• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 01:05
CEST 07:05
KST 14:05
  • 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
Serral wins HomeStory Cup 2914Serral wins Maestros of the Game 243ByuL, and the Limitations of Standard Play3Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12
Community News
Reynor: GSL Loss Wasn't About Preparation Format12[IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend!1Weekly Cups (July 6 - 12): Protoss strike back12BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion8BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion8
StarCraft 2
General
Is the larve respawn broken? Weekly Cups (July 6 - 12): Protoss strike back Serral wins HomeStory Cup 29 Yamato Cup Series Interview with an American 16 Year Old Grandmaster
Tourneys
WardiTV Summer Cup 2026 GSL CK #5 Race War RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event HomeStory Cup 29 Vespene Cup #1 — $300+ USD, July 10
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
New Map Maker - Looking for Advice - Love or Hate Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 534 Burning Evacuation Mutation # 533 Die Together Mutation # 532 Nuclear Family
Brood War
General
Etiquete rules in Asl? Pros Debate: Zerg Unfairly Nerfed? (ASL S22 map) screpdb: new Starcraft reporting tool ASL 22 Proposed Map Pool BSL Season 22 Full Overview & Conclusion
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL22] Wildcard Qualifier [IPSL] Spring 2026 Grand Finals - This Weekend! IPSL Spring 2026 Top 4!
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Relatively freeroll strategies
Other Games
General Games
Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Summer Games Done Quick 2026!
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
TL Mafia Power Rank NeO.D_StephenKing vs This Guy From 1 Million Dance TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread UK Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The HerO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion! Series you have seen recently...
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Tennis[sport] Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Simple Questions Simple Answers FPS when play League Of Legend on laptop How to clean a TTe Thermaltake keyboard?
TL Community
Northern Ireland Global Starcraft The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Poker (part 2)
Nebuchad
The Experiences We Want and …
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 8270 users

Firing at building before dark swarm - damage bug?

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
Post a Reply
Artas1984
Profile Joined August 2018
149 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-09-27 19:45:31
September 27 2024 19:42 GMT
#1
I've noticed this many times, but never figured out how is this working or why is this working, so i always thought this to be another bug.

I was watching SSL1, Ro16, Hero vs.Barracks. There was a moment when Barracks got a group of marines on the high ground and started shooting Hero's Evolution Chamber (picture below). Hero reacted by casting a dark swarm on that building covering it fully, yet that did not help as the ranged damage continued to apply until the Evolution Chamber was destroyed. SC has many bugs, some of which actually make the game more balanced in my opinion, but this definitely ain't one of them. Why is this happening? Is this really the case of ''shoot first'' and don't worry about ''dark swarm''? I have only noticed this phenomena on buildings, not units, but i might be wrong - correct me if. If zerg knows about this bug, why even bother casting a dark swarm on a structure that is doomed to splash and instead cast a spell elsewhere?

Can someone extrapolate on this matter?

[image loading]
Li_Xin
Profile Joined January 2018
51 Posts
September 28 2024 04:19 GMT
#2
Dark Swarm doesn't work on buildings.
qet
Profile Joined May 2007
Australia245 Posts
September 28 2024 09:32 GMT
#3
(Wiki)Dark Swarm
"Swarm will only protect units. Buildings in the cloud remain vulnerable to attacks by ranged weapons."

http://classic.battle.net/scc/zerg/units/defiler.shtml
"Dark Swarm is created from a countless number of smaller creatures that typically cover the Defiler. The Defiler has the natural ability to launch these creatures to a projected position, creating a thick cloud of living insects that prevent any units outside from accurately targeting any units within the cloud. "

"One thing to note is that Dark Swarm does not affect buildings in any way or form. Should they be covered in a Dark Swarm, they will NOT be protected from ranged attack either from units inside or outside the cloud, they will take damage as normal. "
Artas1984
Profile Joined August 2018
149 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-09-28 12:11:25
September 28 2024 12:07 GMT
#4
On September 28 2024 18:32 qet wrote:
"One thing to note is that Dark Swarm does not affect buildings in any way or form.


And yet i've seen zerg countless times casting it on buildings - where there would be no units to cast on. I guess no one will bother to explain this behavior.

On a side note, i am TOTALLY STUNNED to find out about this BASIC dark swarm feature having constantly watched all the ASL's, KSLs, many of KCMs and Ultimate Battles since the beginning, always thinking that this was a dark swarm bug, not a dark swarm property. Sure, i have not played the game myself for like 15 years now, but that had to be the biggest WTF i have read...
Navane
Profile Blog Joined February 2007
Netherlands2757 Posts
September 28 2024 20:57 GMT
#5
In this particular game I believe he puts (or tries to put) a lurker under that swarm.
WGT-Baal
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
France3506 Posts
September 30 2024 00:20 GMT
#6
On September 28 2024 21:07 Artas1984 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 28 2024 18:32 qet wrote:
"One thing to note is that Dark Swarm does not affect buildings in any way or form.


And yet i've seen zerg countless times casting it on buildings - where there would be no units to cast on. I guess no one will bother to explain this behavior.

On a side note, i am TOTALLY STUNNED to find out about this BASIC dark swarm feature having constantly watched all the ASL's, KSLs, many of KCMs and Ultimate Battles since the beginning, always thinking that this was a dark swarm bug, not a dark swarm property. Sure, i have not played the game myself for like 15 years now, but that had to be the biggest WTF i have read...


Most ASL DS on buildings (hatcheries mostly) is to save the drones or protect a defiler about to pop, or a lurk. Alternatively it s in the main where the bio being droppes is/will be to set up a fight a bit before Z units come in. I don't think i ve ever seen a DS on a building with nothing else nearby.

It s pretty common knowledge that DS only works on units. It would be beyond OP otherwise
Horang2 fan
Piste
Profile Blog Joined July 2006
6183 Posts
October 01 2024 05:10 GMT
#7
Imagine trying to bust sunkens if dark swam worked on buildings :D
Nirli
Profile Joined February 2023
Bulgaria387 Posts
October 03 2024 05:43 GMT
#8
Zesagi, I'm telling you.
Also, this thread aged like the goop in a spawning pool.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 3h 55m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
WinterStarcraft661
RuFF_SC2 162
ProTech121
Nina 119
StarCraft: Brood War
GuemChi 4207
Snow 114
Noble 52
Bale 28
ZergMaN 16
Icarus 8
Dota 2
NeuroSwarm194
League of Legends
JimRising 691
Counter-Strike
summit1g9132
Coldzera 1153
minikerr23
Other Games
C9.Mang0212
Maynarde211
ViBE182
XaKoH 132
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick2827
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 17 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH309
• mYiSmile132
• practicex 30
• Kozan
• Migwel
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota230
League of Legends
• Lourlo1354
• Rush1011
• Stunt312
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
3h 55m
CrankTV Team League
5h 55m
Replay Cast
1d 3h
CrankTV Team League
1d 5h
Replay Cast
1d 18h
RSL Revival
2 days
Clem vs Lambo
Scarlett vs Cure
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
IPSL
2 days
Dragon vs Hawk
RSL Revival
3 days
Classic vs Trap
herO vs SHIN
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
[ Show More ]
IPSL
3 days
Bonyth vs Ret
WardiTV Weekly
4 days
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
PiGosaur Cup
5 days
The PondCast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-07-13
HSC XXIX
Eternal Conflict S2 E2

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
Acropolis #4
CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 3
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
SCTL 2026 Spring
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
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

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S3: W3
ASL S22 SEASON OPEN Day 1
Escore Tournament S3: W4
ASL S22 SEASON OPEN Day 2
Escore Tournament S3: W5
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HSC XXX
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
Light Tournament 2026
Eternal Conflict S2 Finale
Eternal Conflict S2 E3
Logitech G Connect 2026
StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #5
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
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.