Lecture brought to you by UWaterloo CSLTL Stream Thread: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=286050 Hello everyone and thank you for checking out the University of Waterloo CSL Lecture Series. I was invited by the Waterloo CSL Coordinator, SCMonk (Steve Xian) to give a lecture / presentation on aggressive zerg play.Here is the link to the lecture(Apologies for language, it is University students afterall):

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While I'm known as a cheesy/aggressive player, it doesn't mean I just blindly open with an all-in build, attack-move my units, and cross my fingers. There's more to it than that, there are subtle bits of information I use to determine whether to attack or macro, and there's more finesse to the execution than just mashing 1 a-move. That's why I'd like to make a distinction between a Blind Cheese and an Aggressive Response.



Putting all your eggs in one basket: A Blind Cheese is a predetermined strategy or build that requires no scouting information to execute. It requires no in-depth strategical thinking and typically has zero economic follow-through.”

Putting some of your eggs in one basket but leaving a few behind to make drones: An Aggressive Response is a decision to commit to a large-scale attack after holding off pressure or as a result of scouting information. Example: A player opens 2rax pressure, I scout it and I go for a ling/bane 1 base attack (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=273534)



Here is a ZvP game casted by BudhaZerg where I show that, despite being insanely aggressive/all-in early on, there's always a way to macro-up behind it (Assuming your aggressive response was correct and you do some damage): While I'm known as a cheesy/aggressive player, it doesn't mean I just blindly open with an all-in build, attack-move my units, and cross my fingers. There's more to it than that, there are subtle bits of information I use to determine whether to attack or macro, and there's more finesse to the execution than just mashing 1 a-move. That's why I'd like to make a distinction between aand anPutting all your eggs in one basket: A Blind Cheese is a predetermined strategy or build that requires no scouting information to execute. It requires no in-depth strategical thinking and typically has zero economic follow-through.”Putting some of your eggs in one basket but leaving a few behind to make drones: An Aggressive Response is a decision to commit to a large-scale attack after holding off pressure or as a result of scouting information. Example: A player opens 2rax pressure, I scout it and I go for a ling/bane 1 base attack (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=273534)Here is a ZvP game casted by BudhaZerg where I show that, despite being insanely aggressive/all-in early on, there's always a way to macro-up behind it (Assuming your aggressive response was correct and you do some damage):

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Since zerg is known primarily as a macro race, people are cutting more and more corners to ensure strong early game economy. You see more and more players opening forge fast expand, 1gate expand, 1racks expand, hatch first, etc. Even a lot of the units that players use to pressure zerg early on will overextend themselves with slow units like marines, banelings, and zealots – since zerg units are pretty fast, you can take the advantage by counter attacking.

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Zerg requires the production of one building to tech switch. While obviously you don't want to spend all your resources producing one of every building, you can still tech switch very quickly if your opponent “hard counters” you. Example: You open speedlings, he goes hellions, you build a warren and go for roaches.

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You need scouting information anyway, so why not be aggressive and do some damage while acquiring the information you need? Macro players will sacrifice overlords, speedlings, upgrade overlord speed, etc. These are all investments that take out of your abilities to be aggressive, so instead I recommend little timing pushes that will give you two types of information: Direct information and Indirect information

Direct Scouting Information: Tells you exactly what your opponent is doing. Things like how many bases your opponent has, what tech structures he's building, and his unit choice are direct scouting information. Example: In ZvZ you scout he's on one base while you took a fast natural. Also, he only has 1 gas. There is enough direct scouting info to determine he's going to all-in you.

Indirect Scouting Information: Gives you bits and pieces of information that lets me make educated guesses on what your opponent is going to do. Using ZvZ to illustrate this concept, imagine two scenarios. In scenario “A”, you open with my mass-ling style ZvZ (http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=274426) and you notice your opponent is using spinecrawlers and minimal amounts of zerglings/banelings to defend. Since he's playing so defensive, you can infer that he's probably not looking to counterattack you. In scenario “B”, your opponent is building ONLY lings and banelings (or lings and roaches) to defend your attacks. Alarm bells should go off in your head, and you should be aware that he has the capability to counterattack/all-in you soon.

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There's the obvious element of surprise in that your opponent isn't prepared for your attack and dies, but even if they're able to hold your attack they'll be thrown off their game. TheLittleOne says that he performs best in frantic situations where both sides don't really know whats going on. Emotions and momentum play such an important role in SC2 and by throwing your opponent off, he may be unsure of what to do next while you have all the scenarios planned out.

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By attacking, you have complete map control. If they're pressured on the back foot, they're going to be scared to move out and expand when they usually would or scared to move out and attack you. This gives you time to drone up and take additional based back at home. Example Video (Apologies: The audio is off-sync) (http://www.youtube.com/user/budhazerg#p/u/4/H3YxQ1VIJxY )

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http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=280526 A build designed to add structure and constant aggression to your play:

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15Hatch

15Pool

18Gas

17Overlord

17 Double Queen / 4xZergling

23-28 Drones

28 Roach Warren

27 Drone

28 2x Overlords

28-42 Roaches

42+ MACRO! Drones, Overlords

52 Start 3rd hatch

Goals: Do damage, secure mapcontrol, and throw your terran opponent off his game while taking a 3rd and macroing.

Here is a replay of DongRaeGu executing this build vs ThorZain: 9Overlord15Hatch15Pool18Gas17Overlord17 Double Queen / 4xZergling23-28 Drones28 Roach Warren27 Drone28 2x Overlords28-42 Roaches42+ MACRO! Drones, Overlords52 Start 3rd hatchGoals: Do damage, secure mapcontrol, and throw your terran opponent off his game while taking a 3rd and macroing.Here is a replay of DongRaeGu executing this build vs ThorZain:

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16Gas

16Pool

18Overlord

Double Queen / 4xLings

Drones to 28

28 Roach Warren (Replace the drone to 28)

28 Zergling Speed

28 2x Overlords

28 Roaches all the way to 44/44

44 2x Overlords

44+ Speedlings (Rallied onto the roaches)

Lead with the roaches to get up into the terran main, if he has a bunker try to surround it before he can repair. Continue reinforcing with lings if you think you can win outright. If not, drone behind your attack and do what damage you can.

Here is an example game using this style as an All-In (Again, the audio is out of sync - Sorry!)



Here is another example of the roach/ling attack off of a gas/pool opening:

16Hatch16Gas16Pool18OverlordDouble Queen / 4xLingsDrones to 2828 Roach Warren (Replace the drone to 28)28 Zergling Speed28 2x Overlords28 Roaches all the way to 44/4444 2x Overlords44+ Speedlings (Rallied onto the roaches)Lead with the roaches to get up into the terran main, if he has a bunker try to surround it before he can repair. Continue reinforcing with lings if you think you can win outright. If not, drone behind your attack and do what damage you can.Here is an example game using this style as an All-In (Again, the audio is out of sync - Sorry!)Here is another example of the roach/ling attack off of a gas/pool opening:

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http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=274426

An example of aggressive ZvZ casted by Katide:



The build and analysis can be found at:An example of aggressive ZvZ casted by Katide:

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http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=252865#1

http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=217720 Losira popularized this style of play and it is incredibly powerful against 1gate or 3gate expansions because you either win the game outright, deny his expansion, or at the very least kill valuable sentries and probes while securing map control and taking the economic advantage. For build orders, check out Losira games or visit several of the TL threads on this subject:

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http://drop.sc/50243 /

Here is an example against VTAvilo:

http://drop.sc/51934

Here is an example against GoSuPokebuni:

http://drop.sc/50244

Here is an example against NoxMistakes:

http://drop.sc/50264

Here is an example against Cyrain:

http://drop.sc/51064

Here is an example against KyrO:

http://drop.sc/51070

Here is an example against Sterling:

http://drop.sc/51935 Here is an example against xSixPainuser: http://www.justin.tv/ignproleague/b/298791823 (Game begins 30minutes in)Here is an example against VTAvilo:Here is an example against GoSuPokebuni:Here is an example against NoxMistakes:Here is an example against Cyrain:Here is an example against KyrO:Here is an example against Sterling:

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Please try to keep the replies to this thread as constructive and positive as possible, even if you disagree with the concepts presented. It's much more helpful to provide constructive feedback than it is to be disrespectful of others' ideas. Our goal is to improve and help each other out, not start flame wars. If there is a situation you'd like to be more aggressive in, please reply to this post with your thoughts and problems. I will produce additional aggressive zerg guides and answer as many questions as time allows.

You might ask...ZvT Tang's Three Barrel BustZvT Roach Timing Attack (Not viable vs 2rax)ZvT Tang's Roach/Ling Timing AttackZvZ 2Hatch 2Queen Mass Zergling Style:ZvP Roach/Ling Timing AttackHyper-Aggressive ZvT : Tang GamesHyper-Aggressive ZvZ : Tang GamesCourtesy of www.TangStarcraft.com