• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 12:00
CEST 18:00
KST 01:00
  • 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
[ASL22] Finals Preview: Sweet Victory!9[ASL22] Ro4 Preview: Mirror Mirror6[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5
Community News
[$1250] International ShieldBattery League35Weekly Cups (October 5-11): Farewell to 5.0.164Rollback Netcode in Brood War1345.0.17 Patch Notes - October 7, 202624Weekly Cups Results (Sep 28-Oct 4)0
StarCraft 2
General
SCII needs to put more weight on strategy and tact Terran AddOns placement No more sc2 streamers on team liquid? Weekly Cups (October 5-11): Farewell to 5.0.16 Server Blocker
Tourneys
WORTEX Challenger Series — Open SC2 LAN in Budapes RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20) Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2)
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[G] How to playtest arcade maps [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Sweltering Sands [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
Mutation # 548 Shining Bright The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 547 Temple Of Terror Mutation # 546 Catch the Train
Brood War
General
Rollback Netcode in Brood War BW General Discussion Mineral gathering rate (boosted) for each patch Making an Online Broodwar Manager Game [Megathread] Daily Funny Videos
Tourneys
[ASL22] Grand Finals [$1250] International ShieldBattery League [Megathread] Daily Proleagues 2v2v2v2 Tournament
Strategy
Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Simple Questions, Simple Answers Replay Review Process - What do you do?
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Dawn of War IV Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne General RTS Discussion Thread
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25!
League of Legends
[TL LoL EUW IHs] Teemo shall perish
Heroes of the Storm
Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
Artificial Intelligence Thread US Politics Mega-thread European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Russo-Ukrainian War Thread
Fan Clubs
Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
MLB/Baseball 2023 Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
How Much Genes Contribute to…
TrAiDoS
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
38 yo Retired SWE loo…
PurE)Rabbit-SF
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 10671 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 awesome32282 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
Next event in 1m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Codebar 86
UpATreeSC 21
TKL 1
ByuN 0
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 41335
Calm 2618
Shuttle 2001
Jaedong 1438
EffOrt 773
Horang2 620
Mini 484
Stork 348
Soulkey 330
Rush 279
[ Show more ]
firebathero 221
actioN 196
BeSt 189
ZerO 170
Killer 162
sorry 146
Barracks 103
Zeus 91
hero 81
Mong 80
ProTech74
Soma 72
Creator 48
Sexy 34
Shinee 30
ToSsGirL 29
soO 28
Hm[arnc] 23
Trap 22
Terrorterran 19
Sacsri 16
Aegong 15
HiyA 12
scan(afreeca) 12
yabsab 10
Dota 2
Dendi1344
syndereN442
Fuzer 135
Other Games
singsing2505
B2W.Neo1240
hiko1070
Beastyqt623
Hui .195
Liquid`VortiX165
KnowMe109
QueenE60
ZerO(Twitch)17
fpsfer 0
Organizations
Other Games
WardiTV289
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• WagamamaTV648
League of Legends
• Nemesis4791
• Jankos2900
Other Games
• Shiphtur494
Upcoming Events
Monday Night Weeklies
1m
TaKeTV 90
IntoTheTV X SOOP
19h 1m
PiGosaur Cup
1d 8h
The PondCast
1d 18h
Kung Fu Cup
1d 19h
IntoTheTV X SOOP
2 days
FEL
4 days
FEL
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
Replay Cast
6 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Weekly
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

ASL Season 22
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HCC Season 3

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
IPSL Winter 2026-27
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
Acropolis #5 - GSC
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
Stake Ranked Episode 4
1win Private Club #1
Logitech G Play Connect 2026
SL StarSeries Fall 2026
FISSURE Playground #3
BLAST Open Fall 2026
Esports World Cup 2026

Upcoming

BSL Season 23
SC4ALL II: Brood War
BSL 23: Non-Korean Championship
HSC XXX
Stellar Fest 2: Lunar Cup
SC4ALL II: StarCraft II
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
RSL Offline Finals
eXTREMESLAND 2026
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 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.