EPTAbout me: I’m currently nineteen years old and I go to school at Purdue studying software engineering. I’ve achieved grandmaster six times on North America: five times as Zerg and once as protoss, and I’ve also achieved grandmaster on the Europe server one time. I started in bronze league at release and have worked very hard and improved as much as possible to achieve the in game ranking I am now.
I do stream at www.twich.tv/toxsikcraft (Currently ranging from rank 35-100 GM) and you can follow me on twitter at www.twitter.com/toxsikcraft.
Onto the guides~!
ZvP: The ToXSiK 13 minute Roach Hydra Corrupter max!
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/J25svWJ.jpg?1?8068)
Overview:
ZvP has become a very interesting matchup. With the new added stargate units and the nerfs to the infestor, the role of the zerg has switched from trying to get a max army, to killing the protoss before they get a max army. I’ve experimented a lot with different builds and watched a lot of high level games, and I really feel that roach hydra corrupter, or roach hydra viper is the best here. If you’ve ever played a protoss who gets to air + high Templars, you’ve probably realized that it’s most likely best to kill a protoss before they get to this stage in the game.
The opener (Versus forge FE or nexus first):
15 Pool
*Pull two drones down to stop the pylon block from a nexus first protoss.
16 Hatch or 16 overlord if they blocked you
15 overlord
15 2x Lings
17 Queen (Right when overlord pops)
Drone to 22
Take third at 22 supply
21 extractor
Start second queen at the main hatchery as soon as you can afford.
Drones and overlords from here out
So, here’s where the build gets interesting. Now, I want you to know that I actually stole this opener from the series of ST_Life against ROOTMinigun from the MLG Dallas Winter Championship 2013 (Game 3), and I think this is the most effective fast hydra opener currently out as it allows you to have range done and a good hydra count before a sentry immortal all in would hit, and it’s always nice to get basically a free win vs such a build!
Anyways, you want to start ling speed with your first 100 gas, and then you want to pull one drone off of the gas geyser (2/3 workers) as you collect the next 100 for lair. If you don’t do this, you’ll end up buying lair too quickly and won’t be able to afford drones, so don’t forget to do this! Around 80~ gas I usually tend to add the drone back into the gas, but this is a rough timing and something I am not 100% sure on (I’ll keep the guide up to date so don’t worry).
Once your lair is started, start a second gas geyser, and you should be sitting around 3 queens, 3 hatches, and 62/x supply. When lair is around halfway done, that’s a good time to start your gases 3 and 4 and it’s also a great time to scout the protoss for the build they are doing. Obviously, if you scout the protoss and they are doing a gate way all in (which most protoss don’t do these days, but some like to mix them in), it’s better to just skip the lair and grab a warren and mass units on 2 gas from 55~ drones. After holding the attack, you can then begin to start tech-ing.
Once you begin mining from the 3rd and 4th gas, I like to grab a fifth gas, and around now your lair should be done and you’ll want to start your hydra den right away. Pretty much no matter what the protoss has done, hydras will be good against it with this opener because you get them so quickly, so don’t be afraid to just pumping out a few hydras even if you haven’t gotten a solid scout in yet.
If you do see them push out with a sentry immortal all in build, it’s wise to stay on just 5 gas 3 hatch and just mass 0-0 upgrade ling-hydra. If they are taking a third, went stargate, or any other build, it’s best to grab 6 gas and scout and take your fourth if they took a third after you’ve made your hydras.
As soon as the hydra den is done, right now I like to build around sixteen hydras. Sixteen hydras is a great number because it completely denies all air harass and lets you split up your hydras around in two groups of eight to deal with the phoenix. When I max out around 13 minutes, I always have sixteen hydras in my composition no matter what, as they are a great glass cannon and really dish out damage to a majority of the protoss arsenal.
So, after your hydras and your fourth are on the way, you want to start ‘pressuring’ the protoss third with hydras (Just scare them really, you don’t want to lose ANY hydras, but do any damage you can!). Behind this pressure, you want to drone your fourth up like a madman and grab four tech buildings:
After 16 hydras are out:
Roach warren
2 Evolution Chambers
Spire
When the evo chambers and roach warren complete, you want to start 1-1 (This will line up perfectly for our attack that will occur around 13:30 in my replays) as well as roach speed. You also want to buy +1 air attack in case they do end up holding the timing and you’re forced to hit again with a 2-2 timing. I like to add in 10 – 14 corrupters depending on their void ray count, and then finish up my supply in pure roaches.
Once you’re ready to engage, make sure your roaches are in the front, hydras behind, 1-1 is done, roach speed is done, hydra range and speed is done, and you want to focus down the colossus and then air army with your corrupters (and always use corruption on the high DPS units such as colossus and immortals!). You should win 80% of your games with this timing, as long as you don’t make macro mistakes or get caught off guard by something silly that you didn’t expect.
Here are some replays of me vs some players on ladder! I’ll add more replays if you guys like, I just took the games that I played on ladder today:
ToXSiK vs rsvp
ToXSiK vs SCSFanTaSy
ZvT: 1-1 Roaches into hydras and vipers
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/DnwhvYh.jpg?1?5862)
Overview:
ZvT is another matchup that has changed a lot since Lings of Liberty. Not only can we not mass infestors anymore, but because of the widow mine, we actually have to micro more than terran now! Crazy, right? Well, I hate micro because I’m awful at it despite my high apm, and this build doesn’t require that much micro and has potential to beat any terran (Life did this build in GSTL Last week), which is why it’s my strategy of choice currently.
The opener:
15 hatch
16 extractor
16 pool
Drone to 18/18
*Most terrans will go reapers and it will show up around this point
18 2x lings, 2 queens
Start ling speed as soon as you have 100 gas and stop mining gas completely.
Things terran could have done at this point and reactions: (By greedy I mean not make speed-lings to defend drops/hellion harassment in the early game)
15cc – You can be extra greedy if they did this build.
1 rax FE – You can be pretty greedy against this.
1 or 2 reaper expand into hellion – You need around 8 lings to easily hold off the harass before you begin droning.
Proxy 2 rax – You must sack your nat and wait for speed/construct a spine and do your best to break out of the contain and re expand (It’s hard to beat 11/11 with hatch/gas/pool, but not many terrans do it these days anyways).
8-8-8 – Do your best to defend the initial reapers and mass lings until you can kill the bunker and the reapers. Play macro from this point out.
After you’ve identified the build, you want to start droning and when your two queens are done, you immediately want to start a third queen at your natural to begin spreading creep.
You want to start re-mining gas from your first geyser and construct a second geyser around 36-40/44 supply. Once these geysers are fully up and you’re mining gas, you want to begin 2 evolution chambers to research 1-1 for your roaches (Ranged and carapace). Start your lair with your next 100 gas, begin your third and fourth gases, and start a roach warren after this.
Take your third as soon as you can, and start making ~16 roaches to either defend a hellbat drop that will show up around this time, or to go pressure with 1-1 roaches at terrans expansion. Make sure to drone your third, start 2-2, and start your hydra den behind this!
Terran has basically two options in hots: Bio mech (Either mines or tanks), or pure mech. Versus mech, you’ll be in a great position with this build, and I personally like to buy +2+2 ranged attack and carapace and go for a max roach drop on their mech army. It’s really easy to execute and will beat pretty much roll every mecher.
If they went bio-mech, you’re going to want to start your hydra den and begin incorporating hydras and add an infestation pit around when you start your 2-2 upgrades to begin teching to vipers and 3-3.
It’s important to note that you cannot be aggressive with roach hydra! You just can’t. Period. It’s easy to defend with on creep and a good surround, but you can’t just waltz across the map and pray that terran isn’t ready to engage you. You will lose practically every offensive engagement on terran until you have 3-3 upgrades and 5-6 vipers for blinding cloud and abducts!
During the midgame, you want to establish your fourth and deny drops and pushes as well as you can while you tech up to hive and begin viper production. As you should know by this point, it’s important to grab evolution chambers so you can begin building viper energy quickly without having to wait for it to slowly regen.
Once you have 3-3 roach hydra / viper, your comp is very strong and you should be able to just roll over terran very easy, but getting to this point is very difficult, so make sure you macro strong and micro as best as you can!
I’ve attached some replays below of this style, hope you enjoy them!
ToXSiK vs Sterling
ToXSiK vs ACEInSomniA
ToXSiK vs Werther
ZvZ: An aggressive approach to muta versus muta
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/61L2gpB.jpg?1)
Overview: ZvZ is the one matchup that hasn’t changed that much. Sure, people were doing infestor openers, roach hydra infestor, and muta openers in Lings of Liberty, but I really feel that mutas were always the strongest strategy even before the buff. Obviously, with the speed and muta regen buff, mutas are pretty much the only viable option in ZvZ besides the plethora of all-ins you can do. I want to describe a build I (again) copied from ST_Life against symbol in GSTL (The match was on Whirlwind). This build allows you to be aggressive very quickly and always forces either direct or indirect damage to your opponent. What do I mean by this? Well, if they droned, you can snipe drones, queens, lings, whatever they have in small numbers and cause direct damage. On the other hand, if they made a lot of units, then obviously you’ve done indirect damage because your drone count will be higher due to the fact that they’re making units to hold your aggression while you’re droning. Hope that makes sense.
The opener:
15 pool
15 gas
17 hatch
16 Queen
18/18 overlord
*Stop mining gas at 100 gas
3 drones when overlord pops (bringing you to 21/26 supply)
*Start mining gas with 2 drones once you create these 3 drones
21 second queen
23 overlord
Bane nest when you have 50 gas
23-30 supply – lings
At this point, you want to rally all 14 lings across the map, begin four banelings, and become super aggressive. Nine times out of ten you will have speed before your opponent and you just want to poke and try to do damage while you drone like a madman behind it. Behind this attack, it’s important to remember to build one set of lings at home as well as a spine crawler. Sometimes, if your attack fails miserably (you lose your lings to a single bane etc.), you will want to start a second queen at your main, pull your main queen down, and do whatever you can to defend their counter push.
If you’ve forced early units from the opponent, awesome, you did indirect damage. If you killed drones, great, you did direct damage. If you ran your 14 lings into a baneling while they massed drones, not so great, you ARE behind and this build might not be for you if you have problems controlling ling bane armies and being aggressive (But practice makes perfect so don’t get discouraged!)
Once the beginning aggression phase ends, you should have about an 8 drone lead! This is great, especially in muta vs muta, as it means you can put more pressure on their third, get faster gas at your third, and just in general be ahead.
I’m not going to go in to too much detail on how to tech to lair and get a spire, but basically you want to start your lair when you have around at least 30~ drones mining minerals and one gas going, and you start your other four gas and begin mining from those asap. If you see a ground based all in coming, you want to make ~5 spines and banelings and defend until your spire is done. After your spire is down, you want to establish your third and either defend your third if they are being aggressive, or be aggressive to their third. Establishing your third is key in muta vs muta!
If the opponent for some reason didn’t go muta, just bust them with 0-0 lings and speed-banes and laugh your way to victory. Roach Hydra Infestor sucks now because of the length of time it takes to max out on it and the nerfs to the infestor, so the only viable thing is what you’re doing, so you should just get free wins against people who do such builds.
Of course, as I’m sure you’ve seen from pro games, muta vs muta all comes down to upgrades (+1 carapace, +1 attack, +2 carapace, +2 attack is the usual order), and one giant engagement where you bank that you have more mutas than they do. It’s smart to hit as soon as upgrades finish and establish your fourth/fifth quicker than your opponent. If you do this build properly and get damage done in the early game, then you should always have more mutas!
Here are a couple of replays of this style being executed, again these are just from ladder today, follow my stream or request more replays if you’re interested!
ToXSiK vs EGIdrA
ToXSiK vs Kaldi
ToXSiK vs FutzeR
Thanks for reading my guides and I hope you fellow zergs have some cool new builds to try and I hope they help you improve as a player. I worked hard on this guide and any comments on TL, twitter, twitch, or to me on bnet are much appreciated!
Good luck and have fun
~ToXSiK
