! [G] The AwsumZerg Guide: Today 12 pool

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Foreword

First of all, of course I'm not a A+ Zerg or anything like it, but I made a guide focused on game thoughts and tactics, rather than the usual guides which talk more about mechanics.

Lately, on iccup, I have been noticing that Zerg is the race I have more success with.

When I'm playing Zerg I like to have map control. Most Zergs I watch play like to play passive. Of course playing aggressive means you can have some sexy wins, as well as some terrible loses.

The thing that decides whether you will have more control or not over the game in a ZvT game are mainly two: strategy ( build order, game plan ) and tactics ( army control, positioning ).

So lets start with build orders.

What build order would you choose if you were going to put the Terran into pressure? 29 hatch? No. 30 Hatch? No. You need to pressure this guy from the start. This doesn't mean you have to 12 pool every game, because that means you will get dismantled on far away positions. You need to use your brain to think of a way you can break the Terran's tactics to put him under PRESSURE.

Some good choices to taking terran under your control are 12 pooling, lurk rushing, hive rushing, drops, using burrow.

For example, I like to (when playing close positions or on 2 player maps such as hitchhiker/Peaks), 12 pool -> 11~ expo and going for fast lair.
Playing this way ensures lots of fun as well as lots frustration when losing when you have bad timming or bad reinforcing.

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Pros & Cons:

Requires good larva management

Creative and smart play

Good sense of Starcraft in some situations

Not APM demanding

Good scouting

Games are usually shorter, so its easy to mass practice it on ladders

Becomes less effective against experienced Terrans

Good to practice all the things mentioned before more often than you do in usual games

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This build looks for holes in the Terran's play, as well as leaving many on your side to be exploited, but it's an awesome training because you stop relaying on pure mechanics and makes you take rare choices you don't come across every game.

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OK I PLACED MY POOL AT 12 WHATS NEXT?

The Terran will probably scout you and be like roflsup12pool?
If you face a good terran/experienced he will probably play more safe, and then you will have to play more defensive as well. On the other hand, if you face an average terran he will expo anyways, because they are stupid and think that expanding blindly is the key to becoming iloveoov. This is awesome news, because it leaves room for many options. Time to start playing mind games muahaahaHAHAHAAHHAHAAHA.

OK I EXPOED AFTER MY POOL AND I GOT 6 DOGS WITH CLAWS.

Good for you!, constantly watch the minimap, you want to catch that SCV going around so the terran doesn't have an accurate idea of what you will be doing. That means, one dog will chase the mailman while the rest goes to check the Terran's base out.

Yo check it out its a T's base

Depending on how safe the Terran is playing he could either be making a CC with very little marines or adding a second rax to play under your conditions. When you make a fake run to his ramp to see the number of marines he has, see if there are any scv holding it along with the marines. If thats the case, then keep moving the zerglings in front of his base. This way you can keep his scvs from mining for some more time. If you have 5 zerglings and he has 4 marines, though hes probably winning the fight, that doesn't mean you cant attack. If a terran gets 3 of his 4/5 marines killed while making a CC, what will he do next? Well, he will probably will go and make some more, as well as maybe pulling some scv to secure his ramp. Always try to put yourself in the Terran's pants, think what his reactions could be and react accordingly.

As you took your gas and your lair is morphing, pump more drones or zerglings accordingly. You should get your lurkers around the time the Terran takes his expo.

You need to continuously scout the Terran with zerglings/overlords. Check for holes. Always move between your army and your base.

In this game, after pushing the Terran's expo, I manage to sneak a zergling in, and I see a starport, which means possible dropship as there is not Science Facility yet.

+ Show Spoiler [Sneak] +

Keep making lurkers, check hydras to morph. Having 4 or 5 more lurkers can be the difference between winning and typing GG. A classic way of delaying the Terran is attacking with your zergling lurker army. As you attack you can burrow 1 or 2 lurkers to fight, and move 2 other behind his minerals for example. Or just play with your groups, run with lurkers ahead, and when he targets them move them back while zerglings go in.

+ Show Spoiler [Example 1 (Luna)] +

I engage the fight

Terran panics and goes for his misplaced bunker

I choose to avoid that and go behind his minerals, while keeping marines off with my zerglings

Terran scans...

...and misses.

5 minutes later...

+ Show Spoiler [Example 2 (Peaks)] +

The terran made a bunk above his expo, to avoid pressure from the upper ramp. Theres a possible hole near the ramp that goes into his main

He notices he is open to attacks from there and starts a bunker...

But its too late, I burrow by his ramp, splitting his base in two.

Zerglings go in...

Lurkers go in...

Terran taps out

+ Show Spoiler [Example 3 (Python)] +

In this game there are no misplaced bunkers :o

When I scout the terran after laying my 12 pool, I see he's going with 1 barrack only, I gas him just in case, and force a fast expo.

When my lings arrive at his ramp, I see his marine count is poor due to the 1 rax build, and decide to go in

After running in i can see the CC building, and kill most of the marines

I send a second wave of zerglings (now with speed) and kill as many marines as possible. The Terran is left with only firebats and medics (the two marines in this screenshot die, and I escape with 3 zerglings)

I send my hydras to morph out, near his expo, while the lurker upgrade finishes and try to lure the marines out with my zerglings. When the Terran army goes outside his base a little, I go behind him with my lurkers and burrow them because I'm spotted

A second wave or lurkers + zerglings is ready, and I decide to fight against his bunker wall, because I tried all game to keep his marine count low

I target the nearest bunker with all my marines and lurkers

Now it's safe to go in

The game at this stage is very fragile. One bad stim can mean the terran getting fucked as well as a wasted Zerg army can mean gg for you. So play with smart micro. Scout, scout, scout, you need to know what are the terran reactions. If you get him to take his scv back to his main because lurkers are on his expo, thats a good sign. Expo and keep making units/drone according to your needs. If you fail to do damage and the terran turtled in, then burrow in the nat's choke and go for other options.

Going drops is a possibility. I prefer going hive, because defilers work both defensively and offensively. One defiler and 1 or 2 lurkers can stop a push on your expo. If you manage to secure 2 or more expos, it would be smart to make a nydus channel. The Terran wont probably fight you straight ahead, you have defilers and he wont be vessel heavy for now. So he will probably try to go drops or sneak guerrilla armies into your expos.

You need to constantly move the spawning overlords to locations where drops are bound to come across. If you don't see the T making a move, try to sneak a zergling/suicide an overlord. If you see a dropship, sunk or make scourge, if you made a spire for vessel killing.

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There isn't much more for me to say about this, because as game drags on it becomes a common late game ZvT, or a weird scenario (like for example, terran getting his main killed with a drop, and you having just your main and nat). If the game is taking longer and longer to finish, you need to make your economy stronger, or the terran will catch up to you in tech to counter on you, while having a better economy.

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Bonus: Sea.Jy's style

Some time ago zulu_nation8 made a thread on Jy's way of containing Terrans. His build is different, but he looks for the same. He goes 12 hatch, 11 pool and proceeds to make mostly zerglings. His economy is similar drone-wise to the one I show. He gets about 2 groups of zerglings by the time the Terran walks out of his base. If he does, he tries to flank him, or puts a sunken to defend if the Terran's army is too big for him. From there he proceeds to do the same, lurker, hive, etc.

As the rep links expired, I downloaded a rep pack of Sea.Jy, watched the reps, and re-uploaded the games that give insight on how to use the tactics in this guide.

Sea.Jy vs Bassen[fou] @ Rush Hour 3
+ Show Spoiler +

Though Jy doesnt do a all ling build, he gets 2hatch and a early lair. He goes for a first attack with lings, leaving Bassen marine-less and follows with his lurkers and lings, adding a 3rd hatch in the middle, to finish him off

Sea.Jy vs G.s)Cy @ Luna
+ Show Spoiler +

Jy does his build and he faces a Terran who makes a 3 rax build. Jy has about 16 zerglings to scare the terran from coming out, when Cy finally does, Jy splits his army into 2: one of zerglings reinforced by lurkers to defend his expo, and another one of 2 lurkers and 8 lings or so, that goes around the marine and medic force, and pushes the terrans ramp. Cy is very crippled and has to go back, Jy then goes muta, guardians. Cy somehow survives, but has to tap out when defilers arrive.

Sea.Jy vs G.s)Monster @ Luna
+ Show Spoiler +

Jy does the usual, the terran goes 2 rax, and is short on marines. Jy kills all the marines and is left with 4 lings. He goes around with them picking off scvs while the terran is getting a cc to catch up. Lurkers follow, gg.

Sea.Jy vs goara[GsP] @ Luna
+ Show Spoiler +

Cy goes 12 hatch 11 pool while goara goes for a 9 rax build. Jy gets bunkered and survives but loses his sunken in the process. After that goara starts playing VERY defensively knowing something is fishy. Cy manages to make goara come out and gets an army into goara's ramp, but he bunkered. Jy gets hive and follows with guardians and defilers after getting one expo killed. goara goes for a drop at main but its stopped by zerglings/guardians/lurker. After that Jy counters with his defilers and goara leaves.

Note: All the reps are 1.13. To view them you need the 1.13 executable, or just use dementus's guide to rexplorer (recommended!).

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Thanks to:

Taiche, for making rexplorer and my work much easier.

Rotodyne, for bwreps, an awesome service for hosting reps.

zulu_nation8, for his thread, which got me into playing around with this build.

Anyone reading this guide.

Happy Terran raping.

! [G] The AwsumZerg Guide: Today 12 pool

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