EPT+ Show Spoiler [General Advice] +
+ Show Spoiler [General Tips from Ahzz] +
On June 13 2008 19:15 Ahzz wrote:
(Note: Macro means managing your resources, building units etc in general, while micro means controlling your units in battles in general. Secondly, for those doubting this guide, I can play zerg, aside from zvz, at A- or A level if I put effort to my game.)
First off, for those better players around there. This is mostly meant to teach stuff for less experienced players, though experienced players can get something out of it too but.. Well, what I'm trying to say is, that if I say that you shouldn't concentrate on cool micro, it means that you should ONLY concentrate on better micro etc if you have enough speed and multitasking, which most of the people who read this do not.
There are several ways to start the game. Some are better at something else than others etc. Well, let's skip that crap and move to business shall we?
General Tips
-A good amount of drones is usually 1½ times the amount of mineral patches +3 for gas. So for example, if an expansion spot has 8 mineral patches and a vespene gas, then a nice amount of drones would be 12 at minerals and 3 at gas. This is, of course, in general. If you're making a power build or something, you can have several more drones on minerals.
-Keep your overlords around the map. Especially if you have speed. If you dont have speed, it might be too dangerous to send them around, so in that case just keep them at safe-ish positions and around your expansions and bases. This way you can still spot any harassment and attack attempts and somehow defend against them. One could say that this brings great danger to the overlords and shouldnt be done. However, if you ask me, it brings much greater danger to them if you keep them clumped at one place, you wont be able to spot harassment attempts (for eample, shuttles with dark templars to kill your expansion, or instead of dark templars, high templars to kill all your workers in matter of seconds), and they will be in great danger against units like corsairs. Besides, it's easy to bring a few hydralisks in case of an early harassment attempt. Also, if you keep your overlords around, you will have quicker detection for cloaked units such as dark templars. And if you have speed, just send your overlords to any strategic positions such as expansions, choke points, places he might attack you from etc. They are fast, you can escape with them from almost anything, and they have 200 hp. And even if you lose one, you will win much more as you know EXACTLY where he is, where he's attacking from, and usually his army size too, so you will know wether its worth to attack his army just yet or not.
Trust me, every good player does this, and its totally worth it. watch any high level replays, you wont find a single game where this isn't the case.
-Zerg needs more expansions than terran or protoss to be able to fight them in general. In theory, "to win for sure" you need two times the expansions he has, and to be able to fight him rather well you need one more expansion. Of course, it's not always like this, but Zerg players should keep this as an guideline to really understand the importance of having more expansions. Also remember that gas is more important to zerg than other races, as the zerg is the most gas consuming. You got to weigh the options when expanding, either taking a safe mineral only expansion, or perhaps a bit more risky expansion that is worth more. Also, since gas expansions are much more valuable, your opponent will scout them more often.
Remember, even if you have the correct amount of expansions the very moment, the least you should still expand is another expansion when your previous one has decent amount of workers. The Zerg can never have too many expansions.
-Atleast against terran and protoss, Zerg needs to keep his army around the map (also called MAP CONTROL) for various reasons. That way you get faster defense for any harassment attempts at your exapansions for example, you will have you army ready for flank the very moment he moves out, and its harder for your opponent to know your army's size. The Zerg has weak units in general and they rely on their quantities, therefore A flank and some general and simple micro such as burrow lurkers, dark swarm, or moving your units just a bit to prevent your opponents escape is in general all you will need. except hydras against psionic storms for example. That is pretty intense stuff, since you have to predict perfectly where and when your opponent is going to throw a psi storm, how many storms he has, where to dodge, etc etc. Such knowledge can be acquired through experience and practise. However, for lower skilled people just spreading out your hydras is enough.
-Hotkey your hatcheries. The zerg has least amount of production buildings, so it's well possible for them. Also, the larvas piling up is another advantage. Personally, I prefer 0,9,8,7,6,5 etc for hatcheries. In the late game as I have even 6+ groups of units, I choose units before production buildings, since both of us will be battling with such large armies a single battle can change the course of the entire game.
Guidelines for using Hatcheries
-Even while you're only doing macro at your main, I, atleast, still prefer using hotkeys to build drones and units. It's faster than using your mouse. The only thing I have to do is 0sd9sd8sd or something along the lines, and the hatcheries I want to are building drones.
-One could say that these hotkeys suck as they're hard to reach. However, personally I think that using units at easy reach is much more important, if I want to macro, I can do whatever 0sh9sh8sz7sz6sz in an second if I release my hold of my mouse. Right after that I bring my hand back to my mouse. With experience you will start doing this automatically without thinking and disturbing ANYTHING you will know the exact moments..
-Always keep building your units. Dont forget it for an second. While your units are moving to the location you wish to, go and do your 0sz9sz8sh7sh whatsoever again. Also, since bigger battles do take quite a while, you should do this hatcery hotkey stuff every time before a battle, during a battle unless its very intense, and right after the battle. If you have too many groups of units, it's a bit more tricky. However, in that case you should usually have ultralisk tech ready already, and really, it's the fastest way to spend huge amounts of money. Choose a good time and go back to your base and build ultralisks from as many hatcheries as you can. poof, all your money was spent in seconds.
-Remember, once an expansion has good amount of drones, it becomes a unit production building. Sometimes its good to leave the rally point close to the expansion, You can then take it any time you wish, and it will provide better defense for the expansion.
-The more you have extra money, the more expansions you make, unless you already have alot of them already or something. It's hard to give a guideline for this, but one could be... 2 expansions = 5 hatcheries, 3 expansions = 6-7 hatcheries, 4 expansions = ... even more. If you have plenty of expansions and plenty of money, of course you make more expansions, but what's more important is to get alot of units and fast. You do nothing with expansions if they get destroyed before they can be used, and you cant defend them unless you have units. But you could say that if you have enough expansions to fight him, you could spend most of your extra money for extra unit production hatcheries. Depends, but yeah. Also do not forget that usually once an expansion has the appropriate amount of drones, it becomes an unit production hatchery.
-In early game, especially in zvp, a zerg will be able to fend off a protoss attack without huge trouble even if the zerg ONLY starts to prepare once the protoss is about to move out. If you have 1 sunken colony and 6 lings, and protoss is starting to move out and you place 1-2 extra sunks and spend all larva on lings, you will be able fend off almost any attack especially if you pull your drones to help as well. Unless they specifically target the drones, they will just try to attack lings/sunkens so it might give you several free hits plus other bonuses which is why its quite powerful as a defense.
-When playing zerg, you just about always scout with your ninth drone. If your opponent plays random, you MAY scout at seventh or eighth drone. Unless you know what your opponents race is, you have to start off with a pool build. Otherwise its too risky.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=73314Zerg Guide By Ahzz
========================= Introduction ============================
(Note: Macro means managing your resources, building units etc in general, while micro means controlling your units in battles in general. Secondly, for those doubting this guide, I can play zerg, aside from zvz, at A- or A level if I put effort to my game.)
First off, for those better players around there. This is mostly meant to teach stuff for less experienced players, though experienced players can get something out of it too but.. Well, what I'm trying to say is, that if I say that you shouldn't concentrate on cool micro, it means that you should ONLY concentrate on better micro etc if you have enough speed and multitasking, which most of the people who read this do not.
There are several ways to start the game. Some are better at something else than others etc. Well, let's skip that crap and move to business shall we?
General Tips
-A good amount of drones is usually 1½ times the amount of mineral patches +3 for gas. So for example, if an expansion spot has 8 mineral patches and a vespene gas, then a nice amount of drones would be 12 at minerals and 3 at gas. This is, of course, in general. If you're making a power build or something, you can have several more drones on minerals.
-Keep your overlords around the map. Especially if you have speed. If you dont have speed, it might be too dangerous to send them around, so in that case just keep them at safe-ish positions and around your expansions and bases. This way you can still spot any harassment and attack attempts and somehow defend against them. One could say that this brings great danger to the overlords and shouldnt be done. However, if you ask me, it brings much greater danger to them if you keep them clumped at one place, you wont be able to spot harassment attempts (for eample, shuttles with dark templars to kill your expansion, or instead of dark templars, high templars to kill all your workers in matter of seconds), and they will be in great danger against units like corsairs. Besides, it's easy to bring a few hydralisks in case of an early harassment attempt. Also, if you keep your overlords around, you will have quicker detection for cloaked units such as dark templars. And if you have speed, just send your overlords to any strategic positions such as expansions, choke points, places he might attack you from etc. They are fast, you can escape with them from almost anything, and they have 200 hp. And even if you lose one, you will win much more as you know EXACTLY where he is, where he's attacking from, and usually his army size too, so you will know wether its worth to attack his army just yet or not.
Trust me, every good player does this, and its totally worth it. watch any high level replays, you wont find a single game where this isn't the case.
-Zerg needs more expansions than terran or protoss to be able to fight them in general. In theory, "to win for sure" you need two times the expansions he has, and to be able to fight him rather well you need one more expansion. Of course, it's not always like this, but Zerg players should keep this as an guideline to really understand the importance of having more expansions. Also remember that gas is more important to zerg than other races, as the zerg is the most gas consuming. You got to weigh the options when expanding, either taking a safe mineral only expansion, or perhaps a bit more risky expansion that is worth more. Also, since gas expansions are much more valuable, your opponent will scout them more often.
Remember, even if you have the correct amount of expansions the very moment, the least you should still expand is another expansion when your previous one has decent amount of workers. The Zerg can never have too many expansions.
-Atleast against terran and protoss, Zerg needs to keep his army around the map (also called MAP CONTROL) for various reasons. That way you get faster defense for any harassment attempts at your exapansions for example, you will have you army ready for flank the very moment he moves out, and its harder for your opponent to know your army's size. The Zerg has weak units in general and they rely on their quantities, therefore A flank and some general and simple micro such as burrow lurkers, dark swarm, or moving your units just a bit to prevent your opponents escape is in general all you will need. except hydras against psionic storms for example. That is pretty intense stuff, since you have to predict perfectly where and when your opponent is going to throw a psi storm, how many storms he has, where to dodge, etc etc. Such knowledge can be acquired through experience and practise. However, for lower skilled people just spreading out your hydras is enough.
-Hotkey your hatcheries. The zerg has least amount of production buildings, so it's well possible for them. Also, the larvas piling up is another advantage. Personally, I prefer 0,9,8,7,6,5 etc for hatcheries. In the late game as I have even 6+ groups of units, I choose units before production buildings, since both of us will be battling with such large armies a single battle can change the course of the entire game.
Guidelines for using Hatcheries
-Even while you're only doing macro at your main, I, atleast, still prefer using hotkeys to build drones and units. It's faster than using your mouse. The only thing I have to do is 0sd9sd8sd or something along the lines, and the hatcheries I want to are building drones.
-One could say that these hotkeys suck as they're hard to reach. However, personally I think that using units at easy reach is much more important, if I want to macro, I can do whatever 0sh9sh8sz7sz6sz in an second if I release my hold of my mouse. Right after that I bring my hand back to my mouse. With experience you will start doing this automatically without thinking and disturbing ANYTHING you will know the exact moments..
-Always keep building your units. Dont forget it for an second. While your units are moving to the location you wish to, go and do your 0sz9sz8sh7sh whatsoever again. Also, since bigger battles do take quite a while, you should do this hatcery hotkey stuff every time before a battle, during a battle unless its very intense, and right after the battle. If you have too many groups of units, it's a bit more tricky. However, in that case you should usually have ultralisk tech ready already, and really, it's the fastest way to spend huge amounts of money. Choose a good time and go back to your base and build ultralisks from as many hatcheries as you can. poof, all your money was spent in seconds.
-Remember, once an expansion has good amount of drones, it becomes a unit production building. Sometimes its good to leave the rally point close to the expansion, You can then take it any time you wish, and it will provide better defense for the expansion.
-The more you have extra money, the more expansions you make, unless you already have alot of them already or something. It's hard to give a guideline for this, but one could be... 2 expansions = 5 hatcheries, 3 expansions = 6-7 hatcheries, 4 expansions = ... even more. If you have plenty of expansions and plenty of money, of course you make more expansions, but what's more important is to get alot of units and fast. You do nothing with expansions if they get destroyed before they can be used, and you cant defend them unless you have units. But you could say that if you have enough expansions to fight him, you could spend most of your extra money for extra unit production hatcheries. Depends, but yeah. Also do not forget that usually once an expansion has the appropriate amount of drones, it becomes an unit production hatchery.
-In early game, especially in zvp, a zerg will be able to fend off a protoss attack without huge trouble even if the zerg ONLY starts to prepare once the protoss is about to move out. If you have 1 sunken colony and 6 lings, and protoss is starting to move out and you place 1-2 extra sunks and spend all larva on lings, you will be able fend off almost any attack especially if you pull your drones to help as well. Unless they specifically target the drones, they will just try to attack lings/sunkens so it might give you several free hits plus other bonuses which is why its quite powerful as a defense.
-When playing zerg, you just about always scout with your ninth drone. If your opponent plays random, you MAY scout at seventh or eighth drone. Unless you know what your opponents race is, you have to start off with a pool build. Otherwise its too risky.
+ Show Spoiler [Zerg vs Zerg] +
+ Show Spoiler [Zerg vs Terran] +
+ Show Spoiler [Zerg vs Protoss] +
+ Show Spoiler [General ZvP Tips/Advice] +
On June 13 2008 19:15 Ahzz wrote:
The 'safe' builds:
Instead of going for a fast cheese build, you can just play it safe, stop ling production after first 6-10 unless he's adding a huge load of pressure with zealots, take an expansion pretty soon afterwards, and maybe throw in another hatchery while making drones. If he started off with a 2 gate build or so and you feel like he's making a lot of zealots or something along the lines, you may want to place a sunken colony early on, and maybe make a creep colony or two beforehand if you're quite sure he will be attacking soon. Just making an creep colony saves money and they morph to sunken colonies extremely fast, so you will be safe this way. However, don't forget that each sunken colony costs you 175 minerals (you lose a drone) and if we take to account how much money that drone could gather, it means you lose about 200 minerals for each sunken colony you make, so you should be aware of this and weigh the options.
Basically you have 4 decent options along with a few less common builds which you can figure out later yourself. You probably wont need em for a while.
The zerg, unlike the protoss, can make a million different variations of each build, and its the same over here. They can for example either make a quick lair straight after second hatch and maybe even add drop ugprade coming as well, or they can just start lair a bit after their thitd hatch in which case they will have good economy, able to fight fast pressure builds without things getting complicated, spare money for additional things like upgrades, lings, and maybe even another epxansion, and so on. Once again you have to weigh the options and look at whats happened so far in the game. If you think it will work out, then you can go for it, but going for it when its just been a basic game so far and both are playing safe is usually not worth it.
Thats why I'd recommend safe builds for you now.
The lurker tech:
Let us suppose we're playing safe. First off, think what your opponent has done, did he fast expand or is he still in his base, doing either 1 or 2 gate build or something. If he fast expanded you gain a huge load if you can make a quicker carapace than your opponent can make an +1 weapons, since if the protoss only has +1 he will kill zerglings with 2 hits, but if the zerg has a carapace upgrade it will take three hits. You may have noticed that progamers rarely rush to quite quick evolution chambers, but I recommend that you still try to get a quicker upgrade than your opponent because you don't have progamer gaming sense, micro, macro, or timings, and thus not making the upgrade will punish you a lot more. Okay, you KNOW he's getting a quicker upgrade, that's fine, you just have to play a bit different. For example now making slow tech and making a lot of lings could be bad since his zealots are like, twice stronger than before against your lings. So either you make fast tech or you go hydra. That's what I usually do anyway.
In this case we're talking about lurker tech. In any case, you should start your lair pretty quickly after your third hatch, either with the upgrade before or after the lair, however you fancy and feel. It also depends on how much spare money and gas you have. Your scouting ovies or lings/drones should have seen if they're making a stargate or just templar tech. If he did a stargate first, you might want to place your hydralisk den a bit beforehand, for example right after you start your lair so you can save as many overlords as possible. Otherwise you will be fine with starting it when your lair is about 50% done. Also start your second gas around the same time you start your lurker aspect upgrade. Since you most likely have been just making drones till now, you should be having somewhat nice number of them around already. You should start ling production at this point. Remember to also add your fourth hatch when you have the money. If you dont have a second expansion yet, you could add it there. Keep making lings and make a bit of hydralisks beforehand so that the instant you get lurker aspect you can morph around 6 lurkers or so. Now, you should be watching out for a few things. First off, if he's making some sort of a zealot rush, you should be defending your expansions and making sure that you know where his army is and when. Bring your lurkers to help if needed, and sunken up, but dont overdo it. If your army can already beat his army as it is, no point wasting money on sunken colonies. You only add them if you believe you cannot beat his army otherwise or you'd have trouble defending your expansions. I recommend starting a spire after your first lurkers pop out too. Also make overlord speed when you have the money. Now, he SHOULD be in his base, and he most likely has his natural.
There are a few things you need to look out for. First off, could he have observers yet, and second, how many cannons does he have and at what locations. If you think you will be able to destroy his cannons and he doesnt have observers, go for it. If you're able to do this, its pretty much gg since there's not much he can do against your lurkers when he has no detection. However, you shouldn't do this uselessly. If you think you might not be able to pull it off, dont try. If you lose your army at this point, especially if you started off with lurkers, you will also lose your map control, he might be free to take another expansion, and your army will most likely be inferior overall.
Let's suppose you did NOT attack. You should spread your lurkers at his choke point so that he wont get more than 1-2 with a storm. Also bring some overlords close by so no dark templars will sneak by, and you will be able to see if he has observers and so on. If you're making a spire like I recommended, using scourges to kill off harassing shuttles and killing observers will slow him down a lot. Also, make double evolution chamber, if you haven't already. Upgrade carapace and melee attack, since thats what you will need in late game and probably the best now too. Expand and make more unit production hatcheries with your spare money. Also keep making more units and bringing more and more lurkers to the choke point, making it harder for him to pass by every moment. Also make a queens nest for hive.
Now, since you're making a lurker block you have to be extra careful not to suddenly lose everything for free because you're putting a huge part of your game on this build. Basically the goal is to keep him in base long enough for you to get hive tech and even ultralisks if possible. Adrenal glands for zerglings improve them two fold, so its important not to make too late hive in ZvP. Also, once he breaks out you also have to make sure that he will lose a large portion of his army too, because if he doesnt he can just run over you. Usually at this point every zerg has to sunken up his main and exps appropriately. Also, if you've kept him in his main a decent time, his mineral will be close to running out, so its especially important to stop him for getting new expansions without trouble.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=73314The 'safe' builds:
Instead of going for a fast cheese build, you can just play it safe, stop ling production after first 6-10 unless he's adding a huge load of pressure with zealots, take an expansion pretty soon afterwards, and maybe throw in another hatchery while making drones. If he started off with a 2 gate build or so and you feel like he's making a lot of zealots or something along the lines, you may want to place a sunken colony early on, and maybe make a creep colony or two beforehand if you're quite sure he will be attacking soon. Just making an creep colony saves money and they morph to sunken colonies extremely fast, so you will be safe this way. However, don't forget that each sunken colony costs you 175 minerals (you lose a drone) and if we take to account how much money that drone could gather, it means you lose about 200 minerals for each sunken colony you make, so you should be aware of this and weigh the options.
Basically you have 4 decent options along with a few less common builds which you can figure out later yourself. You probably wont need em for a while.
The zerg, unlike the protoss, can make a million different variations of each build, and its the same over here. They can for example either make a quick lair straight after second hatch and maybe even add drop ugprade coming as well, or they can just start lair a bit after their thitd hatch in which case they will have good economy, able to fight fast pressure builds without things getting complicated, spare money for additional things like upgrades, lings, and maybe even another epxansion, and so on. Once again you have to weigh the options and look at whats happened so far in the game. If you think it will work out, then you can go for it, but going for it when its just been a basic game so far and both are playing safe is usually not worth it.
Thats why I'd recommend safe builds for you now.
The lurker tech:
Let us suppose we're playing safe. First off, think what your opponent has done, did he fast expand or is he still in his base, doing either 1 or 2 gate build or something. If he fast expanded you gain a huge load if you can make a quicker carapace than your opponent can make an +1 weapons, since if the protoss only has +1 he will kill zerglings with 2 hits, but if the zerg has a carapace upgrade it will take three hits. You may have noticed that progamers rarely rush to quite quick evolution chambers, but I recommend that you still try to get a quicker upgrade than your opponent because you don't have progamer gaming sense, micro, macro, or timings, and thus not making the upgrade will punish you a lot more. Okay, you KNOW he's getting a quicker upgrade, that's fine, you just have to play a bit different. For example now making slow tech and making a lot of lings could be bad since his zealots are like, twice stronger than before against your lings. So either you make fast tech or you go hydra. That's what I usually do anyway.
In this case we're talking about lurker tech. In any case, you should start your lair pretty quickly after your third hatch, either with the upgrade before or after the lair, however you fancy and feel. It also depends on how much spare money and gas you have. Your scouting ovies or lings/drones should have seen if they're making a stargate or just templar tech. If he did a stargate first, you might want to place your hydralisk den a bit beforehand, for example right after you start your lair so you can save as many overlords as possible. Otherwise you will be fine with starting it when your lair is about 50% done. Also start your second gas around the same time you start your lurker aspect upgrade. Since you most likely have been just making drones till now, you should be having somewhat nice number of them around already. You should start ling production at this point. Remember to also add your fourth hatch when you have the money. If you dont have a second expansion yet, you could add it there. Keep making lings and make a bit of hydralisks beforehand so that the instant you get lurker aspect you can morph around 6 lurkers or so. Now, you should be watching out for a few things. First off, if he's making some sort of a zealot rush, you should be defending your expansions and making sure that you know where his army is and when. Bring your lurkers to help if needed, and sunken up, but dont overdo it. If your army can already beat his army as it is, no point wasting money on sunken colonies. You only add them if you believe you cannot beat his army otherwise or you'd have trouble defending your expansions. I recommend starting a spire after your first lurkers pop out too. Also make overlord speed when you have the money. Now, he SHOULD be in his base, and he most likely has his natural.
There are a few things you need to look out for. First off, could he have observers yet, and second, how many cannons does he have and at what locations. If you think you will be able to destroy his cannons and he doesnt have observers, go for it. If you're able to do this, its pretty much gg since there's not much he can do against your lurkers when he has no detection. However, you shouldn't do this uselessly. If you think you might not be able to pull it off, dont try. If you lose your army at this point, especially if you started off with lurkers, you will also lose your map control, he might be free to take another expansion, and your army will most likely be inferior overall.
Let's suppose you did NOT attack. You should spread your lurkers at his choke point so that he wont get more than 1-2 with a storm. Also bring some overlords close by so no dark templars will sneak by, and you will be able to see if he has observers and so on. If you're making a spire like I recommended, using scourges to kill off harassing shuttles and killing observers will slow him down a lot. Also, make double evolution chamber, if you haven't already. Upgrade carapace and melee attack, since thats what you will need in late game and probably the best now too. Expand and make more unit production hatcheries with your spare money. Also keep making more units and bringing more and more lurkers to the choke point, making it harder for him to pass by every moment. Also make a queens nest for hive.
Now, since you're making a lurker block you have to be extra careful not to suddenly lose everything for free because you're putting a huge part of your game on this build. Basically the goal is to keep him in base long enough for you to get hive tech and even ultralisks if possible. Adrenal glands for zerglings improve them two fold, so its important not to make too late hive in ZvP. Also, once he breaks out you also have to make sure that he will lose a large portion of his army too, because if he doesnt he can just run over you. Usually at this point every zerg has to sunken up his main and exps appropriately. Also, if you've kept him in his main a decent time, his mineral will be close to running out, so its especially important to stop him for getting new expansions without trouble.
On June 13 2008 19:15 Ahzz wrote:
If you decided to go with ling/lurker -> fast ultra
Basically with this ling build as well you will have extremely strong economy, and a huge amount of lings. Even if toss makes a zealot rush, it shouldnt be a big problem because there will be 4 lings to each zealot, unless the toss did some 5/6 gateway mass zealot thing, in which case you have to sunken up.
Basically it goes like this;
5 hatcheries
dual gas
dual evolution chamber and hydra den
lair, also ling speed and dual carapace/melee
make a few hydras so you can kill off corsair harass
also at this point or a bit before you need to start making lings. Besides, all your expansions should have plenty of drones. Also make ovie speed/lurker aspect upgrade when possible.also make a queens nest for hive/crackling/ultras. Keep making lings. He will probably either try to take an expo, or attack with his stuff, which you shouldn't have any problem stopping. After you've got some lings up you can expo pretty freely I'd say. Also, since you will be doing so heavy ling build and only quite few lurkers, you will have a lot of money and that means a lot of unit production hatcheries. You will have so many lings that you shouldnt have any problems if you sacrifice even 20 lings to stop his expansions from time to time. But basically, you cant let him expo now. You wont have enough lurkers and your ultras wont be up yet, so you need to make sure he doesnt get many expoes when the game gets to late game. Once you start to get more ultra/ling you should be quite safe.
The mass ling/hydra/lurker/defiler
This isn't a very common build mainly because it needs very good macro to work well and not bad micro so that your hydras and lurkers wont be wasted to few psionic storms. Basically you can do this even if you started with anything, you just need to start 3 evolution chambers rather early and getting all ling/hydra upgrades. That includes getting cracklings as well. You need defilers later on, but they're not in as big of a hurry. You're basically gonna be making a huge load of hydra/ling and lurkers with any spare gas that you have, having total map control and superior upgrades over your opponent, totally swarming him.Later on with defilers you will plague his army and use dark swarm and lings/lurkers to your advantage against expansion cannons, dragoons, and archons. Later on you should switch to ultra ling hydra though.
That's pretty much it for the ZvP part. I'll still list the goals for each time of the game.
Early game:
The goal is to survive, keep your tech hidden as well as possible, get an expansion (or against fast expansion 2 exps) up, and get as good economy as possible.
Mid game:
The goal is to not let your opponent take any free hidden expansions. You need to make sure his probes didnt sneak to cannon up a ramp or choke and so on. This is quite important. You also need to get your tech up and running, make sure you're not too inferior upgrade-wise, have good economy, and start massing units.
Late game:
The goal is to outexpand your opponent and take down his expansions while protecting your own. You want to have ultras, lings, defilers and so on and several hatcheries pumping units non stop. You need to keep map control, and you cannot let your opponent to get any expansions for free. You also got to be aware of his late game tech, which could be arbiters, corsair/dt, or reavers. Or possibly just mass archons which is extremely deadly.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=73314If you decided to go with ling/lurker -> fast ultra
Basically with this ling build as well you will have extremely strong economy, and a huge amount of lings. Even if toss makes a zealot rush, it shouldnt be a big problem because there will be 4 lings to each zealot, unless the toss did some 5/6 gateway mass zealot thing, in which case you have to sunken up.
Basically it goes like this;
5 hatcheries
dual gas
dual evolution chamber and hydra den
lair, also ling speed and dual carapace/melee
make a few hydras so you can kill off corsair harass
also at this point or a bit before you need to start making lings. Besides, all your expansions should have plenty of drones. Also make ovie speed/lurker aspect upgrade when possible.also make a queens nest for hive/crackling/ultras. Keep making lings. He will probably either try to take an expo, or attack with his stuff, which you shouldn't have any problem stopping. After you've got some lings up you can expo pretty freely I'd say. Also, since you will be doing so heavy ling build and only quite few lurkers, you will have a lot of money and that means a lot of unit production hatcheries. You will have so many lings that you shouldnt have any problems if you sacrifice even 20 lings to stop his expansions from time to time. But basically, you cant let him expo now. You wont have enough lurkers and your ultras wont be up yet, so you need to make sure he doesnt get many expoes when the game gets to late game. Once you start to get more ultra/ling you should be quite safe.
The mass ling/hydra/lurker/defiler
This isn't a very common build mainly because it needs very good macro to work well and not bad micro so that your hydras and lurkers wont be wasted to few psionic storms. Basically you can do this even if you started with anything, you just need to start 3 evolution chambers rather early and getting all ling/hydra upgrades. That includes getting cracklings as well. You need defilers later on, but they're not in as big of a hurry. You're basically gonna be making a huge load of hydra/ling and lurkers with any spare gas that you have, having total map control and superior upgrades over your opponent, totally swarming him.Later on with defilers you will plague his army and use dark swarm and lings/lurkers to your advantage against expansion cannons, dragoons, and archons. Later on you should switch to ultra ling hydra though.
That's pretty much it for the ZvP part. I'll still list the goals for each time of the game.
Early game:
The goal is to survive, keep your tech hidden as well as possible, get an expansion (or against fast expansion 2 exps) up, and get as good economy as possible.
Mid game:
The goal is to not let your opponent take any free hidden expansions. You need to make sure his probes didnt sneak to cannon up a ramp or choke and so on. This is quite important. You also need to get your tech up and running, make sure you're not too inferior upgrade-wise, have good economy, and start massing units.
Late game:
The goal is to outexpand your opponent and take down his expansions while protecting your own. You want to have ultras, lings, defilers and so on and several hatcheries pumping units non stop. You need to keep map control, and you cannot let your opponent to get any expansions for free. You also got to be aware of his late game tech, which could be arbiters, corsair/dt, or reavers. Or possibly just mass archons which is extremely deadly.
+ Show Spoiler [9 pool] +
On June 13 2008 19:15 Ahzz wrote:
9 Pool
pros: May catch opponent off guard, forces him to make more and faster defense, you have defense for any kind of rush, pretty much.
cons: not too great early economy (not THAT bad either, but still)
(Another variation of this build would be to keep the extractor and make zergling speed early on, making it even more powerful of a rush, or if it fails, you
can use zergling speed to stop any scouting units with ease. However, this takes a lot more money, and it might not be quite as good in some cases for that
reason)
9/9 drones
9/9 spawning pool
9/9 drones
9/9 overlord
10/9 extractor trick (take a drone, morph it to extractor, build another drone, and then cancel the extractor and you have 10/9 drones
13/17 zerglings
pressure with lings unless he already has defense you cant easily break up. If he has 2 zealots at ramp (2 gate build by protoss), dont attack. Leave them at
his choke point so you can see the moment he moves out, and kill and scouts they might send. Same goes if they make fast expo and have 2 cannons up, or
probes blocking the way and 1 cannon. if its only 1 cannon, then attack with the zerglings. you should still have 3-4 lings left after finishing off the
cannon. If you're confident with your multitasking and micro, you might want to keep sending zerglings and finish the game right there and then, or atleast
gain a huge advantage, or just settle with dealing some damage to gain a small advantage while pumping drones yourself, gaining superior economy. This is
what I usually prefer to do. Instead of taking a huge risk of just keeping on, why not leave it at that and take a huge lead? Of course I dont give up the
very moment im about to gain the advantage, you keep going on for a moment, but remember to not get too greedy.
now there are different ways of continuing after making the lings etc... You can possibly make an ultra fast spire to completely catch him off guard,
especially if you dealt some damage with your lings, or perhaps 3 hatchery zerglings to simply mass over him, though it pretty much only works if he made an
fast expansion. Another option is to just continue safe and normal, making an expansion after you make your lings, keep making drones, and after you have
enough money, make a third hatchery. If he made an fast expansion, make the third hatchery to a new expansion spot in most cases.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=733149 Pool
pros: May catch opponent off guard, forces him to make more and faster defense, you have defense for any kind of rush, pretty much.
cons: not too great early economy (not THAT bad either, but still)
(Another variation of this build would be to keep the extractor and make zergling speed early on, making it even more powerful of a rush, or if it fails, you
can use zergling speed to stop any scouting units with ease. However, this takes a lot more money, and it might not be quite as good in some cases for that
reason)
9/9 drones
9/9 spawning pool
9/9 drones
9/9 overlord
10/9 extractor trick (take a drone, morph it to extractor, build another drone, and then cancel the extractor and you have 10/9 drones
13/17 zerglings
pressure with lings unless he already has defense you cant easily break up. If he has 2 zealots at ramp (2 gate build by protoss), dont attack. Leave them at
his choke point so you can see the moment he moves out, and kill and scouts they might send. Same goes if they make fast expo and have 2 cannons up, or
probes blocking the way and 1 cannon. if its only 1 cannon, then attack with the zerglings. you should still have 3-4 lings left after finishing off the
cannon. If you're confident with your multitasking and micro, you might want to keep sending zerglings and finish the game right there and then, or atleast
gain a huge advantage, or just settle with dealing some damage to gain a small advantage while pumping drones yourself, gaining superior economy. This is
what I usually prefer to do. Instead of taking a huge risk of just keeping on, why not leave it at that and take a huge lead? Of course I dont give up the
very moment im about to gain the advantage, you keep going on for a moment, but remember to not get too greedy.
now there are different ways of continuing after making the lings etc... You can possibly make an ultra fast spire to completely catch him off guard,
especially if you dealt some damage with your lings, or perhaps 3 hatchery zerglings to simply mass over him, though it pretty much only works if he made an
fast expansion. Another option is to just continue safe and normal, making an expansion after you make your lings, keep making drones, and after you have
enough money, make a third hatchery. If he made an fast expansion, make the third hatchery to a new expansion spot in most cases.
+ Show Spoiler [9 Overpool] +
On June 13 2008 19:15 Ahzz wrote:
9 overpool
pros: better economy than 9 pool, able to defend against rushes pretty well.
Cons: a bit slow hatcheries, 5-10 seconds slower than 9 pool
(just like in 9 pool, in overpool you can build a gas at 10 supply as well to make ling speed.)
9/9 drones (ninth drone to scout)
9/9 overlord
11/17 drones
expand when you have the money, send a drone beforehand,
14or15/17 lings (thats 8 or 10 lings). You will make lings appropriately depending on his build order and army size when needed, of course. You will use these lings to either shut him down if he's going 14 nexus fast expand, or if he's playing safe just kill his scouting probe and bring lings to choke to see when he moves out etc.
17/17 drones
make a third hatchery somewhat over here. If you dont have the money yet, just make it when you do. If he fast expanded place it to your second expansion.
17or18/18 overlord (im supposing that your second hatch already popped out)
18/18 drones
make a sunken colony now, it will kill scouting probes and since you're 18/18 anyway you will have to wait a while for the overlord to finish. This way you will be able to build another drone and no larva is wasted
Make a fourth hatchery when you have spare money while keeping on making drones and doing w/e tech you wish
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=733149 overpool
pros: better economy than 9 pool, able to defend against rushes pretty well.
Cons: a bit slow hatcheries, 5-10 seconds slower than 9 pool
(just like in 9 pool, in overpool you can build a gas at 10 supply as well to make ling speed.)
9/9 drones (ninth drone to scout)
9/9 overlord
11/17 drones
expand when you have the money, send a drone beforehand,
14or15/17 lings (thats 8 or 10 lings). You will make lings appropriately depending on his build order and army size when needed, of course. You will use these lings to either shut him down if he's going 14 nexus fast expand, or if he's playing safe just kill his scouting probe and bring lings to choke to see when he moves out etc.
17/17 drones
make a third hatchery somewhat over here. If you dont have the money yet, just make it when you do. If he fast expanded place it to your second expansion.
17or18/18 overlord (im supposing that your second hatch already popped out)
18/18 drones
make a sunken colony now, it will kill scouting probes and since you're 18/18 anyway you will have to wait a while for the overlord to finish. This way you will be able to build another drone and no larva is wasted
Make a fourth hatchery when you have spare money while keeping on making drones and doing w/e tech you wish
+ Show Spoiler [6 Pool] +
On June 13 2008 19:15 Ahzz wrote:
6 Pool
pros: VERY fast lings, kills almost any protoss fast expansion unless they're aware of it early on or map distances are large, gives a rather good economy even though you wouldnt expect it, you can also laugh your ass off at idiots who whine after the game for being stupid enough not to realize its potential
Cons: If it fails miserably you will have hard time, if he makes gateways instead of normal fast expand you will have very hard time, or if he finds out about it almost instantly you will have a hard time.
This build order is extremely underestimated, however, it only works on maps which you'd expect the toss to fast expand.
6/9 spawning pool
6/9 drones, send 1 to scout.
9/9 lings
do the extractor trick and morph 2 more lings
attack with the lings and make an overlord when you have the money.
Once your ovie pops out you make a few more drones and after that expo when you have the money. More drones and third hatch to second expo if he fe'd. Even more drones and do w/e you wish. I'd recommend 4 hatch start with this build tho. Make lings and sunks when needed.
The micro with lings:
vs fe:
when your lings arrive his cannons most likely will not be up yet, but they should be up rather soon. If they're not up and you're pretty sure you could kill them, go for it. If he has pulled several probes to block/kill your lings, see if there's a path which you could use to run to his main before cannons pop out. If there is no such path, use right click to make your lings attack 1 probe at a time. This is the thing, really, his cannons will most likely pop out before you could kill them or run past if this is the case, which it will be in most cases, but with this build you will kill like, at least 6 probes of his before the cannons actually come out. That will slow him down so much that you wont even be behind. Since you did a fast rush like this he will be completely paranoid and playing extra safe making his economy even worse, while you're just making drones. Even if you dont do well at all with this build, you should be able to do well enough that you wont be behind, but very few actually understand this.
Vs 1/2 gateway:
in the case that protoss went 1/2 gateway build and you went 6 pool, you wont be having any instant win moments like you might have when fighting against fast expansion. However, your goal is to deal as much damage as possible.
Your lings should arrive around the same time that his first zealot pops out. If he knows a bit what he's doing, he should have pulled around 7 probes or so to help that zealot while building a new one. Now, you CANNOT fight this army head on. You got to wait till they're in some sort of a line and scattered around, and then pick off lone probes one at a time. If he gets careless at any moment and his zealot gets separated, surround it and kill it. If you're able to do this, it might be gg already. Vs 1 gateway you will have far easier time than 2 gateway because if he went 1 gateway you wont have to fight a big counterattack after the rush, and he wont have that many zealots to chase your lings. In any case, try to kill off as many probes as possible. Possibly destroy the pylon that powers the gateway if you feel like it would be good and you have the chance to do so.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=733146 Pool
pros: VERY fast lings, kills almost any protoss fast expansion unless they're aware of it early on or map distances are large, gives a rather good economy even though you wouldnt expect it, you can also laugh your ass off at idiots who whine after the game for being stupid enough not to realize its potential
Cons: If it fails miserably you will have hard time, if he makes gateways instead of normal fast expand you will have very hard time, or if he finds out about it almost instantly you will have a hard time.
This build order is extremely underestimated, however, it only works on maps which you'd expect the toss to fast expand.
6/9 spawning pool
6/9 drones, send 1 to scout.
9/9 lings
do the extractor trick and morph 2 more lings
attack with the lings and make an overlord when you have the money.
Once your ovie pops out you make a few more drones and after that expo when you have the money. More drones and third hatch to second expo if he fe'd. Even more drones and do w/e you wish. I'd recommend 4 hatch start with this build tho. Make lings and sunks when needed.
The micro with lings:
vs fe:
when your lings arrive his cannons most likely will not be up yet, but they should be up rather soon. If they're not up and you're pretty sure you could kill them, go for it. If he has pulled several probes to block/kill your lings, see if there's a path which you could use to run to his main before cannons pop out. If there is no such path, use right click to make your lings attack 1 probe at a time. This is the thing, really, his cannons will most likely pop out before you could kill them or run past if this is the case, which it will be in most cases, but with this build you will kill like, at least 6 probes of his before the cannons actually come out. That will slow him down so much that you wont even be behind. Since you did a fast rush like this he will be completely paranoid and playing extra safe making his economy even worse, while you're just making drones. Even if you dont do well at all with this build, you should be able to do well enough that you wont be behind, but very few actually understand this.
Vs 1/2 gateway:
in the case that protoss went 1/2 gateway build and you went 6 pool, you wont be having any instant win moments like you might have when fighting against fast expansion. However, your goal is to deal as much damage as possible.
Your lings should arrive around the same time that his first zealot pops out. If he knows a bit what he's doing, he should have pulled around 7 probes or so to help that zealot while building a new one. Now, you CANNOT fight this army head on. You got to wait till they're in some sort of a line and scattered around, and then pick off lone probes one at a time. If he gets careless at any moment and his zealot gets separated, surround it and kill it. If you're able to do this, it might be gg already. Vs 1 gateway you will have far easier time than 2 gateway because if he went 1 gateway you wont have to fight a big counterattack after the rush, and he wont have that many zealots to chase your lings. In any case, try to kill off as many probes as possible. Possibly destroy the pylon that powers the gateway if you feel like it would be good and you have the chance to do so.
+ Show Spoiler [12 Pool] +
On June 13 2008 19:15 Ahzz wrote:
12 pool:
pros: quite safe against rushes, just overall good economy, most likely able to kill scouting probe before it sees anything big
cons: your lings most likely wont be able to deal any sort of damage, not quite as good economy as 12 hat, balancing drones and lings might get troublesome against rush builds your enemy makes.
(like in 9 pool or overpool, you can make an extractor after your spawning pool, but in that case you wont have quite as good economy etc.)
9/9 drones, send ninth drone to scout
9/9 overlord
12/17 drones
12 pool
(either gas here or gas later)
12 drone
12 hatchery at expansion (unless he's doing proxy gates or some weird stuff)
14/17 6 lings (you can make a few more if you wish/need)
17/17 drones
third hatch around here unless you're going very fast tech to spire or lurkers
overlord around here too
more drones, possibly place a sunken colony
w/e you wish now. (of course not random shit)
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=7331412 pool:
pros: quite safe against rushes, just overall good economy, most likely able to kill scouting probe before it sees anything big
cons: your lings most likely wont be able to deal any sort of damage, not quite as good economy as 12 hat, balancing drones and lings might get troublesome against rush builds your enemy makes.
(like in 9 pool or overpool, you can make an extractor after your spawning pool, but in that case you wont have quite as good economy etc.)
9/9 drones, send ninth drone to scout
9/9 overlord
12/17 drones
12 pool
(either gas here or gas later)
12 drone
12 hatchery at expansion (unless he's doing proxy gates or some weird stuff)
14/17 6 lings (you can make a few more if you wish/need)
17/17 drones
third hatch around here unless you're going very fast tech to spire or lurkers
overlord around here too
more drones, possibly place a sunken colony
w/e you wish now. (of course not random shit)
+ Show Spoiler [12 Hatch] +
On June 13 2008 19:15 Ahzz wrote:
12 Hatch
pros: just about best possible economy for early game zerg, quite safe if you save larva for lings, very standard build (perhaps most popular too)
cons: your opponent can play a bit risky and doesn't have to watch out for anything, can have trouble fighting against proxy gates or really fast gates
9 drones
9 overlord
12 drones
2nd hat at expansions
11 pool
12 drones
either you make a gas here if you're going for fast tech, or later. If you make gas here, your third hatchery wont be yet.
13/14 third hat to second expo if he fe'd
make 6-10 lings
drones till 17/18
a new overlord at 17/18
you can build sunken colony here if you wish
continue with w/e tech/unit build
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=7331412 Hatch
pros: just about best possible economy for early game zerg, quite safe if you save larva for lings, very standard build (perhaps most popular too)
cons: your opponent can play a bit risky and doesn't have to watch out for anything, can have trouble fighting against proxy gates or really fast gates
9 drones
9 overlord
12 drones
2nd hat at expansions
11 pool
12 drones
either you make a gas here if you're going for fast tech, or later. If you make gas here, your third hatchery wont be yet.
13/14 third hat to second expo if he fe'd
make 6-10 lings
drones till 17/18
a new overlord at 17/18
you can build sunken colony here if you wish
continue with w/e tech/unit build
+ Show Spoiler [9 Hatch] +
On June 13 2008 19:15 Ahzz wrote:
9 Hatch
pros: You get to fast expand, you're VERY safe from almost anything, even fast gateways, you will get extremely fast 10 lings which will kill your opponent if he's careless.
Cons: not quite as good economy, have to think more about things, and balancing your economy out may be troublesome.
10/9 drones (extractor trick)
send 2 drones to your expansion after your tenth drone pops out, build an hatchery and send the other one to scout (doing it this way makes it easier to build the hatchery if his worker comes on the way)
10/9 spawning pool (yes, extractor trick again)
9/9 overlord
10/9 extractor trick again
save larva for lings when your pool pops out. You will be able to bring 10 lings at a time, and if your opponent went 14 nexus fast expand you might be able to kill him off if he's careless. After this you just keep making drones and overlord when you cant make more drones, also make third hatch when you have the money (to second exp if he fe'd) Keep making more drones and tech when you wish etc. (ofc not too late)
I will skip 3 and 4 hatchery before pool builds against protoss fast expo since it's really difficult to balance out the drones and lings well enough for it to work. Once you're better you can find out yourself, or if you're already better you know of it already and know how to do it)
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=733149 Hatch
pros: You get to fast expand, you're VERY safe from almost anything, even fast gateways, you will get extremely fast 10 lings which will kill your opponent if he's careless.
Cons: not quite as good economy, have to think more about things, and balancing your economy out may be troublesome.
10/9 drones (extractor trick)
send 2 drones to your expansion after your tenth drone pops out, build an hatchery and send the other one to scout (doing it this way makes it easier to build the hatchery if his worker comes on the way)
10/9 spawning pool (yes, extractor trick again)
9/9 overlord
10/9 extractor trick again
save larva for lings when your pool pops out. You will be able to bring 10 lings at a time, and if your opponent went 14 nexus fast expand you might be able to kill him off if he's careless. After this you just keep making drones and overlord when you cant make more drones, also make third hatch when you have the money (to second exp if he fe'd) Keep making more drones and tech when you wish etc. (ofc not too late)
I will skip 3 and 4 hatchery before pool builds against protoss fast expo since it's really difficult to balance out the drones and lings well enough for it to work. Once you're better you can find out yourself, or if you're already better you know of it already and know how to do it)
+ Show Spoiler [9 Pool Into Fast Spire] +
On June 13 2008 19:15 Ahzz wrote:
9 Pool into fast Spire
Basically, you make gas around same time you start your lings or around the time you do the 10/9 trick, except that instead of doing the trick, you make it to the end. Start mining gas from the geyser, around the time you make your first lings, you should also have around 100/100 extra... make ling speed with those. Now keep making a few lings so that you can add a bit more pressure, and once you have enough money, make a lair. Also make some more drones at this point. If he has a good defense up (3 cannons or so, or zealots blocking the ramp) don't try to get in and waste your units. If he has less defense, feel free to try and run in and kill whatever stuff you can. After that, it depends if he expects mutalisks or not. Now, it's ESPECIALLY important that he cant scout you at ANY point of the game. Very important. If he does, it's obvious you're making a fast lair, and its over. You cant deal damage anymore after that. Keeping it secret is hard, and if you're too secretive and seem to be missing something, he will become suspicious, so this is hard to pull off. depends how much extra money you have, but make your second hatchery to the expansion, after your mutas the LATEST (you should have money for it earlier too, anyway). This build is very risky and its basically all-in. If you deal a lot of damage, good for you, if you dont, you've lost the game.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=733149 Pool into fast Spire
Basically, you make gas around same time you start your lings or around the time you do the 10/9 trick, except that instead of doing the trick, you make it to the end. Start mining gas from the geyser, around the time you make your first lings, you should also have around 100/100 extra... make ling speed with those. Now keep making a few lings so that you can add a bit more pressure, and once you have enough money, make a lair. Also make some more drones at this point. If he has a good defense up (3 cannons or so, or zealots blocking the ramp) don't try to get in and waste your units. If he has less defense, feel free to try and run in and kill whatever stuff you can. After that, it depends if he expects mutalisks or not. Now, it's ESPECIALLY important that he cant scout you at ANY point of the game. Very important. If he does, it's obvious you're making a fast lair, and its over. You cant deal damage anymore after that. Keeping it secret is hard, and if you're too secretive and seem to be missing something, he will become suspicious, so this is hard to pull off. depends how much extra money you have, but make your second hatchery to the expansion, after your mutas the LATEST (you should have money for it earlier too, anyway). This build is very risky and its basically all-in. If you deal a lot of damage, good for you, if you dont, you've lost the game.
small clarification:
basically 9 pool into fast spire is making 9 pool or 9 overpool, as quick speed as possible, and then getting lair when you have another 100 gas
9 pool build:
9 pool
8 extractor
8 drone
8 overlord
9 drone
and you save larva for the lings, get speed when possible etc. its important to deny all his scouting
9 overpool:
9 overlord
9 pool
9 extractor
10 drone
save larva for lings
basically you make some very quick speedlings, try to do runby or destroy his expansions, or at least in some way slow him down, denying all scouting, and make as quick spire as possible. making a quick spire alone will leave him time to do a counter, so if you keep him under your hand with lings meanwhile there's a chance he wont be able to react in time, do the necessary tech and so on to counter your mutas
+ Show Spoiler [3 Hatch Zerglings] +
On June 13 2008 19:15 Ahzz wrote:
3 Hatch Zerglings
Second hatchery to your expansion, and third to second expansion. Basically you keep making zerglings with speed, and after you have around 24+, depending of his defense, you attack. Now, it's also very important that he doesn't know about this. If he does, it's over. It's easy for him to make 4-5 cannons an a few zealots and probes, and there's nothing you can do. And again, this only might work against fast expand. or atleast, then it has highest chance of working. Otherwise it's quite easy to block the ramp and build a cannon or two and its hard to get through unless he becomes careless.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=733143 Hatch Zerglings
Second hatchery to your expansion, and third to second expansion. Basically you keep making zerglings with speed, and after you have around 24+, depending of his defense, you attack. Now, it's also very important that he doesn't know about this. If he does, it's over. It's easy for him to make 4-5 cannons an a few zealots and probes, and there's nothing you can do. And again, this only might work against fast expand. or atleast, then it has highest chance of working. Otherwise it's quite easy to block the ramp and build a cannon or two and its hard to get through unless he becomes careless.
Clarificaton:
3 hat zerglings is only realistic against protoss fast expansion. basically the best chance of winning would probably be through overpool, since overpool allows you to have good enough eco for those 3 hatch, it allows fast lings and ling speed, and it allows you to deny all scouting early on. its important that he cant even suspect it.
in theory you can do it with any opening, but overpool is best.
basically
9 overlord
9 pool
9 gas
10 drone
save larva for lings, and take drones off gas once 100 gas for ling speed.
keep making lings, make a hatchery to natural when possible. when your speed completes, you either do a runby, or destroy his expansions and win game with that if he's careless and has only 2 cannons etc.
keep making lings meanwhile, and make third hatchery to second expansion. Keep making lings, and once you have a decent ling mass you'll try to end the game if you werent able to do before. After this you continue with droning up, so that you'll have some chance of recovery because its clear that you probably dealed quite a bit of damage to him too.
+ Show Spoiler [2/3 Hatch Hydra All-In] +
On June 13 2008 19:15 Ahzz wrote:
2/3 Hatch Hydra all in
Basically this build is making a very fast hydralisk den with 2 or 3 hatcheries and having rather few drones and spending all of the money on hydralisks and their upgrades. This works best against fast expand. Basically if your opponent is able to scout this, you will most likely lose since he will just canno up and you will have far inferior of an economy. However, if he cant predict in time you might be able to just run over him.
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=733142/3 Hatch Hydra all in
Basically this build is making a very fast hydralisk den with 2 or 3 hatcheries and having rather few drones and spending all of the money on hydralisks and their upgrades. This works best against fast expand. Basically if your opponent is able to scout this, you will most likely lose since he will just canno up and you will have far inferior of an economy. However, if he cant predict in time you might be able to just run over him.
Clarification:
2/3 hatch hydra
you can go to this from many builds. you can go overpool speed, try a runby or something and slow him down like that... then meanwhile you make hydra den. make as many drones as possible until hydra den is finished. once it IS finished, you make hydra speed and range and keep making hydras and try to break through. with this build you probably didnt have a chance to do your third hatch yet, hence the '2/3 hat hydra'
The other option is a little bit more economy friendly 2/3 hat hydra but not quite good chance of ending the game since you didnt deal pressure with lings.
that would be:
12 hat to natural
11 pool
14 drone
hat to second expo, or if your second expo is far away, just place it somewhere else.
make a few lings to destroy his scout etc... also start a gas
make hydra den as quickly as possible. make drones until your hydra den finishes, then make hydra speed and keep making hydra. remember to try and bring an overlord or two closeby so that you can have detection if he makes dt.
you only need one gas at this point. you wont have enough drones to use two gasses since hydras take a lot of minerals.
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so how does this work?
i am going to ask a bunch of questions and look at other peoples questions from this thread, and other threads. any usefull information of feedback i get will be added or updated in OP. this will be a continuing project and might not ever end.
but i am mostly aiming to accomplish 4 things.
1) make a 1 stop spot for people to ask thier questions. this would accomplish 2 things i hope. it would for one, lessen the amount of dumb 1 liner topics people post every day. the second thing this might do is make it easier for those people that only want to make 1 liner posts and hope to get an answer to them. now they dont have to go create a big ass thread to ask thier one question.
2) Future reference for people looking to improve. similar to the reccomended thread topic, but instead, people can actually ask questions and directly contribute. and to some extent its easier to find just that 1 answer to that 1 question you so desperetly want. so you dont need to look at 3-4 zvp guides to learn how that 1 small peice of info.
3) help TL Staff and regular TL members to create thier own guides. most good guides take months to write up. why is this? because there are 2 steps to creating a guide. you need to obtain a vast amount of information and then write up and organize that information so others can understan that. the hardest part of this is to actually obtain the information you need. if there is already a topic made out there, that has all the info needed, and for the most part 1 of getting a good guide written up is already done for you.
4) this will also help me to create a guide i will one day write up. but i need information 1st.
