Been working hard on tihs one! In this video I cover a relatively easy build order for new or returning Zerg players for StarCraft 2: Heart of the Swarm. This build order is easy to execute after a few hours of practice. It will allow you to beat your opponents.
In this video I assume you know the basics for StarCraft 2. Maybe you have completed the single player, maybe you have 1000 games logged and can’t get out of silver, but either way, I expect that you know how the race works and how the other races work. You need to know the basics of the game, such as the importance of Queen injects.
In this video I will cover a +1 Missles Attack, Glial Reconstitituion timing attack: A Roach Timing push. But before we make any Roaches, we will try to get a max saturation on 2 bases with a total of 41 Drones (16 + 16 on Minerals and 3 + 3 + 3 on Gas). The early game defence will be done by Queens, 4 of them. After we get all necessary upgrades going, the Lair is done, the Drones are out and the Queen injects are hit we start pumping out Roaches until we hit the timing of around 110 supply at the 9:30 in game minute mark.
This is the build order explained in the video tutorial guide.
Early game 14 Spawning Pool 15 Hatchery 15 Queen 17 Overlord 2x Zerglings
@First Queen: Second Queen @Natural Hatchery: Third Queen @Second Queen: 4th Queen
Transition to Lair 5:00 Double Extractor 100 Gas: Lair + Evolution Chamber A little bit later: Roach Warren + 3rd Extractor @Evo Chamber: +1 Missles Attack @Lair: Glial Reconstitution (Roach Speed)
Timing Push At max saturation (32 on Minerals and 9 on Gas), make as many Roaches as possible. Push at Roach Speed and +1 Missles Attack.
It’s quite easy to practice a build order, but what you don’t want to do is jump into a game of StarCraft 2 blindly. Make sure to practice this a few times before executing it versus a real opponent. Maybe you need 100 custom practice games, maybe you need 5, but either way: Practice before laddering. Because you will get frustrated otherwise. And frustration sucks!
Hey Lowko, i think you are a great guy! Your videos are really energetic and informative. Also i think they have a great visual quality and are well made. Keep on putting out stuff! I honestly have no clue, why you are still a kind of under the surface a bit. In my opinion events should hire you as a caster. One can really feel you still love the game - what seems to be quite rare these days.
On your video: I think its a pretty good standard build for newcomers, as it has the potential to give you some free wins. You could have mentioned that it is nice to split the roaches up, in case the enemy did take a 3rd. Also for a bit of trivia, as you probably know, there was a time (at the end of WoL) where Stephano used a 3base version of this build to maxout on roaches at 11:30 and steamroll (protoss) players of the highest caliber, that would let your viewers know that it is (was) really legit.
Its a bit hard to transition out of that opening, because roaches turn from "good" to "shit" so fast. But i assume that might be part of another video of yours!
Thanks Lowko! Your tutorials are always great and last time I restarted playing sc2, they were my go to! And seeing this new video has made me want to play sc2 again! Keep up the good work, and continue streaming! Your stream is great also, and the energy you put in it. I will definitively check out this build order when I'll have the time!
Very nice, seems a bit like a two base variation on Stephano's 12 min max out from WoL One question: Is this a build for all matchups? Maybe I messed it but you don't seem to mention an opponents race, which made me wonder.
On January 07 2014 02:07 McRatyn wrote: Very nice, seems a bit like a two base variation on Stephano's 12 min max out from WoL One question: Is this a build for all matchups? Maybe I messed it but you don't seem to mention an opponents race, which made me wonder.
On January 07 2014 01:55 Baadbeat wrote: Thanks Lowko! Your tutorials are always great and last time I restarted playing sc2, they were my go to! And seeing this new video has made me want to play sc2 again! Keep up the good work, and continue streaming! Your stream is great also, and the energy you put in it. I will definitively check out this build order when I'll have the time!
Oh wow! That is so sweet! Thank you very much sir. <3
On January 07 2014 01:04 reapsen wrote: Hey Lowko, i think you are a great guy! Your videos are really energetic and informative. Also i think they have a great visual quality and are well made. Keep on putting out stuff! I honestly have no clue, why you are still a kind of under the surface a bit. In my opinion events should hire you as a caster. One can really feel you still love the game - what seems to be quite rare these days.
On your video: I think its a pretty good standard build for newcomers, as it has the potential to give you some free wins. You could have mentioned that it is nice to split the roaches up, in case the enemy did take a 3rd. Also for a bit of trivia, as you probably know, there was a time (at the end of WoL) where Stephano used a 3base version of this build to maxout on roaches at 11:30 and steamroll (protoss) players of the highest caliber, that would let your viewers know that it is (was) really legit.
Its a bit hard to transition out of that opening, because roaches turn from "good" to "shit" so fast. But i assume that might be part of another video of yours!
Yep! I'm planning on making a few potential follow ups, depending on what people struggle with.
I don't think this will work in zvz. As a silver zerg the most common thing I run into and lose to in zvz is early mass lings, hitting from 5:30 to 8 minutes. Perhaps though blocking the ramp to the main with 2 queens and getting the other two in a good spot at the natural with a spine would do it? Assuming I don't bung up the scout, which is what usually happens.
Otherwise I'm going to give this a go, never really tired to get a tight build order going.
On January 07 2014 01:04 reapsen wrote: Its a bit hard to transition out of that opening, because roaches turn from "good" to "shit" so fast. But i assume that might be part of another video of yours!
it's an allin, there is no transitioning out of this. 3 gases make it impossible to go for anything besides roach ling, and 2 hatches don't allow for mass lings. So you keep getting roaches and either win or lose. I think the best "variation" of the build is actually getting 4th gas and burrow + burrowed move later (and cut on the 4th queen to save some minerals, it's not like it is needed). The roach effectiveness is much better with those upgrades and it's actually really fun to play (especially since even more burrowed speed movement is expected in future patches).
On January 07 2014 02:49 nunnner wrote: I don't think this will work in zvz. As a silver zerg the most common thing I run into and lose to in zvz is early mass lings, hitting from 5:30 to 8 minutes. Perhaps though blocking the ramp to the main with 2 queens and getting the other two in a good spot at the natural with a spine would do it? Assuming I don't bung up the scout, which is what usually happens.
Otherwise I'm going to give this a go, never really tired to get a tight build order going.
Even if it doesn't work in zvz, standard zvz build orders are so simple it's comical. Most strategies in ZvZ also have an absurdly low skill ceiling compared to other matchups (barring certain obvious exceptions, like high-speed hardcore ling/bling wars). Couple other cool ZvZ builds: + Show Spoiler +
2-base ling/bling attack, noteworthy because it really only deviates in a tiny, tiny way from the standard opener: you go 15 hatch, 17 gas, 16 pool instead of 15 hatch, 16 pool, 17 overlord, 17 gas; so it teaches you a little bit about different openers
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=428262 Note the ling/bling/muta/SH build. Everything up to the instructions on what to do once the spire finishes is completely standard for muta play and safe against aggression as early as 10-pool builds.
Lowko's recommendation on how to engage with the 10-pool and 2-base ling/bling builds are, well I hate to question a GM, but sometimes they end up panning out really bad compared to what happens if I wait for my banelings to morph before I move in. I'd be open to an explanation on Lowko's part on why his engagement tips do or do not work (including me being a baddie), but for now, the few times I've tentatively tried being that aggressive, I've died rather horribly.
Also you're amazing Lowko. As a gold league zerg, your videos were probably the single greatest resource I've ended up using over the past year. Most things I bump into out there are either for bronze/silver ultra-noobs or the competent players in diamond and above. Rarely do I ever find something truly helpful for people like me, stuck in the middle, but a lot of your videos really do help mid-tier guys like me. You also put out a great variety of content, so almost any player can find something useful on your channel.
Lol, I just realized that reads a lot like an ad, but Lowko's videos really are that useful. So thank you, Lowko, for putting out the awesome content that you have. I might not be playing today if I hadn't managed to find your channel.
@Lowko: I really like this build so far and practice it last night fair a bit of. But then I tried the build vs a Zerg friend whos used to opening with a 14 gas - 15 pool - metabolic into banes and pushed around the 5 minute mark with a lot of lings/banes. I really had a problem with holding this back.
Do you have some specific advise for these kind of situations?
1. I tried to block the ramp with 2 Queens. (Save my main, but whats about the natural?) 2. I came up with 2 spines (1 in the near of the natural, 2 near the ramp) + Queens this looked better.
for the players posting about defending big ling or ling/bling attacks in zvz: as a gold player myself who likes to open gasless in zvz if i want to go roaches, it's definitely the hardest thing for me to deal with using this kind of build. i'm not sure if you guys are walling your naturals or not, but you really need to! i usually throw down a spine 1 tile away from my natural hatchery and squeeze my natural queen between the buildings, then start placing any tech i add (baneling nest if you want to build one defensively, roach warren, then evos) at the natural wall. close the wall with extra queens and move the spine crawler behind one of them (don't put the spine crawler in the wall if you don't have to)
absolutely key in early zvz is your overlord placement and checking the minimap. if you don't have good overlord placement or at the bare minimum good scouting with an active pair of lings, you'll die straight up to lots of ling flood attacks regardless of your build, gasless or not. this is a mistake i make quite a lot, and i'm sure you guys do too if you're mid level players, so try to work on it (i know i do). if you see a ling flood coming in before your wall is ready, don't hestitate to throw down a couple of evo chambers before you need them just to complete the wall. a lot of opponents will get discouraged immediately when they see the wall up. the only thing i'm not 100% confident on with this build is defending big, big all-ins that include a lot of banelings. i usually respond based on my scouting - if i scout baneling aggression early enough or feel it's coming, usually i just go into my own banelings defensively (this way you can use the baneling nest for your wall, too). otherwise, if it's too late and i have to go into panic mode, i just kind of wing it with spines, extra queens and ling production. i probably could use some advice in this category myself
a quite useful thing to do is - after scouting their natural with your first overlord, obviously hover it away from queens as they pop, but around the time your opponent should be saturating the natural, poke back in with the OL to see what they're doing - if you see fewer drones at their natural than at yours, it's a pretty good indicator of aggression, unless their macro is just bad, in which case you're still ahead anyway
gl! again, not a great player or anything but i hope my insights might help someone
On January 07 2014 15:03 ScooBoT wrote: @Lowko: I really like this build so far and practice it last night fair a bit of. But then I tried the build vs a Zerg friend whos used to opening with a 14 gas - 15 pool - metabolic into banes and pushed around the 5 minute mark with a lot of lings/banes. I really had a problem with holding this back.
Do you have some specific advise for these kind of situations?
1. I tried to block the ramp with 2 Queens. (Save my main, but whats about the natural?) 2. I came up with 2 spines (1 in the near of the natural, 2 near the ramp) + Queens this looked better.
At this point I have to say I'm a bronze player.
Thanks for your time
cheers
Keep practising! Considering you're bronze there are probably a lot of tiny mistakes such as queen positioning and building placement that you can easily work on and fix.
EPT
