• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 20:58
CEST 02:58
KST 09:58
  • 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
[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy9[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Rough Waters10[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Siren's Call8[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Summer's End9
Community News
Weekly Cups (Sep 13-20): herO scores triple1BSL Season 235Weekly Cups (Sep 7-12): SHIN, ByuN, MaxPax double down1StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon101Weekly Cups (Aug 30-Sep 7): herO thrives amid growing schism10
StarCraft 2
General
Balance hotfix patch 5.0.16b (July 16) Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool How do you feel about the StarCraft shooter announcement at BlizzCon 2026? The Death of Cheese: From a Professional Cheeser Weekly Cups (Sep 13-20): herO scores triple
Tourneys
Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament 2026 GSTL Announcement RSL Revival: Season 6 - Qualifiers and Main Event RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
Nexus Wars 2021 GUIDE [M] (2) Industrial Park
External Content
Mutation # 544 Double Trouble The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 543 Enhanced Defenses Mutation # 542 The Ascended
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion screpdb: new Starcraft reporting tool Bot on ladder [ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy new ranked ladder hack?
Tourneys
[ASL22] Ro8 Day 2 [ASL22] Ro16 Group D [ASL22] Ro8 Day 1 [IPSL] IPSL is Back With Winter 26-27!
Strategy
Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Replay Review Process - What do you do? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation
Other Games
General Games
Diablo IV Nintendo Switch Thread Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread EVE Corporation
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25! Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread Artificial Intelligence Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine All you football fans (soccer)!
Fan Clubs
MarineLorD Fan Club The Creator Fan Club The ShoWTimE Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Diablo Animated Series on Netflix
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Gaming Intensity, Problemati…
TrAiDoS
38 yo Retired SWE loo…
PurE)Rabbit-SF
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
[meme] I finally understa…
LUCKY_NOOB
Regacy Esports:Our Goa…
regacyesports
Dreaming of BW patches (mod…
c3rberUs
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 7629 users

Good army compositions for zerg vs mech?

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
Post a Reply
SiarX
Profile Joined December 2021
133 Posts
December 14 2024 17:01 GMT
#1
Queens + hydras is obvious one (queens kill tanks, hydras kill everything else), but it is too micro demanding.

Mass mutas stop working once terran has enough goliaths or valkyries.

Anything else?
Severedevil
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States4839 Posts
December 14 2024 18:52 GMT
#2
On December 15 2024 02:01 SiarX wrote:
Queens + hydras is obvious one (queens kill tanks, hydras kill everything else), but it is too micro demanding.

Mass mutas stop working once terran has enough goliaths or valkyries.

Anything else?

I've also seen zergling/ultra with drops against mech, usually against bio-->mech transitions. Zergling/ultra relies on mobility and forcing the mech player to spread their forces to cover all their bases. Mech's a lot weaker when it's spread, and you can pick it apart piece by piece.
My strategy is to fork people.
ninazerg
Profile Blog Joined October 2009
United States7291 Posts
December 15 2024 01:10 GMT
#3
On December 15 2024 02:01 SiarX wrote:
Queens + hydras is obvious one (queens kill tanks, hydras kill everything else), but it is too micro demanding.

Mass mutas stop working once terran has enough goliaths or valkyries.

Anything else?


Your unit composition (as Zerg) is going to largely be based on how many resources you have at your disposal, and the Terran unit composition. If their army is very tank-heavy, you probably want more air, and if their army is more goliath-heavy, you want more hydra. Later in the game, the Zerg can start thinking about things like guardians and queens. I personally wouldn't recommend ultralisks, because ultralisks and zerglings are horrible against spider mines, and once Terran gets +3 weapons for mech, siege tanks will just melt your ultralisks.

If the Terran has a maxed 3/3 army, your goose is pretty much cooked, because it is so efficient at killing stuff. However, the thing that makes a maxed Terran army really scary is either valkyries or science vessels. Personally, I find science vessels to be way more scary, because irradiate is not only a guaranteed free kill, but also, makes it hard to fight with air units, since they tend to clump together, even if not fixed to an overlord. Because of this, the Terran 4th base is going to be really important, because it will give Terran the gas needed at start making science vessels. Denying the 4th base (or 4th gas, to be clear) is probably going to be really important, generally speaking.

"If two pregnant women get into a fist fight, it's like a mecha-battle between two unborn babies." - Fyodor Dostoevsky
Liquid`Drone
Profile Joined September 2002
Norway28894 Posts
December 17 2024 07:51 GMT
#4
Work on your queen use. Queen hydra is the obvious one because it's the best counter. Without queens terran can play patiently, and aside from queens, zerg has no counter to a patient terran going mech.

To be fair it's a bit map dependent. If zerg has an easy way of getting 4 gas while terran struggles getting their third gas, pure muta is a legit option, but if terran has a reasonably easy third gas option they can get enough goliath+vessel for mutas to eventually become kinda worthless. 24 mutas vs 1 vessel and 16 goliaths - sure, you can work with that. 60 mutas vs 4 vessels and 30 goliaths? Best case you trade 6000 gas for 1500.

Ultra ling can be possible to make work IF the map/starting locations allow for drop play, and it can work against a terran transitioning from bio into mech because then you can find a window where terran is really low on tanks and has unupgraded marines against your +4 armor ultras, but it's worthless against a terran with an established mech army. In that case, queens (with hydra ling support) is the only counter.
Moderator
iopq
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
United States1181 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-12-19 06:52:59
December 19 2024 06:52 GMT
#5
technically, lurker/defiler/ling works against turtle mech as well if you're bad at using queens

you never see it at the pro level because they are awesome with queens, but at amateur level where the Terran is just kind of turtling up to a maxed army you can stop them from moving out or taking additional bases as well as harass with drops in their current bases
Liquid`Drone
Profile Joined September 2002
Norway28894 Posts
December 19 2024 07:26 GMT
#6
lurker/defiler definitely has a role, mech t does tend to be lower on the vessels and one lurker under swarm can halt the entire progress of the push. But I think even then, you should use this one lurker under swarm to give yourself time to throw out broodlings.
Moderator
Ty2
Profile Blog Joined March 2013
United States1434 Posts
Last Edited: 2024-12-20 03:44:08
December 20 2024 03:41 GMT
#7
--- Nuked ---
Writer
TT1
Profile Blog Joined December 2008
Canada10073 Posts
December 21 2024 18:26 GMT
#8
sry i asked

jkjk getting vis of t units + shift deselecting from far is the best advice, obv you think it's too demanding micro-wise cus you're not executing the basics
ab = tl(i) + tl(pc), the grand answer to every tl.net debate
mtcn77
Profile Joined September 2013
Turkey729 Posts
Last Edited: 2025-01-18 20:21:58
January 18 2025 20:21 GMT
#9
On December 17 2024 16:51 Liquid`Drone wrote:
Work on your queen use. Queen hydra is the obvious one because it's the best counter. Without queens terran can play patiently, and aside from queens, zerg has no counter to a patient terran going mech.

To be fair it's a bit map dependent. If zerg has an easy way of getting 4 gas while terran struggles getting their third gas, pure muta is a legit option, but if terran has a reasonably easy third gas option they can get enough goliath+vessel for mutas to eventually become kinda worthless. 24 mutas vs 1 vessel and 16 goliaths - sure, you can work with that. 60 mutas vs 4 vessels and 30 goliaths? Best case you trade 6000 gas for 1500.

Ultra ling can be possible to make work IF the map/starting locations allow for drop play, and it can work against a terran transitioning from bio into mech because then you can find a window where terran is really low on tanks and has unupgraded marines against your +4 armor ultras, but it's worthless against a terran with an established mech army. In that case, queens (with hydra ling support) is the only counter.

I think this is the best option. There have also been some recent pro games with this strategy. You totally don't expect the mutalisks will live through. In small enough goliath numbers surprisingly, they do.
Turrican
iopq
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
United States1181 Posts
January 22 2025 08:55 GMT
#10
Some Terrans transition to valk push and then mech. Upgraded mass valk is no joke, even mass scourge can't cost effectively kill it

You are pretty much forced into mass hydra at that point because otherwise you need a field of spores in the middle of your base
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
PiGosaur Cup
00:00
#100
PiGStarcraft418
SteadfastSC39
davetesta18
CranKy Ducklings6
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft418
ByuN 83
SpeCial 63
SteadfastSC 38
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 12743
Rain 1806
GuemChi 1540
Artosis 648
Hyun 61
910 26
Dota 2
monkeys_forever584
League of Legends
Doublelift4637
Counter-Strike
taco 361
minikerr15
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox515
Other Games
summit1g11510
Coldzera 841
shahzam633
Day[9].tv504
JimRising 459
C9.Mang0285
ViBE157
Maynarde119
CosmosSc2 25
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick673
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 96
• mYiSmile120
• CranKy Ducklings SOOP3
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Other Games
• Day9tv504
Upcoming Events
Kung Fu Cup
10h 3m
The PondCast
1d 9h
Replay Cast
1d 23h
Korean StarCraft League
3 days
CranKy Ducklings
3 days
GSL
4 days
Yamato Cup
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Afreeca Starleague
5 days
WardiTV Weekly
5 days
[ Show More ]
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Afreeca Starleague
6 days
PiGosaur Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Super Anchor Qualifying S3
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Big Dog Cup 2026 Div 1

Ongoing

ASL Season 22
CSL 2026 AUTUMN (S22)
Acropolis #5
Acropolis #5 - GSA
Calamity Invitational
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #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

Upcoming

Acropolis #5 - GSB
Acropolis #5 - GSC
BSL Season 23
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Custodian Cup
Copium Cup
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
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.