Zerg Safe Standard Builds

Gazzaridis

3 Posts

January 01 2012 13:47 GMT

Hey guys,

I played this game in Season 1 & 2 and got to plaitnum as terran, I think stopped playing for some months and have recently come back at the start of Season 5 and have wanted to start playing as Zerg,

I was wondering if you could give me some advice on the safe and standard builds for each matchup as a place for me to get started on the ladder before I start worrying about advanced builds etc

Thanks for your time,

Gazz

snexwang

Australia224 Posts

January 01 2012 13:52 GMT

Here, I'll get you started.

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=113479
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Zerg_Strategy
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/search.php

Hope that helps.

JojoE

101 Posts

January 01 2012 14:05 GMT

14 14 (speedling expand)

Lw247_

38 Posts

January 01 2012 14:08 GMT

Think it's better to come up with your own builds. (not saying you should completely disregard all the known builds as it's still useful to know them but then learn them for all the races so you can somewhat know what might be coming out of your opponent)

Glurkenspurk

United States1915 Posts

January 01 2012 14:12 GMT

Check out Apollo's videos

Pretty much the best thing to watch if you're a beginner zerg.

Belial88

United States5217 Posts

January 01 2012 14:13 GMT

14pool/16 hatch.

No gas against Terran.
Get gas as soon as you scout protoss went gateway instead of forge
Get gas after hatch against zerg for defensive banes

This should teach you macro play.

14/14 is actually a pretty bad build (great newb build though, i suppose... teaches you zerg? others will recommend it so you can read what they say about it). Terran walls in so you cant use the speed for anything, and hellions are fast, and 2/3 rax all in hit before speed finishes, protoss can wall in too and 14/14 gets speed too early (although you will need speed, just get gas if you scout and see gateway instead of forge) and it's also completely worthless against FFE (good if you plan to roach/ling all-in though) , and against zerg defensive banelings are much much better.

However build order really doesn't matter for zerg until you hit masters. Like, completely the most meaningless thing until maybe higher diamond. 11pool/18hatch, 14/14, 14/16, 14/15/15, 10 pool, all okay openers that you'd get to masters if you could with 'better' builds. You need to focus on defending without making units, making minimal units, MACRO, getting lair at a good time (never before 50 supply, really), gas timing (only 1 gas at most until 40 supply).

imjorman

United States580 Posts

January 01 2012 15:16 GMT

Did you remotely search? There's the zerg help thread, liquidpedia, and apollos videos...

Gazzaridis

3 Posts

January 01 2012 15:39 GMT

thanks for the replies guys, i appreciate it

llKenZyll

United States853 Posts

January 01 2012 16:11 GMT

In ZvP, gas trick to 11, make an overlord on 11, and then a spawning pool on 11. Stop making drones at 14, make two pairs of lings and then start your queen. You should be at 18 supply, then make a hatchery.

Belial88

United States5217 Posts

January 01 2012 16:21 GMT

#10

^ I don't think that's a really good build. It's 'better' if you don't plan on expanding, since 14/14 means you bank some money over larva, but you want to expand so...

14/14 is just superior to it in every way. I think 11/18/18 was okay for a while back when protoss who went 3 gate sentry didn't know how to use forcefields.

But 11 pool won't get lings out in time to deal with cannon rushes, so it's worse in that regard, and against 1/3g expands, it doesnt get any more lings any better, so 14/14 is still better.

This is coming from someone who went 11/18 for about half a year in zvp. Once I hit masters suddenly toss weren't losing to pure ling all-ins against their 3 gate expands, and even then, they could macro well enough that making that many lings actually hurt me more than helped, even if you force multiple cancels, because eventually they'll just take their expo 1-2 minutes later and you just are soooo behind in drones.

Notfragile

Greece713 Posts

January 01 2012 16:25 GMT

#11

ZvT http://raa-media.nl/blog/starcraft2/zvt-survival-of-patient

ZvP http://raa-media.nl/blog/starcraft2/zvp-aiurs-armageddon and http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=299170

ZvZ http://raa-media.nl/blog/starcraft2/zvz-alpha-omega

Theese are guides you should have found searching the forum. Anyway, they are more than enough to start playing zerg. Gl hf

DrSuit

Netherlands33 Posts

January 01 2012 16:29 GMT

#12

When creating a thread it sais:
"Before you post...
Please use the search feature to see if there is already a thread on your subject."

lhr0909

United States562 Posts

January 01 2012 17:56 GMT

#13

I don't know what do you mean by a safe standard build. For zerg it is really just how you stay alive with maximum amount of drones. The the opening really does not matter that much. It is really the matter of how you drone without dying. Thats the best opening. And to do that, you keep practicing on ladder vs different all ins. And eventually you will find your go-to build.

ZvT: 15 hatch is a must. speedling expand will put you way behind, and ling speed is not needed for the first 5 minutes in the game because of the popularity hellion expand builds. So 15 hatch 15 pool and 17 gas will be much better. If you get 2 rax'ed, don't get gas and just get queens, 1 spine and lings to defend, until you are safe.

ZvP: ling speed could be good, I know some pros favor fast ling speed for safety, but I still don't think you need ling speed fast. Some people favor gasless expand. For me, I go 14 pool 16 hatch. I send down 3 drones to juggle with the probe that tries to deny my expo, just to make sure I can put it down. If I scout a forge fast expand (FFE) from my opponent, I don't get gas till 6 minutes. And I try to put down a third hatchery by the 5:30 mark (about 28-32 supply). If I don't scout an FFE, I get gas immediately and get ling speed. And put down 1-2 spines in my natural to fend off possible gateway pressure.

ZvZ: It is a tricky matchup, and it is the best matchup for you to learn how to be greedy. Recently I just tell myself: My goal is to stay alive with 14 pool 16 hatch opening early game. So the opening I go is mainly 14 pool 16 hatch. Drone scout at 13 (if you don't want to die to early pool), if early pool is scouted, I go 13 pool then drone to 18, and get extractor and spine and then queen then overlord. The order is important. By the time you get your spine is when exactly the early pool pressure hits. You FIGHT WITH YOUR DRONES vs early pool until your spine and queen pops. But if I don't scout an early pool, I get gas at 17 after 16 hatch. Then I PUT DOWN BANELING NEST whenever I have 50 gas!!! This is important because thats how you hold a ling/bling all in. You don't need ling speed fast, if he tried to all in you, you don't even need ling speed until you hold it off.

But all we can tell you is theorycraft. YOU NEED TO PRACTICE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT WE ARE TALKING ABOUT. I cannot explain how trivial what I said was without experimenting.So make sure you try to play yourself and practice. gl hf

darkscream

Canada2310 Posts

January 01 2012 18:05 GMT

#14

The problem is that there is no "Safe build" that works in all matchups. I guess speedling expand but sorta not.

In ZVZ, you pretty much should always speedling expand imo. 14pool 16 hatch (No gas) is not safe, its a greedy build thats safer than 15hatch but it isnt safe like speedling expand is.

in ZvT honestly 15hatch is pretty safe... it counters 2rax builds more than any pool first build. If you do go 14p16h or some such, make sure you get lings/queens to assert control over your natural since the creep will be late.

Lastly ZvP, i really never feel truly safe. You always have to scout for proxy pylons no matter what build you use.... I usually do 15p/15h or 15h/15p depending if I think they are forge expanding or not. (you can tell by the map)

Although if you are below plat as a zerg player you can probably just 14g, 14p, 20 hatchery (the speedling expand) on every map for every race, its safe, but not optimal.

PhoenixVoid

Canada32743 Posts

January 01 2012 19:18 GMT

#15

Versus Protoss I personally prefer to go 13 pool/17 gas/18 hatch as a way of having enough zerglings to deny any pylon blocks on my expansion, and having ling speed quite early to repel any early pressure. In ZvT, going 15 hatch/14 pool is pretty safe, seeing the creep will generally extend enough to deny any bunkers being placed, and creates enough time to have spines, lings and queens up in time. ZvZs, I prefer to go 15 hatch as a safe, economic build, but personally go for something like a 14 pool-ish build generally. Hope this helped!

Tobberoth

Sweden6375 Posts

January 01 2012 20:55 GMT

#16

I recommend ONLY going 14g/14p, always. It works on all maps, it works in all matchups, it's good against cheese while keeping an economic edge. Learn how to do a proper 14/14, then do it until you know it like the back of your hand. When you get to that point, you can focus on other things, such as early scouting etc, because you don't need any focus to pull off the build. That's why it's so great to pick one opening for all situations. When you have perfected it, you can look into different openings for different maps/matchups, such as hatch first vs terran.

Here's the basics of the 14/14:
9 - overlord
12 - drone scout
14 - gas
14 - pool
15 - overlord
when pool finishes, immediately get queen, ling speed and start building 2 pairs of lings
pull drones of gas at this point (if you time it well, you can actually pull the drones off gas before the pool finishes, leaving you at exactly 100 gas)
when lings pop, send drone with the lings and expand. Use lings to get watchtowers and place at opponents front
when queen pops, inject, start building a new queen, build an overlord.
Build drones, as soon as inject pops, make all into drones.
When nat goes up, transfer 4-6 drones to it. It should finish a while after your second queen pops (2nd queen should place tumor and start walking to nat)
THIS is were you need to scout your opponent. Sac an overlord, run up ramp with lings... Depending on what you see, you can transition into anything at this point.

For example, say you sac an overlord and see 4 gates. Immediately place 2 spines at your natural and start building ONLY lings. If you can afford it, building a third queen at nat can also be sweet for holding the push and then place tumors. If you instead scout an expansion, just drone like crazy and take a third.

EvilTeletubby

Baltimore, USA22258 Posts

January 01 2012 21:08 GMT

#17

On January 02 2012 00:16 imjorman wrote:
Did you remotely search? There's the zerg help thread, liquidpedia, and apollos videos...

This...

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