• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 09:42
CEST 15:42
KST 22:42
  • 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
[ASL22] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!9[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
[$1250] International ShieldBattery League31Weekly Cups (October 5-11): Farewell to 5.0.162Rollback Netcode in Brood War1275.0.17 Patch Notes - October 7, 202624Weekly Cups Results (Sep 28-Oct 4)0
StarCraft 2
General
Server Blocker SCII needs to put more weight on strategy and tact No more sc2 streamers on team liquid? Terran AddOns placement How do you feel about the mass reverts in the 5.0.17 PTR?
Tourneys
RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20) Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2) $3,500 WardiTV Not-Summer Championship
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[G] How to playtest arcade maps [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Sweltering Sands [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 547 Temple Of Terror Mutation # 546 Catch the Train Mutation # 545 And Drops and Rifts
Brood War
General
Practice Partners (Official) Rollback Netcode in Brood War [Megathread] Daily Funny Videos GG Lan Fest Sofia, Bulgaria [this November] [Recap] Hive ZvZ in MonstarZ vs Dreams
Tourneys
[ASL22] Grand Finals [$1250] International ShieldBattery League 2v2v2v2 Tournament Small VOD Thread 2.0
Strategy
Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Simple Questions, Simple Answers Replay Review Process - What do you do?
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Dawn of War IV Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread General RTS Discussion Thread
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25!
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
Russo-Ukrainian War Thread US Politics Mega-thread Artificial Intelligence Thread The Chess Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
MLB/Baseball 2023 Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
The Link Between Gaming and …
TrAiDoS
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
38 yo Retired SWE loo…
PurE)Rabbit-SF
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 10184 users

Zerg Strategies as Annoying as the Photon Rush?

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Anonymouqs
Profile Joined July 2019
7 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-07-18 20:06:45
July 18 2019 20:06 GMT
#1
I am mainly a protoss player who plays cheese strategies such as the Photon Cannon Rush, Nexus Rush, and 4 Gate. Call me evil. There is a protoss player named "Florencio" who uses the most unexpected strategies(he actually created the Nexus Rush). As you can tell, he is my lord and savior

On a serious note, I am studying cheeses and rushes so I am able to counter them more. But you gotta admit that they are fun ^_^

I am learning Zerg at the moment and would like to be as unconventional as possible.

I am not asking for a Zergling Rush/Roach Rush. No. I am asking for something "unexpected and medically insane but effective".

Like a planetary fortress rush, a battle cruiser rush, a nexus rush. I'm just plain bored with doing zergling/roach rush and am not in the mood to do a conventional mid-late game.

I have attempted to develop a build involving 4 spine crawlers in the edge of someone's base after attaining sacs with the ovies and what not. Along with 4 spine crawlers there are 3 queens and a mixture of zerglings and roaches. But perhaps I am thinking too much like a protoss.

My fellow swarm, please aid me in out-cheesing the protoss.
brickrd
Profile Blog Joined March 2014
United States4894 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-07-19 18:23:34
July 19 2019 16:21 GMT
#2
the two craziest zerg cheeses against toss i know of are proxy hatch hidden in the main with roach burrow and hidden spawning pool first

for proxy burrow roach you have to hide the drone in the main and build a hatch out of sight, then mine gas, skip ling speed, research burrow, and make roaches from the proxy hatch. then you just abuse burrow micro to kill probes and cancel their mining. it's hard to hide the hatch, but some people will miss it. even if they find it sometimes you can finish it and they won't expect the roaches. you can do this with a proxy in the natural too but it's stronger in the main because you have a very narrow window of time before you start getting outmicroed by stalkers and tech/static D go up

for hidden spawning pool what you do is build drones to 14 supply, send the drone to a hidden corner of your main, start building a hatch, then immediately cancel and make a spawning pool on the creep from the canceled hatch. you have to do it immediately or the creep will disappear. then you mine to 300 again and take your natural. because you cut drones and overlord you can still make a fake expand soon enough to trick toss into thinking it's hatch first, and if they scout the main hopefully they don't see the hidden pool. then at 12/14 supply you do extractor trick and make 3 sets of lings. if the game normalizes you have to spend a creep tumor to make sure your pool doesn't bleed to death

2 base lurker drop is pretty crazy and fun too but not very good
TL+ Member
Ej_
Profile Blog Joined January 2013
47656 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-07-20 11:08:47
July 19 2019 17:14 GMT
#3
Proxy mutalisks and proxy swarm host

both start with going hatchery first at a hidden base:
-proxy SH takes a base close-by-air to your opponent's main, but far by ground (perfect maps for that: (Wiki)Neon Violet Square and (Wiki)Eastwatch with their golds)
-proxy mutalisks takes a base in a place where your opponent is least likely to scout ever (preferably also close by air for extra shenanigans with instant mutalisk harass; the best base ever for that is the 12 or 6 oclock on (Wiki)Eastwatch)

Proxy SH rushes lair, you start your lair before your "natural" is finished, so in your main, you ideally want to have 2 gases taken in main, with exact drone saturation required to pump non-stop SH and queens from your proxy hatchery
Proxy mutalisk is like normal 2hatch muta build, except all of your tech (lair and spire, and 7 mutalisks from injected larva) is made at your "natural" base.

Both builds are best suited in ZvP, but can be somehow pulled off vs Terran (but then they rely on inexperience of your opponent, not as much as information advantage).
The goal of proxy SH is to kill your opponent's main and natural nexus while defending SH with queen/spore vs stargate units.
The goal of proxy mutalisks is killing a ton of workers, while catching your opponent blindsided. It's not a very strong build, but can do wonders if your opponent is expecting any kind of other proxy build (esp. vs people who don't go stargate).
It's the best to mix them up with each other, and with different proxy hatchery all-ins (proxy roach/ravager, proxy spinecrawler ling flood, the aforementioned proxy hatch in main) to keep your opponent paranoid and forcing suboptimal responses.

"Technically the dictionary has zero authority on the meaning or words" - Rodya
washikie
Profile Joined February 2011
United States752 Posts
Last Edited: 2019-07-19 22:21:19
July 19 2019 22:14 GMT
#4
I played against one guy who hangs around D1 mmr on the ladder and they go for a 1 base nydus swarhost strat in evrey matchup, I have never lost to them but I play them a lot when I’m offraceing or playing random and thier build is so weird, they never ever expand, build a wall of evo chambers+ static d on their ramp and just constantly spam nydus everywhere and dump wave after wave of locusts on you. The amount of hosts a 1 base Zerg can make is kind of insane. It’s a very annoying cheese to deal with. It often leads to games where I have to wait for them to mine out thier main before I can win. Because engaging up a ramp into static d+ swarhosts is very difficult especially when leaving your base usualy means the loss of your nexus or hatch to a locust wave spewed from the global teleporting monstrosities.
"when life gives Hero lemons he makes carriers" -Artosis
Charoisaur
Profile Joined August 2014
Germany16103 Posts
July 20 2019 09:59 GMT
#5
1 base proxy broodlord.
Spawning pool - double gas - lair before queen - infestation pit and send a drone to the corner of the map - start a spire there and hive - greater spire
Many of the coolest moments in sc2 happen due to worker harassment
Chronopolis
Profile Joined April 2009
Canada1484 Posts
July 22 2019 10:17 GMT
#6
1 base nydus swarmhosts is probably the cheesiest strat. It feels comically unfair if you don't react correctly.
insitelol
Profile Joined August 2012
845 Posts
July 22 2019 11:39 GMT
#7
On July 20 2019 18:59 Charoisaur wrote:
1 base proxy broodlord.
Spawning pool - double gas - lair before queen - infestation pit and send a drone to the corner of the map - start a spire there and hive - greater spire

This. But remember you should practice this build very hard. Like 50 games a day or so. Only then it will work properly. Don't matter if you lose your first 200 games. Just keep doing it.
Less is more.
Aveng3r
Profile Joined February 2012
United States2411 Posts
July 26 2019 20:00 GMT
#8
clearly need to start raining baneling bombs on enemy positions from carrier overlords
I carve marble busts of assassinated world leaders - PM for a quote
WaesumNinja
Profile Joined February 2012
210 Posts
July 26 2019 20:37 GMT
#9
On July 22 2019 19:17 Chronopolis wrote:
1 base nydus swarmhosts is probably the cheesiest strat. It feels comically unfair if you don't react correctly.


doesn't even need to be 1 base, can just keep a squad of a couple of SH and just keep doing this all game. 8-10ish SH can comfortably focus down a nexus with a shield battery, just be ready for their counter push...
Luolis
Profile Blog Joined May 2012
Finland7197 Posts
July 27 2019 05:55 GMT
#10
1-base SH nydus for sure
pro cheese woman / Its never Sunny in Finland. Perkele / FinnishStarcraftTrivia
Spirit_HUN
Profile Joined March 2018
24 Posts
July 27 2019 10:21 GMT
#11
Try the "One Thousand Years of Death" named spine rush build vs protoss.
Its works on Kairos and New Repugnancy as well.
The highest level protoss i was able to beat this build was 5.8k MMR high.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
OSC
22:00
King of the Hill #265
EmpressLilyy70
Liquipedia
WardiTV Invitational
20:00
Not-Summer Championship
WardiTV704
TaKeTV 266
TKL 228
IndyStarCraft 217
Liquipedia
AI Arena Tournament
01:00
Swiss - Round 6
Laughngamez YouTube
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
ByuN 442
TKL 228
IndyStarCraft 217
SHIN 46
MindelVK 20
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 60629
Calm 4148
EffOrt 890
Horang2 805
Mini 787
Soma 565
firebathero 443
Stork 379
actioN 328
BeSt 317
[ Show more ]
Soulkey 276
Hyuk 150
Last 148
Snow 140
ggaemo 123
Shinee 113
Zeus 107
Leta 74
Sharp 68
Free 56
Hyun 56
hero 53
Pusan 53
910 47
Killer 43
PianO 42
ToSsGirL 32
Sexy 32
Creator 28
Hm[arnc] 22
Barracks 22
JYJ 22
Sacsri 20
HiyA 15
Bishop 14
yabsab 12
Trap 11
Rock 9
sorry 9
Icarus 5
Dota 2
Gorgc3499
Dendi984
420jenkins248
syndereN139
Counter-Strike
x6flipin332
Other Games
singsing2506
B2W.Neo1398
Beastyqt402
XaKoH 313
Khaldor311
Mlord288
crisheroes204
Fuzer 71
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Adnapsc2 14
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 4847
• WagamamaTV656
League of Legends
• Nemesis2733
Upcoming Events
IPSL
2h 19m
BSL Open Qualifier
5h 19m
WardiTV Weekly
21h 19m
IntoTheTV X SOOP
1d 21h
PiGosaur Cup
2 days
The PondCast
2 days
Kung Fu Cup
2 days
IntoTheTV X SOOP
3 days
FEL
5 days
FEL
6 days
[ Show More ]
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

ASL Season 22
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Copium Cup

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
IPSL Winter 2026-27
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
Acropolis #5 - GSC
HCC Season 3
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026

Upcoming

BSL Season 23
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
eXTREMESLAND 2026
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
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 © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.