Starcraft 2 Guide | Zerg vs Zerg | How to win

[Messi]

A detailed guide on how to best defeat Zerg opponents in Starcraft 2, along with information on to how to counter various Zerg builds.


Last Update - 7/22/2010

Are you having trouble as Zerg facing other Zerg opponents?


We all know the feeling, that is why I'm putting this little guide out to help you crush your Zerg opponents.


Starcraft II has changed significantly since the beginning of the beta, not just because of the patch changes, but player mentality, strategy, and tactics that have evolved enormously. What this means is that all previous iterations of Zerg v Zerg match up's are almost useless.

Up until a later patch, ZvZ was a cat and mouse chase between Roaches, Hydralisks, and Mutalisks. The matchup then changed DRAMATICALLY into straight zergling and baneling battles when roaches were "nerfed" to 2 food from 1. The latest patches have altered this matchup yet again. The Zerg player's mentality has shifted, roaches to beat the zerglings and banelings in early game, Hydralisks to bolster the roach army and defend against mutalisks, and the latest addition: ultralisks that can't be mind controlled and have speed upgrade to kill the roaches. This leads to endgames of just hydra/ultra combo which are fairly hard to watch, and feel even worse to fight.

As always, micro in ZvZ is KEY. Especially with these new Hydralisk and Ultralisk armies. A single mis-micro and all your roaches or hydralisk can be gone.



So, let's take a step back and work our way through the matchup from beginning to end

Any zerg players still on old mentality will undoubtedly rush you with speedlings. Your response should be something like this: 10-12 pool followed by a roach warren and a spine crawler. Get enough roaches to hold back any sort of zergling/baneling bust, anywhere from 4-8. When your opponent see this, he will either switch to mutalisks to counter your roaches or switch to roaches as well. Either way, get a lair and put down a hydralisk den. Hydralisks have a much higher DPS than roaches do, although weaker, and have a greater range. This means that if you keep them in the back of your army, you can greatly bolster your roaches by doing amazing amounts of damage to enemy roaches. Hydras are also more effective and cost efficient than getting mutalisks, especially when in numbers. Here we have the mid-game. Your army composition of roaches and hydras against probably your enemy probably has the same. There is always some variability available; infestors or banelings for fungal growth or splash damage on the hydras. Late game is inevitable since roach/hydra vs roach/hydra pretty much goes nowhere. The next thing you should get are ultralisks. They're great against zerglings, banelings, and roaches. And since they can't be neural parasited, they're basically immune to infestors, even more so since fungal growth does nothing to it. Late-game tends to shy away from air since hydralisks are so good against any kind of air; brood lords probably wouldn't be very effective against such a massive number of hydralisks.

Like all strategies, there are alternatives. Instead of going down the roach path, you have another option: Zerglings, Banelings, and Mutalisks ending with broodlords. It might seem counter intuitive at first, but think about it for a second. Mutalisks > Roaches (just because roaches can't attack back, not damage-wise), Zerg/Bane > Hydralisk. In combination, this is a pretty deadly force to verse. With some good micro, the hydras can beat back the mutalisks, and the roaches can fend off the zerg/bane, but that's going to have to be some REALLY good micro. Unlike the other pathway, this unit composition has one very severe counter: infester's with fungal growth. 1 fungal growth will kill any zergling and baneling where it stands, and it ensnares and damages mutalisks so they can't get away. In theory the unit composition works, but in actuality, not so much, especially if played against a very strong player with very good mechanics (micro especially). Broodlords are very viable against hydra/roach if they are planted in the back, behind your army, where they can't be attacked. They become less effective once they are out of position and attackable by the hydralisks. Otherwise with some zergling support and mutalisks to back them up against any other air forces, you should be golden.


Now to talk about the viability of a fast expansion vs. an in-base second hatchery.

Fast expansions are EXTREMELY vulnerable to early pressure. Any sort of FE build I would only suggest if you are VERY far away from your opponent in a ZvZ matchup. Otherwise, I could only suggest an in-base second hatchery until you are sure you can expand.

Fast expanding in Zerg vs. Zerg is very risky, but has small gains. If you are using the Hatchery just for extra production, it doesn't need to be in front of some minerals. If you need the extra mineral boost, build more drones; ZvZ is a very low econ game, every drone counts enormously. Not until the later early game will a second base start to become very important. If the FE is for the use of gas (say you are going a very fast mutalisk build and need all 4 gasses), then I would encourage getting that fast expand up as soon as possible. The problem with going roaches is that they are fairly immobile. They can't run across the map in 10 seconds like zerglings can. This means they are primarily defensive units early in the game. With the aid of a spine crawler or two, you should have no problem defending against early zerglings with 4-8 roaches. Only after you have enough defenses (going the roach path) would I suggest expanding.

My adopted in-base Hatchery Build-order

I tend not to fast expand, instead I normally go this build:

• 9 overlord
• 14 pool
• 15 Hatchery
• 14 Queen
• 16 Roach Warren

Then I proceed to get a spine crawler immediately (but the timing can be switches to before the RW or before the Queen)

Using this build, you get 2 hatcheries in your main base, PLENTY of larva and ample defense. I recommend expanding after I have full saturation of drones on minerals, otherwise until then, you're risking too much for too little drone saturation.


**Please leave any comments you might have**

[BSOS]

i should be able to edit this, as the game progresses... because there are points in this guide i no longer believe in and wish to change.

muta/roach was a viable build before the later patch where zvz just became zerg/baneling. and with the latest patch, the game now progresses into roach/hydra > hydra/ultra.

hydras are actually very effective against mutalisks, when in numbers.

[Messi]

Yeah BSOS you are correct, Ill have to talk to kreeper to see what we can do.

[:aproxy]

I'll give you access

[Messi]

Thanks aproxy, i would have done it but for some reason i dont have the permissions to edit members...

[BSOS]

edited, more to come