• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 15:29
CET 21:29
KST 05:29
  • 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
[ASL22] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!12[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
Weekly Cups (Oct 26 - Nov 1): MaxPax, herO, Solar win0Weekly Cups (October 19-25): Clem triples first in 5.0.175Evil Geniuses - shutting down23ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier7Weekly Cups (October 12-18): 5.0.17 era begins1
StarCraft 2
General
Liquibets sc2 season 30 Evil Geniuses - shutting down Weekly Cups (Oct 26 - Nov 1): MaxPax, herO, Solar win No more SC2 streamers on team liquid? How do you feel about the mass reverts in the 5.0.17 PTR?
Tourneys
WardiTV Mondays ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[D] the control group Simple Questions/Answers [G] How to playtest arcade maps [A] Nemrods 1/4 players
External Content
Mutation # 550 Graveyard Shift The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 549 Endless Sparkles Mutation # 548 Shining Bright
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion Rollback Netcode in Brood War How SKT1 S-Tiers Felt To Be Swept By Flash Top Players of October 2026 (EBPD Rankings) Sagi.gg Launcher Released
Tourneys
[$1250] International ShieldBattery League [Megathread] Daily Proleagues 2v2v2v2 Tournament Stage 1: Community Poll [IPSL] IPSL Winter 26-27 Ro24 is HERE!
Strategy
50,000-Word Terran Builds Memo 2026-10-22 Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Deus Ex 3!? Mobile Legends: Bang Bang Armies of Exigo - YesYes?
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25!
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine The Chess Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
Fan Club Resource Thread Reynor Fan Club The Flash Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Why I built Repalyzer (1.1.…
BlueStar
Innovate or Game Over?
TrAiDoS
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 10944 users

The Zerg Help Me Thread - Page 324

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 322 323 324 325 326 489 Next
Make sure you read the OP before asking a question. Asking a question already addressed in the OP will result in moderation action. Also, please put some effort into your questions.
Asolmanx
Profile Joined April 2011
Italy141 Posts
July 19 2012 09:42 GMT
#6461
Maybe you can manage to defend a toss push with hydras, but i don't think you will ever be able to bust a protoss' third with hydras, especialyl hydra ling... I don't see it working
Chaosvuistje
Profile Joined April 2010
Netherlands2581 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-19 10:03:16
July 19 2012 10:00 GMT
#6462
On July 19 2012 07:30 Belial88 wrote:
I dont believe you'll have contaminate in time... and you are probably just going to contaminate the warp prism or observer, which just flies over anyways, doesn't delay the push. imo.


I can confirm this. I experiment with lots of stuff in ZvP like 3 overseer after lair, and if the Protoss has a well timed robo-sentry push, you will have contaminate after the first two immortals are out at least. Overseer contaminate works great to delay tech AFTER a protoss has done a gateway all in push because you get to delay robo units for a long time OR if the Protoss is planning to do a stalker-Collosus push, in which case you will delay the collosi numbers by a TON if you can contaminate twice.

What I DO do to delay the protoss is gas steal in his main. Which means the Protoss has to wait for his natural nexus to finish to get 2 gas geysers running. I also play a hatch-first style with a gas at 17 so it tends to differ a lot from the 15 pool opening timing wise.
Asolmanx
Profile Joined April 2011
Italy141 Posts
July 19 2012 11:15 GMT
#6463
How do you go hatch first? do you pull 2 drones to make the hatch? How do you avoid being pylon blocked? I noticed that the problem with hatch first isn't much teh cannon rush, but making it without being blocked, and the fact that you have to have a drone checking around the hatch if some sort of cannon rush is coming, because i feel that if you just keep an overlorld he can do the "boss cannon rush" where he walls in his probe with 3 pylons, but if you have a drone you can follow the probe and not make it happen
Fus
Profile Joined August 2010
Sweden1112 Posts
July 19 2012 11:26 GMT
#6464
On July 19 2012 20:15 Asolmanx wrote:
How do you go hatch first? do you pull 2 drones to make the hatch? How do you avoid being pylon blocked? I noticed that the problem with hatch first isn't much teh cannon rush, but making it without being blocked, and the fact that you have to have a drone checking around the hatch if some sort of cannon rush is coming, because i feel that if you just keep an overlorld he can do the "boss cannon rush" where he walls in his probe with 3 pylons, but if you have a drone you can follow the probe and not make it happen


If you want to plant the hatch you have to sneak it against good protosses, pull a drone and make sure he doesn't see it going to natural, and you will have your hatch up before he realise that no pool was thrown down.
NaNiwa | Innovation | Flash | DeMuslim ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Chaosvuistje
Profile Joined April 2010
Netherlands2581 Posts
July 19 2012 11:38 GMT
#6465
On July 19 2012 20:15 Asolmanx wrote:
How do you go hatch first? do you pull 2 drones to make the hatch? How do you avoid being pylon blocked? I noticed that the problem with hatch first isn't much teh cannon rush, but making it without being blocked, and the fact that you have to have a drone checking around the hatch if some sort of cannon rush is coming, because i feel that if you just keep an overlorld he can do the "boss cannon rush" where he walls in his probe with 3 pylons, but if you have a drone you can follow the probe and not make it happen


There are many ways to sneak out a drone for a hatch first. But my overall favourite one is to move a drone behind the mineral line to make it appear as if you are going for a pool, have the probe move over to block it, and then sneak in the drone to the natural to build a hatchery.

Obviously there is the keep-a-drone-hidden near the natural as well, but most good protosses tend to go straight for the natural in case they don't see a pool, which makes this method sort of iffy because you're losing mining time as well as hoping that the probe doesn't go back to the natural. If I see the probe instantly bounce back to the natural, I go for a 15 pool instead. Otherwise, 14 hatch will do.

Anyway, I got a decentish replay showing off the overlord-drop method for dealing with immortal-sentry all ins. Note that the protoss doesn't hit straight at 10:15 but at 10:49, and that my overlords are way out of position to save the hatch. I had the units prepared in time, but they were out in the wrong spot due to the scouting on my part being terrible. He had time to snipe the hatch and throw up forcefields before I could overwhelm him, hence the eventual loss. http://drop.sc/224203

Belial, you are correct that it won't hit in time for a 10:15 bust. But this is the closest I've come to coming up with a build that atleast deals with the Immortal-sentry all in consistantly without relying on clutch surrounds with Roach/Ling.
Belial88
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States5217 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-19 13:34:01
July 19 2012 13:32 GMT
#6466
On July 19 2012 19:00 Chaosvuistje wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 19 2012 07:30 Belial88 wrote:
I dont believe you'll have contaminate in time... and you are probably just going to contaminate the warp prism or observer, which just flies over anyways, doesn't delay the push. imo.


I can confirm this. I experiment with lots of stuff in ZvP like 3 overseer after lair, and if the Protoss has a well timed robo-sentry push, you will have contaminate after the first two immortals are out at least. Overseer contaminate works great to delay tech AFTER a protoss has done a gateway all in push because you get to delay robo units for a long time OR if the Protoss is planning to do a stalker-Collosus push, in which case you will delay the collosi numbers by a TON if you can contaminate twice.

What I DO do to delay the protoss is gas steal in his main. Which means the Protoss has to wait for his natural nexus to finish to get 2 gas geysers running. I also play a hatch-first style with a gas at 17 so it tends to differ a lot from the 15 pool opening timing wise.


Oh I hate stealing gas in Toss' base. Just makes everything so confusing, since you have to rely on scouting Toss' gas so much to see what's going on. Don't want to find out at 8:00 with 7 zealots in my base with warping in stalkers that Toss didn't take any gas in his main and went with an 8 gate ;/

It's interesting, but even still, that just means your drop tech is done while Toss is already shooting your hatch?

I'd just have to see a rep of someone holding an immortal/sentry all-in that arrives by 10:30. I've never seen anyone hold it with drop tech... Could you please upload one of you holding it, or anyone holding it? I do agree roach/ling sucks ass, you can't fight immortals head on, but I've only seen base trading as the most secure way to beat it, which seems to work every time actually.
How to build a $500 i7-3770K Ultimate Computer:http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=392709 ******** 100% Safe Razorless Delid Method! http://www.overclock.net/t/1376206/how-to-delid-your-ivy-bridge-cpu-with-out-a-razor-blade/0_100
Decendos
Profile Joined August 2011
Germany1341 Posts
July 19 2012 13:58 GMT
#6467
havent lost a single game vs sentry immo push since doing banedrop. posted my BO here:

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=346148&currentpage=3

since that i did slight changes but overall you can work with that. start building lings @ 8:30 and morph some banelings as soon as blingnest finishes. rally ALL lings AND 6-8 banelings near his base so you can attack as soon as he moves out. after he FF: retreat immediately. you dont want to kill anything, just stall. do so again and again till your banelingdrop is ready. you will force some more warp ins before he can safely move out which is just the time you need. btw 800 points EU master here.

will upload some replays next week since i am not at home till then. just remind me next week, since i will probably forget :D
Chaosvuistje
Profile Joined April 2010
Netherlands2581 Posts
July 19 2012 14:08 GMT
#6468
On July 19 2012 22:32 Belial88 wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 19 2012 19:00 Chaosvuistje wrote:
On July 19 2012 07:30 Belial88 wrote:
I dont believe you'll have contaminate in time... and you are probably just going to contaminate the warp prism or observer, which just flies over anyways, doesn't delay the push. imo.


I can confirm this. I experiment with lots of stuff in ZvP like 3 overseer after lair, and if the Protoss has a well timed robo-sentry push, you will have contaminate after the first two immortals are out at least. Overseer contaminate works great to delay tech AFTER a protoss has done a gateway all in push because you get to delay robo units for a long time OR if the Protoss is planning to do a stalker-Collosus push, in which case you will delay the collosi numbers by a TON if you can contaminate twice.

What I DO do to delay the protoss is gas steal in his main. Which means the Protoss has to wait for his natural nexus to finish to get 2 gas geysers running. I also play a hatch-first style with a gas at 17 so it tends to differ a lot from the 15 pool opening timing wise.


Oh I hate stealing gas in Toss' base. Just makes everything so confusing, since you have to rely on scouting Toss' gas so much to see what's going on. Don't want to find out at 8:00 with 7 zealots in my base with warping in stalkers that Toss didn't take any gas in his main and went with an 8 gate ;/



This is actually VERY easy to scout. All you have to do is gas-steal his main while keeping an overlord over his natural to check when he takes gasses. You get a lot of scouting information in and generally if he hasn't taken 2 gasses by 4:30 he is doing something funky like a gateway allin, which is very easily held by just building roaches instead of going for the droptech.

My scouting relies a lot around the gas of protoss and lot less about scouting robo, twilight or stargate tech. Since you can guess pretty effectively which is coming at you ( forge upgrading? Probably won't be stargate tech. Cybercore chronoing with only 1 or two gasses taken? Probably gateway allin. Quick 3 gasses taken? Get a spore at each base, probably stargate or dt tech ).

On July 19 2012 22:32 Belial88 wrote:
It's interesting, but even still, that just means your drop tech is done while Toss is already shooting your hatch?

I'd just have to see a rep of someone holding an immortal/sentry all-in that arrives by 10:30. I've never seen anyone hold it with drop tech... Could you please upload one of you holding it, or anyone holding it? I do agree roach/ling sucks ass, you can't fight immortals head on, but I've only seen base trading as the most secure way to beat it, which seems to work every time actually.


That replay was without me doing a gas steal, which normally delays the push by about 30 seconds. That usually gets droptech in time for me to hold it. To be fair this was the first protoss I met in a long time doing the Immo-sentry all in, so I'm not sure when I get to post the next replay of it. But I generally don't favour basetrading with Roach/Ling because of Sentries being so much fun to bump your head into.
BoxingKangaroo
Profile Blog Joined December 2011
Japan955 Posts
July 19 2012 14:50 GMT
#6469
How do I learn to be more aggressive? Anyone got some simple strategies to make it happen?

Here's a recent game:
http://drop.sc/224494

At 12 minutes, have a big army lead, and don't attack.
At 27 minutes, win the first big engagement, have a HUGE army lead and don't attack.
(Of course other things lost me the game in the end, but it'd never have gotten to that point had I attacked earlier)

This is becoming a bit of a theme in my losing games. Thoughts?
Belial88
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States5217 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-19 15:05:28
July 19 2012 14:59 GMT
#6470
I watched the games of dimaga vs 'nani' where he goes banelings. Naniwa never did an immortal/sentry all-in.

so im confused why some people think drops or banelings are the answer?

Chaos - check out the "nestea's anti-immortal sentry build' thread I made. I post a bunch of reps in there. Basically, what I do is when I see a robo, I'll respond by gassing up quickly (4th gas at 7:30 since I go 3xgas at 6:30, 5 and 6th gas at 8:00). I still usually make the roach warren in case of things like warp prism or 4 gate +1 as necessary, unless I scout lots of sentries and immortal production already, but whatever, just dont get roach speed or upgrades, and get a spire immediately while hiding all the overlords for eventual base trade.

I then send an overseer to see his gateway count - if theres 6+, ie an all-in, I won't make a macro hatch and instead mass spines in natural, or start to. If I see only 1-5, I make a macro hatch. I bank gas, mass lings from 8:30+ as standard (massing units from 8:30, that is).

Toss will probably kill my third, but only if they are good. By the time he arrives I'll have at least 10 spines in my natural to prevent him from going that way first, I'll send out drones in time around the map for the base trade, and by the time he's finished my third off, I've sniped his sentries and wall-off at his base and a million lings and 20+ mutas are in his base.

If he goes robo expand, this response is even stronger, whereas any roach/ling based response (base trade or straight up fighting) is just terrible against robo expands.

It's how I've found a way to beat immortal/sentry all-in consistently, without relying on toss positioning badly on a ramp or hoping for a good map (no stupid cloud kingdom).
How to build a $500 i7-3770K Ultimate Computer:http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=392709 ******** 100% Safe Razorless Delid Method! http://www.overclock.net/t/1376206/how-to-delid-your-ivy-bridge-cpu-with-out-a-razor-blade/0_100
Decendos
Profile Joined August 2011
Germany1341 Posts
July 19 2012 15:14 GMT
#6471
well dimaga vs naniwa was no immo sentry allin...so? it works if you delay with ling bling till drop is ready. try it.
Belial88
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States5217 Posts
July 19 2012 15:18 GMT
#6472
no... drop tech won't be out from a standard 7:15 lair until 10:45, at least 15 seconds after the 10:30 immortal/sentry is shooting your hatchery. I just don't see it working. Maybe with that 3 overseer rush idea or something, I don't know, but I really don't see it.

Just show me a game where Toss does a 10:30 immortal/sentry all-in and it won't be very hard to convince me there might be something to it. As it stands, I just don't see it, especially since most zergs don't start lair these days until well after 7:15, more like 7:45 nowadays.

All I'm hearing is "well ultras stop immortal/sentry all-in, dont knock it until you try it, just delay with roach/ling'. Toss is committed, he's going to be moving out, a good toss isn't going to be delayed that much by ling runby's as he walls off his base and already has pylons set up and you are just starting to pump units and don't have a significant amount to delay Toss. That's the whole point of the build, it's this timing that hits when you don't have many units. if you could just 'delay with ling/bane' or 'just delay with roach/ling then immortal/sentry would be very easy to hold, as by 11:30 you simply have enough speed roaches to straight up stomp it.
How to build a $500 i7-3770K Ultimate Computer:http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=392709 ******** 100% Safe Razorless Delid Method! http://www.overclock.net/t/1376206/how-to-delid-your-ivy-bridge-cpu-with-out-a-razor-blade/0_100
Decendos
Profile Joined August 2011
Germany1341 Posts
July 19 2012 15:22 GMT
#6473
well yes you need to delay. but thats no problem since you will have a shitload of lings and some blings the time he wants to move out. after that you just CRUSH his push.

i start lair at 7:40 so 11:10 is when drop is ready. if you get him to FF just once that means about 20 sec. so basically get him to FF twice und you crush him. even IF you lose your 3rd your can just kill him afterwards, but it shouldnt happen since you really can delay with mass ling bling.
Belial88
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States5217 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-19 15:35:49
July 19 2012 15:31 GMT
#6474
Anyway, I got a decentish replay showing off the overlord-drop method for dealing with immortal-sentry all ins. Note that the protoss doesn't hit straight at 10:15 but at 10:49, and that my overlords are way out of position to save the hatch. I had the units prepared in time, but they were out in the wrong spot due to the scouting on my part being terrible. He had time to snipe the hatch and throw up forcefields before I could overwhelm him, hence the eventual loss. http://drop.sc/224203


You are at 46 supply at the 8:00 mark... I think that platinum zerg who asked for help was even past this. You can't possibly win with your supply being so low at this late in the game ><

You go gas before third, that was weird.

The toss in this game did not do a good immortal/sentry all-in. He didn't even start moving out until 10:30, which is when he should have been in your base killing you. At 10:30 all you have is 30 lings, and while you do have droptech, your baneling nest isn't finished, and you would have been completely destroyed. A simple immortal/sentry all-in would have won the game by now.

The only reason you have drop tech so quickly is because of your weird, non-standard build that rushed lair really quickly. You start lair at 6:20 - most zergs don't even have any of their gases taken by this point, yet you have 2 gas taken and started lair already. You've just destroyed your economy, you only have 30 workers at the 7:00 mark! when most zergs have definitely at least 40 by this time, with a lot more on the way. By 8:00, you have only 40 workers.

He kills your third anyways, and you do kill his entire army, but the game is just weird now... You could have done the exact same thing using roach/ling - anyone can beat immortal/sentry army with just straight up roach/ling, the problem is keeping the third alive in the process. But your drone count has been so low all game long and you rushed lair so fast, you really should have just gone 2 base lair baneling drop instead - you would have had your full 50 drones instead of 40, and wayyyy more lings, if you went 2 base instead of 3. Instead you just kill yourself economically because you essentially go 2 base lair, but take a third really quickly too.

I don't think you did an optimal build, and you rushed lair way too quickly. I think your build doesnt make much sense, and it's evident in your drone count (yes, some of that is poor macro, but a lot of it is just your build with super fast gas and lair and then taking third). You can't both gas/third/lair like that and have drones, you have to cut it, hence why you either go third or lair as zerg.

After you've killed his army, Toss is still ahead, and he wins the game. You say you lost because of positioning, but I say you lost because of just a bad build and super fast lair. You might as well just go 2 base lair mass roach, 2 base lair baneling drops, or 3 base roach/ling and just lose the third in the process like everyone else does (which I guess still loses, as you do.... i dont know).

I don't really see this game as a proof of concept, because Toss his 2 minutes too late, he would have killed you if he did the build correctly (i get it, we aren't pros, but even diamonds can hit 4 gate at the right time, it's not a matter of being good or not he simply just screwed up the timing and couldnt pull off a build order), and even with the game going as it has, you lose.


well yes you need to delay. but thats no problem since you will have a shitload of lings and some blings the time he wants to move out. after that you just CRUSH his push.

i start lair at 7:40 so 11:10 is when drop is ready. if you get him to FF just once that means about 20 sec. so basically get him to FF twice und you crush him. even IF you lose your 3rd your can just kill him afterwards, but it shouldnt happen since you really can delay with mass ling bling.


Why would you have a shitload of lings and banelings when he moves out? You must be making lings wayy before 8:00 if this is the case, otherwise Toss should be able to move out just fine. And lair done started at 7:40, drops done by 11:10, you are not facing correct immortal/sentry pushes. Toss should be moving out and hitting you by 10:30. As in, you force some FF's and he hits at 10:30 instead of 10:15.

You can just lose your third and then kill Toss' army using roach/ling, so I don't see the improvement, and the whole point is to not lose your third.

Please, show me a replay of you beating an immortal sentry all-in that moves out by 9:30 and hits you by 10:30. if you delay toss, that's fine, show me how you delay toss, maybe if you delay him in a certain way that is sure-fire, I can see it, but I just don't see it right now.

it just sounds like people are facing people who aren't doing true immortal/sentry all-ins. And I get it, I rarely face good immortal/sentry all-ins and my muta build just stomps Toss on ladder, my muta build might not even work against a true immortal/sentry all-in, but I think it would because I've faced immortal/sentry all-ins that was shooting my third by 10:30 and I sac'd it and base traded and massed spines in my nat and that was what won me the game, but I just dont see it with this baneling drop playstyle. it just sounds like you aren't playing immortal/sentry all-ins that are pulled off correctly. Sorry. You can do the 'wrong' answer and make it work with good macro for a long time, but if you are going to rely on just a build that won't work at higher level play, imo just go with mutas. Or infestors. Or mass burrow move roaches even. Or do a response that actually works if toss does it correctly, so when they do it wrong its even easier to hold.
How to build a $500 i7-3770K Ultimate Computer:http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=392709 ******** 100% Safe Razorless Delid Method! http://www.overclock.net/t/1376206/how-to-delid-your-ivy-bridge-cpu-with-out-a-razor-blade/0_100
Hemingway
Profile Joined August 2010
United States55 Posts
July 19 2012 16:13 GMT
#6475
What are some tips for getting out of Platinum league? I'm aware of the adage that "you're in the league you're supposed to be in" and I'm no exception -- I keep losing to stupid things for stupid reasons and poor play on my part. The issue is, every guide one reads on a ZvX matchup assumes that both players a) know and b) execute optimal builds. For example, in ZvP, if I scout no gas by 6:30 or 6:45 I throw down my roach warren and prepare for a heavy gateway attack in the next handful of minutes. And because my macro is very good for my level (I like to think -- I can provide plenty of replays of myself hitting between 65 and 70 supply by the 8:00 mark in ZvP, even with minor mismanagement like an OL one supply too late or too early) I can crush the aforementioned timing attack.

However, where I run into problems is when my opponent is simply playing suboptimally. For example, I'll often see no gas at the usual time which indicates a gateway timing, so I'll drop a roach warren and build an army, then scout for proxy pylons. But then two gas will go down at 7:45 and I'll be left with a weak economy and an army which is totally useless against my idiot opponent who is doing some wonky two-base half-tech play wherein he forgets to add his gas.

This ZvP is simply an example, and my question boils down to this: what's the best way to deal with opponents playing "wrong"? I can't exactly sac overlords all game to scout without getting behind an opponent who macros decently, and I can't simply play standard and tech to broodlords when my opponent may be planning to show up at my front door with a 3base army of voidrays and carriers which I can't hope to defend against unless I have a million bases.

Should I become the aggressor and 12:00 max on roaches for ZvP and roach/ling/bane bust all my Terran opponents until I start playing against opponents who operate at the higher end of the metagame? Or should I put obscene focus on scouting and reactions and simply gut my way up, accepting losses to suboptimal builds that catch me off-guard?
Belial88
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States5217 Posts
July 19 2012 16:25 GMT
#6476
1. If you are finding you have trouble with timings, just play slightly safer. For example, in ZvZ, I think that ling/bane aggression is stupid and outdated (come on, no one 4 gates anymore, wtf zergs). Yet, every 1 out of 10 games, I'd actually lose to it, and it's just really really stupid. So, I keep 2 drones in gas instead of just 1 drone in gas after speed, and get my bane nest and spine a little earlier. Yes, I fall about 4 drones short of someone playing just stupidly fucking greedy, but I'm better than that and that's not game ending, and I now I just win 100% of the time if the opponent makes any more than 6 lings until the 6:00 mark. Just slight adjustments like this can go a long way (ie just always get that roach warren at 7:00 in zvp). You can always be greedier again once you hit GM, where that sort of shit actually starts to matter. You think huk or stephano got their crazy 100-2 ladder records on GM #1 by doing a greedy, unsafe build or cutting corners to be a slightly greedier?

2. If you are losing to suboptimal play, sorry, its totally your macro. If you are in platinum, then your macro is definitely very deficient. You must be getting supply blocked at least once before 8:00, making multiple overlords at once before 33 supply, not constantly making workers, missing injects in the first 8:00. You need to iron this shit out. Your play should look like a pros in the first 8:00, there is no reason not to. Afterwards, you can fall apart, but if your macro is good enough in the first 8:00, you will likely just have a very easy time afterwards.

If Toss gets 2 gas at 7:45, that is not sub-optimal. Toss having no gas by 6:30 means they are doing a gate all-in of some sort, and just grabbing those 2 gas because hell why not, they already have those 8 gateways thrown down. Get ready. Toss often do this, and Toss DOES need 4 gas on 2 base, what we are talking about when we say scouting gas, is no gas by 6:30, 2 gas by 6:30, et cetera. Every toss will have 4 gas by 6:30. (okay, maybe 7:00, but really, 2xgas thrown down as late as 6:31 should mean 4 gate +1 timing).

If you pumped roach/ling and got speed before lair, you'll be fine, you already made those 55 drones anyways, and Toss' tech will be just as behind as yours because he got gas late and you got lair a bit later. Your economy should be just as strong either way, you drone up purely up to 8:00 regardless of what toss is doing, you just make a roach warren and get speed instead of lair up to 8:00 depending on what Toss is doing is all, and make units after 8:00 instead of drone for just 30 more seconds.

Post a replay of this, maybe I can be more specific if you post a rep. If I don't reach 70 supply in a game, I pretty know I'm going to lose the game, so if I'm only at 62 supply at 8:00, or whatever, then it's pretty obvious why you lost that particular game.

If your opponent is doing a 3 base anything, you should have broodlords in time. Void rays dont exactly counter broodlords, if he shows up with 3 base mass void ray, well, you already made 10 infestors and probably have a couple corruptors lying around so it'll be easy to handle that army. If he's doing carriers, that should have been obvious when you poked around with an overseer and with your ling army... it should be no surprise.

You shouldn't necessarily be the aggressor and max roaches every game, but that is a viable way to play (if somewhat all-innish). What I recommend you do, is drone up to 70-odd drones if you can asap, but that is just like up to 9:00 of the game, so aftterwards, if you want to be not allinnish and tech and macro more, just mass lings, since they are basically free since they cost no gas (and you actually need them with infestors to hold pushes before hive tech anyways). With that ling army you should always be poking around to see what Toss is doing...

Just post a rep, your questions seem sort of open ended. If you are suddenly surprised by 3 base carrier you are doing something wrong.

How to build a $500 i7-3770K Ultimate Computer:http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=392709 ******** 100% Safe Razorless Delid Method! http://www.overclock.net/t/1376206/how-to-delid-your-ivy-bridge-cpu-with-out-a-razor-blade/0_100
Chaosvuistje
Profile Joined April 2010
Netherlands2581 Posts
July 19 2012 16:35 GMT
#6477
On July 20 2012 00:31 Belial88 wrote:
Show nested quote +
Anyway, I got a decentish replay showing off the overlord-drop method for dealing with immortal-sentry all ins. Note that the protoss doesn't hit straight at 10:15 but at 10:49, and that my overlords are way out of position to save the hatch. I had the units prepared in time, but they were out in the wrong spot due to the scouting on my part being terrible. He had time to snipe the hatch and throw up forcefields before I could overwhelm him, hence the eventual loss. http://drop.sc/224203


You are at 46 supply at the 8:00 mark... I think that platinum zerg who asked for help was even past this. You can't possibly win with your supply being so low at this late in the game ><

You go gas before third, that was weird.

The toss in this game did not do a good immortal/sentry all-in. He didn't even start moving out until 10:30, which is when he should have been in your base killing you. At 10:30 all you have is 30 lings, and while you do have droptech, your baneling nest isn't finished, and you would have been completely destroyed. A simple immortal/sentry all-in would have won the game by now.

The only reason you have drop tech so quickly is because of your weird, non-standard build that rushed lair really quickly. You start lair at 6:20 - most zergs don't even have any of their gases taken by this point, yet you have 2 gas taken and started lair already. You've just destroyed your economy, you only have 30 workers at the 7:00 mark! when most zergs have definitely at least 40 by this time, with a lot more on the way. By 8:00, you have only 40 workers.



Well yeah, I do have a lot fewer workers because I intend to drone up after an all in, not right up until 50 just because you can't get droptech that fast in that case. I understand your viewpoint since you're used to having more drones at that point due to going for a third before gas, but this is generally what a gas-at-17 build looks like. It's not designed to be vastly economically ahead against Protoss, but rather to keep up with the probe count while getting faster tech out, it's an economical trade off to stop a specific all in incase I scout it.


On July 20 2012 00:31 Belial88 wrote:

He kills your third anyways, and you do kill his entire army, but the game is just weird now... You could have done the exact same thing using roach/ling - anyone can beat immortal/sentry army with just straight up roach/ling, the problem is keeping the third alive in the process. But your drone count has been so low all game long and you rushed lair so fast, you really should have just gone 2 base lair baneling drop instead - you would have had your full 50 drones instead of 40, and wayyyy more lings, if you went 2 base instead of 3. Instead you just kill yourself economically because you essentially go 2 base lair, but take a third really quickly too.

I don't think you did an optimal build, and you rushed lair way too quickly. I think your build doesnt make much sense, and it's evident in your drone count (yes, some of that is poor macro, but a lot of it is just your build with super fast gas and lair and then taking third). You can't both gas/third/lair like that and have drones, you have to cut it, hence why you either go third or lair as zerg.



If I did keep my third ( which absolutely WOULD have happened if my overlords weren't out of the picture for 10 whole seconds ) I am easily ahead due to me having a third and the protoss lacking one. Sure his probecount might be higher, but three hatches with queens injecting tend to catch up to dronecount real fast.

If you want to drone up to 50 with this build, you obviously won't reach that. The point is to destroy the sentries and flood in with reinforcing army and stop the push right in its tracks. You take a third to lure the Protoss out of his base, because otherwise he will just turtle up and fend off 2 base pushes. Trust me, it's better to have a lamely saturated third to lure out all ins with this build than to just stick on two bases and watch the protoss turtle up and take a third at the same time as me.

I haven't faced these mythical perfect immortal-sentry all ins yet, but I've been doing decent with this style rather than just rolling over and dying because of good forcefields.
sathin
Profile Joined April 2012
United States46 Posts
July 19 2012 16:48 GMT
#6478
just a quick question about what other zergs are doing right now in the ZvT meta as far as early ling speed I've still been going 15 hatch 15 pool 15 gas for a quick ling speed i think i do it because I'm comfortable with it i don't FEEL it sets me back at all if i remove drones at 100 gas just for the speed and i just have been told its good to do HOWEVER I've been hearing more and more about zerg delaying speed a lot I'm assuming it'd be for quicker 4-6 queens

what are peoples thoughts to this i put this in help because i just want help on seeing if this is good so that i can feel safe throwing it into my standard play
Belial88
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States5217 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-07-19 16:53:13
July 19 2012 16:52 GMT
#6479
Well yeah, I do have a lot fewer workers because I intend to drone up after an all in, not right up until 50 just because you can't get droptech that fast in that case. I understand your viewpoint since you're used to having more drones at that point due to going for a third before gas, but this is generally what a gas-at-17 build looks like. It's not designed to be vastly economically ahead against Protoss, but rather to keep up with the probe count while getting faster tech out, it's an economical trade off to stop a specific all in incase I scout it.


That's because you get lair wayyy too quickly and gas too early. You are just killing yourself economically to get something that arguably won't even work.

If you did baneling drops as a 2 base build, I think you'd have much more success as you'd have way more drones, more lings, and quicker tech. You are simply spreading yourself way too thin, and you are basically killing yourself to get drop tech. If Toss had simply expanded he would have a commanding lead in the game (not to mention if he did the push right he would have won too).

You aren't stopping an all-in is the problem - if someone did the build right, they'd kill you, even in this game he doesn't do the build right and killed you (lets say he hit 20 seconds earlier and you were positioned correctly, and that's still more than a minute late of a push). There's a reason people don't get at 17 and get a third - it's all-in (which is why zenio's 3 hatch baneling bust looks very similar, really).

Any robo expand build would just be wayyy ahead of you, and even in the case of a well executed all-in you won't hold. You just can't get lair and a third like that as zerg, or else your drone count falls. That's what happened here - you have to kill your drone count even more than it's already killed, just to possibly hold an all-in that isn't even executed well.

If I did keep my third ( which absolutely WOULD have happened if my overlords weren't out of the picture for 10 whole seconds ) I am easily ahead due to me having a third and the protoss lacking one. Sure his probecount might be higher, but three hatches with queens injecting tend to catch up to dronecount real fast.

If you want to drone up to 50 with this build, you obviously won't reach that. The point is to destroy the sentries and flood in with reinforcing army and stop the push right in its tracks. You take a third to lure the Protoss out of his base, because otherwise he will just turtle up and fend off 2 base pushes. Trust me, it's better to have a lamely saturated third to lure out all ins with this build than to just stick on two bases and watch the protoss turtle up and take a third at the same time as me.

I haven't faced these mythical perfect immortal-sentry all ins yet, but I've been doing decent with this style rather than just rolling over and dying because of good forcefields.


There would have been no way you could have held if Toss did the build correctly, and you struggled with a Toss and eventually lost with one who did the build absolutely terribly, hitting 2 minutes late, etc. And any sort of timing would have done damage to you in this game, any sort of blink all-in or whatever would have won too. You just don't have enough drones to sustain yourself at all.

You aren't 'ahead' of Toss if you have a third... you are just breaking even. If Toss did a robo expand build he just wins because he's so far ahead of you. "Sure his probe count might be higher' is a huge mistake! It's game ending! That shouldn't happen!

It's like you are completely sacrificing your economy to hopefully hold a poorly executed all-in. If the build was executed correctly, you lose (you still lose even to a bad execution, and it has nothing to do with being out of position and everything to do with you simply not having enough stuff). If Toss played a macro oriented game, you lose. You are basically doing an all-in, so if Toss does an all-in, you might hold, but after it's all said and done Toss is still ahead as he has the tech and just remakes army while you have to drone up to what normal builds already had for minutes.

Sorry, I just don't see what you are doing as viable at all. No one gets a gas like that unless they are doing an all-in. And against a well executed push you'd die. And you die in this game too. I don't think it's viable ;/

I mean the guy kills your hatch when you try to remake it because you still can't beat his army.
How to build a $500 i7-3770K Ultimate Computer:http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=392709 ******** 100% Safe Razorless Delid Method! http://www.overclock.net/t/1376206/how-to-delid-your-ivy-bridge-cpu-with-out-a-razor-blade/0_100
Belial88
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States5217 Posts
July 19 2012 22:38 GMT
#6480
Hi I have a question:

What can you do against those 1 gate - Nexus - Forge - Core openers?

Really irritating when I run into them. I react by getting speed and trying to play a macro game, but I just feel like I'm too far behind these builds. My third is too late by taking gas, and just because I didn't open 14/14, they get away with a build that's ridiculous. It would just build order lose to 14/14, and since I drone scout I will react as quick as going 14p/15g/16h, but it's just not enough to try to do any sort of pressure (and ive tried before).

Is there maybe some sort of roach all-in I could do that would autowin against these builds?
How to build a $500 i7-3770K Ultimate Computer:http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=392709 ******** 100% Safe Razorless Delid Method! http://www.overclock.net/t/1376206/how-to-delid-your-ivy-bridge-cpu-with-out-a-razor-blade/0_100
Prev 1 322 323 324 325 326 489 Next
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
WardiTV Invitational
02:00
NotSummer-Playoffs Replays
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
mouzHeroMarine 565
EmSc Tv 22
StarCraft: Brood War
Shuttle 419
firebathero 119
White-Ra 86
Hyun 43
ProTech23
Counter-Strike
pashabiceps1271
gobbtv282
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu591
Other Games
tarik_tv5687
summit1g5469
Grubby3260
singsing1456
FrodaN855
B2W.Neo514
Mlord438
C9.Mang0205
ArmadaUGS114
Pyrionflax99
Trikslyr50
UpATreeSC26
syndereN12
minikerr5
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL238
StarCraft 2
EmSc Tv 22
EmSc2Tv 22
[ Show 18 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 49
• Reevou 5
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Laughngamez YouTube
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• FirePhoenix22
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV697
League of Legends
• Nemesis1925
• Jankos1661
Other Games
• Scarra611
• imaqtpie547
• Shiphtur477
Upcoming Events
PiGosaur Cup
4h 31m
Kung Fu Cup
14h 31m
Replay Cast
1d 2h
The PondCast
1d 13h
KCM Race Survival
1d 13h
OSC
1d 17h
IntoTheTV X SOOP
3 days
Reynor vs Solar
ByuN vs SHIN
Clem vs MaxPax
herO vs Rogue
WardiTV Invitational
3 days
IPSL
3 days
WorsT vs nOmaD
Dewalt vs andersOn
IntoTheTV X SOOP
4 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
IPSL
4 days
Azhi_Dahaki vs ggnore13
Double vs WIZARD
Replay Cast
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-11-02
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HCC Season 3

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
International ShieldBattery League
BSL Season 23
IPSL Winter 2026-27
Calamity Cup Div. A Season 8
IEM Beijing 2026
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026

Upcoming

1xBet Invitational
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Underdog Cup 2026 Div 2-3
BLAST Bounty Winter 2027
eXTREMESLAND 2026
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 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.