 1 hotkey, if I pressed my hotkey to select all my infestors and I cast fungal (or neural parasite), will all the infestor cast it or only 1 will do?

So if I cast it 3 times with all my infestors selected, only 3 infestors would use their energy?



http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=187808

A good place to ask questions such as yours.
I'll answer it however! If you have all your infestors on one hotkey and you use Fungal growth once. Only one of them will cast. If you do it again, another one will cast it and it will keep casting each time you press the hotkey.

If you want to cast simultaneously (two fungals at the same time for two bundles of enemy units) hold shift and just press f and left-click while holding shift..



Thank you for your answer. That's what I thought but wasn't sure.

Thanks too for the thread
Torte de Lini
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Germany38463 Posts
April 14 2011 04:00 GMT
#12
Yep. no problem, cheers~
https://twitter.com/#!/TorteDeLini (@TorteDeLini)
a176
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Canada6688 Posts
April 14 2011 04:04 GMT
#13
People should also consider always researching neural parasite. With increased infestor play, you'll often have infestors lying about gaining enough energy for a neural. While fungal does have immense DPS, it's still fairly ineffective versus high HP units - neural parasite is extremely useful against thors, siege tanks, colossus, void rays, immortals from a battle, for a couple of reasons:

1) these units have high HP, which now allows your units to focus on and remove lower hp'd units
2) these units do immense damage to zerg armies and thus now increase your survivability
3) ... this damage is now directed at your enemy instead of you.
starleague forever
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 10h 2m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Nina 250
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 25280
Sea 14407
Backho 202
Mind 57
Sacsri 43
PianO 28
Noble 20
Shine 18
Bale 14
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm104
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K1148
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King92
Other Games
summit1g10078
hungrybox396
Trikslyr24
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick2968
BasetradeTV19
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 17 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH355
• Light_VIP 69
• practicex 38
• OhrlRock 3
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• sooper7s
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 1
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
League of Legends
• Lourlo1386
• Stunt423
Upcoming Events
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
10h 2m
Replay Cast
18h 2m
The PondCast
1d 4h
OSC
1d 7h
WardiTV European League
1d 10h
Replay Cast
1d 18h
Epic.LAN
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
3 days
Epic.LAN
3 days
CSO Contender
3 days
[ Show More ]
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
3 days
Bonyth vs Sziky
Dewalt vs Hawk
Hawk vs QiaoGege
Sziky vs Dewalt
Mihu vs Bonyth
Zhanhun vs QiaoGege
QiaoGege vs Fengzi
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
Online Event
4 days
BSL20 Non-Korean Champi…
4 days
Bonyth vs Zhanhun
Dewalt vs Mihu
Hawk vs Sziky
Sziky vs QiaoGege
Mihu vs Hawk
Zhanhun vs Dewalt
Fengzi vs Bonyth
Esports World Cup
6 days
ByuN vs Astrea
Lambo vs HeRoMaRinE
Clem vs TBD
Solar vs Zoun
SHIN vs Reynor
Maru vs TriGGeR
herO vs Lancer
Cure vs ShoWTimE
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL 17: 2025 SUMMER
RSL Revival: Season 1
Murky Cup #2

Ongoing

JPL Season 2
BSL 2v2 Season 3
Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
BSL20 Non-Korean Championship
Championship of Russia 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025
PGL Astana 2025
Asian Champions League '25
BLAST Rivals Spring 2025
MESA Nomadic Masters

Upcoming

CSL Xiamen Invitational
CSL Xiamen Invitational: ShowMatche
2025 ACS Season 2
CSLPRO Last Chance 2025
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
K-Championship
RSL Revival: Season 2
SEL Season 2 Championship
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
FEL Cracov 2025
Esports World Cup 2025
Underdog Cup #2
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
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 © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.