• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 18:12
CEST 00:12
KST 07:12
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
[ASL21] Ro4 Preview: On Course12Code S Season 1 - RO8 Preview7[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt2: Progenitors8Code S Season 1 - RO12 Group A: Rogue, Percival, Solar, Zoun13[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Inheritors16
Community News
Weekly Cups (May 4-10): Clem, MaxPax, herO win1Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule !11Weekly Cups (April 27-May 4): Clem takes triple0RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event12Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO12 Results1
StarCraft 2
General
MaNa leaves Team Liquid Weekly Cups (May 4-10): Clem, MaxPax, herO win Code S Season 1 - RO8 Preview Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book Weekly Cups (April 27-May 4): Clem takes triple
Tourneys
2026 GSL Season 2 Qualifiers Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! $5,000 WardiTV Spring Championship 2026 SC2 INu's Battles#16 <BO.9> Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2)
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players
External Content
Mutation # 525 Wheel of Misfortune The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 524 Death and Taxes Mutation # 523 Firewall
Brood War
General
Flashes ASL S21 Ro8 Review ASL Tickets to Live Event Finals? BW General Discussion Pros React To: Leta vs Tulbo (ASL S21, Ro.8) (Spoiler) Interview ASL Ro4 Day 2 Winner
Tourneys
[ASL21] Semifinals B [ASL21] Ro8 Day 4 [ASL21] Semifinals A [Megathread] Daily Proleagues
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Hydra ZvZ: An Introduction Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition
Other Games
General Games
Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Starcraft Tabletop Miniature Game PC Games Sales Thread
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread UK Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
streaming software Strange computer issues (software) [G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
How EEG Data Can Predict Gam…
TrAiDoS
ramps on octagon
StaticNine
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1308 users

how do you detect a changeling in tvz

Forum Index > Closed
Post a Reply
1 2 3 Next All
nyc863
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
200 Posts
March 31 2011 00:07 GMT
#1
Ok, so I see an overseer poke in and (from the replay) he has dropped a changeling which has morphed to a marine and is set to follow my marines, so a time-limited spy.

If I suspect this in game, but am not sure, how do I quickly find where he is?
BossPlaya
Profile Joined September 2010
United States141 Posts
March 31 2011 00:09 GMT
#2
Scan or build a turret/raven?

User was warned for this post
Paid tha cost to be The Boss.
NoisyNinja
Profile Joined February 2011
United States991 Posts
March 31 2011 00:09 GMT
#3
Either you see it come in somewhere or if you see marines not following your orders, click on them, and it will say Changeling, at which point, you should kill it. If you see a marine where you didn't put one, kill him if it's a changeling. Look for the guy that doesn't belong.
NoisyNinja
Profile Joined February 2011
United States991 Posts
March 31 2011 00:10 GMT
#4
On March 31 2011 09:09 BossPlaya wrote:
Scan or build a turret/raven?


Scans/detection don't do shit vs. a changeling. They just make you waste a scan/resources.
Wilder
Profile Joined May 2010
United Kingdom33 Posts
March 31 2011 00:12 GMT
#5
That's the annoying thing about changlings, if you don't notice one getting in, chances are you wont realise it's there until it's timer runs out.
gg F10 n
Aequos
Profile Joined October 2010
Canada606 Posts
March 31 2011 00:15 GMT
#6
What I usually do, if I suspect a changeling, is select my units and type /dance. The ones that don't dance are changlings, and are killed on sight. However, this has led to unfortunate moments where I've mistaken which one was the changeling...
I first realized Immortals were reincarnated Dragoons when I saw them dancing helplessly behind my Stalkers.
nyc863
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
200 Posts
March 31 2011 00:16 GMT
#7
yeah turret raven ghost - no effect.

On March 31 2011 09:09 NoisyNinja wrote:
Either you see it come in somewhere or if you see marines not following your orders, click on them, and it will say Changeling, at which point, you should kill it. If you see a marine where you didn't put one, kill him if it's a changeling. Look for the guy that doesn't belong.


I've had this before, if he orders a changeling to stand @ a position it just stands there and ignores commands. Kind of obvious the second time this ever happens what is going on. First time I thought the game was bugged, lol.

But if I have a group of marines and changeling has been set to follow, I'm still unsure how to fast find it. What order can I give to pick him out without clicking each marine in turn and ordering them to move. Seems impossible?
NoisyNinja
Profile Joined February 2011
United States991 Posts
March 31 2011 00:17 GMT
#8
On March 31 2011 09:12 Wilder wrote:
That's the annoying thing about changlings, if you don't notice one getting in, chances are you wont realise it's there until it's timer runs out.


Seeing as everyone else gets a rather free and not really noticeable/easy to stop scouting option, Zerg got a little bit of love.

Terran: Scan-noticeable, but impossible to stop.
Protoss: Observer-not that easy to notice if you aren't looking for it, but detection in the right place at the right time can stop it.
Zerg: Ovy sac-noticeable and easy to stop. Snipe the ovy and you just stopped it. Changeling-hard to get in vs. players with a god-like map sense, but once they are in, hard to stop.
Jeffbelittle
Profile Joined August 2010
United States468 Posts
March 31 2011 00:17 GMT
#9
Select all your units by double clicking. Any units not high lighted are indeed changelings.
NoisyNinja
Profile Joined February 2011
United States991 Posts
March 31 2011 00:19 GMT
#10
On March 31 2011 09:16 nyc863 wrote:
yeah turret raven ghost - no effect.

Show nested quote +
On March 31 2011 09:09 NoisyNinja wrote:
Either you see it come in somewhere or if you see marines not following your orders, click on them, and it will say Changeling, at which point, you should kill it. If you see a marine where you didn't put one, kill him if it's a changeling. Look for the guy that doesn't belong.


I've had this before, if he orders a changeling to stand @ a position it just stands there and ignores commands. Kind of obvious the second time this ever happens what is going on. First time I thought the game was bugged, lol.

But if I have a group of marines and changeling has been set to follow, I'm still unsure how to fast find it. What order can I give to pick him out without clicking each marine in turn and ordering them to move. Seems impossible?


Well, you really can't, unless this method (I haven't tested it yet) works:

Move your marines by control clicking them. Look for the guy who isn't highlighted (has green circle around them or some colored circle). Click on him. Now check if he is real or fake.
MonsieurGrimm
Profile Joined August 2010
Canada2441 Posts
March 31 2011 00:21 GMT
#11
If you select all the marines and tell them to move, if there's a changeling in there I believe that there will be a message saying "unit cannot be controlled" or something to the like in red text.

If not, I guess you could do the /dance thing. One suggestion I have is to shoot the suspect with only one marine. If you're right, the changeling only has 5 hp and dies from the first shot. If you're wrong, you're only down a couple hitpoints on one marine.
"60% of the time, it works - every time" - Brian Fantana on Double Reactors All The Way // "Great minds discuss ideas; Average minds discuss events; Small minds discuss people." - Eleanor Roosevelt
JinDesu
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States3990 Posts
March 31 2011 00:21 GMT
#12
On March 31 2011 09:15 Aequos wrote:
What I usually do, if I suspect a changeling, is select my units and type /dance. The ones that don't dance are changlings, and are killed on sight. However, this has led to unfortunate moments where I've mistaken which one was the changeling...


Zerg player - "Ah there's all his marines..."
Terran - "/dance"
Zerg player - "......" *attacks*
Yargh
NoisyNinja
Profile Joined February 2011
United States991 Posts
March 31 2011 00:27 GMT
#13
On March 31 2011 09:21 MonsieurGrimm wrote:
If you select all the marines and tell them to move, if there's a changeling in there I believe that there will be a message saying "unit cannot be controlled" or something to the like in red text.

If not, I guess you could do the /dance thing. One suggestion I have is to shoot the suspect with only one marine. If you're right, the changeling only has 5 hp and dies from the first shot. If you're wrong, you're only down a couple hitpoints on one marine.


I never really got the "/dance" thing. How you do it? Type in "/dance"?
nyc863
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
200 Posts
March 31 2011 00:29 GMT
#14
the /dance thing works but that is a bit of typing..

moving all the marines doesn't help if the changeling is set to follow. He will follow. I'll have to look at the highlight circles to see if one is missing.

I found another method, you box the army then do a fast N/S/E/W move click (or even E/W/E/W), the unit that does not turn to face each click direction is the changeling.
Authweight
Profile Joined May 2010
United States304 Posts
March 31 2011 00:30 GMT
#15
Umm you should never accidentally kill a marine, or even shoot at it, thinking its a changeling.

1: Changelings, when selected, are called changelings
2: Changelings can be killed by a simple right click, no need to use the attack command
NoisyNinja
Profile Joined February 2011
United States991 Posts
March 31 2011 00:30 GMT
#16
On March 31 2011 09:29 nyc863 wrote:
the /dance thing works but that is a bit of typing..

moving all the marines doesn't help if the changeling is set to follow. He will follow. I'll have to look at the highlight circles to see if one is missing.

I found another method, you box the army then do a fast N/S/E/W move click (or even E/W/E/W), the unit that does not turn to face each click direction is the changeling.


Tell me the /dance thing. I want to know how to do it so spotting changelings is easier.
CodECleaR
Profile Joined November 2010
United States395 Posts
March 31 2011 00:34 GMT
#17
On March 31 2011 09:15 Aequos wrote:
What I usually do, if I suspect a changeling, is select my units and type /dance. The ones that don't dance are changlings, and are killed on sight. However, this has led to unfortunate moments where I've mistaken which one was the changeling...


Most epic way to detect a changeling.
Most.
Epic.
How do you beat a terran who's hardcore turtling off 3 base? Flip him on his back and walk away."
Aequos
Profile Joined October 2010
Canada606 Posts
March 31 2011 00:34 GMT
#18
On March 31 2011 09:30 NoisyNinja wrote:
Show nested quote +
On March 31 2011 09:29 nyc863 wrote:
the /dance thing works but that is a bit of typing..

moving all the marines doesn't help if the changeling is set to follow. He will follow. I'll have to look at the highlight circles to see if one is missing.

I found another method, you box the army then do a fast N/S/E/W move click (or even E/W/E/W), the unit that does not turn to face each click direction is the changeling.


Tell me the /dance thing. I want to know how to do it so spotting changelings is easier.


I'm pretty sure you just type /dance in chat with your marines selected. Instead of popping up as a message, it'll make them dance. It's a holdover from WoW.
I first realized Immortals were reincarnated Dragoons when I saw them dancing helplessly behind my Stalkers.
Tazerenix
Profile Joined December 2010
Australia340 Posts
March 31 2011 00:53 GMT
#19
MKP found an amazing way of doing it in the WC Team League.

Clump your marines, kill a few, cross fingers hoping they are changelings. Continue Playing

On a More serious note: I think the /dance is the best method of finding changelings.
iChau
Profile Joined December 2010
United States1210 Posts
March 31 2011 00:57 GMT
#20
I always glance at the minimap, and as soon as I see a dot I just right-click on the unit.

This is PvZ, and it's the same thing as TvZ because against ling/baneling zerg can afford overseers better than roach/hydra so I go zealot/sentry.

Just glance at a minimap. There's NO reason for a marine to be walking towards your army when you had it stationary.
us.battle.net/sc2/en/profile/1688911/1/SaniShahin/ | http://teamenvy.net/
1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 49m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
uThermal 430
NeuroSwarm 186
SpeCial 107
CosmosSc2 27
StarCraft: Brood War
Artosis 206
NaDa 6
Dota 2
monkeys_forever631
League of Legends
Doublelift3211
Counter-Strike
fl0m5969
Fnx 738
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox302
Other Games
summit1g5858
tarik_tv4906
Liquid`RaSZi1586
shahzam524
C9.Mang0236
Liquid`Hasu187
Livibee76
Mew2King44
ViBE24
Organizations
Other Games
BasetradeTV616
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 73
• mYiSmile145
• musti20045 34
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Other Games
• imaqtpie1572
• Scarra723
• WagamamaTV331
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
1h 49m
The PondCast
11h 49m
OSC
11h 49m
Replay Cast
1d 1h
RSL Revival
1d 11h
OSC
1d 14h
Korean StarCraft League
2 days
RSL Revival
2 days
BSL
2 days
GSL
3 days
Cure vs herO
SHIN vs Maru
[ Show More ]
BSL
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
The PondCast
5 days
GSL
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-05-12
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
KK 2v2 League Season 1
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
SCTL 2026 Spring
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S2: W7
YSL S3
Escore Tournament S2: W8
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
WardiTV Spring 2026
2026 GSL S2
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026: Closed Qualifier
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.