• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 00:14
CEST 06:14
KST 13:14
  • 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
Code S Season 1 - RO12 Group A: Rogue, Percival, Solar, Zoun12[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Inheritors16[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt2: All Star10Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists22[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Fresh Flow9
Community News
RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event4Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO12 Results02026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers25Maestros of the Game 2 announced92026 GSL Tour plans announced15
StarCraft 2
General
Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO12 Results Code S Season 1 - RO12 Group A: Rogue, Percival, Solar, Zoun Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool MaNa leaves Team Liquid
Tourneys
RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event GSL Code S Season 1 (2026) SC2 INu's Battles#15 <BO.9 2Matches> WardiTV Spring Cup SEL Masters #6 - Solar vs Classic (SC: Evo)
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 523 Firewall Mutation # 522 Flip My Base Mutation # 521 Memorable Boss
Brood War
General
Pros React To: Leta vs Tulbo (ASL S21, Ro.8) [BSL22] RO16 Group A - Sunday 21:00 CEST [BSL22] RO16 Group B - Saturday 21:00 CEST RepMastered™: replay sharing and analyzer site BW General Discussion
Tourneys
[BSL22] RO16 Group Stage - 02 - 10 May Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Ro8 Day 2
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Any training maps people recommend?
Other Games
General Games
Daigo vs Menard Best of 10 Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Dawn of War IV Diablo IV
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
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 TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread 3D technology/software discussion Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
streaming software Strange computer issues (software) [G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Sexual Health Of Gamers
TrAiDoS
lurker extra damage testi…
StaticNine
Broowar part 2
qwaykee
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1306 users

Any love for the Lurker Builds?

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
Post a Reply
Jaevlaterran
Profile Joined April 2012
Sweden578 Posts
September 07 2012 00:59 GMT
#1
So, I was considering some of the lurker builds vs T. Are they out of fashion or why do I never see anyone going 2-3 hatch lurker?
Is 3 hatch lurker effective in macro games?
About the 3 hatch lurker, does it work as an alternative for 3 hatch muta? How "solid" is it?
Need a light?
Pucca
Profile Blog Joined January 2012
Taiwan1280 Posts
September 07 2012 01:07 GMT
#2
On September 07 2012 09:59 Jaevlaterran wrote:
So, I was considering some of the lurker builds vs T. Are they out of fashion or why do I never see anyone going 2-3 hatch lurker?
Is 3 hatch lurker effective in macro games?
About the 3 hatch lurker, does it work as an alternative for 3 hatch muta? How "solid" is it?

I've done a 2 hatch Lurker build against Terrans on iCCup before I was winning 4 of every 5 ZvT's I played. More or less it was because its all lin and they don't expect it because its D Ranks. I just don't know how violable after the C- and up ranks.
Master Chief
Xiphos
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
Canada7507 Posts
September 07 2012 01:26 GMT
#3
Watch JulyZerg vs FBH on Sin of ChupYung.

As for my personal favourite is to go 2 Hatch Lurker into 3 Hatch Mutalisks.

3 hatch have a stronger economy but a slower transition. Try doing 3 Hatch+ 1 Carapace Lurker/Ling into either Hydralisk/Lurker composition vs Mech plays or Hive for Bio.

2014 - ᕙ( •̀ل͜•́) ϡ Raise your bows brood warriors! ᕙ( •̀ل͜•́) ϡ
FlaShFTW
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
United States10393 Posts
September 07 2012 01:30 GMT
#4
pros still use 2 hatch all ins so i guess works at A+ level xD

3 hatch lurk is only if ur not confident in ur micro with mutas watsoever. ive used it sometimes, it just feels weird. i mean u still need to go scourge anyway to deal with vessels.

some pros have gone for a fake muta. so they'll plant their spire somewhere and their hydra den in another. usually which ever one is scanned, they go for the other one. if it so happens both are scanned, then they choose either one.

since all pros are confident in muta micro, they all prefer the 3 hatch muta over 3 hatch lurker. you can deal econ damage and mutas are really annoying anyways.
Writer#1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Teamliquid Political Decision Desk
TL+ Member
13Julia
Profile Joined November 2004
Canada231 Posts
September 07 2012 01:48 GMT
#5
It's good and solid, you can rotate both strats and they're simillarly effective. It's viable up to A, in the end it all comes down to control and understanding what you play, that is more important. 2hatch is fine too ^^
SatelliteNoodles
Profile Joined June 2011
220 Posts
September 07 2012 02:20 GMT
#6
I do 2/3 hatch lurker 60% of my ZvT's... Fake 2 hatch muta---> 2 hatch lurker is quite fun to do too! Mind games lol.
GIVE ME COMMAND... - Yell0w ­­­
Xiphos
Profile Blog Joined July 2009
Canada7507 Posts
September 07 2012 02:57 GMT
#7
Oh yeah to the SBWI guy on the top, by the way thanks for that.

You can actually proxy a hatchery on the map and use the creep to hide a tech structure for a special surprise.
2014 - ᕙ( •̀ل͜•́) ϡ Raise your bows brood warriors! ᕙ( •̀ل͜•́) ϡ
Birdie
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
New Zealand4438 Posts
September 07 2012 03:43 GMT
#8
I find 2 hatch lurker to be effective all the way up against C-/C, although I'm only D+ at best. I haven't tried it against better players though, but it seems a pretty solid build and once you get the economic damage done, even if you don't outright win you can normally take a third while busting his nat and either macro up or tech to defilers or go mutas, it's a nice opening piece to have in your arsenal.
Red classic | A butterfly dreamed he was Zhuangzi | 4.5k, heading to 5k as support!
ninini
Profile Joined June 2010
Sweden1204 Posts
September 07 2012 04:12 GMT
#9
Mutas can harass and stall. Lurkers can just stall. In theory, muta builds are just superior in every possible way, but in practice it depends on how good your muta micro is, and how well the terran can deal with lurkers. I can't see any other reason to go lurkers first, than to drop a massive lurkerling bomb on the terran ball, and then finish him off. Compared to going mutas first, your force will be bigger (although so will his), and you will have a greater chance of disarming his 9 min push, before he reaches your base. This mass lurker style works well against low level terrans, because they don't have the apm to deal with it, but the moment that you play a good terran, he will peal off your lurkerling army little by little and then walk all over you, because your defilers are delayed. Lurker builds are pretty lame for this reason. They are builds that strictly targets lower level opponents. That's why lurker builds are common among D rank players, and non-existent among progamers. It's a bit like fast reaver builds in PvT. Progamers negate it so easily that it's not even worth trying.
asiantraceur
Profile Joined April 2012
United States94 Posts
September 07 2012 04:26 GMT
#10
1 Hatch Lurker Rush :D Love to do this even though it doesnt work that often xD
SC:BW
puppykiller
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
United States3137 Posts
September 07 2012 05:13 GMT
#11
3 hat lurker works fine on iccup.
Why would I play sctoo when I can play BW?
Release
Profile Blog Joined October 2010
United States4397 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-07 06:08:42
September 07 2012 06:08 GMT
#12
2 hatch lurker drop is king at D/D-.

They always leave; no gg, no re
☺
don_kyuhote
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
3007 Posts
September 07 2012 08:45 GMT
#13
On September 07 2012 11:20 SatelliteNoodles wrote:
I do 2/3 hatch lurker 60% of my ZvT's... Fake 2 hatch muta---> 2 hatch lurker is quite fun to do too! Mind games lol.

This gives me nightmares...
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Djagulingu
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Germany3605 Posts
September 07 2012 10:56 GMT
#14
I only do a lurker build as a fake muta. If I somehow see that he made a stupid amount of investment in turrets, I just don't make mutas. Once it was 10 turrets, I just threw down a hydra den and didn't make mutas.
"windows bash is a steaming heap of shit" tofucake
TheShimmy
Profile Joined January 2011
United States1808 Posts
September 07 2012 11:36 GMT
#15
On September 07 2012 11:57 Xiphos wrote:
Oh yeah to the SBWI guy on the top, by the way thanks for that.

You can actually proxy a hatchery on the map and use the creep to hide a tech structure for a special surprise.


Mind games.
Hyvaa #1 Fan. Gogo STX, Dear, Bogus, Classic, and Mini! Always a BW fan!
Jukado
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
805 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-07 11:45:11
September 07 2012 11:39 GMT
#16
Heres an example of 3 hatchery Lurker.
Jaedong vs Paino.
Jaedong goes 3 hatchery before pool, but Piano makes cc before barracks.
Jaedong gets evolution chamber, then spire, then hydra den.
Piano uses a vessel build.

Star Tale Public Domain project. Maps: (2)Gates Of Memphis, (2)Marshmallow Toast, (4)Bubbles, (4)Clay Fields, (6)Numbskull Desert. Also the Vaylu Public Domain Tileset. Also Ramp Palettes, Brood War guides and some fun stuff. Links in my profile
Djagulingu
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
Germany3605 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-07 12:36:28
September 07 2012 12:36 GMT
#17
On September 07 2012 20:39 CardinalAllin wrote:
Heres an example of 3 hatchery Lurker.
Jaedong vs Paino.
Jaedong goes 3 hatchery before pool, but Piano makes cc before barracks.
Jaedong gets evolution chamber, then spire, then hydra den.
Piano uses a vessel build.

+ Show Spoiler +
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r45ynR4RU-4

It's a very specific example though. Fast vessel build is very good against mutas first and equally as bad against lurkers first.
"windows bash is a steaming heap of shit" tofucake
vOdToasT
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Sweden2870 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-09-07 14:13:24
September 07 2012 14:09 GMT
#18
On September 07 2012 13:12 ninini wrote:
Mutas can harass and stall. Lurkers can just stall. In theory, muta builds are just superior in every possible way, but in practice it depends on how good your muta micro is, and how well the terran can deal with lurkers.


I find lurker first to be difficult unless the Terran doesn't realize you're doing lurkers first, because he can just stand outside your natural and kite you all day long. With mutalisks, you threaten counter attacks, which lets you expand. With his SCV scout, he can determine when he needs to scan. And if he then scans at good times, he WILL know that you are going lurkers. If he scans to see that you are not saving larva, that's a tell. If you are saving larva and you make 9 hydralisks at once (lol) he can still scan when the mutalisks would come out of the eggs, and see hydralisks. At this point he can simply move out to kite your army and keep you from getting a third base up.

Maybe you could open with 9 pool to get lings out on the map, and get two hydralisks early and send them to your third, along wtih a drone, then morph them as soon as lurker aspect is evolved. You need to buy time for your third somehow. Perhaps speedlings could accomplish this, since Terran needs a critical amount of bio units to make zerglings ineffective. Before then, he'll be scared of a ling surround as soon as he leaves, and also counter attacks.

If you can deal with the problem of the Terran not being scared of mutalisk counter attacks, and get your third base up in a timely fashion, then it's viable. Just remember to get scourge for dropships and vessels, and have your overlords spread out in good positions.

Or you could go 2 base lurker into fast defiler :D


lolol

+ Show Spoiler +
Just kidding.
+ Show Spoiler +
Or am I???????????
If it's stupid but it works, then it's not stupid* (*Or: You are stupid for losing to it, and gotta git gud)
Pulimuli
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Sweden2766 Posts
September 07 2012 14:41 GMT
#19
When i played BW i hated lurker builds since i usually went for late tanks and very marineheavy at the start. It raped muta builds but were alot harder vs something like 2 hatch lurker
kade
Profile Joined March 2011
94 Posts
September 11 2012 02:07 GMT
#20
2 base lurker to hive rush with no spire is very good, especially in this era where fe is the most common tvz build
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Replay Cast
00:00
2026 GSL S1: Ro12 Group A
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft295
RuFF_SC2 212
NeuroSwarm 166
ProTech119
PattyMac 33
PiLiPiLi 28
StarCraft: Brood War
NaDa 76
Mind 69
ZergMaN 10
Icarus 6
League of Legends
JimRising 619
Counter-Strike
taco 1081
Other Games
summit1g7259
C9.Mang0545
monkeys_forever542
WinterStarcraft503
ViBE56
ToD3
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1243
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream84
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• OhrlRock 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Stunt261
Other Games
• Scarra1532
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
4h 46m
RSL Revival
5h 46m
Classic vs GgMaChine
Rogue vs Maru
WardiTV Invitational
6h 46m
Percival vs Shameless
ByuN vs YoungYakov
IPSL
11h 46m
Ret vs Art_Of_Turtle
Radley vs TBD
BSL
14h 46m
Replay Cast
19h 46m
RSL Revival
1d 5h
herO vs TriGGeR
NightMare vs Solar
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
1d 9h
BSL
1d 14h
IPSL
1d 14h
eOnzErG vs TBD
G5 vs Nesh
[ Show More ]
Patches Events
1d 19h
Replay Cast
2 days
Wardi Open
2 days
Afreeca Starleague
2 days
Jaedong vs Light
Monday Night Weeklies
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
Afreeca Starleague
3 days
Snow vs Flash
WardiTV Invitational
3 days
GSL
4 days
Classic vs Cure
Maru vs Rogue
GSL
5 days
SHIN vs Zoun
ByuN vs herO
OSC
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Escore
6 days
The PondCast
6 days
WardiTV Invitational
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S2: W5
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
KK 2v2 League Season 1
Acropolis #4
SCTL 2026 Spring
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026

Upcoming

BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 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.