• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 20:27
CEST 02:27
KST 09:27
  • 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
Code S Season 1 - RO12 Group A: Rogue, Percival, Solar, Zoun12[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Inheritors16[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt2: All Star10Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists22[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Fresh Flow9
Community News
Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO12 Results02026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers25Maestros of the Game 2 announced92026 GSL Tour plans announced15Weekly Cups (April 6-12): herO doubles, "Villains" prevail1
StarCraft 2
General
Code S Season 1 (2026) - RO12 Results Code S Season 1 - RO12 Group A: Rogue, Percival, Solar, Zoun Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool MaNa leaves Team Liquid
Tourneys
RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event GSL Code S Season 1 (2026) SC2 INu's Battles#15 <BO.9 2Matches> WardiTV Spring Cup SEL Masters #6 - Solar vs Classic (SC: Evo)
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 523 Firewall Mutation # 522 Flip My Base Mutation # 521 Memorable Boss
Brood War
General
[BSL22] RO16 Group A - Sunday 21:00 CEST [BSL22] RO16 Group B - Saturday 21:00 CEST Pros React To: Leta vs Tulbo (ASL S21, Ro.8) RepMastered™: replay sharing and analyzer site BW General Discussion
Tourneys
Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2 [BSL22] RO16 Group Stage - 02 - 10 May [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Ro8 Day 2
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Any training maps people recommend?
Other Games
General Games
Daigo vs Menard Best of 10 Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Dawn of War IV Diablo IV
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread 3D technology/software discussion Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread McBoner: A hockey love story Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
streaming software Strange computer issues (software) [G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Sexual Health Of Gamers
TrAiDoS
lurker extra damage testi…
StaticNine
Broowar part 2
qwaykee
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1825 users

[D] Fast Lair Build + Overseer Scout ZvP

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
JaqMs
Profile Joined August 2007
United States73 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-17 06:31:26
April 26 2011 07:07 GMT
#1
Hey guys. My fast Lair build incorporates an extremely early overseer that solves all early game scouting woes for Zerg. That is the most important benefit of this build since it sacrifices some early production and income. It also involves a decently timed expo so you can keep on par with econ heavy Protoss builds.

Build Order

9 Overlord
12 Extractor
11 Spawning Pool
15 Lair
16 Zergling
18 Hatchery
17 Overlord
18 Overseer upon Lair completion

Continuation against 4 gate 1 gas:

CONTAMINATE WARP GATE RESEARCH
20 Queen
21 Metabolic boost research + pull gas drones
Place 2-3 spines crawlers at your natural ASAP and pump out zerglings

Continuation against 3 gate sentry expand or 4 gate 2 gas

Save contaminate for later tech structures
20 Burrow or Queen
21 Roach Warren
Spines at natural if it's 4 gate

Timings

~4:40: Overseer morph complete
5:16: Contaminate is ready
5:27: Hatchery at natural complete
6:11: Burrow complete

Why it Works

As long as you're careful keeping your overseer alive, Protoss cannot catch you off guard with any build.

-4 gate: Though your survival window is kind of narrow, contaminate will delay the earliest possible warp gate research (besides korean 4 gate), essentially delaying the push by 30 seconds
-3 gate senty expand: If your opponent expos after 6:11, you can block it with a burrowed zergling. I've had no problems keeping up economically and burrowed roaches will hold any later push
-5-6 gate: Easy to prepare for if your overseer does not see any tech structures
-Fast stargate: You can contaminate the first unit being trained, then immediately start making spores and 2 more queens. There's no chance this will hurt you.

I found that it's best to follow up this build with a ~12 minute push that takes advantage of your early tech, such as roach/infestor or muta/ling.

What Can Stop It

The counters listed below can hurt pretty bad, but I'm not sure if they're insta-lose.

-Early stalker harass: Haven't encountered it much. You need to make more zerglings and perhaps a spine crawler, which could set you back.
-2 gate zealots: You would have to cancel your natural hatch and go one base.
-Forge fast expand: Kind of iffy. You may need to rely on a 2 base all-in, but it's still possible to last into the late game.

Conclusion

This build will probably only work at lower levels. But still, it's worked 9/10 times against diamond and masters players. It kind of relies on the build not being popular at the moment, so only those that think on their feet know how to counter the build. So all I have to say is to use it until it's figured out . Let me know what you think.

Replays

https://www.yousendit.com/dl?phi_action=app/orchestrateDownload&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.yousendit.com%2Ftransfer.php%3Faction%3Dbatch_download%26batch_id%3DMEtRWGJOWkJFc0pFQlE9PQ
lorkac
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States2297 Posts
April 26 2011 07:21 GMT
#2
The upcoming change will change the protoss early game by A LOT.

For example, with 4gate taking longer to get and gateways being able to produce units as fast as a warp gate--expect a lot more 4gate pushes that skips warp gate and simply chronos 3-4 units off of 1 gateway for a quick timing attack before dropping a robo (skipping warpgate research altogether)

I'm not saying that this build doesn't work--totally does by the looks of it.

I'm simply saying that the protoss metagame will change drastically because of the patch.
By the truth we are undone. Life is a dream. Tis waking that kills us. He who robs us of our dreams robs us of our life --Orlando: A Biography
JaqMs
Profile Joined August 2007
United States73 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-05-17 06:32:21
April 26 2011 22:01 GMT
#3
Yeah after the patch, this build will probably require a drone scout to check for 2 gate. You may be able to drone a little more and still stop a later 4 gate, but also be able to scout a 2 gate and change into standard play.

EDIT: No longer have to worry about earlier 2 gate since zealot build time has not changed
Jonas :)
Profile Blog Joined September 2010
United States511 Posts
May 17 2011 06:00 GMT
#4
I'm a ~900 point masters protoss and I have to say this build was pretty cool. It made up for the fact that it teched early by having an obnoxiously early contaminate and an extremely easy time scouting. He even contaminated my warpgate research, which delayed it a full 30 seconds. This means that any 4 gate or 3 gate aggression that I would want to do in order to punish him for his early tech that it would be delayed. Should I try to blink stalker or rush to stargate, he would see that and contaminate it to delay the push from coming and have ample time to prepare for it.
sagefreke
Profile Joined August 2010
United States241 Posts
May 17 2011 06:12 GMT
#5
I can't see the replay.

If you can get an overseer by 4:40 and still defend super early protoss harass it sounds like it could be a very interesting build. Burrow ling before P expand sounds like it could be great as well. Going to try it in a custom now.
yo yo yo
JaqMs
Profile Joined August 2007
United States73 Posts
May 17 2011 06:41 GMT
#6
Post-1.3.3, it is better to get burrow first then overseer (just switch the order). That way, burrow will finish around 5:58 and the overseer should still be able to contaminate warp gate in time. It'll also allow you to get your second queen earlier.
IntoTheWow
Profile Blog Joined May 2004
is awesome32278 Posts
May 18 2011 01:01 GMT
#7
I want to play with this too. Seems like early burrow could have some good uses. The main problem is keeping your build hidden from a scouting Protoss.
Moderator<:3-/-<
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Replay Cast
00:00
2026 GSL S1: Ro12 Group A
CranKy Ducklings57
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
PiGStarcraft295
SpeCial 240
ProTech0
Dota 2
monkeys_forever853
League of Legends
Doublelift3994
Counter-Strike
fl0m3888
Other Games
gofns15010
tarik_tv9556
summit1g8012
C9.Mang0457
JimRising 287
ViBE62
PPMD33
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick725
BasetradeTV166
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream60
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 15 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• RyuSc2 38
• musti20045 19
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• HerbMon 44
• Azhi_Dahaki27
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Other Games
• Scarra1054
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
8h 33m
RSL Revival
9h 33m
Classic vs GgMaChine
Rogue vs Maru
WardiTV Invitational
10h 33m
Percival vs Shameless
ByuN vs YoungYakov
IPSL
15h 33m
Ret vs Art_Of_Turtle
Radley vs TBD
BSL
18h 33m
Replay Cast
23h 33m
RSL Revival
1d 9h
herO vs TriGGeR
NightMare vs Solar
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
1d 13h
BSL
1d 18h
IPSL
1d 18h
eOnzErG vs TBD
G5 vs Nesh
[ Show More ]
Patches Events
1d 23h
Replay Cast
2 days
Wardi Open
2 days
Afreeca Starleague
2 days
Jaedong vs Light
Monday Night Weeklies
2 days
Replay Cast
2 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
Afreeca Starleague
3 days
Snow vs Flash
WardiTV Invitational
3 days
GSL
4 days
Classic vs Cure
Maru vs Rogue
GSL
5 days
SHIN vs Zoun
ByuN vs herO
Replay Cast
5 days
Escore
6 days
The PondCast
6 days
WardiTV Invitational
6 days
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S2: W5
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
KK 2v2 League Season 1
Acropolis #4
SCTL 2026 Spring
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026

Upcoming

BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
PGL Astana 2026
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.