[G] Zerg vs Zerg - Defensive Maneuvers

Hello Ladies and Gentlemen of Team Liquid!

I received a special request from a good friend asking me to produce a guide on defensive tactics for Zerg vs Zerg, so here we are! In my opinion, there are few things more important in SC2 than keeping your composure during less-than-ideal situations, and I actually think that defending all-ins is one of the best ways to improve in situational micro - assuming you can keep your cool.

I've lost more games than I can count to early aggression, but I always play it out to the bitter end. So even if you think you're way behind and doomed, practice setting up the best defense / engagements that you can. You might be surprised to find yourself pulling out of some pretty dire spots. So the next time someone cheeses you, get those angry thoughts out of your head, and focus on the task at hand - you will be the better player for it.

The guide will feature my own games in HotS at the top-master level, but I hope others will contribute their own tactics / replays / advice in the comments.

In this short 30-Minute tutorial, I look at three games and point out some crucial ways to engage and minimize damage:

Zerg vs Zerg Tutorial - Defensive Maneuvers

Note: As previously stated, the tutorial video goes over these points in much finer detail.
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Pull a few Drones to delay Spinecrawlers



Against early Pools, you can't afford to let a Spinecrawler finish. Don't be afraid to pull 6-8 workers.
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Right-Click mineral patches to group up your Drones.



If you must engage Lings with Drones, you don't want to just A-Move your Drones into his Lings - you want to group up first and ideally buy time for your own Lings to finish.
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Engage with Lings and Drones



Once you have 4~ Lings with your Drones, you should feel comfortable to engage head-on. Now you can A-move.
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Once you've held your main, defend your expansion/ramp



You may be in the situation where you need to have your Drones mining at the expansion so that you can defend it against a higher Ling count.
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Anytime Lings are chasing yours, that's free hits for your Queen



Usually engaging with your Lings + Queen is fine, but in small numbers, let him chase your Lings while your Queen gets some free damage dealt.
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Ugh. . .



This won't go well regardless, but don't panic - set up the best engagement as possible by pulling back closer to the Spine. Where the Lings are now would be terrible, it's too wide.
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That's better



At least here the engagement will be more cost-efficient. The Spine can take some of the DPS, and the few Lings prevent a complete surround on the Spine. With a few transfuses, maybe we can hold. . .
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Forget what I just said about holding. . .



Too many Lings, but again don't panic! Buy every second you can, and keep producing Zerglings.
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When he comes into the main, your Queen needs to be a hero



Position the Queen between the mineral fields, so that it reduces the surface area. This way, he won't be able to just surround the Queen then maul the Drones.
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Just keep engaging with Lings + Queens, as best you can



Remember that even when things seem helpless, your opponent doesn't have unlimited stuff. Kill every Ling you can, buy every second you can.
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Ramp defence is so important when he has speed



The last thing you want is Speedlings picking off your main Drones, so try to keep your Lings near your ramp to defend.
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Opponent Surrounds Queen with Drones



If you select all your workers and Right-Click a Queen, it will mess up the pathing for the Zerglings. Here, my Lings won't be able to get up close to the Queen and attack.
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Queen well-protected



Against an overwhelming Ling force, this buys the crucial time to get out some Zerglings and defend with minimal loses.
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Engage in narrow areas to be cost-efficient



If your opponent has more Lings than you (Like Blue does above) engage either on the ramp or in-between buildings. If the surface area is even, the engagement is even.
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Defend your ramp with what ya got



Here there's no Queens to wall the ramp, so the 5 Zerglings I do have move to the top to try to wall for as much time as possible. Seconds are important.
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See how much of a difference this makes!



His units are struggling to get up the ramp, and I get some free hits, and move the Spine in range which focuses down some of his Banelings.
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If necessary, Drones can wall the ramp



By selecting the workers from the main and Right-clicking the expansion minerals, the Drones make a straight line to the expansion (by-passing any workers/Zerglings in the way). If I make it to the ramp and then attack-move, I can buy even more time on the ramp where my Spines can help engage.
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Spread out Roaches against Banelings



Obviously Roaches are strong against banelings, but you still want to spread them out to be cost-efficient. Try not to have more than 4-5 Units bunched up if you can avoid it.
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Uh Oh. . . Banelings incoming before Roaches



This came at a less-than-ideal time, but Roaches are building so it's just about buying time. I reset the hatchery rally points so when Roaches finish they don't run all over the place. Walling the Ramp with Queens also buys some time.
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Spread out your drones to minimize Baneling hits



Resist the temptation to box all your workers and run - do little boxes of 3-4 Drones and spread them all around. Make sure you leave your Queen in the mineral line so that if he A-Moves, he hits the Queen
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Wall-In with your Roaches to minimize surrounds/damage



Roaches are pretty weak against Lings if they get surrounded, so sometimes you just have to create a make-shift wall. Heaven help you if there's a gap though.
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One Roach left...position it between mineral patches



Just like the Queen from game 1, you want to place the Roach where it can't be surrounded. By positioning it between the mineral fields, only 1-2 Lings can engage - which means his Lings will do less damage to your workers. It's all about buying time for your reinforcements.
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These are games from my point-of-view, so you can watch me squirm and frantically fight for survival:

Tang vs CheesyCraft - http://www.twitch.tv/tangsc/c/2149845 (Early Pool / Mass Ling)
Tang vs BlackShadow - http://www.twitch.tv/tangsc/c/2132366 (Baneling All-In)
Tang vs Protoss - http://www.twitch.tv/tangsc/c/2132353 (Baneling All-In)
Tang vs Augustus - http://www.twitch.tv/tangsc/c/2132399 (Baneling All-In)

Here are some replays, in case any of the points weren't clear or if you just want to do your own analysis:

Tang vs CheesyCraft - http://drop.sc/322895
Tang vs Blackshadow - http://drop.sc/322894
Tang vs Protoss - http://drop.sc/322896
Tang vs Unluckynewb - http://drop.sc/322897

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