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[D] Ultralisks are such a waste of money

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
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HungShark
Profile Joined June 2010
United States134 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-24 07:59:17
January 24 2011 07:58 GMT
#1
Replay: http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&id=183511

In a lot of pro replays I've seen where the Zerg player has a dominant lead, then techs to ultralisks, they usually end up being the loser.

I'm a 2000 Diamond Zerg player who just got back into laddering after taking about a two month break. I've been doing well against equal or higher-ranked players so far (knock on wood), and I've even been winning a lot of my ZvZs (which used to be my weakest matchup by far).

In my most recent game, I played a Terran player (who was around 2300 Diamond at the time of this writing). He was slightly favored. I usually don't have a big problem with Terran. Out of all three races, my win/loss ratio is highest VS Terran.

The game starts out pretty typical. I scout my foe doing a double rax opening, and I feign roach tech in favor of speedlings (and eventually banelings). I unsuccessfully banelings bust through his wall while expanding, retreat, swiftly nullify his counter attack, double expand, tech to mutas, stay on top of my upgrades, and let him get his natural. I have a somewhat unsuccessful muta harass on his worker line in his main, but I am able to retreat without losing a single mutalisk.

At this point, I'm mostly saturated on my main, natural, 3rd and gold expos, while he's on his main and natural. I'm getting more money than I know what to do with.

As I'm getting my 5th base, I notice he's expanded to his 3rd. At this point, I tech switched to roaches (the main reason for this is because I saw a Thor in his base, and thought he was going to pump out thors to go with his siege tanks). Anyway, I rush my roaches in to take out the Planetary Fortress defending his 3rd base. Before I go on any further, let me quote a recent (supposed) note in the recent patch change:

Repairing SCVs now assume the same threat priority as the unit they’re repairing.


Well, after A-clicking my roaches towards the PF, I saw my foe have all his SCVs auto-repair the PF. I had just assumed that my roaches would start attacking the SCVs. I was wrong. In fact, all of my roaches started auto-targeting the PF, and NOT the repairing SCVs. I can only assume that PFs DO NOT COUNT AS UNITS...

Rage aside, I pulled out and regrouped. I decided that I'd just send a bunch of banelings to quickly take out the PF. I was successful in that, and I killed off most of his SCVs in the process.

Some bad microing on my part then ensued, and I was at a disadvantage, briefly. My foe took out two of my bases with a huge bio ball. I was able to neutralize it with speedlings and banelings, and I quickly rebuilt.

Here's where I think I lost the game.

I then built about nine ultralisks. At this point, I was almost maxed on my ground-unit upgrades. So these ultras should be pretty potent. And they kind of were...but unfortunately, they just eat up so much money. After I maxed on ultras and speedlings, I went and attacked his gold expo. I lost most of my army at the cost of taking out his gold expo again. I was doing a pretty good job keeping him on two bases. Upon watching the replay, I can see that he was out of money.

But so was I.

I was mined out of my main, natural and gold. My 3rd was barely getting anything, and my 5th was taken out by a drop. He then attacked my 3rd again. I didn't have any anti-air, because all of my money was invested in ultras. He had about six medivacs filled with bio, and all I had were my blings to swarm around the meds to try to intercept any units dropped. My foe was clever by dropping marauders down one at a time to cause the blings to explode on them. He wasted all of my blings, then took out my 3rd again. My ultras were burrowed at this point because most of them were in critical HP.

At this point, I had just barely enough money to make one final expansion just nearby his base at the 3 O'Clock position. But because of mules, he was able to pull ahead faster, out macro me, and get the win.

I'm not claiming that Terran is OP. I understand why I lost (even though that lack of SCV auto targeting was BS). I'm annoyed that I wasn't able to beat a 2 base terran as a 4-5 base Zerg. But like I said, the biggest nail in the coffin was getting ultralisks. I should have instead gotten more mutalisks, or perhaps tech to Brood Lords. My main point is that ultralisks are just a terrible, cost inefficient unit. I don't think I've won a game where teching to ultras was the deciding factor.

What I'd like to know from you all, is what do you all think about ultralisks? Is there really a legitimate use for them? I have yet to find one.

tl;dr: Ultras suck, and the SCV auto-repair tweak apparently does NOT affect them when they're repairing PFs.
Die again in good health!
0mgVitaminE
Profile Joined February 2009
United States1278 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-24 08:06:01
January 24 2011 08:05 GMT
#2
edit: I'm dumb
Hi there. I'm in a cave, how bout you?
Kamikiri
Profile Joined October 2010
United States1319 Posts
January 24 2011 08:11 GMT
#3
You lost when your baneling bust didnt work, lost a ton of units trying to kill a PF, dont blame the ultras.

If you are curious though ultras are best used after you get broodlords, force a ton of vikings hard switch to ultras to save the day.
Anteater
Profile Joined January 2011
Canada2 Posts
January 24 2011 08:13 GMT
#4
If you are 2k diamond, then why would you ever build ultralisks? The spawn ultralisk button is actually an April foolf's joke that is still left in the game for some reason.
le sigh
Maicro
Profile Joined November 2010
Australia7 Posts
January 24 2011 08:15 GMT
#5
I thought the only effective way of using ultras was combined with infestors where they can fungal growth and prevent kiting
Excludos
Profile Blog Joined April 2010
Norway7998 Posts
January 24 2011 08:17 GMT
#6
"Repairing SCVs now assume the same threat priority as the unit they’re repairing."

The word of the day is "same". If your units are on a-move, and all the repairing scvs are behind the PF, your units will continue to attack the pf, because there is no other unit more threatening, and the planetary fortress is closest.

If you move your units off to the side for a bit, they will start killing scvs.

note: School is starting in 5 minutes, so wont have time to watch your replay quite yet. Will update this post when I do
Jumbled
Profile Joined September 2010
1543 Posts
January 24 2011 08:19 GMT
#7
The change to SCV priority was mainly aimed at melee units, which would actively avoid attacking the SCVs and run around ineffectively as a result. Note that the SCVs have the same priority as the PF, not higher, so attacking the PF first is perfectly fine.

From the description you give of your game, it sounds more like the problem was being wasteful of resources in general, not specifically the cost of ultras. Having an economic edge won't be enough if you are too reckless about losing units. Conversely, if you do just want to crush your opponent under weight of numbers, you need to protect your expansions well to ensure you maintain the economic advantage required. Can't say more than that until I've watched the replay.
radioyak
Profile Joined November 2010
United States23 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-24 08:20:02
January 24 2011 08:19 GMT
#8
I think that ultra can be a really good super late game tech switch after brood lords. If you come in with like 5 brood lords in the real late game then you can use ultra to clean up. I guess you kinda need to be ahead to use them but I think that they will be used eventually.
5unrise
Profile Joined May 2009
New Zealand646 Posts
January 24 2011 08:20 GMT
#9
I find them useful in ZvZ when you want to transition out of muta ling bling, and you have the melee and carapace upgrades in a lategame ZvZ involving multiple bases. In that situation they can be effective massed against hydra roach. But yeah this really is a rare situation >_>;;

Against Terran and Protoss I really don't see why anyone would make them...
Tomo009
Profile Joined September 2010
Australia96 Posts
January 24 2011 08:20 GMT
#10
The auto-repairing SCVs are still a problem as far as I know. they won't get priority over what they are repairing really. I've still had this happen with thor all-ins when zerglings would dart around the SCV's trying to attack the thor even though all i did was surround then a-click the ground.
Drazzzt
Profile Joined September 2002
Germany999 Posts
January 24 2011 08:20 GMT
#11
I don't watch the replay (time), but ultralisks are still viable in many cases (e.g. idra used them a while ago in his GSL match against a terran). so, if you fear to lose your ultra army and being broke after attacking his gold (probably due to strong fortifications and PF), just don't attack it, secure a 4th and 5th base safe these from drops (you can even put a ultra in every base), and if T tries to move out with unsieged tanks, crack him with ultras and deny his 4th...
Be Nice, Be Fair, Be Mannered.
Douillos
Profile Joined May 2010
France3195 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-24 08:22:21
January 24 2011 08:21 GMT
#12
Hi,

. Im in the same case as you (stopping 2 months) But havent been doing that good ^^

I usually stick on muta ling bling as long as possible. I think you overreacted going mass roaches after seing only 1 thor. I usually tech switch to roaches only if I see him making ONLY thors. Dont forget to scout constantly.
Concerning ultralisks, they get raped if not used in the proper way. I really believe that vs Terran the best way is the Brooloord -> ultra transition, that you ve probably seen if you follow the pro scene.

Hope this helps.

The idea is to tech T3 -> greater spire. Pump out a few broolords and push out. You want to force your opponent to change his army into vikings. Use your mutas agressivly to make him feel the urge to build more vikings.
At the same time you push out, build Ultra cavern and get upgrades. Your goal with the broods are to make those 10-15 ultras that come out, extremly effective because the army comp is made for anti broods.

Dont over commit your army, backoff, run back into the fight. You need him to really go for those vikings.

Btw, you can sometimes outright kill him with broods if he doesnt go for vikings, if you see more bio coming into the fight, he probably is stubborn and just bring in more muta/bane/ling, while keeping your broods alive at all cost. Dont forget broods = tanks unsiege = perfect timing to attack!
Look a giraffe! Look a fist!!
5unrise
Profile Joined May 2009
New Zealand646 Posts
January 24 2011 08:22 GMT
#13
On January 24 2011 17:11 Kamikiri wrote:
You lost when your baneling bust didnt work, lost a ton of units trying to kill a PF, dont blame the ultras.

If you are curious though ultras are best used after you get broodlords, force a ton of vikings hard switch to ultras to save the day.


or you can just make more banelings with the gas used on ultras... you are going to do more damage with 8 banelings than 1 Ultra would ever do. Unless the terran makes mech..
Cyber_Cheese
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Australia3615 Posts
January 24 2011 08:27 GMT
#14
add a replay, the suicide into the pf sounds like the cause
The moment you lose confidence in yourself, is the moment the world loses it's confidence in you.
obsid
Profile Joined November 2008
United States389 Posts
January 24 2011 08:30 GMT
#15
broodlords, which force lots of vikings, then a tech switch to ultra/ling can be very very deadly, but it usualy requires at least 5 bases and is very late game. Usualy you attack, lose your whole army, and then pump like 15 ultras, which finish off the rest of his army.
shihou
Profile Joined December 2010
United States8 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-24 08:35:09
January 24 2011 08:33 GMT
#16
you need to stop A-moving with your entire army on one hotkey. the battle at 22:35 was perfect example of why you lost this game. you had your entire army of 22 mutalisks, 29 banelings, and 20 speedlings on one hotkey and attack moved into 4 undefended tanks. (you had 9 other mutas that werent on any hotkey). those tanks should have been killed by your muta ball without any losses. but because you just a-moved your whole army you spent 10 banelings killing them. you then proceeded to attack move what was left of your army into his ball of marines. well guess what mutas are faster than banelings which meant he was able to kill off most of your mutalisks before your banes even reached them. as well you funneled the banelings in that narrow gap between his command center and barracks.

explicit
Profile Joined August 2010
52 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-24 08:39:10
January 24 2011 08:36 GMT
#17
On January 24 2011 17:17 Excludos wrote:
"Repairing SCVs now assume the same threat priority as the unit they’re repairing."

The word of the day is "same". If your units are on a-move, and all the repairing scvs are behind the PF, your units will continue to attack the pf, because there is no other unit more threatening, and the planetary fortress is closest.


This. It has been bothering me though, because the mechanics means a "autorepair" terran will beat an a-moving zerg.

For instance:
Your roaches will attack the SCV's repairing on the side you are attacking from, but once you start shooting the SCV's the PF takes no damage so they will stop repairing and move away from you. Your roaches then start attacking the PF again and the SCV's will start repairing, but this time from the "backside" where the roaches will not attack them.

On PF's and thors, if you are attacking UP on a map against said unit the grapics of said unit will hide SCV's repairing from behind it (which happens automaticly, ref. the above). Personally i find it hard to target the SCV's repairing from behind a thor when im attacking up a map, and have even lost clutch maps to an unkillable thor where i would have to turn my "camera" to manually target and counter something that happens automaticly for the terran.

Only easy way i found of dealing with it is zerglings and/or surrounding the repaired unit/building with my ranged units - which is sort of counterintuitive because you never know what you are moving into range of. And the times this occurs is typically in the very close situations with few units (since u cant outdamage the repair), typically you don't want to let it get pod shots when this happens.
gulati
Profile Blog Joined April 2007
United States2241 Posts
January 24 2011 08:38 GMT
#18
I watched your replay in-depth before commenting. You did not lose because of Ultralisks, nor because of SCV auto-repair. You lost because of the 32-33 minute mark. Watch closely at the T's choke ramp what you do. You take >800dmg from sitting at the mouth of the ramp, trying to egg forward Ultralisks which are almost 8x bigger than a Marine. You have 37 banelings sitting at your expansion around the 33 minute mark. Why didn't you run your banelings into his ramp and explode on his 22 marines? 6 Ultras (you had that many at this point), despite being critically injured, will win you that game, provided you attacked with intelligence. (You visibly tried to A->Move up that ramp, and that is suicide).

Ultras are an endgame unit. With that said, you cannot A->Move with them. I saw no evidence of micro during the 32 minute mark. (This correlates with at the 18 minute mark how you lost 9 mutalisk for no reason).

I feel your pain brotha, I'm a Z myself. But that game was not lost because of Ultras. It should have been won as clear as day when you took out his last remaining expo at the 31 minute mark. That was it. He was lifting off, and getting ready for his final attack. You researched Missile Attack Rank 3... for what? You also researched Overlord Drop... Why not drop 9 Ultras into his main, and flank with the banelings? But meh, that's the thing about RTS.

Going back to your point though, and the general reasoning for this thread: I do agree that Ultralisks are nothing like they were in BW. They have been nerfed. However, they are still VERY good. Ultras are not meant for Bio units in SC2 though. They do extra damage to Armored units, so why use them against almost pure marine? Waste of money and efficiency. You could have morphed 100 Zergling and just crushed his face with ease instead.

Re-watch your replay in-depth, and focus very heavily on the 31-35 minute mark. That was where your mind just went numb, and you didn't know what to do with all those units you had. You should have easily destroyed him at that point.
C r u m b l i n g
Griffith`
Profile Joined September 2010
714 Posts
January 24 2011 17:07 GMT
#19
ultras are better than they were in BW

100 more HP, do much more damage against armored, and moves faster on creep
griffith.583 (NA)
Indignation
Profile Joined June 2010
United States44 Posts
January 24 2011 17:37 GMT
#20
Problems with your game,

1. Your drone count the entire game was terrible. There were many times where the terran had more scvs (not including mules) than you. That is a losing situation just there. You 2 kindof base traded and he continued to make scvs and u stopped all drone production. Being on 17 drones for 10min is not good.

2. Poor unit control, you seem to a-move your units and let them die. roaches on PF, you let tanks get free shots on ur ultras because you did not micro them (they were content to wait in line behind 1 ultra attacking 1 marine) one of the most sad things was when u let the terran drop single units on your mass banelings towards the end of the game. He kill around 6 banelings with 1 marine.

3. upgrades, you waited way too late to start upgrading your units. His infantry was 2/2 before you even started your first upgrade.
Good news. I figured out what that thing you just incinerated did. It was a Morality Core they installed after I flooded the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin to make me stop flooding the enrichment center with a deadly neurotoxin.
SCdinner
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
Canada516 Posts
January 24 2011 17:48 GMT
#21
Units don't autotarget repairing SCVs they never have. They attack the repairing scvs with the same priority as the thing they are repairing. Only the roaches that are closer to the scvs than the planetary fortress will attack the scvs. You have to bring your army on the mineral side of the PF and attack if you want to take out the scvs.

About Ultralysks I agree. They seem to be much worse than brood lords and only really useful if you get the opppenet to over react to your brood lords and start building mass vikings/phenoxes/corrupters and then you can make them almost useless by switching to ultras.
My other car is a battlecruiser.
hoovehand
Profile Joined April 2010
United Kingdom542 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-24 18:16:19
January 24 2011 18:12 GMT
#22
On January 24 2011 17:36 explicit wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 24 2011 17:17 Excludos wrote:
"Repairing SCVs now assume the same threat priority as the unit they’re repairing."

The word of the day is "same". If your units are on a-move, and all the repairing scvs are behind the PF, your units will continue to attack the pf, because there is no other unit more threatening, and the planetary fortress is closest.


This. It has been bothering me though, because the mechanics means a "autorepair" terran will beat an a-moving zerg.

For instance:
Your roaches will attack the SCV's repairing on the side you are attacking from, but once you start shooting the SCV's the PF takes no damage so they will stop repairing and move away from you. Your roaches then start attacking the PF again and the SCV's will start repairing, but this time from the "backside" where the roaches will not attack them.

On PF's and thors, if you are attacking UP on a map against said unit the grapics of said unit will hide SCV's repairing from behind it (which happens automaticly, ref. the above). Personally i find it hard to target the SCV's repairing from behind a thor when im attacking up a map, and have even lost clutch maps to an unkillable thor where i would have to turn my "camera" to manually target and counter something that happens automaticly for the terran.

Only easy way i found of dealing with it is zerglings and/or surrounding the repaired unit/building with my ranged units - which is sort of counterintuitive because you never know what you are moving into range of. And the times this occurs is typically in the very close situations with few units (since u cant outdamage the repair), typically you don't want to let it get pod shots when this happens.


what do you suggest then besides removing auto-repair altogether?

basically, 4 zerglings (100 mineral) have 28 dps compared to the roach (75 mineral 25 gas) at 8 dps. roach are terrible dps, you never ever EVER want to be stuck trying to out-dps the auto-repair with nothing but roaches. GET MORE ZERGLINGS. the trouble with auto-repair was always the pathing for melee units.

i personally think that auto-repair was a dumb idea in the first place, but it still gets on my nerves with the amount of whining from players who don't seem to know how to control their units properly.
1Eris1
Profile Joined September 2010
United States5797 Posts
January 24 2011 18:16 GMT
#23
As others have said before, you didn't play that well. That being said, as a zerg player I just wouldn't suggest Ultralisks to begin with. In 99% of situations you'd be better off with roaches or similar
Known Aliases: Tyragon, Valeric ~MSL Forever, SKT is truly the Superior KT!
HungShark
Profile Joined June 2010
United States134 Posts
January 24 2011 18:27 GMT
#24
On January 24 2011 17:17 Excludos wrote:
"Repairing SCVs now assume the same threat priority as the unit they’re repairing."

The word of the day is "same". If your units are on a-move, and all the repairing scvs are behind the PF, your units will continue to attack the pf, because there is no other unit more threatening, and the planetary fortress is closest.

If you move your units off to the side for a bit, they will start killing scvs.

note: School is starting in 5 minutes, so wont have time to watch your replay quite yet. Will update this post when I do


There were quite a number of SCVs repairing the PF that were positioned in front of it, closer than the attacking PF. My roaches still preferred to attack the PF.


On January 24 2011 17:33 shihou wrote:
you need to stop A-moving with your entire army on one hotkey. the battle at 22:35 was perfect example of why you lost this game. you had your entire army of 22 mutalisks, 29 banelings, and 20 speedlings on one hotkey and attack moved into 4 undefended tanks. (you had 9 other mutas that werent on any hotkey). those tanks should have been killed by your muta ball without any losses. but because you just a-moved your whole army you spent 10 banelings killing them. you then proceeded to attack move what was left of your army into his ball of marines. well guess what mutas are faster than banelings which meant he was able to kill off most of your mutalisks before your banes even reached them. as well you funneled the banelings in that narrow gap between his command center and barracks.



Yeah. I agree completely. I had terrible control. Like I said, my micro was sloppy all game since I hadn't laddered in nearly two months. I have been playing mostly custom games (DoTA and Phantom Mode).


On January 25 2011 02:37 Indignation wrote:
Problems with your game,

1. Your drone count the entire game was terrible. There were many times where the terran had more scvs (not including mules) than you. That is a losing situation just there. You 2 kindof base traded and he continued to make scvs and u stopped all drone production. Being on 17 drones for 10min is not good.

2. Poor unit control, you seem to a-move your units and let them die. roaches on PF, you let tanks get free shots on ur ultras because you did not micro them (they were content to wait in line behind 1 ultra attacking 1 marine) one of the most sad things was when u let the terran drop single units on your mass banelings towards the end of the game. He kill around 6 banelings with 1 marine.

3. upgrades, you waited way too late to start upgrading your units. His infantry was 2/2 before you even started your first upgrade.


I agree somewhat with the first point. That's a problem I've been having lately since I got back into laddering. Squeezing out more drones and managing my larvae has been a little difficult for me for some reason. I often find myself with excess minerals and no larvae on which to spend them. I don't think that was the game-breaker, however. After I got my 3rd and gold up, for most of the rest of the game, I had nearly double the workers. In fact, he was oversaturated on his two bases.

Agreed with your second point. I admitted that my micro was terrible. Towards the end of the game, I was very flustered because I was raging a bit. I thought to myself, "I've been on five bases and keep denying his expos. HOW does he still have money?! HOW am I running out of money?" I wasn't thinking clearly, which explains a lot of the terrible decisions I made late game.

Although I recognize the importance of upgrades, especially as zerg, I did not feel that upgrades played a significant role in this game. I managed to catch up fairly quickly. Besides, I was relying mostly on blings throughout the game. It's not like their life expectancy will be greatly increased with upgrades (their damage, maybe...).


---


After resting, I've calmed down a bit. I still blame the ultralisks, but not so much that they're simply a terrible unit. After reading a few posts on this thread on some strats on how to use them, I can see some value they have. I sloppily teched to ultras without scouting, thinking they'd be the coup de gras for the Terran. He had an overwhelming army that can best handle ultras. All I did was waste 2700 minerals and 1800 gas, while sacrificing my map control and air dominance.

I should have had the game in the bag, but I wasted too much money and microed terribly. The PF bust with my banelings was a bit extreme, but I don't think that was the big turning point. I still had plenty of money and a lot of operating bases, while I denied his 3rd expo. If I had simply stuck with mutas and blings, I would have eventually won with attrition, as I would have starved him out of money.
Die again in good health!
Morphs
Profile Joined July 2010
Netherlands645 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-24 19:11:52
January 24 2011 19:11 GMT
#25
I think the SCVs where just not accuired as targets. stutter-mirco should resolve that..

For all the resources and techtime that goes into the Utralisk, I think we could have expected a much better unit... like the thor (equal in cost, much faster to tech to)..

But let's hope the balance team goes through the tiers one at a time. Tier 1 seems ok now, also for zerg (except the lack of anti-air). Tier 2 is where the first issues arise for zerg (hydra for instance).. not to mention the higher-tier units.. I guess blizz will try to stretch this into HotS, when it will be clean-slate time. For now, the map pool is what they try to adress (which could give ultras some use back..)
Lonyo
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
United Kingdom3884 Posts
January 24 2011 19:17 GMT
#26
I've made ultralisks twice in SC2.
Both times I lost.
Normally I don't even bother teching to hive, unless it's a really long game.
HOLY CHECK!
Xeken
Profile Joined May 2010
United States77 Posts
January 24 2011 19:19 GMT
#27
You shouldn't try to get ultras till you grab your third base at least. Go with T1 and T2 off two base, control the map with lings and infestors (throw in a handful of hydra for thors, tanks, or medivacs), secure 3, grab ultra, then go from there.

I found a good supply number to grab 3rd is around 105-110, which is anywhere between 12-15 minute mark, depending on how many engagements you have had till that point.

Also, I've had a lot of success with ultras (Master and Diamond level). I actually find them a necessity in all my ZvT.
aquanda
Profile Joined January 2003
United States477 Posts
January 24 2011 19:33 GMT
#28
The only time I ever get them is after I've already produced every other unit in the game. Basically, they are my last resort. Not because they are good, but because I've induced every other unit counter out of the Terran and am banking so many resources I need to spend it, and it's easier to get a pop cap army with ultras than nothing but ling/bling.

HungShark
Profile Joined June 2010
United States134 Posts
January 24 2011 19:35 GMT
#29
On January 25 2011 04:19 Xeken wrote:
You shouldn't try to get ultras till you grab your third base at least. Go with T1 and T2 off two base, control the map with lings and infestors (throw in a handful of hydra for thors, tanks, or medivacs), secure 3, grab ultra, then go from there.

I found a good supply number to grab 3rd is around 105-110, which is anywhere between 12-15 minute mark, depending on how many engagements you have had till that point.

Also, I've had a lot of success with ultras (Master and Diamond level). I actually find them a necessity in all my ZvT.


I was on my fifth base, and he was barely getting his third...
Die again in good health!
Lonyo
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
United Kingdom3884 Posts
January 24 2011 19:36 GMT
#30
On January 25 2011 04:19 Xeken wrote:
You shouldn't try to get ultras till you grab your third base at least. Go with T1 and T2 off two base, control the map with lings and infestors (throw in a handful of hydra for thors, tanks, or medivacs), secure 3, grab ultra, then go from there.

I found a good supply number to grab 3rd is around 105-110, which is anywhere between 12-15 minute mark, depending on how many engagements you have had till that point.

Also, I've had a lot of success with ultras (Master and Diamond level). I actually find them a necessity in all my ZvT.

I call shens until you post up some replays.
If you have had success with ultras (and hydras vs tanks...) then I would very much like to see it in action.
HOLY CHECK!
Xeken
Profile Joined May 2010
United States77 Posts
January 24 2011 20:17 GMT
#31
Allow me to clarify hydra for tanks: When they have a small number of tanks 3-4, a handful of hydra (6-8)+ ling and infestors will clean up the MMT (or MMMT) push very efficiently. With only ling and infestor (infestors first wear down the infantry some, then move in with all the other units), there isn't enough dps to deal with both the infantry and the tanks (not to mention you let all the medivacs get away). A handful of hydras (and only a handful, because you want just enough to be able to form a small concave. Most of the places you get to engage aren't that wide anyways) will provide that bit of additional firepower to match an evenly sized T ball (same idea for 2-3 thors).

And I will see what I can do about replays.
NicolBolas
Profile Blog Joined March 2009
United States1388 Posts
January 24 2011 20:21 GMT
#32
the SCV auto-repair tweak apparently does NOT affect them when they're repairing PFs.


Note that it says that SCV will have the same priority. Not a higher priority. If the PF is between the Roaches and the SCVs, then the Roaches will shoot at the first thing they see in range. The PF.

If you want your Roaches to attach the SCVs, you must move them so that the SCVs are closer than the PF.
So you know, cats are interesting. They are kind of like girls. If they come up and talk to you, it's great. But if you try to talk to them, it doesn't always go so well. - Shigeru Miyamoto
Reptilia
Profile Joined June 2010
Chile913 Posts
January 24 2011 20:24 GMT
#33
On January 24 2011 17:22 5unrise wrote:
Show nested quote +
On January 24 2011 17:11 Kamikiri wrote:
You lost when your baneling bust didnt work, lost a ton of units trying to kill a PF, dont blame the ultras.

If you are curious though ultras are best used after you get broodlords, force a ton of vikings hard switch to ultras to save the day.


or you can just make more banelings with the gas used on ultras... you are going to do more damage with 8 banelings than 1 Ultra would ever do. Unless the terran makes mech..


do not compare banelings to ultralisk. They serve for whole different purposes.
As a zerg, u need to abuse the ability to tech switch. Thats what is most hard to fight as a terran player.
The secret to creativity is knowing how to hide your sources
Kaasflipje
Profile Joined May 2010
Netherlands198 Posts
January 24 2011 20:27 GMT
#34
Ultas are good against mech terran. If you have like 5 bases and he has been building his mech ball on 2-3 bases you can drop your ultralisks everywhere and he won't be able to defend. Also they are great against the protoss lategame deadball and they're immume to FF.
bearjuice
Profile Joined November 2010
United States98 Posts
January 24 2011 20:32 GMT
#35
I think ultras are great as a tech switch. I've used them a lot lately when i've gone with muta ling combo against terran and then switch after they start getting thors and marines, seige out to deal with the mutas and lings. It's all about planning and execution. Just going with "im going to build ultras this game" kind of mentality is worthless.
"Tis a good day to die!"
greycubed
Profile Joined May 2010
United States615 Posts
January 24 2011 20:39 GMT
#36
To the people saying that remaxing with ultras after losing an air army is strong-

Remaxing with a roach army is stronger.

And it comes out waaaaaaay sooner. I've lost multiple times because I have to watch a Terran army A-move through my base while my 15 ultras are slooooowly spawning.
http://i.imgur.com/N3ujB.png
PimpMobeel
Profile Joined August 2010
120 Posts
January 24 2011 20:40 GMT
#37
Ultralisks are pretty worthless since 1.1.2 splash nerf. This is coming from a terran player that used to get owned by ultralisks before it.
PimpMobeel
Profile Joined August 2010
120 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-24 20:47:25
January 24 2011 20:46 GMT
#38
Also I've noticed the biggest mistakes in the games where they were winning by a lot, and then lose because they got ultralisks - it's because they stopped getting infestors which was one of the main reasons they were winning and got ultralisks instead.
bearjuice
Profile Joined November 2010
United States98 Posts
January 24 2011 20:51 GMT
#39
come on you can't say they are worthless when they clearly have a very very very small niche. Sure other units can work better, or work better most of the time. But ultras really are a great tech switch especially if you are playing terran and all the units they have are for anti-muta, or anti baneling (Thors, siege, marines, bunkers, Planetary fortress).
"Tis a good day to die!"
Chaosvuistje
Profile Joined April 2010
Netherlands2581 Posts
January 24 2011 20:55 GMT
#40
I only ever go Ultralisks in ZvZ when it gets to the lategame. And even then I use it to support my roach/hydra ball, only sprinkling in 5 at max. I prefer them over the slowass broodlords because roach/hydra/ultra balls are just so mobile and so strong to take out expansions from zerg.

I never tech to ultralisks in ZvP/T unless I'm way ahead or on 4/5 bases. They are a unit that are very situational, but if you can fit them in that timing, they can shatter the terran or protoss.
Lonyo
Profile Blog Joined December 2009
United Kingdom3884 Posts
January 24 2011 21:00 GMT
#41
On January 25 2011 05:39 greycubed wrote:
To the people saying that remaxing with ultras after losing an air army is strong-

Remaxing with a roach army is stronger.

And it comes out waaaaaaay sooner. I've lost multiple times because I have to watch a Terran army A-move through my base while my 15 ultras are slooooowly spawning.

27s for roach vs 70s for Ultralisks. You've already lost.
HOLY CHECK!
PimpMobeel
Profile Joined August 2010
120 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-01-24 21:01:27
January 24 2011 21:00 GMT
#42
On January 25 2011 05:51 bearjuice wrote:
come on you can't say they are worthless when they clearly have a very very very small niche. Sure other units can work better, or work better most of the time. But ultras really are a great tech switch especially if you are playing terran and all the units they have are for anti-muta, or anti baneling (Thors, siege, marines, bunkers, Planetary fortress).

Thors destroy ultras since 1.1.2, well defended siege tanks destroy tanks, marines tank ultralisk damage as they are non-armoured - the 1.1.2 splash nerf doesn't do this much justice either. It's always better to get infestors or broodlords.
bearjuice
Profile Joined November 2010
United States98 Posts
January 24 2011 21:06 GMT
#43
like i said pimp, you can point out all the counters you want, but GSL has shown us that an ultra tech shift with proper upgrades really do dish out a lot of pain especially when your opponent is preparing himself for something completely different. You aren't going to have a MASSIVE amount of siege tanks when you just had a battle and lost a ton of units, you aren't going to have a TON of marines taking out a fast tech switch to ultras, and you aren't going to have marauders at that time either. Like i said there is a time and place. If you exchange armies and your opponent is expecting more of the same, a tech switch to ultras will be decimating. If i have to show you a replay i will. I'm not expert, but some replays clearly show that ultras really can put that final nail into that coffin.
"Tis a good day to die!"
HardCorey
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States709 Posts
January 25 2011 01:16 GMT
#44
You have a lot of money at a lot of the game. You expanded for your 3rd and 4th way too late. At the 23 minute mark if you had A-Moved with that entire production cycle of roaches you would have won. I don't know what else to say. It didn't really have anything to do with the ultralisks.
Don't Worry, Be Happy.
gulati
Profile Blog Joined April 2007
United States2241 Posts
January 25 2011 09:05 GMT
#45
On January 25 2011 02:07 Griffith` wrote:
ultras are better than they were in BW

100 more HP, do much more damage against armored, and moves faster on creep


I'll give you credit where you deserve it- they do more damage against armored, and have +100HP.

Anabolic Synthesis. Don't rely on creep to make your Ultralisks faster. Rely on your Ultralisks being faster because they can be upgraded to be faster.

Sidenote; SC2 = +100 Minerals, +2 Food, +15 Seconds

Conclusion: You decide.

P.S. Not a typical BW/SC2 rant, so sticking back to OP topic after this.
C r u m b l i n g
gulati
Profile Blog Joined April 2007
United States2241 Posts
January 25 2011 09:09 GMT
#46
Back on topic, I will end my thoughts on this last post: Ultras have their time and place. That game was definitely not their time, nor their place. You seem to be a smart guy, but you didn't play right. You lost the game, not the Ultras. But hey, you learnt.

Maybe Ultras just aren't your thing. Stick with mutas and learn to micro, you can never go wrong with them
C r u m b l i n g
nttea
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
Sweden4353 Posts
January 25 2011 09:14 GMT
#47
everything zerg can make is a waste of money except for drones and banelings imo :p
HardCorey
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
United States709 Posts
January 25 2011 17:08 GMT
#48
and banelings are only one time use!

In the replay you used about 48 banelings to kill 1 planetary fortress and some scvs. That is absolutely not cost effective! A good idea is to attack where he is vunerable, if you can take his army in a straight fight, which you could with that many banelings and roaches, then just wipe out his producing structures or all of his supply depots. Try not to attack the strongest point.
Don't Worry, Be Happy.
iPBioOrMech
Profile Joined May 2010
Turkey297 Posts
January 25 2011 17:14 GMT
#49
Its because all zerg players mass ultralisks, there not units that are ment to be massed. Thats why they usely win making 2-3 is fine tho but a full army is alright
i created scan BM, MvP created mule drop.
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