Hello there, in August I'm going to a Polish LAN organized by members of netwars.pl community and SC:BW is going to be played there among other games.
The problem is I haven't played Brood War in about 2+ years now I think. I'm platinum Zerg in SC2, in BW I got to D+ on ICCUP by only playing ZvZ (I love this MU in both BW and SC2 for fast pace). I've been a fan of RTS games for more than half of my life, starting with such classics as C&C Tiberian Dawn, Red Alert, Age of Empires and Total Annihilation (I still do play TA multi sometimes Gameranger is a great platform for games).
Of course I am aware of Liquipedia but I'm curious what The Korean Progamers are showing lately.
What do I know or remember about BW (you must correct me if I'm wrong):
Overpool is a safe opening in any MU but depending on situation not the strongest one.
ZvZ
The guy with a later Pool has an advantage thanks to better eco but sometimes if the guy with earlier pool is aggressive enough and uses faster Metabolic Boost then the situation can even out. It's not that hard to defend a ramp with fewer lings(?). 3 hatcheries before Lair is ling all in. Generally games revolve around 1 base with 10-16ish? drones and end by better muta scourge control. The trick to kill the scourge with mutas is to order patrol on top of mutas or if there is a latency issue a bit away from mutas in the direction they are flying to. It's important to spread the overlords around the base to spot incoming mutas and be in base to defend in time. It's good to keep in mind to change overlords and move away overlords hot keyed to mutas (to enable magic box muta stacking trick) so they don't get killed in the fights. It may be useful to keep lings below your muta ball so when the muta balls clash lings take some of the bouncing glaves(?) damage. When using scourge against muta it's important to spread them out so not more than 2 kill one muta, useful tricks involve ordering scourge to follow other scourge and once they spread, then selecting all of them, not using attack move (as scourge AI is retarded) but using move and hitting patrol when some of the scourge touch mutas.
If the game goes to late game than the first player to get Defilers with plague is most probably going to win, unless he is overwhelmed by superior number of mutas. Devouers can come in handy as well as their splash attack both slows attack of affected units by 10% per stack and strengthens the attack and each bounce of own mutas by +1 per stack of purple goo on enemy mutas.
Lurkers and Ultras don't see much use in this MU. I am very curious about Queens though. Wasn't it Zero who had success in using Queens in all 3 MUs? I fucking like Queens, I want to use them.
ZvT The standard is to face either bio with tanks or mech. If it's bio then I'm going to need about 2-4 sunkens and 8-12 speedlings to deflect the initial bio push and tech to mutas in the meanwhile. I can either opt for 2 or 3 hatch muta, with 2 hatch having to cause serious damage to pay for itself. I use the map control mutas give me and push terran back to his base and tech to Lurkers and secure a 3rd. Once I got them I go as far as I can and defensively back off as Terran pushes me with his bio, 3 tanks and a vessel. The goal is to lengthen the time in which terran gets to my base for as long as possible as I need Dark Swarm to be on even terms with terran. The other option is to go for +1 carapace ling lurker force but quick +1 can be achieved by cutting resources on defenses which is risky AND killing bio with ling lurker isn't easy. In any case once I get 4th I switch to ultras.
If it's mech then I go for mass hydra with queens to snipe the tanks but I am completely oblivious when to attack.
ZvP It's about 5 base hydra into muta or 3 base muta into hydra? The goal is to snipe the templars with muta and overwhelm the rest of protoss forces with hydras. If there is many zeals then lurkers can come in handy.
I completely forgot all of the openings for all MUs. Fellow BW fans, show me the game and community is alive and help me please!
"5 hat hydra" is pretty much dead for most part and has been for ages.
Muta snipes only work if either the P stops making sairs or he loses majority of them More likely to be latter than former as P's make so many sairs with +1 air attack nowadays that finding a non sair builder is rare but then you get to lol as he dies to mutas anyways (vod example being killer vs sang on la mancha)
if you are D+ i will recommend D+ build . for z v t go lurkers , be it 2 hatch lurk or 3 hatch lurk your preference , dont ever go muta if you cant control your muta well because theres a timing whereby 2 group of marine move out and without control your muta will melt. for z v p if you want to all in just go 3hatch hydra ( go see liquidpedia for bo ) or if you want to play late game which consist of ultralisk ( which is a better choice for low level game ) .. the build order for ultralisk is basically by 40~50 supply take the 4th base. if the protoss go 1gate then 3h and react from there , theres 2 way you can go which is zergling all in which is building all lings and wait for the protoss to move out or just go lair by 25 supply ~ and upgrade lurk and theres a timing protoss will expand , thats the timing your lurker will be done and victory will depend whether your lurker reach his base and kill or not.
For ZvZ, the drone counts are more like 9-12 on one base, and if you get a 2nd base, you get 3 drones for the geyser and don't bother with more (trying to make significantly more drones than your opponent is a great way to lose to zerglings)
your ZvT vs bio understanding sounds good enough, but vs mech... basically just read this
Keep in mind popular modern TvZ involves bio at the start but a gradual switch to mech in the lategame, facilitated by getting vultures/mines for map control and such.
Hydra/crackling with maybe some lurkers too is gonna be your army, with the possibility of queens and defilers for broodling/swarm/playguh to support. But having a good econ is of paramount importance.
For ZvP I recommend taking your 3rd base at a 2nd natural--it allows for a quick 4th using simcitied sunkens at 2 locations with lurker or muta tech to defend, then you can tech up to hive and pump out ultra/ling/defiler with good upgrades/econ
On May 08 2012 16:03 xxpack09 wrote: For ZvZ, the drone counts are more like 9-12 on one base, and if you get a 2nd base, you get 3 drones for the geyser and don't bother with more (trying to make significantly more drones than your opponent is a great way to lose to zerglings)
your ZvT vs bio understanding sounds good enough, but vs mech... basically just read this
Keep in mind popular modern TvZ involves bio at the start but a gradual switch to mech in the lategame, facilitated by getting vultures/mines for map control and such.
Hydra/crackling with maybe some lurkers too is gonna be your army, with the possibility of queens and defilers for broodling/swarm/playguh to support. But having a good econ is of paramount importance.
For ZvP I recommend taking your 3rd base at a 2nd natural--it allows for a quick 4th using simcitied sunkens at 2 locations with lurker or muta tech to defend, then you can tech up to hive and pump out ultra/ling/defiler with good upgrades/econ
I'm gonna say thank you for every post in my blog :D Thank You!
The one overall tip i can give - if the opponents are of a somewhat low level - is that you go for an early pool and put on some pressure. This will mess up opponents build - regardless of race, and you can set the pace of the game. Works wonders for me, ie. up to C- level. Especially against protoss, they know exactly how to react to a standard 12 pool with fast third base, but against overpool speed they are useless
On May 08 2012 18:49 Skeggaba wrote: The one overall tip i can give - if the opponents are of a somewhat low level - is that you go for an early pool and put on some pressure. This will mess up opponents build - regardless of race, and you can set the pace of the game. Works wonders for me, ie. up to C- level. Especially against protoss, they know exactly how to react to a standard 12 pool with fast third base, but against overpool speed they are useless
EPT
Gameranger is a great platform for games).
