EPTOther guides:
zerg vs zerg hatch first vs 14/14: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=199583
Zerg vs Terran guide: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=211960
Zerg vs Protoss guide: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=210354
Zerg vs Protoss Delayed Lair guide: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=259629
I have personally been finding muta's super effective lately and is actually making me enjoy zvz a bit. I have personally always hated the infestor play and before muta's were seen as being gimicky in zvz but now its becoming more "standard" you could say. Before I really start here is my other zvz guide if you want to see my early - mid game in more detail ( in terms of defending and what not)
http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=199583
The build is a slight variation and is going to assume he is not all inning so keep that in mind. If he is all inning and you know it you do want to make adjustments like more spines, units, delay lair, delay muta, etc which I explain below!
--------Build--------
9 - overlord
9- drone scout (this is personal preference ,
I prefer to 9 drone scout in case they do some early pool builds)
15 - hatchery
14- spawning pool
17 - gas
16 or 17 (your preference) - overlord
as soon as spawning pool finishes throw down a roach warren
and make 6-8 lings + 1 queen if its long rush distant maps, otherwise do 8 lings and wait for roach warren to finish.. If you want you can make a queen as well
but delay the queen for a little bit to throw down that roach warren first.
21-22 – overlord
get speed when you feel you can spare 100/100
Get 2nd and third gas at about 6:40-7 minutes
start lair right as soon as you have the 100 gas for it
4'th gas at about 7:30-7:45 your choice, later if he is doing an all in
spire as soon as lair finishes
--------Hatch first vs Hatch first Build--------
9 - overlord
9- drone scout (this is personal preference ,
I prefer to 9 drone scout in case they do some early pool builds)
15 - hatchery
16-18- spawning pool
17 - gas
16 or 17 (your preference) - overlord
Make 4 lings use 1 to scout
21-22 baneling nest (incase they go all in ling)
get 2nd and third gas 6:40-7 minutes
start lair with the next 100 gas
get 4'th gas at about 7:30-7:45 your choice, later if he is doing an all in
That is my basic build order for the early game. Again if you want more in depth on my decisions just go to that thread I linked to.
Concept of Mutalisks in zvz
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When going muta's the point of this is to secure a third and contain your opponent while giving you complete map control. You will kill stray overlords on the map, try to deny his third if he moves out, harass him while being very careful about infestors. The goal of muta play is to get more bases and be able to run him over with better macro due to your superior economy.
You want to try to avoid direct army to army confrontations until you are positive you will win the fight. You should be making spine crawlers so that if he engages you can use spine crawlers as a helpful defense to defend his attack.
You want to take your third in a spot that will be a problem for your opponent to kill off. An example would be on taldarim lets say you are cross positions you are top right, he is bottom left you would want to take your third on the main of top left or bottom right.
This way if he attacks it you can just counter and screw up his economy. He can't just send a few units to kill it due to muta's so he has to really commit to it. This is a win/win for you as you get a third, if he commits you counter and destroy his economy and force him into an all in. You want to take the "normal" third base locations as your next base.
You want to try to avoid direct army to army confrontations until you are positive you will win the fight. You should be making spine crawlers so that if he engages you can use spine crawlers as a helpful defense to defend his attack.
You want to take your third in a spot that will be a problem for your opponent to kill off. An example would be on taldarim lets say you are cross positions you are top right, he is bottom left you would want to take your third on the main of top left or bottom right.
This way if he attacks it you can just counter and screw up his economy. He can't just send a few units to kill it due to muta's so he has to really commit to it. This is a win/win for you as you get a third, if he commits you counter and destroy his economy and force him into an all in. You want to take the "normal" third base locations as your next base.
Transition phase
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Now this part is really up to you. you can transition into roach/hydra, roach/infestor or you can transition into hive tech ultra's or hive tech broodlords. You can make 10 muta, you can make 30 muta you can only make 7 if thats your fancy and want to transition. I personally love going mass muta with ling/baneling with flanking maneuvers.
An example of this would be he's coming with a roach/hydra/infestor army that has to kill you. You have ling/bane in the front by your spines, then ling baneling in other flanking situations so when you engage you hit the front, side, back if possible. It requires more fungels to stop and he can't just run backwords he is trapped in a since. He has to engage there and try to fungel all the banelings but from 4 sides thats a lot of fungels.
I know most zergs prefer the ultra route but I personally prefer the Broodlord route. My reasoning is pretty simple for this, you have air control, you already have a spire, you should have muta still so why not just go into broodlords? They mess with the AI of ground units (hydra), if he goes corruptor you already have a bunch of muta's so thats not really a viable option for him, so he has infestors/hydra. You will have muta/ling/bane/broodlord with infestors yourself if you choose to. I feel its superior at least in theory again I haven't had many cases in zerg vs zerg to do this yet so it is possible I am completely wrong.
An example of this would be he's coming with a roach/hydra/infestor army that has to kill you. You have ling/bane in the front by your spines, then ling baneling in other flanking situations so when you engage you hit the front, side, back if possible. It requires more fungels to stop and he can't just run backwords he is trapped in a since. He has to engage there and try to fungel all the banelings but from 4 sides thats a lot of fungels.
I know most zergs prefer the ultra route but I personally prefer the Broodlord route. My reasoning is pretty simple for this, you have air control, you already have a spire, you should have muta still so why not just go into broodlords? They mess with the AI of ground units (hydra), if he goes corruptor you already have a bunch of muta's so thats not really a viable option for him, so he has infestors/hydra. You will have muta/ling/bane/broodlord with infestors yourself if you choose to. I feel its superior at least in theory again I haven't had many cases in zerg vs zerg to do this yet so it is possible I am completely wrong.
Muta vs Muta
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In muta vs muta battles do not engage his muta unless you are positive you have more then him. If you lose your muta and he has a lot left you are pretty much guaranteed to lose. If you trade muta then its fine but you want to avoid confrontations until you are positive you will win. You should continue getting muta armor upgrades if he keeps going muta. This is what I do, if he has more muta and you can't deny his third then you will have to transition into hydra or infestors.
In general you should continue mutalisk production, because you are already investing into them and if you transition you lose air control, your muta's are useless depending on how many you make can be 800 gas wasted if you transition and not go into muta vs muta.
In general you should continue mutalisk production, because you are already investing into them and if you transition you lose air control, your muta's are useless depending on how many you make can be 800 gas wasted if you transition and not go into muta vs muta.
Defending vs busts while waiting for your spire
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A common thing you will run into on ladder is your opponent going for a roach/ling all in or some roach bust attempting to hit before your spire finishes. You should see this coming a mile away. With your lings you should be sacrificing them to see his unit count. If you see roaches on the field you should make a couple spines asap. If you send lings again and see a lot of roaches you need to make more spines. this is very crucial as you will die if he does a bust and you don't make enough spines with ling/bane support. I have a couple replays that will show you this.
As long as you are constantly scouting you should NOT die to any busts. As soon as your lair finishes you should make an overseer and see what he is doing ( its 50/50 so worth it). This will tell you if he is going muta himself, going hydra's or going infestors or if he's going for a roach/ling/bane bust.
As long as you are constantly scouting you should NOT die to any busts. As soon as your lair finishes you should make an overseer and see what he is doing ( its 50/50 so worth it). This will tell you if he is going muta himself, going hydra's or going infestors or if he's going for a roach/ling/bane bust.
Now I can't think of any other things to put at this second, if you have any questions feel free to ask if you have seen any of my other guides you should know I answer every question I see. If I missed something on this guide please point it out and I will edit the section in. If I forgot something I will update this guide.
Here are the replays only 3 right now but has me of muta vs muta, someone trying to roach/ling/bane bust me before muta, and a roach/hydra attempted bust when I have muta's out on the field. I will be uploading more replays as I get them right now only 3. Hope this helps you guys out and enjoy the muta play!
http://www.mediafire.com/?b6kcka20zl1eti2
