Without further ado, I present: Roach Infestor
To Begin with, the build outline
+ Show Spoiler +
Hatch first/14 pool/14 pool, 16 hatch or what have you
First 100 gas zergling speed
Drone hard while scouting
~ 6 minutes put guys back in gas and make evo chamber
Second 100 gas + 1 range attack
Get second gas
100+ gas lair
take gas 3 and 4
lair about 1/3rd complete make roach warren
lair finishes should have about 200 gas for roach speed and burrow
Make a round of roaches, grab third as they pop
keep making roaches until burrow and roach speed finish
***
You should have about 20 roarches with +1 attack, burrow, speed, and a third base.
Depending on what you scout, attack protoss.
Transition to infestors, +2 attack, and burrow
Late Game Options: Roach drops, Neural Parasite, teir 3 tech of choice.
The discerning few maybe noticing this is basically a timing attack with an outline for a follow through... and your right, that is exactly what it is. I don't claim to be original here. Read further though, there are a lot of strengths to this opener with some subtle variations that can deal with pretty much any strategy from protoss.
A roach burrow timing attack: Why is it good?
As Sc2 gods like mymmondragon, sheth, idra, and many others have shown us the roach is a pretty good unit. Specifically, roaches are really hard to deal with when protoss is on two bases, and doesn't have meaty units like colossus or void rays to deal tons of damage. Mondragon showed us in his first and second round games of the TSL that you really can go roach against even stargate opening, and even on maps like Shakuras plateau.
If a protoss opens standard with a 3 gate expand, or double stargate, or 2 gate stargate, or 3 gate robo, all have a hard time dealing with the power of the roach because protoss's army at this stage is very underdeveloped. The main defense protoss has at that point is forcefields from sentries. Even then, the army of protoss is very low dps and fragile. A strong roach push is a good way to put protoss on the ropes early before they have colossus and a third base.
In addition to this roach timing being a good offensive timing for zerg, it works out to be an excellent defensive build as well. Consider the following one and two base all ins from protoss, and how this build is structured to deal with these:
4 gate: speedlings and spine crawlers are more then capable of handling a 4 gate defense.
5 gate + nexus cancel all-in: Before the roach timing attack, as zerg you are going to have a lot of resources in both gas and minerals sitting around before you dedicate them to tech and roaches. This particular all-in hits at about the same time as your lair finishes. If you spend what larva you have available on roaches, cancel burrow and maybe roach speed, then you end up in a decent positions. +1 range attack will finish either as protoss arrives or in the middle of the battle. It is not difficult at all to rally ten or more roaches for a defense if you scout the all in coming in time.
6 gate all-in: A roach timing attack with burrow hard counters a six gate push. Your roaches upgrades will finish at almost the exact same time as the 6 gate attack starts. Using rudimentary burrow micro you can easily repel this.
DT Openings: This is not necessarily an all-in but it is something of concern. The lair timing with this build is reasonable. Spore crawlers can be used for static detection for the fastest DT rushes. If scouted and responded to properly, DTs should do little or no damage.
Void Ray/Phoenix harrass: Not an all in, but still something of concern. This build calls for a fast evo chamber to get the +1 attack out on time. Just build some queens and a few spore crawlers. If you are proactive about spreading the creep you can usually take a third at about the same time you would against any other build.
On this flip side, consider how well this timing attack does against a variety of protoss openers:
Typical 3 gate expand: This timing attack comes just before protoss is able to get there first colossus. If the protoss has only one observer, and that observer is in your base (as it often is), you can use burrow to negate the power of forcefields and the attack will absolutely cripple them. If protoss has cannons or an observer present the attack is still powerful. Do damage as you can, and retreat when the battle is no longer in your favor. Even if you are not cost effective you have stolen map control and protoss's third base will be significantly delayed until they can engage you out in the open.
Stargate Opening: This build significantly delays robo tech which makes roaches and burrow much more powerful. Phoenixs are not cost effective against roaches, and a couple void rays just cannot kill your roaches fast enough before you reduce their army size or snipe a nexus. As with the 3 gate expand build, even if you don't do significant damage you retain map control until the protoss can engage you out in the open.
DT Openers: As mentioned above, this build can defend DTs well, and you can still hit the same timing attack which is made even more powerful because of the significant wasted gas investment in dark templar. Zealot archons builds can do ok as a defense, but protoss should never get a chance to really get that strategy off the ground if you just keep rallying roaches and expand behind it.
Roach Infestor as Composition - Why it makes sense early, mid, and late game:
The roach:
The roach is hardy unit. In other compositions it has been used as a damage tanker, but it is also a decent damage dealer. The strength of the roach in this matchup is the ability to undermine forcefields with burrow movement. A large roach army is almost always going to be dealing maximum dps against pretty much any protoss army, unlike other compositions that use hydras, ling, or another unit as the damage dealer. In this roaches and infestors go together like peanut butter and jelly. Roaches take the damage and stay in protoss's face, while infestor stay behind them and do their thing. Roaches are mostly a mineral cost rather then a gas cost, so in terms of upgrades, battle roles, and resource allocation the roaches jive with infestors quite well.
The infestor:
The infestor is probably the best spell caster in the game. Fungal growth works very well against protoss, which tends to naturally clump up and is usually stalker and colossus heavy (both being armored units). The infestor can also use Neural Parasite to completely turn the tide of battles and making some "unbeatable" compositions fall flat on their face. The infestor is also the only unit, other then the roach, that has the ability to move while burrowed.
This composition is deceptively simple for actually being very tech focused. Roaches are one thing, but roaches with burrow and burrow movement are completely different things for protoss to deal with. An infestor is powerful, but infestors with Neural Parasite present different challenges entirely. Add in drop play, and mechanically and tactically you get many options with just these two units.
Early Game: Centers around upgraded roaches and a roach timing. See above.
Mid Game: Upgraded roaches and Infestors deal very well with smaller colossus balls. Both units are fairly mobile, so zerg can use map control to claim bases and pressure protoss on many fronts. Burrow antics (fungaling a mineral line while simultaneously roach pushing another expansion, for instance) is a powerful form of harass. Add in drop play and you can do a lot of very interesting things in the mid game to punish protoss, deal with their army directly, and harass them on multiple fronts.
Late Game: In this build you get a fast infestation pit for infestors, which means it is possible to get a fast hive for upgrades and teir 3 units. Roach/ infestor to support broodlords is very powerful. Neural parasite can be used to tackle high tech units like colossus, void rays, or something crazy like motherships or carriers.
Weaknesses of this build and composition, and how to deal with them:
Fast Robo into immortal + blink stalkers:
If protoss goes for a 3 gate robo opening and has cannons or an observer in their base, then a roach timing attack is really easy to shut down and then punish. If you are using this build and scout more then one immortal being made before you attack, make less roaches, and tech to infestors faster. The same can be said of fast blink stalker builds. Roaches with upgrades have a hard time against blink stalkers without infestor supports, as do they against immortal heavy compositions. With fungal growth zerg can even out the dps, and then with neural parasite immortals can be used against protoss in an attack. It may make sense in some circumstances to add hydras into your compositions if protoss stays on immortals for a long time, rather then eventually switching to colossus.
Void Ray/Colossus:
The void ray/colossus army composition pretty much roles anything that zerg has. The idea is basically not to let protoss ever get that strategy really going. The early game roach timing should do damage against a void ray/colossus player, especially if the open of stargate like most of them do. Using drops, harrass, and pressure you should be able to force protoss to do something else or crumble under the weight of all the attacks.
If you are in the situation where you just can't do enough damage to stop protoss from massing up, roach infestor with a ton of corrupters and/or mutas is probably the best composition to take on a void ray colossus death ball. Fungal growth the void rays, use corruption from the corruption, and keep the colossus busy with the roaches and zerg can still come out on top. If as zerg you sit on roach infestor, don't pressure enough, and don't respond to the void rays soon enough then you will get rolled by this composition.
Maps where protoss can completely wall off:
On some maps, like shakuras Plateau and maybe Shattered Temple, protoss can build enough cannons and restrict space so that a roach timing attack will do no damage. The danger in these situations is that you will be unable to trade with protoss before they build up a big enough army to dictate the pace of the game. In these situations, you can take a third base earlier and do a push as protoss takes their third with a better developed army, or you can do this alternative drop timing instead, which hits at about the same time:
+ Show Spoiler +
Hatch first/14 pool/14 pool, 16 hatch or what have you
First 100 gas zergling speed
Drone hard while scouting
~ 6 minutes put guys back in gas and make evo chamber
second 100 gas lair
Get second and third gas
lair about 1/3rd complete make roach warren
lair finishes should have about 200 gas for OL drop
Take 4th gas
When OL drop is about 1/2 way done, start OL speed and roach speed
Make a round of roaches, take a third, continue making roaches until upgrades finish
Doom drop in the main
Start burrow and plus one range attack
Transition to infestors and/or keep up drop pressure
ect
First 100 gas zergling speed
Drone hard while scouting
~ 6 minutes put guys back in gas and make evo chamber
second 100 gas lair
Get second and third gas
lair about 1/3rd complete make roach warren
lair finishes should have about 200 gas for OL drop
Take 4th gas
When OL drop is about 1/2 way done, start OL speed and roach speed
Make a round of roaches, take a third, continue making roaches until upgrades finish
Doom drop in the main
Start burrow and plus one range attack
Transition to infestors and/or keep up drop pressure
ect
The Unstoppable Death Ball:
There is a point of no return with this build, as there is really in any zvp matchup. If protoss gets a max army, 4 + bases and all sort of tech and upgrades then you are going to have a hard time with any combination of units, including roach/infestor. The build and composition relies on trading well with protoss before that.
Weaknesses of Other Builds That This Build Doesn't Have
The old guard - roach/hydra/corrupter: This was the old standard, which has drastically fallen out of favor in the zerg metagame, The problem with this build, is zerg doesn't have really any ability to harrass and there are no strong timings. This compositions relies on the "300 food push" which can often be beaten by the 180 food protoss death ball. My roach/infestor build outlines a strong timing, and is built around several forms of harrass. In a straight fight, roach/infestor does about the same, if not better then roach/hydra/corrupter, and can still use tactics like 300 food pushing and mass expanding.
Fast Burrow + burrow movement/ Ling hydra two base timings:
Zerg can start lair at about 6 minutes, and tech really quickly to hydras or burrowed roaches and attack. This is easily scoutable, and very easy to hard counter. There is really no second step for these builds, which is why they are often refered to as two base all ins. A key difference between a roach burrow timing and a the timing attack I spelled out is that this build has a good and clearly defined second step. You can abandon the timing attack rather then commit to it, and still end up doing fine going into the mid game. This is harder to do with any of these builds.
Ling/Infestor Builds: Ling infestor builds are very powerful in the late game and offer potent forms of harassment. The problem with ling infestor builds is that they are vulnerable to variety of two base timing attacks. It is very difficult hold a six gate attack for example with only lings and maybe a couple infestor, as well as some two base colossus timings. This composition is very expensive on larva without a strong anti air, so stargate openings can undermine expanding and making developing that composition difficult. On some maps forcefields are very powerful making positioning difficult with that composition. A roach infestor build is much safer against timing attacks, and forcefeilds are much easier to deal with using this combination then ling infestor.
To summarize: Strengths and Weaknesses
Strengths:
-Very safe against many forms of timing attacks and all-ins.
-Powerful zerg timing attack that can often end the game or cripple protoss
-Solid unit composition against most protoss compositions
-Can harass and push effectively
Weaknesses:
-Weak against air without a tech switch
-Vulnerable to some specific timings and compositions
- roach/infestor, like many other zerg compositions, is hard to make cost effective against a max protoss army.
Replays:
I am a mid to high end diamond player, so keep that in mind. My execution is not always crisp, but these are pretty good demonstrations on how this build works:
An example of how powerful this timing attack can be:
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/5122
Talderim Alter, protoss opted for 3 gate pressure into expand:
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/5123
Protoss went for forge expand on Shakuras Plateau. I excuted the timing but decided not to commit. Engaged off three bases instead with roach/infestor:
http://www.sc2replayed.com/replay-videos/5124
Idra vs MC MLG Columbus. Idra closed out his pool play against MC 2-0 on Xelnaga caverns, eventually transitioning to roach infestor. That match begins at about 42:00 minutes in to the VOD:
http://tv.majorleaguegaming.com/video/mlg-video/977857427001-idra-vs-mc-pool-play
I will continue to add more replays as I keep using the build. Most of the games I play with it end quickly on roach so I decided not to upload most of these. Players who use the build, particularly players better then myself, can submit replays and I will add them to the OP.