• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 14:14
CET 20:14
KST 04:14
  • 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
RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners12
Community News
ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !9Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win4Weekly Cups (Dec 1-7): Clem doubles, Solar gets over the hump1Weekly Cups (Nov 24-30): MaxPax, Clem, herO win2BGE Stara Zagora 2026 announced15
StarCraft 2
General
ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career ! When will we find out if there are more tournament Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview Weekly Cups (Dec 1-7): Clem doubles, Solar gets over the hump
Tourneys
$5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship Winter Warp Gate Amateur Showdown #1 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL Offline Finals Info - Dec 13 and 14! Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 504 Retribution Mutation # 503 Fowl Play Mutation # 502 Negative Reinforcement Mutation # 501 Price of Progress
Brood War
General
Anyone remember me from 2000s Bnet EAST server? Klaucher discontinued / in-game color settings BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ How Rain Became ProGamer in Just 3 Months FlaSh on: Biggest Problem With SnOw's Playstyle
Tourneys
Small VOD Thread 2.0 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] WB SEMIFINALS - Saturday 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO8 - Day 2 - Sunday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Game Theory for Starcraft Current Meta Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
General RTS Discussion Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Mechabellum PC Games Sales Thread
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Survivor II: The Amazon Sengoku Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread The Games Industry And ATVI YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
TL+ Announced Where to ask questions and add stream?
Blogs
The (Hidden) Drug Problem in…
TrAiDoS
I decided to write a webnov…
DjKniteX
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Thanks for the RSL
Hildegard
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1609 users

[G] ZvT Expand Quad Roach - Page 2

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
MrBitter
Profile Joined January 2008
United States2940 Posts
July 18 2011 21:55 GMT
#21
On July 19 2011 06:40 nunez wrote:
had to test this.

if you don't drone scout, micro your workers early game, send out drone on correct time etc etc, you avoid being idle on 3 larvae going 13 hatch by a few seconds.


If you don't drone scout you don't see the 2 rax, which is a build order win... Not to mention the countless other things you miss.

emc
Profile Joined September 2010
United States3088 Posts
July 18 2011 22:01 GMT
#22
a very safe opening but it's a risk as 50/50 players are going 2 rax or reactored hellion. As a safe guard, I've simply been going for pool first builds, I usually do something like this...


14 gas
14 pool
16 queen
19 hatch

From here, I either get a 2nd queen IF I spotted that the terran is opening with no gas or going 2 rax. IF I see he gets a geyser, instead of the 2nd queen I get a roach warren (21-22 supply) and I keep 2 guys on gas geyser instead of just 1 after getting speed upgrade for my zerglings.
BlasiuS
Profile Blog Joined September 2007
United States2405 Posts
July 18 2011 22:20 GMT
#23
On July 19 2011 07:01 emc wrote:
a very safe opening but it's a risk as 50/50 players are going 2 rax or reactored hellion. As a safe guard, I've simply been going for pool first builds, I usually do something like this...


14 gas
14 pool
16 queen
19 hatch

From here, I either get a 2nd queen IF I spotted that the terran is opening with no gas or going 2 rax. IF I see he gets a geyser, instead of the 2nd queen I get a roach warren (21-22 supply) and I keep 2 guys on gas geyser instead of just 1 after getting speed upgrade for my zerglings.


it's not risky at all. The build doesn't even start until after the spawning pool finishes.

If you scout 2 rax, then don't make roach warren when the pool finishes. Simple.
next week on Everybody Loves HypnoToad:
Existor
Profile Joined July 2010
Russian Federation4295 Posts
July 18 2011 22:36 GMT
#24
Does this build works vs Protoss?
hvalross
Profile Joined July 2011
Norway32 Posts
July 18 2011 22:38 GMT
#25
On July 19 2011 06:55 MrBitter wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 19 2011 06:40 nunez wrote:
had to test this.

if you don't drone scout, micro your workers early game, send out drone on correct time etc etc, you avoid being idle on 3 larvae going 13 hatch by a few seconds.


If you don't drone scout you don't see the 2 rax, which is a build order win... Not to mention the countless other things you miss.



You can often times tell whether a terran is going 2 rax or not by the information you get from a overlord scout or the timing of a potential scouting SCV.

But yeah, I guess its a reason for why 13 hatch isn't standard. A 14 or 15 hatch wouldn't change the roach timings much as far as I can see, so with some very minor alterations this build should be easily executable with a 14 or 15 hatch.

Else than this, this build is really viable and I'm defintely going to play around with this. This closes out most hellion tech paths as well as giving you good aggressive options (which really isn't too usual in zvt). You have to be cautions of banshee transitions though, as I would guess a lot of terrans seeing their hellions plans failing to roaches would immediatly go banshees to do some damage.

Oh and watch this guy's stream. He's awesome.
dont work hard, still play hard
lkjewq
Profile Joined November 2010
United States132 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-18 22:41:06
July 18 2011 22:38 GMT
#26
I 13 hatch every game and I'm grandmaster. It's good and your larva is only idle at 3 for a couple of seconds. It is equivalent to less than half a larva with pool on 15 regardless of worker micro. It also is the zerg opening with the most minerals by 6 minutes. This is with drone scouting immediately after sending drone down to make a hatch.
Vaporized
Profile Joined July 2010
United States1471 Posts
July 18 2011 22:39 GMT
#27
thanks for the post blasius and snute. was looking for some direction zvt and i think i found it. ive been going a little more roach heavy the last few games ive played and its worked out well.
hvalross
Profile Joined July 2011
Norway32 Posts
July 18 2011 22:43 GMT
#28
On July 19 2011 07:38 lkjewq wrote:
I 13 hatch every game and I'm grandmaster. It's good and your larva is only idle at 3 for a couple of seconds. It is equivalent to less than half a larva with pool on 15 regardless of worker micro. It also is the zerg opening with the most minerals by 6 minutes. This is with drone scouting immediately after sending drone down to make a hatch.


is 13 hatch really that good? Wow, maybe I should start to use that myself then. Didn't know that, thanks ^^,
dont work hard, still play hard
Pillage
Profile Joined July 2011
United States804 Posts
July 18 2011 22:49 GMT
#29
Will definitely be looking into this build. I've been opening with roaches alot recently to scare off the ever increasing popularity of blue flame hellions. I love playing muta ling baneling against terran, and having 10 or so roaches in the composition makes the clean up easier after killing all of the tanks. Nothing makes me more unhappy than seeing 10 + blue flame hellions rolling with a terran army when I'm zergling heavy.
"Power has no limits." -Tiberius
aebriol
Profile Joined April 2010
Norway2066 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-18 22:54:43
July 18 2011 22:53 GMT
#30
Off topic concerning the 13 hatch thing:

+ Show Spoiler +
I like 15 hatch 15 gas 16 pool.

The reasoning is: it can defend 2 rax, it gives you 100 gas as well roughly when pool finish so you can start ling speed at once OR roach warren (and afford 4 roaches) while taking drones off gas, and it's awesome econ.

I noticed that it was used a bit in the GSL if the Z didn't expect 2 rax with heavy bunkering, and I find it works quite well.

(one of the key things is to move 10-11 drones to expo right before it finish, so if it's pressure, you have the drones there for defense to kill marines and SCV's).

I just feel that it gives the most options, because you do get that extra early gas with the option of using it for several things depending on what you meet.

Much prefer it to the more common 22-24 gas timings I see a lot of people use, because I find that defending heavy pressure without ling speed, or getting good enough map control and scouting, feels harsh with such late ling speed.


On topic:
I really like this opening, that is, the idea, I have been using something slightly similiar at times in theory (quick fast roaches to pressure or defend) as I find many terrans have insufficient defenses early if they are not going for pressure since they feel wall off is safe.

I'll experiment some with this exact thing and see how it goes.
nunez
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Norway4003 Posts
July 18 2011 23:05 GMT
#31
On July 19 2011 06:55 MrBitter wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 19 2011 06:40 nunez wrote:
had to test this.

if you don't drone scout, micro your workers early game, send out drone on correct time etc etc, you avoid being idle on 3 larvae going 13 hatch by a few seconds.


If you don't drone scout you don't see the 2 rax, which is a build order win... Not to mention the countless other things you miss.



true dat.

not advocating no drone scout, but since op is indicating he doesn't drone scout i guess 13 hatch isn't actually idling larvae in this case. you will be delaying drones, but your hatch will go up faster. snute hinted at it being a stylistic choice.

you can scout on 11th or 12th drone as well and avoid the idling (i tried with 9 overlord, no extractor trick) by a smidge!
conspired against by a confederacy of dunces.
hvalross
Profile Joined July 2011
Norway32 Posts
July 18 2011 23:07 GMT
#32
On July 19 2011 08:05 nunez wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 19 2011 06:55 MrBitter wrote:
On July 19 2011 06:40 nunez wrote:
had to test this.

if you don't drone scout, micro your workers early game, send out drone on correct time etc etc, you avoid being idle on 3 larvae going 13 hatch by a few seconds.


If you don't drone scout you don't see the 2 rax, which is a build order win... Not to mention the countless other things you miss.



true dat.

not advocating no drone scout, but since op is indicating he doesn't drone scout i guess 13 hatch isn't actually idling larvae in this case. you will be delaying drones, but your hatch will go up faster. snute hinted at it being a stylistic choice.

you can scout on 11th or 12th drone as well and avoid the idling (i tried with 9 overlord, no extractor trick) by a smidge!


Sending a scouting drone on 13 along with your expansion drone will easily arrive in time to scout a 2 rax and smoothly transition out of this build.
dont work hard, still play hard
MrBitter
Profile Joined January 2008
United States2940 Posts
July 18 2011 23:11 GMT
#33
On July 19 2011 07:38 lkjewq wrote:
I 13 hatch every game and I'm grandmaster. It's good and your larva is only idle at 3 for a couple of seconds. It is equivalent to less than half a larva with pool on 15 regardless of worker micro. It also is the zerg opening with the most minerals by 6 minutes. This is with drone scouting immediately after sending drone down to make a hatch.


Maybe I shouldn't call it outright bad...

Its nice getting the hatch down sooner, making it less likely to be blocked, but there's no debating that it slows your droning, even if just slightly.
Exley
Profile Joined April 2011
United States239 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-19 01:24:52
July 19 2011 01:24 GMT
#34
13hatch is fine. It would be more popular if terrans actually e-bay blocked 15hatch builds.

As for opening roach: I would get a couple lings out before throwing down the roach warren to get rid of the scouting scv and feign speedling. Once you build the roach warren you get 20 drones in total, which is enough to build pure roach. Then you go allin.

Or you can build just 4/5 roaches, take drones off gas, and try to saturate your natural. This is meh though since opening speedling is more economic and can allow you to counter.
lkjewq
Profile Joined November 2010
United States132 Posts
July 19 2011 09:19 GMT
#35
On July 19 2011 08:11 MrBitter wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 19 2011 07:38 lkjewq wrote:
I 13 hatch every game and I'm grandmaster. It's good and your larva is only idle at 3 for a couple of seconds. It is equivalent to less than half a larva with pool on 15 regardless of worker micro. It also is the zerg opening with the most minerals by 6 minutes. This is with drone scouting immediately after sending drone down to make a hatch.


Maybe I shouldn't call it outright bad...

Its nice getting the hatch down sooner, making it less likely to be blocked, but there's no debating that it slows your droning, even if just slightly.

Mr Bitter: + Show Spoiler +
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=174374
you get the hatch down faster which leads to less blocking you lose a small fraction of larva on your main hatchery but your expansion hatchery gets up faster for better saturation/creep spread and oh yeah it spawns LARVA as well so it makes up for the larva you lost on the main hatch.



Personally I dislike the roach openings because I find speedlings are way more versatile and can do a great deal when micro'd well. Not to mention they offer a means of map control and pressure that roaches really dont offer, even with this build.
deathcount248
Profile Joined April 2010
Australia11 Posts
July 19 2011 10:18 GMT
#36
This sounds really good. A lot of gas-first openings open with just precautionary 1 marauder though; 1 marauder behind a wall (or even without the wall) would be enough to repel this, wouldn't it?
JoeAWESOME
Profile Joined February 2011
Sweden1080 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-19 10:31:53
July 19 2011 10:31 GMT
#37
I dont rly like to play with a strict buildorder as zerg... But I guess your build is good if the terran is doing X and not Y and I dont like to play in that way

+ I hate having roaches in ZvT (unless the terran goes mech)


Also as ppl have said before, 13 hatch is kinda meh
Simply Awesome! - Liquid'Ret - NSHoSeo_Seal - coLMVP_DRG - EG_Idra - Fnatic.NightEnd
CrueltY
Profile Joined March 2011
Guernsey37 Posts
July 19 2011 10:34 GMT
#38
@lkjewq: Is engineering bay blocking something that happens frequently? I haven't encountered it much myself really. Surely something like that could be more damaging to the terran's build order then it is to your's?
All warfare is based on deception - Sun Tzu
Liquid`Snute
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
Norway839 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-07-19 11:09:42
July 19 2011 11:08 GMT
#39
On July 19 2011 19:18 deathcount248 wrote:
This sounds really good. A lot of gas-first openings open with just precautionary 1 marauder though; 1 marauder behind a wall (or even without the wall) would be enough to repel this, wouldn't it?

Hi, thanks! Watch the top replay in the original post, it's a perfect example of what happens should you hit a wall like that. You can also do more damage if you have an overlord for upvision. 2 marauders or 1 marauder and 2 marines in a bunker stops this 4 roach push dead from attacking up the ramp itself, but you can softcontain his natural until he has at least 2 marauders and 2-3 marines. By that time your eco is very strong and you also get a good read on what route your opponent is taking! Much of the art with this build is knowing where to keep your 4 roaches at what different times and when to back off =)

It is true that this build is weak against precautionary marauder and it's also not the best against siege tank rush, but if he does not make enough marines it should be possible to delay his orbital with lair&overlord. Like I wrote in the guide this build is terrible against medium computer (marine marauder rush), but those builds are very uncommon because of their weakness against traditional zerg openers with speedlings.

On July 19 2011 19:31 JoeAWESOME wrote:
I dont rly like to play with a strict buildorder as zerg... But I guess your build is good if the terran is doing X and not Y and I dont like to play in that way

+ I hate having roaches in ZvT (unless the terran goes mech)


Also as ppl have said before, 13 hatch is kinda meh

13 hatch is fine like the other posters in this thread has stated, the larva thing is not an issue and you get really early creep, its very good for the early queen in the natural & creep tumor. I understand not liking roaches in ZvT and I agree, they are often bad against bio and siege tanks, but the purpose of this build is not to go more roaches unless you have to. You only use the timing push to apply pressure, delay his expand and drone behind it... please watch the top replay, as you can see, i dont make more roaches after the first 4 (i think)

This build is strong because it has some sweet strict timing and if you dont like strict timings then i guess this build is not for you :D i hope you try it out at least once though!
Team Liquid
Noody
Profile Joined February 2011
Norway7 Posts
July 19 2011 11:11 GMT
#40
I took this build from your stream, and it works out pretty well for me

Thank you Snute
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Ladder Legends
19:00
WWG Amateur Showdown
davetesta27
Liquipedia
PSISTORM Gaming Misc
16:55
FSL teamleague FINALS ASHvsPTB
Freeedom31
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
White-Ra 489
SKillous 154
ProTech140
BRAT_OK 69
DivinesiaTV 13
StarCraft: Brood War
Bisu 1095
EffOrt 655
Zeus 258
ggaemo 163
firebathero 147
Shuttle 98
Mong 38
EG.Machine 14
SilentControl 6
Stormgate
BeoMulf139
Dota 2
Gorgc6241
singsing3330
febbydoto38
Counter-Strike
fl0m975
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor360
Other Games
FrodaN2093
Grubby861
Beastyqt714
B2W.Neo490
hungrybox439
KnowMe256
Liquid`Hasu190
Liquid`VortiX161
QueenE91
XaKoH 85
Fuzer 76
Trikslyr67
Chillindude6
Organizations
Other Games
PGL1025
gamesdonequick754
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 19 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• printf 44
• HeavenSC 23
• Migwel
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• blackmanpl 42
• Airneanach33
• Pr0nogo 1
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV676
League of Legends
• Nemesis4048
Other Games
• imaqtpie1075
• Shiphtur190
Upcoming Events
BSL 21
46m
Sziky vs Dewalt
eOnzErG vs Cross
Sparkling Tuna Cup
14h 46m
Ladder Legends
21h 46m
BSL 21
1d
StRyKeR vs TBD
Bonyth vs TBD
Replay Cast
1d 13h
Wardi Open
1d 16h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 21h
WardiTV Invitational
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
ByuN vs Solar
Clem vs Classic
Cure vs herO
Reynor vs MaxPax
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #4 - TS3
RSL Offline Finals
Kuram Kup

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
YSL S2
BSL Season 21
Slon Tour Season 2
CSL Season 19: Qualifier 1
WardiTV 2025
META Madness #9
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22

Upcoming

CSL Season 19: Qualifier 2
CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Big Gabe Cup #3
OSC Championship Season 13
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
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 © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.