• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 18:08
CEST 00:08
KST 07:08
  • 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
Team Liquid Map Contest #22: Results and Winners7Code S Season 2 (2026): RO4 and Finals Preview12TL.net Map Contest #22 - Voting & Ladder Map Selection7Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview7[ASL21] Finals Preview: Two Legacies21
Community News
Weekly Cups (June 8-14): Clem and Solar double, PTR tested0RSL: S6 Finals played at BlizzCon 202611Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28)10[BSL22] Non-Korean Championship from 13 to 28 June4Weekly Cups (May 25-31): Clem doubles, 2v2 circuit heads toward finale0
StarCraft 2
General
TL Poll: How do you feel about the 5.0.16 PTR balance changes? Code S Season 2 (2026) - RO8 Preview Updates to The Core/Core Lite for v5.0.16? RSL: S6 Finals played at BlizzCon 2026 Weekly Cups (June 8-14): Clem and Solar double, PTR tested
Tourneys
GSL CK #4 20-21th June Douyu Cup 2026: $20,000 Legends Event (June 26-28) Maestros of The Game 2 announcement and schedule ! Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond)
Strategy
[G] Having the right mentality to improve
Custom Maps
Work In Progress Melee Maps [D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3
External Content
Mutation # 530 One For All The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 529 Opportunities Unleashed Mutation # 528 Infection Detected
Brood War
General
vespene.gg — BW replays in browser Where is EffOrt? BW General Discussion BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Quality of life changes in BW that you will like ?
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Grand Finals [BSL22] Grand Finals - Sunday 21:00 CEST Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2
Strategy
Relatively freeroll strategies Creating a full chart of Zerg builds Why doesn't anyone use restoration? Any training maps people recommend?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Beyond All Reason ZeroSpace Megathread Total War: Warhammer 40K Path of Exile
Dota 2
Looking for a Dota Mentor 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
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread UK Politics Mega-thread [H]Internet/Gaming Cafe Tips and Tricks Trading/Investing Thread
Fan Clubs
The HerO Fan Club! The herO Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books [TV/BOOK] *SPOILERS* Game of Thrones Discussion [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Formula 1 Discussion Cricket [SPORT] NBA General Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread Facing Challenges in Mobile App Development
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Does Workplace Frustration D…
TrAiDoS
An Exploration of th…
waywardstrategy
I'm an arrogant trash talke…
FlaShFTW
Gauntlet SC2: A Retrospectiv…
Ctone23
Why RTS gamers make better f…
gosubay
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 11093 users

[D] Roaches vs Marines - Page 2

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
Moa
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States790 Posts
August 30 2010 17:51 GMT
#21
One question, did you just A move because roaches have very low range and moving them all into range of the marines before attacking would probably alter the results.
^O^
Xizorz
Profile Joined August 2010
93 Posts
August 30 2010 22:28 GMT
#22
On August 27 2010 23:47 sikyon wrote:
T2 is where roaches really shine. move speed is critical, burrow micro is underused by actually very potent, and burrow-move has won me alot of games because if you can get all your roaches up into a fight they are very cost effective for their health and damage (do you remember all those comparisons of just roach health, dps, and cost vs other units in the game that were not accurate because roaches have low range and are slow? those comparisons are reasonable if your roaches erupt directly under your enemy's army).



The way I see it though, if you can successfully use burrow move roaches, you might as well just burrow your sling/bling army in his path and unburrow when he walks over it.

If the Terran is going to fall for burrow, well, you already won the game.
Numy
Profile Blog Joined June 2010
South Africa35471 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-30 22:33:20
August 30 2010 22:32 GMT
#23
On August 28 2010 03:33 sikyon wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 28 2010 03:08 NihiloZero wrote:
On August 27 2010 23:40 Slayer91 wrote:Lings just don't get that good in bigger numbers because only so many can attack.


Consequently... the Zerg are ABSOLUTELY forced into a major tech switch (particularly if dealing with air) while the Terran players can essentially stick with producing mass Barracks units throughout the game while backing them up with powerful upgrades (and later tier units only if they so desire). It's not a question of... some units only being a soft counter and prudently choosing to switch if you want, it's a matter of Zerg having no mobile tier 1 or 1.5 anti-air units (much less tier 1 & 1.5 anti-air units that reach critical mass). Sure... you can get some queens to protect your hatcheries, but being so incredibly slow they don't do well out in the field (even with creep) -- and that's important since most air units have a high degree of mobility. It should also be noted that Zerg get no anti-air at tier 3 either.


Hydras are amazing at anti air and mutas are the best air there is. How much anti air do you need?!?! Air is crazy fragile and the only fast air units are muta/pheonix, of which the pheonix has to rely on energy to deal damage.


He clearly states no mobile AA before T2. Both Hydra and muta are after T2. So your point is invalid.
Shiladie
Profile Blog Joined January 2009
Canada1631 Posts
August 30 2010 22:34 GMT
#24
Good post, I've actually wondered whether I should go roach or blingling for those mass marine rushes, so far I've been going roach, because when they were 1 food and 2 armour, they countered marines very well, but now, not so much...
Carnivorous Sheep
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Baa?21245 Posts
August 30 2010 22:41 GMT
#25
Were these done at 0/0? Have you tried it with different upgrades?

And yeah, personally I feel Roaches aren't too great versus Bio. roaches used to do pretty well against Marines with the 2 Armor, but with 1 Armor, I felt a drastic drop in usefulness vs. Marines. Marauders/Medivacs just exacerbate the problem.
TranslatorBaa!
TSL-Lore
Profile Joined January 2009
United States412 Posts
August 30 2010 22:43 GMT
#26
An extremely important thing about the zerg army that should always be taken into consideration is "attack space." Basically, the amount of space you have for your units to attack something. When you look at numbers like these, you're basically using a pure roach army vs a pure marine army. Due to the large unit size and the low range of the Roach, they don't fight very efficiently because they take time to find their attack space. Whereas, marines fight extremely efficiently due to their small size and their decent range.

Sure, roaches don't seem to work against marines on paper. But really, a combination of zerglings are Roaches might do much better because the roaches occupy a different attack space than the zerglings do. If you had pure zergling, they would crowd each other and not be very effective, and if you had pure roaches, they would crowd each other too. But if u had a combination of the two, the zerglings can fill that melee attack space while the roaches fill that ranged attack space, and then they fight much more effectively. Remember to consider this before you make any sweeping determinations like "Oh, it has been proven, i will never use roaches now!"

I want to become stronger. -Shindou Hikaru
EnderCN
Profile Joined May 2010
United States499 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-30 22:51:35
August 30 2010 22:46 GMT
#27
Roaches are best used in combination with other units. A marine ball is going to attack the zerglings first most likely and the roaches will get a bunch of free attacks from range. 20 zerglings and 10 roaches should be expected to do better against a marine blob than just 40 zerglings(they can't all get in position) or 20 roaches.

(I did not have the time to look at the proper cost of roach vs zergling so just pretend I used the proper value, I realize 20 zerglings dont' cost exactly the same as 10 roaches~, you get the idea though.)
Ciddass
Profile Joined April 2010
Germany149 Posts
August 30 2010 23:03 GMT
#28
nice data.
as soons as the dps marine ball has a "critical mass" nothing stands a chance apart from banelings.
and roaches don`t do dmg at all they`re supposed to tank the dmg, their attack speed is super slow.so they have 145hp that sounds great on paper and it`s no problem to get alot of roaches as Z, they`re cheap. but compared to that they die to fast to everything in my opinion.

16roaches vs 32marines is 2320hp vs 1440hp. a huge difference but still the roaches die and 10 marines survive.

that affirms that the T bio army performs well against everything Z has on ground.
and marines are dps monsters.
hydras did quite well before the attack speed nerf and tank buff especially with some roaches even vs pure bio. they were a decent allrounder like the marine marauder mix for T.
tank nerf will help hydras to fill their role as the only real dps unit for Z.
Voyager I
Profile Joined July 2010
United States260 Posts
August 30 2010 23:05 GMT
#29
I can't help wondering if Roaches would be a better 2 food unit if they had their old 2 armor as well.
EnderCN
Profile Joined May 2010
United States499 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-31 00:04:47
August 31 2010 00:01 GMT
#30
roaches don`t do dmg at all they`re supposed to tank the dmg


Roaches COST/DPS is very strong, they are a good damage dealing unit, only a few units in the game have a better COST/DPS against something they don't get a damage bonus against than Roaches. All of the base T1 units do and hydralisks do that is about it.. The important part is the zerglings rarely can all attack even with a surround, the roaches give you ranged DPS added to the surround.

I think the real problem with roaches is just how late/expensive the upgrades are. If they made the speed upgrade a cheap T1 upgrade like concussive shell it would do so much to help the unit.
Carnivorous Sheep
Profile Blog Joined November 2008
Baa?21245 Posts
August 31 2010 00:06 GMT
#31
On August 31 2010 09:01 EnderCN wrote:
Show nested quote +
roaches don`t do dmg at all they`re supposed to tank the dmg


Roaches COST/DPS is very strong, they are a good damage dealing unit, only a few units in the game have a better COST/DPS against something they don't get a damage bonus against than Roaches. All of the base T1 units do and hydralisks do that is about it.. The important part is the zerglings rarely can all attack even with a surround, the roaches give you ranged DPS added to the surround.

I think the real problem with roaches is just how late/expensive the upgrades are. If they made the speed upgrade a cheap T1 upgrade like concussive shell it would do so much to help the unit.


Roach is OK DPS if they can get into range, and that's a huge if. Especially versus bio, the tiny range means it's really hard to get all of your roaches within firing range, compounded by the fact that your frontline of Roaches will be slowed by Marauders.

Burrow move is really really nice if they have nod etection and you can burrow all your roaches right in the middle of their army. Their actual DPS drastically increases. But alas, that can't be done in most scenarios.
TranslatorBaa!
EnderCN
Profile Joined May 2010
United States499 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-08-31 00:16:16
August 31 2010 00:14 GMT
#32
your frontline of Roaches will be slowed by Marauders.


Well if their marauders are shooting your roaches and ignoring your zerglings it is a win for you. Zerglings have the highest cost/dps in the game by a large margin, you cannot afford to ignore them when they are in range and getting a surround, you have to focus them first.

But yeah the reality of gameplay is the Terran will just stim and kite the zerglings and then kill the roaches and that is because stim is grossly overpowered and is the largest imbalance in the game imo.
cHaNg-sTa
Profile Blog Joined March 2008
United States1058 Posts
August 31 2010 00:21 GMT
#33
Why anyone would ever use Roaches early game still baffles me (outside the very few exceptions). They just have too little range and easily kitable. It'd ridiculous how much marines outclass roaches, and they even hit air! They should at least get 2 armor back. I think 2 supply is fine since 1 supply will just make people mass them again.
Jaedong <3 HOOK'EM HORNS!
hadoken5
Profile Joined May 2010
Canada519 Posts
August 31 2010 00:46 GMT
#34
I'm finding that roaches are becoming more and more useless everyday. How does it even make sense that they suck against marines!!!
sikyon
Profile Joined June 2010
Canada1045 Posts
August 31 2010 00:55 GMT
#35
On August 31 2010 07:28 Xizorz wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 27 2010 23:47 sikyon wrote:
T2 is where roaches really shine. move speed is critical, burrow micro is underused by actually very potent, and burrow-move has won me alot of games because if you can get all your roaches up into a fight they are very cost effective for their health and damage (do you remember all those comparisons of just roach health, dps, and cost vs other units in the game that were not accurate because roaches have low range and are slow? those comparisons are reasonable if your roaches erupt directly under your enemy's army).



The way I see it though, if you can successfully use burrow move roaches, you might as well just burrow your sling/bling army in his path and unburrow when he walks over it.

If the Terran is going to fall for burrow, well, you already won the game.


Alot of terran players will scan ahead of the main push around your choke to make sure there are no burrow shennanigans going on. That forces you to burrow in the middle of the map which can be... less than optimal if he's smart and takes a slightly irregular route. Burrow roaches also let you go on the offensive (you can sneak them through supply depots that are down!

Frankly just seeing a large number of roaches forces me to get a turrent asap for my base and a raven. You can't really scout to see if he has burrow move, only that he has alot of roaches and a lair and that you should be prepared.
Ciddass
Profile Joined April 2010
Germany149 Posts
August 31 2010 01:22 GMT
#36
regarding the roach = great dps/cost assumption:

wrong

as we can see here
Xizorz
Profile Joined August 2010
93 Posts
August 31 2010 01:51 GMT
#37
On August 31 2010 09:55 sikyon wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 31 2010 07:28 Xizorz wrote:
On August 27 2010 23:47 sikyon wrote:
T2 is where roaches really shine. move speed is critical, burrow micro is underused by actually very potent, and burrow-move has won me alot of games because if you can get all your roaches up into a fight they are very cost effective for their health and damage (do you remember all those comparisons of just roach health, dps, and cost vs other units in the game that were not accurate because roaches have low range and are slow? those comparisons are reasonable if your roaches erupt directly under your enemy's army).



The way I see it though, if you can successfully use burrow move roaches, you might as well just burrow your sling/bling army in his path and unburrow when he walks over it.

If the Terran is going to fall for burrow, well, you already won the game.


Alot of terran players will scan ahead of the main push around your choke to make sure there are no burrow shennanigans going on. That forces you to burrow in the middle of the map which can be... less than optimal if he's smart and takes a slightly irregular route. Burrow roaches also let you go on the offensive (you can sneak them through supply depots that are down!

Frankly just seeing a large number of roaches forces me to get a turrent asap for my base and a raven. You can't really scout to see if he has burrow move, only that he has alot of roaches and a lair and that you should be prepared.


Well, right. I just dont see how he is going to blindly scan for burrowed lings, but not scan for moving roaches.
Twaxter
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada190 Posts
August 31 2010 04:41 GMT
#38
Very interesting!

I almost never go roach in ZvT, unless I'm trying to stop helion harass, or if the guys going mass reaper, which is almost every game lol.
I'm 600ish diamond, so don't take me seriously too .

I have yet to try the 5RR, but I hate doing builds like these. (baneling busts, 1 base muta e.t.c.)
Lose and Learn
Mindspider
Profile Joined August 2010
91 Posts
August 31 2010 04:54 GMT
#39
This is good info. I'd like to see how upgrading the Roaches will change the outcomes of the matchup... remember, you are comparing marines with stim + shield against unupgraded roaches, so it's natural that the marines will appear to be superior. Give roaches +0/+1 or +1/+1, and then see how they fare against a ball of marines.
nihoh
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Australia978 Posts
August 31 2010 04:54 GMT
#40
"You're better off not stimming"

This is why damage charts aren't practical... With Marine stim you can forward kite. Interesting findings anyway.
Dont look at the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 1h 52m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
ProTech151
BRAT_OK 75
CosmosSc2 38
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 319
Artosis 180
Dota 2
monkeys_forever315
canceldota75
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox346
Other Games
Grubby4783
shahzam605
FrodaN432
C9.Mang0280
mouzStarbuck232
ROOTCatZ163
ViBE51
Trikslyr46
OptimusSC28
minikerr2
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream2946
Other Games
BasetradeTV243
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 18 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 65
• musti20045 31
• Kozan
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Migwel
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 15
• FirePhoenix7
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota2862
League of Legends
• TFBlade1176
Other Games
• imaqtpie1008
• Shiphtur279
Upcoming Events
PiGosaur Cup
1h 52m
Replay Cast
10h 52m
The PondCast
1d 11h
OSC
2 days
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
GSL
3 days
Maru vs ShoWTimE
Classic vs Reynor
herO vs Lambo
Solar vs Clem
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
3 days
XuanXuan vs Jaystar
Mihu vs Messiah
eOnzErG vs Dewalt
Bonyth vs Jaystar
TerrOr vs Messiah
XuanXuan vs Mihu
eOnzErG vs Jaystar
Replay Cast
4 days
GSL
4 days
Patches Events
4 days
[ Show More ]
BSL22 NKC (BSL vs China)
4 days
Dewalt vs Messiah
Bonyth vs Mihu
TerrOr vs XuanXuan
eOnzErG vs Messiah
Jaystar vs Mihu
Dewalt vs XuanXuan
Bonyth vs TerrOr
Replay Cast
5 days
WardiTV Weekly
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-06-15
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Heroes Pulsing #1

Ongoing

IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
Acropolis #4
CSCL: Masked Kings S4
YSL S3
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
SCTL 2026 Spring
Maestros of the Game 2
WardiTV Spring 2026
Murky Cup 2026
Heroes Pulsing #2
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1

Upcoming

CSL 2026 Summer (S21)
CSLAN 4
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Revival: Season 6
CranK Gathers Season 4: BW vs SC2 Team League
HSC XXIX
Douyu Cup 2026
BCC 2026
Heroes Pulsing #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual
Stake Ranked Episode 3
XSE Pro League 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.