“white paper lantern” by Eddy Boom on Unsplash

I feel like I see this build all the time on ladder but never in pro games. Well, usually this happens because there is a well established and consistent way to hold it.

Luckily for us, at Montreal, TooDming tried to do this build vs Stephano and Stephano held it as close to perfectly as you can.

⚠️Disclaimer: even though there is an established way to defend this build and end up ahead, the defense is hard enough to pull off that this 12 Pool expand tends to be a good build for beating lower leveled players.

⚠️Disclaimer: There are quite a few variations of this build, but we are only covering the gas less 12 Pool build (sometimes with 1 drone for spine) and then expand building no more than 12 Lings.

Part 1: Scouting 🙈

1️⃣ Scout the Zerglings with the first Overlord around 1:35–1:40

This timing is heavily influenced by the map. In this map pool, you tend to see them closer to the 1:35 mark due to the shorter rush distance on most maps. The only exception to this is Lost and Found, in which you will see the Zerglings with the second Overlord (explanation for another guide sometime)

2️⃣ Look for an expansion with your first Overlord

When your first Overlord arrives at the natural of your opponent, you will either see a Hatchery, or no Hatchery. Hatchery = the build we are discussing No Hatchery = All in incoming, build 2 spines and don’t stop Queen production Regardless of what you scout, don’t forget to pull your Overlord back once seeing the natural so it does not get sniped by the Queen. This is critical.

3️⃣ If you see the Zerglings, and an expansion, it is this build and you should continue to Part 2!

Part 2: Reaction 👊

The reaction to this can be best described in a list of things to do in order.

1️⃣ Once you see the Zerglings or Spine Crawler take 2 Drones off of gas

2️⃣ Pull 5 Drones to deny spine, otherwise go to the next step

3️⃣ Hotkey 11 Drones

4️⃣ Pull the 11 Drones to your natural when the Zerglings arrive

5️⃣ Dance your Drones with the Zerglings

you should never actually engage the Zerglings with your Drones. The goal here is to delay him from killing your Hatch by forcing him to chase your drones back. Once he turns away from your drones, bait him again to chase your drones. If he ignores your Drones, then you can attack, but you need to pull back ONCE he turns to attack your Drones. Rinse and repeat.

6️⃣ Build 8 Zerglings, 2 Queens, 2 Zerglings (in that order)

7️⃣ Use the 11 Drones and 8 Zerglings to defend and delay

Be very conservative with your Drones and Zerglings, since you should really not lose any Drones to this build, giving you the maximum advantage

8️⃣ Build an Overlord (28/28)

9️⃣ Dance with Zerglings and Drones until Queens spawn

Once the Queens spawn, you will be safe from the pressure and can continue mining normally

🔟 Continue to drone

Ideally, you should not have lost any Drones, leaving you at around 20 Drones vs their 16 Drones

Part 3: Follow Up 🚀

1️⃣ Put 2 Drones back on gas to get Zergling Speed

2️⃣ Next 50 Gas towards a Baneling Nest

3️⃣ Take a quick third, since we are safe from a Zergling flood

4️⃣ try and poke in opponents base with leftover Zerglings to scout