• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 20:38
CEST 02:38
KST 09:38
  • 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
[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt2: All Star10Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists16[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Fresh Flow9[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt2: News Flash10[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt1: New Chaos0
Community News
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers13Maestros of the Game 2 announced62026 GSL Tour plans announced14Weekly Cups (April 6-12): herO doubles, "Villains" prevail1MaNa leaves Team Liquid24
StarCraft 2
General
Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists Maestros of the Game 2 announced MaNa leaves Team Liquid 2026 GSL Tour plans announced Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool
Tourneys
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers GSL CK: More events planned pending crowdfunding RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2)
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
Mutation # 522 Flip My Base The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 521 Memorable Boss Mutation # 520 Moving Fees
Brood War
General
ASL21 General Discussion Any progamer "explanation" videos like this one? Data needed BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ ASL21 Strategy, Pimpest Plays Discussions
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro16 Group D [ASL21] Ro16 Group C [ASL21] Ro16 Group B [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Any training maps people recommend? Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Dawn of War IV Nintendo Switch Thread Starcraft Tabletop Miniature Game General RTS Discussion Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread
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 Canadian Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion McBoner: A hockey love story Cricket [SPORT]
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
[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: 2214 users

Can mass zealots+dragoons work?

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
Post a Reply
SiarX
Profile Joined December 2021
133 Posts
Last Edited: 2022-04-20 19:53:43
April 20 2022 19:38 GMT
#1
Curious whether mass zealots+dragoons without support of high-tech units like HTs, reavers, arbiters can be viable strategy vs terran or zerg?
MeSaber
Profile Joined December 2009
Sweden1235 Posts
April 20 2022 19:46 GMT
#2
Very map dependant.

If Z get lurker + swarm its game over.

If T get enough tanks its game over.

You would need a great advantage to get away with this kind of play.
-.-
GeneralStan
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
United States4789 Posts
April 20 2022 20:46 GMT
#3
Depends on your definition of viable. Viable enough to win ladder games? Sure, but you're putting yourself at a disadvantage.

Viable in the sense that do you expect to see a pro skipping tech units in a long game? Not very likely. Against Zerg in particular, pure goon zealot loses to basically everything (ling muta, mass hydra). Against Terran, there are good bust timings with pure goon zealot + Obs (obviously you can't get away without obs). But even there, if you're going for a bust timing and you need a robo anyway, you might as well grab a shuttle or 2.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
t2azor
Profile Joined April 2017
32 Posts
April 20 2022 22:43 GMT
#4
NO
JoinTheRain
Profile Blog Joined September 2018
Bulgaria409 Posts
April 21 2022 06:09 GMT
#5
There's the protoss build where they get maxed at around 12 min and push the terran with all their goon/zeal army. And I wouldn't call reaver exactly high-tech unit in the sense the arbiter and the carriers are called. Anyway, you can use this build for ladder games, should work wonders and make terrans baffled.
Versus zerg I see constantly zeal/sair builds and that's the closest to what you imply. There's a build with pure goons, it relies on some timing or is used against a specific zerg opener, that's all I know about it, it's quite rare to see it but when it works it brings tears of joy.
The subject-matter of the art of living is each person's own life.
Liquid`Drone
Profile Joined September 2002
Norway28786 Posts
April 21 2022 11:22 GMT
#6
It's possible to hit some gimmicky timings where you cut probes for a large goon army with a few zealot, like 1 base 4-5 gate goon, in pvz, and this can have success in 1 game, even against high level players. PvT, you can get quite a lot done with just zealot goon obs shuttle.

However, both of these approaches base themselves around your opponent having a flawed response. Both terran and zerg armies will scale incredibly well against pure zealot dragoon - pure zealot dragoon will never beat a maxed terran army with upgrades, and zerg on their end basically just need to avoid dying to the first push.

There's nothing wrong with occasionally using some gimmicky builds that deviate from the norm, but on a long term basis, I think it's a very bad idea to develop your play based on your opponents responding poorly. You'll be much better off implementing storm PvZ, and in PvT, you want to have either mass storm+shuttles, arbiters or carriers. Storm+shuttles allow you to pressure and deal damage against a terran even if he's mostly just defending (difficult to execute as protoss, though), while arbiter/carrier tech put the terran on a timer, forcing him to act.
Moderator
iloveav
Profile Joined November 2008
Poland1482 Posts
April 27 2022 09:57 GMT
#7
I have won a few games this way but it is NOT dependent on your skill but the skill of your opponent.
At some point, when your skill level and your opponents skill level is high enough, it simply stops working (% wise).

The way you can make it work is to midgame your opponent (I have done that vs players much better than me) but it is a "all-in" strategy.

The reason it is an all in strategy is because in order for it to work, you need to "know" how smart and capable of reading you your opponent is to sell him the wrong thing and then hit him when he is not expecting it with a big army.
As you can guess, once this is done a handful of times, people will just figure out a way to tell if you are doing it.

Too many variables need to work together for it to "be viable". In other words, no, it is not viable.

aka LRM)Cats_Paw.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
PiGosaur Cup
00:00
#78
PiGStarcraft490
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft490
ProTech99
ROOTCatZ 53
MaxPax 48
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 14986
GuemChi 4232
Artosis 612
NaDa 6
Dota 2
monkeys_forever609
Counter-Strike
minikerr14
Other Games
summit1g11519
tarik_tv5668
C9.Mang0605
shahzam426
Trikslyr160
ViBE154
Maynarde123
ToD109
Mew2King24
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1621
BasetradeTV340
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 46
• RyuSc2 36
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• RayReign 14
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Upcoming Events
RSL Revival
9h 22m
Replay Cast
23h 22m
The PondCast
1d 9h
KCM Race Survival
1d 9h
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
1d 10h
Gerald vs TBD
Clem vs TBD
ByuN vs TBD
Rogue vs MaxPax
ShoWTimE vs TBD
OSC
1d 14h
CranKy Ducklings
1d 23h
Escore
2 days
RSL Revival
2 days
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
3 days
[ Show More ]
Universe Titan Cup
3 days
Rogue vs Percival
Ladder Legends
3 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
3 days
BSL
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
WardiTV Map Contest Tou…
4 days
Ladder Legends
4 days
BSL
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Wardi Open
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
Soma vs TBD
Monday Night Weeklies
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
Afreeca Starleague
6 days
TBD vs YSC
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-04-20
RSL Revival: Season 4
NationLESS Cup

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
StarCraft2 Community Team League 2026 Spring
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 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
IEM Kraków 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S2: W4
Acropolis #4
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
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
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
BLAST Rivals Spring 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.