• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 21:46
CET 03:46
KST 11:46
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners12
Community News
ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !6Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win4Weekly Cups (Dec 1-7): Clem doubles, Solar gets over the hump1Weekly Cups (Nov 24-30): MaxPax, Clem, herO win2BGE Stara Zagora 2026 announced15
StarCraft 2
General
ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career ! When will we find out if there are more tournament Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win Did they add GM to 2v2? RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview
Tourneys
RSL Offline Finals Info - Dec 13 and 14! Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) Winter Warp Gate Amateur Showdown #1: Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 504 Retribution Mutation # 503 Fowl Play Mutation # 502 Negative Reinforcement Mutation # 501 Price of Progress
Brood War
General
FlaSh on: Biggest Problem With SnOw's Playstyle How Rain Became ProGamer in Just 3 Months BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ [BSL21] RO8 Bracket & Prediction Contest BW General Discussion
Tourneys
Small VOD Thread 2.0 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] WB SEMIFINALS - Saturday 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO8 - Day 2 - Sunday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Game Theory for Starcraft Current Meta Simple Questions, Simple Answers Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile Nintendo Switch Thread General RTS Discussion Thread Dawn of War IV
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Survivor II: The Amazon Sengoku Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine The Games Industry And ATVI Russo-Ukrainian War Thread YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
TL+ Announced Where to ask questions and add stream?
Blogs
The (Hidden) Drug Problem in…
TrAiDoS
I decided to write a webnov…
DjKniteX
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Thanks for the RSL
Hildegard
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1976 users

[G] ZvT 3 Roach Opener - Page 3

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
IcemanAsi
Profile Joined March 2011
Israel681 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-06-06 08:16:07
June 06 2016 07:17 GMT
#41
The build seems to be obviously sub optimal, why not take the gas later then 3 drone it all once?
You are losing the mining time for that extractor drone, as well as the roach warren popping a good 5-8 seconds before you can make roaches due to the supply block. It is minor stuff but you should be able to add at least one more drone if not two in there somewhere. That's not something you can ignore.
I'm gonna try to optimize it and see how clean I can get it.

This for example:

17 Pool
16 hatch ( gonna use the 2nd hatch supply for the roaches, saving an OV )
18 Gas
18 RW
18 2 Lings
20 Queen
3 roaches

Gets you the roaches almost 10 seconds before the build as shown in the videos, I think there is a way to squeeze in a 4th roach while keeping the timing and takeing a one drone hit from your current build, but I ran out of time to test for today.


Railgan
Profile Joined August 2010
Switzerland1507 Posts
June 06 2016 19:04 GMT
#42
On June 06 2016 16:17 IcemanAsi wrote:
The build seems to be obviously sub optimal, why not take the gas later then 3 drone it all once?
You are losing the mining time for that extractor drone, as well as the roach warren popping a good 5-8 seconds before you can make roaches due to the supply block. It is minor stuff but you should be able to add at least one more drone if not two in there somewhere. That's not something you can ignore.
I'm gonna try to optimize it and see how clean I can get it.

This for example:

17 Pool
16 hatch ( gonna use the 2nd hatch supply for the roaches, saving an OV )
18 Gas
18 RW
18 2 Lings
20 Queen
3 roaches

Gets you the roaches almost 10 seconds before the build as shown in the videos, I think there is a way to squeeze in a 4th roach while keeping the timing and takeing a one drone hit from your current build, but I ran out of time to test for today.




My goal is to always have 16 drones on the minerals. I get the gas just in time for my 2 drones to finish out of which I turn 1 into a roach warren. I am not sure how your roaches are out 10 seconds earlier if we build our Pool and Roach Warren at the same time (17 / 18 supply). I never pull any drones of my minerals and I get pretty much exactly 100 gas as soon as my 2nd queen in the main finishes so I can start my Lair as soon as possible while getting 3 queens aswell. You can squeeze out a 4th roach with my timing aswell. I simply don't need a 4th roach because 3 roaches already oneshot marines and scvs and my goal is not to kill the reaper with one shot.
Grandmaster Zerg from Switzerland!!! www.twitch.tv/railgan // www.twitter.com/railgansc // www.youtube.com/c/railgansc
Railgan
Profile Joined August 2010
Switzerland1507 Posts
June 15 2016 14:58 GMT
#43
Updated the Buildorder with some clearer advice.

Added another video about using Hydralisks as part of the Army.



Feel free to ask me any questions
Grandmaster Zerg from Switzerland!!! www.twitch.tv/railgan // www.twitter.com/railgansc // www.youtube.com/c/railgansc
nick00bot
Profile Joined November 2010
326 Posts
June 20 2016 18:05 GMT
#44
Hi Railgan!

It's funny to stumble upon this build because I've been experimenting with a 3 ravager opening that is very similar to your build. I'm a high masters NA zerg so quite a bit worse than you, but since i started using it a few days ago it's helped out a lot.

The main difference is that I take my gas at 17, before the hatch, and grab the hatch around 19 when i have 16 min drones + 3 gas. I've had quite a bit of success with this build, as ravegers can almost always either force a CC to lift, or kill a depot or two. The drawback, of course, is the extra gas invested, which subsequently delays tech, but I find that if I manage to keep the ravagers alive the work great as drop/lib harass.

My question to you is, why do you prefer opening with 3 roaches instead of 3 ravagers? do you think the tech delaying is too much?
SoO~Speed~Serral~$o$~Dark~Myungsik~TY~Byun~Classic
Railgan
Profile Joined August 2010
Switzerland1507 Posts
June 20 2016 18:29 GMT
#45
There is a "popular" build where the zerg goes for a proxy hatch and rushes the terran with 3 ravagers and mass lings. That sounds kind of like your build.

I only build 3 Roaches because they are enough to force the Terran to get a bunker and either a lot of marines, a tank or a banshee out. The Goal is not to deal game ending Damage to the Terran, but to safely get 2 Hatch Mutalisks. I am not sure how well 3 Ravagers fare against a bunker with 4 Marines but I imagine, that it's hard to deal a lot of damage if the Terran responds correctly.

I used to build 3 Ravagers because I needed them to deal with Liberators anyways. I stopped doing so as I noticed, that my lair is fast enough to just safely go 2 Hatch Mutalisk without being scared of Liberators, Banshees or Tank Drops. So I stopped going for 3 Ravagers and started simply pressuring with 3 Roaches. I am not quite sure what your Techpath after the 3 Ravagers is. I imagine that you simply play a standard game and use them defensivly. That simply doesn't fit my playstyle .

Nowadays I sometimes skip the 3 Roaches if scouted, cancel the Roach Warren and just go straight 2 Hatch Muta of a 2:30 Lair. The build has gotten kinda popular so a lot of people seem to anticipate it.
Grandmaster Zerg from Switzerland!!! www.twitch.tv/railgan // www.twitter.com/railgansc // www.youtube.com/c/railgansc
nick00bot
Profile Joined November 2010
326 Posts
June 21 2016 17:15 GMT
#46
ah I see, the 2 base muta follow up is very smart. I am going to try and do that, ravager/ling/infestor into ultra is such an unpleasant style to have to play, I am looking for any way to salvage muta play so this is good advice, thank you!
SoO~Speed~Serral~$o$~Dark~Myungsik~TY~Byun~Classic
Railgan
Profile Joined August 2010
Switzerland1507 Posts
June 22 2016 13:05 GMT
#47
Glad I could help!
Grandmaster Zerg from Switzerland!!! www.twitch.tv/railgan // www.twitter.com/railgansc // www.youtube.com/c/railgansc
Arnstein
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Norway3381 Posts
July 12 2016 11:30 GMT
#48
Can't wait to learn this build and test it out! Is it terrible in ZvP? I'd like to learn a build that would be more general, since I don't have time to play so often.
rsol in response to the dragoon voice being heard in SCII: dragoon ai reaches new lows: wanders into wrong game
Railgan
Profile Joined August 2010
Switzerland1507 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-07-12 12:23:28
July 12 2016 12:23 GMT
#49
On July 12 2016 20:30 Arnstein wrote:
Can't wait to learn this build and test it out! Is it terrible in ZvP? I'd like to learn a build that would be more general, since I don't have time to play so often.

3 Roaches do not really do anything against a Protoss who builds a Mothership core

Mutalisks are also garbage versus Phoenix
Grandmaster Zerg from Switzerland!!! www.twitch.tv/railgan // www.twitter.com/railgansc // www.youtube.com/c/railgansc
Arnstein
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Norway3381 Posts
July 12 2016 13:20 GMT
#50
Thank you for your reply! Do you have any general build orders that work against all three races? Or at least terran and protoss? Would be nice to have something to repeat and build my style upon
rsol in response to the dragoon voice being heard in SCII: dragoon ai reaches new lows: wanders into wrong game
Railgan
Profile Joined August 2010
Switzerland1507 Posts
July 13 2016 12:48 GMT
#51
On July 12 2016 22:20 Arnstein wrote:
Thank you for your reply! Do you have any general build orders that work against all three races? Or at least terran and protoss? Would be nice to have something to repeat and build my style upon




This allin works versus every Race.

17 Gas, 18 Pool, 17 Hatch --> Drone till 19

19/22 Ling -> Queen
22/22 Ling Speed
22/22 Roachwarren
21/22 Drone
22/22 2 Overlords --> Save Larva

Build 8 Roaches, flood Lings.
Grandmaster Zerg from Switzerland!!! www.twitch.tv/railgan // www.twitter.com/railgansc // www.youtube.com/c/railgansc
Arnstein
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Norway3381 Posts
July 14 2016 08:01 GMT
#52
Thanks for the help
But I really don't want to base my playstyle around all-ins I'll just learn one build for each race, it's not THAT much work!
rsol in response to the dragoon voice being heard in SCII: dragoon ai reaches new lows: wanders into wrong game
Najda
Profile Joined June 2010
United States3765 Posts
August 30 2016 00:25 GMT
#53
How well does this hold off the 16 marine drop? Do you need to make any adjustments to the build against it?
Railgan
Profile Joined August 2010
Switzerland1507 Posts
August 30 2016 01:37 GMT
#54
On August 30 2016 09:25 Najda wrote:
How well does this hold off the 16 marine drop? Do you need to make any adjustments to the build against it?

I saturate 2 bases
@ Lair Roach Speed + Spire
@ 300 Mins 3rd

Then I spam Roaches till I have ~10 and pull the Queens for defense. I make my 6-8 Mutalisks then get my +1/+1 drone my 3rd etc.

So the big adjustment is that I get the Roach Speed and Roaches before the Mutas
Grandmaster Zerg from Switzerland!!! www.twitch.tv/railgan // www.twitter.com/railgansc // www.youtube.com/c/railgansc
Borsche
Profile Joined October 2016
1 Post
October 08 2016 15:09 GMT
#55
Thank you for your videos, helped me alot in my ZvT match-up! Do you have any other nice agressive openers for other match-ups for zvz \ zvp except all-ins?
Railgan
Profile Joined August 2010
Switzerland1507 Posts
October 09 2016 09:10 GMT
#56
On October 09 2016 00:09 Borsche wrote:
Thank you for your videos, helped me alot in my ZvT match-up! Do you have any other nice agressive openers for other match-ups for zvz \ zvp except all-ins?

I don't really do "builds" per se... However, there are numerous aggressive openers for all MU's. In ZvP I enjoy going 2 Base Mutalisk against Adepts or 2 base Hydra against Skytoss (Always with a 3rd but only ~44 drones and fast lair).

Against Zerg your best bet at an easy win is to just go for a 1 gas ling roach bane timing with ~ 35 Workers and an early 3rd for the larva production.


you find examples on my yt channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsgPbl0fDxBv81S0eGbTn8w
Grandmaster Zerg from Switzerland!!! www.twitch.tv/railgan // www.twitter.com/railgansc // www.youtube.com/c/railgansc
Digitalz1
Profile Joined February 2011
Canada72 Posts
October 19 2016 15:00 GMT
#57
Hi Railgan, early on in LOTV i found this build to work absolutely amazing against hellion banshee / tankivac drop openers but lately EVERY terran is going for that 2-1-1 double medivac stim timing and if i go for mutalisk i just get shit on by their drop as i dont have the ground. if i scout that timing should i just skip spire and make roach ravagers with +1+1 ?

Whats the best way to handle it?
yubo56
Profile Joined May 2014
690 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-10-19 23:11:59
October 19 2016 23:10 GMT
#58
On October 20 2016 00:00 Digitalz1 wrote:
Hi Railgan, early on in LOTV i found this build to work absolutely amazing against hellion banshee / tankivac drop openers but lately EVERY terran is going for that 2-1-1 double medivac stim timing and if i go for mutalisk i just get shit on by their drop as i dont have the ground. if i scout that timing should i just skip spire and make roach ravagers with +1+1 ?

Whats the best way to handle it?


On August 30 2016 10:37 Railgan wrote:
Show nested quote +
On August 30 2016 09:25 Najda wrote:
How well does this hold off the 16 marine drop? Do you need to make any adjustments to the build against it?

I saturate 2 bases
@ Lair Roach Speed + Spire
@ 300 Mins 3rd

Then I spam Roaches till I have ~10 and pull the Queens for defense. I make my 6-8 Mutalisks then get my +1/+1 drone my 3rd etc.

So the big adjustment is that I get the Roach Speed and Roaches before the Mutas


Seems like ~5 roaches/queenless base is able to deflect the medivacs, PiG's 3 base roach-ravager build recommended a few more roaches, ~5 per base, so this seems standard
Jung Yoon Jong fighting, even after retirement! Feel better soon.
Railgan
Profile Joined August 2010
Switzerland1507 Posts
October 19 2016 23:20 GMT
#59
On October 20 2016 00:00 Digitalz1 wrote:
Hi Railgan, early on in LOTV i found this build to work absolutely amazing against hellion banshee / tankivac drop openers but lately EVERY terran is going for that 2-1-1 double medivac stim timing and if i go for mutalisk i just get shit on by their drop as i dont have the ground. if i scout that timing should i just skip spire and make roach ravagers with +1+1 ?

Whats the best way to handle it?




I stop at 44 workers, start my spire and roach speed as soon as the lair finishes and I just spam roaches until I feel save. The key is to just spam a lot of roaches and counter with them. I like to add corruptors instead of mutalisks afterwards because they deal well with liberators and medivacs and are quite tanky.

If I know the opponent follows it up with tanks and not liberators, going for 6-8 mutalisks after the roaches can work wonders.
Grandmaster Zerg from Switzerland!!! www.twitch.tv/railgan // www.twitter.com/railgansc // www.youtube.com/c/railgansc
Digitalz1
Profile Joined February 2011
Canada72 Posts
Last Edited: 2016-10-20 15:03:35
October 20 2016 12:50 GMT
#60
Thank you so much for the response, cant wait to make these adjustments to my play

EDIT:

https://images-1.discordapp.net/.eJwNyEsOhCAQANG7cACaj9DgZQxBgk5UCN2uJnP3oRZvUV_xjkus4mDutALsJ-U2dkncRqpF1tbqVVI_SeZ2Q2JO-bjLwwTauYALGufjgjEGNGBs8D5ap4NC60ywcynttTJqm8zkp1fx-wMHjSL-.o34bjQp3ixfm2rCVR1-W-F9atdU?width=1125&height=2000

Made the adjustments hit masters, god damn Railgan you should write a book, btw i dont see you streaming much these days
Prev 1 2 3 4 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 8h 14m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft465
RuFF_SC2 151
ProTech129
Nathanias 57
Ketroc 41
Vindicta 27
StarCraft: Brood War
Artosis 525
Bale 254
NaDa 46
Noble 28
Mong 13
Hm[arnc] 9
League of Legends
C9.Mang0381
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox331
Other Games
summit1g10334
Day[9].tv646
XaKoH 587
ViBE176
Maynarde113
Trikslyr83
Mew2King43
CosmosSc2 42
Livibee27
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 16 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Azhi_Dahaki6
• Pr0nogo 5
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota22469
League of Legends
• Doublelift3919
Other Games
• Scarra671
• Day9tv646
Upcoming Events
WardiTV 2025
8h 14m
ByuN vs Creator
Clem vs Rogue
Scarlett vs Spirit
ShoWTimE vs Cure
OSC
11h 14m
Big Brain Bouts
14h 14m
YoungYakov vs Jumy
TriGGeR vs Spirit
CranKy Ducklings
1d 7h
WardiTV 2025
1d 8h
Reynor vs MaxPax
SHIN vs TBD
Solar vs herO
Classic vs TBD
SC Evo League
1d 9h
Ladder Legends
1d 16h
BSL 21
1d 17h
Sziky vs Dewalt
eOnzErG vs Cross
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
Ladder Legends
2 days
[ Show More ]
BSL 21
2 days
StRyKeR vs TBD
Bonyth vs TBD
Replay Cast
3 days
Wardi Open
3 days
Monday Night Weeklies
3 days
WardiTV Invitational
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
WardiTV Invitational
6 days
ByuN vs Solar
Clem vs Classic
Cure vs herO
Reynor vs MaxPax
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #4 - TS3
RSL Offline Finals
Kuram Kup

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
YSL S2
BSL Season 21
Slon Tour Season 2
CSL Season 19: Qualifier 1
WardiTV 2025
META Madness #9
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22

Upcoming

CSL Season 19: Qualifier 2
CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Big Gabe Cup #3
OSC Championship Season 13
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.