Game Analysis: Snute vs Flash - Page 2

On November 21 2014 13:29 Evil_Sheep wrote:
I have to say I disagree with this article. I also initially thought Snute's SH's were a great idea in theory to counter terran: they're a very strong defensive unit, extremely cost-effective, can control large spaces on the map, can safely and for free set off widow mines which are proving the bane of zerg right now, and in the long battle of attrition that zvt often turns out to be, having a unit that spawns "free" units that can trade with the terrans minerals (marine/bio) seems to make eminent sense. We've seen how effective SH is in zvp so it makes total sense to try to translate this abuseable unit into a matchup where zergs are currently struggling with standard approaches.

But after watching a bunch of SH games mostly from snute but also from others that tried against high-level Koreans, I think it does not work out in practise. I think IF the terran does not react correctly and continues to play as if it's a "standard" zvt they will often lose. That is, trying to win a battle of attrition, remaining behind in bases behind zerg, cutting workers to max army supply, continually trying to push a SH-camped 4th base. The correct response is the same as in pvz: do not directly engage the SH army, move all around to harass the expansions on the edge, and take a ton of bases that SH cannot pressure. If the terran does that, then they usually win.

Why I think SH works in zvp but not in zvt is down to many factors, but the main one is mobility. The protoss response to SH is to build the ultimate deathball full of tempests and colossus which are virtually as slow and immobile as the SH, therefore SH can move around the map in tandem with the protoss deathball to deflect the protoss attacks. However stimmed bio is extremely fast, and of course, combined with the turbovacs can constantly attack the zerg from places they can't react quickly enough with SH. The terran player can continuously be harassing the zerg, dealing damage, killing workers and hatches, and nullifying the SH's cost efficiency.

The second major problem with SH which I did not initially consider is actually that their DPS is very low but only becomes substantial over time. A large terran stimmed midgame army supported by medivacs has extremely high DPS and can actually take a straight fight against a SH-supported zerg army for short periods of time without too much difficulty. The terran can stim and melt one wave of locusts, then charge and either be on top of the naked SH and scan to wipe them out, or just take down the base if they retreat. Meanwhile all the gas spent on SH's means there aren't enough other units (mutas and banes) to defend and you are waiting an eternity for the next wave of locusts to spawn when your base is already dead.

I don't think SH is the answer in zvt and never will be without balance changes. On paper it looks good but in practise it doesn't succeed. Snute won that one game with SH against Flash but there are many more examples where he and other zergs switched to SH and lost as a result. SH can win games in zvt but only if the terran lacks practise against SH and doesn't respond correctly, or it can win in situations where standard muta/ling/bane would've also won the same or better. That is why we haven't seen SH become more than an occasional experiment in zvt, and even its main proponent, Snute, didn't bother trying it once in his recent rematch vs Flash at HSC.