[Q] Early Upgrades on ZvZ Beneficial?

atstapley

23 Posts

December 17 2015 17:16 GMT

Hello everyone!

I've been playing LotV for a bit now, and am seeing lots of Diamond level competitors running a lot of early pressure with Zerg. I developed a build that has done a great job at helping against said pressure, but was wondering if it's going to continue to be a viable option as I continue to progress or if it will stall at higher levels. The idea is this:

14 Extractor
13 OL
18 Hatch
18 Spawning Pool
18 Evo Chamber
---as soon as Evo Chamber pops, +1 melee attack
---as soon as Spawning pool pops, Zergling speed

The Extractor before Hatch slows the expansion down by a few seconds, and I'm sure that the speed upgrade is a few second late, but about 10 seconds after the speed upgrade pops, so does +1 attack.

I don't think I am a good enough player to have optimized this build yet, which is why I ended it after 18 supply instead of expanding from there.

Do you, higher and lower level players, see this as something that would be viable or perhaps beneficial at your level? Also what's your reasoning? I have been experimenting a lot with LotV and trying to not just go with the norm, as I feel like the more players that go with the "standard flow," the slower the game will develop, and I would like feedback as to what parts of a good build I am overlooking.

I also use a variant where I get +1 range attack instead of melee and throw down a Roach Warren before second queen. I go with this variant if I see little or no pressure coming from the other player, or if I scout Banelings early.

Elentos

55510 Posts

December 17 2015 17:25 GMT

On December 18 2015 02:16 atstapley wrote:
I also use a variant where I get +1 range attack instead of melee and throw down a Roach Warren before second queen. I go with this variant if I see little or no pressure

Honestly this sounds like against an opponent who doesn't pressure you and plays standard you put yourself behind economically so much that you actually should all-in with +1 roaches every time.

Also from what I know about Zerg - which granted ain't that much - +1 carapace is much better against ling/bane because your lings survive 1 baneling hit then.

crazedrat

272 Posts

December 25 2015 02:14 GMT

Well it's an interesting build the more I think about it, if melee is finishing right as speed finishes. Problem is that banes counter what you're doing, and everyone builds banes. You have to rely on them not having banes when you arrive, which is really a mistake on their part. And if they scout your evo or gas timing it will tip them off, without a doubt they will be prepared. If you can force ling vs ling battles it might be interesting, but usually at this stage it's lings moving back and fourth and avoiding bane hits, not straight up ling fighting... especially if you're the defensive player you're going to be avoiding engaging the enemies lings directly. But if you can surprise them and be fighting while the banes are morphing you may do good damage. Probably your best bet would be to do this on a 2 player map so that they're unlikely to scout and where you can run across the map fairly quickly. So prion would be the prime candidate looking at the map pool. Ulrena is no, ovi will see what you're doing. ... Orbital is not great, long rush distance and a solid ramp. Dawn is the same thing. It's very risky, if they scout it I doubt it is going to do much. Prion and maybe Orbital / Dawn if you are really desperate to use this.
The roach variant does not seem optimal at all, maybe as a backup plan but I would not bank on that. ... it would probably be better to forget about the evo and just get speed / attack with roach ling in that case.

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[Q] Early Upgrades on ZvZ Beneficial?

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