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On March 18 2012 03:40 Belial88 wrote: I Show nested quote +On March 18 2012 03:06 Jermstuddog wrote:On March 17 2012 16:50 Belial88 wrote: Might be a bit over the top, but I'm pretty sure 0/0 ling/bane will just tear through 3/3 marines without any kind of support. If you really believe that, there's no point arguing. BBS got nerfed out of existance in SC2 because the marine US such a ridiculously strong unit. Trying to make an argument that 0/0 speedlings can crush 3/3 marines is laughable. Given equal ups, a non-stimmed marine will kill 1 1/2 lings before he goes down. A 3/3 marine will kill 2 lings and be ready for more. Apply stim and a little bit of micro and now each marine is worth 3-4 lings. Why did I even bother typing this, you're obviously trolling. You are aware I said ling with bane support against mmarines with no tanks or medivacs, right? Your crazy. He's not crazy at all. Stim + good micro (splits and stutter). 3/3 marines should target down all banes and then just back into a corner or something and mow down the lings.
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IMHO it's more of a stylistic choice in going Ling/Infestor over Muta/Ling/Bling. If you think about it, you can theoretically accomplish everything you'd do with mutas and banelings with fungal growth and ITs, and instead of expending units that asplode themsleves you're spending energy. I don't see any reason why mutalisks are unviable or anything nowadays, in high numbers they can topple turrets and be a Terran's worst nightmare having to run SCVs willy-nilly. With mutalisks you can pick off tanks, counterattack and temporarily contain a Terran until he has enough static defense. With infestors you can nab groups of marines with a chain fungal and be annoying with burrow and throwing beach balls. Still, I think it's more just a preference for infestors rather than mutas being seen as unviable because they definitely have a place and can win games.
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As a Terran player I will always fear muta openers. A zerg investing in mutas, even without harassing, forces turrets, makes drops more costly, and takes map control. When I see infestor play I just start dropping and expanding like its my job. Zerg can't cost-effectively stop double drops without mutas or turtling with static d, and I mean turtling because if there is a hole 16 marines will wreak havoc.
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On March 21 2012 16:45 Gamegene wrote: Too many players rely on Mutalisks as their answer to ZvT. They'll try and be cute with their harassment, feel cocky and just rely on their Midgame composition way too long, They'll pour in a lot of resources to their flock, only to lose them due to poor multitasking.
Some of the better Zerg players I play who choose to go Mutalisk stop at around 12-13, get armor upgrades for their air (most of BL's DPS is the broodlings themselves and the splash damage from Siege tanks. 0 attack vikings take a long time killing 1-2 armor broodlords) and transition into infestors and broodlords, with Mutalisks flying around killing stray marines, preventing drops and clean up any surviving armies that are too tank heavy.
You don't have to JUST go Mutalisk, or JUST Infestor. You have to be smart about how you use both. This. Going muta of 2base doesn't mean you have to kill the terran with mutas, you don't even need to do damage. All you need those first mutas to supply is 1. scouting information, fly into terrans main and see what comp he's going for. 2. map control, terran needs to keep army around base to stop muta harass. 3. drop defense, drops are extremely costly when mutas deny medivac.
You don't need many mutas to obtain those benefits. You can pretty much get 10 mutas right when spire pops, then go for infestors, or you can just pump ling/bane like crazy since lings and banes are what crushes the terran army, not the mutalisks.
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I don't think that mutas are bad for the game or too underpowered. I agree though that 2 base muta is quite bad and doesn't really do anything versus a good terran that can keep up with macro as well as the upgrades. My ZvT is by far my best match up only losing to weird all-in builds or of course, high master korean terrans. Being an 800ish point masters zerg I think I understand the match up pretty well. I don't believe in sacrificing mutalisks for upgrades. I get my 3rd, double evo, 2 - 2, THEN I get mutas. Once on 3 - 4 base I'll begin to get my muta count up to about 20 - 30 and keep it around there. With ling bane muta I'm able to max out usually before the terran and with good map presences and awareness with such fast units I'm able to almost always catch the terran unsieged and I can crush the army and even when they are sieged with good control I'm still able to trade efficiently. I use mutas in order to focus fire tanks and harass the production of the terran. Infestors are good to throw in when mutas get dull at times but I still prefer the mutalisk.
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On March 16 2012 08:46 ClysmiC wrote: My ZvT has taken a bit of a nosedive lately (I'm still a muta/ling/bling player) as Terran marine upgrades are just so strong. But I still really dislike ling/infestor style vs Terran as I feel it leaves you WAY too open to drops, and its only a matter of time before Terrans start abusing the crap out of that fact.
Spread overlords, Have your lings on atleast 2 separate hotkeys. Plants spines when your eco is great. Problem solved.
Not being able to handle terran drops is a multitasking problem. You need to be able to watch the minimap while doing other stuff.
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mutas are awful zvt. in order for them to work you need 2 spires and 2 evos uprading lings and mutas. that just doesnt work unless you play much, MUCH better.
infestor into hive is both easier to play and transitions much safer, smoother and faster to that scary hive tech composition while having enough gas to support all the upgrades you need (which you also get really early).
there are a few maps where i think mutas are better but in my opinion that doesn't make mutas a good unit in that matchup it just means the map has big flaws that work against normal play like for example shakuras.
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Another reason why infestor/ling is clearly superior right now is that the transition into ultras is faster and more effective than transitioning into brood lords off of muta builds.
When hive pops for an infestor player he will instantly start 3-3 and adrenal followed by an ultralisk cavern. So right when the first ultras pop he will have 2-2 upgrades on them (+ carapace) and 3-3 will be pretty close. Since hive comes a lot earlier for infestor builds there will come a point where you will have 3-3 ultra/ling/infestor vs 2-2 marines. Contrast that against a brood lord army that will have something like 0-2 or 1-1 vs 2-2 marines.
You also need a lot less ultras for them to be effective in your army and they are faster than Brood Lords. When ultra carapace finishes you can easily make 3 ultras and they will be extremely benefitial to either main army engagements or counters / planetary snipes. If you only make 3-4 broods they are nearly useless and you can't use them in counterattacks at all. You need to have atleast 8-10 broods before they can start doing damage and even then they need to traverse the map slowly, giving the terran a great deal of time to prepare for the attack.
You normally add double spire after your 3-3 is done or somewhere after you've maxed on ultras and have a good econ. Then you can get a greater spire and start working on those upgrades. Then the tech switch comes suddenly with maybe 2-2 broods that he won't expect.
Ling->infestor->ultra->brood/corruptor is a LOT more fluent of a transition than ling->banes->mutas->infestor->brood/corruptor and it scales much better with upgrades. Hell I even get ranged upgrades for my infested terrans late game because you don't really need to spend a million gas to be able to do damage with ultra/ling.
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Mutas are just fine in my opinion, they have their place. Someone said that drops should be handled just fine with overlord spread and lings, which I completely agree with, but mutas are great for making that drop not even happen. And killing off medivacs is HUGE, especially as you start to go for broods.
As others said, they are also great for scouting, and just keeping the opponent honest. If they forget to build turrets anywhere, you can punish them.
Lastly, they are great for a late game tech switch. So useful to make 20 mutas after a big battle and just wreck your opponents econ.
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On March 21 2012 23:32 StarBrift wrote: Another reason why infestor/ling is clearly superior right now is that the transition into ultras is faster and more effective than transitioning into brood lords off of muta builds.
When hive pops for an infestor player he will instantly start 3-3 and adrenal followed by an ultralisk cavern. So right when the first ultras pop he will have 2-2 upgrades on them (+ carapace) and 3-3 will be pretty close. Since hive comes a lot earlier for infestor builds there will come a point where you will have 3-3 ultra/ling/infestor vs 2-2 marines. Contrast that against a brood lord army that will have something like 0-2 or 1-1 vs 2-2 marines.
You also need a lot less ultras for them to be effective in your army and they are faster than Brood Lords. When ultra carapace finishes you can easily make 3 ultras and they will be extremely benefitial to either main army engagements or counters / planetary snipes. If you only make 3-4 broods they are nearly useless and you can't use them in counterattacks at all. You need to have atleast 8-10 broods before they can start doing damage and even then they need to traverse the map slowly, giving the terran a great deal of time to prepare for the attack.
You normally add double spire after your 3-3 is done or somewhere after you've maxed on ultras and have a good econ. Then you can get a greater spire and start working on those upgrades. Then the tech switch comes suddenly with maybe 2-2 broods that he won't expect.
Ling->infestor->ultra->brood/corruptor is a LOT more fluent of a transition than ling->banes->mutas->infestor->brood/corruptor and it scales much better with upgrades. Hell I even get ranged upgrades for my infested terrans late game because you don't really need to spend a million gas to be able to do damage with ultra/ling.
Nice post. With mutas the hive tech comes pretty late. And it is hard to transition into ultras, but going brood lords mean you will likely have a semi-weak ground army and it will be hard to hold off a push that comes before you have enough broods. Getting to hive tech off mutas is just a lot harder (and less effective) to do than with infestor based play.
I feel that the maps also makes it harder to go mutas. The maps force a strong army to control the middle or makes it hard to harass with mutas in the natural and main most of the time.
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Alot of pros have been trying to throw in a few when they won't be a complete waste, a suprise, and use them as a trick to really go more infestor heavy to get ready for broodlord tech.
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people have been abusing mutalisks forever and now non-zergs are playing under the assumption that they will likely come out. there is no match up in which mutalisks are strange to be seen. that's why mutas are hard to use. people being sensational like they can't be used are seriously ignorant and naive. it's just a matter of you not being able to win with only mutalisks, and frankly you shouldn't. they were better in BW and you couldn't do it there either (getting mass MASS mutas that is).
you spend like 2k+ gas on units that are simply doing less per unit after getting 10-15 and getting more of them doesn't improve your tactical effectiveness with them except that you will eventually have a flock strong enough to kill buildings. it has always been an idiotic thing to just get mass mutas and against a good enough player it shouldn't be able to do anything except force a base trade. WHY would you even get more than like 15 mutas if you weren't planning on killing buildings? you're either planning on killing their buildings or you're a bad player who's actually trying to fight an straight up army with mutalisks and that makes no sense. there is of course the idea of getting 20-30 mutalisks for the sake of doing what 1 flock of mutas can do in 2 places at once, but that is so rarely ever done that i only mention it for the sake of it existing.
most people just 1a mutas the entire game and don't even micro well until thors despite them being a micro intensive unit. the fact that people are going into mass mutas with no pressure except from mutas whatsoever and not getting completely destroyed tells me the unit is more than fine.
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On March 21 2012 23:20 willverrecken wrote: mutas are awful zvt. in order for them to work you need 2 spires and 2 evos uprading lings and mutas. that just doesnt work unless you play much, MUCH better.
infestor into hive is both easier to play and transitions much safer, smoother and faster to that scary hive tech composition while having enough gas to support all the upgrades you need (which you also get really early).
there are a few maps where i think mutas are better but in my opinion that doesn't make mutas a good unit in that matchup it just means the map has big flaws that work against normal play like for example shakuras.
Perhaps the reason mutas don't work for you in zvt is BECAUSE you go double spire double evolution chamber, as if you could afford that on 2 base.
Mutas provide so many things in this game, but if you're one of those scrubs who think only in terms of unit composition, they might appear bad to you. You know, because YOU'RE bad.
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When you look at DRG's muta/ling/bane games from today vs heart and mkp you can just see how incredibly cost inefficient his banes were, and they're the key to the composition. His muta harass was also pretty much non-existant, they shut them down so hard.
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yeah but the fact that DRG .... the best zerg in the world.. is willing to go mutas in a finals of a MLG for 25k.. means that mutas are totally viable.. just because godly MKP beat mutas.. doesnt mean that mutas are not viable in ZvT... and he only made one spire.. so i dont know what you guys are getting at. if the best zerg in the world will go mutas on 3 base.. mutas are viable. if he loses or not it doesnt matter its MKP...
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On March 26 2012 09:31 mooseman1710 wrote: yeah but the fact that DRG .... the best zerg in the world.. is willing to go mutas in a finals of a MLG for 25k.. means that mutas are totally viable.. just because godly MKP beat mutas.. doesnt mean that mutas are not viable in ZvT... and he only made one spire.. so i dont know what you guys are getting at. if the best zerg in the world will go mutas on 3 base.. mutas are viable. if he loses or not it doesnt matter its MKP...
It pretty much does mean mutas are not viable, actually, at least not pure idra-style mass mutas. DRG arguably the best player in the world, goes for heavy muta strats repeatedly and lost almost every single time. Queue DRG not being called the best player in the world anymore.
They have their uses, especially if you know you have some tangible advantage - clearing out a huge # of marines before going spire is a decent move, for example, but going spire blindly is not. Thus it can be relegated to a niche, which is fine, but cannot be the centerpiece of a strategy. Mostly ling/baneling with upgrades is the centerpiece.
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On March 26 2012 09:31 mooseman1710 wrote: yeah but the fact that DRG .... the best zerg in the world.. is willing to go mutas in a finals of a MLG for 25k.. means that mutas are totally viable.. just because godly MKP beat mutas.. doesnt mean that mutas are not viable in ZvT... and he only made one spire.. so i dont know what you guys are getting at. if the best zerg in the world will go mutas on 3 base.. mutas are viable. if he loses or not it doesnt matter its MKP... It's not a matter of viability. Everyone knows mutas are viable, it's a matter of the opportunity cost. Heart vs DRG game 2, DRG is in an enormous lead after the bust. He goes mutas and is not able to do a damn thing with them and it actually puts him behind cause he delayed his other tech and upgrades by so much for close to nothing in return. DRG is a phenomenal player yes, but was anyone actually impressed by anything his mutas were able to accomplish?
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Terran has gotten a lot better dealing with mutalisks.
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I think its more about Stephano doing great with his heavy upgrade ground based army rather than Mutas now sucking.
They still are used and still can do damage, but if people see a player doing well without using Mutas much they will copy it.I wouln't jump to conclusions based on not so much data.
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