[G] ZvZ builds and how they work

I love ZvZ. It is by far my best mathcup. It's fun to play. ZvT is super hard and frustrating as noobs can beat me with diverse allins and timings if i slip a bit, ZvP is annoying as Protoss users are the most uncreative and cheesy players of RTS history, every single game being canon rush/contain, 4/5 gate allins (with +1 attack sometimes) or those few who fast exp do so to screw you over with either blind double robo colossi or 2 stargate phoenix and hope you made hydras if they done the first, and mutas if they done the latter. really really annoying, very few good games. On the other hand ZvZ i dont lose stupidly. Well yeah, sometimes ofc i do, crawler rushes and stuff, making something stupid (or some assholes such as arnoldatgym unpause at 5 minutes into the game saying they dont have time), yeah it happens, but mostly i lose if i'm outplayed, and i can point out what i did wrong, instead of watching my rep and seeing, well yeah i did well, then he pulled all his scvs with his hanful of units and broke me with repair abuse, fun game. Or he canonned me, i couldnt exp, i went fast lair mutas, he went 2 stargate blindly, fun game... I'm not an excelnt player, i had my moments i've been top 50 zerg on EU ladder for a long time, however recntly i struggle a lot and i get angry when i play, so my stats look horrible, and i dont even want to play anymore, so to calm down i've been working on this project for some time now. i will feature a number of builds, some of them well known, some of them really uncommon, and i'll speak a bit about ZvZ in general. I consider in ZvZ pretty much everything is standard and is not allin or cheese, beside < 10pool crawler rushes, as there s not a lot of way to figure out that's coming, and it's a coinflip build order win or lose thing. The rest are mostly scoutable and defendable, and have transitions. None of these are my builds, but some of the builds arent very widely used by most of the zergs. I love zerg, and ZvZ in general as it has so many different dynamcis then the other races. For example below you'll find 2 builds, when you supply block yourself conciosuly for a brief period, and it works out fine, you save the minerals of one overlord. (the fast bane and my bunker variation) BY all means, there are many more builds and approaches for this matchup, such as the increasngly popular roach-queen as well as different fast expand builds.
I werent posting in the Strategy section as the level decreased a lot, and i got myself banned over arguing with people who are... well, let's leave that alone, i think this is a decent comeback, i though about making it my 3500th or 4000th post, but w/e the idea is to contribute whenever you can.

I wont talk too much about the most well known ZvZ build the standard baneling, we've seen since beta tones of nubs and pros using raughly the same baneling opening, those who were agressive used it because they wanted to win quickly, those who didnt want that used it too, because at least on some maps, there wasnt really any counter to it, so they just opened the same and droned harder then their opponents. Either way the idea is to get banelings into his mineral line, while you prevent him from doing so. Here it is:
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Transitioning to muta-ling or hydra roach are both possible.
Weak against:
-On some maps roach openings totally deny it, and can be stopped by roach openings on most of the maps, if the opponent is good.
-On some maps, it canot crack a fast expention
-6 pool crawler rsuh, so if you are afraid of it go 14 pool or 13 gas 13 pool.
Maps: best on Scrap Station, Metalopolis, Blistering Sands

Let's get this out of the way. Bad, bad build, dont do this folks, you will be called gay and other things, rightfully though i must say. It really doesnt take any skill to do, just go for 6-9 pool, whatever suits you and pull 1-2 drones to build crawlers. If he went for 14 pool or anything safer and he's not stupid, you lost, type out, if he went for 14 gas-14 pool, fast exp, 15/16 pool you have a good chanse/ autowin.

Porbably the second most standard ZvZ build. You have some roaches out real fast, block the ramp, tech to mutas, put pressure, expand. Here's the build
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Weak against:
-fast expention build can give it real trouble, if the opponent can hold off wiht queens/spores till his Lair tech units pop.
- +1 mass speedling (see below "Super lings")
risky, no roach, no baneling fast double gas into muta. It's not an actual build, as it dies to almost everything, but counteres the roach into muta
Maps: every map with normal ramps: Lost Temple, Metalopolis etc...

The ZvP build featured by Liquipedia can be used in ZvT and in ZvZ too. You have the build herehere. The good thing about it is that you are pretty safe at the start, if he goes baneling you can go baneling, if he goes anything else you get your hatch up and drone hard, or pump speedlings and be agressive. Very useful vs some builds. Transitioning into roach-hydra and muta-ling are both possible.
Weak against:
-most of the very fast expention builds
-struggles vs baneling openers, if you arent careful
Maps: not very map dependant

This is what i call, the "pro zvz build" as it is super hard to do it right, and you will fail more then not if you just do it casually. You open banelings, and whil you make them you add drones too, and an expantion soon enough, while you keep battling his banelings-speedlings, and you will have to add 2nd gas eventually as well as Lair. The difficulty of this build is, you can fail really easily with powering too hard, and not having enough defense, or just overcommiting on defense, spending too much gas. You can start off with hatch first, or pool-gas-hatch or exp only after some intial banelings battles, the idea is the same. Secure 2 base with banelings, dont overcommit on anything, kill him if you can, get mutas asap otherwise. I've seen Kuba and Dimaga do this very well, vs each other too, as well as some other pros. If you are ready to recieve many losses in order to have a super cool build in your arsenal, go ahead. While doing this build, you might end up with having your spire out on 1 base, if the cirucmstances require so, but expanding asap is a must, preferably before mutas get out. The idea behind it remains the same, drone, and donr overspend your gas on blings, while you are still safe. Here's Kuba's version vs Dimaga's hatch first version, replay below.
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Weak against:
not sure to be honest. I guess some Fast exp builds beat it, or good roach builds, but unfortuntely i couldn't play around with this too much
Maps: not very map dependant, but maps which are good for the Standard baneling are ofc good for this.

YOU: But Geo, this is basicly standard baneling build!
ME: not quite, but yes, it is similar, but while you do this build, you're the one who's reacting, and having a goal in your mind, which is getting your exp and your spire up with a good economy, while the Standard baneling's goal is to do economical demage and then transition into whatever you want.

I have here the Dimaga vs Kuba as well as i getting raped by Kuba in Zotac and on the ladder. I wish i had better reps for it, as the pro rep doesnt go into the Muta phase, and i cant find any good replays, so you're stuck with those i lost vs Kuba.

Now here's a build which isnt very popular, but i'm a lot more confortable with it. The idea is to have increased production without having to expouse yourself to multi-front atacks. Of course you MUST know what is he doing, as you want to get a 15 hatch next to your starting hatch. I call this "Twin hatcheries" because you must put them near each other to make your mineral line safer, and easily defendable with minimal ammount of defense. The idea is to have 2 hactheries, easily defendable, with 2 queens. This gives you an insane ammount of possibilities. From here you can do a lot of things. You can go mass speedling and try to overwhelm him, with drones off gas and 2 hacthery pumping lings all day long. You can play it kind of like the "pro zvz build" wit getting banelings, drone whoring and exping-teching to lair. You can also go speedlings but pumping a tones of drones and teching to lair to roach-hydra or to muta-ling. Here's one variation:
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Weak against:
-Hatch first at expention. It's almost hopeless to beat it if your opponent is good
-Crawler rushes
-other things, such as a roach bust can give you trouble, but the build's flexibility allows you to deal with anything if you see it coming.
Maps: you need to be sure that your opponent doesnt go for Fast exp or for <10 pool build, this means Scrap Sation and Desert oasis are the best for this build, but you can pull it off on many maps, just be sure that you have space and your opponent doesnt hard counter you.

YOU: But Geo, this is an allin build, what if he goes banelings vs your mass ling or fast muta to punish your greediness, or roach for that matter, roach > lings, rite??
ME: If he goes banelings, you can go for mass ling or can get banes of your own. You have 2 queens and more drones (or at least you can replanish them faster) that means that you add crawlers, and the Queens will be enough to defend with some lings vs banelings, AND you can run with 10-20 lings past his units and go for his main. You are allowed to lose some drones, you can remake them faster. Vs fast muta, you have 2 queens, and 2 hatch you can add 2 more quickly if you need, as well as spread creep towards your exp and expand, also you can afford sporecrawlers, as your economy is a lot stronger if you powered while he teched. Get 2 gas, then 4 and mutas of your own. Also you can counter him with speedlings while he harasses you with mutas. And mass speedlings totally own roaches, unless he gets a tone but you can see it and react in time, as he can only gather a large enough force very slowly.

This is a quite well known build, but still many arent familiar with it. It has been around for a long time, many people play it in many ways. I'll give you my approach, after a brief presentaion of the idea behind this. So what you want is to be safe and have a lot of drones. No fast tech, no timing push just defend and drone defend and drone till then go ahead and win. Muta-ling is possible, but i strongly recommend the hydra-roach with this one. You wont take your gas till it's very long, meaning you wont have banelings or roaches, but queens and crawlers, possibly lings. Block the ramp with queens, preferably with your first two queens, with saved up energy, when you're getting confortable with this build you can have 2 queens on the ramp with 50 energy ready to transfuse each other. Sure you miss a couple of larvae inject this way, but it's ok, as you have 2 hatches. Dont be afraid to sac an overlord when you're unsure of what your opponent is doing. You will win many games with your opponent allining you and failing on your bunker, if not, provided you're droining smart you'll enter the midgame with an economical advantage.

Here's a build
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Weak against:
-crawler rushes, obviously
-Nydus play can be very difficult to deal with on some maps, spread out your ovies, have a ling patroling.
-strong allins can give you trouble if you underestimate them, if you dont, you van hold off anything really.
If he fakes an allin but drones hard instead and exps you might end up in an economic disadvantage if you play too safe, so be aware of what is he doing
Maps: By far the best map for this is Lost Temple, but i like doing it on Metalopolis and Xel Naga's. On maps with backdoor rocks and with too open naturals dont go for this.

YOU: But Geo, no gas?! That is insane! It's allin, you will die to a baneling bust without roaches or to a fast muta build! Whatever he does he'll have it out faster then you!
ME: Wrong, this build can confortably hold off a baneling or any other bust. Against blings spread out your crawlers to make sure you wont lose all your static defence to some blings. Adding an evo chamber on the front is very good for block, and you can get your +1 ranged attack as soon as you have enough gas. Block your ramp with queens, transfuse if he's trying to break trough there, your crawelers will take out them quickly enough, just hold on there. Dont pull a Bisu! (forgetting to press hold position). Doesnt matter if he has units out quicker he cant break you so you will move out when the time is right (preferably after +2 ranged attack is finished) vs mutas, you have 4-5 queens, as well as an evo chamber for spore crawlers. You should be abel to deal with that.

The idea is pretty simple. I first saw this on Day9's daily (i <3 day[9]) and played around with it a bit. I dont think this is a very good standard BO, but i certainly consider it a viable one, and very useful in a best of X series. The idea is to have super fast banelings to kill a lot of your opponent drones, as well as punishing him for going risky builds. After the early attack you can transition into absoultely everything, hopefully with an eco advantage. The reason i love it most is that it kills the crawler rush and the hatch first builds easily.
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Weak against: 11-13 pools do well against this, but it's 50/50 vs pretty much all the normal builds, it comes down to positioning, micro, and how your opponent reacts
Maps: Steppes of War is the best, short distance, increased chance of crawler rushers, but i've seen it done on Metalopolis cross positions.

YOU: But Geo, this is cheesing, you have super low dronecount and dealyed Queen!
ME: yes, it s a bit cheesy, but take a look at it. It's almost 100% you ll do some demage at least, and you drone after your initial lings. It can be viewed as an anti-cheese build, which has its risks too, but looks to transition into safe midgame.

Basicly it is a 1 base muta build, really not very special, 3 crawlers 1 queen and some lings can hold off pretty much every fast attack, without spending any gas. I like this buid, i dont know if it's an ideal build, but it leads into intresting game, most of the time. One thing which not many people do after 1 base muta is to switch. I do, i feel it's better to make him spend a lot on anti air, meanwhile you start roach production and + range attack while you exp, reaplys will show it.

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Weak against: it comes down to small decisions and micro, it's nota build which counteres other builds hard or is countered hard
Maps: not map dependant as you're hugging your main hatch for most of the early game.

I said none of these builds are mine, right? Well, this comes really close to it, as i've seen nobody so far doing it since beta and things were different back then. What's the idea? Get speed and +1 meele attack really fast and expand. This build often screws the opponent over really hard. It's a super agressive build, but you get an expention meanwhile, which makes many think that you're actually goign for economy, provided you dont show him every single ling you make. It should beat msot roach openings, kills most of fast muta builds before mutas, some fast exp openings, and can beat baneling builds. It transitions nicely into muta-ling as you can keeo upgrading your lings. BO:
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Weak against:
speedling expand, as well as Bunker, on some maps at least
+1 ranged attack roach timing push. If you know that's coming get the +1 crapace instead of meele, else you die
Struggles a bit vs banelings it's super fun to play it nonetheless.
Maps: maps with open spaces are good, and backdoor rocks help you too. What's important is that you have a route to avoid his army if needed, so Steppes for example isnt very good for it.
YOU: But Geo, that's stupid, and allin. You only have lings, banelings > lings, +1 roach > +1 lings, and lings canot shoot air so you die to muta! If your attack fails, you can type out.
ME: Not at all. You have 2 hactheries with 2 queens. This gives you a lot of possibilities if you cant end the game with your timing attack. You can hold off mutas with Queens and spores if you want (remeber? You have the evo chamber and queens in order to have superlings), you can dronewhore if you need and play defensivly while you tech. Against +1 roaches and banelings, you need to be tricky. It's really hard vs +1 roaches, but the idea is the same. Avoid confrontaion when you would lose. Go and kill his base for example. Add crawlers at home if you must, hide freshly hatched lings while your army destroys his base and his yours, then regroup and micro, be creative. It's really really micro and multitask intensive. Remember your lings will always beat his lings and are faster then banelings, so with micro he'll end up without speedlings to support his banes, then you send 1-3 lings on every one of his blings. I'm not saying it counteres baneling builds, but it certainly does well enouh.
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/89005-1v1-zerg-blistering-sands#rd:undefined;markup
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replays/89003-1v1-zerg-blistering-sands#rd:undefined;markup

It's really about 2 things, if you get past the early BO phase. When to drone and which unit mix to use. Ling-muta or hydra-roach? I used these terms, i want to clarify i mean speedling-baneling-Muta and hydra-roach-infestor. Hydra roach will lose to muta-ling-bling per cost most of the times, and what's more important, the player going for mutas can have a much better economy, since he has mapcontrol, is killing overlords, drones, lone units, whatnot and expands/drones freely as the ground player has limited possibilities when to move out. So roach-hydra will always die to muta-bling-lin, however infestors turn the table around. If the Muta player doesnt do a tone of demage and gets a really good eco up quickly fungal growth will rape him. Fungal hardcounters all 3 of the ling-bling-muta combo, so your only chance is to outproduce him like crazy and flank from different directions, or try base-racing.
So i think hydra-infestor-roach is the superior combo, but as you saw, i ve been doing fast muta builds fairly often. What i do many times is, transition back to roaches. Not many people do it, but it's amazing how much demage and mapcontrolling can be done with 5-6 mutas and how much the opponent spends on static defence, letting you switch easily and even getting ahead in ground-upgrades. You can drone so much better, knowing what he's doing, and even picking off some of his drones. If he doesnt commit to base defence (queens and spores) you can keep hammering him with mutas, as you can do so much demage, it wont even matter that when he's ready to move out, you have the inferior unit mix, you'll run it over.