I don't know what to do. They are all just going immortal storm and I can NEVER leave my base or 20 zealots fly in before I have tons of static D or i just die pushing into storms and eventually shield batterys.

My only option seems to be to turtle with lurkers and playt the lame 40min game. What else can we do because even late game is INSANELY hard for us to control where all they do is press storm f2

I don't even wana begin to talk about the maps which I don't think would matter with how protoss play now

Hello,

​

I was wondering is mass hydralisks viable?

I'm a Diamond 2 Zerg, peaking at 3.8k MMR, I'm wondering what everyone's thoughts are about Roach/Hydra vs Ling/Bane/Hydra vs other compositions in ZvP. It's extremely meta to get the 4 minute roach warren especially to avoid dying to the dreaded 2BaseAllin pushes that Toss can have, but...

TBH, I have very little success in roach/hydra, even when splitting up into two groups. Immortals and Disruptors are extremely annoying and render the tankiness of roaches almost completely useless. I know that Immortal/Storm/Archon is a problem, even in the GSL tournaments happening rn. It makes me wonder why HydraLingBane isn't used as much.

Zealots? Make more banes.

Adepts? Make more banes.

Archons? Hydras and don't fight in a clump.

Stalkers...I mean, idek why Toss players make this unit bc nobody can really micro them well.

The only threats left I see are Colossus and Skytoss, but Protoss can't go both without either getting outmacroed really hard, or getting bane busted if they don't go Colossus and try to rush air.

​

​

Maybe everyone can share what they go through in this matchup, bc I tend to be more macro-focused, and occasionally mix in a nydus or Ravanger all-in.

I am working on choosing the right units vs what the opponent shows me. I could use some sparring, on my level of play.

This is me:

• I 2on2 with a friend mostly, sometimes 1on1.
• My rank is not realistic, since I play too little.
• I have 130 apm or so.
• I normally open 16 hatch, 18 gas, 17 pool. And then saturate 2nd base unless he attacks early. I try to have 4-6 queens for early defense.

My "forces" are:

• Macro is okay (expand early and often, saturate them)
• Creep spread is mediocre
• Battle micro is mediocre
• Scouting is a little below mediocre (I patrol 1 ling between bases, place overlords and make sure to see "most" of the map", but I don't scout early enough, only around 30-40 supply with a ling group, so I don't know his strat before I see the army, lack of expansion etc)

My weakness:

• Caster units or micro intensive units are tough for me to spare APM for (Viper, Lurker, Infestor e.g.)
• Lack of experience. I play too little and too rare, that will not change. But I learn slowly.

That is me. I accept that, for now :) But! It is important that I at least know how to counter what I see.

THIS IS WHAT I BUILD VS WHAT THE ENEMY DOES.

I DELIBERATELY AVOID THE COMPLICATED UNITS FOR NOW (BEING REALISTIC AND MACRO FOCUSED).

BUT ARE THESE UNITS COMBOS FEASIBLE OR WHAT IS BETTER?

vs Terran:

• Baneling nest after 2nd base is up and running. Since most terrans go bio. If not, then roach warren.
• 1-2 spores and a spine by each mineral line (ready for drops, early air).
• Early game
  • Bio: Zerglings, banes and maybe roachs as early army.
  • Mech: Roach, ling.
  • Air: Ling, queen, spores
• Mid game
  • Bio: Ling, banes and??? I guess infestors or lurkers?
  • Mech: Ling, hydra (and roaches?)
  • Air: Ling, hydra, corruptors.
• Late game
  • Bio: Ling, ultras, hydras/corruptors + broodlords
  • Mech: Broodlords, corruptors, lings (also for run by) and maybe hydras?
  • Air: Ling, hydra, corruptors.

vs Protoss:

• Roach warren + tech to hydralisk.
• 1 spore and a 1-2 spines by each mineral line (ready for warp ins).
• Early game
  • Ground: Roach, ling.
  • Air: Ling, queen, spores
• Mid game
  • Ground: Roach, hydra, ling (ravagers?)
  • Air: Ling, corruptors, hydra, maybe roaches.
• Late game
  • Ground: Ultra, hydra, ling.
  • Air: Ling, corruptors, hydra, maybe roaches.

I think that is my goto. Not too complicated. Are the units I choose, good for what the opponents have?

I would also like some comments on the units I avoid. It is mainly due to lack of knowledge.

I know I need to work on these units, and this is my doubts and why:

• Ravagers: When are they good? Vs big ground units, like protoss? Vs terran Mech? I feel that vs bio, the AOE is not that great - or are they good here too?
• Lurkers: I fear to burrow/unborrow them at the right time, but vs bio and protoss ground, are they very good?
• Infestors: Can I use banelings at first and ultras later and then it is okay that I skip infestors?
• Vipers: Can I use ravagers vs tanks and corrupstors vs Collosus and then skip the viper?
• Swarm hosts: I love those, the harrass micro I am actually okay with. But the downtime waiting for the CD is so long and I need a proper unit for direct combat against the army, when I buy these. So they can break me, if I waste one round of them and the enemy attacks me quickly.
• Mutalisks: I like them for harrassment but haven't used them much lately, because against the enemy army they are "fragile". But maybe I should use more vs terran med vacs, or worker lines, liberators etc?
• Broodlords: On maps with air space and when I want to be more efficient from range, in late game I try to experiment with these.

Any feedback, relevant to my level, is so welcome. I won't upload a replay since this is more about how I counter what the enemy see and how I use the zerg units for the correct situations (and which units I can skip using, if there is another more easily used alternative zerg units for the same job).

Open to all MMR Ranges and All Regions

🕕 27 April 2024 at 19:00 CEST **Please Note Time Change**

💰 $30 Prize Pool and OSC Points!

✍️ Sign up : https://challonge.com/csocu67

If you wish to contribute to our tournaments please consider supporting us on Kofi

https://ko-fi.com/csoesports

​

As the title says, looking for recommendations for Ang Zerg coaches. I’m a high diamond player on NA and have been stuck there for years.

I am between jobs so thought it would be fun to actually try to breakthrough to masters.

Any reccos?

I´m a plat 1 zerg and I have big problems to win late game fights against Protoss and Terran.

Aagainst protoss I won a couple of games with Roach/Hydra and some infestors, if I can control some collosi . But against Skytoss, I´m completly lost. But at least I can win the early to mid game pretty often.

Terran is worse, by a lot. I can´t breakt in early game, because of turtle. Then he expands slowly and then the game is over. Siege Tanks + Stuff is so hard for me. My Roach/Hydras get melted. I´ve tried to add infestors and vipers, but with not much effect (probably my micro sucks).

I know I do a ton of mistakes, but my opponents are in platinum too. So if we get on more or less even ground in late game, how to deal with it?

I have a replay against a terran, I would love to get some feedback :). Ah and I try to play after the "old" Pig b2gm. Because I thought Roach/Hydra is more forgiving than Ling/Bane.

https://drop.sc/replay/25023845

I really appreciate your feedback :)

(Context: Gold 2 switched over Terran six months ago.)

If you put a gun to my hand and asked me what does Blinding Cloud and Parasitic Bomb targets, my brain instantly breaks.

I know one is against air targets and the other is ground.

Since I have Burrow on D and my Unburrow on R... that gave me a idea!

Assign Parasitic Bomb to R (aka pointing up to the air) and Blinding Cloud on D (pointing down to the ground.)

Now, when I am facing BCs, my head thinks "Hit R for air."

When I need to cripple ground units, my heads thinks "Hit D for the ground."

And of course, I am the weirdo who rapid fire Abducts because it's friggin' cool.

I hope that helps someone else. It has helped me LOVE the Viper.

Hi everyone, heard in all zerg guides that first ovie should go to the opponent natural and then retreat to a nearest highground pillar (in ZvT and ZvP). So what should i do and where should i retreat him (for further overseer scout) if there is no pillar near opponents natural?
also i would like to know how to keep an eye on the exit of the opponents natural (where T and P builds wall usually) if my first overlord will be retreated for further overseer scout

An 80 apm silver player can easily get to master league with little skill development just by playing mech. So how as zerg are you supposed to deal with it? It takes 1000x the skill to beat terran mech and you cant attack them or you just lose the game... so what do you do? Terran can endlessly harass you with 0 repercussions while they hide behind impenetrable defense. So how is this balanced?

I'll cut to the chase; My ZvZ plays are usually successful but in ZvT and ZvP my drones are getting massacred by cloaked units in early mid game and can't find a remedy. I've read online from separate sources that both overlords and overseers are detector units, but that doesn't seem to be true. Despite having my base padded out with some spore crawlers and queens, a single cloaked banshee can just sack my entire economy around the 5 minute mark. Anybody have ideas or suggestions?

Whenever my zerg opponent hatch blocks my natural I wonder if there is a reason why higher level zergs don't do it. In forced to fight the blocking drone cause taking third first in zvz is basically suicide.

Feeling good after this one! 17:1 efficiency with swarm hosts and corrupters. I see the awful supply blocks and we don't need to mention those fumbled transfuses. Any other tips welcome!

https://drop.sc/replay/25007834

https://sc2replaystats.com/replay/playerStats/25007839/3369277

Hi,

I'm new to the game and I'm currently following the staircase guide: https://tl.net/forum/sc2-strategy/374400-thestaircase-an-alternative-improvement-method

They advise to check if I hit the benchmark for each step on http://gggreplays.com, but that site doesn't seem to exist anymore. Where could I check those benchmarks instead ?

Just uninstalled the game, tired of 100 APM Protoss a-moves.

https://youtu.be/0mLRRYaSkzo?t=3198

scarlet's POV from a pig video they're talking about hotkeys. select larva is S, D, V, and Z. I'd love to do this. makes a 12pool smoother to just hold ling key, makes macro easier for drone/ovie.

how?

edit:

thanks all, and for anyone who finds this in the future with same question this rapidfire video covers it nicely

https://youtu.be/yl8fiekycR0

I got 1 win away from Platinum 1 then a crazy losing streak and I'm down in Platinum 3. I'm looking to ween of Vibes B2GM. I've got that down really well, at least until I get harassed or late game. I found a speedling to Macro build he did and I'm trying to copy it from the video. It's really intense and with 3 days of practice I still can't make it to the end without major mistakes. Before I spend too much time my question is two fold:

1. Is this a good build for my level? It seems intense. I don't want to do cheeses or all-ins. Just macro for now.
2. Would this hurt me in the long run since I'm still terrible at scouting? Because it's so intense I kind of feel like my minimap awareness will falter.

Here is the build:

My best benchmark so far is 63 drones at 5 Minutes, 73 drones at 6 minutes. Max at 8:12. I think I forgot to make my 10 safety lings so drop the drones a bit at least.

​

• 12 Drone
• 13 OL
• 16 Hatch
• 18 Gas (use a drone that pops for this when at 18)
• 17 Pool
• Rally to gas (these are the next drones made after pool is made)
• 20th drone rally to 3rd base
• OL ( Go natural. Send Natural OL to other base)
• 2 queens + 4 lings
• Rip 2 off gas after queens to natural (click mineral then hit C to tell them to return cargo)
• 30 supply Zerg speed (or at 100. Hits at 29/30 for me)
• 3rd hatch at 30 supply
• 3rd queen immediately
• 1 queen Inject, Natural creep tumor (2x before sending to 3rd)
• Spend larva on 1-2 drones.
• OL. You will get supply blocked for a couple seconds but you don’t have idle larva
• Get 2 back to gas from mineral line (keep up with OL. 1 per cycle)
• Make OL speed and rip back off the gas again.
• 10 Safety zerglings
• After natural saturate rally two drones to gas
• Make more queens when you can afford. Typically 7, up to 9 if they are going aggressive
• Scout with OL speed ~4:30 after OL speed (Should be 3 productions and 3 command centers)
• 2-3 OL per cycle from now on
• After Scout, Lair, baneling nest, 4 gasses
  • Aggressive? Roach warren and unit production. Stop drones at 5:00
  • 4 Command Centers? 2 Hatches and drone to 85
    • Trick, rally each base to its own mineral line to oversaturate and pull drones to gasses.
• When lair done two Hydra, Evo’s, banespeed
• Fully saturate 3rd base
• Round of lings (banes with existing lings). If 3rd base isn’t down keep making lings.
• Macro hatches (2x maybe before evo’s)
• 85 drones cap
• Then max out ling/bane/hydra
• Use queens for extra injects (5 inject queens total)
• About time you take 5th base go Infestation pit
• Hive and 2/2 should be available at the same time
• You can do just about anything at this time.

Diamond 3+ recommended.

• 12 Gas
• 11 Pool
• When gas is done & you put 3 drones on gas hotkey a drone from minerals & have them start mining out the minerals
• 13 Overlord
• @Pool: Ling Speed + 3 drones off gas (should take off one as it returns ‘gas 92’, another as it returns ‘gas 96’, & the third drone as it returns ‘gas 100’)

The timing should work out that just after you start ling speed the single hotkeyed drone has return minerals from 2 trips of mining out the wall, now you want to specifically make this drone mine the mineral patch behind the mined out one, if you don’t do this the drone will automatically mine the one beside it & we can’t get through on time. First 3 set lings will go harass the Protoss wall-in, set these lings to their own hotkey, try not to lose any of these lings Other lings will just stay in the main base for now

• @1:451:46 (3638 seconds before ling speed finishes): Box every drone & have them all return minerals to the Hatchery then add them to the ling hotkey of the lings at home, bring every drone/ling. Can also add that one individual drone to this hotkey group, by now it will have completely mined out the 2 patches. (remember to keep making lings)
• @2:10~2:13: Arrive & as fast as you can select individual drones that have no minerals in their hands (none should have minerals in their hands) & manually control 4 drones to mine out 2 patches without mining unneeded patches & without walking back home (if you just right click a mineral patch a drone will take it then walk all the way back home, so you’ll want to right click the patch then shift + move command like an inch or two away from the patch).
• @~2:27: ling speed finishes, kill your opponent. You should have 6 lings outside your opponent’s base keeping their Zealots there, you’ll want the overlord to check the Zealots movement. The 6 lings should at least attack a Gateway/Cyber Core for a bit (just run away vs an Adept) so the opponent puts their screen there. Your main drone/ling army I would bypass the pylon & just go straight for their main base & kill workers.

Benchmark [2:27]: 13 drones, 16 lings (1 set lings in production), ling speed done. 10 of the lings will be with the 13 drones, 6 lings will be reinforcing.

Notes:

• Rush distance from main to below opponent’s main ramp is ~38 seconds, however with the minerals mined out that drops to 30 seconds.
• Attack will arrive with ling speed done which allows you to kill Cyber Core tech units.
• 13 Overlord is the only overlord we’ll make in this build, using up another larvae for an overlord that could be another set of lings will weaken this attack.If you get supply blocked at 22/22 that’s fine you’re going to be fighting & losing drones/lings & can use the small amount of minerals to keep making lings.
• You should arrive before any Adepts are out so you can get into a 13 drone + 6 speedlings vs 19~22 Probe fight (depends if they have every probe in their main or if they have a Probe at their natural wall, possibly a Probe out on the map that hasn’t come back home yet). Either way 13 drones + 6 speedlings should win the fight. By the time 2 Adepts can come out you should have the next set of ling reinforcements arrive & soon the one after that. If they ever move both Zealots out of the wall to fight you with 2 Adepts + the 2 Zealots they could have then you also add on the 6 lings you have outside of their natural wall.
• If you have the micro for it you can also continuously use the 6 lings to attack their wall & if they move all but 1 Zealot to help defend the speedlings can straight up kill a Gateway with 0 lings lost as you have speed done & the Zealot can’t catch speedlings.

Replay vs AI example: https://sc2replaystats.com/replay/playerStats/24995148/1049693

Replay vs 4.2K mmr Protoss (not on Amphion, build should be even better on Amphion): https://drop.sc/replay/25009738

Unfortunately no replays vs people yet. With such a large map Pool & three match-ups a specific map/match-up seems quite rare. Will comment below on the easier "generic" version of this build that could work on any short distance rush map, although I don't think the easier version is as good for reasons I'll explain below.

I'm someone who really doesn't like maps that are too crazy and I just enjoy standard maps. Last map pool I was able to veto Radhuset and I was good, this pool has a ton more nonstandard maps so I'm struggling on which 3 to veto.

Right now I'm vetoing Dynasty, Alcyone, and Crimson Court. The two I'm currently playing that seem nonstandard are Post-Youth and Amphion. Post-Youth I don't mind because everyone's going to take the in-base natural so it doesn't change a ton other than ovi pathing to scout, and amphion I haven't played a game yet where either of us mined out the minerals to the side path so it hasn't really changed much even if it looks weird. What are other people's thoughts? I'm 3.3k if it matters.

I am completely at lost on what I was supposed to do in this game, I just left out of frustration with 20k resources in the bank...

I felt like I could just not attack into him with his gateways walls and templars that just feedbacked my vipers and stormed the chokes.

Should I juste have been more patient? I'm not interested in those kinds of turtle games. Thanks in advance.

Replay: https://drop.sc/replay/24993111

Was playing a couple games today to try and practice, faced against some people with really Arial-heavy playstyles that made it hard to counter.

replay: https://drop.sc/replay/24992406

How would I more efficiently deal with something like this? I managed to repel the initial rush, but lost at the end game. Same thing applies for the earlier ZvP game in which the enemy only used Void Rays and Tempests,

Thank you

I enjoy a good pro SC2 game now and again, but at the end of the day I'm d3 at 3.3k mmr the games I play look nothing like those games. One of my favorite series is Harstem's IODIS series, and specifically the ones where the players are around my level so the games actually look like my games.

Then on top of that I really enjoying reviewing the games of lower level players, there's been a few gold-level players posting here and it feels great to offer advice, see them take it, and see success stories. I've streamed a bit but there's a million people like me streaming their diamond ladder sessions, I think my peak viewership was 3.

So enter my idea. I want to find a handful of gold to low plat players and record free coaching sessions with them, tracking their progress over time for viewers to follow, and hopefully help them get to diamond where the coaching would stop. This way players get free coaching, viewers get hopefully entertaining videos that are more likely to be closer to their level than all the pro/gm content out there, and I hopefully get some subscribers. Is this a terrible idea, or would people actually watch such content?

I haven’t actually gotten the promotion to masters yet but I am soooo tantalizingly close. Was sitting at 4120 when I signed off last night and damn it feels GOOD! This puts me at around 75% of the way thru D1, so like 4-6 wins away, and with a current w/l of 55%. This is an all time MMR peak and I am just so excited that I wanted to share with y’all, as this sub has been very helpful over the years. I’ve never actually posted a replay, but have been just lurking and reading and seeking general advice.

I’ve been close to this MMR before, but what feels different this time is that I haven’t cheesed much to get here, and I’m not on a lucky hot streak or anything like that. It’s been mostly solid macro play, and I’ve just kinda been maintaining mid D1 for a while, while gradually climbing a bit every session. Previous time that I’ve gotten over 4K it’s usually been from getting inadvertently boosted by Smurf insta-quitters, or from playing builds that are either cheeses, pool/gas first pressure openers, or straight up all ins. Playing like that was effective to a point, but I would inevitably start getting shut down pretty hard above 4K, and people would start blind countering me once they recognized me. This is the first time I’ve gotten to this point playing primarily 16-18-17.

Thats it. Thats the post. Hopefully I’ll be posting a pic of that masters badge soon. Love yall, glhf.

Was a Terran Bio enjoyer for a while, decided to start giving Zerg a try, Ling Bane Hydra is just too much fun right now, mightve been converted

Hello zerglings! I'm a silver 1 player, trying everything in the book to get a little better. If anyone has a moment, could you take a minute and review this zvz lingbane matchup?

I'm usually the aggressor when I play lingbane, so this caught me by surprise and I didn't know how to react! I definitely quit too soon, I thought my op had way more econ then they actually did.

https://drop.sc/replay/24984748

Replay: https://drop.sc/replay/24973974

​

I never floated above 1000 min/gas, constantly maxed out my supply and injects with control groups, always building more units, saturating my bases, I feel like I've improved immensely compared to last night.

​

I still could've done some things better but wow, that was a great victory. I'd love some extra feedback!

I really want to improve, but I just can't seem to. What am I doing wrong? I felt like I couldnt break through this guy, like he was a brick wall. What should I work on? (btw I am the zerg)
This sort of replay is also similar to the sort of experience I have with a Terran when they make like 2 planetaries in front of their expansions either 1 or 2 tanks, 1 or 2 liberators, etc. All advice or input welcome.

https://drop.sc/replay/24972008

Replay: https://drop.sc/replay/24973304

Hey all! I'm a super noobie player, got the game earlier this week. I started picking up the game from Piig's b2gm series. I love the ling bane style but I find that when the game gets to mid or late stages I completely fall apart.

Here are my takeaways, please tell me if I'm wrong and give any other advice! Go team swarm!

• I missed bane speed which is insane. This alone might have lost?
• When I did runbys I should have micro'd a little better to get more workers
• I didn't harass the 3rd or 4th enough
• When I tech swapped to corrupters to counter the BC, I totally forgot about them after making like 7 :(

Love you all, appreciate the help, take care, happy saturday, you da best, did you know that in china they call zerglings puppies?

Zerg v Terran game, I am unranked (I lose every single game), I know it's my fault that I'm losing, but I can't for the life of me figure out exactly what I'm doing wrong. Any help would be immensely appreciated, as I'm actually sweating in my seat playing this game while the other person beats me whilst cruising along at a measly 30-50 APM.

​

Replay: https://drop.sc/replay/24970518