• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 06:51
CET 12:51
KST 20:51
  • 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
ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT25Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book17Clem wins HomeStory Cup 289HomeStory Cup 28 - Info & Preview13Rongyi Cup S3 - Preview & Info8
Community News
Weekly Cups (Feb 9-15): herO doubles up2ACS replaced by "ASL Season Open" - Starts 21/0241LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16)46Weekly Cups (Feb 2-8): Classic, Solar, MaxPax win2Nexon's StarCraft game could be FPS, led by UMS maker16
StarCraft 2
General
Behind the Blue - Team Liquid History Book ByuL: The Forgotten Master of ZvT Liquipedia WCS Portal Launched Kaelaris on the futue of SC2 and much more... How do you think the 5.0.15 balance patch (Oct 2025) for StarCraft II has affected the game?
Tourneys
Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament PIG STY FESTIVAL 7.0! (19 Feb - 1 Mar) StarCraft Evolution League (SC Evo Biweekly) How do the "codes" work in GSL? LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals (Feb 10-16)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ? [A] Starcraft Sound Mod
External Content
Mutation # 513 Attrition Warfare The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 512 Overclocked Mutation # 511 Temple of Rebirth
Brood War
General
Do you consider PvZ imbalanced? Recent recommended BW games BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion CasterMuse Youtube
Tourneys
Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 1 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Small VOD Thread 2.0 KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Zealot bombing is no longer popular? Fighting Spirit mining rates Current Meta
Other Games
General Games
Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Diablo 2 thread Nintendo Switch Thread ZeroSpace Megathread Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
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 TL Mafia Community Thread Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Ask and answer stupid questions here! Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
[Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TL MMA Pick'em Pool 2013
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
ASL S21 English Commentary…
namkraft
Inside the Communication of …
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2008 users

[D] Neural Parasite versus Thor analysis - Page 3

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next All
Slayer91
Profile Joined February 2006
Ireland23335 Posts
August 18 2010 12:24 GMT
#41
Neural parasite is highly underestimated.
First people are like "12 seconds = it sucks" and in this thread people are like "infestor dies!!!"#
Very hard to kill an infestor at range 9 because the only thing that can hit them is tanks and the ones close enough usually die.

Use this a lot vs colossus too, and micro the colossus to my army so if infestor gets sniped the colossus gets instagibbed.
Johnny_Vegas
Profile Joined December 2007
United States239 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-18 13:28:06
August 18 2010 13:27 GMT
#42
I edited my original post to correct the duration of Neural Parasite, which is 15 seconds, not 12. It has been mis-cited as 12 seconds (perhaps to make it sound weaker?) but in TheoryCraft we measure everything in game seconds. 12 seconds is its duration in real time on the faster speed setting.
battlereports.com (co-founder/developer), Nohunters Discussion Forum operator
KingAnusIII
Profile Joined July 2009
Canada18 Posts
August 18 2010 13:48 GMT
#43
NPing 2-3-4 Medivacs with the infestors being in safer position could also be really strong cause instead of their troops being healed it's yours and allllll of your units can be heal by them.
I ve now got a banana in my ass, could you eat it out for me?
Johnny_Vegas
Profile Joined December 2007
United States239 Posts
August 18 2010 15:04 GMT
#44
On August 18 2010 22:48 KingAnusIII wrote:
NPing 2-3-4 Medivacs with the infestors being in safer position could also be really strong cause instead of their troops being healed it's yours and allllll of your units can be heal by them.


This definitely seemed viable back when NP was permanent, but it sounds like a tougher call now, as you'll only get 15 secs worth of healing (or less if Medivac is out of range of your units).

Nevertheless NPing a medivac is actually better than it sounds when you look at the numbers.

A medivac can heal 15 health per second, for a potential total heal of 225 hps over 15 seconds. There might be a tiny bit of time devoted to acquiring targets to heal however I have not tested.

Anyway, and this is the primary reason NP is misunderstood in general, you aren't just receiving a benefit, you are taking away benefit... So you aren't just getting 225 hps of healing, you are denying 225 hp of healing from the terran.

Other possible benefits:

  1. The terran loses the vision that the Medivac provided. If you NP their only air unit(s), your high ground units cannot be hit. This usually will not be a factor, situational.

  2. Reposition the Medivac to a location where it will be easy to snipe once NP wears off. Since they can heal while moving, might also get some healing out of this maneuver.


But of course the best time to Neural Parasite a Medivac is when you are intercepting a drop and are able to snipe it down with some queens/hydra. Pure theorycraft, forgive me as I've never pulled this off, but obviously a devastating move. Range 9 of NP is significant as its the longest range ground to air weapon a Zerg has at his disposal, exceeding that of upgraded hydra (6) or Queen (7) or Spore Crawler (7).

Medivacs sound like they'd be tough to NP in a traditional battle with MMM, unless you use the burrowed-casting trick. I don't like to recommend that trick as its probably just a bug that Blizzard will eventually fix.
battlereports.com (co-founder/developer), Nohunters Discussion Forum operator
uberdeluxe
Profile Joined June 2009
Canada306 Posts
August 18 2010 16:14 GMT
#45
great job, a little more math than I like XD

I always use NP in ZVP/ZVT and if I get a good amount of infestors (2-4) and NP, I can usually dominate an opposing mid/late game army with extremely minimal losses. IMO, it works especially well with high dmg output armys like ling/hydra, since your doods stay not dead for more than 4 seconds
No mules, no collosi, no PFs, just LOVE!
Johnny_Vegas
Profile Joined December 2007
United States239 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-18 16:20:02
August 18 2010 16:18 GMT
#46
On August 19 2010 01:14 uberdeluxe wrote:
great job, a little more math than I like XD

I always use NP in ZVP/ZVT and if I get a good amount of infestors (2-4) and NP, I can usually dominate an opposing mid/late game army with extremely minimal losses. IMO, it works especially well with high dmg output armys like ling/hydra, since your doods stay not dead for more than 4 seconds


Hrm makes sense regarding the high DPS army, hadn't thought about that. In my original analysis this would lead to a larger chunk of damage from the zerg units that would otherwise be dead from Thor fire, had NP not been cast. Especially makes sense in the Thor vs Hydra scenario because Thor kill Hydra pretty quickly and Hydra have such high DPS, not having the Thor wail on the hydra for 15 secs would be that much more beneficial.

Perhaps the only downside to Hydra instead of Roach here is that the roach will do a better job of creating that wall to protect your infestor.
battlereports.com (co-founder/developer), Nohunters Discussion Forum operator
Gdarkness
Profile Joined November 2009
United States40 Posts
August 18 2010 21:13 GMT
#47
NP seems to be worth it if you can get them off on expensive units as people have suggested. Since you steal his units for 12 seconds, not insane but still advantageous for your units, you somewhat downplay the role of "expensive" units. It seems efficient to effectively 'counter' pricey thors with the relatively cheap infestors.

I haven't done the math or testing of it in game, so just my personal theories on it. Let me know if that's somewhat logical.
be internet.
LPolaright
Profile Joined August 2010
Israel9 Posts
August 19 2010 11:42 GMT
#48
I just wanted to ask you, if you can make a graph describing number of seconds in neural parasite as a function of its effectiveness (number of HP you actually gain), also set it to 4 different situations where the number of roaches, lings, siege tanks and thors vary.

I realize its not such an easy job to do, but it could be way much more useful for people to understand how the efficiency changes. Maybe even proving that the infester is very efficient (or possibly not efficient).

Thanks in advance. (:

Semoirethe
Profile Joined August 2010
2 Posts
August 19 2010 13:30 GMT
#49
Assuming they researched it, would it be possible to NP a thor and then instantly 250mm cannon another one of their thors/tanks/etc? Will the cannon stop if they kill the Infestor mid cast?
RubiksCube
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
Germany259 Posts
August 19 2010 14:00 GMT
#50
When you NP a Medivac that has units loaded will that function like in the original broodwar that you get the medivac and the units in it, too? If so, will they be permanently yours to command like if you NP a probe and build a nexus?
Ainsworth
Profile Joined July 2010
49 Posts
August 19 2010 14:19 GMT
#51
It doesn't make sense to me that people complain about the nerf, and then are like, "the hard part is keeping them alive for 12 seconds".

Look, Infestors are really powerful. Spam Infested Terran and Fungal growth and you don't even have a need for NE. Infestors + Hydra + Ultra = beats any composition terran can throw at you.
Ainsworth
Profile Joined July 2010
49 Posts
August 19 2010 14:20 GMT
#52
On August 19 2010 22:30 Semoirethe wrote:
Assuming they researched it, would it be possible to NP a thor and then instantly 250mm cannon another one of their thors/tanks/etc? Will the cannon stop if they kill the Infestor mid cast?


Yes, I have done this, it is awesome.
ioRa
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada14 Posts
August 19 2010 17:47 GMT
#53
On August 18 2010 21:24 Slayer91 wrote:
Neural parasite is highly underestimated.
First people are like "12 seconds = it sucks" and in this thread people are like "infestor dies!!!"#
Very hard to kill an infestor at range 9 because the only thing that can hit them is tanks and the ones close enough usually die.

Use this a lot vs colossus too, and micro the colossus to my army so if infestor gets sniped the colossus gets instagibbed.


Have you tried using neural parasite? I don't know about other zerg players here. It is pretty difficult to get, let's say 4 infestors with both upgrades BEFORE the inevitable push, ie 800 minerals and 1000 gas. Not to mention you have to wait for 25 more energy on each infestor, just to pull off a NP. The question comes down to, do you want to contain the Terran with 10 mutas and expand more, or invest in a few infestors that may or may not win you the battle.

Sure I've won some games where the infestor is on high ground (Lost temple) and NP'ed thors below, but also lost some games in the same situation when the Terran just used a scan on the high ground after the thor got NP'ed and 1 shot killed the infestors. I've also lost many games due to the push coming before enough energy on the infestors, as well as many games due to no map control = terran on same bases as me and turtle till death ball.

Having infestors is just too damn risky, 1 micro mistake = gg, and also you have to depend on micro mistakes of the Terran player to not scan and focus fire the infestors with tanks. So you tell me, if you had a skill that says "50% chance to kill target enemy unit" and takes a long time research and be ready, would you invest in it?
ioRa
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada14 Posts
August 19 2010 17:53 GMT
#54
On August 19 2010 23:19 Ainsworth wrote:
It doesn't make sense to me that people complain about the nerf, and then are like, "the hard part is keeping them alive for 12 seconds".

Look, Infestors are really powerful. Spam Infested Terran and Fungal growth and you don't even have a need for NE. Infestors + Hydra + Ultra = beats any composition terran can throw at you.


Infestors: 2 upgrades cost 300/300, 100/150 for each infestor
Hydras: 1 upgrade cost 150/150, 100/50 for each hydra
Ultra: 1 upgrade cost 150/150, 300/200 for each ultra

So basically you are suggesting melee, ranged AND armor upgrades AND infestors. I don't think you've ever played this matchup before? most zergs die before ultras come, yet you are suggesting to get EVERY gas intensive unit zerg has? Common man we are playing 1v1 ladder here, not 30 minutes no rush.
KandLeMaN
Profile Joined September 2010
United States64 Posts
September 20 2010 08:34 GMT
#55
If you are gonna NP Thors, you might as well focus fire some of your forces on the thors so that when it wears off, it is either dead or just about dead and can't cause damage against you.

NPing a thor and making sure not to weaken it is just asking for trouble.
Liter of cola
hoovehand
Profile Joined April 2010
United Kingdom542 Posts
September 20 2010 08:40 GMT
#56
i think the problem is not the 12 seconds at all, it's the fact that you need to research it.

NP is situational at best, so why the hell would you bother researching in the unlikely event that you'll benefit from it?

it's the same as hunter seeker.

remove the ruddy research, they're super situational and inferior to other spells in 99% of situations. not worth a research.
Weak_Y2FC
Profile Joined September 2010
2 Posts
September 22 2010 08:48 GMT
#57
NP is an awesome spell, especially vs thors, check this out for proof, http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=details&id=150967
SKtheAnathema
Profile Joined September 2010
United States885 Posts
September 22 2010 09:22 GMT
#58
i saw a sick game between ogsthewind vs ogstop where thewind goes infestors + roaches, does a couple of good drops with them, NPs thors, wipes out top's main base scvs and is ahead like 2 bases... then top cleans it up, Ds up, then wins the whole game 2-basing with marines and tanks. woot?
Competent
Profile Joined April 2010
United States406 Posts
September 22 2010 11:29 GMT
#59
On August 18 2010 00:45 hadoken5 wrote:
Interesting post, I will consider using Infestors more now. But how does NP fare against toss? and Infestors are easily sniped as well, wouldn't 12 infested Terrans prove to be more useful? Especially against sieged tanks that can just snipe infestors?


Honestly with the new changes you might see less tanks. But lets say there are tanks, it will take 2 tanks shots to kill an infestor, add that damage along with the reaction time that it takes to attack the infestors and the damage the thors already get off in that time along with the splash damage from the tanks that was wasted on single targets.
Nurrrhhh, I'm gonna be A+ by Wendsday! -Day[9] "I'm going to spread out my lings so it looks like there is more. Lots of animals do that." -CatZ
BeMannerDuPenner
Profile Blog Joined April 2004
Germany5638 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-09-22 11:38:11
September 22 2010 11:37 GMT
#60
NP just needs one "small" buff. if a infestor gets killed while NP'ing the remaining mindcontrol time is halfed instead of it just stopping instantly.

so if a infestor gets killed instantly you still have 6 seconds left. if a infestor gets killed after 4 seconds you still have 4 seconds ( (12-4)/2) left.


and suddenly its a great spell that can be used in many situatiuons.


t/p can still counter it with feedback/emp but random collosus/tanks making the whole spell useless will be a smaller problem.

life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery
Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Sparkling Tuna Cup
10:00
Weekly #120
Percival vs ShamelessLIVE!
Creator vs Krystianer
Zoun vs TBD
CranKy Ducklings116
LiquipediaDiscussion
PiG Sty Festival
09:00
Group D
YoungYakov vs ShoWTimELIVE!
ByuN vs Serral
PiGStarcraft1498
TKL 298
IndyStarCraft 250
BRAT_OK 183
Rex166
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft1498
TKL 298
IndyStarCraft 250
BRAT_OK 183
Rex 166
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 32740
Rain 7945
Calm 5725
Horang2 1292
Jaedong 880
actioN 460
Larva 427
Stork 375
firebathero 359
Mini 349
[ Show more ]
Zeus 330
Soma 247
PianO 208
Last 173
Sharp 158
Hyun 144
Killer 142
Dewaltoss 106
Rush 105
Pusan 102
hero 93
Sea.KH 56
ToSsGirL 48
Barracks 44
yabsab 37
soO 36
Movie 36
Hm[arnc] 36
Shine 33
NaDa 27
Backho 24
sorry 22
Sacsri 21
Noble 19
zelot 15
Terrorterran 11
Dota 2
XaKoH 662
XcaliburYe170
canceldota95
NeuroSwarm93
Counter-Strike
zeus1500
m0e_tv902
x6flipin364
edward136
byalli78
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King96
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor221
MindelVK11
Other Games
singsing2055
B2W.Neo949
ToD151
DeMusliM25
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL7317
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 13 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 13
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota290
League of Legends
• Jankos2442
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
12h 9m
Replay Cast
21h 9m
Wardi Open
1d
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 5h
OSC
1d 12h
WardiTV Winter Champion…
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
WardiTV Winter Champion…
3 days
The PondCast
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
[ Show More ]
Korean StarCraft League
5 days
CranKy Ducklings
5 days
SC Evo Complete
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 1st Round
LiuLi Cup: 2025 Grand Finals
Underdog Cup #3

Ongoing

KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
WardiTV Winter 2026
PiG Sty Festival 7.0
Nations Cup 2026
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025

Upcoming

Acropolis #4 - TS5
Jeongseon Sooper Cup
Spring Cup 2026
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round
[S:21] ASL SEASON OPEN 2nd Round Qualifier
Acropolis #4 - TS6
Acropolis #4
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
RSL Revival: Season 4
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
CCT Season 3 Global Finals
FISSURE Playground #3
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
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.