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[R] Zerg Counter to High Templar?

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
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1 2 3 Next All
LuCiD37
Profile Joined July 2010
United States150 Posts
July 13 2010 04:03 GMT
#1
I have been doing A LOT of practice as Zerg against Protoss. I have been fairing well in finding adequate counters to most Protoss builds that do not include high templar. Normally I am fine up until about the time where I am saturating my third base (this is assuming that I have been unable to secure enough of an advantage to push for a win by this point). By this time my opponent is able to include High Templar into a solid, diverse army mix. Storms are too much vs my roach/hydra build. But I don't know what else to do... Moving out of the way seems obvious, but it rarely saves me any unit hp- is there a good counter to an army with a decent amount of high templar? Is it just good micro?

Thanks for the help
N(o)sarcasm
Profile Joined July 2010
11 Posts
July 13 2010 04:17 GMT
#2
I hope the following can help in your dilemma a bit:

What I find to usually be one of the best counters to high templar are the infestor. Not for the obvious reasons though, for the not so used ability of infested terran. I know this seems sort of "Eh? What the hell is this guy saying?" But let me explain a bit. Most of the time, high templars are kept in the back of the group, this allows for you to use an infestor to get a bit of a jump on them. Not only because they move exceedingly fast while burrowed, but because high templars move incredibly slow whether on or off creep. This, although sometimes better utilized on colossus and immortal, can prove to be a great help. The infested terran do enough focus damage in groups of 4, that is, four infested terrans, to beat a high templar with a 1.5 shot volley.

Now, what does this do for you? Well, it lets your Infestor stay burrowed, and likely get away whilst the opponent is dealing with this newfound tactic. It lets your army get into a better concave, or at least it should. Also, I wouldn't expect the critical mass of colossus being reached if they're expending any sort of tech on the high templar, as well as its extremely gas heavy cost. The high templars at this point have limited options. One is to run, and risk getting slaughtered a bit more. Two is to use their storms on the infested terran. While I sincerely doubt it would be the latter, if they chose to do so, then it'll give you ample time to move in and kill off that army without the templars bothering you so much.

I hope this helps you out at least in part. It's done a bit for me in these types of match ups.
Ryuu314
Profile Joined October 2009
United States12679 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-07-13 04:23:53
July 13 2010 04:23 GMT
#3
Roach.

Those buggers can easily tank storms, especially with the inceased HP regen upgrade. Let your roaches soak up the storm damage and burrow them. Then laugh as the storm does nothing. If you scout the Protoss going templar tech, make your composition a little more roach heavy as opposed to hydra heavy.

Honestly, because of roaches and their retardedly high HP, I tend to not go templar tech in PvZ.
obsid
Profile Joined November 2008
United States389 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-07-13 04:43:52
July 13 2010 04:40 GMT
#4
properly done burrowed nerual parasite on the high templar will let you storm his guys

Not sure if its a bug or not, but assuming its not (and I think the game is more balanced and fun with it not a bug). The guy going for high temps, probably isnt going to have observers out (and that requires a totaly diffrent tech tree). Oh and if he does have an obs, 9 range of nerual parasite is quite long, he probably wont even see you still after you neural and then storm his own guys.
Buffy
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Sweden665 Posts
July 13 2010 04:45 GMT
#5
Had troubles with this myself lately, but got a tip to go mutas instead of to many ground units, haven't had a moment to try yet : /

Like the idea with infestor ! The roach one has just failed for me so far : / Stalkers and and forcefil just laughs and when I burrow mr.observer just points on them and laugh : /
Yes I am
LuCiD37
Profile Joined July 2010
United States150 Posts
July 13 2010 04:54 GMT
#6
So a combination of roach/infestor/burrow seems to be the remedy. That definitely makes sense- especially the fact that those units can move while burrowed- I think really can make this a viable tactic vs massed HTs.

Thanks for the help so far, if anyone else has any other ideas I would love to hear them.

In the meantime, going to try this out!
Alzadar
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Canada5009 Posts
July 13 2010 05:20 GMT
#7
Have you considered ultralisks? Storms are basically useless against them, force fields don't do anything and once you get a bunch they beat zealots because of their AoE damage. You need to watch out for Stalkers but if you support your ultras with hydras (or maybe lings if you're short on gas) this should work pretty well. If they did a mostly Warpgate-based build they won't be able to get enough Immortals fast enough. Voids Rays might be a concern so again, get hydralisk support.
I am the Town Medic.
Plexa
Profile Blog Joined October 2005
Aotearoa39261 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-07-13 05:28:53
July 13 2010 05:23 GMT
#8
I don't think a "counter" exists. And that's the way it should be... It comes down to control and whatnot. Storms are not as lethal as they used to be, so you shouldn't have a hard time just pulling back and letting his zealots eat the brunt of the storm.

Really though, should post a replay
Administrator~ Spirit will set you free ~
imPERSONater
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States1324 Posts
July 13 2010 05:24 GMT
#9
It's frustrating that the counter seems to be just surprise them before they can use their units.

I like the roach burrow move since I generally get roaches to deal with 2 gates and such. Also I tend to avoid mutas because that is just another unit needing gas and it tends to deplete roach counts drastically.
Fan of: IdrA, Sen, Stephano, Snute, Axlav, Hero
BlasiuS
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
United States2405 Posts
July 13 2010 05:43 GMT
#10
in the mid-game, upgraded tunneling speedroaches are probably the best unit to use. They can withstand almost 2 full storms, and can quickly move out of storms, and burrow to regen.

Lategame, ultras all the way.
next week on Everybody Loves HypnoToad:
Buffy
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Sweden665 Posts
July 13 2010 05:50 GMT
#11
New strat ! Snipe those with mutas was working really fine ! just won a game by doing it ! those slow bastards are not so tight with the rest of the units so sniping them should not be to hard for anyone
Yes I am
Kratisto
Profile Joined June 2008
United States199 Posts
July 13 2010 06:09 GMT
#12
Protoss player hero. Roaches don't go down quickly to storm like Hydras do. Mutas are quick enough to micro away, and your opponent will have less money sunk into Stalkers and Sentries if he doesn't see it coming, so you might be able to do some sniping. Mobility is key in minimizing damage taken from Storm, so spreading creep would probably be (especially) beneficial.

High Templar are "Light". A well-placed baneling can melt a thousand gas worth of poorly-placed templar. It might be worth experimenting with baneling bombing and baneling traps for situations where you're not incredibly lucky or your opponent hilariously incompetent. Banelings aren't great against Zealots, but at least they'll be doing full damage.
caldo149
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States469 Posts
July 13 2010 06:38 GMT
#13
On July 13 2010 14:50 Buffy wrote:
New strat ! Snipe those with mutas was working really fine ! just won a game by doing it ! those slow bastards are not so tight with the rest of the units so sniping them should not be to hard for anyone

That's not new, it's a tactic used a lot in Broodwar ZvP, often seen with in the 3 hatch spire -> 5 hatch hydra build. It's a great idea in BW and SC2, although i can't imagine it being as effective without BW Muta control.
Hellions are my homeboys
Jacobs Ladder
Profile Joined May 2010
United States1705 Posts
July 13 2010 07:36 GMT
#14
Roach Ling is decent. Roaches don't get clobbered by storms and storming lings is a good way to kill your own units.
N(o)sarcasm
Profile Joined July 2010
11 Posts
July 13 2010 08:10 GMT
#15
On July 13 2010 15:09 Kratisto wrote:
Protoss player hero. Roaches don't go down quickly to storm like Hydras do. Mutas are quick enough to micro away, and your opponent will have less money sunk into Stalkers and Sentries if he doesn't see it coming, so you might be able to do some sniping. Mobility is key in minimizing damage taken from Storm, so spreading creep would probably be (especially) beneficial.

High Templar are "Light". A well-placed baneling can melt a thousand gas worth of poorly-placed templar. It might be worth experimenting with baneling bombing and baneling traps for situations where you're not incredibly lucky or your opponent hilariously incompetent. Banelings aren't great against Zealots, but at least they'll be doing full damage.


Not great in one versus one, I agree. Though how often do you see a zerg going one baneling versus one zealot? Pending that great program which lets you do tests, I'd say next to zero. Banelings, en masse, can destroy nearly all ground forces in one fell swoop. The only preventive tactics I know of is force field or mass siege. I am a player of all races, and have been on the giving and receiving end of a group of 30 or so baneling literally rolling in and decimating all but the strongest of units. In most cases, this leaves the immortal, colossus, thor, and ultra, as well as any air units for obvious reasons standing. As a zerg player, if you already have your main force built. That is, you have your muta, hydra, or roach accompanied by any of the viable choices, it's quite easy to macro up more zergling at your disposal, which will reach the destination of your choice in seconds, pending their speed upgrade. This can, and often times will end the game. In the case of you having the units necessary to deal with it. Often times this can leave a zerg fairly beat morally. That is, they -wanted- and -expected- the baneling ball to destroy most of your stuff, and although their army may be enough to defeat said army, they feel sort of helpless against the onslaught. Sometimes this can lead to less micro, as I've witnessed.

Aside from the one versus one, this quoted poster makes several valid and great points. Roaches are great to soak up storms, just be careful not to rely on them too much, as colossus and stalker can potentially destroy swarm after swarm of them. =D In what you're trying to deal with though, if you find the infestor tactic to be too gas heavy, then this is a viable option as well. It's really just about what you have at your disposal with x amount of minerals and x amount of gas.
Ouga
Profile Joined March 2008
Finland645 Posts
July 13 2010 08:14 GMT
#16
Roaches. I can understand why so few tosses go for templars instead of robo, because storms tend to do very little profitable dmg if opponent army is based on roaches. Burrowing down and jumping back up in middle of his army doesn't hurt much either, since he doesn't have high dmg dealers such as immos usually with this build.
-Archangel-
Profile Joined May 2010
Croatia7457 Posts
July 13 2010 08:38 GMT
#17
My personal experience is mutas. Run in your ground troops, run in mutas and shift+click all his HT. Run back your ground troops. Try to run away with mutas that survive and then attack with all.

Two tricks with this. 1. Do it on creep. 2. Do it somewhere where you have enough space to run in and out without sacrificing your base or anything like that.

Zerg sucks at defending and fighting at his base
LuCiD37
Profile Joined July 2010
United States150 Posts
July 13 2010 08:49 GMT
#18
Thanks again to everyone for all of the advice.
It definitely seems like roaches are the proper (and the most likely and applicable counter- being that having a roach warren is not uncommon at this stage in the game, while and infestor pit or a spire may or may not actually be up).


"Roaches. I can understand why so few tosses go for templars instead of robo, because storms tend to do very little profitable dmg if opponent army is based on roaches. Burrowing down and jumping back up in middle of his army doesn't hurt much either, since he doesn't have high dmg dealers such as immos usually with this build." - Ouga

Interestingly, in the game I played right before I made this post (and the one which brought me to make the post) I encountered a mixture of immortals and High Templar (along, of course, with a mixture of typical warpgate units). So I obviously am in a bit of a dilemma in that situation if I do go mass roaches. However, I suppose it would not be a bad idea to stick with a roach/hydra build with a generally stronger emphasis on roaches and be quicker on the burrow for both my hydras and my roaches when storms are placed. Unfortunately, I am still vulnerable to an observer in that situation.
-Archangel-
Profile Joined May 2010
Croatia7457 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-07-13 09:02:49
July 13 2010 09:01 GMT
#19
If he mixes immortals and HT then he has not enough of both. In that case have creep spread and lead him to waste storm mana and then fight him.

Storm is basically good for killing hydras, and hydras kill all but storm (well and colossi but we are not talking about those here :D).
LuCiD37
Profile Joined July 2010
United States150 Posts
July 13 2010 09:15 GMT
#20
On July 13 2010 18:01 -Archangel- wrote:
If he mixes immortals and HT then he has not enough of both. In that case have creep spread and lead him to waste storm mana and then fight him.

Storm is basically good for killing hydras, and hydras kill all but storm (well and colossi but we are not talking about those here :D).


That sounds right, but what about him expanding? If I am restricted to fighting this composition on creep- I have to wait until my creep has been spread to his base. Yes, I can augment the speed of that process by using overlords and queens more effectively, but can I realistically have creep right outside his main bases where I need it in time?

I think what you are saying works if it's on my side of the map, but becomes a bit more iffy when I am off creep.

But I guess, like you said, "If he mixes immortals and HT then he has not enough of both", and so I am safe with roaches and lings and using those units offensively (both on and off of creep).

Another thing, are hydras altogether out of the equation vs. storm? Perhaps have them in the back and wait until the HTs are compromised?

Sorry for my questions becoming very situational
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