• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 00:56
CET 06:56
KST 14:56
  • 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
SC2 All-Star Invitational: Tournament Preview5RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2
Community News
BSL Season 2025 - Full Overview and Conclusion5Weekly Cups (Jan 5-11): Clem wins big offline, Trigger upsets4$21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7)16Weekly Cups (Dec 29-Jan 4): Protoss rolls, 2v2 returns7[BSL21] Non-Korean Championship - Starts Jan 105
StarCraft 2
General
Stellar Fest "01" Jersey Charity Auction SC2 All-Star Invitational: Tournament Preview Weekly Cups (Jan 5-11): Clem wins big offline, Trigger upsets When will we find out if there are more tournament SC2 Spotted on the EWC 2026 list?
Tourneys
SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-18 SC2 AI Tournament 2026 $21,000 Rongyi Cup Season 3 announced (Jan 22-Feb 7) OSC Season 13 World Championship Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 508 Violent Night Mutation # 507 Well Trained Mutation # 506 Warp Zone Mutation # 505 Rise From Ashes
Brood War
General
[ASL21] Potential Map Candidates Fantasy's Q&A video BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Potential ASL qualifier breakthroughs? BSL Season 2025 - Full Overview and Conclusion
Tourneys
[BSL21] Grand Finals - Sunday 21:00 CET [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] Non-Korean Championship - Starts Jan 10 Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Soma's 9 hatch build from ASL Game 2 Simple Questions, Simple Answers Game Theory for Starcraft Current Meta
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Beyond All Reason Awesome Games Done Quick 2026! Nintendo Switch Thread Mechabellum
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
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
My 2025 Magic: The Gathering…
DARKING
Physical Exercise (HIIT) Bef…
TrAiDoS
Life Update and thoughts.
FuDDx
How do archons sleep?
8882
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1316 users

[G] How to micro vs early pools in ZvZ - Page 2

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
BinxyBrown
Profile Joined December 2010
United States230 Posts
November 06 2011 19:25 GMT
#21
Yeah i can add some reps when it happens to me in game its pretty rare in masters atm for someone to early pool
Banelings are like Ice Climbers if they grab you... your dead.
Flexx
Profile Joined August 2010
United States87 Posts
November 06 2011 21:28 GMT
#22
Nice guide!

My question is: Do you find it necessary to tailor your response depending on the different variations of early pool all ins? For example, a "standard" 6 pool, vs a 6 pool + spine, vs a 6 pool + spine + all drones.

I personally believe there are different ways and methods to handle each, and would love to hear your perspective on it.
Kornholi0
Profile Joined November 2010
Canada634 Posts
November 06 2011 21:39 GMT
#23
What do you do when they build a creative spine placement (like in between your mineral gland and spawning pool in the back? And they just camp around it with the lings soaking up damage until the spine finishes, if that spine finishes even a queen with lings can't kill it in that position. Especially with lings being well microed and somewhat reinforced or drone up? (especially if they do an economic 7pool spine build).
Team Channel: VTeX Team Co-leader: AGGhost 223 Stream: http://www.twitch.tv/agghost
BinxyBrown
Profile Joined December 2010
United States230 Posts
November 06 2011 23:22 GMT
#24
If you get a flank on lings with drones the drones win pretty handily the general rule is to tag a spine with 4 or so drones and get the surround with the rest.
Banelings are like Ice Climbers if they grab you... your dead.
doner0
Profile Blog Joined July 2010
United States233 Posts
November 07 2011 02:11 GMT
#25
really sick post, i ahve been needing something like this for zvz
Nickemwit
Profile Joined December 2007
United States253 Posts
November 25 2011 13:49 GMT
#26
If they come lay two spines, doesn't this throw a wrench in your whole strat? In that case, it seems like you're the one on a timer
Fight Fire with ShrieK
Tobberoth
Profile Joined August 2010
Sweden6375 Posts
November 25 2011 14:42 GMT
#27
This is a really really old tactic, can't believe there hasn't been a proper guide with images created already. I do appreciate your timings on the different pool rushes though, always good to get that extra bit of knowledge.
Roynalf
Profile Joined August 2011
Finland886 Posts
November 25 2011 14:47 GMT
#28
what about when they go 6 pool all in with drone pull and offensive spine crawler?
(V) (;,,;) (V) Woopwoopwoopwoop
JEEPFiretruck
Profile Joined September 2011
Australia106 Posts
November 25 2011 14:58 GMT
#29
On November 25 2011 22:49 ShrieK wrote:
If they come lay two spines, doesn't this throw a wrench in your whole strat? In that case, it seems like you're the one on a timer

This is the only type of early pool i have trouble with with my 14g 14p open.. i have no idea how to beat it cause the lings can just camp the spines.. if i pull drones to attack i cant get a good surround :S
"ya mum loved me last night" - SuperWog
ETisME
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
12632 Posts
November 25 2011 15:17 GMT
#30
have to say, early pool defense is one of my fav type of game because it is so micro intensive and have some smart thinking play
其疾如风,其徐如林,侵掠如火,不动如山,难知如阴,动如雷震。
Highwayman
Profile Joined March 2010
United States181 Posts
November 25 2011 15:25 GMT
#31
This doesn't really address how to deal with spine crawlers. If they drop even 1 spine crawler on the edge of the creep right at the beginning the timer is on you at that point and you have to engage. You should pull all your drones and try to mineral walk the ones that are about to die back. If they drop 2 spines you're almost better off just bypassing it all and sending all your drones and lings when they pop to their base, drop an extractor at their base and eventually you win. However, again I think this post is misleading because you're still dealing with a micro battle in a lot of these situations and it's not some easy decision that is made that causes you to win almost every time.
ElPeque.fogata
Profile Joined May 2010
Uruguay462 Posts
November 25 2011 17:20 GMT
#32
If they make the spine at the edge of the creep then leave it like that. what is it going to do, hit the hatch?

He timed the spine so the lings will be there to fight your drones. If you attack there you will lose drones to the lings and mining time. And he will cancel and rebuild if you are close to killing it.

Instead build your own spine crawler and queen (or two spines) so that he cant move the spine in range of your mineral line. Try not to lose any drones, and make lings constantly. You will just want to attack when your hatch is low on health.

Your spine will not be too late compared to his, cause he has to wait auntil his lings reach your base to start it, which is just seconds away from your own pool.

After your own spine or two are done, he can only cause damage with his spine to your hatch, cause his lings would have to enter your spine's range to attack anything.

When you got enough stuff and your hatch is getting low on health, unroot your spines, send the queen to attack to draw spine fire, send your own spines to root in range of his, and then all your lings and drones to attack and mineral walk back hurt drones.

Trick: I always 10 drone scout, so i have a drone at their base to make my own spine hidden in the fog of war to move in range of his mineral line whenever i have the spare minerals. Cheezers don't expect to be cheezed back
GribStream.com - Historical Weather Forecast API - https://gribstream.com/
jumai
Profile Joined July 2011
Canada115 Posts
November 25 2011 20:31 GMT
#33
Something this guide should include is the hold position worker micro technique from the 6pool guide. It's just as effective for early worker defense as it is for a drone rush.

The technique revolves around the targetting priority ai. Basically, the default targetting behaviour is to preferentially attack "hostile" units before "passive" units.* Workers do not automatically attack enemy units, so they count as "passive" units unless they're on an attack command. I'm talking about the same priorities that can cause a ling runby to ignore the mineral line in favor of fighting the defending units.

When you're fighting with your workers, you can exploit this behaviour to your benefit. Since workers don't automatically attack enemies, any command overriding the active attack command of a fighting worker also instantly ends their "hostile" status, causing them to drop in targetting priority. If there were enemy units attacking that worker, that will cause them to switch targets in favour of attacking an eligible "hostile" unit (unless your opponent is manually targetting). However, once the enemy units switch to a "hostile" target, your worker reverting to hostile status only puts it at equal priority with the (new) current target, and that by itself won't cause the enemy units to switch back. (it can in combination with other factors, ie new target out of range)

So to putting itt to use: when one of your workers is taking damage, you can select it and press H to instantly shift its attackers off to a different target, then a-click immediately to resume attacking. This is much faster, more dps-efficient, and less prone to pathing issues than trying to pull them back normally. It's also not a position- or direction-sensitive command sequence, so you can select the workers taking damage out of the group selection window instead of mineral stacking and then trying to see what's going on under all the health bars.

Credit for the technique goes to the author of the 6pool guide. Learned it there, incorporated it, it's really good.
justnny
Profile Joined October 2010
United States171 Posts
November 25 2011 21:08 GMT
#34
On November 07 2011 06:39 Kornholi0 wrote:
What do you do when they build a creative spine placement (like in between your mineral gland and spawning pool in the back? And they just camp around it with the lings soaking up damage until the spine finishes, if that spine finishes even a queen with lings can't kill it in that position. Especially with lings being well microed and somewhat reinforced or drone up? (especially if they do an economic 7pool spine build).


This is what has been killing me. I can defend just an early pool with 14g/14p. An early pool gets ugly when he adds a spine dropped as his lings arrive. His lings are there to defend his spine and if I drone attack the spine, the lings kill them. If I wait, his spine murders my drones or lings. The multi-tasking demands are on the defender in this case, not the aggressor.
Baseic
Profile Joined March 2011
Netherlands310 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-11-25 21:24:49
November 25 2011 21:22 GMT
#35
So is the consensus that the best counter to a double spine 7 pool is just to do a full counter attack and base trade?
Etc.
ChanmanV
Profile Joined December 2010
United States1156 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-11-25 21:32:47
November 25 2011 21:32 GMT
#36
Agreed that the single or double spine follow up to this is the toughest version of the 6-7 pool. The good players will not throw up the spine until their lings are running up the ramp. At that point, they'll build the spines in range of your spawn pool (not mineral line or hatch). The reason for this is it creates a faster timer since the pool doesn't have that many hit points.

So what do you do? There are 2 things you can do:
- Build as many lings as you can before the spawn pool dies, and then run to his base with everything and go base trade scenario
- Or you build 2 spines yourself and hope you can draw some shots. In this scenario you actually want to leave like 2 drones mining and take the rest to pressure the lings back behind the spines. Kinda like you do against an early 2 rax bunker pressure. You want to push them away from the spines so that once your lings hatch they can take out at least one of the spines. Since you'll have limited lings and are fighting with your drones you won't have many so all of this has to be microed super well. This is where the aforementioned drone Hold position micro is super important.

It your opponent executes it well, it is pretty tough to hold but it's possible and sometimes it even continues on to a normal game believe it or not.
Erasme
Profile Blog Joined February 2011
Bahamas15899 Posts
November 25 2011 22:09 GMT
#37
On November 26 2011 06:22 Baseic wrote:
So is the consensus that the best counter to a double spine 7 pool is just to do a full counter attack and base trade?

This is actually one of the best answer :D
Or you could just scout at 9. If you see <10pool, you throw a pool asap and stay in his base with your drone while looking for a spine in your creep. The usual followup for the opponent is to rampblock with double queens and get roach. You can start gas as soon as your first ling hatch. Expo at 21, baneling nest around 25. Then you can cancel his expansion (if he try to get one) or make spines/blings if you sense something fishy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7lxwFEB6FI “‘Drain the swamp’? Stupid saying, means nothing, but you guys loved it so I kept saying it.”
Baseic
Profile Joined March 2011
Netherlands310 Posts
November 25 2011 22:28 GMT
#38
On November 26 2011 07:09 Erasme wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 26 2011 06:22 Baseic wrote:
So is the consensus that the best counter to a double spine 7 pool is just to do a full counter attack and base trade?

This is actually one of the best answer :D
Or you could just scout at 9. If you see <10pool, you throw a pool asap and stay in his base with your drone while looking for a spine in your creep. The usual followup for the opponent is to rampblock with double queens and get roach. You can start gas as soon as your first ling hatch. Expo at 21, baneling nest around 25. Then you can cancel his expansion (if he try to get one) or make spines/blings if you sense something fishy.

I think 9 scout costs too much vs 14/14. If you scout early, you can go 15 hatch of course, but if you scout last position, you will be a bit behind I think, or you still have to take the guess and go hatch first.
Etc.
JEEPFiretruck
Profile Joined September 2011
Australia106 Posts
November 25 2011 23:59 GMT
#39
On November 26 2011 06:32 ChanmanV wrote:
Agreed that the single or double spine follow up to this is the toughest version of the 6-7 pool. The good players will not throw up the spine until their lings are running up the ramp. At that point, they'll build the spines in range of your spawn pool (not mineral line or hatch). The reason for this is it creates a faster timer since the pool doesn't have that many hit points.

So what do you do? There are 2 things you can do:
- Build as many lings as you can before the spawn pool dies, and then run to his base with everything and go base trade scenario
- Or you build 2 spines yourself and hope you can draw some shots. In this scenario you actually want to leave like 2 drones mining and take the rest to pressure the lings back behind the spines. Kinda like you do against an early 2 rax bunker pressure. You want to push them away from the spines so that once your lings hatch they can take out at least one of the spines. Since you'll have limited lings and are fighting with your drones you won't have many so all of this has to be microed super well. This is where the aforementioned drone Hold position micro is super important.

It your opponent executes it well, it is pretty tough to hold but it's possible and sometimes it even continues on to a normal game believe it or not.


never considered base race.. it should be doable though since you bring your drones you can throw down extractors at his ex-base and protect it... winning strategy??
"ya mum loved me last night" - SuperWog
Baseic
Profile Joined March 2011
Netherlands310 Posts
November 26 2011 00:29 GMT
#40
On November 26 2011 08:59 JEEPFiretruck wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 26 2011 06:32 ChanmanV wrote:
Agreed that the single or double spine follow up to this is the toughest version of the 6-7 pool. The good players will not throw up the spine until their lings are running up the ramp. At that point, they'll build the spines in range of your spawn pool (not mineral line or hatch). The reason for this is it creates a faster timer since the pool doesn't have that many hit points.

So what do you do? There are 2 things you can do:
- Build as many lings as you can before the spawn pool dies, and then run to his base with everything and go base trade scenario
- Or you build 2 spines yourself and hope you can draw some shots. In this scenario you actually want to leave like 2 drones mining and take the rest to pressure the lings back behind the spines. Kinda like you do against an early 2 rax bunker pressure. You want to push them away from the spines so that once your lings hatch they can take out at least one of the spines. Since you'll have limited lings and are fighting with your drones you won't have many so all of this has to be microed super well. This is where the aforementioned drone Hold position micro is super important.

It your opponent executes it well, it is pretty tough to hold but it's possible and sometimes it even continues on to a normal game believe it or not.


never considered base race.. it should be doable though since you bring your drones you can throw down extractors at his ex-base and protect it... winning strategy??

Should work, wait for his crawlers to finish, just keep mining and make lings, gather all forces and move to his base, he can't engage, and he will have to uproot his crawlers, you can then kill him.
Etc.
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
All-Star Invitational
03:00
Day 2
herO vs SolarLIVE!
Clem vs Reynor
Rogue vs Oliveira
WardiTV1393
PiGStarcraft750
BRAT_OK 156
EnkiAlexander 110
3DClanTV 82
IntoTheiNu 26
LiquipediaDiscussion
AI Arena Tournament
20:00
Swiss - Round 2
Laughngamez YouTube
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft750
WinterStarcraft697
BRAT_OK 156
RuFF_SC2 149
IndyStarCraft 127
UpATreeSC 50
StarCraft: Brood War
Rain 2711
EffOrt 202
Shuttle 171
Pusan 118
ggaemo 63
yabsab 41
ZergMaN 26
ajuk12(nOOB) 21
Models 15
Dota 2
febbydoto61
LuMiX1
League of Legends
JimRising 797
C9.Mang0590
Super Smash Bros
Mew2King34
Other Games
summit1g7510
KnowMe590
minikerr31
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1820
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 80
• Kozan
• Migwel
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• sooper7s
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• Diggity8
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
League of Legends
• Stunt502
Other Games
• Scarra1660
Upcoming Events
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4h 4m
OSC
6h 4m
Shameless vs NightMare
YoungYakov vs MaNa
Nicoract vs Jumy
Gerald vs TBD
Creator vs TBD
BSL 21
14h 4m
Bonyth vs Sziky
Mihu vs QiaoGege
Sziky vs XuanXuan
eOnzErG vs QiaoGege
Mihu vs DuGu
Dewalt vs Bonyth
IPSL
14h 4m
Dewalt vs Sziky
Replay Cast
1d 3h
Wardi Open
1d 6h
Monday Night Weeklies
1d 11h
The PondCast
3 days
Big Brain Bouts
5 days
Serral vs TBD
BSL 21
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S1: W4
Big Gabe Cup #3
NA Kuram Kup

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 1
OSC Championship Season 13
SC2 All-Star Inv. 2025
Underdog Cup #3
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S1: W5
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Rongyi Cup S3
Nations Cup 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
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 © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.