Overview
Zagara, the first Broodmother, commands a swarm of aggressive and suicidal Zerg that specializes in wiping out enemy forces nigh-instantaneously. With her brood of Banelings and Scourge, no enemy is safe from a quick, acidic death. Zagara is a very powerful commander for beginners as her playstyle is very straightforward and doesn’t require much game knowledge or mechanics to execute well.
On the flipside, she has limited options for unit compositions in comparison to other commanders. Additionally, her 100 supply cap causes her to struggle in situations that require a lot of end-game power.
Strengths
High Burst Damage: When you need to kill something fast, Zagara is the perfect commander. She has the ability to finish fights or snipe objectives more quickly than any other commander. This is important for objective-based maps such as Rifts to Korhal, or to handle Mutations such as Propagators.
Early Game Strength: Zagara the Hero Unit is very powerful in the early game. Both of her primary abilities, Baneling Barrage and Summon Hunter Killers are geared towards early game dominance.
Weaknesses
Poor Performance in Prolonged Engagements: Because Zagara primarily focuses on suicidal units, she does not possess any units that perform well in sustained combat - lunits such as Siege Tanks or Lurkers. Because of this, she often struggles with endless waves of units such as those found on Dead of Night or Miner Evacuation who will bleed her dry of resources. Similarly, she faces difficulties against mutators that produce extra units such as Walking Infested or Outbreak.
Weak Late Game: As the game drags on, enemies become more powerful and more numerous. However, because Zagara mines at a constant rate throughout the course of the game and maxes out her army very early on, it doesn’t grow in strength proportionally to the challenges she faces. Therefore, her power level drops off more quickly than any other commander. This trait is exemplified even more in mutations where enemy forces require more firepower to deal with than normal, such as Avenger or Barrier.

Suggested Unit Compositions
Although Zagara only has five real combat units, she has the flexibility to mix and match them in any way she prefers. Zagara is generally one of the easiest commanders to play, though there’s a lot of knowledge involved in unit choice. Scourge are clearly your anti-air option - Corruptors cannot match their destructive power, but they do have a niche versus large single-target objectives. The real decision, however, is in the ratios you mix and match Zerglings, Banelings, and Aberrations in your main army. At higher levels, this is one of the most difficult Zagara skills to master. Note: assume that all of these compositions include Scourge when needed.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/monk/Coopguides/Zagara/Units_Comp1.jpg)
Zergling/Baneling/Aberration (+ Scourge):
By default, this should be your primary composition against medium-sized enemy waves and bases. In the mid-game, you should use only Zerglings and Banelings. Morph enough Banelings to completely wipe out the enemy force, then use Zerglings to clean up.
However, there are many reasons you’ll want to add Aberrations to this force:
- Add small numbers of Aberrations if you are facing Force Fields.
- Add Aberrations if you expect to face Hybrids. The more Hybrids you expect to face, the more Aberrations you should add in.
- Add Aberrations if you’re facing objectives that have lots of Area of Effect damage, such as on Void Thrashing or Rifts to Korhal.
- If you’re facing the Gateway composition (opens Zealot/Stalker), which features Psionic Storm, focus on Aberration production, going so far as to switch into mass Aberration.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/monk/Coopguides/Zagara/Units_Comp2.jpg)
Mass Baneling (+ Scourge):
Mass Baneling + Scourge is your default armageddon force against extremely strong enemy bases or waves, used best for the last engagement you expect to face in the mission. This includes the last bases on Rifts to Korhal and Void Thrashing, as well as for the last Hybrid wave on Chain of Ascension.
Usually, this isn’t enough to completely decimate these final bases/waves and you’ll need to re-max in order to clean up these final objectives or waves. Your re-max should include:
- Baneling/Zergling if there’s still a very substantial number of enemy forces left
- Aberration/Zergling if there’s a small but powerful number of enemies left.
- Mass Zergling if there’s almost no threatening enemy forces left.
Again, add Scourge when necessary.
![[image loading]](http://www.teamliquid.net/staff/monk/Coopguides/Zagara/Units_Comp3.jpg)
Mass Aberration (+ Scourge):
Mass Aberration is Zagara’s best option for sustained fights, even though it’s not even a great option. For instance, this composition, paired with static defense, is her best choice on Miner Evacuation. In addition, mass Aberration is ideal against the Gateway enemy composition, a composition that Zagara tends to struggle against.

General Tips
- For most missions, you should rely solely on Zagara the Hero unit until around eight minutes into the game. Until then, focus on getting your economy up, upgrading, and banking up on Banelings. Free Banelings have significantly better damage output later on, once the Corrosive Acid ability has been researched.
- Hatcheries are generally the superior choice over Queens when it comes to larvae. First, Queens cost supply, which is a scarce resource because of Zagara's lower supply cap. Meanwhile, Hatcheries provide supply. Secondly, Queens also take more attention to micro. But perhaps most importantly is that Hatcheries can be built near enemy objectives. This allows for a faster and more direct reinforcement path, which is often key in difficult fights.
- Corrosive Acid from the Baneling Nest is the most important upgrade for Zagara and thus should be prioritized over any other options - it significantly increases the damage of her free Banelings and Banelings morphed from Zerglings. If you are planning to spawn Scourges at all, the Simplified Genome research, which reduces Scourge gas cost, should be prioritized as well.
- Zagara’s Baneling Barrage ability will be wasted if there is any impassable terrain or Sentry Force Fields in the line of fire.
- While waiting for your units to morph, send Zagara ahead and weaken the enemy base defense using her spells. This allows her army to have an easier time engaging later on.
- Roach Drop should be saved for when you plan to assault a heavily-fortified base, but plan around using it as often as possible - it has a short cooldown of 3 minutes, so use it early and often. Even without vision, you can use it in an area with a high density of enemy units, allowing the spell to deal a lot of AoE damage, especially so with points in the Roach Drop mastery, as well as applying a short stun, before your Zerglings and Banelings rush in to support the attack. Also, if Sustained Frenzy is used right after the Roach Drop spell, the Roaches will be able to output a significant amount of damage.
- Bile Launchers are good at dealing with periodic, concentrated attack waves that arrive from predictable directions, especially in Temple of the Past, Mist Opportunities and Oblivion Express. However, they often fail to deal with an entire wave cleanly, even with the use of a few Spine/Spore Crawlers, and hence they should be supported by some units if possible, especially Zagara the hero. Group all your Bile Launchers on a hotkey and aim the biles slightly ahead of where you expect the enemy to be.
- While Zerg commanders should preferably be spreading creep on most maps in order to gain additional mobility, most of Zagara’s units are so fast that they do not benefit much from the movespeed bonus. Creep-spreading can be beneficial in some circumstances, especially for maps that require you to reposition quickly, but is not strictly mandatory.
- Overlords can be used to drop creep at certain areas - a useful feature if you want to build static defenses at far-away locations. Alternatively, position a forward hatchery tactically in order to benefit from its creep.

Calldown and Unit Overview
Zagara (Hero Unit)
20.00 DPS - 40.00DPS
Zagara is a strong early-game hero who excels at killing both enemy units and buildings.
Zagara fires 6 Banelings at an enemy target.
It’s important to note that Baneling Barrage benefits from the Corrosive Acid and Rupture upgrades as well as the Baneling damage mastery. At full upgrades, Baneling Barrage will deal 430/(660 vs structure) damage to a single target. The splash from Baneling Barrage is often wide enough that you can destroy multiple enemy structures and static defenses if you aim the max range of the Baneling Barrage between them.
It’s important to note that Baneling Barrage benefits from the Corrosive Acid and Rupture upgrades as well as the Baneling damage mastery. At full upgrades, Baneling Barrage will deal 430/(660 vs structure) damage to a single target. The splash from Baneling Barrage is often wide enough that you can destroy multiple enemy structures and static defenses if you aim the max range of the Baneling Barrage between them.
Summons 6 Hunter Killers.
24.10 DPS x 6
Summoning Hunter Killers is Zagara’s primary form of damage output throughout the early game. Since Zagara has higher damage priority than her Hunter Killers, she often draws aggro from nearby enemies, leaving the Hunter Killers in relative safety. As a result, they can often reach 100% of their potential damage output. In the early and mid-game, it’s possible to forgo Scourge altogether, relying only on Zagara and her Hunter Killers as your anti-air. Be wary that if the enemy is an air-heavy composition, you will need Scourge regardless.
24.10 DPS x 6
Summoning Hunter Killers is Zagara’s primary form of damage output throughout the early game. Since Zagara has higher damage priority than her Hunter Killers, she often draws aggro from nearby enemies, leaving the Hunter Killers in relative safety. As a result, they can often reach 100% of their potential damage output. In the early and mid-game, it’s possible to forgo Scourge altogether, relying only on Zagara and her Hunter Killers as your anti-air. Be wary that if the enemy is an air-heavy composition, you will need Scourge regardless.
All friendly units on the map gain 25% attack and 25% movement speed for 15 seconds.
Has a cooldown of 2 minutes.
Use this in every major engagement as well as directly after you use your Infested Drop.
Has a cooldown of 2 minutes.
Use this in every major engagement as well as directly after you use your Infested Drop.
Summons 10 drop pods at the targeted area, each containing a Roach - two Roaches at Zagara level 10 -,each drop pod dealing 50(80 with mastery) damage on impact in a small area.
13.00 DPS x 10(20)
Though this is certainly not the strongest ultimate ability in the game, it provides a good meat shield and distraction for all your other units to take advantage of in a large engagement. Can be dropped over the fog of war.
13.00 DPS x 10(20)
Though this is certainly not the strongest ultimate ability in the game, it provides a good meat shield and distraction for all your other units to take advantage of in a large engagement. Can be dropped over the fog of war.
Units and Buildings
9.00 DPS vs Air at 0/0
8.00/(12.00 vs armored) DPS vs Ground
As with Kerrigan’s Queens, the purpose of Zagara’s Queens is to Inject and spread Creep. Though Zagara’s Queen’s Injections are more effective than those of Kerrigan’s (spawning eight larvae instead of four), simply building additional Hatcheries are still recommended in place of Queens for multiple reasons as listed in the General Tips section of this guide. However, Queens are a good choice on maps that don’t benefit from having access to a forward Hatchery, such as on Dead of Night.
10.00 DPS
Zerglings are the cheap basic units of Zagara. As with all other variants of Zerglings, they are capable of dealing a lot of damage very quickly but have a very short life expectancy, being especially vulnerable to area of effect damage. Zerglings should mostly be used to clean up after the bulk of enemy forces have been destroyed. Avoid engaging in direct combat without support from Banelings as much as possible.
40/(80 vs structures) damage at 0 mastery, no double damage, 0/0
110/(190 vs structures) damage at 30 mastery, double damage, 0/0
Banelings are the cornerstone of your army; when any enemy ground force is too powerful for Zagara alone, Banelings should be utilized to either soften up- or completely obliterate that force. However, Banelings are a poor choice for situations where you need to fight for a longer period of time and for cleaning up structures.
16.67/(33.33 vs armored) DPS
Aberrations are your best anti-ground unit of choice for dealing with sustained combat situations. This includes combat against mass Infested or enemy bases that are defended by Hybrid Behemoths or Dominators. In addition, their massive unit tag allows them to crush Force Fields, so a few Aberrations are a welcome addition against any Protoss compositions that contain Sentries, which are otherwise a major problem for Zerglings and Banelings alone.
Note that the armor upgrade for Aberrations is not very useful. While 2 armor sounds like a significant amount of armor, in practice the few units standing underneath Aberrations will be dying to splash damage and spell damage rather than to individual physical attacks.
110 damage
Scourge are your best anti-air option, plain and simple. Corruptors don’t get close to matching the power of Scourge.
Note that attack upgrades for Scourge are not as useful as they are for most other units. Scourge gain a 4.5% increase in attack for each researched upgrade, compared to 10% for most other units.
7.37/(10.53 vs massive) DPS
Corruptors are absolutely atrocious as a combat unit when pitted against enemy air units due to their low damage output and lack of upgrades. That being said, their usefulness comes not from their anti-air ability, but their Corruption ability, which increases damage dealt to any unit afflicted by Corruption by 20%. This means that a single Corruptor can be useful against objectives like the Pirate Ship on Rifts to Korhal or Void Thrashers on Void Thrashing.
Standard detection for Zagara. It’s recommended to both follow a few Overseers onto Zagara herself as well as put them in a control group with your main army. It is advisable to upgrade Pneumatized Carapace (Overlord Speed) so that they can keep up with the rest of your army.
13.51/(16.22 vs armored) DPS
Spine Crawlers are one of Zagara’s most consistent forms of defense against endless swarms of units. Unlike Kerrigan, Zagara does not possess defensive tools such as Lurkers, Omega Worms, or Brood Lords - she has to be content with the Spine Crawler. This is certainly not the strongest form of defense in the game and Zagara should rely on her Hero Unit or ally for defense whenever possible.
17.44/(52.33 vs biological) DPS
Having bonus damage against biological air units, Spore Crawlers are very good at defending against Zerg air units, something that comes in especially handy on Temple of the Past versus Scourge. Spore Crawlers can also be used as detection at strategic points. Also decent for camping the Shuttle Launch Bays on Void Launch.
Bile Launchers have an ability that deals 75 damage in a large AoE, castable from a long range but with a slow projectile speed. This is most useful when defending fixed positions from large waves, such as what you often have to do on Temple of the Past. However, it’s less useful against the endless assault of Infested on Dead of Night or Miner Evacuation, or for small trickles of units. Enemies such as Hybrid that have high HP also won’t be stopped by Bile Launchers alone.

In-depth
Build Order
The following build is recommended on maps where your natural is blocked by Rocks. For all other maps, refer to the map-specific section and the attached replays. Your early-game build should aim to strike a balance between maximizing the number of free Banelings you spawn from your Baneling Nest and the strength of your economy. Building the Baneling Nest as quickly as possible should always be your first focus.
- 9 Extractor
- 11 Spawning Pool
- 11 Extractor
- 11 Overlord
- 11 Baneling Nest
- 10 Zerglings (Break expansion Rocks)
- 12 Zerglings (Break expansion Rocks)
- 19 Hatchery
- 19 Overlord
- 29 Extractor
- 28 Extractor
Masteries
Power Set 1:
- Zagara Life and Energy Regeneration (+1% – 30%)
- Zagara Attack Damage (+1 – 30)
Power Set 2
- Baneling Attack Damage (+1 – 30)
- Zergling Evasion (+0.5% – 15%)
Power Set 3:
- Roach Damage and Life (+2% – 60%)
- Sustained Frenzy (+2% – 60%)
Synergies
Raynor
Zagara’s Mass Frenzy greatly increases the effectiveness of Raynor’s units more than she does any other commander. At the same time, Raynor’s Hyperion buffs Zagara’s Zerglings more than any other unit in the game. Zagara’s Baneling and Scourges help to decimate most of the threatening units in a heavily-fortified base, before Raynor’s high-dps biological army takes over to clear up the remnants.Map-Specific Tips
Chain of Ascension
- Zagara can handle most of the early game herself, so bank up on Banelings for the later stages of the game, especially as a measure to deal with the tough second wave and the first Hybrid spawn.
- You won’t need any Scourge for the air units in the second base along Ji’nara’s path. Zagara’s Hunter Killers should be able to take care of them easily.
- Banelings and Scourge deal very well with the Hybrid spawns.
- If you are facing Colossi as part of the enemy composition, morph a few Scourge every time you re-max in order to take the Colossi out quickly.
- uild a single Corruptor in order to apply the Corruption effect to the Slayn Elementals before you send Scourge to take them out.
Replay Pack
Attached is a replay pack of the record solo speed runs for Zagara on each map. These replays demonstrate how to play Zagara as a general concept:Other Commander Guides
Writers: monk, Raincamp
Graphics: Jester, Kat, v1
Editors: Aron, Axiom, Maguro, monk, Raincamp, T.Chosen
Graphics: Jester, Kat, v1
Editors: Aron, Axiom, Maguro, monk, Raincamp, T.Chosen