• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 00:39
CET 06:39
KST 14:39
  • 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 ZvT25Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book18Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8
Community News
Weekly Cups (Feb 16-22): MaxPax doubles0Weekly Cups (Feb 9-15): herO doubles up2ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/0241LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16)46Weekly Cups (Feb 2-8): Classic, Solar, MaxPax win2
StarCraft 2
General
Weekly Cups (Feb 16-22): MaxPax doubles How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game? Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT Liquipedia WCS Portal Launched
Tourneys
PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament StarCraft Evolution League (SC Evo Biweekly) How do the "codes" work in GSL? LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ? [A] Starcraft Sound Mod
External Content
Mutation # 514 Ulnar New Year The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 513 Attrition Warfare Mutation # 512 Overclocked
Brood War
General
CasterMuse Youtube A cwal.gg Extension - Easily keep track of anyone A new season just kicks off Recent recommended BW games BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/
Tourneys
Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 1 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [LIVE] [S:21] ASL Season Open Day 1 Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Zealot bombing is no longer popular? Fighting Spirit mining rates Current Meta
Other Games
General Games
Beyond All Reason Nintendo Switch Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread New broswer game : STG-World Diablo 2 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
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Mexico's Drug War Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Ask and answer stupid questions here!
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
Formula 1 Discussion 2024 - 2026 Football Thread TL MMA Pick'em Pool 2013
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Inside the Communication of …
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2433 users

Are infestors or ultralisks useful in ZvZ?

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
Post a Reply
SiarX
Profile Joined December 2021
131 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
Romania8527 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
131 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
131 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
10282 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
Romania8527 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
OSC
00:00
OSC Elite Rising Star #17.5
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft341
NeuroSwarm 131
mcanning 80
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 31611
Sea 2821
GuemChi 1181
Tasteless 187
NaDa 27
Icarus 16
League of Legends
JimRising 691
Counter-Strike
Stewie2K494
m0e_tv209
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox972
C9.Mang0587
Mew2King31
Other Games
summit1g12445
WinterStarcraft397
monkeys_forever183
RuFF_SC296
ZombieGrub44
minikerr4
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL637
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Light_VIP 32
• practicex 19
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Diggity5
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Scarra2429
• Lourlo1643
• Stunt416
Upcoming Events
WardiTV Winter Champion…
6h 21m
Replay Cast
1d 3h
WardiTV Winter Champion…
1d 6h
The PondCast
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Korean StarCraft League
3 days
CranKy Ducklings
4 days
SC Evo Complete
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
[ Show More ]
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Wardi Open
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-02-22
LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Acropolis #4 - TS5
Jeongseon Sooper Cup
Spring Cup 2026
WardiTV Winter 2026
PiG Sty Festival 7.0
Nations Cup 2026
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025

Upcoming

[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round Qualifier
Acropolis #4 - TS6
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
FISSURE Playground #3
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
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.