• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 17:03
CEST 23:03
KST 06:03
  • 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
Serral wins EWC 202542Tournament Spotlight: FEL Cracow 202510Power Rank - Esports World Cup 202580RSL Season 1 - Final Week9[ASL19] Finals Recap: Standing Tall15
Community News
Weekly Cups (Jul 28-Aug 3): herO doubles up5LiuLi Cup - August 2025 Tournaments3[BSL 2025] H2 - Team Wars, Weeklies & SB Ladder10EWC 2025 - Replay Pack4Google Play ASL (Season 20) Announced58
StarCraft 2
General
Clem Interview: "PvT is a bit insane right now" Serral wins EWC 2025 TL Team Map Contest #5: Presented by Monster Energy Would you prefer the game to be balanced around top-tier pro level or average pro level? Weekly Cups (Jul 28-Aug 3): herO doubles up
Tourneys
WardiTV Mondays $5,000 WardiTV Summer Championship 2025 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament LiuLi Cup - August 2025 Tournaments Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond)
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 485 Death from Below Mutation # 484 Magnetic Pull Mutation #239 Bad Weather Mutation # 483 Kill Bot Wars
Brood War
General
BW General Discussion How do the new Battle.net ranks translate? Which top zerg/toss will fail in qualifiers? Google Play ASL (Season 20) Announced Nobody gona talk about this year crazy qualifiers?
Tourneys
[ASL20] Online Qualifiers Day 2 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues Cosmonarchy Pro Showmatches [ASL20] Online Qualifiers Day 1
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers [G] Mineral Boosting Muta micro map competition Does 1 second matter in StarCraft?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Total Annihilation Server - TAForever Beyond All Reason [MMORPG] Tree of Savior (Successor of Ragnarok)
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
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Bitcoin discussion thread US Politics Mega-thread 9/11 Anniversary
Fan Clubs
INnoVation Fan Club SKT1 Classic Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread Korean Music Discussion
Sports
2024 - 2025 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Gtx660 graphics card replacement Installation of Windows 10 suck at "just a moment" Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
TeamLiquid Team Shirt On Sale The Automated Ban List
Blogs
[Girl blog} My fema…
artosisisthebest
Sharpening the Filtration…
frozenclaw
ASL S20 English Commentary…
namkraft
The Link Between Fitness and…
TrAiDoS
momentary artworks from des…
tankgirl
from making sc maps to makin…
Husyelt
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 715 users

[G] ZvZ baneling all in: simple yet effective

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
1 2 Next All
dogcore
Profile Joined January 2011
Albania128 Posts
April 17 2012 23:50 GMT
#1
(this is my first guide, bear with me here)

Tired of losing to cheap styles like mass mutalisks, max roach busts, and infestor mass spines? Want to put an end to Tangs overused mass zergling build? Want to get out your mediocre league with a beastly ZvZ?

Well hello there! I am a NA Masters Zerg 14 year old with the handle Nirvana, and I've struggled with the above builds. I am here to show you a simple and standard build order that will get you to at least masters level in ZvZ doing this effective and ferocious timing build.

BO:
14 gas
14 spawning pool
15 overlord
100% pool, ling speed, queen, and mass ling on this point on
20 baneling nest
22 overlord

The essential build order is a basic speedling opener of 14 gas and 14 pool, which is the most optimal build that gets you speed, queens, and lings with an overlord as well. As soon as you get the 50 gas (which should be about 20 food), plant down that baneling nest. Simply rally your lings to put fake pressure and find a good spot the overlords cant see. Then as soon as your nest is finished, make as much banelings as possible, which should be about 4-6ish. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU MORPH THE BANELINGS SEPARATELY OR YOU WILL LOSE THEM ALL TO TWO BANELINGS!
Now rally your banelings to the opponents mineral line and micro your zerglings around.

VARIABLES, AND HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM

vs scouting drone:

Take drones off gas when you hit 100 gas for speed and wait for the drone to leave. Then put the drones back in your gas geyser.

vs 15 hatch

Move out with your first 6 lings and rally additional zerglings to your opponents base. Force him to overmake zerglings, and if you see a fast spine being morphed, target it and force a cancel.

vs early pool

Since you have a 2 minute spawning pool, this should be an easy hold for you if you have competent micro,

vs mirror

This is where micro comes in handy. Simply morph the banes in a pair and rally to their base. Then micro your zergling to optimal efficiency.

vs roach

You should see at least a spine in base and 5-7 or so roaches. Expand and get a spine crawler. Put lings in a backstab position when he moves out.

Without further ado, here are replays of me performing the baneling all in.


http://drop.sc/161696
http://drop.sc/161697
http://drop.sc/161698
http://drop.sc/161699

Thank you and happy ZvZing.

MORE TO COME: How to properly defend this all in with certain builds, and replays of players doing so.
BriTadeb
Profile Joined June 2011
France23 Posts
April 17 2012 23:53 GMT
#2
It is because of this kind of all-in I have some free win only defending. With good micro and going hatch first, it is very easy to defend against it.
Zennith
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States795 Posts
April 17 2012 23:54 GMT
#3
I hope this is a troll... this is easily one of the most common ZvZ builds out there.
Sentinel Gaming Competitive Team Manager | 1500+ points Masters Zerg | twitch.tv/zennith6
Zennith
Profile Blog Joined July 2011
United States795 Posts
April 17 2012 23:54 GMT
#4
And yeah, Hatchery first with queens blocking the ramp is actually a hard counter to this.
Sentinel Gaming Competitive Team Manager | 1500+ points Masters Zerg | twitch.tv/zennith6
lodeet
Profile Joined September 2011
United States147 Posts
April 18 2012 00:07 GMT
#5
I wouldn't try this past gold league even though it still works at low masters which just goes to show how easy it is to get masters. This build should only work against someone who is completely clueless in ZvZ.

A simple OL scout to determine no expand by 21 supply = roach, ling, or bling all in.
Belial88
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States5217 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-04-18 00:40:39
April 18 2012 00:39 GMT
#6
Some problems with your 'build':

- If you keep drones in gas, then you can't afford to get 6 lings all at once. You should only be able to get 4.

- If I see you don't get a hatch by 21, I prepare for ling/bane all-in by getting a quicker bane nest and making more lings. Its pretty obvious. If you are going roaches instead of bane... just lol, I hold even easier.

So I really don't care if you ppull drones off gas. I'm actually hoping you'll do something that dumb, because if you that, it means even with hatch first I get a baneling nest before you do!

But there is no way this all in will work. 2 queens to transfuse a spine and block rap, and a bane nest to follow shortly. The only map this build works on are terrible maps like TDA and scrap station
How to build a $500 i7-3770K Ultimate Computer:http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=392709 ******** 100% Safe Razorless Delid Method! http://www.overclock.net/t/1376206/how-to-delid-your-ivy-bridge-cpu-with-out-a-razor-blade/0_100
Rk0
Profile Joined August 2011
Netherlands224 Posts
April 18 2012 00:43 GMT
#7
hahahaha what? almost every pool opener does this
Ainvar
Profile Joined January 2011
United States68 Posts
April 18 2012 00:46 GMT
#8
Try going 10 pool 10 extractor with extractor trick to 11 supply. Take drones off gas and make queen and speed before two more drones rallied to gas. It's a faster baneling build that kills hatch first, where yours doesn't.
The_Templar
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
your Country52797 Posts
April 18 2012 00:53 GMT
#9
Hmm, I think I've seen this allin enough times to recognize it. It's definitely identical to 50% of my ZvZ opponents I face.
Therefore, I'm not exactly sure why this guide exists.
Moderatorshe/her
TL+ Member
Zheryn
Profile Joined December 2010
Sweden3653 Posts
April 18 2012 01:49 GMT
#10
should be an easy hold for you if you have competent micro

...

micro your zergling to optimal efficiency


Excellent guide!
hundred thousand krouner
[UNC]oRe.saMa
Profile Joined December 2009
United States42 Posts
April 18 2012 01:59 GMT
#11
On April 18 2012 08:54 Zennith wrote:
I hope this is a troll... this is easily one of the most common ZvZ builds out there.


This is definitely a super common build at masters level, but what's wrong with writing a guide that teaches lower leaguers how to execute it?
CallMeHwangpo
Profile Joined May 2012
10 Posts
May 18 2012 03:37 GMT
#12
Early banelings can be easily stopped by having a few spines up and queen block. This strat is still very effective as most players I face on ladder make careless mistakes and throw away their games.
tuestresfat
Profile Joined December 2010
2555 Posts
May 18 2012 12:02 GMT
#13
On May 18 2012 12:37 CallMeHwangpo wrote:
Early banelings can be easily stopped by having a few spines up and queen block. This strat is still very effective as most players I face on ladder make careless mistakes and throw away their games.

It's good to know this insanely common all-in is easy to hold, but players on ladder are still players on ladder and they have a tendency to do unintelligent things. Thank you for bumping this month old thread, I would never have suspected otherwise.
Harmm
Profile Joined May 2012
Netherlands1 Post
May 19 2012 00:15 GMT
#14
Spreading drones and blocking your ramp with queens would be effective, wouldn't it?
ipwntbarney
Profile Joined September 2011
United States141 Posts
May 19 2012 00:32 GMT
#15
I agree that it's a pretty common build for most higher level players, but a lot of lower players are COMPLETELY clueless in ZvZ (I know I had no idea wtf I was doing when I was silver-gold). So I think it's nice that somebody actually put it into a guide. Good job ^^
dogcore
Profile Joined January 2011
Albania128 Posts
May 28 2012 03:37 GMT
#16
thanks barney
sanddbox_sc2
Profile Joined October 2011
United States173 Posts
May 28 2012 08:15 GMT
#17
"Cheap tricks like mass mutalisks, roach busts, and infestors..."

This makes me very, very sad for the skill level of NA server if you're in masters <.<
Math.random();
Profile Joined July 2011
433 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-05-28 09:11:07
May 28 2012 09:10 GMT
#18
With this all-in you are relying heavily on your opponent messing up and simply not knowing how to deal with it. With hatch first I build my spine in my main (edge of the creep) otherwise the first zerglings will kill it and you'll have to rebuild the spine.Then you only have to block your ramp with two queens or queen + zerglings, move spine to natural, move drones from natural back to main and build zerglings. It's quite easy to deal with it unless you overdrone, which you shouldn't if you see no expo.
Belial88
Profile Blog Joined November 2010
United States5217 Posts
May 28 2012 09:13 GMT
#19
^ imo it's a bad build too - hatch first just owns this because you just get 2 queens to block the ramp, nothing will get through. If hatch first sees no expansion, they just don't inject, and drone up hard because they know it's some sort of all-in and they need the transfuse energy. Meanwhile you get speed and banelings, so any sort of mass baneling attack is met with banelings in time.

I don't understand why you don't see 4 gates, 4-7 rax all-ins, 3 rax, et cetera, at all anymore because they are so outdated, yet you still see this in zvz. you'd think it would have moved on from never working. or i guess it does work? i think in lower levels no one goes hatch first so they have a harder time defending this stuff (and so i guess a vicious cycle is started as they think if they cant defend going 14 pool, it must be even harder with hatch first), but going hatch first is incredibly safe due to double queen block. so easy to defend with hatch first.
How to build a $500 i7-3770K Ultimate Computer:http://www.teamliquid.net/blogs/viewblog.php?topic_id=392709 ******** 100% Safe Razorless Delid Method! http://www.overclock.net/t/1376206/how-to-delid-your-ivy-bridge-cpu-with-out-a-razor-blade/0_100
Servius_Fulvius
Profile Joined August 2009
United States947 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-05-28 16:21:48
May 28 2012 16:20 GMT
#20
On May 28 2012 18:13 Belial88 wrote:
I don't understand why you don't see 4 gates, 4-7 rax all-ins, 3 rax, et cetera, at all anymore because they are so outdated, yet you still see this in zvz. you'd think it would have moved on from never working. or i guess it does work? i think in lower levels no one goes hatch first so they have a harder time defending this stuff (and so i guess a vicious cycle is started as they think if they cant defend going 14 pool, it must be even harder with hatch first), but going hatch first is incredibly safe due to double queen block. so easy to defend with hatch first.


Yep. Very few of my zvz's are against another hatch first player. I've played against baneling bust three times in the last three days on the plat/diamond ladder. First game was a ramp block into banelings and they eventually left after a few failed runs. Second was a loss because one of my queens was out of position leaving a ling-sized hole. Third was another straight up win.

It's hard to get a feel for zvz outside masters because of the ridiculous crap that wins until we've seen it enough times and learn to scout it better. I've scouted a quick four gases and lair, prepared for mutas, and then scouted pure roach. Or two gases and a late lair and they go mutas. Or make 20 mutas and never take a third base. You see a lot more of this garbage when going hatch first because for some reason "I'm going hatch first" means "I want you to all-in me". Well over half my zvz's are against baneling all-ins, zergling all-ins, or 7 pools. Some of these are against high diamond players and a friend of mine made masters doing nothing but zergling all-ins in zvz (with ~70% win ratio). Sometimes he would even tell his opponent how to beat it when the game started.

Essentially this all means that lower level zergs who go hatch first will be a LOT better trained against 1 base all-ins when they finally hit masters.
1 2 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 2h 57m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
IndyStarCraft 246
ForJumy 69
StarCraft: Brood War
Mini 953
EffOrt 603
Shuttle 432
Soulkey 203
ggaemo 92
TY 80
Yoon 13
NaDa 10
Stormgate
B2W.Neo735
WinterStarcraft478
Nathanias239
UpATreeSC228
TKL 180
JuggernautJason68
Dota 2
syndereN1015
Pyrionflax158
capcasts146
Counter-Strike
fl0m2342
pashabiceps933
Stewie2K517
flusha346
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox667
PPMD41
Heroes of the Storm
Liquid`Hasu663
Other Games
Grubby3289
summit1g2743
ToD118
C9.Mang044
QueenE39
Sick35
ViBE15
fpsfer 2
Organizations
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 22 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 85
• musti20045 36
• Migwel
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
StarCraft: Brood War
• Azhi_Dahaki47
• blackmanpl 34
• FirePhoenix6
• HerbMon 4
• Pr0nogo 1
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota22634
• WagamamaTV615
League of Legends
• TFBlade1150
Other Games
• imaqtpie1835
• Shiphtur298
Upcoming Events
PiGosaur Monday
2h 57m
WardiTV Summer Champion…
13h 57m
Stormgate Nexus
16h 57m
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
18h 57m
The PondCast
1d 12h
WardiTV Summer Champion…
1d 13h
Replay Cast
2 days
LiuLi Cup
2 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
2 days
RSL Revival
3 days
[ Show More ]
RSL Revival
3 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
3 days
CSO Cup
3 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
4 days
Wardi Open
5 days
RotterdaM Event
5 days
RSL Revival
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

ASL Season 20: Qualifier #2
FEL Cracow 2025
CC Div. A S7

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
Jiahua Invitational
BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21 Qualifiers
HCC Europe
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 7
IEM Dallas 2025

Upcoming

ASL Season 20
CSLPRO Chat StarLAN 3
BSL Season 21
BSL 21 Team A
RSL Revival: Season 2
Maestros of the Game
SEL Season 2 Championship
WardiTV Summer 2025
uThermal 2v2 Main Event
Thunderpick World Champ.
MESA Nomadic Masters Fall
CS Asia Championships 2025
Roobet Cup 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
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.