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Heya
lately i´ve been working on a guide to ZvT from my perspective. Mostly to help fellow Zergs out but als to motivate myself ^^ please excuse some formatting errors, the original guide is a word document.
Again, all of this is my opinion on ZvT so don´t take it as any kind of universal truth. If you have different opinions, sugestions or criticism i am no pro and would love a healthy discussion =)
Table of contents:
Introduction overview Early game Mid game Endgame closing words
Introduction
I´ve been really frustrated with the state of ZvT lately and decided to try and find a way to solve the matchup for me. Thanks to aHkkA i´ve been able to regain some of the interest in ZvT and now i want to share my "discoveries" with you. Some quick words to myself, for those who might not know me. I´m Pawel "Crypto" Urbaniak, a EU based Master level Zerg. I play almost exclusively HotS.
Overview
First of all a quick overview about Zerg vs Terran. There are two directions a Terran can choose against Zerg: -Mech -Bio
Those split into several different play styles for each direction. The most common seen play styles involve:
- Mech Hellion (Baneshee) Hellion Widdow Mine Siegetank
- Bio Marine; Marauder; Medivac Marine; Marauder; Medivac; Widdowmine Marine; Marauder; Medivac ; Hellbat Marine Tank Medivac
The play style i will be presenting to you can deal with all of those with some variation. I will focus on a aggressive play style on a rather low economy. I feel like it is way safer and enables you to win if you are the better player more often. so let's get down to business shall we?
The early game
There are several threats Terrans can offer in the early game in HotS. All of those can possibly end a game quickly if you don´t prepare correctly. The issue, however, is that it is hard to scout all of those in time.
The most common early game threats are: - Hellion - Reaper - Widdow Mines
In order to come into the Midgame safely we need a opening that can deal with all of them without much variation so we don´t rely on our lacking early game scouting.
The opening:
09 Overlord 15 Hatch 15 Pool 17 Extractor @Pool 100%: 2 Lings; 2 Queens @100 Gas: Burrow 5:00 Roachwarren 30 2xOverlord @Roachwarren 100%: 7 Roaches
The basic idea is to get quick Roaches with burrow. Those 7 Roaches gives you a lot of offensive possibilities if microed correctly. You want to send all 7 to your opponents Natural as long as he is not one basing. As long as your opponent did not go for fast Tanks you should be able to do a good amount of damage with proper burrow use.
Try to let the Roaches live as long as possible to keep your opponent occupied and force scans. If you happen to run into a fast Tank opener you can try to snipe off any tanks but if you don´t see any opening worry not, you don´t need any damage dealt.
To further utilize burrow use your two Zerglings to block any possible 3rd expansions. With the progression of the game you will find plenty of use for your early burrow tech, be it to deny harass, set up Baneling traps or harass yourself.
The transition:
6:30 Hatch 7:00 Lair; 3x Extractor @Hatch 100%: 2x Extractor @Lair 100%: Spire; 2xEvolution chamber; Baneling Nest
Obviously you can´t stick on just Roaches when going into the Midgame so it´s time to transition to some Lair tech. Mutas are the tech of choice here.
The mid game
Now you should be on 3 Bases with decent economy and Spire tech. Here things get a little more complicated because the Build order ends.
Your objective in the Midgame is to harass with your mutas and delay any kind of expansion or attack for as long as possible while taking a 4th and 5th and teaching up to Hive. But first things first because the Midgame is also the point where you have to choose your further tech routs.
As soon as your Spire pops you want to build mutas until you reach about 10 (it takes 10 mutas to kill a widdow mine before it fires) Use the mutas to snipe of stray depots; add-ons; units and workers while seeing your opponents tech rout.
If he goes for Bio you can either choose to stay on mutas and start upgrading those, or you can add a infestation pit and go straight for Hive. In any case focus on Melee upgrades and keep a healthy Baneling count to crush any midgame timings.
Those migth include:
- Marine; Marauder; Hellbat timing Against this 2 Base push you want to have almost exclusively Banelings and Mutas because Zerglings won´t even scratch the Terran army because of the Hellbats. Because Terran is investing Barracks build time into marauders and considerable amounts of minerals into Hellbats his Marine count should be weakened so with enough mutas you should be able to crush the push after some nice Baneling connections. Try using Baneling mines as well.
- Marine; Tank The old school Marine, Tank push comes slightly earlier in HotS because of the lack of Siege research but the defense stays the same. Focus on Ling, Bane instead of mutas because the Marines count of the Terran should be to high to reliably defend the push with mutas without losing to many
- Marine, Marauder, widdow mine This one is truly a hard one because the widdow mines can totally shut down a Ling army in a second. Try investing into static defense and overrun the push with Muta, Bane as soon as you reach critical mass. The upside is you can easily slow the Terran down mid map by forcing his mines to burrow/unburrow on the way to your base. Similar to the first attack the Marine count will be low enough that he won't be able to deal with the Mutas without the Mines
If you happen to hit Mech play from the Terran you will need to switch out of Mutas after the initial 10/12.
Now you have the option to focus on Ranged Upgrades and go for a Roach Hydra midgame. For that you will need to add a infestation pit as soon as you get your 4th and tech up to Hive. It is not advisable to spread yourself to thin by taking too many bases because the lack of mobility can cost you a LOT of economy because of Hellion ruby's; Widdow mine drops or Hellbat drops.
The other option is similar to the plan vs Bio play. If you want to stay focused on Melee upgrades you will need to add a Infestation pit Immediately and tech up to Hive asap. While this style will be more beneficial in the endgame it is harder to pull off because you are relying on Ling, Baneling defense until you get your Hivetech.
The Endgame
Now you reach the part of the game where all of the strats lead back together. The Enngame will look different in every game you play so you will have to practice it a lot to get a feel for the strategy you need to use. As a general rule you should be greedy with expanding but never too greedy to skip spines for defense otherwise drops and counterattacks will destroy you.
If you chose the Roach Hydra Midgame vs Mech your Hivetech will be primarily for 3/3 and Vipers. Those are crucial to crushing a Mech army. In your composition you want to have a solid amount of Roaches to tank shots but your ground army should be more Hydras then Roaches. This comes from the fact that you need to protect your vipers from any Vikings. With your Vipers you want to cast almost exclusively Blinding clouds.
If the game goes longer you might also want to get some Infestors to hold retreating armies under the Blinding Clouds. Overall this style will lose efficiency the longer the game progresses so make sure to kill your opponent before he gets a 4th base running.
In every other case your first thing you will do with your Hivetech is getting a Ultralisk Den. Ultralisks are key to holding a late game Bio ball, as well as a 3 base Mech army. If you are playing against a Bio composition your next Goal on the List, if you didn´t already in cooperate them while transitioning to Hive will be infestors, while Vipers will be the caster of choice against mech.
This style can pull even with the Terran almost no matter how long the game goes so you should be patient and not take any engagements you are not sure you can win. A good engaging point is the 4th of the Terran when he tries to take it.
You compositional goals against Bio are Ultralisk, zergling, Baneling, Infestor, Viper while you can leave out Banelings and (most) Infestors against mech in order to get more Vipers and Corrupters against Vikings and BCs (people build those now when they go mech and get into the endgame ^^)
Closing Words
While Zerg might be lacking a lot in HotS currently, especially in the Midgame, there are still good ways to play that have not been tested yet. This style is inspired by the ZvT in Broodwar and has been working for me very well. You can experience this style live on my stream 8 http://www.twitch.tv/fallennsavior) I will also add replays for all situations later on.
If you have any Ideas or Opinions you want to discuss, i welcome you to do so. I hope this guide helps some to get a new view on the Zerg vs Terran Matchup.
best regards Crypto
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Plat Zerg
I've been using a variant of the burrow roach pressure to open games and I confess sometimes my micro or macro slips but I've been having trouble finding good follow ups.
I too have had a lot of success with the muta follow up when I get ahead with the roaches but I have also been shut down by them (HSM, widow mine hurt my muta ball since my micro is not greatest).
My idea (gonna try in a few games tonight) is to go Swarm Hosts after roaches to continue to pressure the front of the T while growing to hive and 4-5 bases as you describe. Have you tried this variant? If so any advice?
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i´d love to hear/see the results =) For me the Muta followup allways worked fine, even if i did only a little damage, the passive aggression and the safety against harrass ist nice to have
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I dont see mutas holding a maurauder marine hellbat push? Especially once you've showed them. He would be playing poorly if he was to push without enough marines. Should pure banelings ever touch marines in this situation i'm not sure. I feel it's too risky. Instead, what about going infestors after the first 10 mutas, hit a key fungal from gg range on the marines and finish them with mutas?
I've never liked the idea of banelings against terran to be honest apart from early defense against a fast stim timing or something like that. Imo they're just eating into your infestor count and slowing your way to hive. Without banelings you have more infestors and you can stall with them untill hive kicks. And that way ofcourse everything you build is optimized for hive tech.
Your first roach push seems cute. How much damage do you think you have to do to get even with the terran? I think DRG with a comparable push in WOL said you needed 12-13 scv to start to get ahead.
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On January 29 2013 08:19 Natalya wrote: I dont see mutas holding a maurauder marine hellbat push? Especially once you've showed them. He would be playing poorly if he was to push without enough marines. Should pure banelings ever touch marines in this situation i'm not sure. I feel it's too risky. Instead, what about going infestors after the first 10 mutas, hit a key fungal from gg range on the marines and finish them with mutas?
I've never liked the idea of banelings against terran to be honest apart from early defense against a fast stim timing or something like that. Imo they're just eating into your infestor count and slowing your way to hive. Without banelings you have more infestors and you can stall with them untill hive kicks. And that way ofcourse everything you build is optimized for hive tech.
Your first roach push seems cute. How much damage do you think you have to do to get even with the terran? I think DRG with a comparable push in WOL said you needed 12-13 scv to start to get ahead.
The hellion and marauder count eat heavily in the marines. You can overpower this push with mutalisks pretty easily.
If you're still losing against it, post a replay and we will see what went wrong.
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in my expirience Muta ling bling holds the push just fine. His marine count is low enough that mass muta eats it, You only need baneling connections if you transition out of muta afte the initial 10 Mutas. (however they are allways nice because you loose less mutas) Infestors in HotS arn´t the same as in WIngs anymore by far. Fungal, why having sick range, is terrible in comparison if your oponent knows how to split. Lets put it that way, Infestors now seem like a kinda balanced Unit. Also If the Terran knows you are going for infestors and knows how to exploit it you will have a really hard time against drops.
Well ofc there are and will be infestor styles (with a lot of static defense for example) but i favour mutas by far because it gives me the option to apply pressure and control the options my oponent has. You simply get way more utility out of Mutas imo.
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On January 29 2013 08:24 Stingart wrote:Show nested quote +On January 29 2013 08:19 Natalya wrote: I dont see mutas holding a maurauder marine hellbat push? Especially once you've showed them. He would be playing poorly if he was to push without enough marines. Should pure banelings ever touch marines in this situation i'm not sure. I feel it's too risky. Instead, what about going infestors after the first 10 mutas, hit a key fungal from gg range on the marines and finish them with mutas?
I've never liked the idea of banelings against terran to be honest apart from early defense against a fast stim timing or something like that. Imo they're just eating into your infestor count and slowing your way to hive. Without banelings you have more infestors and you can stall with them untill hive kicks. And that way ofcourse everything you build is optimized for hive tech.
Your first roach push seems cute. How much damage do you think you have to do to get even with the terran? I think DRG with a comparable push in WOL said you needed 12-13 scv to start to get ahead.
The hellion and marauder count eat heavily in the marines. You can overpower this push with mutalisks pretty easily. If you're still losing against it, post a replay and we will see what went wrong. could have saved myself plenty of words if i had refreshed before writing a reply ^^ I will also post replays for as meny scenarios as possible tomorrow (its currently 12.30 am and i have school tomorrow :D) so you guys will have stuff to check on. Also a fellow Youtuber plans on making a Video over this style, gonna post it here when its done too
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OP, I am a bio Terran experiencing a shit ton of silly losses because they throw off my game with the early roach poking, I feel like its because I'm too used to WOL and have stopped playing hellion banshee. What do you think? If they commit to say8-12 roaches and then get meta boost and lair behind it what do you think is the best response? I do worse if they go for mutas, burrow banes and harass after, if they go for macro after I normally do better.
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I tried this opener against a friend of mine a few times tonight. I am really enjoying trying this build. I have a question about the initial harass. He had a bunker up before the roaches came every single time. I was able to take the bunker down as his reaction time is not the best. In your experience, is running by the bunker and to the mineral line more effective? I feel that it would be possible to repair the bunker with pulled scvs from a player of higher skill.
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Sir I wil definitely try it out tonight! I will be great if you can upload some relative replays for references. Thank you for your strategy!
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I play this a lot and I feel the harass choice is important. Attacking a bunker you can't kill is not a big gain. Targeting anything you can kill is good an I feel you attack the bunker to get him to pull scvs but you attack the scvs until you must burrow. Usually he will run the scvs after you burrow so repeat to keep him busy and off his macro while hitting your macro to get ahead.
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On January 29 2013 09:06 c0sm0naut wrote: OP, I am a bio Terran experiencing a shit ton of silly losses because they throw off my game with the early roach poking, I feel like its because I'm too used to WOL and have stopped playing hellion banshee. What do you think? If they commit to say8-12 roaches and then get meta boost and lair behind it what do you think is the best response? I do worse if they go for mutas, burrow banes and harass after, if they go for macro after I normally do better.
In my expirience it is hardest to win against a Terran who plays very defensive. Try to scout with a Reaper in the early game, you should always see the Roach poke coming way in advance. The easiest way to hold it off is withw iddow mines or siege tanks (both of which you can get by the time) but you sacrefize any early pressure oportunities for it.
After Zerg transitiones to fast Lair and Mutas you should play really defensive and establish solid 3base econ. try burrowing widdow mines right next to turrets so if Zerg ties to snipe those he gets hit by the mine.
If you move past the midgame into the Ultralisk stage, where Zerg generally gets more active with his entire army, focus on a lot of drops. Ultra Ling is terrible at dealing with drops and runbys so you should be able to kill a lot of economy. Also you should allways have some Thors and marauders, aswell as hellbats (vs the lings) in your composition. Thors are amazing at dealing with ultras because they block off so mutch space and deal good damage.
On January 29 2013 14:06 irishGUARD wrote: I tried this opener against a friend of mine a few times tonight. I am really enjoying trying this build. I have a question about the initial harass. He had a bunker up before the roaches came every single time. I was able to take the bunker down as his reaction time is not the best. In your experience, is running by the bunker and to the mineral line more effective? I feel that it would be possible to repair the bunker with pulled scvs from a player of higher skill.
Most players will be able to repair the bunker but by doing that they expose the SCVs to your Roaches. If you just run past it he has the option to evacuate into the main and you could get trapped if he has more units then you expected. However this is dependant on the layout of the Natural. I´d allways rather be safe and not loose my Roaches then do some extra damage though
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Thanks so much, though I don't really like the reaper I have actually started scv scouting in this mu again. Didn't win but have been using thors instead of so many medis/marauders and it helps a ton.
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I've been doing something like this but instead of going back to roaches after the mutas, I go into swarm hosts, then work up to vipers.
I find swarm hosts great for keeping a meching terran in his base as long as I can protect them from banshees using the mutas. Once vipers come out its all over for Terran.
I do agree that going roach rush first keeps you safe against hellions and the dreaded early hellbat drop (shudder).
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