• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 17:35
CEST 23:35
KST 06:35
  • 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
Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview7[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21
Community News
Weekly Cups (June 8-14): Clem and Solar double, PTR tested0RSL: S6 Finals played at BlizzCon 202611Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28)10[BSL22] Non-Korean Championship from 13 to 28 June4Weekly Cups (May 25-31): Clem doubles, 2v2 circuit heads toward finale0
StarCraft 2
General
Daily SC2 Player Grid - feedback wanted StarCraft II 5.0.16 PTR Patch Notes may 26th TL Poll: How do you feel about the 5.0.16 PTR balance changes? Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview Updates to The Core/Core Lite for v5.0.16?
Tourneys
Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) GSL CK #4 20-21th June Crank Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28) Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule !
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
Mutation # 530 One For All The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 529 Opportunities Unleashed Mutation # 528 Infection Detected
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion vespene.gg — BW replays in browser Where is EffOrt? BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Quality of life changes in BW that you will like ?
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Grand Finals [BSL22] Grand Finals - Sunday 21:00 CEST Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Relatively freeroll strategies Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Why doesn't anyone use restoration?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread ZeroSpace Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Beyond All Reason Total War: Warhammer 40K
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor 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
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI UK Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread [H]Internet/Gaming Cafe Tips and Tricks
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT] NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Does Workplace Frustration D…
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 12517 users

Are infestors or ultralisks useful in ZvZ?

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
Post a Reply
SiarX
Profile Joined December 2021
133 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
Romania8907 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 Coast859 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
133 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
133 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
10335 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
Romania8907 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
418 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 12h 26m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
mouzHeroMarine 385
ProTech151
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 522
Mini 85
910 29
Dota 2
LuMiX1
League of Legends
Doublelift2866
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King110
Other Games
summit1g6389
Grubby3608
FrodaN275
C9.Mang0245
ArmadaUGS155
UpATreeSC144
ZombieGrub118
Livibee86
JuggernautJason80
Trikslyr56
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream3819
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 32
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• FirePhoenix16
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• imaqtpie1147
• TFBlade743
• Shiphtur195
Upcoming Events
The PondCast
12h 26m
WardiTV Spring Champion…
13h 26m
MaxPax vs SHIN
ByuN vs herO
Solar vs Zoun
OSC
15h 26m
OSC
1d 2h
CranKy Ducklings
1d 12h
WardiTV Spring Champion…
1d 13h
Cure vs SKillous
WardiTV Spring Champion…
2 days
GSL
2 days
Maru vs ShoWTimE
Classic vs Reynor
herO vs Lambo
Solar vs Clem
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
2 days
XuanXuan vs Jaystar
Mihu vs Messiah
eOnzErG vs Dewalt
Bonyth vs Jaystar
TerrOr vs Messiah
XuanXuan vs Mihu
eOnzErG vs Jaystar
Replay Cast
3 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Spring Champion…
3 days
GSL
3 days
Patches Events
3 days
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
3 days
Dewalt vs Messiah
Bonyth vs Mihu
TerrOr vs XuanXuan
eOnzErG vs Messiah
Jaystar vs Mihu
Dewalt vs XuanXuan
Bonyth vs TerrOr
Replay Cast
4 days
WardiTV Weekly
4 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-06-16
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Heroes Pulsing #1

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
SCTL 2026 Spring
Maestros of the Game 2
WardiTV Spring 2026
Murky Cup 2026
Heroes Pulsing #2
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1

Upcoming

CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
Douyu Cup 2026
BCC 2026
Heroes Pulsing #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 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.