• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 03:05
CET 09:05
KST 17:05
  • 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
herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational4SC2 All-Star Invitational: Tournament Preview5RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0
Community News
Weekly Cups (Jan 12-18): herO, MaxPax, Solar win0BSL Season 2025 - Full Overview and Conclusion8Weekly Cups (Jan 5-11): Clem wins big offline, Trigger upsets4$21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7)16Weekly Cups (Dec 29-Jan 4): Protoss rolls, 2v2 returns7
StarCraft 2
General
herO wins SC2 All-Star Invitational PhD study /w SC2 - help with a survey! SC2 Spotted on the EWC 2026 list? Starcraft 2 will not be in the Esports World Cup When will we find out if there are more tournament
Tourneys
$70 Prize Pool Ladder Legends Academy Weekly Open! SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-18 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament SC2 AI Tournament 2026 $21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7)
Strategy
Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
[A] Starcraft Sound Mod
External Content
Mutation # 509 Doomsday Report Mutation # 508 Violent Night Mutation # 507 Well Trained Mutation # 506 Warp Zone
Brood War
General
[ASL21] Potential Map Candidates BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Gypsy to Korea BSL Season 2025 - Full Overview and Conclusion A cwal.gg Extension - Easily keep track of anyone
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] Non-Korean Championship - Starts Jan 10 Small VOD Thread 2.0 Azhi's Colosseum - Season 2
Strategy
Current Meta Simple Questions, Simple Answers Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Game Theory for Starcraft
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Battle Aces/David Kim RTS Megathread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Beyond All Reason Awesome Games Done Quick 2026!
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 Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread NASA and the Private Sector Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The herO Fan Club! The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Navigating the Risks and Rew…
TrAiDoS
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
How do archons sleep?
8882
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1626 users

[G] 5 Roach Rush: early game without the all-in - Page 33

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 31 32 33 34 35 41 Next All
OdinPimphammer
Profile Joined August 2010
Afghanistan40 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-09-21 00:57:37
September 21 2010 00:56 GMT
#641
On September 21 2010 08:15 DarKFoRcE wrote:
So many people keep bugging me about the 5RR on my stream. I personally think that its pretty much an allin, as you are pretty far behind in economy if you fail to do alot of damage (and no, placing a hatch while moving out doesnt make this much better). And as Terran and Protoss usually have a wallin i dont see how this is supposed to work against a competent player.


Maybe you should try it first, Almighty One? 33 pages of people saying how well it works, even against wall-offs, but I understand, any expansion after 30 is just noob to you and not worth your 8 hour a day of streaming time, huh? I guess you have to be 1500+ diamond to be considered competent.

How'd you do in that recent tournament?
Silent_Tao
Profile Joined February 2006
Israel87 Posts
September 21 2010 01:10 GMT
#642
Very good build

Works very good for me, not 100% success - but nowdays it's one of the only zerg builds that let's stay in control at least for a while.

GJ OP.
life of lively to live to life of full life thx to shield battery
KandLeMaN
Profile Joined September 2010
United States64 Posts
September 21 2010 01:15 GMT
#643
On September 21 2010 10:10 Silent_Tao wrote:
Very good build

Works very good for me, not 100% success - but nowdays it's one of the only zerg builds that let's stay in control at least for a while.

GJ OP.

What do you do in my example where a Toss 4-gates and you don't know he is stalker heavy until you get to his base or vice versa?
Liter of cola
Sprouter
Profile Joined December 2009
United States1724 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-09-21 01:17:05
September 21 2010 01:16 GMT
#644
i'm pretty sure this is the build the Very Hard Zerg AI does every game (vP). It's pretty easy to stop with an immortal and sentry.
ShoeFactory
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
United States186 Posts
September 21 2010 01:29 GMT
#645
On September 21 2010 09:56 OdinPimphammer wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 21 2010 08:15 DarKFoRcE wrote:
So many people keep bugging me about the 5RR on my stream. I personally think that its pretty much an allin, as you are pretty far behind in economy if you fail to do alot of damage (and no, placing a hatch while moving out doesnt make this much better). And as Terran and Protoss usually have a wallin i dont see how this is supposed to work against a competent player.


Maybe you should try it first, Almighty One? 33 pages of people saying how well it works, even against wall-offs, but I understand, any expansion after 30 is just noob to you and not worth your 8 hour a day of streaming time, huh? I guess you have to be 1500+ diamond to be considered competent.

How'd you do in that recent tournament?



At his level, yes you do have to be 1500 to be competent. I don't see any reason for him to start trying silly roach all in's that 1000 diamonds (which are probably equivalent to D/D+) are raving about. There's a reason no one is using it in tournaments; it probably doesn't work.

It's horrendously weak against any type of stalker or marauder play. It's weak to reapers since after the first reaper scouts the roach warren, marauders come out very soon. I only see this beating players that don't scout and blindly get mass zealots.
denzelz
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
United States604 Posts
September 21 2010 01:32 GMT
#646
On September 21 2010 09:56 OdinPimphammer wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 21 2010 08:15 DarKFoRcE wrote:
So many people keep bugging me about the 5RR on my stream. I personally think that its pretty much an allin, as you are pretty far behind in economy if you fail to do alot of damage (and no, placing a hatch while moving out doesnt make this much better). And as Terran and Protoss usually have a wallin i dont see how this is supposed to work against a competent player.


Maybe you should try it first, Almighty One? 33 pages of people saying how well it works, even against wall-offs, but I understand, any expansion after 30 is just noob to you and not worth your 8 hour a day of streaming time, huh? I guess you have to be 1500+ diamond to be considered competent.

How'd you do in that recent tournament?


Honestly, an expansion after 30 for a Zerg is pretty much disastrous against any competent opponent.

I just feel that this build doesn't live up to all the hype. It's a solid timing attack that might work to change the meta-game but it really doesn't have much staying power once Ts and Ps learn how to fight it off, just like how Zergs learned to fight off hellion openings.

15 hatch 14 pool is the way to go, srsly.
sooch
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada299 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-09-21 01:34:22
September 21 2010 01:33 GMT
#647
On September 21 2010 09:56 OdinPimphammer wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 21 2010 08:15 DarKFoRcE wrote:
So many people keep bugging me about the 5RR on my stream. I personally think that its pretty much an allin, as you are pretty far behind in economy if you fail to do alot of damage (and no, placing a hatch while moving out doesnt make this much better). And as Terran and Protoss usually have a wallin i dont see how this is supposed to work against a competent player.


Maybe you should try it first, Almighty One? 33 pages of people saying how well it works, even against wall-offs, but I understand, any expansion after 30 is just noob to you and not worth your 8 hour a day of streaming time, huh? I guess you have to be 1500+ diamond to be considered competent.

How'd you do in that recent tournament?

Wow rofl.

This build is good until you get past the mediocre P's and T's that don't play stupid (i.e. responding to roach warren with marauders and a bunker as T, and making 1 (one) sentry as P). Then you end up with a later expansion than a speedling expand (let's not get into hatch first or pool/hatch) and an equivalent amount of map control for a greater investment :/

Granted, it's not really an allin as he says IMO, but it does put you considerably behind.

This comes from a zerg who HAS tried it before, btw.
Blaqkheart
Profile Joined August 2010
12 Posts
September 21 2010 01:38 GMT
#648
So far this build has been great. I do not expect it to "carry" me through the higher leagues, but it is a great way to get micro/macro practice, especially if the initial rush fails and you get a chance to play on two or three bases.
OdinPimphammer
Profile Joined August 2010
Afghanistan40 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-09-21 01:53:32
September 21 2010 01:46 GMT
#649
15 hatch, 14 pool is OBVIOUSLY NOT the way to go as any noob can see by the results that Zerg has been getting in EVERY tournament since release.

Your "Pro" idea doesn't work, so how about try something new? Nah, that would be stupid, right?

Every P and T player can do whatever they want early game and abuse the shit out of it to beat Zerg, being greedy with tech, FEing, dropping pylons in our base, eating our drones with hellions , the list goes on and on. Nowadays you have P and T doing absurd stuff to Zerg, like fast Thor rushing and then dropping them in your mineral lines, rushing to banshees and raping your soul. The list goes on and on because they know they will never get pressured early by top level Zergs.

Maybe you are right, but I havent seen anyone even try to make it work at that level on any replays or streams.
Mindspider
Profile Joined August 2010
91 Posts
September 21 2010 02:18 GMT
#650
On September 21 2010 09:06 KandLeMaN wrote:
Inevitably, I tried it again my next match vs. a Toss and got absolutely raped by a 4-gate 90% stalker army. He didn't scout my R Warren, so he must have just been going stalker anyway, but 7 minutes in he had 9 stalkers and just raped me.


If you nail the timings properly, there is no way the Protoss should have that many stalkers by the time you reach their wall. If you do see them massing stalkers, however, you'll want to pull your roaches back, mass speedlings, and lay down 3-4 spine crawlers at your expansion. Even though you did not deal the damage you wanted, it is better to conserve your army and protect your expansion than suicide your roaches.
KandLeMaN
Profile Joined September 2010
United States64 Posts
September 21 2010 02:23 GMT
#651
On September 21 2010 11:18 Mindspider wrote:
Show nested quote +
On September 21 2010 09:06 KandLeMaN wrote:
Inevitably, I tried it again my next match vs. a Toss and got absolutely raped by a 4-gate 90% stalker army. He didn't scout my R Warren, so he must have just been going stalker anyway, but 7 minutes in he had 9 stalkers and just raped me.


If you nail the timings properly, there is no way the Protoss should have that many stalkers by the time you reach their wall. If you do see them massing stalkers, however, you'll want to pull your roaches back, mass speedlings, and lay down 3-4 spine crawlers at your expansion. Even though you did not deal the damage you wanted, it is better to conserve your army and protect your expansion than suicide your roaches.


Well I finished up my placement matches and now I'm all demoralized cuz I went 2-3 but got owned by that Stalker build and then by a terran MMM + Thors which I had no counter to. I attacked off creep and didn't fungal or NP which would have made a difference but damn bronze sucks

I think I need to incorporate hydras into my army quicker and definitely tech to ultras. I have been using too many mutas/corruptors which work sometimes, and othertimes just get owned by stimmed marines + thors.

Ah well I can only go up from here.
Liter of cola
Skrag
Profile Joined May 2010
United States643 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-09-22 07:16:08
September 22 2010 07:12 GMT
#652
On September 05 2010 18:58 Nuage wrote:
That's why I have switched back to a classic 14 extractor, 14 pool build: to keep most options open.

That way, you can still go for fast roaches if you want to, with a minor delay - or do anything else, depending on your scouting.

14 Extractor
14 Pool
15 Overlord
16 Queen
18 Zerglings
around 20 / 21 Roach Warren (when Queen is halfway done, as usual)
Overlord when Queen pop
5 or 6 Roach when overlord, roach warren & inject finish

The roaches are out at 5'10, approximatly. I tend to research zergling speed just after I've done the roaches, but it can probably be done a bit soonner.

What I love with that build is that you retain the possibility of an early roach rush, but you are not bound to it, and you can change for the other zergs openers (say, sling / bling or fast expand) without any trouble nor delay.


I was actually just going to post this. I've been playing around with this using 14E/14P, which is pretty standard for zerg these days, and can lead into just about anything from this 5RR pressure to one-base mutas, and the timing is *very* close to what I'm seeing on the 13 pool/13 extractor replays, with 14e/14p being somewhere between 3 and 5 seconds behind 13p/13e.

I don't know why that's true, it seems it should be further behind than that, but that's what I'm measuring.

Being just a hair slower, while keeping all options wide open, not really giving anything at all away to your opponent's initial scout, and getting a slightly better economy to boot, makes 14e14p seem very attractive when doing this.

Also, just about every replay I've watched, people are putting the warren down too early. If you put it down when the queen is about 70-75% done, it pops up just in time, and you get an extra mineral trip or two from the drone building the warren.

A couple more advantages to extractor first:

Yu can start speed really fast (as soon as the pool is done, just like a standard speedling build), so any reinforcement lings will be getting to the front fast.

You can leave the workers in gas, for I think what will be a very nice transition into mutas, possibly even transitioning into a slightly slower 1base muta, although you could certainly throw down the expansion first. (more testing required here obviously)
"Just go *@#$ing kill him!" -- Day[9] "Thanks for being a jackass though! Enjoy your time on the forums!" - Artosis
leve15
Profile Joined August 2010
United States301 Posts
September 22 2010 07:26 GMT
#653
you guys say they scout the roach warren.

but every time i do this build, i don't allow them to scout. maybe you guys don't have enough points!!!
RampancyTW
Profile Joined August 2010
United States577 Posts
September 22 2010 12:41 GMT
#654
I'm also confused by the prevalence of people saying that the roaches pop ~5:40. The roaches should be popping right after the 5 minute mark if you're doing this build properly.
JrK
Profile Joined June 2010
United States283 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-09-22 12:54:07
September 22 2010 12:53 GMT
#655
5:40 was from the original build. It's been refined really well since (and the OP has been edited to reflect that). Its much sooner than 540 now.
JrKjrKJrk
Undercroft
Profile Joined April 2010
United Kingdom166 Posts
September 22 2010 15:21 GMT
#656
On September 22 2010 21:53 JrK wrote:
5:40 was from the original build. It's been refined really well since (and the OP has been edited to reflect that). Its much sooner than 540 now.

One of the things i love about it. It's been tried and tested and slowly refined into the build it is now :D

I've found the build to be very effective on enemy toss going for fast phoenixes too. I don;t understand why people abort if they see a core go down. I personally see it as a good thing as it means high chance of teching from the toss
Our dronessssss are under attaahck!!
Dimenus
Profile Joined August 2010
United States157 Posts
September 22 2010 16:14 GMT
#657
Granted I'm just a mid diamond scrub but the only loss i've ever had with this build was in Z v Z. It's extremely effective vs Toss. Even if the toss goes stalker heavy you just use the extra round of larva to pump an extra lings.
When the facts change, I change my mind. What do you do, sir? - John Maynard Keynes
Skrag
Profile Joined May 2010
United States643 Posts
September 22 2010 17:34 GMT
#658
Figured out why I was only 3-ish seconds later with 14e14p. It's cause I wasn't actually doing 14e14p, but 14e13p. Still seems to be slightly more economic (with 13p13e I was slightly short on minerals unless all the timings were perfect, but wasn't ever close to being short with 14e13p), doesn't give anything away, and is still a good foundation for a wide variety of starts.
"Just go *@#$ing kill him!" -- Day[9] "Thanks for being a jackass though! Enjoy your time on the forums!" - Artosis
IPA
Profile Joined August 2010
United States3206 Posts
September 22 2010 17:52 GMT
#659
This build will work incredibly well against players of a certain level. You'll likely win most games; however, once you get to the next level of opponents, you will lose and lose badly.

Borderline all-in...late expo...It might be best used as a surprise semi all-in in a BoX series. If you're Plat or low Diamond -- Roach away! Just realize that it might cripple your overall Z game in the future. I'd rather practice something else. You WILL get punished for this against good players.
Time held me green and dying though I sang in my chains like the sea.
f0rk
Profile Joined March 2010
England172 Posts
September 22 2010 19:28 GMT
#660
On September 23 2010 02:52 IPA wrote:
This build will work incredibly well against players of a certain level. You'll likely win most games; however, once you get to the next level of opponents, you will lose and lose badly.

Borderline all-in...late expo...It might be best used as a surprise semi all-in in a BoX series. If you're Plat or low Diamond -- Roach away! Just realize that it might cripple your overall Z game in the future. I'd rather practice something else. You WILL get punished for this against good players.


Can you post some replays of good players punishing you when you use this build?
Prev 1 31 32 33 34 35 41 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 55m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SortOf 62
StarCraft: Brood War
actioN 236
Movie 109
Shinee 79
Killer 75
Hm[arnc] 68
JulyZerg 68
EffOrt 57
ZergMaN 51
Nal_rA 36
Shine 28
[ Show more ]
Bale 17
NotJumperer 15
Mong 11
Sacsri 11
ajuk12(nOOB) 3
League of Legends
JimRising 831
C9.Mang0450
Other Games
summit1g6418
WinterStarcraft343
XaKoH 162
Mew2King109
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1109
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 65
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Laughngamez YouTube
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• Lourlo1176
• Stunt380
• Jankos251
Upcoming Events
The PondCast
1h 55m
OSC
2h 55m
Clem vs Cure
ByuN vs TBD
TBD vs Solar
MaxPax vs TBD
Krystianer vs TBD
ShoWTimE vs TBD
Big Brain Bouts
2 days
Serral vs TBD
BSL 21
3 days
BSL 21
4 days
Wardi Open
5 days
Monday Night Weeklies
5 days
WardiTV Invitational
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-01-20
SC2 All-Star Inv. 2025
NA Kuram Kup

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
OSC Championship Season 13
Underdog Cup #3
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S1: W5
Acropolis #4 - TS4
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Rongyi Cup S3
Nations Cup 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 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.