Taken from a Battlenet posts by Ziles at
http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/540695670(Replays are up at this address:
http://www.sc2replayed.com/users/ZileSC2 These are decent examples of bane ambush, muta harass and other things that I talk about in this guide. I try to choose replays that illustrate points that I make in this guide and indicate so in the comments sections of said replays when they apply)
This is the second version of my guide in how to play Zerg more effectively. I've received some feedback from the first guide and decided to include additional information relating to unit usage and general strategies as well as what to look for when scouting your opponent. If you've read my first guide or other guides, some of this may be review.
**GENERAL THOUGHTS**
To start; Zerg strengths and weaknesses:
Weaknesses:
-Low HP units with hard counters
-Vulnerable to early rushes
-Slow early game
-Micro intensive
-Must outnumber (usually 2 or 3 to 1) to win fights effectively
Strengths:
-Hatcheries can produce ANY UNIT you have tech for on a LARGE scale
-Many varied ways to stage a multi-directional attack
-High damage potential
-Massive map scouting ability
-Fast skirmishers available mid game with high destructive potential
-Most economic potential out of any race
Many of the complaints I read here on the forums seem to stem from frustration at a lack of staying power for Zerg units and an inability to "rush" at higher levels of play. One is related to the other. Protoss and Terran's abilities to "wall" their choke with high hp units that their ranged units can safely shoot from behind make a rush with low hp melee units tantamount to suicide on a large scale. This leaves Zerg with the heavy burden of establishing (and keeping) map control.
How do we do it? Like this:
A: Scout!
-Terrans, and to a lesser extent the Protoss do not typically send lone military units out to scout for a fear of getting surrounded and killed (and thus getting behind financially). Zealots and marines cost no less than at least twice that of a zergling and have the same sight radius. They also move slower. Once you have upgraded ling speed (which should be either the first or the second upgrade you take) you have access to the fastest, cheapest unit in the game, able to outrun even a Hellion. Also take in consideration:
1) Overlords are something you have to build anyway and have a crazy sight radius. They move dreadfully slow initially but on many of the smaller "2 man" maps it doesn't really matter. Parking them on high ground points allows them to effectively watch for early expansions, keep an eye on unit mass and/or movement and other things. Later on they can transport units or become Overseers with two helpful (in a subtle way) abilities that assist in gathering information on what your opponent is building and (later) to delay what they are building while you mount an offensive.
2) Creep (which you will learn to love) gives sight radius. Or at least the tumors that you create do. Tumors are created by Queens, of which you should have at least 2. Creep tumors are stealthed unless they are actively spawning another tumor or being spawned. You should try as hard as you can to creep the way toward your opponent's base or at least provide yourself with a suitable radius so you can spot that oh-so deadly MMT drop. It also gives increased unit speed, usually between 20-50% (it varies per unit); but in the case of the queen, by a whopping 150%.
B: Economy first.
-Do not, do not do not do not (do not) build units unless the situation warrants it. If you expect an offensive (you will know what to look for if you're reading this guide) you should make enough units to either 1) contain him in his base 2) counter what he's making or 3) destroy his economic potential and then go back to building your economy. The most popular strategies for races other than Zerg involve staying behind a wall of safety until enough units have been massed (i.e. their mineral line is almost empty) to mount a game-ending offensive. Not only can you have double the economy of your opponent, (and thus double the units) but you can do it (some of the time) safely and easily because he is going to let you. Some subpoints:
1) The max amount of drones you can have before you gain zero benefit (given your hatchery is ideally placed) is 3 per mineral node and 3 per gas node. For your average 8m/2g resource point, this means 30 drones. Going from 2 drones/mineral to 3 drones/mineral gives LESS benefit than going from 1 to 2. Going from 1 to 2 gives less benefit (slightly) than going from 0 to 1. Two bases with 15 drones each will harvest more minerals than 1 base with 30.
2) Always replace your drones. You will go through 1 drone for every building you make (usually this is a lot) so always have drones building if your patches are looking less than crowded.
3) Never run out of supply. Every 7 seconds that you have minerals and don't have supply is a wasted larvae (more on larvae next). Later in the game this means you need to keep a supply "buffer" of between 8 to 16 units, especially if you're massing creatures that use 2 supply.
C: Manage your hidden resource.
-Your "hidden" resource is larvae. Every larvae that is spawned will eventually (if you're not lazy) become a military unit, a worker, or even a building (via being a drone first). You need to maximize larvae potential if you hope to field an effective economy and army. You do this by:
1) Always be making something. If your hatchery has more than 2 larvae in it you are doing something wrong (unless you just injected it with a queen). Some points about larvae:
a) Larvae spawn at a constant rate of about 1 per 7 seconds per hatchery.
b) The "non-injected" maximum is 3. Once you have that your hatchery will no longer be spawning larvae without a queen injection.
2) Make queens and always inject with larvae if you can (even if you're out of money). Doing this will establish a "savings account" of sorts of larvae. Which means when you get money you won't have to wait for larvae to spawn before you build stuff nigh-instantaneously.
D: Pay attention to counters and don't throw units away.
-If you know your units and what they do, you can avoid wasting money on units that get slaughtered by whatever you're trying to fight against. Don't attack something unless you can kill it with a minimum of loss or unless you have no choice. Your units are much faster than theirs mid-late game (especially if you have creep around) so you should be able to flank effectively for maximum destructive potential.
**HOW TO SCOUT**
Easy. If you don't know already, the loading screen of your ladder map displays all the spawning points for opposing players in the form of little golden circles. If you're on a two-player map send your initial overlord to their base. Pay attention because AA is not difficult for any race to get, even early game, and your OL moves slow. I usually scout for the following, in order of priority:
1) Amount of workers present
2) Presence of gas refinery (1 or 2)
3) Buildings (type, number and configuration) and addons (Terran only)
These correlate to the following information that you can use:
1) How fast you're going to get attacked (how soon your opponent chooses to make units)
2) If he's rushing to tech (that you can either rush or tech to counter)
3) Types of units that he's making and by extension his overall strategy
On any map with more than 2 player potential you will also have to send a drone. I like to send my 9th while my 10th is building. Send your OL to the closest potential starting position for your opponent and your drone to the other 2.
Later on you may be curious as to what exactly your opponent is building (though usually they aren't too original). I like to do the following:
1) Send a zergling to their choke. If you see what kills him you know what he's making.
2) Morph your closest overlord into an overseer, spawn changeling (he can do it as soon as he morphs) and take a tour of your opponent's base.
3) Use a fast flier like a mutalisk (or a group) to simultaneously harass workers and spot tech that you should plan counters for.
Also always be making creep if you can. This helps to establish map control in that your units will move faster and you will be able to see your opponent coming from a mile away.
**WHAT TO LOOK FOR**
A: TERRAN)
Barracks with reactor (looks like a giant trash can) - Lots of marines
Barracks with a tech lab (looks like a bent trash can) - mauraders or reapers, ghosts (with academy)
Factory with reactor - Lots of hellions
Factory with tech lab - tanks or thors or both depending on presence of barracks
Starport with reactor - vikings and/or medivacs
Starport with tech lab - banshees, battlecruisers (with presence of fusion core)
B: PROTOSS)
Landgate (more than 2) - t1 mass
Robotics facility - warp prisms (transports), immortals or colossi
Stargate - phoenix and void ray, carrier (with fleet beacon)
Dark shrine - dark templar (get detection asap)
Templar Archives - high templar (psi storm)
C: ZERG) You should know this already but:
Hatchery - units
etc.
Make sure you keep in mind all buildings when deciding on a counter strategy. If someone has two barracks with reactors and one factory with a tech lab, for example, you should probably expect marines and tanks and plan for banelings and roach/lisk/ling or your anti MMT of choice.
**UNITS AND STRATEGIES TO RESPECT**
A: TERRAN)
Reapers: These guys are frustrating, especially if they catch you off guard. If your opponent is rushing reapers you need two things immediately: 1) spine crawlers in an interlocking arc or circle that covers all parts of your base (remember that reapers can jump walls) and 2) zergling speed. If you can manage to hold reapers off until you get ling speed, congratulations, threat over. Later in the game, 6 reapers can destroy an undefended hatchery in seconds so always respect these units if you see them and kill any unescorted reaper you can find. I like to build cramped for the first 4 minutes just so I have less base to cover in the event of a reaper rush.
Hellions: Much like reapers except they trade wall jumping for an AOE fire attack. Two hellions can kill your whole mineral line in about 15 seconds so if you see an opponent rushing hellions, make spines at your choke and wall in with enough units to keep him out. When upgraded, these things shred light armor (lings, hydras, banelings) but roaches can tank them okay and mutalisks can kill them safely. Later in the game when your army is out and about, a few unchecked hellions will destroy mineral lines and severely hinder your economic advantage. Always build spines in your mineral line to protect drones that you have no intention of defending in another fashion.
Thors: These guys are mutalisk-destroying monsters but do slightly less well (they still do well) against roaches and lings. Keep your air away and let your land mass take them out if you can.
Tanks: Thors in reverse, strong AOE attack that hits ground but no AA capability. EIther catch them unsieged, burrow ambush or attack undefended tanks with air.
MMM: (Marines, Marauders and Medivacs) Marines die quickly to burrowed banelings, even when their hp has been upgraded. If you have someone dropping marines on your base, invest in air to catch them mid-flight (you have creep/overlords, right?) or use a good mix of muta and lings (muta splash does a lot of damage, especially with ling cover)
Banshees: These are cloaked gunships that only attack land. They can decimate your base if left unchecked, i.e. you don't have detection. Don't make that mistake.
B: PROTOSS)
Zealots: When rushed, these guys are very strong if you are unprepared. If you sense a zealot rush coming, build roaches or spines if you have insufficient tech.
Stalkers: Easily countered with mutalisks and lings, but either alone will get shredded. Remember to surround them with lings and when they warp out, surround again (the cooldown is of moderate length) and go to town.
Dark Templar: Going DTs against a SC1 Zerg was almost laugh-worthy but in SC2 we actually have to remember to morph our detection. If you see a Dark Shrine you need detection at each base (in addition to defense as they are strong skirmishers). If you wait for the DTs to get there before you morph your overseer you will lose about half of your buildings or your entire army before you can kill them.
Colossi: These guys are basically siege tanks without friendly fire, aka they are retarded. Stop making lings, you're only wasting money. If you're against a protoss massing T1, and you're countering with land, colossi is their next step and you should already have a greater spire morphing before they can even think of it. Corruptors can attack colossi but don't bother. Their range is too short and they will get shredded by stalkers before you can even dent one.
C: ZERG)
Banelings: These guys suck as much for you as for a Terran. If you're going lings one of them will take out your whole army, no joke. If you see a baneling-happy Zerg, make roaches your mass unit of choice or get some infestors to hold them still with fungal growth while you blast them safely from a distance
Infestors: an unchecked infestor can cause massive, uncontrollable damage in a somewhat wide area of your army. It hits for enough to kill a ling in one shot and also immobilizes. The area of effect is large enough that it can affect between 5 and 15 of your units depending on size and spacing. Can't say a whole lot more except they move while burrowed and are a popular choice to kill undefended drones with (they can spawn infested terrans while burrowed) so get detection.
Mutalisks: If you don't see the spire coming, a sudden mutalisk swarm will result in a bad day for you. Have a 2nd queen at least (I do this anyways) and some hydras on call just in case. Supply for supply, hydras destroy undefended mutalisks but build some roaches/banes if he's also going lings.
**YOUR UNITS AND WHAT THEY CAN DO**
Zerglings: These guys are basic but they're also cheap, fast (when upgraded) and sufficiently strong to either decimate undefended expansions or serve as an effective, expendable meatshield for your gas units. Basically they're just sacrificial lambs but if you have enough you won't have to worry about hearing WE NEED ADDITIONAL VESPENE GAS over and over. Get ling speed at least and attack speed as well if you're still using them in t3.
Roaches: Cheap gas units with low range, high hitpoints and heavy armor. They can only attack land and are basically anti-melee. They also serve in a pinch as a shield against marines and thors that your more ranged hydralisks can shoot over.
Hydralisks: Moderately expensive units with long range, low hitpoints and light armor. They're good for ANY USE IN WHICH THE HYDRALISK ISN'T BEING ATTACKED. These guys suck when they're getting hit. Tanks and colossi will kill them before they can shoot even a single spine so don't mass them to exclusion of the support units necessary for their effectiveness.
Mutalisks: Relatively weak flier except in large numbers. People massing mutalisks use them for harassment strategies in which they pick off undefended buildings and personnel. Good if you want your opponent to mass cannons and lose map control. If you're massing them to kill things in your opponent's base you are basically just going to kill what you can get away with and run away. Do not engage base defenses unless you have overwhelming numbers. If you lose even one mutalisk, whatever you killed wasn't worth it.
Banelings: These things are cute for being cheap. They're great for throwing away any lings you don't have a use for anymore. They deal bonus damage against light armor AND structures which makes them ideal for cheesing someone out of a mineral line and/or collection point, destroying a "wall" to kill techers with your otherwise uneffective t1 mass or as landmines to kill entire armies of marines and light vehicles. Make sure you get burrow and the speed upgrade to make maximum use of these. THESE CAN BE DETONATED UNDERGROUND WITH A HOTKEY SO DONT UNBURROW AND RISK THEM DYING IF THE OPPOSING ARMY IS STANDING RIGHT ON TOP.
Corruptors: decent AA unit to be used in conjunction with hydralisks or mutalisks. Their ability makes a single unit take 25% extra damage which is great if you find yourself against big air units like carriers and battlecruisers or against big land units like thors and colossi. Corruptors can attack colossi but i wouldn't recommend it unless you have great numbers. They can however cast the damage debuff on any unit, air or not, so I like to have one or two against thors to kill them just a bit faster.
Broodlords: This is your ultimate answer to land mass. (Even land AA mass). In addition to the base damage of the broodlord, it also spawns an infinite number of broodlings that each have their own attack (they last about 8 seconds). This means you can swamp an opponent in meat (you don't need zerglings anymore) and take out dangerous anti-land units with your superior range. A+ would recommend to anyone would buy again.
Ultralisks: These guys are fun to build but not very awesome. They're big, they're slow. If they close on someone they do tremdous damage in a wide AOE arc (extra against armored) They also have bonus damage against structures which makes them ideal for walking siege units and damage soakers but not much else. If you're going to make them (it's kind of fun) get the armor upgrades from the evolution chamber as well as the ultralisk cavern because this will practically triple their lifespan and make them shrug off light arms fire like it was rain.
Infestors: Great against masses of clumped low-hp units (especially melee or low range units) as well as for picking off harassers (if you're quick on the fungal growth) and for mind controlling big enemy units for some good old-fashioned chaos
