Ling Bane Muta is a very hard composition to play. The recent Thor buffs definitly don't make it any easier. By removing the Mutalisks and adding Hydralisks to the composition we are able to play a much more controlled game.
The Build follows a standard approach to a 3 hatch Opener. You can play PiG's 1 Gas 3 Hatch or whatever you want. The important part is, that you reach 3 Hatch Saturation (66 Drones) with a 4th on the way, 2 evolution chambers, a baneling nest and a hydralisk den.
The Core Composition is Ling Bane Hydralisk. You want a few Hydras (think like you would build a few Mutas) and a lot of Ling Baneling. Use the Hydralisks as the support unit that can eventually turn into Lurkers while using the Lings and Banes to clean the majority of the Terran Army.
@Ling Speed stop ming gas until 3:30 (2 hatch Saturation) @2:45 Take 3rd (with pool first) @3:30 2nd Gas vs Hellion Styles @4:10 Bane Nest vs Hellion Openers @4:50 2 Evo Chambers @Evo's +1/+1 @100 Gas (5:30ish) Lair @3 Base Sat (51 Drones) take 5 more gas. @Lair Bane Speed + Hydralisk Den @Hydra Den Muscular Augments
The Build works well with Infestors, Brood Lords, Vipers or Ultralisks. It is up to you what you think is best. Generally you will face tanks if you need to transition. In those games aim for Brood Lords / Vipers. Ultralisks / Infestors versus more bio heavy armies.
Why Melee Upgrades and not Ranged? Hydras are just your Support. The majority of the Damage comes from your Ling Bane Force.
When to Transition? Lurkers can be done almost always. Go for Hive / Greater Spire versus heavy Turtle.
Why Hydras? Hydralisks have more DPS and have fewer Issues with Widowmines. They also transition well into Lurkers and dont need to be babysat as much.
Should I fight with Queens? Queens are important in the early game vs Marine / Hellion Aggression. They are also important in the later Stages versus Tanks. Pull Queens if you get tank pushed and need to break it!
On June 05 2017 01:10 Saechiis wrote: Thanks for this! I've been meaning to incorporate hydra's into my TvZ as mutalisk play is so volatile.
How high do you value Lurkers as opposed to just sprinkling in some hdyras for DPS and drop defense and going fast hive?
Especially against low Tank numbers Lurkers work wonders. It gets a bit problematic vs higher tank counts because you need to get to brood lords / vipers really fast. Otherwise they will eventually overwhelm you.
You can also stop the tank pushes with Ling Queen Bane Hydra (Lurker) though. I prefer the hive route.
If its mech then you transition into hydra ling bane swarm hosts (and a Hive later) rather then lurkers. I play this way for more then a season, and like it quite much.
I don't sure if its the exact way Railgan do it, but I aim for a hydra ling bane composition with lurker transition and a later hive.
On June 05 2017 21:01 IcemanAsi wrote: How do you adapt this to handle mech builds?
On June 05 2017 21:23 bulya wrote: If its mech then you transition into hydra ling bane swarm hosts (and a Hive later) rather then lurkers. I play this way for more then a season, and like it quite much.
I don't sure if its the exact way Railgan do it, but I aim for a hydra ling bane composition with lurker transition and a later hive.
Yep pretty much exactly. This game is a bit different in terms of setup as I open Spire into Ling Bane Hydra and make a Swarmhost transition once I spot the Mech:
In this game I just go pure Ling Bane Hydra Queen vs the Mech:
On June 05 2017 11:10 Railgan wrote: Spread out the units until I get attacked. When I get attacked --> Hotkey all offensive units by boxing them then ctrl + 1
Then f2 amove to where I get dropped and 1 amove to where I want to attack.
really cool method ! I will put that on my improvement list
On June 05 2017 11:10 Railgan wrote: Spread out the units until I get attacked. When I get attacked --> Hotkey all offensive units by boxing them then ctrl + 1
Then f2 amove to where I get dropped and 1 amove to where I want to attack.
really cool method ! I will put that on my improvement list
Thanks for making the video! I'm only gold but I was using ling bane muta but turtling player with turrets were beating me and this is definitely something I'm going to try out
Thank you for the guide, I've been trying out LingBaneHydra vs T for a while now but I didn't have the timings or transitions down, so your video is greatly appreciated.
On June 15 2017 22:38 IcemanAsi wrote: Saw your latest video about hydra upgrades, are you now recommending going for range upgrades or was that game specific?
I only recommend Range Upgrades if you are going for a Pure Hydra style like the 2 Base Hydra allin or 2 Base Hydra into 3 Base Hydra Lurker is. If you get any Banelings or Lings get melee Upgrades.
Question, what do you do if the opponent postures right outside your base, sieging his tanks and libs and pre splitting his bio? I assume just yoloing with your army is a bad idea since the banes can't connect effectively and the hydras are too slow to get in position in time before your ling bane army is gone? Just encountered this situation and I remember him positioning his tanks and libs in the front, bio in the back, then he just microes the marines while my banes get pummeled by his tank/lib/marauders.
I imagine you're supposed to stay patient and wait for vipers to pull his shit in. But I'm just really ansty to kill his army because I don't want him cutting off my bases from each other.
On July 04 2017 11:50 SilverHawk1 wrote: Question, what do you do if the opponent postures right outside your base, sieging his tanks and libs and pre splitting his bio? I assume just yoloing with your army is a bad idea since the banes can't connect effectively and the hydras are too slow to get in position in time before your ling bane army is gone? Just encountered this situation and I remember him positioning his tanks and libs in the front, bio in the back, then he just microes the marines while my banes get pummeled by his tank/lib/marauders.
I imagine you're supposed to stay patient and wait for vipers to pull his shit in. But I'm just really ansty to kill his army because I don't want him cutting off my bases from each other.
Obviously dependent on timing and position, if he goes for an early siege you can use your queens to break it, if its late game you should be going for hive tech for vipers and broodlords/ultra depending on how tank heavy he is.
But, yeah, a perfectly timed mid-late game move out with high number of tanks before you get hive is probably the 'best' answer by terran to this style of play, you need to make sure that you took a good enough economy advantage beforehand and harass his bases and his reinforcement lines with ling run arounds while his army is moving forward. A few Lurkers ( 4 - 6, no more ) are a good way to slow down his advance while you wait for hive tech or set up a favorable surround position ( if possible, based on map and how good he is with positioning his tanks ). The lurkers shouldn't be hitting his tanks, just making sure he can't send groups of bio forward, that will force him to stutter step his tanks very slowly toward you. If you get hive units or good surround and clear his tanks you should win the game. He should also be distracting you with drops in the mean time, have a secondary control group of ling bane with as few as 3-4 hydras to clear the drops and take out the medivac, making extra queens is fine, as they will transition very well into your late game and help with double drops.
Hold position control on your army is vital to make sure you don't get banes and lings just yoloing into his lines.
On July 04 2017 11:50 SilverHawk1 wrote: Question, what do you do if the opponent postures right outside your base, sieging his tanks and libs and pre splitting his bio? I assume just yoloing with your army is a bad idea since the banes can't connect effectively and the hydras are too slow to get in position in time before your ling bane army is gone? Just encountered this situation and I remember him positioning his tanks and libs in the front, bio in the back, then he just microes the marines while my banes get pummeled by his tank/lib/marauders.
I imagine you're supposed to stay patient and wait for vipers to pull his shit in. But I'm just really ansty to kill his army because I don't want him cutting off my bases from each other.
The easiest way to bust it is just by using Queens because they do decently well versus tanks and liberators. You just need the tanks to shoot at them without the bio blowing all of it up.
I've been doing this build exclusively and with great success, especially against hellion openers, only going roaches if I scout they are going for a quick double factory, would love some more details about timings against 2-1-1.
How do you keep the medicvacs numbers low with hydra ling bling. With mutas I can go after the medicvacs and take one or two down after a fight. But with hydra, the medicvacs just fly away after I win the fight.
On July 07 2017 06:27 BigRedDog wrote: How do you keep the medicvacs numbers low with hydra ling bling. With mutas I can go after the medicvacs and take one or two down after a fight. But with hydra, the medicvacs just fly away after I win the fight.
Huh? Your hydras outrange marines, unless your opponent is a micro god his medivacs are gonna be in range of your hydras. ling bling on the marines and focus fire the medivacs with your hydras.
I've been playing this style almost exclusively ZvT and it's been great. Medivac numbers go down quickly during fights so it shouldn't be a massive problem.
As for army composition, you want to add more hydras as long as he is adding marauders. If he has a lot of marines going 8-10 hydras to shoot down medics and getting more ling bane is good.
Also 6-7 hydras at home will destroy any drop before it hits the ground
On July 07 2017 06:27 BigRedDog wrote: How do you keep the medicvacs numbers low with hydra ling bling. With mutas I can go after the medicvacs and take one or two down after a fight. But with hydra, the medicvacs just fly away after I win the fight.
if his army count goes low you can try to focus fire the medivacs with your hydras. I do that often.
EPT
