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[G] Zerg Guide to help beginner-intermediate players

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
SpicyCrab
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
402 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-07-16 20:38:56
July 16 2013 20:18 GMT
#1
Hey all, I am not trying to take credit for this guide. This was actually written by Crushed67. I encountered him on stream and explained how I was struggling with getting back in to Diamond from Platinum as zerg and he sent me this extremely helpful guide. It has upped my game a lot and I am sure it will continue to do so. I thought my fellow beginner-intermediate zergs might appreciate it as well. Thanks again to Crush67.

You can quickly shoot up to masters after just getting these two things down:

-some good build orders to practice till you can execute them smoothly.

-some more effective APM i.e. using camera hotkey's maybe changing the hotkeys on some upgrades etc too.

Here is a video on hotkeys with Artosis: http://bit.ly/PaPGwb. Day[9] has a old daily on this too, but it covers more basic things that I assume you know. If you want to check it out though here it is: http://bit.ly/jh02aP

I don't know how you play personally, but I am assuming you have learned injects and not getting supply blocked by now? That is actually something that just has to come with time. It's all about muscle memory to react every in-game 25s.
Make sure to put heavy focus on your inject prior to 11 in-game minutes. If you get good with that, you can move on to also spreading creep after injects.

Here is build orders you can practice. I recommended doing them over and over against very easy A.I. so it doesn't bother you. You want to be able to do them pretty close to perfect against the AI.
In a real game it will be harder to execute them smoothly while random shit is happening. It is okay to fuck it up in a real game; the amount of leeway depends on the bracket you are in obviously.

ZvP:

14 pool
15 hatchery
15 Overlord
16 queen
20 take third hatch
20 queen
24 OL
32 OL queen
6:05 double gas
lair
7:20 roach warren
7:30 3/4 gas
speed
macro hatch
5/6 gas ( lair @ 50%)
7:50 evo (1+ attack)
Infestation @ 100% lair
4th after hive
hydra at 75% +1 (10:30)
3 vipers and 10 hydras b4 range

ZvT :
15h
16p
44-48 double gas (speed with first 100gas)
take third then roach warren
6 roaches 10-12 lings
7:45 double evo (upgrades before lair)
lair b4 baneling nest
8:40 take 3rd/4th 5th/6th gas

ZvZ:
15 Spawning Pool
16 Hatchery
15 Overlord
15 Queen
17 2x Zergling
22 Queen
3rd & 4th Queen ASAP
24 2x Overlord
37 Spine Crawler
44 Double Gas At Natural
42 Overlord
44 Roachwarren & Double Evo

The ZvT and ZvZ builds are pretty easy and I included Vods/replays/Tutorial links at the bottom. The ZvP one is a little bit harder that is hyun's style. I just wanted to give you the build's that work all the way up to top the highest level, incase you aim higher then dia.

Here is a way easier ZvP that will still work up to mid-masters. Taken from here (http://bit.ly/16Alu6R). I just cleaned it up a bit, you should take a look at it if you think something is missing. Note: The replays he gives are wrong, so don't bother with them.

15 pool
16 hatch
15 overlord
15 2x lings
-- 3 sequential queens. You want the first one from the main, the second one from the main, and the third one from the natural. Only one queen making at a time. Inject once at the natural with your first queen, then spread creed/go to the third
24 hatch
24 overlord
30 overlord
-- drones~~
6:00 double gas
6:30 if toss has gas no gas at natural drop roach warren, speed with first 100 gas. Prepare for an attack. Otherwise...
If you scout stargate tech, make sure to have two spores per mineral line.
first 100 gas: lair
macro hatch
7:00 roach warren/evo (+1 range, if you see a third before it's done, cancel and switch to melee. It's only to help defending all ins)
@second 100 gas speed, double gas, second evo (carapace)
@60 drones: UNITS. Pure roach ling until you see a third.
@toss third: Take fourth, make only drones, take the rest of your gasses. You want to get up to 72-80 drones.
@100% lair drop infestation pit
@100% infestation pit; hive
@100% hive; adrenal/ultralisk cavern
@100% ultralisk cavern you should have enough gas for 8-9 ultras. (These pop ~14 minutes)

THINGS TO NOTE: After protoss takes a third, you're only going to make lings, drones, and overlords
Ultras WILL pop for any 3 base collosus push. Don't engage with pure lings unless he's literally sitting on one of your mining bases.
If you see voidrays at any point drop a hydra den. DO NOT SPEND MONEY ON HYDRAS YET. Kill his army with the ultra/ling ball first, remax on hydra/ultra.
Worst case scenario, where he gets too many voidrays, or you're getting pushed back, start pathogen glands, and get a hydra/infestor ball. (Start range upgrades too). Hydra infestor beats mass voids pretty handily.
If toss is holding on, I throw down double spire and prepare for a hard broodlord switch.

VODS/Tutorial/Replays:
ZvP replay of hyun vs MC from HSC (http://bit.ly/12ueypf)
ZvT VOD of Suppy Coached by MillGoswser and coLSasquatch (http://bit.ly/132HMjx)
ZvZ Youtube Tutorial (http://bit.ly/1bsnVxK)
Sorry don't have example of alternative ZvP (I use hyuns), but the build order should be thorough enough.


So getting these builds down and using your hotkeys optimally like shown in the Artosis video should be all you need. Btw it does take a little bit before you get used to camera hotkeys, but it is well worth it so keep at it!
Sorry for any spelling errors etc. I typed this up fast for you and don't have time to read through it. GL 8)!
I'm such a baller in my dreams. - HiFriend
b0ub0u
Profile Joined September 2009
Canada445 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-07-16 20:28:02
July 16 2013 20:27 GMT
#2
This might help me out. Since this season I got put in Platinum instead of Diamond. I was Diamond the last 3 seasons, top Diamond even beating Masters sometimes. And now I can`t even win 50% of my games anymore... even at Platinum... not sure what is going on but I struggle a lot!

Thanks for the help will check those out
In the swarm we trust
TyrianSC2
Profile Joined January 2012
Canada52 Posts
July 17 2013 01:45 GMT
#3
I was actually JUST looking for something like this. Thanks for a good post, I was having trouble finding a couple of starter builds to work on to get out of plat.
renezerg
Profile Joined May 2007
Peru186 Posts
July 17 2013 03:09 GMT
#4
Thank you very much, I am struggling at platinum as well, I was really looking for that Hyun build order
gg
Zavulon
Profile Blog Joined July 2013
United Kingdom10 Posts
July 17 2013 06:26 GMT
#5
I would love this , but i'm a terran soooo if anyone knows any terran pages like this please say .
'Widow Mines are a zerg's best weapon' Ilyes 'stephano' Satouri
Banorac
Profile Joined March 2013
Belgium2 Posts
July 17 2013 08:35 GMT
#6
Isn't the Protoss build extremely vulnerable against everything that isn't FFE?
Deleted User 245622
Profile Joined January 2012
184 Posts
July 17 2013 09:53 GMT
#7
On July 17 2013 17:35 Banorac wrote:
Isn't the Protoss build extremely vulnerable against everything that isn't FFE?


i guess you dont play that bo if he is doing a gate expand
981981
Profile Joined July 2013
2 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-07-17 10:47:58
July 17 2013 10:26 GMT
#8
On July 17 2013 17:35 Banorac wrote:
Isn't the Protoss build extremely vulnerable against everything that isn't FFE?


No, it should be fine. It's ZvP so the 'everything' you are referring to is gateway expand. The 2 zealot msc poke shouldn't be too hard to handle with lings and queen.
981981
Profile Joined July 2013
2 Posts
July 17 2013 10:47 GMT
#9
On July 17 2013 18:53 aidosae wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 17 2013 17:35 Banorac wrote:
Isn't the Protoss build extremely vulnerable against everything that isn't FFE?


i guess you dont play that bo if he is doing a gate expand


No you can. If you feel you are often encountering unorthodox pokes instead of 2 units and msc, then you could drop a 19g and take drones off gas after taking speed. Gateway expand has kinda fallen out though, with proper scouting it never really does enough damage to warrant doing it over FFE. You can check the HSC replay pack to find some games where hyun does gas variation to mix it up. https://www.facebook.com/TaKeTV/posts/684731648219885
Crugio
Profile Blog Joined April 2011
Australia45 Posts
July 17 2013 11:00 GMT
#10
I like the suppy video! how did you find that?
I'm in a world of hurt!
virpi
Profile Blog Joined August 2009
Germany3598 Posts
July 18 2013 13:14 GMT
#11
holding ling-heavy allins looks pretty hard with that zvz build. without speed and banelings you have to rely on perfect queen positioning and an earlier spine in some situations, but even that might not be enough.
but I'm not a high level player (struggling hard in diamond atm), so please correct me if I'm wrong.
first we make expand, then we defense it.
G.M.T
Profile Joined February 2009
Romania27 Posts
July 22 2013 19:31 GMT
#12
with your first zvp build , rouch warren should never go up later then 7:10 , uless you know perfectly he is stargating , and there is no way he will have some warp gate harassement . TOp diamond here
mythandier
Profile Joined January 2011
United States828 Posts
July 22 2013 20:06 GMT
#13
I think this is a good guide for newer zerg players but I think making the statement "should shoot up to masters after getting [build orders and effective APM] down" is a bit of a stretch.

There are a number of other important considerations in masters, primarily reading the game and making good decisions. The guide covers a few possible situations but obviously there are a wide variety of situations someone will face and need to learn how to respond properly.

Anyway, good guide overall but not necessarily going to take someone straight to masters
Phrencys
Profile Joined August 2010
Canada270 Posts
July 22 2013 20:43 GMT
#14
On July 18 2013 22:14 virpi wrote:
holding ling-heavy allins looks pretty hard with that zvz build. without speed and banelings you have to rely on perfect queen positioning and an earlier spine in some situations, but even that might not be enough.
but I'm not a high level player (struggling hard in diamond atm), so please correct me if I'm wrong.

10pool or 14/14 will throw this BO through the window. As there's no way you will have your warren+evos wall by the time they hit. Some ling rushes will hit even before you got your 2nd queen...
Lobotomist
Profile Joined May 2010
United States1541 Posts
July 22 2013 21:06 GMT
#15
Those are pretty solid build orders, though I'm not sure how I personally feel about gasless zvz, but I guess it's a good place to start.
Teching to hive too quickly isn't just a risk: it's an ultrarisk
Mutaller
Profile Blog Joined July 2013
United States1051 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-07-22 22:56:59
July 22 2013 22:41 GMT
#16
Some good openings
vs terran 15 hatch 13 scout. 15 pool 13 scout.
vs zerg 15 hatch 15 pool 15 gas & 15 pool 16 hatch 15 gas scout also 14 gas 14 pool baneling all in
vs protoss 15 pool 16 hatch scout with lings and overlords.
vs all 10 pool speed & 15 pool also 7rr expand lair.
Scout opponent and counter or defend. focus winning on hive unless you are cheesing.

Zerg is not based off of builds just a good opening and macro+injects and countering the enemy's unit composition is all you will ever need.

Advice
-Have good injects experiment with hatchery hotkeys or basecam also Fkeys and queen hotkeys. Observe Korean Progamer hotkeys.
-Scout the opponent constantly have lings at every base on the map. Sacrifice an overlord to see the main of a player that has denied ling scouting.
-Always be one base ahead of a protoss or terran. And a tied amount of bases as zerg feel free to make more bases if you are ahead in all match ups.
-Take gases when money is high 300~400 minerals and gas below 200
-Make something if your money is over 500 for example a macro hatch or another base upgrades most importantly units.
-Make an overlord for every base with a queen you have when you do injects.
-Try to move overlords around to get map vision.
Copying pros is hard at a low level they have much better mechanics then you, it will be hard to replicate their play.
To add credibility to what I have said I have been a 1000+ point master multiple times.
"To practice isn't for you to get better now in the present. Practice will never betray you and will always come back for you in the future." -Jaedong
SpicyCrab
Profile Blog Joined March 2010
402 Posts
Last Edited: 2013-07-24 19:29:30
July 24 2013 19:25 GMT
#17
On July 23 2013 05:43 Phrencys wrote:
Show nested quote +
On July 18 2013 22:14 virpi wrote:
holding ling-heavy allins looks pretty hard with that zvz build. without speed and banelings you have to rely on perfect queen positioning and an earlier spine in some situations, but even that might not be enough.
but I'm not a high level player (struggling hard in diamond atm), so please correct me if I'm wrong.

10pool or 14/14 will throw this BO through the window. As there's no way you will have your warren+evos wall by the time they hit. Some ling rushes will hit even before you got your 2nd queen...


Well, I am not sure about that, but the ZvZ build was taken from the number one korean GM zerg at the time.. (Makes him one of the best players in the world, yeah?) and according to the video guide I linked he uses this build very consistently in ZvZ?) so I think it should be pretty solid. It needs to be done in a specific way which is outlined in the linked video (your first queen injects and then moves to the nat to place a tumor). There must be some way he is confident that he can hold those all ins or he wouldn't be where he is on ladder.

Also, keep in mind I didn't write this guide, I only relayed it from a helpful GM player (Crushed67) who wrote it up for me after we met on stream chat.

Any insight in to these builds from higher level players is of course welcomed. I am personally just a high plat zerg.
I'm such a baller in my dreams. - HiFriend
jagtress
Profile Joined June 2013
Canada32 Posts
July 30 2013 18:08 GMT
#18
On July 23 2013 07:41 reps)squishy wrote:

Advice

-Make an overlord for every base with a queen you have when you do injects.


For anyone who was confused as hell by this line, what it should say is: "When you do injects, make an overlord for every base you have."

That's important because I had no idea what you were talking about at first. Obviously the idea is to ensure you don't supply block yourself when amassing an army. That's good advice for a low level player

Just thought I'd clarify that! Thanks reps)squishy
Live, Love, Be, Believe - The Cruxshadows
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