Ultralisks; Are they worth it? - Page 7

On January 20 2011 13:10 hizBALLIN wrote:
The only matchup I use ultralisks in is ZvZ, and only when I see my opponent is staying mass roach far too late in the game. In ZvP Broodlord+Roach/Hydra handles the Protoss Deathball far far better than Roach/Hydra + Ultra does, or even Roach Hydra + Ultra/Infestor. In ZvT, Broodlords work well as part of most lategame ZvT armies, since Terran field few things that handle them well if the broodlords have a sufficient swarm of zerg units underneath them.

Ultralisks themselves only have two real drawbacks are far as I can see. One is their incredibly long build time, and the other is their lousy pathing/attack behaviors. In ZvT they share upgrades with your typical early game go-to units, Ling/Baneling, which is convenient, but broodlings also use those upgrades which provide a substantial increase to broodlord DPS.

The number 1 reason to use Broodlords over ultralisks is that on most maps, ultralisks are geographically inviable. The narrow paths and tight chokes make Ultralisks worse than their normally barely-on-par performance, and makes broodlords' already nice features shine even more.

On January 20 2011 14:15 GT wrote:
vP Never, ever.
vT Very rarely, only useful to take front loaded damage to break and only to use when ur drastically ahead to put the nail in the coffin.
vZ Rofl, no.

On January 20 2011 15:03 mczbot wrote:


im actually digging the ultra in zvz, as most army compositions in midgame consist of infestor/roach and a few hydras.
now just cut some roaches and get some ultras -> fungal growth -> lay back and enjoy the massaker youre doing

On January 20 2011 14:15 GT wrote:
vP Never, ever.
vT Very rarely, only useful to take front loaded damage to break and only to use when ur drastically ahead to put the nail in the coffin.
vZ Post a vid if you actually manage to tech and morph Ultras without getting yourself killed because no one else has

On January 20 2011 11:52 DuncanIdaho wrote:


But all joking aside, I think the 200 rine army example, was a bit stacked in the ultras' favor, and it wouldn't have worked out so well if they were stimmed and kiting them. However, to say to never use them is silly. In fact, I wouldn't recommend any mono-army. Given, some units work better as mono-armies than others, but I never have a mono-ultra army, unless it's 3v3 Monday Funday. lmao :D

Edit add-in: Okay, I stand corrected, thanks for those stats, Rizzie! So, if ultras have +2 melee and the chitinous upgrade, thus 2/2, they win in a ration of 1:12? Sounds like an efficient use of supply to me, 6 to 12...

However, as the previous person between Miles' and this post said, they're great at taking out buildings. And lets face it, Terran has a crap ton of buildings towards the endgame, and base trades don't work well for zerg, at least from my experience. I mean, yeah, our hatches/lairs/hives have a lot of hp, but that (and maybe a macro hatch or two) and a few tech structures are it. Terran, they generally have several unit producing structures, not to mention supply depots (keep in mind, our supply, olords, dont count as buildings necessary to kill...).

So, building-killing units are quite smart. I say give them a try, experiment with them by mixing them into your armies. I'll agree, vs zerg or terran is the safest, and tread carefully vs protoss, due to the fear of immortals, but I will say they're great when sicked on collosi, even when surrounded by stalkers, you know, those obnoxious corrupter and ling killing balls of doom. Mix in other units such as hydra roach infestor though, of course.