SC2 | Zerg Infestor Guide | How to use effectively

[BSOS]

This is a guide to the practical uses of the Starcraft 2 INFESTOR



The Infestor is the zerg's only useful offensive spellcaster unit, unlike the terran and protoss which have at least 2 useful offensive casters each (raven, ghost, sentry, high templar, mothership). It almost seems as if the zerg got gypped out of a useful caster (queen). Queen are nice and all, very beneficial to your economy, but are incredibly slow off creep and useless in battle for the most part.

Its because of this fact that it is imperative that you learn how to use the zerg's only "useful" spellcaster to its fullest extent. That is why I am writing this guide right now.


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The Zerg Infestor:



Production:
Minerals: 100
Vespene: 150
Supply: 2
Build Time: 50
Mutater: Larva
Requires: Infestation Pit
Hotkey: F

Statistics:
Hit Points: 90
Energy: 200
Armor: 0 (+1)
Movement: Normal
Modifiers: Armored - Biological - Psionic

Abilities

Neural Parasite (R)

Temporarily takes control of an enemy units mind. The Infestor must channel the ability and can not target air units.
Type: Channeled
Energy: 50
Range: 7

Fungal Growth (F)

Ensnares all enemies in a radius and completely immobilizes it, while dealing small damage.
Stats: 36 damage (over 8 seconds)
Energy: 75
Duration: 6 sec

Infested Terrans (T)

Spawn an Infested Terran at the target area. Infested Terrans last 20 seconds.
Energy: 25
Cast Time: 4 sec
Duration: 20 sec
Range: 6

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Versus Protoss:

Often in a ZvP the zerg player will go roach/hydra since the roaches are very good against zealots, and the hydralisks are good against stalkers. If the Protoss doesn't get high templar and archons, they'd probably get Collosus, which are also very good against clumps of roach/hydra.
The logical counter to Collosus is corruptors since they do extra vs massive (collosus count as massive). But a separate counter would be the infestor's neural parasite.
With this ability, the infestor takes over the collosus just long enough for your forces to wipe out the enemy's army. And with your remaining forces, kill the collosus.

In most other situations the infestor doesn't really help against a protoss, unless conceivably having 3-4 infestors with full energy pop 32 infested terran to help take care of a problematic protoss push.

Versus Terran :

This is where the Infestor really shines. Against M+M balls.
Its good to have 2-4 infestors in this matchup.
A typical ZvT will progress to marine, marauder and tanks vs zerg/roach, mutalisk, and now adding in the infestor!
The Infestor's Fungal growth ability is VERY effective against marine marauder. This is because the 36 damage done by the fungal growth is slightly less than the marine's default health (40). If you were able to hit them again with anything, they'd probably die. And once the marines are taken out of the picture with either this fungal growth or in conjunction with banelings (whatever really you decide to use), the Terrain won't have any anti-air. That's when your mutalisks become their most effective. And if your able, neural parasite the tanks to help you clean things up.

Sometimes the Terran gets thor to deal with your mutalisks. This is all the more reason to get infestors. Their neural parasite ability lets you take control of them so that you can take them out of battle.


Versus Zerg :

The infestor in this matchup is a bit less effective than the other two, but can still be used to change the sway of battle.
Note that the zerglings only have 35 health and the banelings, even less. 1 Fungal growth on these guys actually kills them. So, if you see a swarm of banelings or zerglings running into your base or army, simply hit them with a good fungal growth to take care of them.

Fungal growth is also fairly effective against hydralisks and mutalisks. One Fungal growth does over a third of the hydralisk's base health. Against mutalisks you can hit them with a fungal growth to keep them from running away and take them out with your own forces right there on the spot. Even spawn some infested terrans to help with the AA.

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There is definitely much more testing i have to do with the infestor to really get a good feel for it and use its skills instictively.
I'd really like to learn how to use its burrowed movement better, maybe in conjunction with roach burrow movement?

Statistics and images taken from Starcraft 2 Armory - Zerg Infestor

[Kreeper]

Good guide, after seeing this in action today with you BSOS its obvious this is no unit to ignore.

[BSOS]

I wanted to comment on the updates they made to the infestor buffing it and making it an even more viable unit

In the patch 9 they:

1) increased its neural parasite ability range back to 9 (seige range)
2) increased the infested terran damage from 6 to 8 damage
3) made the fungal growth hit instantly, no projectile to cast.

what this means:

1) Neural parasite's increased range now gives the infestor the ability to be used effectively in battle. Previously you would have to keep your infestor close to the front lines to pull of a successful NP... but because of its target priority, would be taken down almost instantly making it utterly useless in a big fight. With this new range upgrade, the infestor can now safely cast NP from behind the front lines on an enemy unit, mind controlling it.

I have done this several times successfully already since this patch and I'm very impressed with its practicality against Thor (a unit which is all the rage right now)

2) The infested terran buff makes these units actually viable to use in battles. Because the are spawned units and are disposable these units are more effective than previously because they prove themselves as impressive defensive AA or waller (anti-air or using their egg projectile to actually block the opponent's army from running). The damage upgrade only enables them more, acting more like hydras on the fly and even taking the zerg range attack upgrades for themselves (8-11 max damage)

I have used this several times in matches effectively. Once to push into a protoss base which had multiple cannons in the front door. I used the Infested terran to soak up the damage while the rest of my forces destroyed the cannons and ultimately won the game for me.
I also used the infested terrans effectively to block off a ramp with their eggs while I attacked the enemy's natural expansion, preventing them from defending it, much like a sentry with the forcefield ability.

3) The fungal growth buff gives the infestor instant casting. What this means is that in the case where you need to ENSNARE the opponent's units (a group of hellion, mutalisks, speedlings, whathaveyou), there will be no lag time between casting the spell and hitting the target, provided the infestor is within casting range. This makes snaring mutalisks much more effective since they're such a fast unit and normally could be able to dodge a fungal growth. It could also be used effectively against a stim'd group of marine or marauders running around. Because of its new casting speed, the possibility of missing decreases 10 fold.

One match I was in, my enemy killed off 5 out of my 8 mutalisks with a well times and placed fungal growth, giving his hydras enough time to get over to the ensnared units and kill them off.

[Arovien]

the most efficient way to use these fat as... critters is to not use them at all

in theorycraft, they seem OP. "Steal your immortal/colosi/thor so you cant counter my roaches/hydras/mutas. I WIN!", but it almost never goes that way since their large size makes them easy to target.

I will try to use them more and more, hoping i am wrong.
I can see them being relevant when looking to harass the mine lines with little unit commitment. Have your infestors sneak in through either a nydus worm or burrow movement (you'll want the speed upgrade) and start spawning some infested terrans. You will trade energy on your infestor for their miners; sounds like a deal to me.

[Luminox]

Wasn't the neural parasite nerfed to a 12-second duration? (12 ingame seconds if I remember right)

Also it can target air units (don't remember in which patch this was changed though)

Source: Infestor - Liquipedia Starcraft 2 Wiki

[ApuKerpal]

Correct, it can target AIR... MCed 2 carriers and won a game last night actually...