[G]My unique way of playing zerg(by a Chinese boy)

I remember clearly how I was defeated by all sorts of annoying strategies like 4 gates ,viod

ray,DT RUSH,4RAXes all innings,4 banshee at a very early time,dropping the blue flame

hellions,etc.I mean these strategies really pissed me off .And I wonder whether zerg players

have no choice but to guess and defend at the early game?All zerg players know it’s very hard

to scout unless you sacrifice an overlord.At that time,I came up with a strategy that solved

this problem,.

Standard Build Order:

13d pool
16d gas (the time you have 100 minerals will be the best)
15d overlord
When the pool is done,make 4 lings and 1 queen.
The next larva is for drone and then save the larva.Don’t throw down the Roach warren

until the 4/5 of the morphing process of the queen.It’s the very best time to do it.You do

this to ensure you a better economy and it’s the best way to hide your strategy.Before

the 7 roaches is popped out,1 ling should make a good scouting.The other 3 lings and queen

keep the SCV out of your base.My best record of 7 roaches popping out is 4:55,I believe you

can it too.One more importing thing to remember is to control your overlord to fly a proper

route.When your roaches are coming out,it’s time to move your overlord to make sure you

can attack something at his base with the view of the overlord.
Now it’s in your pace.While you are having a good push in the front,another importing thing

is how you developed in your base.

After get the 7 roaches,the Build order(A general one):

1 overlord, 3-drone-gas switches to 1-drone-gas.
QUEEN Spawn two creeps continuously
Throw down your second base
The second queen
Wait for 100 gas,upgrade the speed of lings
Wait for 70 gas,throw down the evo chamber
Wait for 100 gas,upgrade the +1 attack of lings
During the process,all larvas should become as many drones as possible.Build one spine

if necessary.
If you have a good micro of roaches,you can seriously influence your opponents’ pace and win

yourself a long time to make drones safely.
The purpose of the strategy is not to rush and win the game,it’s to scout the opponent

’s tech through pushing and ensure we can expand our second base safely.

situation not suitable:
ZVP:FOUR GATES at a very early time and with a good micro
ZVT:4RAXES ALL-ININGS

situation win you a great advantage
ZVT: quick Hellion 1 RAX CC
ZVP:DT RUSH, VIOD-RAY RUSH,or any other quick-tech rush,or a quick expansion with a few

sentries and zealots.The cannon expansion is very special one(next time I’ll tell you how to

cope with it)

It really works at the Xel'Naga Caverns and the similar short distance maps.
But for the long distance map like Shakuras Plateau or Tal'darim Altar LE,The strategy is not

recommended.Terran and Protoss can easily block their ramp and build some defense.



Replays
(ZVP)7roaches opening http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=248940


(ZVT)7roaches opening http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=233893


FOR THE ZVT,another two general openings I am using are 14D speed-ling opening and 15

hatch.Next time I will talk about them.Due to my English skill,it’ll take a very long time to

write down what I am thinking.(I promise I’ll make it a complete series a few days

later.About how to cope with all sorts of harassment terran can make at the early game)

In my mind,zerg is the best race-Agile,flexible
On the contrary,It takes a long time for terran to push to zerg’s Natural and to supply the

front army.
Trust me,zerg player can never beat a terran player if you don’t know how to separate

terran’s armies.
Alaways maintaining a good mobible army is very essential.
At the early game,it could be SPEEDLINGS.
MID GAME,MUTA and SPEEDLINGS is perfect.
In my opinion,economy is much more important than quick tech in ZVT,so what I am

talking here is based on my unique opening-you should have a Good Creep spread,a good control

of minerals gases,I generally put my second extractor very late,but putting down my third base

is quite early.

In the MID-GAME,based on your scouting,if he goes for

1.one base quick tech, whatever quick hellions, banshee rush,quick drop or anything else.



The solution is to make as many queens as possible,and third base is priority to
Lair,even you can throw down your fourth hatch to ensure you a great number of larvas.In

general ,4-5 queen is ok,it can block ramps as well,all sorts of tactics terran can play seems

useless.And REMEMBER, Creep spreading is very important,never stop it with so many queens.

2.Typicalbio Expand,with the combination of marines and tanks and medivacs,pushing out at

the time of 8:30-10:00.

If terran played like this,no harassment,no hellions,it’s time for your mobile amry to

shine,grab the watch towers,and put 1 ling just in front of his natural.As his Army is coming

out,it’s time for you to sneak into his base, cutting his reinforcements and do some damage

to his economy.Seperate terran’s units and break them!

3.the combination of marines and marauders,keeps put pressure on you.

You can cope with it easily with lings and banelings,speed upgraded.Even if terran player

micro perfectly,your combination can easily handle it.But remember,don’t hurry to enagage

with him ,cut the reinforcements and upgrade your attack and carapace is much more important.



download replay:

http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=233896


Three typical ways how terran will play in the mid-game.Mech strategy is powerful ,I will

discuss it later.

Remenber these thing I play in the mid-game;
quickly upgrade the speed of lings,quickly upgrade +1 melee attacks.After you lair,the

first thing is to upgrade +2 melee attacks and +1 ground carapace.With the time passing by,the

quality of Your army is becoming better and better.I am introducing a way that will make you

army stronger with the time pass by.

Here we go, the most amazing part of my stratedy,the late game of ZVT.
Spine clawer is a leading role,the general combination are speedlings,a few

banelings,muta,infestor,tons of spines and nydus worm.The way I play in the late game is like

the Chinese kungfu- tai chi.Seldom do I attack terran's main amry ,instead defensing,sneaking

and harassing is my approach.

About how to expand and how to protect your expansion

In my ZVT competition, defense is the core.Spine clawer is my favourite. REMENBER,never ever

engage with a terran army if yours is less powerful than his!Choose a furthest point to expand

your 4th or 5th considering the poor mobility of terran (your third base can be near though.)

Build one nydus worm near any new base,it’s a easy way to deliver drones to work and

infestors to defend.Build 5+ spines around your new base.Infestor is indispensable for

defending your bases.Every base should at least equipped with one Infestor,At the center of

the battlefield,building 20+ spine clawers will be a normal thing for me,provided with 4-5

infestors.These things formed a very solid defense system,Terran ‘s pushing is delayed by

your spine wall.It wins you huge amounts of time and ensure you a very steady economy.

Now it’s time to counterattack!

By the way,never ever let terran expand to his fourth,never!

Two ways to attack

First,tons of +3attack +3carapace muta,with nydus worm delivering lings to his base.

It’s very essential to keep your muta,muta is vulnerable if it’s not in great number.Do

not engage with his main army,instead head to his original base and destroy all his building

(REMENBER TO keep your muta in a large number!!!If tons of marines come back,just fly away

and find somewhere else you can attack. Poor mobility makes Terran impossible to defend

everywhere) Completly destroy his economy and Command Center.Now it’s your time to decide

when to have a good engagement,I think he’ll GG before you do that.Large numbers of muta is

suitable for a wide and large map,such as Tal'darim Altar LE .

Second,let’s go for brood lords,maybe 8-10 brood lords is ok.

With some lings and infestors,the terran army can’t hold it.If he has some Vikings,go for

hydralisks or just corruptors.This tactic is suitable for a small narrow map like Xel'Naga

Caverns.Terran’s base can be easily attacked.If you go for brood lords in a wide big map,it

can be easily shot down by mass marines or Vikings and it moves so slowly and it takes too

long a time for them to join the front battlefield.

ZVT is all about patience. Cultivate your patience and you will win the game.

(Some details of other two opening and how to cope with mech in the late games I’ll write in

the the later days)


replay download: http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=233898




the power of mass muta and spine defense system is showed is this replay.

Here’s the build order:
10 extractor trick for both exractor,but cancel just one extractor.
Pull 2 drone to the exractor.Wait a moment and then pull the third one into it..Don’t pull

them to minerals until you have 88 gas.
Wait for 200 minerals,build pool
10 overlord
11 get one drone.Build a queen and upgrade speed of lings at the same time as your pool is

done.There will be a waste of larvas,but it’s ok.Then you should make all your larvas into

speedlings.Your queen will pop out at a very early time,so your spawning larva is much quicker

than your opponent,which means you can have far more speedlings than his and have the map

control. A normal 14 drone exractor will complete speed upgrade at 5:00.However yours is

4:30,and with 10+ lings ahead your opponent. And any 9pool 8 pool 7 pool 6 pool will be a joke

competing with you.

If you opponent goes for

14D speedlings and quick expand
Though his expansion is quick,it is dangerous and he is short of lings to compete with you.He

will absolutely lose his second base unless he keeps producing lings and have a incredible

micro.(Here’s a trick.When your first 4 lings poped out,take one for scouting and the other

three hold on your ramp to prevent your opponent’s lings from scouting.It can really puzzle

your opponent,because the time your ling coming out is just like a normal 13d

opening.Generally your opponents ling’ll come out and scout,but it’s slow lings,you can

easily beat them between 4:30-5:00 with speed lings.)With your reinforcements joining the

front lings,it’s time to push to his ramp to see if you can beat him at the early

game.Normally he can’t hold it,at least he’ll lose a great number of drones.(Drone hard

when your pushing start,and build the second queen,because he may transfer to banelings or

roaches.It’s meaningless to keep pushing)I believe when the first pushing is over,your

drone is 3-5 ahead your opponent.This really win you a great advantage,it’s much easier to

beat him in the later game.

15D hatchery
15D hatchery makes me confused whether my opening works.I was defeated at the Tal'darim Altar

LE on the Korean server by 15D hatchery.Due to the long distance,he defended my first pushing

successfully with 2 queens and some lings.And all my speedlings died.There’s no way I can

play at that circumstances.So coping with the 15D hatchery,rush is the only way.The game will

end at the early time.However,I think most people can’t hold it when he goes for 15D hatchery

if you can hide your opening well.However,the opening is still not recommended in a long

distance map.

14D speedlings and banelings
If he goes for banelings at an early time,the best way is to put pressure on him,micro

speedlings to consume his banelings and win you some time to drone hard and resume collecting

gases.Don’t forget to build a spine clawer(ensure you a safe expansion in the late game) and

a second queen, which helps a lot in spreading creep and blocking ramp. When you have 50

gases,throw down your baneling nest.

Quick roach openings
If he goes for roach at an early time,the number of them won’t be sufficient to defend your

push,which means you can at least kill some of his drone.

The purpose of this opening is to have an early control of the map and you can drone

safely.On the other hand,you don’t need to worry about a rush opening,but 6 pool still works

in short-distance maps.So it depends on your micro.

10D replay: http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=233899

http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=233890

How to win the game through mass muta in ZVP(sacrifice your orginal base and nartural but

destory his base completely)


http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=233892

how to make a 3 base rush(Hydralisk&lings)

http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=233900

a new thought on how to play in the late game of ZVZ(using mass infestor)

http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=233897

How to beat terran without muta.

http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=233895

http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=233894

two replay about how to beat a mass mech army in the late game of ZVT.

Let’s start with ZVZ matchup, which really confused me for a long time.However these days, I

find some key points to win this matchup.

Before that, ask yourself a question. Do you have an over-all game plan?

Not only in ZVZ(also in ZVT and ZVP), it’s the very basic quality you required if you want to

be a really good player.

Let me give you an example. My ZVZ over-all game plan is as follows:

Early-game: try to scout opponent’s army scale and drone number through speedling sneaking or

banelings. And based what I’ve scouted, I can decide when to stop droning, when to throw down

a roach Warren, how many spines should I build and when to update my lair. The critical point

in the early-game is to get as many drones as possible , which provide a solid foundation for

your economy.

OK, now we move to the mid-game , we have to choose our tech. Muta or infestor? Roach or

hydralisk?

Nono, it’s important but which to choose is not the most important. You may ask what should I

do to ensure a solid win? The answer is to be always economically head of your opponent(For

example, you should expand your third earlier than your opponent and deny your opponent’s).

That’s the critical point. We also have two ways to do that, one is strengthen our own

economy, the other is to slow down your opponent’s economy. Most of the time, a good player

can do both thing at the same time.

Personally, I prefer the muta tech, which makes me feel active in the mid-game.

OK, remember again. Two things you should do in and after the mid game, one is to strengthen

your own economy, one is to destroy your opponent’s. Here’s some details of transition from

the mid-game.

Muta → roaches →mass infestors and mass spine clawers(2BV updating attack and carapace) if

your opponent goes for a typical roach/hydralisk/infestor combination.

Muta→mass muta →mass infestors and mass spine clawers if your opponent goes for mass muta in

the mid game.

replay: http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=248943

a typical muta play against infestor&roach&hydralisk. The best thing i do in this replay is to

kill his third.

If you are wondering what is the ultimate combination of ZVZ?

My answer is mass infestors and mass spines. Being attacked from all diretions by burrowed infestors,

watching the spine sea waving their bodies, your opponents will go crazy. You may

say Broodlords or ultra will work. Try itself with your friends. You’ll believe me, mass

infestors = imba.

Try to organize multiple attacking in the late game to accomplish your task(strengthen your

economy, destroy your opponent’s).

Now if you are clear about your ZVZ over-all game plan, let me introduce another practical

opening for ZVZ.

Standard build order:

It’s mostly like a speedling opening but it’s very quick in baneling and expansion.

See in my replays.

replay: http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=248942

this replay shows the details of my opening and what to do when you reach 200 and have a lot
of minerals.
It's exciting when i engage with my opponents. Don't miss it.

The initial four banelings are very important, how to hide them is something you have to think

deeply.

I think this opening is suitable for a long-distance map. (Cause you have more space to hide

your banelings).

And this is obviously not an aggressive play, all I want to do is to drone a lot more than my

opponent. Four banelings can make him nervous and attracting his attention from the front

battlefield. The game pace is under your control.

Some details you should pay attention in the replay.

Drone to 16 and then make 4 lings and then 1drone and then it depends on your scouting.

1 spine clawer is required.

What I am talking about all the time is the “over-all game plan”.

I am a lazy man, a very lazy man. So I decide not to go deeply into all the details. Such as

the standard build order or whatever. I think a replay can substitute for it.

So I’ll mainly talk about my thought on this matchup and how to react to your opponent under

some circumstances.

Ask yourself, did you play ZVT and ZVP in the same way? I mean besides you won’t produce the

same army, is there anything difference? Let me give you my answer. In a short way, ZVT

economy > army. But ZVP is the opposite, army > economy .Let me explain, terran’s push is

slow and he may siege and unsiege his tank, which gives you a lot of time to strength your

economy. My ZVT strategy is inspired by the BroodWar player sAviOr(IPXZERG).So I tend to play

ZVT in a sustainable way rather than in an aggressive way. I tried to do the same thing in

zvp. But I kept failing all the time. Once Protoss has expanded his third or more, it seems

impossible to compete with protoss’s mixed armies(I mean the ground unit). I beat protoss in

the late game only by mass mutas. I have to commit mass mutas are IMBA. But that’s seems the

only way zerg player have chance to win protoss in the late game. However, the transition in

the mid-game is very dangerous. You don’t know when he’ll coming out and give you a timing

attack, besides, your muta isn’t upgrated(0 attack).

So I tried to play another way, the aggressive way.

My opening is a general 14D speed ling expand. The advantage is to restrict his scouting and

to control the map easily in the early game.

Then it’s a 2 base 3 hatchery pace. (For details you can download my replays.)

In the mid-game, what you have to do is based on what your opponent’s choice is. Two timing

for overlord scouting. One is around 7 minutes. One is when your lair update is finished, you

can morph an overseer to have a throughout scouting. The scouting in the mid-game is very very

very important!!!

And remember these things in ZVP:

IF your army is positive, never ever stop attacking!! Attack your opponent in every body

position. My critical attacking point is my opponent’s mineral line. Most of the time, I’ll

put my overlord in a particular position and then fill it with 4 or 8 banelings and then fly a

beautiful route to accomplish our bombing task, it is a multiple task, you have to attack in

the front battlefield at the same time to attract his attention.

Multiple attacking is the way I control the game pace of ZVP.

Never stop attacking…
Never stop attacking…
Never stop attacking…
Never stop attacking…
Remember in mind.

Now my big problem is how to win ZVP if P have already expand his fourth. I seldom win under

that circumstances. I want to discuss with you about this problem.

Now I want to analyze some typical protoss playing and how to react to them.(Based on my 2

base 3 hatchery)

Now most protoss try to make a FFE opening. SO let’s start with this.

All strategies follows are based on a FFE opening.

1. An immortal and sentry PUSH

Immortal+sentry+zealot+stalker

Very powerful against heavy roach army.

Have you ever thought of making mass +2 speedlings and banelings to hold this? But remember,

you should upgrade the speed and drop of your overlords.(Very important)

And you can multiple-task him through dropping zerglings in his main and hold his push easily

by dropping banelings on his head and your +2 zerglings will end the push.

This is very effective against this kind of push.

replay: http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=248945



2. stargate harassment
One viod-ray or a little bit of phoenixes

Upgrade the speed and the drop at once when the lair is finished.

And then you have to drop everywhere, in his main, in his natural.

replay: http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=248945
it's a very exciting replay,it's quick in pace. Mutiple task is everywhere. DROP DROP DROP!!
In this replay, although his phoenixes have found my overlords, my army still arrived in his
main and did a lot damage. This is how I control the game pace.

3. 7 gateway push

A few sentries, stalkers and zealots

This push is mainly depends on the protoss micro.

I remember MC VS DRG on Shakuras Plateau in GSL. MC pushed to DRG’S natural with 12 sentries,

and his forcefield is pretty cool. That time DRG failed to hold the push although he had

upgraded the burrow. Burrow is necessary to hold that sentry heavy army. Don’t hurry to

engage with him. Burrow properly and wait for your reinforcement to pop out. Mass lings and

roaches will hold this.

4. +3 fast colossus and mass stalkers without sentries

Simple way: upgrade burrow and burrow move for roaches.

Produce mass roaches to end the battle.

5. +1 +2 +3 mass blink stalkers

It is really based on protoss’s micro.

Mass blink stalkers are very powerful. Roaches can’t beat them. Maybe mass +2 zerglings and

banelings are the answer.


IF your opponent goes for a 3 gateway expansion, you have to throw down the roach warren a bit

early and produce a bunch of zerglings to pick up his outside probe and destroy his outside

pylon as his army go away.

replay: http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=248947
This replay shows how to organize a multiple attacking in the mid-game. BTW, the baneling boom
in his mineral line is very impressive.

replay: http://www.gamereplays.org/starcraft2/replays.php?game=33&show=download&&id=248946
This replay shows an aggressive way to handle this, but this map is wide and protoss can’t
protect his natural that easily. Probably not suitable in other maps.