• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 08:10
CET 13:10
KST 21:10
  • 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
Evil Geniuses - shutting down14ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier5Weekly Cups (October 12-18): 5.0.17 era begins1[$1250] International ShieldBattery League64Weekly Cups (October 5-11): Farewell to 5.0.167
StarCraft 2
General
No more SC2 streamers on team liquid? REPORT: StarCraft 2: Remastered In Development Evil Geniuses - shutting down How do you feel about the mass reverts in the 5.0.17 PTR? Daily SC2 Player Grid - feedback wanted
Tourneys
ScienceCraft (October 24-25) - Live Event Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament RSL goes to London! 2026 Offline Finals Nov 21-22 ISSL (IntoTheTV x SOOP SC2 League): Premier WORTEX Challenger Series — Open SC2 LAN in Budapes
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
External Content
Mutation # 548 Shining Bright The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 547 Temple Of Terror Mutation # 546 Catch the Train
Brood War
General
Do we even care about balance? Rollback Netcode in Brood War [Recap] 0-6 Defeat for Mong's Team Bot on ladder Young Players Tournament Announced by SOOP
Tourneys
[$1250] International ShieldBattery League [BSL23] RO24 Group C Small VOD Thread 2.0 2v2v2v2 Tournament
Strategy
Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) 50,000-Word Terran Builds Memo 2026-10-22 Simple Questions, Simple Answers
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread Armies of Exigo - YesYes? General RTS Discussion Thread Dawn of War IV
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
US Politics Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Artificial Intelligence Thread
Fan Clubs
Serral Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023 MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Innovate or Game Over?
TrAiDoS
ShieldBattery on Mac
Kraekkling
[ASL22] Ro4 Day1 Ticket Giv…
bITt.mAN
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 7414 users

[H] ZvZ: Holding off a 10-pool all-in (Diamond)

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
LoKi-
Profile Joined May 2011
United States121 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-12-12 20:00:38
December 12 2011 19:41 GMT
#1
Hey guys,
I'm a mid-diamond Zerg, just played this game and I'm not entirely sure what I should've done to hold it off.
What happened:
He went 10 pool, then attacked with 6 zerglings and 8 drones (with 4 more zerglings in production). He built a spine crawler on my creep with one drone and attacked with the rest.
I went 14/14, scouted the all-in with my overlords just as he was leaving his base and built spines and lings as soon as my spawning pool finished. They weren't up in time and he still utterly bear-mauled me.

REPLAY: http://drop.sc/73825

My first instinct is that I need to buy more time to get more lings out so I can actually engage his army without dying. The problem with this is that I need to kill his spine crawler before it's up, or I feel I'll lose. I'm not sure if me trying to plant spine crawlers was a mistake or not.
Help please? :3
Meff
Profile Joined June 2010
Italy287 Posts
December 12 2011 19:56 GMT
#2
The description is actually incorrect: he attacked with 8 drones. 4 drones were left at home for reinforcing.

In this specific case, you were at 15 drones against 6 zerglings and 7 drones (one was building a crawler).
Crawlers take indeed too long to build and they automatically rob you of one drone. It's better to simply pump zerglings, put a queen in production and engage with the drones if really needed (and in this case you could have just bought time by moving around off-creep while your zerglings spawned).
trew
Profile Joined May 2010
Sweden93 Posts
December 12 2011 19:57 GMT
#3
At 3:34 I think you had too many spines building. If you're just going to run away with your drones, you shouldn't build them at all. Also your lings were badly controlled when they popped. They should be together with your drones when you engage. There is no rush in killing the spine. His units are way more dangerous. What if you kill the spine, but you have no drones left?
LoKi-
Profile Joined May 2011
United States121 Posts
December 12 2011 20:00 GMT
#4
Sorry Meff - didn't notice that. I'll fix it.

So, to clarify, do you just suggest I dance around with the drones until I have more lings popped, ignoring his spine?
kryx
Profile Joined October 2011
Germany4 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-12-12 20:05:57
December 12 2011 20:04 GMT
#5
mid Diamond

Gotta agree with the rest - plus:

* You pull your drones off gas too late
* Your pool is 50 Mins too late - call me smartass, but any second counts on this matter
* If possible I usually wait some extra seconds to build that 15 Overlord, because of these cheeses. In your case it was just a waste of larvae and minerals
* 1 spine seals the deal. Building none makes his pretty nasty if completed with full health, plus you distract him as well

EDIT
Youre waiting for your inital 6 lings and do only engage, when you can pick him off guard.
LoKi-
Profile Joined May 2011
United States121 Posts
December 12 2011 20:19 GMT
#6
Thanks for the help guys. Although kryx - your last point about the spine confuses me. Can you please elaborate?
Greenhit
Profile Blog Joined December 2010
United States200 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-12-12 20:54:14
December 12 2011 20:52 GMT
#7
Personally when I get rushed I try to focus on

A) continuing to harvest as much as I can minimalizing the delay of your zergling speed will make crushing him should he try to transition even easier then it probably already will be, however losing a bunch of drones for that 100 gas is never a good trade that early, so follow this bit with caution.

B) making sure any lings I have out or am waiting to get out don't get killed, queue queen, make sure you spend all available larvae on lings prior, as they are not as easily surrounded. however all personal preference, you could argue that the delay on the queen only strengthens the rush.

C) Only engage with lings supported by drones odds are you
1. wont lose any drones and deal with the threat quickly, losing mining time still hurts.
2.Can immediately counter with the lings you've had building up, and most importantly, be able to engage with fewer ling numbers during the initial defense.

Also make sure to touch upon the few points Kryx made as well, especially about the pool timing.



"And where do you live Simon?" "In the weak and the wounded, Doc."
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Sparkling Tuna Cup
19:00
Weekly #152 (SHIN Mod Edition)
herO vs ShamelessLIVE!
TBD vs ByuN
CranKy Ducklings167
SHIN 35
CranKy Ducklings SOOP13
LiquipediaDiscussion
FEL
19:00
ScienceCraft - Day 2
RotterdaM404
IndyStarCraft 345
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
ByuN 417
RotterdaM 404
IndyStarCraft 345
SHIN 35
Classic 12
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 45643
Shuttle 14397
Bisu 2570
BeSt 1897
firebathero 1109
Horang2 828
FanTaSy 711
Hyuk 626
EffOrt 388
Stork 281
[ Show more ]
Mind 171
Last 147
ggaemo 142
Killer 131
Light 109
Hyun 97
Pusan 75
Bonyth 69
Movie 65
Barracks 63
sorry 44
Mong 38
ToSsGirL 34
Shinee 30
ProTech29
Bale 26
Aegong 24
Sexy 24
scan(afreeca) 24
Hm[arnc] 22
zelot 19
Yoon 17
Noble 14
Shine 12
JYJ 12
soO 12
yabsab 12
Sacsri 10
Dota 2
Gorgc19506
XcaliburYe119
Counter-Strike
allub696
fl0m543
x6flipin356
Other Games
singsing1588
B2W.Neo1466
DeMusliM191
Organizations
Counter-Strike
PGL14235
Other Games
gamesdonequick1307
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 14
lovetv 6
[ Show 11 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Adnapsc2 23
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• C_a_k_e 2441
• WagamamaTV447
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
10h 50m
WardiTV Weekly
23h 50m
IntoTheTV X SOOP
1d 22h
ByuN vs Lambo
MaxPax vs Bunny
PiGosaur Cup
2 days
The PondCast
2 days
Kung Fu Cup
2 days
IntoTheTV X SOOP
3 days
SHIN vs GuMiho
Clem vs Classic
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
GSL
4 days
Epic.LAN
5 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
5 days
Sparkling Tuna Cup
5 days
Epic.LAN
6 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #5 - GSC
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
HCC Season 3

Ongoing

Acropolis #5
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 4
BSL Season 23
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
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

IPSL Winter 2026-27
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
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.