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So now that I'm one of those silly Platinum players (thanks mainly to TL and livestream, since I'd never really played much SC1 beyond UMS games as a kid) I thought it was about time to define and refine my build orders.
So that's what I'd like to see in this here thread; I'm going to try to compile the current 'standard' build orders versus each race. Liquipedia seems to be lacking in content thus far, so I figure if we can come together and get some of these build orders down it will go a long way to adding some much needed content to what should be a very useful tool. I'll start, and edit in updates as more of you fine gentlemen add yours.
Please feel free to add in your own 'standard' play build orders and discuss when they are useful
GENERAL INFORMATION:
Common economic openings include:
13 Pool 15 Hatch
14 Pool 16 Hatch
15 Pool 16 Hatch (the "Idra")
SPECIFIC BO's:
Zerg v Zerg
13 Pool Roach/Baneling - Anti-Speedling build
+ Show Spoiler +
13 pool (ideally)
12-14(not tested accurately) extractor
16 queen
17 extractor trick lings
18 roach warren
17 baneling nest
get a few roaches, morph the first couple lings into banelings.
This build will essentially **** on any mass ling builds, as the couple banelings worked in will reduce any all-in that could possibly come at that point to a number much more easily managed by a pittance of roaches. The timings aren't perfect, since I haven't tested this beyond seeing it hold off mass ling, but the essentials of the idea are there. Any panic lings built early on can easily be converted to banelings, and you can take a second with relative comfort. Plus you've now got roaches.
13 Pool Speedling/Baneling (1 Base push)
+ Show Spoiler +
Bo is something like
13Pool
14Gas
16Queen
Overlord
Speed then throw down a baneling nest.
Pump lings until you get a decent amount, convert some to banelings. Works great if you have a greater ling force then him after you morph your banelings, then you can run your banelings into his mineral line. Or, you can just run them in first and try and take out half his army before you run yours in.
Overpool/Quick Lair into Expansion
+ Show Spoiler +
10 Extractor Trick and use the 11th drone to scout
10 Overpool (Overlord then Pool)
13 Drones
14 Extractor
14 Lings
15 Queen
17-18 Lings
Lair with first 100 gas
Then be aggressive with first 6 lings. If your opponent goes for FE you should be able to take it out with first 6 lings plus some reinforcements. If your opponent doesn't go 1 Base Roach all-in the then expand with 1-2 spine crawlers. Play defensively but try to snipe his expo if possible.
If your opponent is going FE with roaches then you will need to throw down a Roach Warren to match him. Hopefully you got your expo up first. If the map is Kulas Ravine try and steal the gold expo without your opponent knowing.
Mid-game you have 2 options. Mutas or hydras. If you go Mutas basically you need to expand again while denying your opponent any more expansions in order to win. You win by map control. If you go hydras, scout your opponent. If he goes Mutas make sure to put up 2 spore crawlers per base, sit back and keep producing Hydras, because in a straight-up fight your hydras will win. If he is also going hydras, then get +1/+1 and try to out macro him. Eventually you will gain enough of an economic advantage to win the game.
Basically ZvZ is a game of each player trying to secure the higher advantage. If you manage to get an expo and hold it, you will win if your opponent doesn't have one (obviously).
Zerg v Protoss
LaLush Build (Overpool, Early Lair) - Excellent against Immortal timing push/Void ray harass
+ Show Spoiler +
10 Overpool
11/18 scout
Drones to 13/18
13/18 4 Lings/Queen
17/18 Lings
18/18 Overlord/Extractor
17/18 Drone
20/26 Hatch at natural
25/26 Overlord
28/34 Lair (1st 100 gas)
2nd Gas at 2/3 Lair
Hydra den once lair finishes, pump Hydras to defend the push
From this point on many of the variations depending on what you have scouted have been heavily discussed in TL's strategy posts
8 Pool
+ Show Spoiler +
8 Pool
7 Drone
8 Drone
9 Overlord
9 Zergling
10 Zergling
11 Zergling
12 Zergling
Send all your Zerglings as soon as possible to the Protoss base
13 Drone
14 Queen
16 Overlord
16 Drone
17 Drone
18 Roach Warren
17 Extractor
16-24 Drone
24 Overlord
24 Hatchery
24-28 Roach
The general benefits are this: You don't have to scout initially, your zerglings will be there before it would matter anyway.
It gives you a big advantage vs 13 gate and 13 pool, since 8 zerglings is enough to kill the one zealot and then either the pylon on the gateway or a bunch of probes. Vs Zerg, if you micro correctly, you can easily kill 8 zerglings with your 8 zerglings and only losing one or two, and then you wipe out their queen. This puts them massively behind.
Oversky build (ZvP) - Popularized by oversky early in the hellogoodbye tourney. (13p Ling pressure)
+ Show Spoiler +-13pool
-15gas
-16queen
-@100gas, ling speed + pull drones off gas
-18hatch
-23ov
Rally lings nearby toss choke, keep a small squad of ling further up to deny scout.
@~36 ling, attack + nonstop ling production. Don't be afraid of zealot walls.
Counters: any other tech build (robo, stargate, etc), any techless gateway zealot build.
Countered by: fast warpgates (2-3 warpgates), forge openings, full wall-offs.
Cartoon's 14 Hatch 13 Pool - 2 gate counter.
+ Show Spoiler +14 hatch
13 pool
15 overlord
15 queen
Zerglings...
queen at 2nd hatch...
That's how you beat 2 gate.
On close spawn LT, possibly on steppes, he thinks a 14 pool into a 1 base build or an in base hatch is the better build; same with a close proxy 2 gate.
Zerg v Terran
14 Pool 16 Hatch
+ Show Spoiler +
14 pool
16 hatch
15 ovi
15 extractor
16 Queen
Next queen builds on same hatch as first, as your second hatch will not be finished,walk first queen to second hatch after injecting larve, it should arrive close to when second hatch completes with almost enough energy for another inject larve.
If you scout starports, build extra queens and fast lair tech to hydras. ELSE
first 100 gas to speedlings (counters reaver, helion harass pretty well)
I have found 2 hatch >> 1 lair vs Terran.
Do not be too quick to fill up your gas to early, you should be focused on drones and speedlings since it is important to keep up with the Terrans very easy mode macro (damn mules).
Speedlings are not really hard countered by anything except by a large MM ball or air, they should give you enough map control to saturate your FE safety.
From here its up to the Terran player, they have a lot of options. Scout. React. Win.
vs MMM- roach hydra infestor (fungal growth)
vs mech- Muta/Roach/infestor (in the case of thors only, remember strike cannons work great on other thors
vs Starport- hydra
Dimaga Baneling Break - can end games before the 8 minute mark if the Terran wall is standard
+ Show Spoiler +
14 Pool
13 Gas
15 Overlord
15 Queen/Lings
Nothing but Ling production from this point until the break hits
First 100 gas to ling speed
next 50 gas to Bling
Create 6 Banelings as soon as possible and hit his supply depots at his wall with them, then run the speedlings into his base through the breach
13 Pool 18 Roach into Air
+ Show Spoiler +
(scout on 9)
13 pool
14 hatch
13 gas
16 queen
18 extractor trick
17 one set of lings
18 roach warren
(timings from here on out are in queen larva cycles 1-1 would mean queen 1, cycle 1)
1-1: 0-7 roaches, 0-7 drones, depending on ling/overlord scouting
Queen #2 from other hatch
1-2: drones
Lair after first cycle of drones
3 extractors up now, put 2 in each extractor (means pulling the third from the 1st extractor)
1-3/2-1: ideally these are more drones, and you fully saturate all extractors. Depends on scout though, these can be turned into enough roaches to ostensibly keep you alive)
1-4/2-2: get a spire out as soon as you get the double-cycle of drones
Ze Midgame
Spire pops: build 2 Corrupters and as many Mutas as your gas buildup allows.
The reasoning behind the Corrupters is their ability to disable buildings. Mutas suffer a *lot* in SC2 from static defense, mainly because said static defense (in the case of T and P) has received a substantial HP increase. Terran Turrets also do a lot of damage to muta harass. I've had games where the terran found a way to scout the spire and was able to get a couple of turrets down. I found that it pretty much shut the mutas down. With corrupters, the static defense gets nullified long enough to make the harass effective, accomplishing what the Terran could otherwise almost ignore with proper turret placement.
If the Terran didn't scout, the Corrupters still aren't wasted, as they can take a couple pot shots at other production buildings in the mean time, then do their proper job on a return trip later in the game. And hey, if there aren't turrets in the first round of harass, then your 5-6 mutas are still having a hey-day in the mineral line.
From this point on I would ostensibly use 1-5/2-3 and 1-6/2-4 on roaches in order to repel any panic all-ins, timing pushes, and to just generally get some ground dominance once the air superiority has been set up. The third hatch should then follow asap, followed by another round of mutas and another corrupter. The corrupters enable the mutas to pose a significant threat to an unguarded base, and I've found that they overall just increase the power of mutas by a lot.
Concerns involve early game harassment and fast banshees. early game harassment can simply be defended with your choice of spine crawlers or lings. Fast banshees tend to get shut down hard by well placed spore crawlers, so respond accordingly to your scouting information.
Alright, there's one for each match up to start with. Please reply with more of your fantastic build orders. I'll add any of them that work at the Platinum level (not to be an elitist or anything, but simply to cut down on the number of builds that I'll have to look at). I'll check every build submitted into this thread, and try to add them to the OP (or remove them if they are too cheesy or simply don't work).
I'm particularly looking for standard BO's against the standard Terran Bio, Terran Mech, and Protoss gateway pressure, in addition to a Roach ZvZ build.
Extra points if your BO's include Infestor usage 
I'll also try to make each of the BO's into an image that can be easily saved or referenced eventually, if this thread actually gets a number of replies.
Edits: Thanks, keep them coming! And keep commenting on other builds, with the caveat that if you comment, please either suggest a change or suggest an alternative! Thanks guys!
- Removed the 14 Hatch Speedling build.
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I've been looking for this, thanks a ton! really helpful as i've been struggling quite a bit with just having a solid opening.
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On April 29 2010 12:08 Jeuh wrote:
I've been looking for this, thanks a ton! really helpful as i've been struggling quite a bit with just having a solid opening.
No problem, I feel like a lot of people must be in the same boat. The three I put up so far are by no means the only openings, nor should they be used every time (especially not the Baneling break, if he knows how to stop it he can stop it HARD with the right wall).
Hopefully we will get a lot of community collaboration and we can get a real solid compendium of BO's going :D
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Can your ZvsZ build handle a ling rush from a pool at 10 supply or earlier? Seems like it would have a tough time vs 10 pool and be completely screwed vs anything earlier. But this is coming from a Silver player. Currently when I draw ZvsZ I am usually doing a 13 pool, and even then a 7-9 pool is trouble.
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Good post. However, I'm not sure how viable the zvz build you have is. I'm a mid-ranked plat player so I'm not much of an authority to talk; however, 14 hatch openings will pretty much instant lose to a 6pool or 10pool on every map i can think of. I could be wrong, but i never open with 14 hatch in zvz because it is too risky.
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On April 29 2010 12:15 HCastorp wrote:
Can your ZvsZ build handle a ling rush from a pool at 10 supply or earlier? Seems like it would have a tough time vs 10 pool and be completely screwed vs anything earlier. But this is coming from a Silver player. Currently when I draw ZvsZ I am usually doing a 13 pool, and even then a 7-9 pool is trouble.
Any 6 or 8 Pool might be a bit sketchy to deal with. 10 should be fine, since the 14 pool really doesn't come THAT much later than a 13 pool. Honestly, ZvZ I make a habit of scouting pretty darn early, so if I see some sort of 6 or 8 pool cheese I can do a 10 Overpool, or even a 13 pool instead of 14 Hatch. A big part of selecting your build beyond the 10 supply mark is scouting.
On April 29 2010 12:17 Onea wrote:
Good post. However, I'm not sure how viable the zvz build you have is. I'm a mid-ranked plat player so I'm not much of an authority to talk; however, 14 hatch openings will pretty much instant lose to a 6pool or 10pool on every map i can think of. I could be wrong, but i never open with 14 hatch in zvz because it is too risky.
Yeah, 10 pool can be a bit sketchy on smaller maps. Like I said, scouting is always key no matter what the BO or what the MU. Always have a plan if you scout early cheese. The ZvZ Speedling build is primarily designed to combat 1 base Roach by overpowering with Lings early, or teching to Muta once you have him contained. It also works quite well against any FE Roach build.
But if you don't think it works, please share your build? That's what this thread is for, after all. I would love to add more ZvZ openings up there. =D
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14 hatch zvz is extremely risky and usually a losing game. Even early expands are usually too risky. I would take that away it won't work at high level except as a BO win vs someone trying a 15 pool. All zvz builds should stem from the 13 pool since that is the safest pool timing that is good economically.
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On April 29 2010 12:20 Floophead_III wrote:
14 hatch zvz is extremely risky and usually a losing game. Even early expands are usually too risky. I would take that away it won't work at high level except as a BO win vs someone trying a 15 pool. All zvz builds should stem from the 13 pool since that is the safest pool timing that is good economically.
Alright, let me edit my OP and I'll make a note. Feel free to share a build stemming from 13 pool.
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On April 29 2010 12:08 Jeuh wrote:
I've been looking for this, thanks a ton! really helpful as i've been struggling quite a bit with just having a solid opening.
I wouldn't call these solid openings. You can use the ZvP one, but the ZvT is just an all-in and the ZvZ is far from... good. You need to have something in mind if you plan on opening with speedlings. If they win you the game, your opponent wasn't up to snuff.
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I agree with the above poster in the regard that the ZvT and ZvZ build aren't solid. The ZvT is just all-in, and the ZvZ is just very unstable as there's a number of common zerg openings and followups that will crush it.
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They are just examples, gentlemen. If you call one of them not solid, please suggest an alternative so I can put it up there.
Common and specific, rather, in the vein of what I posted. Not just "13 pool, go from there" but specifically what you do and what your goals are. Do you 13 pool, look for a FE then go Roach/Hydra? How? Muta/Bling/Zling against Terran Bio? How do you open to get there? That kind of stuff.
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Don't forget to add these into Liquipedia II, or any additional details you might know about builds that are already on there.
I would but I kinda just wing most of my build orders in game (yeah I suck)
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I've got two reasonable build orders, one ZvT and one ZvZ. The ZvT is more a mid-game type build, with pretty much any opener that will lead to a saturated 2 bases.
ZvT:+ Show Spoiler +
(scout on 9)
13 pool
14 hatch
13 gas
16 queen
18 extractor trick
17 one set of lings
18 roach warren
(timings from here on out are in queen larva cycles 1-1 would mean queen 1, cycle 1)
1-1: 0-7 roaches, 0-7 drones, depending on ling/overlord scouting
Queen #2 from other hatch
1-2: drones
Lair after first cycle of drones
3 extractors up now, put 2 in each extractor (means pulling the third from the 1st extractor)
1-3/2-1: ideally these are more drones, and you fully saturate all extractors. Depends on scout though, these can be turned into enough roaches to ostensibly keep you alive)
1-4/2-2: get a spire out as soon as you get the double-cycle of drones
Ze Midgame
Spire pops: build 2 Corrupters and as many Mutas as your gas buildup allows.
The reasoning behind the Corrupters is their ability to disable buildings. Mutas suffer a *lot* in SC2 from static defense, mainly because said static defense (in the case of T and P) has received a substantial HP increase. Terran Turrets also do a lot of damage to muta harass. I've had games where the terran found a way to scout the spire and was able to get a couple of turrets down. I found that it pretty much shut the mutas down. With corrupters, the static defense gets nullified long enough to make the harass effective, accomplishing what the Terran could otherwise almost ignore with proper turret placement.
If the Terran didn't scout, the Corrupters still aren't wasted, as they can take a couple pot shots at other production buildings in the mean time, then do their proper job on a return trip later in the game. And hey, if there aren't turrets in the first round of harass, then your 5-6 mutas are still having a hey-day in the mineral line.
From this point on I would ostensibly use 1-5/2-3 and 1-6/2-4 on roaches in order to repel any panic all-ins, timing pushes, and to just generally get some ground dominance once the air superiority has been set up. The third hatch should then follow asap, followed by another round of mutas and another corrupter. The corrupters enable the mutas to pose a significant threat to an unguarded base, and I've found that they overall just increase the power of mutas by a lot.
Concerns involve early game harassment and fast banshees. early game harassment can simply be defended with your choice of spine crawlers or lings. Fast banshees tend to get shut down hard by well placed spore crawlers, so respond accordingly to your scouting information.
ZvZ:+ Show Spoiler +
9 scout, pool if you see a pool (don't know if that's a standard response, I could just be a scrub)
13 pool (ideally)
12-14(not tested accurately) extractor
16 queen
17 extractor trick lings
18 roach warren
17 baneling nest
get a few roaches, morph the first couple lings into banelings.
This build will essentially shit on any mass ling builds, as the couple banelings worked in will reduce any all-in that could possibly come at that point to a number much more easily managed by a pittance of roaches. The timings aren't perfect, since I haven't tested this beyond seeing it hold off mass ling, but the essentials of the idea are there. Any panic lings built early on can easily be converted to banelings, and you can take a second with relative comfort. Plus you've now got roaches.
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As a pretty high ranked Z plat player, I would never go with a 14 hatch build.
I also do not believe a zerg should stay on 1base for any reason, it limits production by way too much, and limits your options. With one hatch, it is impossible to make it to the mid game if you require a ling heavy build, say if your opponent was massing stalkers/roaches/marauders, you just will not have enough larve to effectively mass lings while droneing.
I usually go 13 pool 15 hatch or 14 pool 16 hatch depending on the map. Currently the name of the game is the speedling-baneling-roach triangle, which can be tricky. Currently I am starting with speedlings, making sure to attack my opponent first giving me time to retreat and possibly tech switch. If I see roaches, I make sure to get +1 attack +1 armor (roaches with +1 attacking speedlings without +1 amor kill the speedling in 2 shots instead of 3). If I see speedlings I make sure to throw down a banelings nest. If I see banelings I throw down a roach warren.
my BO is not solid, I usually play a general opening and adapt based on scouting, but I am looking for some good ones. I hope that Liquipedia will get alot more detailed soon ^^, You should probably add some of these builds to it if you have time.
EDIT: If both players manage to escape the early game without one player destroying the others economy ( maybe 2/5 games for me get to this point) , the metagame usually progresses to a new triangle, that of roach hydra and muta's. Roaches with burrow can own hydras, (Its surprising how many zerg players still forget to upgrade and overseer, even at top levels of play), Hydras can own mutas -as long as there are a sufficient number- big muta balls can decimate small numbers of hydras. and of course roaches cant attack mutas.
I have found infestors to be quite worthless in ZvZ due to the fact that the zerg has no Collosi/Thor equivalent (please don't bring up Ultra), fungal growth barely shakes the knees of roaches, and is nearly worthless vs hydras due to their very good range. The only use I could think of would be to stop any banelings from getting too close to your hydras, as this ability would theoretically one shot both lings and blings.
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Yep guys, the plan is definately to add all these to Liquipedia as soon as I both have a chance and have a bunch of you all suggesting them. Gonna do some editing now to the OP to add these on there. Thanks, keep them coming! And keep commenting on other builds, with the caveat that if you comment, please either suggest a change or suggest an alternative! Thanks guys!
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I'm a Platinum zerg.
I'd recommend if you have not already, introducing a Speedling/Baneling build order into your ZvZ matchup.
Bo is something like
13Pool
14Gas
16Queen
Lord
Speed then throw down a baneling nest.
Pump lings until you get a decent amount, convert some to banelings. Works great if you have a greater ling force then him after you morph your banelings, then you can run your banelings into his mineral line. Or, you can just run them in first and try and take out half his army before you run yours in.
Have had alot of success with this, probally 80% win rate with it atm.
Props to attero(stole it from him 
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On April 29 2010 12:58 Templar. wrote:
I'm a Platinum zerg.
I'd recommend if you have not already, introducing a Speedling/Baneling build order into your ZvZ matchup.
Bo is something like
13Pool
14Gas
16Queen
Lord
Speed then throw down a baneling nest.
Pump lings until you get a decent amount, convert some to banelings. Works great if you have a greater ling force then him after you morph your banelings, then you can run your banelings into his mineral line. Or, you can just run them in first and try and take out half his army before you run yours in.
The problem with this build is if the opponent expands, and lays down a minimal amount of spine-crawlers, with a minimal amount of banelings, you can get very behind very early. With 1 crawler in the mineral line, a simple "A" attack wont work, as the lings will automatically target the crawler instead of the workers. If you try and power down the crawler, your very open to enemy banelings, which I like to hide behind my mineral line. Of course, at this point in the game better micro will usually win outright, regardless of BO. The only for sure way to lose is to go too early banelings, and find roaches knocking on your door.
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On April 29 2010 13:07 Balor wrote:Show nested quote +On April 29 2010 12:58 Templar. wrote:
I'm a Platinum zerg.
I'd recommend if you have not already, introducing a Speedling/Baneling build order into your ZvZ matchup.
Bo is something like
13Pool
14Gas
16Queen
Lord
Speed then throw down a baneling nest.
Pump lings until you get a decent amount, convert some to banelings. Works great if you have a greater ling force then him after you morph your banelings, then you can run your banelings into his mineral line. Or, you can just run them in first and try and take out half his army before you run yours in. The problem with this build is if the opponent expands, and lays down a minimal amount of spine-crawlers, with a minimal amount of banelings, you can get very behind very early. With 1 crawler in the mineral line, a simple "A" attack wont work, as the lings will automatically target the crawler instead of the workers. If you try and power down the crawler, your very open to enemy banelings, which I like to hide behind my mineral line. Of course, at this point in the game better micro will usually win outright, regardless of BO. The only for sure way to lose is to go too early banelings, and find roaches knocking on your door.
i've never had a problem with this yet, if they decide to go for a spine crawler that means either they have less lings or less drones so there econ is worse. Besides, on maps with open naturals/chokes you can just run your lings past the crawler and into his base. Maybe i'll post a replay or two later on, but I actually don't think i've ever lost a zvz except for once against this exact bo lol.(while in platinum league)
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On April 29 2010 13:21 Templar. wrote:Show nested quote +On April 29 2010 13:07 Balor wrote:On April 29 2010 12:58 Templar. wrote:
I'm a Platinum zerg.
I'd recommend if you have not already, introducing a Speedling/Baneling build order into your ZvZ matchup.
Bo is something like
13Pool
14Gas
16Queen
Lord
Speed then throw down a baneling nest.
Pump lings until you get a decent amount, convert some to banelings. Works great if you have a greater ling force then him after you morph your banelings, then you can run your banelings into his mineral line. Or, you can just run them in first and try and take out half his army before you run yours in. The problem with this build is if the opponent expands, and lays down a minimal amount of spine-crawlers, with a minimal amount of banelings, you can get very behind very early. With 1 crawler in the mineral line, a simple "A" attack wont work, as the lings will automatically target the crawler instead of the workers. If you try and power down the crawler, your very open to enemy banelings, which I like to hide behind my mineral line. Of course, at this point in the game better micro will usually win outright, regardless of BO. The only for sure way to lose is to go too early banelings, and find roaches knocking on your door. i've never had a problem with this yet, if they decide to go for a spine crawler that means either they have less lings or less drones so there econ is worse. Besides, on maps with open naturals/chokes you can just run your lings past the crawler and into his base. Maybe i'll post a replay or two later on, but I actually don't think i've ever lost a zvz except for once against this exact bo lol.(while in platinum league)
I'd like to see the replay, I have had a lot of success with 1 crawler in each mineral line and ~2 banelings behind each line, and of course a handful of lings to mop up anything remaining. I only do this strategy If I scout a 1 base ling build, it is defensive and plays off the fact that if you survive the first couple minutes the opponent will fall behind as he will not be able to produce lings as fast as you due to being stuck on one hatch, providing an easy win.
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@Templar, Balor
Thanks for the submission. I added it up there for now, but please keep discussing it and of course replays are always welcome. How well does it deal with the common Roach builds?
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EPT
