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[R]Broodlord magic number?

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
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1 2 Next All
CcXD
Profile Joined September 2010
3 Posts
October 06 2010 23:12 GMT
#1
So im a zerg player, not so good I guess since im high plat level.

Anyways, I had a question regarding brood lords.
I feel brood lords to be a unit quite expensive and extremely immobile. that said, they do decent ground damage with the spawns, and i think the ability to spawn more units on the battlefield (specially against terrans) removes focus fire from other units such as mutas or even hydras.

I have heard that for Terran there is a "magic" number for the ammount of seige tanks in which they are super effective. I was wondering if there was such a thing for zerg as well?? Some "magic number"?

I have tried instances where I do a crap ton of brood lords against MM ball and it seems that all the terran has to do is focus his marines/vikings on my broods and they die rather quickly, as the broodlings seem to not do enough burst damage to his marines. Same goes when facing a stalker heavy army, all he does is blink/focus brood. I just feel like i cant reposition or micro broods, as they are... well super slow.

And other instances where i go with the typical ling/muta + broods, it just feels that broods dont really do much helping if i do 2-3 of them.

It could be thta im super mistaken, or that im using my broods in completely wrong situations? I even heard some ppl call them gglords, although I dont really feel like this statement is true.

This is considering mid-late game where both players are above that 120 food count.

Thanks for any suggestions yall have.
Chairman Ray
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
United States11903 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-10-06 23:19:42
October 06 2010 23:18 GMT
#2
There is no magic number for broodlords, the more the better. You want just enough broodlords to do the job and keep corruptors around to fight air.
Randomaccount#77123
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States5003 Posts
October 06 2010 23:20 GMT
#3
--- Nuked ---
Wonderballs
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada253 Posts
October 06 2010 23:23 GMT
#4
Only pokemon get "super effective" against certain types.

But seriously, broodlords rock in any amount. If your opponent sees them... he goes "oh shiiit i need AA" so they are also quite a nice unit to force something out of your opposition; or even force him to focus fire it, which potentially could be a bad move if the circumstances were in your favor.

All in all, they are not that common so I don't have a vast knowledge of how they can "tip" the game in your favor.
I thought Jesus would come back before Starcraft 2.
zeidrichthorene
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
Canada83 Posts
October 06 2010 23:38 GMT
#5
3 broodlords will be able to 1 shot a marine.
4 broodlords will be able to 1 shot a hydralisk.
4 broodlords will 2-shot a stalker. (8 will 1-shot)
6 broodlords will 1-shot a missile turret, though 5 will bring it so low that broodling damage will finish it pretty much instantly.

I'd say 4-5 is a good number.

Mass marines are probably the best thing other than Air to Air that can kill broodlords because of their fast fire rate its ability to suppress broodlings, so against a marine ball you need something to block them from getting in range of your broodlords like roaches or zerglings. You could probably incorporate banelings as well, the broodlings will draw fire, and the threat of banelings will either keep the marines from advancing, or punish them if they do.
claricorp
Profile Joined July 2010
Canada142 Posts
October 07 2010 00:07 GMT
#6
from my experience the more the better, though a team of 5 to around 8 is going to be enough to waste even above average ground armies, park some hydras/ infestors below them aswell as a few corrupters floating around them(which you will probably have around them anyway). hydras and infestors can shut down most ground units that can pop brolords like marines and stalkers, with fungal growth and the threat of taking stupid amounts of damage. corrupters have a higher attack priority for stuff like vikings and voids, aswell as the means to hunt down air units as well as pick off collossi(which your brolords will have a hard time hitting without being exposed).

Infestors can lock down units with fungal growth so they cant retreat or advance, infested terrans are also useful if you have tons of energy.

you can also throw in pretty much any other zerg unit and your golden

roaches can help soak hits if they keep aiming for your hydras with tanks and collossi

zerglings can flank, lock down armies and keep tabs on enemy units, aswell as run into exposed areas.

banelings chew through rines hardcore, but arent really that necesary

mutas, like zerglings can harass enemy bases and allow you to keep tabs on the enemy

ultras will allow you to simply go straight at the enemy guns blazing, though are costly

queens can also be nifty, they can spread creep, have longer range than hydras for AA and can transfuse broodlords and corrupters.
CcXD
Profile Joined September 2010
3 Posts
October 07 2010 00:23 GMT
#7
Really? so u can say incorporating like 2-3 queens can be quite interesting when using brood? i never thought of that.

Thanks all for the good info,
FakeDouble
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Australia676 Posts
October 07 2010 00:27 GMT
#8
The reason units like tanks and collosi have a 'magic number' or a critical mass is that at or above that number, they will pretty much one-shot anything on the ground with their combined splash and their extreme range, melting large balls in a matter of seconds.

Unfortunately for zerg (or fortunately for the other races??), there is no long range splash weapon (fungal doesn't really count).
Formerly known as carbonaceous
Subversion
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
South Africa3627 Posts
October 07 2010 00:31 GMT
#9
broods are better vs mech than they are MMM.

if your opponent has a ton of marines to focus down your broods, you should have infestors and banelings.
Grobyc
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Canada18410 Posts
October 07 2010 00:42 GMT
#10
I agree with Barrin with the general unit composition/numbers for adding broodlords. If the bulk of your army is your brood lords it's easy for the enemy to get in and focus fire. It's not that it's harder for him to do it if you only have 4-6, but if he's going to waste all his units running up and target firing your broodlords, the rest of your army(hydra, roach, infestor, etc) will do an insane amount of damage to his army by the time your broodlords fall because suddenly he will be in range of all your units, uncluding the units in the back. If he doesn't do this, however, you're feeding loads of broodlings in to the front lines to act as meatshields, which isn't good for him either.
If you watch Godzilla backwards it's about a benevolent lizard who helps rebuild a city and then moonwalks into the ocean.
dave333
Profile Joined August 2010
United States915 Posts
October 07 2010 01:17 GMT
#11
From my experience brood lords are more like killer support, in that they put your opponents into a damn annoying situation when you combine them with other units like hydras, roaches, lings, etc. Damned if you kill the brood lords, damned if you don't. This is unlike ultras which can be used by themselves. However, brood lords are once can say, deadlier because they force anti air and a zerg tech switch is so simple to make AA useless.
Shrewmy
Profile Joined May 2010
Australia199 Posts
October 07 2010 01:17 GMT
#12
Doesn't the game place you against opponents in higher leagues anyway?

Does it really matter what league you're in? Starcraft 2 isn't a glorified pissing contest, it's a video game.
TibblesEvilCat
Profile Joined March 2010
United Kingdom766 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-10-07 01:32:07
October 07 2010 01:31 GMT
#13
i use them as way of focing my oppoment into my infestor and baneling trap, the broodlings kinda make people ballup so 2 is enougth :/
Live Fast Die Young :D
Nydus Wurm
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States42 Posts
October 07 2010 01:41 GMT
#14
Lol lol lol Broodlords are useless

just get 10 hydra and attempt a hydra break at his third

you'll get to diamond doing this

User was warned for this post
Icemind
Profile Joined May 2010
Germany570 Posts
October 07 2010 01:43 GMT
#15
I like the siege tank analogy
I do because just as tanks are BLs are pretty much siege weapons (just flying ones) and as with every siege weapon positioning is essential (even with flying ones)
First off there probably isnt a "real" magic number for broodlords but there are certain things to be. Like i said positioning plays a huge role, normally you will want to have something to block your opponent from getting into range to kill those broodlords but with good positioning there is actually another way.
Like with all siege weapons the perfect placement is behind a choke, well this goes for BLs just as much. If you have a choke with the usual width (about 5-6 grid squares) a number of about 10 broodlords will shut down any ground play. This is simply because at this point the broodlings will just block anything from running through and getting into range of those broodlords, but of course one has to admit that there will hardly ever be a game were you are able to get those 40 supply worth of BLs. But if you do, you get the right positioning and your opponent is too stupid to build a lot of air to air ... well then you are in for one hell of a show
... yeah this will never happen in a 1v1 at decent level but you might be able to watch this every once in a while in those copper level 3v3s (i actually had this happen in 3v3 placements a couple of days ago where 15 BLs took out 500 supply worth of stalkers, thors, hydras and marines)
CosmicHippo
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States547 Posts
October 07 2010 03:29 GMT
#16
I think a guy already said this but, if you see he's goin heavy MMM against your broodlords, get some blings in the mix, i dont feel theres to much the terran can do at that point, espically if you have like 5-7 broodlords and corruptors along with that
Yeah i've got your zerg riiiight here! *gulps beer*
denzelz
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
United States604 Posts
October 07 2010 03:40 GMT
#17
On October 07 2010 10:41 Nydus Wurm wrote:
Lol lol lol Broodlords are useless

just get 10 hydra and attempt a hydra break at his third

you'll get to diamond doing this


Wow TL is really quality these days.

There is certainly an optimal number for Broodlords but they are very weak on their own against any anti-air. I always found that Broodlords, like Hydras, work best when you also have a lot of units to soak up damages from other units. A good combo of roach, hydra (for AA), and 4-5 Broodlords make a fairly strong late game army.
Galleon.frigate
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Canada721 Posts
October 07 2010 03:49 GMT
#18
Lets just all be very clear for him ...

THERE IS NO MAGIC NUMBER


Splash units greatly increase in value the more you have, zerg doesn't have splash units (with range that is) so it isn't really a concept that applies.

When using broodlords, sure get as many as you can support... and by support, I mean defend... if you are fighting a terran they they will prob coutner with vik so you need the anti air to keep the vikings away (hard because they have so much range) vs toss usually they try to coutner with ground units, so make sure you have the gound ball to keep the stalkers away-- I have to admit I rarely build more than 5 at a time but it's all up to you
TheAmazombie
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States3714 Posts
October 07 2010 03:57 GMT
#19
Brood Lords are just supper awesome. Yes expensive, yes immobile, but amazingly powerful. The trick I have found is not to use them against troops as much but against mech and buildings they are wonderful. The best this is that they out-range missile turrets making a couple perfect for tearing through some hard turtling from terran and letting the mutas them go to work. I like to go with just a few for support and then bring the pain with mutas or whatever you are doing.

If you position them right with your pack of mutas or corrupters defending from a distance at a back door or other weak point in defense, then just a couple will take plenty of troops away from a battle or from the front to allow you to harass with your ground force in the front. The thing with the Brood Lord at least for me is that you have to use them as a defense breaker/tank killer but not the bulk of your army by any means.
We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. -Charlie Chaplin
EriktheGuy
Profile Joined September 2010
Canada132 Posts
October 07 2010 05:44 GMT
#20
Don't feel bad if you can't micro your broodlords well. If you watch the top replays, pros lose their broodlords "too easily" all the time. They are a powerful unit, but very hard to keep alive.
I'm not zerg, so of course I can't offer any advice on how to play them.
In mathematics you don't understand things, you just get used to them. -Neumann
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