• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 04:27
CET 10:27
KST 18:27
  • 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
RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners12
Community News
[BSL21] Non-Korean Championship - Starts Jan 103SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-1822Weekly Cups (Dec 22-28): Classic & MaxPax win, Percival surprises3Weekly Cups (Dec 15-21): Classic wins big, MaxPax & Clem take weeklies3ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !11
StarCraft 2
General
SC2 All-Star Invitational: Jan 17-18 Weekly Cups (Dec 22-28): Classic & MaxPax win, Percival surprises Chinese SC2 server to reopen; live all-star event in Hangzhou Starcraft 2 Zerg Coach ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !
Tourneys
uThermal 2v2 Circuit OSC Season 13 World Championship WardiTV Mondays $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship $100 Prize Pool - Winter Warp Gate Masters Showdow
Strategy
Simple Questions Simple Answers
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 507 Well Trained Mutation # 506 Warp Zone Mutation # 505 Rise From Ashes Mutation # 504 Retribution
Brood War
General
Data analysis on 70 million replays I would like to say something about StarCraft BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ Empty tournaments section on Liquipedia A cwal.gg Extension - Easily keep track of anyone
Tourneys
[BSL21] Grand Finals - Sunday 21:00 CET [BSL21] Non-Korean Championship - Starts Jan 10 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues SLON Grand Finals – Season 2
Strategy
Game Theory for Starcraft Current Meta Simple Questions, Simple Answers [G] How to get started on ladder as a new Z player
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Should offensive tower rushing be viable in RTS games? Awesome Games Done Quick 2026! General RTS Discussion Thread Beyond All Reason
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
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Survivor II: The Amazon Sengoku Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Trading/Investing Thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread The Big Programming Thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
The Automated Ban List TL+ Announced
Blogs
Psychological Factors That D…
TrAiDoS
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
StarCraft improvement
iopq
GOAT of Goats list
BisuDagger
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1525 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 awesome32277 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
09:00
WardiTV Mondays #67
CranKy Ducklings86
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft: Brood War
Sea 2896
Leta 511
Larva 452
Hyuk 338
actioN 327
BeSt 311
Zeus 187
Sharp 155
Hyun 100
Killer 67
[ Show more ]
Mong 59
ggaemo 52
Aegong 51
ZergMaN 37
NotJumperer 34
Rush 31
yabsab 26
JulyZerg 22
soO 22
Nal_rA 21
Bale 10
Terrorterran 6
Dota 2
XaKoH 777
NeuroSwarm113
League of Legends
JimRising 617
C9.Mang0569
Counter-Strike
shoxiejesuss755
olofmeister630
Super Smash Bros
Westballz25
Other Games
summit1g10074
singsing1331
Happy397
Pyrionflax0
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick27573
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• iopq 0
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• HappyZerGling120
Upcoming Events
Wardi Open
2h 33m
RotterdaM Event
8h 3m
Patches Events
10h 33m
PiGosaur Cup
15h 33m
OSC
1d 2h
SOOP
1d 18h
OSC
2 days
OSC
3 days
SOOP
4 days
The PondCast
5 days
[ Show More ]
Sparkling Tuna Cup
6 days
IPSL
6 days
DragOn vs Sziky
Replay Cast
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

BSL Season 21
WardiTV 2025
META Madness #9

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S1: W3
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Thunderfire SC2 All-star 2025
Big Gabe Cup #3
OSC Championship Season 13
Nations Cup 2026
Underdog Cup #3
NA Kuram Kup
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League Season 23
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
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.