• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 07:30
CET 13:30
KST 21:30
  • 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
TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners7Intel X Team Liquid Seoul event: Showmatches and Meet the Pros10[ASL20] Finals Preview: Arrival13TL.net Map Contest #21: Voting12[ASL20] Ro4 Preview: Descent11
Community News
Starcraft, SC2, HoTS, WC3, returning to Blizzcon!29$5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship5[BSL21] RO32 Group Stage4Weekly Cups (Oct 26-Nov 2): Liquid, Clem, Solar win; LAN in Philly2Weekly Cups (Oct 20-26): MaxPax, Clem, Creator win9
StarCraft 2
General
Starcraft, SC2, HoTS, WC3, returning to Blizzcon! TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners 5.0.15 Patch Balance Hotfix (2025-10-8) RotterdaM "Serral is the GOAT, and it's not close" Weekly Cups (Oct 20-26): MaxPax, Clem, Creator win
Tourneys
Constellation Cup - Main Event - Stellar Fest $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship Merivale 8 Open - LAN - Stellar Fest Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) $3,500 WardiTV Korean Royale S4
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 498 Wheel of Misfortune|Cradle of Death Mutation # 497 Battle Haredened Mutation # 496 Endless Infection Mutation # 495 Rest In Peace
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion [ASL20] Ask the mapmakers — Drop your questions [BSL21] RO32 Group Stage BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ SnOw's ASL S20 Finals Review
Tourneys
[ASL20] Grand Finals [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] RO32 Group B - Sunday 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO32 Group A - Saturday 21:00 CET
Strategy
PvZ map balance Current Meta How to stay on top of macro? Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Dawn of War IV Nintendo Switch Thread ZeroSpace Megathread General RTS Discussion Thread
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
TL Mafia Community Thread SPIRED by.ASL Mafia {211640}
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine YouTube Thread Dating: How's your luck?
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Korean Music Discussion Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread NBA General Discussion MLB/Baseball 2023 TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
SC2 Client Relocalization [Change SC2 Language] Linksys AE2500 USB WIFI keeps disconnecting Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Coffee x Performance in Espo…
TrAiDoS
Saturation point
Uldridge
DnB/metal remix FFO Mick Go…
ImbaTosS
Why we need SC3
Hildegard
Reality "theory" prov…
perfectspheres
Our Last Hope in th…
KrillinFromwales
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1414 users

ZvT recent developments

Forum Index > BW General
Post a Reply
Normal
swanized
Profile Blog Joined September 2009
Canada2480 Posts
December 17 2018 20:48 GMT
#1
Hi all,

I've only been watching bigger tournaments in the last 3 years and I'd like to pick the brains of community members who are following daily streams and other tournaments more closely.

It seems like ZvT has changed a lot in the past 3-4 months and recently Zergs are doing quite well even, after struggling for years. Here are my questions

1) Why did 5 Rax +1 quit completely dominating the matchup?

I'm aware that Flash mentionned that he was feeling like zergs were adapting to the build and that is part of the reason he developped 1-1-1 in the last year (that and 1-1-1 being easier on the hands is the extend of my knowledge). Even now that 1-1-1 seems to have fallen out of fashion, players going 5 rax +1 don't seem to be having as much success with it as they used to. My question is: What exactly was the adaptation that zerg players brought to the table against the build? I notice that when Terrans go out on the map to hunt the third they get crunched by mutaling quite often nowadays. Did zergs find some build order refinements that beat that timing? What happened exactly?

2) Why did Terrans abruptly stop to mech switch

Mech switch dominated the matchup for a good 5 years span (if not more) is my impression but it seems like in between 2 ASLs every Terran went back to doing SK terran (with BCs). What brought about such a sudden change? I figure this has to do with terrans not being able to dominate the midgame as much as they used to with 5 rax +1 so maybe the answer to the first question answers this one too.

3) What's up with the BCs

I don't really get the BC strat. I feel like the BCs are rarely very cost efficient, especially when considering you could be making vessels instead. I get that BCs don't require much APM to work with compared to vessels but can someone explain to me the strong case for building BCs?

Thank you everyone.
Writer
Toss_Master
Profile Joined June 2017
United States46 Posts
December 17 2018 21:21 GMT
#2
Bcs one shot scourge.
SchAmToo
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States1141 Posts
December 17 2018 21:32 GMT
#3
2) Why did Terrans abruptly stop to mech switch

I believe Zergs started getting really good at abusing the slowness of mech switch. It takes good conditions to do, and I noticed a lot of zergs abusing that moment perfectly. I noticed zergs getting really good at multi-pronged drops/pushes. I believe 2h is also a great way to keep terran locked down, and kinda came back in favor when i noticed mech going away. I'm not sure if those are related but a trend i noticed. it seems unlikely to effect one another to me tho.

3) What's up with the BCs
BCs are good at many things. One, as you mentioned, they take 1 action to go do damage. This requires a billion commands for zerg to handle correctly. They soak scourge. Scourge are 75gas to build 2, but you need 6 to hit a +0 upgrade BC to kill it. Since BCs one shot them, you typically need more than 6 built. They cause Zerg to spend >225 gas which is zerg's biggest problem late game is spending gas efficiently.
Zergs have been handling this by using plague more on them, building hydras to counter, etc. It requires a lot of decision making as well as it guaranteed drains gas.
twitch.tv/schamtoo | twitter.com/schamtoo
Cryoc
Profile Joined July 2011
Germany909 Posts
December 17 2018 21:41 GMT
#4
Zergs just don't get their thirds as fast anymore to defend vs the m&m.

Terrans don't go mech switch much anymore because most maps that were used in the last 2 ASLs are not very good for it.

The point of the BC's is mainly to create a timing for the followup dropships by soaking up the scourges. They can also be cost efficient, if Zerg only deals with them in a half-assed way.
http://www.twitch.tv/cryoc
Me_ToKa
Profile Joined September 2009
Bulgaria309 Posts
December 17 2018 22:01 GMT
#5
I think Flash said that 1-1-1 is now a dead build. Soon Terrans will be back to some kind a modified +1 5 rax into mech. I guarantee!
Most of the recent games are semi all-ins. So ugly...
You just throw BCs to Z and let him deal with them while you are roaming elsewhere.
ninazerg
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States7291 Posts
December 17 2018 22:02 GMT
#6
I feel like the +1 5rax stopped being as dominant because Terrans aren't doing the mech switch. This is partially because the maps haven't always been good for fortifying a corner main. Otherwise, I think it's a completely legit way to play and more Terrans should do it. One problem with it is that it can drag the game out to 30-40 minutes, which can be very taxing. Lee Young Ho probably stopped doing it because his wrists are in bad shape, and practicing hundreds of 30+ minute games made him want to do something less time-consuming. Generally speaking, when Flash switches strategies, other Terrans tend to follow suit.

As for the battlecruiser thing, I'm not sure I understand it completely, but if you look at the cost values, we see this:

Scourge - 75 gas
Battlecruiser - 300 gas

It will take at least 5 scourge to kill a battlecruiser. That will come out to 375 gas spent for the Zerg player versus 300 for the Terran player. Additionally, battlecruisers can kill scourge with a single shot, which means that it may take 6 scourge for a cost of 450 gas. To deal with just two battlecruisers will require the Zerg to make 12 scourge. As the number of battlecruisers increases, the effectiveness of the scourge goes down dramatically. This allows the Terran to do three things: use the battlecruisers to deal damage to the Zerg, force the Zerg to utilize a lot of larvae that could be used to make ground units, and force the Zerg to spend a lot of gas on scourge instead of defilers, ultralisks, or lurkers.

Often times, the Zerg player will not have air units upgraded, or have hydralisk upgrades, which can make battlecruisers difficult to deal with using a Zerg that has tooled their infrastructure to fight defensively against a large and fairly mobile Terran ground army.
"If two pregnant women get into a fist fight, it's like a mecha-battle between two unborn babies." - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Anc13nt
Profile Blog Joined October 2017
1557 Posts
December 17 2018 22:34 GMT
#7
On December 18 2018 07:02 ninazerg wrote:
I feel like the +1 5rax stopped being as dominant because Terrans aren't doing the mech switch. This is partially because the maps haven't always been good for fortifying a corner main. Otherwise, I think it's a completely legit way to play and more Terrans should do it. One problem with it is that it can drag the game out to 30-40 minutes, which can be very taxing. Lee Young Ho probably stopped doing it because his wrists are in bad shape, and practicing hundreds of 30+ minute games made him want to do something less time-consuming. Generally speaking, when Flash switches strategies, other Terrans tend to follow suit.

As for the battlecruiser thing, I'm not sure I understand it completely, but if you look at the cost values, we see this:

Scourge - 75 gas
Battlecruiser - 300 gas

It will take at least 5 scourge to kill a battlecruiser. That will come out to 375 gas spent for the Zerg player versus 300 for the Terran player. Additionally, battlecruisers can kill scourge with a single shot, which means that it may take 6 scourge for a cost of 450 gas. To deal with just two battlecruisers will require the Zerg to make 12 scourge. As the number of battlecruisers increases, the effectiveness of the scourge goes down dramatically. This allows the Terran to do three things: use the battlecruisers to deal damage to the Zerg, force the Zerg to utilize a lot of larvae that could be used to make ground units, and force the Zerg to spend a lot of gas on scourge instead of defilers, ultralisks, or lurkers.

Often times, the Zerg player will not have air units upgraded, or have hydralisk upgrades, which can make battlecruisers difficult to deal with using a Zerg that has tooled their infrastructure to fight defensively against a large and fairly mobile Terran ground army.


I think it would cost 225 gas for zerg since you can get 2 for 75 gas. But even still, BCs are good because Zerg needs gas at the mid-late game stage of the game more than terran imo. Along with it's other uses, it's kind of like a gas dump that forces zerg to also dump gas.
L_Master
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States8017 Posts
December 17 2018 22:37 GMT
#8
On December 18 2018 07:01 Me_ToKa wrote:
I think Flash said that 1-1-1 is now a dead build. Soon Terrans will be back to some kind a modified +1 5 rax into mech. I guarantee!
Most of the recent games are semi all-ins. So ugly...
You just throw BCs to Z and let him deal with them while you are roaming elsewhere.


Did he really? I guess that means after playing/studying his games his EffOrt he decided there was no way he felt with to adequately deal with all of zergs aggressive options.
EffOrt and Soulkey Hwaiting!
XenOsky
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
Chile2284 Posts
December 17 2018 22:52 GMT
#9
4 rax 2 starport is the future
StarCraft & Audax Italiano.
BigFan
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
TLADT24920 Posts
December 17 2018 23:05 GMT
#10
On December 18 2018 07:01 Me_ToKa wrote:
I think Flash said that 1-1-1 is now a dead build. Soon Terrans will be back to some kind a modified +1 5 rax into mech. I guarantee!
Most of the recent games are semi all-ins. So ugly...
You just throw BCs to Z and let him deal with them while you are roaming elsewhere.

do you have a link for this?
Former BW EiC"Watch Bakemonogatari or I will kill you." -Toad, April 18th, 2017
ortseam
Profile Joined April 2015
996 Posts
December 17 2018 23:16 GMT
#11
On December 18 2018 07:37 L_Master wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 18 2018 07:01 Me_ToKa wrote:
I think Flash said that 1-1-1 is now a dead build. Soon Terrans will be back to some kind a modified +1 5 rax into mech. I guarantee!
Most of the recent games are semi all-ins. So ugly...
You just throw BCs to Z and let him deal with them while you are roaming elsewhere.


Did he really? I guess that means after playing/studying his games his EffOrt he decided there was no way he felt with to adequately deal with all of zergs aggressive options.

I mean, it's not like Effort did something new, one ling all-in and one hydra bust were the successful ones (2 hatch defiler was against bio)
Dante08
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
Singapore4138 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-18 01:52:22
December 18 2018 01:51 GMT
#12
On December 18 2018 05:48 swanized wrote:
Hi all,

I've only been watching bigger tournaments in the last 3 years and I'd like to pick the brains of community members who are following daily streams and other tournaments more closely.

It seems like ZvT has changed a lot in the past 3-4 months and recently Zergs are doing quite well even, after struggling for years. Here are my questions

1) Why did 5 Rax +1 quit completely dominating the matchup?

I'm aware that Flash mentionned that he was feeling like zergs were adapting to the build and that is part of the reason he developped 1-1-1 in the last year (that and 1-1-1 being easier on the hands is the extend of my knowledge). Even now that 1-1-1 seems to have fallen out of fashion, players going 5 rax +1 don't seem to be having as much success with it as they used to. My question is: What exactly was the adaptation that zerg players brought to the table against the build? I notice that when Terrans go out on the map to hunt the third they get crunched by mutaling quite often nowadays. Did zergs find some build order refinements that beat that timing? What happened exactly?

2) Why did Terrans abruptly stop to mech switch

Mech switch dominated the matchup for a good 5 years span (if not more) is my impression but it seems like in between 2 ASLs every Terran went back to doing SK terran (with BCs). What brought about such a sudden change? I figure this has to do with terrans not being able to dominate the midgame as much as they used to with 5 rax +1 so maybe the answer to the first question answers this one too.

3) What's up with the BCs

I don't really get the BC strat. I feel like the BCs are rarely very cost efficient, especially when considering you could be making vessels instead. I get that BCs don't require much APM to work with compared to vessels but can someone explain to me the strong case for building BCs?

Thank you everyone.


1) Zergs simply got better at dealing with 5 rax +1 after practicing for so long. At first you could tell Zerg didn't really know what to do and just lose their third almost always. But the top Zergs started to figure it out (see Soulkey vs Sharp game 5 recently) and it just wasn't as effective anymore.

2) Mech switch was partly popular because alot of games were played on FS/CB or similar maps which allowed for relatively easy mech switches. Then again Zergs started figuring out and changes to the map pool caused mech to go out of style.

3) It's a great resource dump + harass strategy if the Terran has alot of bases. It's nearly impossible to control a max bio + vessel army anyway so leaving some supply in BCs can be a great harass strategy. Zerg needs a ton of scourge/spore/plague/hydra/muta to deal with it. It is also an excellent buffer for dropships to follow behind.
ggsimida
Profile Joined August 2015
1148 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-18 01:59:47
December 18 2018 01:59 GMT
#13
On December 18 2018 10:51 Dante08 wrote:

2) Mech switch was partly popular because alot of games were played on FS/CB or similar maps which allowed for relatively easy mech switches. Then again Zergs started figuring out and changes to the map pool caused mech to go out of style.



you shouldn't look at the ksl2 finals to make this false assumption. sharp hardly ever go for mech in tvz, its just not his style. mech is still the best way to handle lategame tvz, sk just doesnt cut it if you let the zerg comfortably secure his 4th and 5th and amove his ling/ultra/defilers with impunity
iCCup.Trent
Profile Joined May 2005
Argentina450 Posts
December 18 2018 03:48 GMT
#14
Yesterday I saw EffOrt doing something I'd never seen before. He's known for early burrow, but what he did was use it defensively against 1-1-1 early Wraith burrowing the attacked drones one by one as they were being hit. The result was 0 dead drones in time for mutas to come out. Very interesting.
BigFan
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
TLADT24920 Posts
December 18 2018 03:51 GMT
#15
^ It's not that different from turning drones into colonies then canceling once wraith leaves, and putting them back to mining. Having burrow also helps with erasers later on.
Former BW EiC"Watch Bakemonogatari or I will kill you." -Toad, April 18th, 2017
iCCup.Trent
Profile Joined May 2005
Argentina450 Posts
December 18 2018 04:28 GMT
#16
On December 18 2018 12:51 BigFan wrote:
^ It's not that different from turning drones into colonies then canceling once wraith leaves, and putting them back to mining. Having burrow also helps with erasers later on.

Are you sure? In my experience, making colonies is very cumbersome at that speed. You need a large free rectangular space between minerals, base and in between other drones and you're not exactly rich at that time in the game. Burrowing is clicking drone and pressing B, works every time.
chongu
Profile Blog Joined February 2009
Malaysia2593 Posts
December 18 2018 05:29 GMT
#17
2) regarding the mech switch, I believe it still has a lot of viability depending on the maps. I noticed a lot of zergs couldn't and still can't figure it out - mostly B-grade zergs like Shine, modesty, 815.

The only reason why it fell out of favour is because 1-1-1 was the new meta that is advantageous and playable on a lot of maps.
SC2 is to BW, what coke is to wine.
LocoBolon
Profile Joined June 2012
Argentina243 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-18 05:54:07
December 18 2018 05:53 GMT
#18
On December 18 2018 13:28 iCCup.Trent wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 18 2018 12:51 BigFan wrote:
^ It's not that different from turning drones into colonies then canceling once wraith leaves, and putting them back to mining. Having burrow also helps with erasers later on.

Are you sure? In my experience, making colonies is very cumbersome at that speed. You need a large free rectangular space between minerals, base and in between other drones and you're not exactly rich at that time in the game. Burrowing is clicking drone and pressing B, works every time.


I too belive burrow makes muchmore sense than the colony trick when you are actually playing and doing it. go effort
Standard Queens
LocoBolon
Profile Joined June 2012
Argentina243 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-18 06:30:56
December 18 2018 06:27 GMT
#19
about scourge and BC: I think making a BC and holding it behind z mineral line outside spore range in late game is very very cost effective. It's about gas, apm and larva.

As some said, to kill 1 bc need 6 scourge land, right? (not sure tho) +1 that BC kill = 7 scourge

Z needs 300 gas to kill 1 BC if no scourge kamikaze alone before it.
Why think trading 300x300 gas at best is even trade? It's not a mirror match, gas value ratio is definitely not 1-1 for each party here. I think that trade is very good for Terran.

Also z needs 4 larvas if micro correct and lose 0 drones wich is very very unlikely, If a BC manage to kill 4 drones somehow that is 8 larva for one bc. then 3 bc => 24 larva.

Also the apm trade: drone transfer, scorge making and micro, etc vs BC makin, sending and mb holdig

BC can be very hardcore to deal with in the hands of someone like Light, add matrix def, and dropships to all above and they are such a power move.
thats why we see BC sitting forever at progame level zerg bases. they take a lot tp be dealt with
Standard Queens
Dante08
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
Singapore4138 Posts
December 18 2018 06:38 GMT
#20
On December 18 2018 10:59 ggsimida wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 18 2018 10:51 Dante08 wrote:

2) Mech switch was partly popular because alot of games were played on FS/CB or similar maps which allowed for relatively easy mech switches. Then again Zergs started figuring out and changes to the map pool caused mech to go out of style.



you shouldn't look at the ksl2 finals to make this false assumption. sharp hardly ever go for mech in tvz, its just not his style. mech is still the best way to handle lategame tvz, sk just doesnt cut it if you let the zerg comfortably secure his 4th and 5th and amove his ling/ultra/defilers with impunity


I'm not, I quoted that game to highlight how Zergs deal with 5 rax +1 nowadays. Yes mech is still the best way to handle lategame TvZ but as I mentioned zergs like Soulkey Effort Larva have figured out how to deal with it more effectively and not let Terran get the other main up easily. It's still used in some cases but there's a reason why you don't see Terrans doing it much anymore. Coupled with the fact that there are alot more 2-3 player maps recently which don't allow you to spilt the map easily.
ninazerg
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States7291 Posts
December 18 2018 06:58 GMT
#21
On December 18 2018 07:34 Anc13nt wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 18 2018 07:02 ninazerg wrote:
I feel like the +1 5rax stopped being as dominant because Terrans aren't doing the mech switch. This is partially because the maps haven't always been good for fortifying a corner main. Otherwise, I think it's a completely legit way to play and more Terrans should do it. One problem with it is that it can drag the game out to 30-40 minutes, which can be very taxing. Lee Young Ho probably stopped doing it because his wrists are in bad shape, and practicing hundreds of 30+ minute games made him want to do something less time-consuming. Generally speaking, when Flash switches strategies, other Terrans tend to follow suit.

As for the battlecruiser thing, I'm not sure I understand it completely, but if you look at the cost values, we see this:

Scourge - 75 gas
Battlecruiser - 300 gas

It will take at least 5 scourge to kill a battlecruiser. That will come out to 375 gas spent for the Zerg player versus 300 for the Terran player. Additionally, battlecruisers can kill scourge with a single shot, which means that it may take 6 scourge for a cost of 450 gas. To deal with just two battlecruisers will require the Zerg to make 12 scourge. As the number of battlecruisers increases, the effectiveness of the scourge goes down dramatically. This allows the Terran to do three things: use the battlecruisers to deal damage to the Zerg, force the Zerg to utilize a lot of larvae that could be used to make ground units, and force the Zerg to spend a lot of gas on scourge instead of defilers, ultralisks, or lurkers.

Often times, the Zerg player will not have air units upgraded, or have hydralisk upgrades, which can make battlecruisers difficult to deal with using a Zerg that has tooled their infrastructure to fight defensively against a large and fairly mobile Terran ground army.


I think it would cost 225 gas for zerg since you can get 2 for 75 gas. But even still, BCs are good because Zerg needs gas at the mid-late game stage of the game more than terran imo. Along with it's other uses, it's kind of like a gas dump that forces zerg to also dump gas.


oops, you're right. My mind has been elsewhere today...
"If two pregnant women get into a fist fight, it's like a mecha-battle between two unborn babies." - Fyodor Dostoevsky
abuse
Profile Joined April 2011
Latvia1934 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-18 09:56:18
December 18 2018 09:55 GMT
#22
how does plague not completely shut down BC's?
I haven't really watched any games with bc's, but everything in my brain says that going bc's vs zerg is the absolute worst thing you can possibly do.
Isn't it an extremely easy and cost-effective counter by zerg?
I don't believe you.
[sc1f]eonzerg
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
Belgium6737 Posts
December 18 2018 10:05 GMT
#23
On December 18 2018 18:55 abuse wrote:
how does plague not completely shut down BC's?
I haven't really watched any games with bc's, but everything in my brain says that going bc's vs zerg is the absolute worst thing you can possibly do.
Isn't it an extremely easy and cost-effective counter by zerg?

do you know how much damage does plague to Bcs ?
hint:they re not with 1hp after plague.
Qikz
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
United Kingdom12023 Posts
December 18 2018 11:26 GMT
#24
On December 18 2018 19:05 [sc1f]eonzerg wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 18 2018 18:55 abuse wrote:
how does plague not completely shut down BC's?
I haven't really watched any games with bc's, but everything in my brain says that going bc's vs zerg is the absolute worst thing you can possibly do.
Isn't it an extremely easy and cost-effective counter by zerg?

do you know how much damage does plague to Bcs ?
hint:they re not with 1hp after plague.


Why not just tell him. (Wiki)Plague does 295-300 damage to a BC.
FanTaSy's #1 Fan | STPL Caster/Organiser | SKT BEST KT | https://twitch.tv/stpl
JaehoonBeast
Profile Joined November 2018
5 Posts
December 18 2018 15:45 GMT
#25
1. Obviously, once a build is used that much you expect players to start making micro-adjustments to play against it more efficiently. Quicker hive and lurk off of only 9 mutas for example. Once you stabilize on 3 bases +1 5rax loses a lot of its pressure and the Terran will have to reapply pressure with follow-up tech whether its 2 starport drops/vessels, tanks, or fast expanding into mech switch. I also think that anytime that the Terran ball gets kill by mutaling is purely a mistake on Terrans fault for not reinforcing properly/ making too long movements on the map so you can look at the player in question as well since Flash rarely loses his mnm to mutaling without trading very efficiently. As Soulkey put it, anytime a muta opener is used, mutas can win or lose you the game. You can see it as pros figuring out more efficient ways to use or in the case of faster hive, not use mutas. Compare muta movement from Soulkey to say Effort and you'll see that Effort still struggles against a good +1 5rax.

2. Mech switch is fairly map dependent, not too much to say about that. It requires a lot of resources to accomplish as well as being given the time to put down factories and upgrades. This is normally accomplished on 4p maps by using mines, mnm groups to block drops, and forward pressure with vessels. One thing about the mech switch is sometimes you see Terran gearing up for it even if the Zerg is behind so lets say a late 3rd or low muta count. This can potentially let Zerg back into the game by allowing them to drone up and take expansions with minimal pressure whereas if Terran went SK and stayed ahead on upgrades, constantly making vessels and drops as well as BCs (leading to #3) they would set themselves up for an easier win.

3. BC aren't a build every single game and at a random timing thing. Yes they are good gas sinks because youll always have left over gas if youre producing mnm on 6+ barracks. This assumes you also have a healthy vessel count beforehand, you dont want to have 2 BC and 0 vessel and its mostly to disrupt production of the Zerg. Note that BC sees most use before the introduction of Ultralisks. You force Zerg to spend more gas on scourge and defilers with constant pressure not allowing for the massive Ultralisk tech switch. One thing that isn't quite new but is used a lot as a follow-up in case they can't close the game with MM + BC is "Neo-SK" which involves the constant production of MM + Vessel/BC + Upgraded Tanks. It slowly starts to look like a Mech transition but much more sustainable because of the constant pressure you're applying which gives you the time as opposed to the mines and whatnot of a traditional Late Mech Transition.

Anc13nt
Profile Blog Joined October 2017
1557 Posts
December 18 2018 18:41 GMT
#26
On December 18 2018 18:55 abuse wrote:
how does plague not completely shut down BC's?
I haven't really watched any games with bc's, but everything in my brain says that going bc's vs zerg is the absolute worst thing you can possibly do.
Isn't it an extremely easy and cost-effective counter by zerg?


Plague is pretty good against BCs but takes a lot of attention to do. Also, some zerg might not have plague ready (I rarely do tbh, but I am noob) for it anyway. Even if it does work, I think the damage occurs slow enough that it's kind of like irradiating an ultralisk; it's good but it's not great tbh.
JieXian
Profile Blog Joined August 2008
Malaysia4677 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-18 19:07:30
December 18 2018 19:01 GMT
#27
Thank you everyone for the interesting posts.

I'd like to add that dealing with BCs are a pain. They aren't APM intensive for T and by the time you get your scourges over they would have done some damage already.

As others said, they make zerg spend some scourges and throws their game off (might leave them open for drops or vessels). Other methods of dealing with BCs (hydra/defiler) require more attention from the Zerg than the Terran.

On December 18 2018 12:51 BigFan wrote:
^ It's not that different from turning drones into colonies then canceling once wraith leaves, and putting them back to mining. Having burrow also helps with erasers later on.


It's a big difference, the investment into burrow can be used for many other things while turning drones into colonies requires more attention and is a waste of minerals.

I know others have pointed this but I can't miss this opportunity to join in and say + Show Spoiler +
l2p nub!
Please send me a PM of any song you like that I most probably never heard of! I am looking for people to chat about writing and producing music | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noD-bsOcxuU |
CrownRoyal
Profile Blog Joined November 2005
Vatican City State1872 Posts
December 18 2018 19:32 GMT
#28
I've always realized it was there but I never thought about APM as a resource

So many people saying the simple fact that you can A-move a bc to a zerg base and it basically handles itself while the zerg has to spend his time dealing with it properly in a late game scenario is actually a really big deal lol.

- ramblings of a brainless protoss player
You're pretty when I'm drunk.
BigFan
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
TLADT24920 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-18 20:15:44
December 18 2018 20:11 GMT
#29
^ Late game TvZ is really APM intensive. It's why Sharp with his 300+ APM had a hard time keeping up with SK Terran demands late game, and was floating in the recent KSL finals. BCs are a nice unit to use if you have a large enough vessel count already, and can spare to make a couple. I don't think they are as a-moving as some people are implying, but obviously the Zerg needs to dedicate more attention to dealing with them. Thing is, a single swarm with several hydras is more than enough to ward them off. The question comes down to attention required, and time invested. The nice thing about BCs is that you need an AA unit to kill them, and they are quite tanky too so if you get caught in another engagement or have to macro, you don't have to worry about looking back so fast to micro them out. Granted, if you are playing SK Terran or neo-SK Terran, the Zerg will likely have plague ready and that with either spores or several hydras+swarm can completely shut them down.

On December 18 2018 13:28 iCCup.Trent wrote:
Show nested quote +
On December 18 2018 12:51 BigFan wrote:
^ It's not that different from turning drones into colonies then canceling once wraith leaves, and putting them back to mining. Having burrow also helps with erasers later on.

Are you sure? In my experience, making colonies is very cumbersome at that speed. You need a large free rectangular space between minerals, base and in between other drones and you're not exactly rich at that time in the game. Burrowing is clicking drone and pressing B, works every time.

I've seen it done by Larva before, and I'm positive that other Zergs have tried it. I'm not saying it's less APM intensive or so, but if your main goal is to save every drone until your AA comes out, it's another feasible option.

On December 19 2018 04:01 JieXian wrote:
Thank you everyone for the interesting posts.

I'd like to add that dealing with BCs are a pain. They aren't APM intensive for T and by the time you get your scourges over they would have done some damage already.

As others said, they make zerg spend some scourges and throws their game off (might leave them open for drops or vessels). Other methods of dealing with BCs (hydra/defiler) require more attention from the Zerg than the Terran.

Show nested quote +
On December 18 2018 12:51 BigFan wrote:
^ It's not that different from turning drones into colonies then canceling once wraith leaves, and putting them back to mining. Having burrow also helps with erasers later on.


It's a big difference, the investment into burrow can be used for many other things while turning drones into colonies requires more attention and is a waste of minerals.

I know others have pointed this but I can't miss this opportunity to join in and say + Show Spoiler +
l2p nub!

rofl, just taking pot shots I see! Go read my comment right above to see what I was implying + Show Spoiler +
scrub, someone who's lost to my BCs many times! :D
Former BW EiC"Watch Bakemonogatari or I will kill you." -Toad, April 18th, 2017
Ideas
Profile Blog Joined April 2008
United States8142 Posts
December 18 2018 23:47 GMT
#30
So I guess I need to rewatch Effort's series vs Flash and Last and pay more attention to his opening BOs and ling speed timing but my impression is that literally just zergs deciding to get faster ling speed (IE before or at same time as lair) sorta nullifies the entire FE-ish 111? By FE 111 I mean the sorta 111 that takes the natural with just like 1-2 vultures? Flash used a 1-base 111 build in the MPL very recently but that's sort of a fundamentally different build, right? Or is it just an adaption made based on the Z going 2 hatch instead of 3?

I don't watch many streams or understand any korean so I'm probably pretty misinformed. But Effort seemed to beat or severely threaten 111 builds by getting very fast ling speed and doing a lot of damage with 12+ speedlings when T only has 1-2 marines and 1-2 vultures before the vultures even have speed. Did it really just take like ~1 entire year for Zs to figure out how to abuse that window, or is that a sorta 1-off thing and it just seems like the FE 111 (probably not the right name for it and actually is just confusing to call it that) is dead but it's not really?
Free Palestine
kidcrash
Profile Joined September 2009
United States623 Posts
December 19 2018 00:15 GMT
#31
I'd ike to see pro Terrans fall back on bio with a healthy mix of tanks instead of double starport. I get that dropship harass is brutal to deal with and a large vessel count is also deadly but tanks just seem way more stable.
CHEONSOYUN
Profile Joined August 2017
553 Posts
December 19 2018 02:38 GMT
#32
On December 19 2018 09:15 kidcrash wrote:
I'd ike to see pro Terrans fall back on bio with a healthy mix of tanks instead of double starport. I get that dropship harass is brutal to deal with and a large vessel count is also deadly but tanks just seem way more stable.


it's not that fun to lose tanks to swarm when you don't have enough of them or mines to buffer for them
JAEDONG...!!! EFFORT IS ANGRY. ZERG...?!
Dante08
Profile Blog Joined February 2008
Singapore4138 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-19 04:15:03
December 19 2018 04:12 GMT
#33
On December 18 2018 18:55 abuse wrote:
how does plague not completely shut down BC's?
I haven't really watched any games with bc's, but everything in my brain says that going bc's vs zerg is the absolute worst thing you can possibly do.
Isn't it an extremely easy and cost-effective counter by zerg?


That's why they are used as a harassment unit with max 2-4 at once. Just enough to be annoying but at the same time not get screwed by plague on 12 BCs.
Opposition1
Profile Joined September 2017
14 Posts
December 19 2018 10:24 GMT
#34
One thing I would add in addition to all the other explanations given here is that SKT pumping vessels off 2 Starports all game begins to have diminishing returns as the game goes on.

When Terran has 10 vessels, 2 more are unlikely to provide more than a very marginal benefit. Zerg will cut into the vessel count with scourge but it will steadily rise until big groups of vessels get plagued. In those situations it is better to have a couple BCs posted more than a plagues distance away since plaguing 12 vessels plays out about the same as plaguing 10.
goody153
Profile Blog Joined April 2013
44228 Posts
Last Edited: 2018-12-19 11:49:05
December 19 2018 11:27 GMT
#35
How reliable/effective is lategame vulture with bio for terran ? I think i remember some of sharp's tvz where he does that and it seems to help hold the zerg even at hive tech(ultra). I think he was sneaking alot of vulture mines on the zergs common path

And vultures are extremely cheap for their purpose and really mobile

On December 18 2018 07:52 XenOsky wrote:
4 rax 2 starport is the future

i dig this
this is a quote
Normal
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
OSC
12:00
King of the Hill #230
WardiTV278
iHatsuTV 8
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RotterdaM 208
Lowko185
StarCraft: Brood War
Jaedong 921
Light 558
EffOrt 402
Larva 346
Stork 339
Mini 291
BeSt 271
Leta 194
actioN 193
Barracks 178
[ Show more ]
hero 158
Aegong 125
Snow 118
Pusan 92
sSak 82
JYJ70
Rush 62
PianO 53
Sea.KH 50
Backho 44
Sharp 36
sas.Sziky 27
zelot 25
Noble 22
soO 20
Movie 18
sorry 17
yabsab 16
scan(afreeca) 15
NaDa 13
Bale 11
Terrorterran 7
Shine 7
HiyA 6
Icarus 5
Dota 2
Gorgc6133
XcaliburYe310
League of Legends
Reynor121
Counter-Strike
zeus534
allub191
edward52
Other Games
summit1g16015
singsing1649
B2W.Neo630
crisheroes282
Sick270
DeMusliM208
XaKoH 101
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick531
Counter-Strike
PGL178
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 1146
• WagamamaTV248
League of Legends
• Jankos3976
Upcoming Events
LAN Event
2h 30m
Lambo vs Harstem
FuturE vs Maplez
Scarlett vs FoxeR
Gerald vs Mixu
Zoun vs TBD
Clem vs TBD
ByuN vs TBD
TriGGeR vs TBD
Korean StarCraft League
14h 30m
CranKy Ducklings
21h 30m
LAN Event
1d 2h
IPSL
1d 5h
dxtr13 vs OldBoy
Napoleon vs Doodle
BSL 21
1d 7h
Gosudark vs Kyrie
Gypsy vs Sterling
UltrA vs Radley
Dandy vs Ptak
Replay Cast
1d 10h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 21h
WardiTV Korean Royale
1d 23h
LAN Event
2 days
[ Show More ]
IPSL
2 days
JDConan vs WIZARD
WolFix vs Cross
BSL 21
2 days
spx vs rasowy
HBO vs KameZerg
Cross vs Razz
dxtr13 vs ZZZero
Replay Cast
2 days
Wardi Open
2 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Kung Fu Cup
4 days
Classic vs Solar
herO vs Cure
Reynor vs GuMiho
ByuN vs ShoWTimE
Tenacious Turtle Tussle
5 days
The PondCast
5 days
RSL Revival
5 days
Solar vs Zoun
MaxPax vs Bunny
Kung Fu Cup
5 days
WardiTV Korean Royale
5 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Classic vs Creator
Cure vs TriGGeR
Kung Fu Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL 21 Points
SC4ALL: StarCraft II
Eternal Conflict S1

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
SOOP Univ League 2025
YSL S2
Stellar Fest: Constellation Cup
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual

Upcoming

BSL Season 21
SLON Tour Season 2
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXVIII
RSL Offline Finals
WardiTV 2025
RSL Revival: Season 3
META Madness #9
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026: Closed Qualifier
eXTREMESLAND 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
SL Budapest Major 2025
BLAST Rivals Fall 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.