• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 05:54
CET 11:54
KST 19:54
  • 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
ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT29Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book19Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8
Community News
Team Liquid Map Contest - Preparation Notice6Weekly Cups (Feb 23-Mar 1): herO doubles, 2v2 bonanza1Weekly Cups (Feb 16-22): MaxPax doubles0Weekly Cups (Feb 9-15): herO doubles up2ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/0258
StarCraft 2
General
How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? Team Liquid Map Contest - Preparation Notice ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker Weekly Cups (Feb 23-Mar 1): herO doubles, 2v2 bonanza
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament $5,000 WardiTV Winter Championship 2026 RSL Season 4 announced for March-April Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Publishing has been re-enabled! [Feb 24th 2026] Map Editor closed ?
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 515 Together Forever Mutation # 514 Ulnar New Year Mutation # 513 Attrition Warfare
Brood War
General
Effort misses out on ASL S21 BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion Gypsy to Korea BSL 22 Map Contest — Submissions OPEN to March 10
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL22] Open Qualifier #1 - Sunday 21:00 CET Small VOD Thread 2.0 BWCL Season 64 Announcement
Strategy
Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Zealot bombing is no longer popular?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Diablo 2 thread Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion The Story of Wings Gaming
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
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Vanilla Mini Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine YouTube Thread UK Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TL MMA Pick'em Pool 2013
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Laptop capable of using Photoshop Lightroom?
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Shocked by a laser…
Spydermine0240
Gaming-Related Deaths
TrAiDoS
ONE GREAT AMERICAN MARINE…
XenOsky
Unintentional protectionism…
Uldridge
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2258 users

Are infestors or ultralisks useful in ZvZ?

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
Post a Reply
SiarX
Profile Joined December 2021
132 Posts
December 27 2021 07:59 GMT
#1
Plague looks like it could be devastating in theory... does it work in practice?

Do ultralisks have a use?
prosatan
Profile Joined September 2009
Romania8532 Posts
December 27 2021 08:17 GMT
#2
There are no infestors in Broodwar. If you think of defilers instead, yes, they are useful in late ZvZ and I remember the trend was to build two defiler mounds. You can check some games of ex pro player Great to see.
Usually the ZvZ games end before ultralisk, so I don't think they are usefull in pro / top amateur games.
Lee JaeDong Fighting! The only church that illuminates is the one that burns.
Return
Profile Joined June 2005
Ivory Coast857 Posts
Last Edited: 2021-12-27 14:10:27
December 27 2021 12:54 GMT
#3
Ultralisks cost a lot and zvz is most of the time very low eco, even in late late game scenarios. And another issue with ultras is that die to spawn broodling
Diiiscoo-oh, thats where the happy people go!
SiarX
Profile Joined December 2021
132 Posts
December 27 2021 15:49 GMT
#4
Ah, misprinted - defilers of course.
aokces
Profile Joined October 2006
United States309 Posts
Last Edited: 2021-12-27 19:17:42
December 27 2021 19:14 GMT
#5
Plague absolutely wrecks in any matchup and has great casting range too, Absolutely decimates Bio Balls, clumped mech, air, everything protoss that's not archons. it just requires a lot of dedicated to micro to have ur defilers around, protected, and full of mana.
Ultralisks are tanky, especially vs marines. But need zergling support to do dps, they're great in open areas but in chokepoints they will just run around and get slaughtered by splash damage. Great late game option if you have the 4 gases to support them.

https://liquipedia.net/starcraft/Ultralisk

Plagued marines vs Irradiated Ultralisks are also hilarious.
SiarX
Profile Joined December 2021
132 Posts
December 27 2021 21:45 GMT
#6
On December 28 2021 04:14 aokces wrote:
Plague absolutely wrecks in any matchup and has great casting range too, Absolutely decimates Bio Balls, clumped mech, air, everything protoss that's not archons. it just requires a lot of dedicated to micro to have ur defilers around, protected, and full of mana.
Ultralisks are tanky, especially vs marines. But need zergling support to do dps, they're great in open areas but in chokepoints they will just run around and get slaughtered by splash damage. Great late game option if you have the 4 gases to support them.

https://liquipedia.net/starcraft/Ultralisk

Plagued marines vs Irradiated Ultralisks are also hilarious.


I know but I was talking about ZvZ
Jealous
Profile Blog Joined December 2011
10286 Posts
December 27 2021 21:50 GMT
#7
Both are sometimes used in late game ZvZ. Plague on Mutalisks/Devourers is strong. Ultras can help soak damage for Zerglings, as they do in other MUs, and help bust positions that are defended by Lurker/Sunk/Defiler. However, these are very rare situations to be in.

Add yet another "Yes" to your growing list of "Does x unit get used?" threads.
"The right to vote is only the oar of the slaveship, I wanna be free." -- бум бум сучка!
prosatan
Profile Joined September 2009
Romania8532 Posts
December 28 2021 09:30 GMT
#8
Please watch these games:

Jaedong vs Yellow on Match Point - the best ZvZ ever !
+ Show Spoiler +



Zero vs Type-B on Match Point - with an analysis made by Day9:
+ Show Spoiler +




Part 2 of the game Zero vs Great - casted by Moletrap
+ Show Spoiler +


s2.pRo vs Gambler - 45 min long ZvZ (game casted by Falcon Paladin)

+ Show Spoiler +


Cheers
Lee JaeDong Fighting! The only church that illuminates is the one that burns.
Akio
Profile Blog Joined January 2019
Finland1838 Posts
December 28 2021 10:21 GMT
#9
Plague is pretty bonkers in all matchups, even ZvZ if it goes late enough
Mine gas, build tanks.
SerpentFlame
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
415 Posts
Last Edited: 2021-12-28 23:22:22
December 28 2021 23:20 GMT
#10
(Not an expert here)

The cost of going Queens Nest -> Hive -> Defilers Mound -> Plague -> Consume -> Defiler is
100+150+100+200+100+150 = 800 gas. That's 8 mutalisks of gas. One issue is that this move doesn't pay for itself until you get all of the above, meaning you're fighting at a gas/mutalisk deficit for a long time. ZvZ often gets decided by mutalisk fights of 4-20 mutalisks, so being down 8 mutalisks is a LOT.

It does happen in rare occasions, as shown in the above games. But there's a reason it's rare. As far as I can tell, defilers only become viable in games where mutalisk escalation gets really crazy (> 40 mutalisks flying around, this is what happens in the YellOw vs Jaedong game above) and thus 800 gas isn't that much of an investment, or else one player has a good spread of spore colonies and chooses to rush fast hive (which can be countered by the other player aggressively expanding).
I Wannabe[WHITE], the very BeSt[HyO], like Yo Hwan EVER Oz.......
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 6m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SortOf 93
Livibee 17
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 62937
Britney 23958
Jaedong 1492
Bisu 1298
EffOrt 594
BeSt 578
Hyuk 226
Light 166
yabsab 147
Larva 143
[ Show more ]
Pusan 92
Mini 89
Mind 78
ToSsGirL 59
Hyun 45
sSak 45
Rush 45
Snow 44
Sharp 33
ZergMaN 24
Shinee 23
SilentControl 14
GoRush 14
Terrorterran 12
Bale 11
NaDa 8
Dota 2
XcaliburYe61
League of Legends
JimRising 372
Counter-Strike
shoxiejesuss859
olofmeister449
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor142
Other Games
ceh9553
Tasteless180
crisheroes138
B2W.Neo54
NeuroSwarm46
Mew2King37
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV189
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 7
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Jankos1896
• Stunt827
• HappyZerGling111
Upcoming Events
Ultimate Battle
1h 6m
Light vs ZerO
WardiTV Winter Champion…
1h 6m
MaxPax vs Spirit
Rogue vs Bunny
Cure vs SHIN
Solar vs Zoun
OSC
7h 6m
Replay Cast
13h 6m
CranKy Ducklings
23h 6m
WardiTV Winter Champion…
1d 1h
AI Arena Tournament
1d 9h
Replay Cast
1d 13h
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 23h
WardiTV Winter Champion…
2 days
[ Show More ]
OSC
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Monday Night Weeklies
3 days
OSC
3 days
Replay Cast
5 days
The PondCast
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-03-04
PiG Sty Festival 7.0
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Jeongseon Sooper Cup
Spring Cup 2026
WardiTV Winter 2026
Nations Cup 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual

Upcoming

ASL Season 21: Qualifier #1
ASL Season 21: Qualifier #2
ASL Season 21
Acropolis #4 - TS6
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
CSLAN 4
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
NationLESS Cup
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
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.