DIRESTRAIT Profile Blog Joined October 2010 Canada 155 Posts Last Edited: 2014-08-26 04:18:56 #1 Table of Contents

Introduction

+ Show Spoiler + Hey everyone! The following is a short guide on overlord placement in different matchups to give you newbies an idea of how to place them and possibly some food for thought for all of you high ranked ballers.



First of all I will introduce myself, I am DIRESTRAIT an ex-GM Zerg during both WoL and HoTS that is currently coming back to the game. I'm trying to give back to the community as much as I can with coaching on stream or short guides.

Gameplay concepts

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Pylons, supply depots, overlords. They all grant supply, Overlords happen to be able to fly, that's really good, like REALLY good.A big difference between the best zergs and the average ones is that every tip top zerg player will talk about where he's putting overlords and why, whereas the less experienced players won't see the importance in it. I hope to shed some light on how best to use overlords and why you should use them to their maximum potential.



High ground is a very important part of Starcraft 2. Any units on the low ground, regardless of range, have no vision of units on a higher elevation. This is important to know when dealing with flyers because if they are placed above a cliff they can't be targeted by your marines/stalkers/hydralisks unless you have some sort of vision on their level (air units, units on the same level etc). Keep in mind that air units vs air units are unnafected by this.



With this example:



Any unit walking on the low ground is unable to see/shoot at those overlords because they are on a higher level. They would require a medivac, void ray, or overlord to grant vision.



This means that cliffs are your best friend when you're considering places for your overlord. You will notice that blizzard maps have TONS of cliffs, everywhere, they were designed that way for a reason.

Pylons, supply depots, overlords. They all grant supply, Overlords happen to be able to fly, that's really good, like REALLY good.A big difference between the best zergs and the average ones is that every tip top zerg player will talk about where he's putting overlords and why, whereas the less experienced players won't see the importance in it. I hope to shed some light on how best to use overlords and why you should use them to their maximum potential.High ground is a very important part of Starcraft 2. Any units on the low ground, regardless of range, have no vision of units on a higher elevation. This is important to know when dealing with flyers because if they are placed above a cliff they can't be targeted by your marines/stalkers/hydralisks unless you have some sort of vision on their level (air units, units on the same level etc). Keep in mind that air units vs air units are unnafected by this.With this example:Any unit walking on the low ground is unable to see/shoot at those overlords because they are on a higher level. They would require a medivac, void ray, or overlord to grant vision.This means that cliffs are your best friend when you're considering places for your overlord. You will notice that blizzard maps have TONS of cliffs, everywhere, they were designed that way for a reason.

What we're looking for

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There are a few reasons why we spread overlords, we're looking for the following:

-Drops

-Tech

-Expansions [and mineral lines]

-Unit movement

-Unit compositions



This list may seem daunting but a lot of this happens as a consequence of good overlord placement. You want overlords in spots that will allow you to see when he's moving on the map, where he's going, what units he's moving with. You also want to see when he's expanding, where.



I'm not going to go in depth in to a scouting guide because that is a totally different topic. What I want you to understand is that overlords are a very important source of vision and scouting for any very good zerg player.



ZvZ Placement

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ZvZ is a very particular matchup for overlord placement, the reason is zerg is very low on anti air before lair tech, and so overlords can fly around without fear until mutalisks or hydralisks show up. The first 3 overlords are the most crucial in this matchup. They have the following roles:



Overlord 1 : Find the natural expansion, float behind the mineral line to keep an eye on the drone count.

Overlord 2: Right outside of the natural expansion, keeps an eye on the units coming and going, lets you know the moment when the attack leaves his base.

Overlord 3: Mid-map, preferably grants you vision of a tough to engage spot like a ramp or somewhere next to tall grass. It serves to give you a second reference for what his army is doing and prevent you running up a ramp into 3 banelings.



Keeping the cliff placement in mind, here is an example of how to execute this:



Behind the minerals + Show Spoiler +

The image above shows an overlord on top of a cliff that can both scout the presence of a hatchery and also count the drones as they come to the mineral line. Drones count is one of the most crucial things in zvz as it allows you to read exactly what type of build he is doing. If he keeps making drones he's macroing if he cuts drones he's hitting you hard. The image above shows an overlord on top of a cliff that can both scout the presence of a hatchery and also count the drones as they come to the mineral line. Drones count is one of the most crucial things in zvz as it allows you to read exactly what type of build he is doing. If he keeps making drones he's macroing if he cuts drones he's hitting you hard.



In front of the natural : + Show Spoiler +

The overlord here is placed so that anything that comes out of the zerg natural is seen. He can't expand, scout, attack, or take a dump without us seeing what's going on. This is crucial to the early and mid game and you'll be using this guy a ton throughout the game. The overlord here is placed so that anything that comes out of the zerg natural is seen. He can't expand, scout, attack, or take a dump without us seeing what's going on. This is crucial to the early and mid game and you'll be using this guy a ton throughout the game.



Mid Map :

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This overlord is to be placed somewhere where you can monitor the army movement, this map in particular is not the best for cliff placement mid map so I place mine in such a way that I can see above the ramp on the side I'm attacking on. This means I won't get caught by banelings or their like. This guy helps us gauge army size, composition, and position. This is a pretty popular spot to morph in banelings as well.

This overlord is to be placed somewhere where you can monitor the army movement, this map in particular is not the best for cliff placement mid map so I place mine in such a way that I can see above the ramp on the side I'm attacking on. This means I won't get caught by banelings or their like. This guy helps us gauge army size, composition, and position. This is a pretty popular spot to morph in banelings as well.



IMPORTANT NOTE

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Not all maps are the same, not all maps have a cliff behind the minerals, or an easy spot to float outside of the base. However you will always have a safe spot to float an overlord behind the minerals and you will always have a relatively safe spot to park an overlord outside of the natural. Keep in mind, losing overlords is bad, it's much better to keep him a bit further out and safe then it is to lose him to a queen snipe.

You may place more overlords mid map, it's mostly your preference, but I keep it to about 4 overlords on map because if he goes mutalisks I have to assume that I'm losing all of those overlords.



ZvZ is a very particular matchup for overlord placement, the reason is zerg is very low on anti air before lair tech, and so overlords can fly around without fear until mutalisks or hydralisks show up. The first 3 overlords are the most crucial in this matchup. They have the following roles:Overlord 1 : Find the natural expansion, float behind the mineral line to keep an eye on the drone count.Overlord 2: Right outside of the natural expansion, keeps an eye on the units coming and going, lets you know the moment when the attack leaves his base.Overlord 3: Mid-map, preferably grants you vision of a tough to engage spot like a ramp or somewhere next to tall grass. It serves to give you a second reference for what his army is doing and prevent you running up a ramp into 3 banelings.Keeping the cliff placement in mind, here is an example of how to execute this:

ZvP Placement

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ZvP is a MU where overlords are a bit more risky to place out on the map. If protoss opens phoenix they are as good as dead and you don't really need to spread them out on the map as much to defend against drops. This means that we are going to mainly be using our first 4 overlords.



Ideally in this matchup you're drone scouting relatively early, you should know if he's going gateway expand or FFE / Nexus first to get an idea of what timings he's going to be hitting, you also get a lot of insight on where you want to be placing your overlords. Keep in mind these building placements only affect the first overlord.



First overlord:

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Gateway expand:



This setup is what we're going to refer to as the Gateway expand, when you scout you'll see the pylon plus the gateway warping in. The crucial information we're going to be getting here is whether or not he's going to be expanding or not. So you're going to place your overlord in view of the natural near or on top of a cliff, like so:



Gateway expand:This setup is what we're going to refer to as the Gateway expand, when you scout you'll see the pylon plus the gateway warping in. The crucial information we're going to be getting here is whether or not he's going to be expanding or not. So you're going to place your overlord in view of the natural near or on top of a cliff, like so:

Forge fast expand / Nexus First:

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This build involves him walling off his natural ramp with his forge and gateway , possibly cyber core. You want your overlord on the cliff adjacent to his natural like so:



We are sitting there because it allows us to spy on his forge upgrades, and his warpgate upgrades, keep in mind that the chronoboost animation is very indicative of his intentions.

What's very important to note with FFE is that we can be very flexible early on with our overlord placement because he has no Anti Air outside of his cannon, you can just float above his main nexus and check the gas timing and then fly out as he takes his geisers without a problem, I strongly recommend you do this, check any GSL game of ZvP with a Forge Fast expand and you'll see how they execute it.

This build involves him walling off his natural ramp with his forge and gateway , possibly cyber core. You want your overlord on the cliff adjacent to his natural like so:We are sitting there because it allows us to spy on his forge upgrades, and his warpgate upgrades, keep in mind that the chronoboost animation is very indicative of his intentions.What's very important to note with FFE is that we can be very flexible early on with our overlord placement because he has no Anti Air outside of his cannon,you can just float above his main nexus and check the gas timing and then fly out as he takes his geisers without a problem, I strongly recommend you do this, check any GSL game of ZvP with a Forge Fast expand and you'll see how they execute it.



Second Overlord:

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The second overlord should be placed just outside of his main base, this guy's job is to wait at the outskirts of the base and fly in when he's likely to be placing important tech buildings (i.e 5:30 6:00). We won't be going in depth as to the meaning of what we're seeing as this is an overlord placement thread, just keep in mind you're going to be using this guy to look for

tech buildings i.e Stargate, Robo Bay, Twilight Council, and to spy the number of gas geisers he has taken.

The second overlord should be placed just outside of his main base, this guy's job is to wait at the outskirts of the base and fly in when he's likely to be placing important tech buildings (i.e 5:30 6:00). We won't be going in depth as to the meaning of what we're seeing as this is an overlord placement thread, just keep in mind you're going to be using this guy to look fortech buildings i.e Stargate, Robo Bay, Twilight Council, and to spy the number of gas geisers he has taken.



Third Overlord:

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The third overlord's job is to wait at the third base, he's going to be sitting right on top of it like a boss and his job is to spread creep as soon as you get a lair up, this serves a dual purpose, both to determin the timing of his third base and also delay it as much as possible. Don't underestimate how annoying it is to deal with a hold position overlord that's dropping creep when all you have is a few sentries and zealots with an immortal. Note that on bases with two bases that could serve as a third you can comfortably spare a second overlord to sit on top of it, you want both of those spots scouted and creeped on.

The third overlord's job is to wait at the third base, he's going to be sitting right on top of it like a boss and his job is to spread creep as soon as you get a lair up, this serves a dual purpose, both to determin the timing of his third base and also delay it as much as possible. Don't underestimate how annoying it is to deal with a hold position overlord that's dropping creep when all you have is a few sentries and zealots with an immortal. Note that on bases with two bases that could serve as a third you can comfortably spare a second overlord to sit on top of it, you want both of those spots scouted and creeped on.



Fourth Overlord:

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You want this guy somewhere mid map to check on his army movements. Your goal is to see where his army is headed, what it's made of, how many probes he brought, etc.

You want this guy somewhere mid map to check on his army movements. Your goal is to see where his army is headed, what it's made of, how many probes he brought, etc.



Other Overlords:

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These guys are best kept close to your base, you don't want to have these guys out on the map when the fire nation attacks phoenixes attack. A good idea is to have them near the perimeter of your base so you get a bit of early notice in case of warp prism or oracle. It does feel like a waste but you'll be kicking yourself if you lose all of those overlords to his Stargate open.





ZvP is a MU where overlords are a bit more risky to place out on the map. If protoss opens phoenix they are as good as dead and you don't really need to spread them out on the map as much to defend against drops. This means that we are going to mainly be using our first 4 overlords.Ideally in this matchup you're drone scouting relatively early, you should know if he's going gateway expand or FFE / Nexus first to get an idea of what timings he's going to be hitting, you also get a lot of insight on where you want to be placing your overlords. Keep in mind these building placements only affect the first overlord.Forge fast expand / Nexus First:

ZvT Placement

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ZvT Overlord placement is one of the most crucial parts of your midgame, which can seem strange to newer players. The idea is, you want your first overlords to let you know what he's up to , and all of your other overlords to be spread out around the minimap catching drops. Nothing is more satisfying than swatting drops out of the sky with a ball of mutalisks while you sit back and macro to your hearts content. This is what your minimap should look like in the midgame Don't fear getting sniped as you should have a force of speedlings ready to defend overlords/ counter attack.



Now for the good stuff, Overlord 1:

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This overlord is to check the natural, the cool part of playing a terran is you just need to look at his army to see what's up. You'll be parking this ovie on the cliff next to his natural to make sure that A) He's expanding, and B) To see what his army looks like. There's a big difference between seeing 2 hellions pop out and seeing a few marines chilling next to a bunker.



This overlord is to check the natural, the cool part of playing a terran is you just need to look at his army to see what's up. You'll be parking this ovie on the cliff next to his natural to make sure that A) He's expanding, and B) To see what his army looks like. There's a big difference between seeing 2 hellions pop out and seeing a few marines chilling next to a bunker.



Overlord 2:

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This guy should be next to the main, ready to sacrify his life for the swarm! He's going to be there to check if he's going mech or bio, and also if you need to be affraid of banshees in your base, killing your drones.



This guy should be next to the main, ready to sacrify his life for the swarm! He's going to be there to check if he's going mech or bio, and also if you need to be affraid of banshees in your base, killing your drones.



Overlord 3:

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Your third overlord should be on his third, you want to check it's timing and deny himthat base as long as you can, spread creep with this guy as soon as you get lair

Your third overlord should be on his third, you want to check it's timing and deny himthat base as long as you can, spread creep with this guy as soon as you get lair



Overlord 4:

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You want this guy mid-map. He's your recon, your CIA operative,he's going to let you know where he's moving, when, how many people are there, and whether or not they brought their combat shields. VERY IMPORTANT to keep this guy next to a cliff so he doesn't just get wrecked

You want this guy mid-map. He's your recon, your CIA operative,he's going to let you know where he's moving, when, how many people are there, and whether or not they brought their combat shields. VERY IMPORTANT to keep this guy next to a cliff so he doesn't just get wrecked



Other Overlords:

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Remember what we talked about you want these guys everywhere, and you are going to protect them with your midgame mutas/speedlings. Keep in mind that if you're going roach/hydra and he gets vikings you may have a hard time keeping these guys alive. They can still be a good idea though, it depends on your opponent. What's important is that if you're getting any sort of mobile army, especially armies with mutas, these ovies will save your life against drops.

Remember what we talked aboutyou want these guys everywhere, and you are going to protect them with your midgame mutas/speedlings. Keep in mind that if you're going roach/hydra and he gets vikings you may have a hard time keeping these guys alive. They can still be a good idea though, it depends on your opponent. What's important is that if you're getting any sort of mobile army, especially armies with mutas, these ovies will save your life against drops.



ZvT Overlord placement is one of the most crucial parts of your midgame, which can seem strange to newer players. The idea is, you want your first overlords to let you know what he's up to , and all of your other overlords to be spread out around the minimap catching drops. Nothing is more satisfying than swatting drops out of the sky with a ball of mutalisks while you sit back and macro to your hearts content. This is what your minimap should look like in the midgameDon't fear getting sniped as you should have a force of speedlings ready to defend overlords/ counter attack.Now for the good stuff, Overlord 1:Overlord 2:Overlord 3:Overlord 4:Other Overlords:

Thank you for reading and please let me know what you think in the comments, if you have any questions or corrections to make either PM me or comment. This is my first guide so I really appreciate the feedback! For anything else you can find me in game as DIRESTRAIT.632 or ask in the stream chat at Thank you for reading and please let me know what you think in the comments, if you have any questions or corrections to make either PM me or comment. This is my first guide so I really appreciate the feedback! For anything else you can find me in game as DIRESTRAIT.632 or ask in the stream chat at http://www.twitch.tv/direstr8t I'm an Animal