• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 22:21
CEST 04:21
KST 11:21
  • 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] Ro8 Preview: Within Reach5[ASL22] Ro8 Preview: In A Tizzy11[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Holy Diver5[ASL22] Ro16 Preview: Rough Waters10[ASL22] Ro24 Preview: Siren's Call8
Community News
StarCraft II 5.0.17 PTR Patch Notes (Sept 30, 2026)24Weekly Cups (Sept 21-27): herO and ByuN double2Weekly Cups (Sep 13-20): herO scores triple3BSL Season 2313Weekly Cups (Sep 7-12): SHIN, ByuN, MaxPax double down1
StarCraft 2
General
StarCraft II 5.0.17 PTR Patch Notes (Sept 30, 2026) StarCraft open world shooter announced at BlizzCon Weekly Cups (Sept 21-27): herO and ByuN double Recent Patches and the Future Stellar Fest 1 Replay Pack
Tourneys
Stellar Fest TWO the Moon (Dec 16-20) 2026 GSTL Grand Finals SC2 INu's Battles#21 [ 3-Days tournament ] ScienceCraft (October 24-25) - Live Event Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament
Strategy
[H] ZvP Mid-Late Game: Stalkers Collossi HT
Custom Maps
[M] (2) Sweltering Sands [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 545 And Drops and Rifts Mutation # 544 Double Trouble Mutation # 543 Enhanced Defenses
Brood War
General
Bot on ladder BW General Discussion a Announcement on the JEDI Ringing Where can I find Flash replays that work? Official StarCraft website teases new content ahead of BlizzCon?
Tourneys
[ASL22] Ro8 Day 4 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL22] Ro8 Day 3 [ASL22] Ro8 Day 2
Strategy
Cliff Jump Revisited (1 in a 1000 strategy) Replay Review Process - What do you do? Simple Questions, Simple Answers Odyssey Mineral Stack Saturation
Other Games
General Games
General RTS Discussion Thread Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Total Annihilation Zero Nintendo Switch Thread
Dota 2
Dota 2 Champions League Season 3 Begins April 25! Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
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
Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread All you football fans (soccer)! Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Artificial Intelligence Thread
Fan Clubs
MarineLorD Fan Club The Creator Fan Club The ShoWTimE Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece Diablo Animated Series on Netflix
Sports
Football (Soccer) Thread MLB/Baseball 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
Recent Gifted Posts
Blogs
Violent-Cooperative Play and…
TrAiDoS
38 yo Retired SWE loo…
PurE)Rabbit-SF
Can Bots Beat Pros?? Starcr…
namkraft
[meme] I finally understa…
LUCKY_NOOB
Regacy Esports:Our Goa…
regacyesports
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 9246 users

[Q] Overlord Scouting Techniques

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
Post a Reply
traceurling
Profile Joined December 2012
United States1240 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-03-03 18:11:41
March 03 2013 06:13 GMT
#1
Hey guys, so this has been something I've been planning on learning for a long time as Overlord scouting is a pretty small thing to do, but also very important, and a forum search turned up some info but not everything I wanted to know...So I was wondering if you guys could give me a quick lesson on how to scout with my overlord for each matchup properly, I know there are like rules of thumbs and minor tricks to follow...this is what I know so far...

General
-On (2) player maps, send the overlord to their natural to see if they're going early expo or not
-On (3) and (4) player maps, scout the main where your overlord will pass over their natural as it travels to the main

vZ
-If your initial overlord meets their overlord halfway or 3/4 of the way towards a main, they are there
-if your second overlord meets their overlord 1/4 of the way towards a main, they are there
-if possible, know where you should have vision of their creep so you can turn your overlord faster
-if you want to 12 hatch, send overlord to scout cross map on (4) player maps so your overlords won't run into eachother

vP

vT
-keep overlord outside their natural, don't lose it to marines.
-use second overlord to scout for bunker rush

Some things I don't understand
-In one of Day[9]'s Dailies, he analyzed a ZvP where the Zerg send I believe his second overlord to the middle of the map, Day[9] said something along the lines that by being in the center of the map, this overlord can reach any of the other 3 spawn locations really quickly...how is this beneficial why didnt he just scout another main?
-Why do some people (in ZvP) send their overlord to just outside their natural, I know it's in the hope they can see which direction the probe comes from, but does the benefits really outweight the costs?

That's all I know, are there any more tips and tricks and general rules? I found out the thing about scouting cross map when you 12 hatch from Bakuryu(I think it was him) commenting on one of Sayle's casts...I thought it was really cool and I was wondering if there were any other neat tricks...I guess I'll update the OP with what you guys say so other people can use this as a resource...
"Appreciate the things you have before they become the things you had."
Birdie
Profile Blog Joined August 2007
New Zealand4438 Posts
March 03 2013 06:30 GMT
#2
-Why do some people (in ZvP) send their overlord to just outside their natural, I know it's in the hope they can see which direction the probe comes from, but does the benefits really outweight the costs?

If you keep it at your natural I believe it's to watch for cannon rushing inside your mineral line, so you usually move it so that you can see the mineral line.

In ZvP (let's say you're bottom right, you send first overlord to bottom left) you send your scouting drone to top right anyway so you don't have to send the overlord there, you can send it to the middle instead where it can see proxy gates and can go to either top right or top left naturals quickly depending on what your drone and first overlord scout. So if your drone scouts top right and nothing's there, and your first overlord scouts bottom left and nothing's there, your second overlord is already on its way to the top left and you've also got a chance of seeing proxy gates.
Red classic | A butterfly dreamed he was Zhuangzi | 4.5k, heading to 5k as support!
Harem
Profile Joined November 2007
United States11393 Posts
March 03 2013 07:07 GMT
#3
They send it outside natural so that they know if they can 12hat safely or have to overpool if they see a probe. In addition, they know where the protoss is. Now, since every P will double scout assuming FE, you'll eventually start to be wary if you don't see a probe by x time, this means that you send that ovie through middle in case of proxy gates (or they are 1basing)

However, you can also accomplish this by drone scouting which arguably is even better on iccup esp with how much 1base and 2gate people like to do. Send that drone cross-map, first ovie to nearest nat ie fs bott left to top left and then second ovie to bott right.

Also for zvz, on maps like ground zero, if you are 9pooling then you send the first ovie horizontally. This is because lings will see their overlord as they see ramp. If they don't see ovie and your first ovie doesn't see them, then they are cross-spawn.
Moderator。◕‿◕。
Slayer_Chessi
Profile Joined January 2013
Czech Republic30 Posts
March 03 2013 11:26 GMT
#4
dont forget ZVT, when u 12hatch, u always got to place ovie infront of your naturl to see bunker making, on destination u preferably want to see if hes making bunkers early midgame behind the bridges too.
traceurling
Profile Joined December 2012
United States1240 Posts
March 03 2013 16:39 GMT
#5
Oh also, on a related note, when should I drone scout on ZvP? Ive been relyin on overlord scouts but I've seen good players drone scout...
"Appreciate the things you have before they become the things you had."
Bakuryu
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Germany1065 Posts
March 03 2013 17:31 GMT
#6
11th drone when u go overpool and 12th drone when u go fe.
traceurling
Profile Joined December 2012
United States1240 Posts
March 03 2013 18:11 GMT
#7
Should I drone scout every game or only in some games?
"Appreciate the things you have before they become the things you had."
Bakuryu
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Germany1065 Posts
March 03 2013 18:32 GMT
#8
u must have a reason to drone scout, otherwise u dont drone scout.
if u have a reason to drone scout, u can play safe by always drone scouting, or u play risky and dont drone scout.
FlaShFTW
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
United States10566 Posts
March 05 2013 04:54 GMT
#9
vP should be something like...
send to natural first before the main to see if they are forge fe, 2 gate aggro, or 1 base play.
Writer#1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Teamliquid Political Decision Desk
TL+ Member
LRM)INF3cted
Profile Joined October 2012
Bulgaria242 Posts
March 05 2013 21:55 GMT
#10
They send it outside natural so that they know if they can 12hat safely or have to overpool if they see a probe. In addition, they know where the protoss is. Now, since every P will double scout assuming FE, you'll eventually start to be wary if you don't see a probe by x time, this means that you send that ovie through middle in case of proxy gates (or they are 1basing)

However, you can also accomplish this by drone scouting which arguably is even better on iccup esp with how much 1base and 2gate people like to do. Send that drone cross-map, first ovie to nearest nat ie fs bott left to top left and then second ovie to bott right.

Also for zvz, on maps like ground zero, if you are 9pooling then you send the first ovie horizontally. This is because lings will see their overlord as they see ramp. If they don't see ovie and your first ovie doesn't see them, then they are cross-spawn.


100% accurate.I have 2-3 secret overlord scouting in ZvZ but i can`t reveal it.Always scout whit drone and check proxy locations first.On maps like Ground Zero u can scout whit first overlord horizontally in ZvT match , just because your second overlord can safely fly over the natural and u get better position early in the game.
Play whit honor , die whit glory.
Freakling
Profile Joined October 2012
Germany1534 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-03-06 18:27:03
March 06 2013 18:26 GMT
#11
About ZvP drone scouting: You can also use your scouting drone to 3 hatch far expand to another nat, if you play standard.

If you send your ovi to scout your opponents main in a 3+ player map, it can pay off to not send it there directly, but directed a bit towards the middle, and then into the main in a diagonal angle, leaving your enemy guessing where it came from, but also delaying your scouting slightly, so this is most suited for builds like 12 hatch, where you are not going to be aggressive early, but need to be wary of enemy aggression.
It does not require additional micro, just shift-click the intended ovi path on the minimap. You also have to consider their scouting paths, of course, because your overlord could run into their scout. So this is somewhat map-specific.
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 7h 39m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RuFF_SC2 141
Nina 104
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 12277
Rain 2154
Artosis 687
Dewaltoss 34
NaDa 30
Bale 22
Noble 6
Dota 2
monkeys_forever480
NeuroSwarm169
League of Legends
Doublelift4862
Counter-Strike
taco 640
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox1561
ArmadaUGS334
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor1330
WinterStarcraft549
Other Games
summit1g9306
JimRising 630
PiGStarcraft370
C9.Mang0200
Maynarde166
ViBE120
ZombieGrub14
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick885
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream131
[ Show 10 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Hupsaiya 102
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• Migwel
StarCraft: Brood War
• Azhi_Dahaki12
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Upcoming Events
The PondCast
7h 39m
OSC
10h 39m
Stellar Fest
10h 39m
OSC
21h 39m
Stellar Fest
1d 10h
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
Online Event
2 days
FEL
2 days
AI Arena Tournament
2 days
BSL: Ladder Tournament
2 days
[ Show More ]
Sparkling Tuna Cup
3 days
INu's Battles
3 days
herO vs Classic
Percival vs Rogue
BSL Open Qualifier
3 days
BSL Open Qualifier
3 days
Replay Cast
3 days
WardiTV Weekly
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
INu's Battles
5 days
SHIN vs Cure
ByuN vs Zoun
PiGosaur Cup
5 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Proleague 2026-09-27
Blizzard Classic Cup 2026
Calamity Invitational

Ongoing

ASL Season 22
Super Anchor Qualifying S3
CSL 2026 AUTUMN (S22)
Acropolis #5
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
BLAST Bounty Summer 2026
BLAST Bounty Summer Qual

Upcoming

Acropolis #5 - GSB
Acropolis #5 - GSC
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
Custodian Cup
Copium Cup
PGL Major Singapore 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 6
BLAST Rivals Fall 2026
IEM Beijing 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 5
PGL Masters Bucharest 2026
1win Private Club #2
Thunderpick World Champ. '26
ESL Pro League Season 24
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.