So recently, I have been experimenting with Zerg builds. I feel like there is a lot of innovation to be discovered. My most recent builds involve a lot of creep tumors

. I have broken it into steps, very simple to follow.

Written Steps:
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1. Get a Queen at 16/18 supply
2. As soon as it finishes, get a 2nd Queen (20/27)
3. If you are 2 basing, get a 3rd Queen (25/27)
4. Continuously spread creep using tricks written below

Creep Tumor Tricks:
Important Facts:
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-Creep will not go Up/Down cliffs
-Creep goes Up/Down ramps
-Going up ramps, creep will not gain vision of high ground

Spreading Creep:
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-Spew creep from an overlord to get creep across a gap
-----------> overlords spewing creep speeds up the growth of creep

-Gain vision of high ground (air unit, Xel' Naga) to build creep there
-----------> Creep gives good scouting if its on high ground

-keep tumors spread out as much as possible
-----------> cover the entire map, even if it seems unnecessary

-Get an Overseer and a small force to take out any detectors
-------> if their entire army attacks, you should either:
............1.flank
............2. surround
............3. harass (wait for battle)

Screen Shot Steps:
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Step 1 (6:20 game time):
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Make two queens, use one for larvae and the second for creep tumors.

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Step 2 (7:30 game time):
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Spread the creep tumors, down to natural expansion.
-one goes to natural
-one goes towards enemy

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Step 3 (9:00 game time):
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Spread Creep tumors farther. Move along multiple paths.

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Step 4 (12:00 game time):
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...and continue spreading creep !

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The Finished Products (13:30, and 18:00 game time):
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Advantages of spreading creep..
-entire map vision
-creep high-way (faster zerg unit travel)
-delays expansions
-map control

Disadvantages of spreading creep...
-150 minerals spent early game
-requires higher APM to spawn tumors

For me, Pros outweigh the cons of spreading creep this early. I think it could become the standard basis of Zerg play. You ideas?

Navane

Netherlands2745 Posts

July 29 2010 08:50 GMT

I almost never watch sc2, but doesn't idra do this every game?

monitor

United States2404 Posts

July 29 2010 08:52 GMT

On July 29 2010 17:50 Navane wrote:
I almost never watch sc2, but doesn't idra do this every game?

Most game Idra does do this... Except in the pedal you get your Queens much faster, and creep is controlling the entire map in 12:00 Game Time minutes. (faster than Idra normally)

KiFFran

France3 Posts

July 29 2010 08:54 GMT

This is great. I have no doubt that spreading creep can make the difference.

The vision of the map is really important as far as you need too know if you can keep making drones or being more agressive.

I also agree with you that it requires a good APM skill.
Any trick with your hotkey to do a good & quick job ?

monitor

United States2404 Posts

July 29 2010 08:56 GMT

I haven't figured out any hotkey tricks

.

One thing I didn't mention is that you keep your second queen out on the field continuously producing creep tumors.

shawabawa

United Kingdom417 Posts

July 29 2010 09:16 GMT

Um... This isn't a build, it's just "spread creep". Also it completely relies on them not killing any creep tumors. Especially against protoss the moment an observer comes out you'll lose all of them

One thing I didn't mention is that you keep your second queen out on the field continuously producing creep tumors.

Even on creep a queen isn't really fast enough that it wont get picked off.

KTF_CloaK

Netherlands1338 Posts

July 29 2010 09:27 GMT

one raven + one marine pwns this ''build''

i really dont get this, ok creep is good vision + movement speed but if your opponent gets one raven out, all your creep tumors are history and the early double queen really cuts into your workers (queen = 3 drones)

Gont

Germany239 Posts

July 29 2010 09:31 GMT

i dont do this very often because i guess i dont have the apm for it but it can help if u allways bind ur newest creep tumor to lets say Ctrl+8 ---> then just double tap 8 ---> spawn new tumor ---> and so on

I guess something like that will be pretty standard in the future and even is right now imo

youngminii

Australia7514 Posts

July 29 2010 12:54 GMT

Place Nydus everywhere late game. GG.

maelstorm

Turkey7 Posts

July 29 2010 14:31 GMT

#10

It's true that raven or obs will make this obsolete but 150 mins doesn't sound too much of a cost considering you'll be alarmed of enemy movement till obs/raven comes in the game.

Plus, you'll know that he made a robotics and an obs or sport/tl/raven. And if you spread well enough, it will take him sometime to clean the whole map.

Edit: you can even exploit this.. say, there is creep on place 1 and place 2, and they arent close. If you know that he's with an obs and, say, stalker in place one, then you can pop a nydus or move your forces at place2 since you are aware of where he's cleaning.

fdsdfg

United States1251 Posts

July 29 2010 14:40 GMT

#11

On July 29 2010 18:16 shawabawa wrote:
Um... This isn't a build, it's just "spread creep". Also it completely relies on them not killing any creep tumors. Especially against protoss the moment an observer comes out you'll lose all of them

This. Why did you give this a weird name too? Every zerg player worth his salt knows that it's beneficial to spread creep, and it's common to build a queen with that dedicated purpose.

On July 29 2010 17:52 monitor wrote:

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Most game Idra does do this... Except in the pedal you get your Queens much faster, and creep is controlling the entire map in 12:00 Game Time minutes. (faster than Idra normally)

It's faster using this mysterious build you haven't described? What's the build order? All you've said is 'build an extra queen and spread creep'