The ZvT section will go over standard macro play such as: roach/hydra, muta/ling/bane, roach/ling/baneling busts, and opening versus reaper opening compared to opening up versus CC first or 1 rax expand. We'll also cover some common Terran all-in such as proxy 2 rax or the 8/8/8 proxy reaper.

Fast Gas - vs Reaper Expand

Triple Hatch before Pool - vs CC First

Hatch into Pool - vs 1 Rax expand, also viable against reaper expand

Overview of Early Game Openings

The following is what a standard ZvT early game opening looks like assuming a normal opening from Terran. When Terran opens reaper, faster ling speed can be really nice so that the Zerg player can deny scouting and kill that reaper as soon as possible. This also makes it a little easier to take a third as the reaper can’t deny thanks to speedlings. In addition, it gives Zerg map control until the hellion/reaper combo pushes out from the Terran base. However, note that the gas isn't necessary and it's also viable for Zerg to open gasless with the hatch into pool build.

When playing again CC first, it's possible for the Zerg to open 3 hatch before pool. This isn’t a must and is all up to the Zerg player on how he wants to react to CC first. There is no aggressive Zerg opening that can counter CC first as a reaction, as the Terran will most likely wall their ramp, which holds early pools easily. The purpose of the spine crawler at six minutes is to keep hellions from sniping all the drones at the third; this makes it easier for the Zerg player to drone up the third and not have to make a ton of units to prevent drones from dying; it also frees up queens from hellion chasing duty.

When playing against a 1 rax expand, the fast four queen into third is really good, a build that allows the Zerg to take a fast third and spread creep at the same time. This all plays out similarly against a CC build except that you can't take a fast third against potential marine pressure.

The roach warren is a defensive tool (or offensive if you choose) in case of a sneak attack or some sort of hellbat attack. Roach/ling makes holding any sort of early hellbat timing much easier to defend. I feel a Zerg player should always have a roach warren, at least defensively, as sometimes Terran players will overreact when seeing the roach warren even if it isn’t used aggressively. Note that these build orders only apply when you're heading for a standard macro game; obviously, when doing any sort of all-in, the opening from the Zerg will be different.

Zergling/Baneling/Mutalisk

Muta/ling/bane is very standard in Zerg versus Terran and the build order below will start off as after the early game openings.

The build order to the left is just a rough time estimate of when to tech to hive. Obviously there are going to be situations where going hive between 14-16 minutes is not possible.

Getting 2/2 before mutalisks is important because upgrades are crucial in ZvT. If you delay 2/2 in favor of more mutalisks early, it will put you at a severe upgrade disadvantage, which will make engaging the Terran bio ball a lot harder due to the upgrade difference. Prioritize the 2/2 over more mutalisks.

The fourth base timing is actually a safe timing as long as Terran ha opened 3CC. If the Terran is not doing a 3CC build, do not take the fourth at this time as doing so will result in holding the early game aggression a lot harder and could result in a quick loss. The mutalisks are to be used both defensively and offensively. Once the mutalisk stack gets to about sixteen, the Zerg player will want to start being aggressive with them. Before that, the Zerg player should be using them defensively versus drops and sniping medivacs when the Terran player pushes. Killing medivacs is important as the lower the medivac count, the easier it is to kill the Terran army. Make sure to have an overseer with the mutalisks as this makes sniping widow mines easier; keep an overseer with the ling/bane group as well.

Maintaining counterattacks with ling/bane at the Terran's third is very strong and can result in a lot of lost economy for Terran. Setting up flanks and manually spreading ling/bane before engaging into widow mines is also highly recommended. Even though the widow mines will still probably do damage, but spreading manually as best as possible while engaging can go a long way.

The eventual goal of the muta/ling/bane player is to try and deny the fourth, which can be done a lot easier with twenty plus mutalisks then twelve mutalisks. Once the Zerg gets to that critical amount of mutalisks, going for the fourth or running into the Terrans main is highly recommended, whether to snipe tech structures, add-ons, or kill some SCVs. This can sometimes be game ending for Terran if their whole army is in the middle of the map and it might force the Terran player to all-in. Try not to sacrifice the mutalisks as they can be very useful in the last game, especially when Terran starts mass dropping. Keep getting mutalisk upgrades such as +2 attack, then +3 (after morphing greater spire). Eventually, the Zerg will want to add ultra/ling/bane/infestor and some broods if the game goes on even further.



DongraeGu vs Innovation on Whirlwind from WCS Season 3 Korea.
DongraeGu vs Innovation on Derelict Watcher from WCS Season 3 Korea.
DongraeGu vs Innovation on Yeonsu from WCS Season 3 Korea.
Blade's game on Akilon Wastes Muta ling bane into ultralisks
Blade's game on Whirlwind Muta ling bane

Roach/Hydralisk

When you're playing this style in ZvT, you're essentially playing on a timer: the longer the game goes on, the worse this unit composition gets. The goal of this composition is to kill or severely cripple the Terran with an attack in the mid-game. This army is strong for a little bit, but once Terran gets 3-3, the composition will lose any effectiveness.

That being said, adding in infestors or going hive to add in vipers does help this composition later in the game. The most common transition is to add in ultralisks, but some Zergs will opt for a broodlord transition. A weaknesses to this build is if Terran goes bio + tank (this is where teching to faster vipers helps a lot). Engaging a bio/tank army with roach/hydra will almost never be cost efficient: unless the Terran is caught unsieged, he doesn’t have a lot of tanks, or the Zerg has vipers to use blinding cloud or abduct.

Tefel vs Beastyqt on Neo Planet S from WCS Season 2 Europe
Tefel vs Mvp on Newkirk Precinct from WCS Season 2 Europe
Scarlett vs aLive on Whirlwind from WCS Season 2 Finals

Roach/Baneling Bust

When doing this build, put the roach warren and baneling nest in a different locations and try to hide it as best as you can. Separating them makes it so that if Terran scans, they won’t see both baneling nest and roach warren. If the Zerg can hide them well, a scan won’t reveal the buildings. Hiding the roaches for as long as possible is very important; the longer it takes Terran to see the roaches, the less time Terran has to react.

This build has to do significant damage to proceed into a macro game. If the Zerg kills most of the SCVs and army, the Zerg will be far ahead. Do note that you should not pure drone if the Terran holds off the attack; Terrans have mules and can keep producing units, so too many drones and you may die to the counterattack from Terran. (if the Zerg does enough damage, this will be the only strong attack from Terran and then it’s pretty much over if Zerg holds it with few to no losses.)

When executing this bust, make sure to have a ling or roach go in front of the group of units. If there are widow mines, the Zerg player doesn’t want to have one widow mine kill ten banelings or two-three widow mines hit their pack of roaches. This is very important as the less damage widow mines do, the stronger the attack will be.

If the Zerg does the necessary damage, the transition can be into muta/ling/bane, roach/hydra/infestor, just roach/hydra, or a second wave of speed roach/ling/bane bust; it's all up to preference.

TaeJa vs Hyun on Derelict Watcher from ASUS ROG Summer.

Fighting mech can be quite hard as it is difficult to engage them on their own turf even with vipers if the Terran is making turrets and spreading out tanks. Normally, Zerg will want to try and contain the meching player to as few bases for as long as possible while taking expansions and starving the Terran of resources.

The best way Zergs have found to fight mech is to get swarm hosts out - about twelve to fifteen - and have them assaulting the Terran bases. Behind this, Zerg should have roach/hydra, and once hive finishes, Zerg should start adding in the vipers. Swarm hosts are very powerful against mech as they make the mech push a bit slower, delaying the push quite a bit with locusts. It also makes engaging the Terran mech ball a little bit easier since they can tank damage pretty well as well as dish it back.

Zerg should be able to keep a nice contain until vipers get out. If Terran begins to push, do not keep your swarm hosts in the same spot. Move them back a bit and let out a wave of locusts while waiting for viper energy so that you can blinding cloud or abduct the units. Do not rush any engagement; rather, delay it for as long as possible. If you find yourself having no choice but to engage, flank and try to time your attack with the locusts coming out. If Zerg can hit from three different angles with locusts at the same time, he should be able to beat back any Terran push with no problems.

Zergs will want spines and a spore at each base to deal with hellion/hellbat/widow mine drops. The spore is so you have detection, and the spines are to kill the drops.

The end game army that Zerg wants is ultralisks/hydra/ling/swarm host/viper. Make sure to have vipers behind hydras until you are going to cast blinding cloud. You will probably lose your vipers when doing this, which is ok, as this is going to happen no matter what. Terrans are beggining to make vikings to counter vipers, but as long as the Zerg player can get blinding clouds down on the Terran army and engage, Zerg can remake the vipers later.

Again, try flanking maneuvers. By keeping swarm hosts alive and with blinding cloud with hydra/ultra/swarmhost, the Zerg should be able to take on any Terran ground army head on. You may not kill it all, but Zerg should have a good enough economy to re-max fast. At worst - if Zerg engages properly - you should kill most of the army, and at best the whole army. Zerg can wait for reinforcements before pushing or keeping the contain as well. The Zerg can also use a broodlord/corruptor/infestor late game composition versus mech if the Zerg just can't break the Terran. Eventually, this switch will be easier then going pure ground.

A Zerg player's goal against mech is to starve the Terran, and make sure he can’t get enough expansions. Eventually Terran will starve and you will win with a much better economy. This can lead to some long games, but patience is very key against mech. During this time, Zerg should be taking the whole map so the Terran will have to attack or he will lose due to the economic difference.

Here is a video showcasing how to face mech (it's a little old, but I still play the same way most of the time versus mech on the super rare occasion I face it):

Defending Proxy 2 Rax

If the Zerg player can scout the proxy 2 rax, the Zerg player should pull a couple drones and kill the SCVs. If the Zerg does this, the Zerg will be very far ahead. This can only be done if scouted when doing an early drone scout (on 10 like the build orders above).

When facing a proxy 2 rax and you're not being able to prevent it in time, the best thing to do is do constant ling production and make 1-2 spines at the natural asap. Pulling drones (about half) is good and you should be trying to surround the marine if possible; if not, this at least pushes the marine back until lings arrive. Lings and spine crawlers are more important to get out at first, queens later. Delay the queens until you have the minerals to add them. Try not to engage the marines off creep unless the Zerg player has overwhelming number of lings. Otherwise the Zerg will trade very cost inefficiently versus the marines.

Once the Zerg holds this off, he should go back to pure droning and keeping an eye on the Terran natural. Have an overlord check the natural area for an expansion (If no expansion, try to sacrifice an overlord. If not possible, be very wary of a potential 4 rax follow up or marine + SCV pull). If the Terran takes his expansion, just play normally after holding off the rush.

Defending the 8/8/8 Proxy Reaper

This all in surfaced in the beta and for the most part disappeared in professional play. However but it’s still around on ladder and defending the 8/8/8 reaper is a very important skill to have. First, this is a build that has to do damage or the Terran player will be far behind. If the Zerg player can’t scout this beforehand, pull four drones to attack the reaper and pull back the weaker drones while waiting for the spawning pool to finish. Morph the weak drones into either a gas or a spore crawler (once spawning pool finishes) when they gets very low on health. Don’t forget to cancel these buildings and as soon as that spawning pool finishes, get lings and queens as soon as possible. If the Zerg player controls correctly, the Terran player shouldn’t kill more then one to two drones and will still be ahead as long as the Zerg doesn’t take much drone damage. After holding this off, sacrifice an overlord eventually to see the Terran transition and just go into a normal game from here.

Bio + Hellbat Pushes

This push isn't very common anymore with the hellbat nerf, but there are still some Terrans who do this.

Zerg should be able to see this coming if they are actively scouting with overlords, sacrificing zerglings, and just scouting in general. This bio/hellbat push is powerful if Zerg doesn't have the proper units. If the Zerg only has ling/bane, it can be hard to deal with this push; however, roach/ling/bane can crush this push as long as the Zerg has prepared in time.

If the Zerg sees this push, he needs to make to not over-drone while this push is coming. Zerg needs a decent amount of roaches, lings, and banelings to hold this push. Terran will push with stim and four-eight hellbats (it varies depending on the Terran player). If you have to lose the third base, it is fine to just sacrifice it, as this is a push where Zerg wants to make sure they can hold, and losing the third base won't be game ending.

Thought it is a strong two base push, if it fails and gets crushed, Zerg is far very far ahead. Once the Zerg holds this push, he can either drone and take a fourth base, or try to counter with a roach/ling/baneling attack. With this build, the Terran player normally won't have any tanks.

Dealing with Drop Play

Once the Zerg plans on moving out to be aggressive, you need some way to defend against drops, and the answer is static defense. The Zerg should be placing a few spines as well as at least one spore at each base so that drops don't devastate him. Also, keeping a small ling/bane group near each hatchery is a good idea to deflect drops as well so that the Zerg doesn't have to pull his army to deal with it. This is the best way to deal with drops once the Zerg is ready to be aggressive or if the Terran player is going to push while doing two to three drops at once. This way, the Zerg can defend the push and deflect drop play without taking to much damage, compared to having no static defense and not leaving any ling/baneling behind, which would result in a ton of damage. Even with mutalisks out on the field, static defense is a must as the mutalisks can't be everywhere and some drops will sneak by.

Overlord placement is very important as well. The Zerg should have overlord speed while teching to lair and once that finishes, make sure to spread out the overlords on the map. The sooner the Zerg sees a dropship coming, the longer he has to react to it. That way, the Zerg can place the defense they need and still move out or deal with a push rather then seeing the drop come out of nowhere, resulting in a mad scramble to deal with it.

Starting to spread out overlords too early is the reason Terran players make vikings early nowadays, so it is better to wait for speed to finish before sending too many out. Vikings will supply cap the Zerg hard if he is sending out all the overlords across the map, which is why waiting until speed's done is better. This way, the Zerg won't lose all his overlords and can spread them out again after dealing with the viking.

Playing against Bio/mine

The bio/widow mine combination is the strongest form of bio in terms of TvZ. It is superior to tanks because widow mines are super mobile and, once drilling claws is upgraded, can burrow in a single second. This makes the bio/widow mine a very strong and hard-to-engage composition. The best way to deal with it is to go muta/ling/bane and send in small packs of lings to set the mines off. Instead of sending only one ling, Zerg needs to be sending four to five to detonate some mines.

A good Terran will have his bio with his widow mines so that he can prevent one ling and sometimes even five lings from detonating a mine. A Terran who puts widow mines down and then walks away is very easy to deal with, when they keep their bio next to it, it's a lot harder to engage and requires very good unit control from the Zerg. Flanking the Terran army makes dealing with widow mines a lot easier as the widow mines won't hit all the Zergs units. If the Zerg can hit from two different angles, widow mine shots shouldn't be as devastating as they would have been if the Zerg had attacked from one direction. If the Zerg has roaches, sending in a roach with a couple of lings is a sure way to force a detonation off a mine or two.

This section is going to go over ZvZ in its various forms. The strategies covered here include: upgraded ling style, roach/hydra, and muta/ling/bane/swarm host. This will have the build orders for each and how to best utilize the compositions. I will also be going over defending various all-ins such as the 14/14, 10 pool bane, or a ling/bane all-in.

Zergling/Baneling/Mutalisk/Swarm Host Build

This is the general build order that Zerg wants to use when executing this style. Some things can be changed, e.g., Zerg can go gas before pool if they choose. This is just my personal preference:


When the Zerg player starts swarm host production, they want to have eleven to twelve swarm hosts and twelve to fifteen mutalisks. Use the swarm hosts defensively and unless you really feel like you can be aggressive, don’t push with these. After 1/1 finishes, you should get +2 carapace but not +2 melee. This is when the Zerg player should tech to hive, right after he starts +2 carapace. You won’t get another melee upgrade until you are at hive and researching +3 carapace and ultra armor. Armor is more important for ultralisks then melee because ultralisks already dish out a ton of damage even without melee upgrades. You need that gas elsewhere as it’s very precious.

With the muta/ling/bane, you should be moving around the map, making sure to stay away from infestors while having ling/bane in flanking positions: this makes engaging a max 2/2 roach/hydra/infestor push super easy to hold off. This composition will beat a max 200/200 roach/hydra/infestor 2/2 timing attack if you flank well and not have everything bunched in a ball. This point is very important; if the you bunch everything in a ball and get caught in fungal, the results can be devastating.

The transition is ultralisks and eventually infestors. The reason that I use muta/ling/bane/swarm host instead of pure mutalisk into roach/swarm host is for the mobility. A common response from the opposing Zerg is that he will attempt to counterattack with some roaches or try to deny the fourth. This composition allows you to be a lot more mobile and deal with these very easily. Another reason that I use muta/ling/bane over roach is for the upgrades; the Zerg should be prepared to tech to ultralisks and roaches rely on the swarm hosts being with the army to kill a roach/hydra/infestor army.

Common Reactions to Swarm Hosts

When the other Zerg player notices that you ended up going swarm host instead of the standard roach/hydra after the mutalisks, that Zerg player will do one of three things.

1. That Zerg player will attempt a 200/200 roach/hydra/infestor 2/2 timing attack.
   
2. That Zerg player will go swarmhosts himself.
   
3. That Zerg player will make a spire and go mutalisks.

Now lets go over how to deal with these three common reactions. If your opponent attempts a max roach/hydra/infestor timing, the swarm host player should have ling/bane spread around and swarm hosts in a good defensive position. This way, the attacking Zerg player will be hit from all sides, ling/bane from a few, the locusts from another, and mutalisks from yet another. If executed properly the defending Zerg player should hold this every time. A fun fact, I have held this push with 150 army supply when my opponent was maxed with 2/2.

If the Zerg player attempts to go swarm hosts himself, you already have a huge advantage. The Zerg player who opened up with roaches now has to deal with both your swarm hosts and your mutalisks. Therefore his swarm host count won’t be as high and the mutalisk player can start mass expanding. Muta/ling/bane just gives the muta player so much mobility that your opponent can’t take additional expansions; your opponent can’t take another base, defend it from mutalisks, and defend from the muta player's swarm hosts all at the same time. As the mutalisk player, you should keep your swarm hosts in an aggressive position (this is only when your opponent goes swarm hosts as well) on the player without mutalisks and take expansions. Then, tech to hive, get ultra/ling/bane and add more mutalisks to the composition.

Eventually the muta/swarm host player will have such a better economy due to complete map control that the defending swarm host player will eventually die to ultra/ling/bane/muta/swarm host. If the muta/swarm host player wants, he can add in brood lords to deal with the ground swarm hosts, but it shouldn't have to come to that.

The last common reaction to the muta/swarm host players composition is for the other Zerg to tech to mutalisks himself. Their goal is to kill the swarm hosts and regain map control. This shouldn’t ever really work because the muta/swarm host player will have +1 attack and he can add more mutalisks to supplement his count. This strategy is more of a desperate gamble from an opponent and shouldn’t work, even if un-scouted.

Blade's Game on Belshir Vestige 1 Muta/ling/baneling/swarm host
Blade's Game on Belshir Vestige 2 Muta/ling/baneling/swarm host
Blade's Game on Belshir Vestige 2 Muta/ling/baneling/swarm host, vs mutalisk switch from opponent

Three Queen Roach Build

Build will differ from here on out depending on what your opponent does, but assuming its spire-centric play from your opponent:

Pressure opponents third with roaches

• +2 missile attacks asap
  
• Hydralisk den during the attack.
  
• one spore/base as the attack ends
  
• ~ten hydras to be mobile muta defense

You need to keep an eye on your opponent's larva to determine if you want to drone further or continue with roach hydra production

Hyun vs Goswser on Neo Planet S from ASUS ROG Summer
Hyun vs Jaedong on Belshir Vestige from ASUS ROG Summer

Muta into Roach + (Hydra or Infestor)

Once mutas are out you need to do several things in the following order of importance:

1. Don't die (if he's rallying roaches at you, keep your mutalisks attacking his roaches and not his drone line until you're sure you can hold)
   
2. Deny his third
   
3. Do economic damage
   
4. Deny overlords (this sometimes falls under three, but basically if you're in his base and his mineral lines are unprotected, don't kill his overlords, kill his drones first
   
5. Don't let him have spotting lings anywhere on the map

Jaedong vs Vortix on Belshir Vestige from ASUS ROG Summer

Defending a 14/14 Ling/Bane All-in

This section is going to overview defending the 14/14 all in with hatch first or pool first. It’s the same regardless of how you open and there are multiple ways to do it. This all-in is commonly used on four-player maps because of how hard it is to scout. The build order above is what this will look like once you see that the other Zerg is doing a 14/14 all-in.

On a four-player map you should always make a set of lings as soon as your pool finishes to scout your opponent. This can give the defending Zerg player a lot more time to prepare for the all-in.

When a Zerg finds out that his opponent is going for a 14/14 all-in, he needs to immediately place down a spine, then continue with constant ling production and keep adding queens; alternatively that Zerg can place a baneling nest first. The only downside to this is it’s a lot easier to make a mistake, such as losing the banelings to a ling or two and then it becomes a lot harder to hold. The easiest method is to keep queen production, a spine crawler and consistent lings. Make sure to spread the lings out as much as possible so that one baneling doesn’t kill them all. If the defending Zerg defeats that first push, it only becomes easier the longer the game goes on.

Holding 10 Pool Baneling with Hatch First

The best way to hold a 10 pool bane with hatch first is to go 15 hatch, then 15 or 16 pool and delaying gas until 17. Once you scout that there are lings on the way, cancel the gas. The next important step is to identify whether your opponent is going for a regular 10 pool just to kill your natural hatchery or for the baneling all-in version. If the other Zerg keeps sending lings and doesn’t take an expansion, then he’s going to be doing some sort of all-in, one that most likely includes banelings. If this is the case, do not cancel the other hatchery.

Once the lings get to the defending player's base, he needs to spread drones and make a queens and lings from both hatcheries, then a spine crawler. If the defending Zerg player went for 15 hatch 16 pool, he will have just enough minerals for this. If the defending Zerg player goes 15 hatch 16 gas 16 pool, then the best way would be to make queens, as many lings as they can afford and spread drones. Send three to four drones to the natural to buy time and get some mining going as well. If the defending Zerg player spreads correctly, once the two queens pop, and with some lings, the defending Zerg player should defend this and be ahead. The 10 pool bane player has to severely cripple the defending player's economy; killing just ten drones isn’t enough damage because the defending Zerg player will have two hatcheries and will be able to drone back up very fast. As long as the defending Zerg player doesn’t drop to two to three drones with no minerals, the defending player will be ahead.

Leenock executed this in the GSL without losing a single drone. Here is a replay showcasing this:

Blade's Game on Derelict Watcher Defending 10 Pool Baneling

Defending a Two-Base Ling/Bane All-in

A common all-in in ZvZ is the two-base ling/bane all-in. This all-in can be done opening with either hatch first or 15 pool. Normally, when a Zerg player does this attack, it will leave that player's base as soon as his ling speed is about to finish.

To scout for this all-in, constantly check the other player's drone count. A Zerg player should always have an overlord near the opponents' natural where he can peak in to see the drone count. This can give a ton of information and you should always compare it to your own drone count. If there are few or no drones, there is an attack incoming; if it’s similar then that player is droning and not planning an attack.

Still, you will sometimes be caught by complete surprise by this all-in. However, on some maps it still can be countered by putting up three evolution chambers at the natural. Maps like Star Nation and Belshir Vestige are two maps where a Zerg can do evo block and even if caught by complete surprise, once those three evolution chambers are down, his timing will be delayed by a lot as he has to kill the evolution chambers, which takes quiet a bit of time.

On a map like Akilon that has a larger choke, it’s a bit harder to defend if caught by surprise. A Zerg player should always have at least one set of lings at his base that he can morph into banelings asap if the other Zerg player does a ling or ling/bane timing. Trying to connect to the other player's banelings with one to two lings is something to try, but have banelings spread out so that you can take out his. This is a very control oriented engagement; spread out banelings and don't let a group of lings die to one baneling. If the other Zerg player is continuously adding in reinforcements, throwing down another spine or two is something to do as well.

You can tell your opponent has given up the attack once by spotting a lack of units moving out from the your opponent's base. At this point, the defending player can choose to continue droning or perform a counterattack.

This section will go over the Zerg versus Protoss in all its forms. We'll go over swarm host play, roach/hydra fast viper, and muta/corruptor. Then we'll learn to react to and deal with certain all-ins and gateway expands. As a bonus, I've included an extra roach all-in that can be done against gateway expands.

When facing gateway expand, there is always the possibility of a 4-gate timing designed to kill your third base. This attack can be held relatively easily as long as the Zerg player sees it coming. The easiest way to deal with this attack is to prevent the pylon from going up, which is possible as long as the Zerg player has speedlings looking around.

A good way to prevent it is to have six lings scouting around for common pylon locations and making sure to keep tabs on the Protoss army when it moves out. If you don't manage to deny the pylon, you'll be forced to make a ton of speedlings and overwhelm the push before he gets many warp-ins done.

Throwing down a roach warren is never a bad idea at around 6:15-6:30 if you think the Protoss is going to be very aggressive. Otherwise you can just wait start lair then get a roach warren and evolution chamber.

This will play out like a normal ZvP if the Protoss doesn’t do a 4-gate timing. That is the only other common builds that the Zerg player needs to worry about when facing a gate expand are stargate play or DTs. Thus, if the sacrificial overlord sees nothing I highly recommend one spore per base. A way to know if the Protoss is doing some weird early DT or stargate build is his expansion timing; if he’s doing a tech build with a tech building before expansion, his expansion will start a lot later then normal (the normal gate expand player takes his natural at 3:45-4 minutes).

Swarmhost/Roach/Hydra Build

Note: Normally TL Strategy focuses on professional builds with VODs to back them up. This build, however, will be a slight exception as it is blade's own unique style. Nevertheless, there will still be plenty of replays in the replay pack to demonstrate how blade normally plays ZvP.



If your opponents opens with a forge expand, get two sets of lings so that the first set can take watch towers while the second set can look for hidden probes. The first two lings should also look behind your hatcheries so that if the Protoss player tries a cannon rush, it won’t catch you by surprise.

The hydra den and infestation pit are built at the same time so that Zergs can get hydralisks out for stargate units and then follow up with swarm hosts. Skipping hydras for swarm hosts versus stargate play is not recommended because you won't be able to move out if the Protoss has stargate units roaming around. The Zerg player should make ten or so hydralisks if there are phoenix or voidrays out on the field. The amount of hydras really depends on how heavy air the Protoss is going; If he's continuously making air, more hydralisks are needed. If it’s only some phoenix and nothing else, don’t go too hydra heavy, instead going for more roach heavy with swarm host support.

The 12:30 hive timing is a timing I found to be absolutely perfect for vipers. If the Protoss player tries to do a pre-viper timing, the Zerg player should NEVER die to it. I discovered that this is the sweet spot when going for swarm host play. Swarm host/roach/hydra will crush any pre-viper timing if the Zerg starts the hive at 12:30. If the Zerg starts it at 13:00 or later, he might potentially die to such a timing.

The ultra cavern is because ultralisks are really good in ZvP. With viper support, they are even better: just watch out for feedback. Ultralisks are also great as a remaxing option after losing the roach/hydra force (with some hydralisks if the Protoss is going voidray heavy).

Keeping swarm hosts alive is very important. Losing them because you're out of position is bad and will lose you the game if it happens early enough. Zerg players should always unburrow and retreat or be ready to retreat if they need to. There is no reason to let swarm hosts die.

A Zerg player can also do a muta or broodlord switch depending on the Protoss unit composition. For example, If the Zerg sees a heavy zealot/archon/immortal/colossi army, brood lords are a good answer to that. On the other hand, if a Zerg sees stalker/colossi/voidray, ultra/sh/hydra/viper is a better response. Addition of infestors never hurt either.

Maps this style is weak on: Whirlwind, Red City, Star Nation

Blade's Game on Akilon Wastes Late game swarm host play

Note that this style is different from Stephano's style of turtle swarm host. Alternatively, the Zerg player can go into a really boring and turtley style with mass static defense, swarm hosts, vipers, and corruptors. I personally have never done this and refuse to so there will be no replays showcasing this. For those who are still curious, here are a few demonstration replays:

Stephano vs Babyknight on Akilon Wastes from WCS Europe Season 1
Stephano vs Babyknight on Daybreak from WCS Europe Season 1
Stephano vs MC on Belshir Vestige from WCS Europe Season 2

Muta/Corrupter PvZ Build, Soulkey's Version

Important scout timings:

~4 minutes - if the nexus isn't down by 4:30 your opponent is pressuring or bad
~6 minutes - scout opponent's tech opener and identify what adaption you want to use
~8 minutes - scout third to verify if fast third is taken or not
~9:30 - scout game focus of opponent (ground vs air styles, double upgrades? What is being chrono'd?)

Learning resources: http://day9.tv/d/Day9/day9-daily-605-soulkey-vs-sos/

Roach/Hydra Fast Viper Build

The opening for this build is the same for gate expand and forge expand as I put in the swarm host build. So if you want to see the early game, look at those for reference.

The roach/hydra/viper build is a build that was popularized by Hyun and is a very strong build. If the Protoss player does not have templar out, this attack can straight up kill him unless the Zerg makes a blunder. If the Protoss player does have templar out, it can be a bit hard to engage as the Zerg wants to avoid letting vipers get feedbacked. The ultra cavern is just a way to remax off of ultra/ling or hydra/ling once the Zerg player loses the roach/hydra force (hopefully keeping vipers alive still, not a must though).

Ultras in general are a strong unit in ZvP and again Zerg can go into brood lords instead of they choose. They can also stay roach/hydra/viper, but once the Protoss gets templar out, this composition gets worse and worse the longer the game goes and I highly recommend switching out of it.

The roach/hydra/viper composition also allows the Zerg player to do triple evo upgrades and the Zerg player should be doing this. On the contrary, it is a lot harder to do triple evo upgrades with muta or swarm host due to the gas intensity of them.

Snute vs Macsed on Derelict Watcher from WCS Season 2 America
SortOf vs TitaN on Belshir Vestige from WCS Season 2 Europe
SortOf vs TitaN on Neo Planet S from WCS Season 2 Europe
Vortix vs Grubby on Newkirk Precinct from WCS Season 2 Europe
Vortix vs Grubby on Star Station from WCS Season 2 Europe
Vortix vs Mana on Star Station from WCS Season 2 Europe
Vortix vs MC on Star Station from WCS Season 2 Europe
Jaedong vs Rain on Whirlwind from WCS Season 2 Finals
Jaedong vs MC on Whirlwind from WCS Season 2 Finals(delayed viper)

Dealing with Gateway Timings

After scouting or seeing a gateway timing incoming (7 gate, phoenix + gateway timing, voidray + gateway timing), the main force for the Zerg is going to be roach/ling. If the Zerg sees stargate or voidrays, adding in some queens and holding with queen/roach/ling with a spore at each base is the go-to build.

The sooner the Zerg player can scout the attack coming, the easier it is to hold as roach/ling deals with gateway timings really well. Sacrificing an overlord at 6 minutes and seeing the gateways being warped in are ways to scout this all-in incoming.

Blade's Game on Derelict Watcher Vs voidray gateway all-in

Holding the Immortal All-in

This all-in has only become stronger then in was in WoL due to the mothership core and its time warp ability. The best way to hold this all-in is getting some static defense and roach/ling with flanking maneuvers.

Some ways to recognize that this all-in is coming is when scouting with an overseer, the Zerg player will see 6-7 gateways and immortals coming out of the robo. A Protoss player taking a third will not have 6-7 gateways and immortals, so this is almost a surefire sign that Protoss is doing this all-in.

The sooner the Zerg player can make Protoss use forcefields before getting to the Zerg's base, the easier it is to hold this. If there is time, adding in swarm hosts is a good option, but normally there isn’t enough time for this. If you see this coming or know it’s going to happen, going straight for hydra/ling can hold this as well. Try to engage the Protoss army in as wide an area as possible. Engaging this army in a choke only favors the Protoss player, so avoiding a choke is necessary to hold this.

Another thing I like to do versus this all-in is get an infestation pit and if the Protoss takes to long, I will be adding in swarm hosts as time goes on while holding with roach/ling. If the Protoss is being held back and then the Zerg gets swarm hosts out, this will become much easier to deal with. Do note that you can only start swarm host production when he is pulling back to wait for a warp-in and you think that sneaking in some swarm hosts won't hurt holding the all-in.

Dimaga vs Duckdeok on Belshir Vestige from WCS Season 2 Europe(Soul train)
Dimaga vs Duckdeok on Neo Planet S from WCS Season 2 Europe(Soul train)
Jaedong vs Naniwa on Neo Planet S from WCS Season 2 Finals(Man train)

Holding the 2 Colossi, 2 Immortal All-in

This timing is a lot easier to deal with than an immortal all-in. What the Zerg player should do when they see this attack incoming is get swarm hosts and just go roach/swarm host. Roach/swarm host absolutely destroys this all-in and the Zerg will have more then enough time to add in swarm hosts if they scout the Protoss player doing this build. Have the swarm hosts burrow as soon as you can in the direction of the Protoss army and try not to get forcefielded in a bad position.

Some key parts to look for when using an overseer, fast robotics facility, lots of gateways (when a Protoss does a standard third, it’s normally 3-4 gateways, with an all in this goes to 6-7).

2 Base Speed Roach All-in (Only do this versus gate expand)

This is an old all-in that was used in Wings of Liberty, one that can be very hard to deal with for Protoss when they gate expand. A gate expand player won’t think of anything suspicious not seeing a fast third (and shouldn’t even scout the third until he uses hallucinated phoenix). So this all in won’t be a thing that comes to mind when a gate expand doesn’t see the fast third. Most Protoss players also open stargate or DT tech, which makes this timing even stronger. If the Protoss opens robo, this all-in shouldn’t work unless the Protoss isn’t making immortals or delays the immortals for a while. Try to keep the roaches hidden until speed is about done and then start engaging at the natural.

Do not attempt this build on maps where it's easy to take a third base, such as Akilon Wastes. This map features few ramps and chokes so it's hard to engage up a ramp thanks to forcefield. Thus, the Protoss wall will usually easily hold unless he's being extremely greedy. It's also difficult to engage the third because of the collapsible rocks and again you won't ever get in because one force field pretty much blocks that choke off.

Late game ZvP is a very reactionary stage and the player who engages the best will win the engagement when it happens (unless Zerg is still at roach/hydra). This is the stage where the Zerg player can be doing tech switches from ultra to brood lords or surprise mutalisks.

Some Key Late Game Unit Compositions Versus Protoss

When Protoss is going voidray/colossi/templar, ultra/hydra/swarm host/infestor/viper will be a strong composition (you can exclude infestors or vipers if you choose, but having both can be really nice). The ultra/swarm hosts are to deal with the splash while hydra/infestor deal with the voidrays. Vipers are used to abduct voidrays or colossi.


Sometimes in a late game scenario, the Protoss will attack with this heavy colossi/voidray/templar army. If you kill most of it and the Protoss still has a ton of void rays left over, Zerg can attempt a huge mutalisk switch, which will normally spell out gg for Protoss. Beware that you should only attempt this if you have a big bank. Mutalisk switches are also good versus Protoss who aren’t making archons or templar or if he loses those units in a trade.

If Protoss is going more ground heavy, say colossi/templar/archon/immortal/zealot, you can transition into ultra/brood lord/viper/ling. The viper's blinding cloud is very strong, especially if Protoss tries to blink in to snipe brood lords; then ultra/ling/brood lord will clean up the rest. Beware though that Protoss may try to base trade if you go heavy brood lords. Ultra/ling/bane/viper/infestor can also be pretty good versus this composition and fungal with blinding cloud can really clean up the Protoss army.


Finally, nydus play can be very good on maps like Whirlwind. You can put in sh/ultra in them, kill a base and then retreat back quickly into the nydus. This can be a good way to deal with Protoss taking expansions and keeping them on a lower base count throughout the game. It's yet another good tactic to incorporate in the late game.

That's all, folks. Thanks for reading. If you have any questions feel free to ask as I do read the responses and answer all questions!

Replay Pack