• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 03:06
CET 09:06
KST 17:06
  • 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!12[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
Dark completes military service, returns to SC26[BSL23] RO16 Group Stage17Weekly Cups (Nov 2-8): herO back on top?2Weekly Cups (Oct 26 - Nov 1): MaxPax, herO, Solar win0Weekly Cups (October 19-25): Clem triples first in 5.0.175
StarCraft 2
General
Dark completes military service, returns to SC2 No more SC2 streamers on team liquid? Greetings.. Serral's getting trashed by New Catsle's Mind Weekly Cups (Nov 2-8): herO back on top?
Tourneys
Dark returns! GSL CK #7 4v4 Team Battle (Nov 19) Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) soO & FanTaSy return! SC2 Kevin Scrim 4v4 (Nov 16) RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 Tasteless Time Warp: SC Evo Showmatch (May 25)
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[G] How to playtest arcade maps Starcraft 2 Advance [D] the control group Simple Questions/Answers
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 551 Robotic Revival Mutation # 550 Graveyard Shift Mutation # 549 Endless Sparkles
Brood War
General
List of top players active on ShieldBattery Recommended BW Settings for Mouse and Video BW General Discussion Starcraft:Brood War Discord Servers [BSL23] RO16 Group Stage
Tourneys
CSLAN 4 is Coming! [BSL23] Ro16 Group C - Sunday 21:00 CET [BSL23] Ro16 Group A - Saturday 21:00 CET [$1250] International ShieldBattery League
Strategy
Pluto's TvP 5Marine 2Medic Push Infested Terran strategies in 2026 Nuke strategy worked in K-League 2026-11-09 50,000-Word Terran Builds Memo 2026-10-22
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread List of Game Threads The PlayStation 5 Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Path of Exile
Dota 2
Can Game Data Analytics Help Players Improvements
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
US Politics Mega-thread Trading/Investing Thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Dating: How's your luck?
Fan Clubs
Fan Club Resource Thread Reynor Fan Club The Flash Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece
Sports
TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 Football (Soccer) Thread MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
VCT 2027 America Kickoff LAT…
anakin.
The time I organised my…
AssyrianKing
Why I built Repalyzer (1.1.…
BlueStar
Innovate or Game Over?
TrAiDoS
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 11760 users

Let's talk about Swarmhosts/Mech - Page 10

Forum Index > SC2 General
Post a Reply
Prev 1 8 9 10 11 12 16 Next All
avilo
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States4100 Posts
February 03 2017 08:22 GMT
#181
On February 03 2017 17:10 Topdoller wrote:
Community has agreed this isnt an issue, please post this on the blizzard forums if you want the game changed. Blizzard do not have any representation on these forums

If you are having issues with Swarmhosts please post some examples of your games where you are losing to them on a persistent basis, a high level player may be able to offer some advice on tactics


Uh...most of the community that plays mech will tell you the swarmhost is a problem from firsthand experience. They'd equally tell you the raven is but that it's the only counter-measure you have versus swarmhosts.

I mean, does every single mech player need to get together and show our 100+ games of Zerg going mass swarmhost vs mech for the community to come to agree that it's an issue?

Current swarmhost was put on the same patch as "mech viability" and it absolutely crushes mech and forces the game to a stall. Get 50 ravens or autolose to swarmhosts is not a fun nor really healthy gameplay for people that wanna play mech.

And saying "then don't play mech" is even more unhealthy because Terran should have more strategic options than only bio.
Sup
dalaiisc2
Profile Joined May 2016
18 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-02-03 09:24:00
February 03 2017 09:22 GMT
#182
Ive never understood that "sh give free money" part. No they dont? They cant attack by themselfs, so the locust is their attack. The locust dont stay for very long, so the dmg output is limited. Lets say, a locust would deal 50 dmg in their lifespan, then the sh would basicly have an attack worth of 50 dmg, just not as direct damage, its indirect damage, because the sh itself dont attack.

Same goes for the raven. the auto turrect acts just like the locust. Or the carrier. The carrier itself dont attack, but the interceptors do. The difference here is, that the interceptors cost money, but if they arent killed, they last forever, unlike auto turrets or locust.

So where does the sh give you free money? Its just a unit with indirect attack. Its not called mule or something. If your opponent plays sh, try to predict, where he will fly in with locust and disturb him. And the "every 30 seconds" is completely bullshit. To be correct, its 43 seconds. Thats alsmost a 50% increase from "every 30 seconds", but i see what youre trying here. Wanna convince people with numbers more dramatic than they really are.
MockHamill
Profile Joined March 2010
Sweden1798 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-02-03 09:53:25
February 03 2017 09:53 GMT
#183
There are two problems with the Swarm Hosts.

1) They do not cost enough resources. This means you can get to many Swarm Hosts to early, before the mech player can get enough units to counter the Swarm Hosts.

2) The counterplay against Swarm Hosts is weak. Swarm Hosts are both very mobile, have high hitpoints and are cheap. If they were light you can at least use hellions to chase them down. This would be good for the game since it would encourage aggressive mech - being out on the map with hellions - instead of turtle mech.

If Zerg needs to be compensated for a Swarm Host nerf I suggest nerfing the Raven.
ArcadePlus
Profile Joined March 2012
United States44 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-02-03 10:36:06
February 03 2017 10:31 GMT
#184
I kind of agree with Avilo on this. I really think Swarm Hosts are just a mistake of a unit. I mean, Z already has lurkers, and ravagers, AND broodlords, AND infestors (with Infested Terran Spam). There are plenty of immobile siege options for zerg as it is, and they're all more interesting than Swarm Hosts. Swarm hosts to not promote interesting or high-level gameplay, and I genuinely believe they should be removed from the game.

The closest analogy the Swarm Host has in Sc2 is the broodlord, which is more expensive in terms of supply, build time, minerals, and gas, AND more immobile and more vulnerable. The Brood Lord clearly has a better cost-benefit tradeoff.

With all that said, I don't think mech would be especially viable with or without the Swarm Host. Mech still needs reliable and consistent anti-air to be workable against zerg, and even then It will be a style that is very map-dependent. That isn't a bad thing, but the idea that the Swarm Host is the only thing standing between Terran and high-level consistent mech viability seems wrong to me.

The only Terran I see going mech at the pro level with any consistency at all is TY, and his builds that transition into mech generally rely on getting damage done with a widow mine drop, a hellbat drop, liberator harass, or early banshees. If he doesn't get -ahead- in the game, then he usually is unable to make mech work against high-level zerg players. Again, if mech is just a style that can only be played based on the outcome of a certain opener, then that is fine and not necessarily bad for the game. But it makes mech seem even more situational, so complaining about the swarm host preventing mech's viability obscures perhaps more deep-set problems with mech, or with slow, siege, control-centered play-styles in general.
SCC-Faust
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States3736 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-02-03 10:35:02
February 03 2017 10:34 GMT
#185
Now this is just my opinion from personal anecdotal experience but I feel like rushing the Raven in TvZ is almost a free win against Zergs who open swarmhost. And then you can mech and it is almost unstoppable. It is funny how different players come up with different conclusions, but together we all enjoy the same game.
I want to fuck Soulkey with a Zelderan.
MockHamill
Profile Joined March 2010
Sweden1798 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-02-03 11:30:58
February 03 2017 11:20 GMT
#186
On February 03 2017 19:34 SCC-Faust wrote:
Now this is just my opinion from personal anecdotal experience but I feel like rushing the Raven in TvZ is almost a free win against Zergs who open swarmhost. And then you can mech and it is almost unstoppable. It is funny how different players come up with different conclusions, but together we all enjoy the same game.


Do you use the Raven to turret harass the Zerg mineral line or do you save up energy for pdd? In what way do you use the Raven to defeat Swarm Hosts?

I really doubt massing Ravens would work against a good Swarm Hosts player. And even if it did it is bad gameplay, which is why I think both Swarm Hosts and Ravens should be nerfed.

The last thing this game needs is mass Swarm Hosts vs mass Ravens. Which is why I support making Swarm Hosts light so that aggressive hellion use is the counterplay, instead of turtle mech.
JackONeill
Profile Joined September 2013
861 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-02-03 11:49:50
February 03 2017 11:49 GMT
#187
The very idea to have an "anti turtle" unit is stupid by design.

That's not how you prevent turtle : you prevent turtle by giving zerg some late game way to deal with air deathball, meaning that if your economy is much worse than the zerg's and that you rush straight into ravens/BCs, you're gonna die.
Having a cheap, fast unit that summons minions for free without commiting is idiotic.

Raven vs swarmhost never was an interesting dynamic, and i'd like for blizz to acknowledge the issue.
ihatevideogames
Profile Joined August 2015
570 Posts
February 03 2017 12:34 GMT
#188
It's obvious by now that Activision-Blizzard doesn't want mech to be viable. A mech that's used just as much as bio hurts their marketing presentation of the game, that being koreans microing marines.

It ain't happening, just wait for another RTS to come out and maybe that will have positional gameplay.
MockHamill
Profile Joined March 2010
Sweden1798 Posts
February 03 2017 12:46 GMT
#189
On February 03 2017 21:34 ihatevideogames wrote:
It's obvious by now that Activision-Blizzard doesn't want mech to be viable. A mech that's used just as much as bio hurts their marketing presentation of the game, that being koreans microing marines.

It ain't happening, just wait for another RTS to come out and maybe that will have positional gameplay.


Don't be paranoid. Blizzard made a real effort to make mech viable with the 3.8 patch. If they just correct a single mistake, the Swarm Hosts price reduction, mech will be viable or at least close to viable in TvZ.
SCC-Faust
Profile Blog Joined November 2007
United States3736 Posts
February 03 2017 14:12 GMT
#190
After much consideration I believe I was wrong on my last point.
I want to fuck Soulkey with a Zelderan.
Comedy
Profile Joined March 2016
489 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-02-03 14:48:23
February 03 2017 14:48 GMT
#191
Mech is OP without taking into account the swarmhost ability to get extreme cost effieciency. (which is very much needed).

Try playing vs mech without the SH and you will lose most of the time, unless you get perfect counters in the early game and managaze to run roach hydra viper off 80 drones in the most cost efficienct way possible. In which case you may have a shot.

Which is far harder to pull off then throw down a couple of factories and start pumping the insanely cost efficient cyclone and then tanks later on.


Also @ MockHamill.

Terran needs better anti air you say? You've got Thors, which are insane vs mutas, and you have raven/bc/viking/ghost (potentially). Using mech to secure 4-5 bases and not having to fear at all that you will die anytime soon if swarmhost were nerfed would make it super easy to get up to this unbeatable army composition. Which is exactly what avilo wants. Camp till unbeatable deathball. Terran anti-air is very good.
hiroshOne
Profile Joined October 2015
Poland425 Posts
February 03 2017 14:57 GMT
#192
You all must understand that by saying "mech viable vs Zerg" they mean "mech 100% winrate vs Zerg". Then you will realize that there is no point discussing with them. Problem solved.
Ultima Ratio Regum
MockHamill
Profile Joined March 2010
Sweden1798 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-02-03 15:24:11
February 03 2017 15:10 GMT
#193
On February 03 2017 23:57 hiroshOne wrote:
You all must understand that by saying "mech viable vs Zerg" they mean "mech 100% winrate vs Zerg". Then you will realize that there is no point discussing with them. Problem solved.


No. Viable means 45-55% winrate on pro level when a pro player plays against another pro player of similiar skill in a tournament setting. It also mean that the playstyle should be used consistently in that setting, not once every 40 games.
Phaenoman
Profile Joined February 2013
568 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-02-03 15:36:14
February 03 2017 15:30 GMT
#194
On February 03 2017 23:57 hiroshOne wrote:
You all must understand that by saying "mech viable vs Zerg" they mean "mech 100% winrate vs Zerg". Then you will realize that there is no point discussing with them. Problem solved.

I was just thinking... "No point in discussing. Problem solved" and still being in every single thread that is dedicated to mech? I don't know... Apparently either there is a problem with something or someone else, or just talking whithout thinking has become a normal thing.

Random is hard work dude...
Superbanana
Profile Joined May 2014
2369 Posts
Last Edited: 2017-02-03 15:44:23
February 03 2017 15:35 GMT
#195
Why do i have to be repetitive?
Why there is no progress in this discussion?

Its a non-issue. Mech is viable.
However, mech players advocating the SH nerf are turtle tank based mech players. This specific style is not viable against all builds (at a high level), and blizzard wants it to stay that way. Turtle mech, just like HotS Swarmhost style, is frustrating to play against and makes boring and long games.

Someone mentioned 2 base muta into 20 Swarmhosts on 2 bases. Takes a looooong time. Harass, take 4 bases, whatever, you shouldn't die to this against an even opponent unless you decide to turtle.
In PvZ the zerg can make the situation spire out of control but protoss can adept to the situation.
ihatevideogames
Profile Joined August 2015
570 Posts
February 03 2017 15:57 GMT
#196
On February 04 2017 00:35 Superbanana wrote:
Why do i have to be repetitive?
Why there is no progress in this discussion?

Its a non-issue. Mech is viable.
However, mech players advocating the SH nerf are turtle tank based mech players. This specific style is not viable against all builds (at a high level), and blizzard wants it to stay that way. Turtle mech, just like HotS Swarmhost style, is frustrating to play against and makes boring and long games.

Someone mentioned 2 base muta into 20 Swarmhosts on 2 bases. Takes a looooong time. Harass, take 4 bases, whatever, you shouldn't die to this against an even opponent unless you decide to turtle.


That's just your opinion to be honest.

And no, mech is not viable. Sure, it's 'viable' for me in Diamond vs opponents who have no idea how to deal with it, but that's not a good indicator.

As someone else said, when we see mech used in the proscene as much as bio or at least something more than a cyclone all-in every 50 games, then it's gonna be considered so. Untill then, it remains unviable and the reason why has been so painfully obvious for so long, that's it's almost certain it's not being fixed on purpose.
dalaiisc2
Profile Joined May 2016
18 Posts
February 03 2017 16:10 GMT
#197
On February 04 2017 00:10 MockHamill wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 03 2017 23:57 hiroshOne wrote:
You all must understand that by saying "mech viable vs Zerg" they mean "mech 100% winrate vs Zerg". Then you will realize that there is no point discussing with them. Problem solved.


No. Viable means 45-55% winrate on pro level when a pro player plays against another pro player of similiar skill in a tournament setting. It also mean that the playstyle should be used consistently in that setting, not once every 40 games.


TY or Innovation win with mech with that percentage. Just because avilo cant win with mech against zerg, doesnt mean, that mech is unplayable. he has a under50% winquote against protoss and zerg. only his tvt is good, because he does mass ravens every game. if blizz would nerf the auto turret, he maybe wouldnt even be in gm. so avilo is not a good reference, if youre talking about mech play!
VHbb
Profile Joined October 2014
692 Posts
February 03 2017 16:18 GMT
#198
How do you convince the actual progamers who play T (byun, innovation, maru, TY, etc. ...) to consistently play mech in tournaments?
Switching completely gameplay (from bio to mech) requires a lot of training, and I don't really see a reason to do it, if both styles are fairly balanced (around 50% winrates) and you already play bio successfully.

IMHO is really fine if mech stays as an alternative playstyle which we see once every N games, maybe map dependent, or to catch an opponent off guard, I don't think it's really necessary to be possible to *only* play mech in high level tournaments.
My life for Aiur !
Ej_
Profile Blog Joined January 2013
47656 Posts
February 03 2017 16:30 GMT
#199
On February 04 2017 00:57 ihatevideogames wrote:
And no, mech is not viable. Sure, it's 'viable' for me in Diamond vs opponents who have no idea how to deal with it, but that's not a good indicator.

Sure it's 'viable' for Maru and INnoVation at 7k mmr vs opponents who have no idea how to deal with it, but that's not a good indicator.
"Technically the dictionary has zero authority on the meaning or words" - Rodya
Boggyb
Profile Joined January 2017
2855 Posts
February 03 2017 18:25 GMT
#200
On February 04 2017 00:10 MockHamill wrote:
Show nested quote +
On February 03 2017 23:57 hiroshOne wrote:
You all must understand that by saying "mech viable vs Zerg" they mean "mech 100% winrate vs Zerg". Then you will realize that there is no point discussing with them. Problem solved.


No. Viable means 45-55% winrate on pro level when a pro player plays against another pro player of similiar skill in a tournament setting. It also mean that the playstyle should be used consistently in that setting, not once every 40 games.

And how well do you think non-pros would do against mech if it were that viable on the professional level?
Prev 1 8 9 10 11 12 16 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 3h 54m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
ProTech151
StarCraft: Brood War
Rain 2058
Britney 626
Leta 113
Stork 103
Mind 93
Mong 44
Sacsri 36
soO 33
Bale 23
Yoon 20
[ Show more ]
NotJumperer 20
ajuk12(nOOB) 19
NaDa 18
Noble 13
ZergMaN 12
yabsab 8
sOs 7
Force[name] 4
League of Legends
JimRising 586
Counter-Strike
fl0m1059
shoxiejesuss424
Other Games
summit1g9050
Happy253
Sick154
NeuroSwarm69
Mew2King56
ViBE49
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 1
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• iopq 6
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota2229
League of Legends
• Rush1531
Upcoming Events
Ultimate Battle
3h 54m
OSC
5h 54m
OSC
15h 24m
ByuN vs MaxPax
herO vs Krystianer
Percival vs Shameless
LetaleX vs YoungYakov
Nicoract vs Gerald
GgMaChine vs ArT
CranKy Ducklings
1d 1h
WardiTV Invitational
1d 3h
ByuN vs SHIN
MaxPax vs Solar
Clem vs TBD
herO vs TBD
Lambo vs TBD
Rogue vs TBD
IPSL
1d 8h
TerrOr vs IJ_Terran
rasowy vs Hazorath
BSL
1d 11h
TerrOr vs OyAji
UltrA vs Gosudark
Sparkling Tuna Cup
2 days
WardiTV Invitational
2 days
IPSL
2 days
Art_Of_Turtle vs KameZerg
Radley vs George
[ Show More ]
BSL
2 days
Artosis vs Dewalt
Ret vs Tech
WardiTV Weekly
3 days
PiGosaur Cup
4 days
The PondCast
5 days
GSL
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-11-12
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HCC Season 3

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
International ShieldBattery League
Individual League
BSL Season 23
IPSL Winter 2026-27
Calamity Cup Div. A Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
1win Private Club #2
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

Upcoming

YSL S4
Sector 591
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
StarCraft2 Weekly Open Tournament 2026 Grand Finals
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
Underdog Cup 2026 Div 2-3
PGL Bucharest 2027
BLAST Bounty Winter 2027
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
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.