Hi there fellow starcraft 2 players. Lately i have been feeling like i dont improve my gameplay, its like i hit a brick wall at 1600 (Platinum Zerg) Im active in some starcraft communitys and read alot of strategy tips with good build orders etc. The problem is not that i dont know of a good build order or the games "unit counters"

I do often watch my own replays, and i always look at day9's videos but i dont seem to get better.

At the moment im around 350 wins / 350 losses with zerg as my main race. So i want to ask the forum, what makes a player diamond? Is it proper scouting, unit mixes? You tell me.

What difference have you learned from the platinum to the diamond?

sorry for the grammar/spelling.

**UPDATE thanks to you guys im currently at 2700 diamond!****

love.less

United Kingdom293 Posts

November 21 2010 17:48 GMT

theres nothing anybody can tell you that you aint already heard but if you post some replays of wins and losses they can definately give you some advice on whatto improve=]

Vertig0

United States196 Posts

November 21 2010 17:57 GMT

If you haven't seen Day9 daily #208 (coaching DjWheat), I highly recommend it... It definitely taught me more things I could improve on.

Rockondudes

Romania5 Posts

November 21 2010 18:12 GMT

Decision making, build orders, making a plan before the game you enter, adapting your plan to what is your opponent doing .

Even apm has it's purpose.. (if you're a zerg or a protoss, as terran you just mass marines and close your eyes most of your games)..

My last advice is .. know the game, know every unit, every "counter"and all that. Basically it comes down to mechanics, the better you know them, the better you will be at this game

Mythol

Sweden24 Posts

November 21 2010 18:57 GMT

On November 22 2010 02:57 Vertig0 wrote:
If you haven't seen Day9 daily #208 (coaching DjWheat), I highly recommend it... It definitely taught me more things I could improve on.

thank you! That daily actually helped alot, cheers

Antisocialmunky

United States5912 Posts

November 21 2010 19:01 GMT

You know you are a diamond zerg if you die because you build too many drones.

Acritter

Syria7637 Posts

November 21 2010 19:22 GMT

When you lose, why do you lose? Can you tell? If not, that's why you're not Diamond. If so, then fix those problems.

My guess is that your mechanics are just not quite at a Diamond level. Keep practicing, and focus on one thing to work on each game (Queens, supply block, low money for example) so that you don't get overwhelmed.

Vaporized

United States1471 Posts

November 21 2010 19:24 GMT

scouting i think is key. sacrifice that overlord at 30 supply to see what they are doing. this is crucial.

also other things that will specifically help ur game improve:

do not get supply blocked, ever.

do not miss injections. no one is perfect, but try to be as on top of them as possible.

spread creep asap.

these are the things that got me to diamond.

Dysk

Singapore44 Posts

November 21 2010 19:25 GMT

One main change that helped me into diamond was watching a video about making just enough units to fend off early pressure and nothing more. I think it was a day9 daily, and the main point it made was that every excess unit that you make to deal with pressure early means one less drone. and for Zerg, drones are everything.

Another, to have a zergling at the bottom of your opponent's ramp, and to periodically scout.

Overlord spreading around to make to alert you to drops mainly.

And perhaps the biggest change to my play that got me to diamond is that I began to win games by starving the opponent out on his 2 bases to my 3/4 and crushing his final all-in push, rather than going in for the kill myself. It may be just personal preference, but I've felt like playing zerg passively is what plays to their strength.

Spreading creep helps, of course, but to me it isn't essential to get into diamond. It may separate the 2000's from the 1000's, but ultimately it's just an extension of controlling the map as zerg, and knowing what's going on.

FrostedMiniWeet

United States636 Posts

November 21 2010 19:35 GMT

#10

Your problem is almost certainly macro related, as pretty much any opponent below low diamond can be defeated with decent macro. Do you spend all your money? Do you build drones when your opponent is not attacking? Do you get all your larva injects? Do you get supply blocked all the time? Do you scout your opponents to see what they are doing tech-wise? So many people below diamond think their problem is strategy or unit composition, but its nearly always macro. MACRO MACRO MACRO.

Endorsed

Netherlands1221 Posts

November 21 2010 19:36 GMT

#11

Macro. Just macro, expand at the right times. Suicide an overlord on the right time, react. Diamond!

Gnorme

Canada5 Posts

November 21 2010 19:38 GMT

#12

On November 22 2010 04:25 Dysk wrote:
One main change that helped me into diamond was watching a video about making just enough units to fend off early pressure and nothing more. I think it was a day9 daily, and the main point it made was that every excess unit that you make to deal with pressure early means one less drone. and for Zerg, drones are everything.

Another, to have a zergling at the bottom of your opponent's ramp, and to periodically scout.

Overlord spreading around to make to alert you to drops mainly.

And perhaps the biggest change to my play that got me to diamond is that I began to win games by starving the opponent out on his 2 bases to my 3/4 and crushing his final all-in push, rather than going in for the kill myself. It may be just personal preference, but I've felt like playing zerg passively is what plays to their strength.

Spreading creep helps, of course, but to me it isn't essential to get into diamond. It may separate the 2000's from the 1000's, but ultimately it's just an extension of controlling the map as zerg, and knowing what's going on.

This is what really made the difference for me. Learning to play the passive zerg style, and just out macro the opponent. Scouting is really important when playing passive.

DarkOmen

Canada72 Posts

November 21 2010 20:02 GMT

#13

Another thing that I don't think anyone has mentioned here is actively thinking about what you make with each larva. In SC1 (where I never played competetively) and when I started SC2, I had a huge tendency to just select all my larvae and spam units, drones, and ovies without really contemplating whether or not it was a good time to make said unit type.

In other words, I had a decent ability to macro, but I was doing it mindlessly on autopilot. After reading/hearing so much about when to build drones, I really started focusing on that and it improved my play a LOT. Every time you're about to spam out 10 drones, think about whether it's safe to do so. Are you going to need units in 30-40 seconds from now? If so, you better not make drones right now.

The opposite is also true. As I'm sure you've heard many times, it's very bad to build a large standing army that just, sorta.. stands around. Especially as zerg, since that army COULD have been drones.

I would say it took me a good 20 games of focusing on scout timing (which allows you to more accurately determine appropriate drone timing) before I really started to feel I had a decent grasp on it, but it's still a work in progress.

For those who care, I'm approx. 1350-1400 diamond, with ~400 bonus pool.

DiZasteR

Netherlands84 Posts

November 21 2010 20:02 GMT

#14

What really helped me was good scouting, and knowing how to react to the intel. Good scouting gives you the ability to macro up as hard as you can, because you know when to drone and when not to.

Mythol

Sweden24 Posts

November 21 2010 20:30 GMT

#15

wow thanks for all the feedback guys! really appreciate it. Ill let you know how things are going later <3

BlasiuS

United States2405 Posts

November 21 2010 20:40 GMT

#16

You didn't post any replays, but I have seen replays of platinum & below players

Generally if you are below diamond, even at high platinum, chances are good that you are lacking macro. Either you are not expanding enough, not making enough hatcheries, not spending your money, or most commonly, you are not making enough drones.

hello31

16 Posts

November 22 2010 01:38 GMT

#17

One thing that helped me become a better zerg was to stop thinking like a protoss/terran. Protoss and Terran have durable units, zerg has very frail units. So in order to win a battle, you need to rely more on zerg's macro abilities. Basically if you have 12 zergling to 6 zealots, you need to attack and run away as many times as you can without losing units. Buy time for you to reinforce your units using zerg macro. Artosis has a really good video about this.

Another thing is always be mindful of your position relative to the terrain on the map. For the most part you dont want to engage in a choke, unless they are bottlenecked and you have a concave at the top of the ramp. You want to engage in wide area's where you can surround their army.

Unlike protoss and terran when you make a building, you lose a drone. It might not seem like a lot but it easy to forget to replace the drone you used up and fall behind economically.

Overlord positioning and ling spotting will let you know when the other army moves out and gives you time to react.

Most likely though, its a macro issue thats holding you back. I'm pretty sure you can get into diamond if you mass well enough. Just watch one of your replays and note how many times you miss larva injections. And just make notes of your drone saturation and expansion timings. And make sure you are making units as you are fighting. Try to select your drones and actually count them when you play so you know if you have enough drones per base.

FuzzyLord

253 Posts

November 22 2010 01:53 GMT

#18

As zerg, you should just work on your macro. Zerg's strength is that it is able to build a huge army in a short amount of time. Just keep on macroing, counter correctly,and you should be good.

TALegion

United States1187 Posts

November 22 2010 02:03 GMT

#19

On November 22 2010 04:01 Antisocialmunky wrote:
You know you are a diamond zerg if you die because you build too many drones.

I must be better than FruitDealer then.

Mythol

Sweden24 Posts

November 22 2010 14:10 GMT

#20

hi everyone! after a long night of playing i finally reached #1 in my division with around 1750-1800 points. Your posts have really helped me alot

<3 / Mythol