aXa Profile Blog Joined July 2010 France 748 Posts Last Edited: 2011-04-14 19:28:25 #1



If you don't know me yet, let me introduce me again: I'm aXa, French zerg player 3300 master in Season 1. I like playing out of the box and figure out new style of play.

If you are a little zerg having trouble in ZvP, go definitely check this thread: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=211407



If you don't like at all the current dynamic in ZvZ right now, which is basically a lot of zergling and baneling in early game, this guide is for you. This time, the opening and the follow up of this strategy are closely related.





Opening & Goal



9/10: pool

10/10: overlord

10/18: 6 zergling

13/18: queen ---> larva inject

15/18-->17/18: Drone

17/18: Overlord

19/18: Queen + extractor ---> creep tumor (only 1)



As usual, the zergling are reaching the ennemy base at 17/18, so you have to be quick in order to micro the zergling AND produce the extra queen + extractor. You exactly have the right amount of money so you can't do it sooner to be more intensive on the zergling micro.

The goal of this build is to apply pressure on your opponent while walling you off with the 2 queen you produced early. It will allow you to pretty much ignore mass zergling play: The wall off will buy you the extra time you need to produce roaches and so deny the mass zergling/baneling play.

More so, it will put you ahead economically thanks to early larva inject. Your opponent will feel like he has to do some damage back, but your good defense will totally screw him up. I think the best reponse to this build is to totally ignore the early drone loss, to make a full-drone expand build. But still hard to manage has you have to be prepared to the timing push. No over-droning allowed.



Finding your opponent



On 4 player map, you will sometime need to include a drone scouting if your initial overlord don't find your opponent in close air position. The right timing in this case is to bring a drone at 10/10 food, when your second overlord is just started. Just check the close ground position. If your opponent is neither close air or close ground, it means he is cross position. don't send your drone there, just redirect the zergling in the right direction. Do notice that 4 player map with only 3 spawning location like Shakuras plateau are pretty convenient for this build, because the initial overlord will scout one position in time.



I don't use this build on Tal'darim altar or big GSL map. I go for expand first instead.



The 6 initial Zergling



If your opponent is going hatch first



Focus the hatch, your opponent will have to cancel it. Then go for the mineral line, he will have 4 ling max, so focus them so he will have to reproduce them. Anyway, it is pretty rare to see hatch first even on big map like tal darim altar, which is pretty sad. Pretty needless to say that canceling the hatch is enough damage for your 9 pool.



If your opponent is going 13 pool 13 gas



Your zergling will arrive in time, you will able to focus the drone. If your opponent is really good at managing is drone, he will lose only 2 to 3 drone, which is enough damage. If he screw up, he can lose them all, it already happen ^^but don't count on it. Anyway, the 9 pool is not supposed to be a direct win strategy at all. Don't let the drone surround you though.



If your opponent is going 9 pool



Let the best win !



Overlord placement



Your overlord placement is SO important. I have a individual overlord placement for every map, so it is too long to describe. I'd rather simply tell the goal your overlord are supposed to achieve.

Why is it so important? Well, after your initial push, you'll be locked in your base giving up map control for a long time. So you have to be ready to what your opponent is up to.



-Scouting the timing of his natural expansion: Usually with your 1st or 2nd overlord, depending which one is in the closest position. When his expansion is finished, draw your overlord back to his 3rd. He doesn't need to die to a queen.



-Scouting the attacking path between your base: In order to see his army compo and his timing attack. Always very useful in order to react properly and in time. I use 4 to 5 overlord in order to perform this mission, even on 2 player map.



Follow up



It is important that your zergling die. It is actually better to free up the supply than making another overlord, because it is a tight build.



19/18 (-3 supply considering the zergling soon to be dead): Drone with the 1st larva inject finishing.



-2nd larva inject: If you want to be super-safe, go send the queen at your ramp right now. If you feel confident he will not send early zergling, then simply wait to a 3rd larva inject, then wall off. if you see only 4 zergling coming, don't wall off. The queen in your base can manage them easily, so you can put a 3rd larva inject without any interruption.





22/26: 3rd Queen



The third queen is here to keep a continue larva inject while the 2 other queen are the main defender unit.



24/26: 3 drone into gaz

24/26: Roach warren

24/26 --> 26/26: Drone

26/26: 2 overlord

26/42: 4 to 5 roach.



-When your roaches are done, you should have 300 mineral, plant down your expansion and cover it with your roaches. Let the queen wall off the ramp.



-When you have 100 gas, tech to lair.



-As soon as your lair is started, take your second gas and start an evolution chamber.



-Theoretically, you can keep droning up. Unless your opponent is rushing you, but i will discuss this further in another part of the thread.



-As soon as you reach 100 gas again, start +1 attack



-As soon as you reach 100 gas again, start roach speed



-When your +1 range and roach speed is one third complete, start the mass roach production



-You will be able to hit a timing around 80 pop, when your speed and upgrade finishes. Go crush your opponent face.



Your one and only creep tumor



It's a very important detail. First it allow you to join your ramp quickly, as you know queen off creep are sooooo slow. Then, it will allow you to make your 4 initial roaches able to defend your expand against zergling. Without it, they can out micro you. After that, i usually don't spread the creep anymore, unless i take a third. Personnal choice here. Don't spend more energy on creep tumor, you will need it to transfuse your roach against any early agression.



Against a 1 base mass zergling player



It is maybe the most delicate build to hold against. He should attack you just when your 3rd queen is about to pop out. Send her IMMEDIATELY to the front to help the inital 2 queen. You should have just the right amount for 1 or 2 transfuse, so your queen should be able to hold until the roaches come. Needless yo say that after holding this rush, it will be pretty much GG, because he will be SO far behind economically. He spent larva on zergling whereas yours are drone.



Against a 1 base roach all-in



You'll have 1 or 2 less roach than him. Don't freak out, as long as you are able to tranfuse your own roach (you should have 4 to 5 transfuse available at this point of time) you'll be ok. Start your roach production as soon as you see the push coming, and it's gg.



Against a 1 base baneling bust



He is toasted. Queenies + tranfuse and roach in time. No match. This build was designed to counter this strat and then evolved.



Against a 2 base mass zergling player



He will not try to bust your ramp, but maybe will try to counter attack whenever your roaches are moving for the push. Just wait for 1 more round of roaches and let them at home with your 2 queen full of energy. it will be enough to hold, and your roach will reach his base so he has to back up.

It is important to engage along a wall to prevent a complete surround. keep up the hit and run micro, and you will crush him easily.



Against a standard roach user on 2 base



Well, you'll have more roach than him. Keep rally roach and push endlessly. If you see him making spincrawler and barely hold your push, just keep your roach army at his front without engaging and make an extra round of drone, then keep the roach production. If he manages to pull a even game at this point, then you are about to enter the late-game phase of the game, which i will discuss further in another part of this thread.



Against a muta user



You have 3 queen and an evo chamber up. 1 spore crawler in mineral line is enough. Take your 4 gas and start hydralisk production. When you have enough hydra to move out, move out.



Theory and practice



Of course, a well executed all in will do a lot of damage to you. A lot of time, i lose both queen and most part of the roaches. But they should never be able to do some economic damage. And you'll be like 10 to 15 drone ahead, so it's only a matter of time before they die.



Managing your economy & late game



When your roach push reach your ennemy base, it is time for you to take 1 more gas, and to start +2 attack upgrade. It is important to know when to take an additional gas, as you don't want to have a lot of minerals that you can't spend while producing your roach army. Around 40 drone is the time for you to take your 3rd gas in order to produce roach and keep upgrading while keeping your money low. It will allow you to gain a roach number and an upgrade advantage all game long. But i honestly win 90% of my ZvZ, and 90% of this win are taken when my timing push occur.



Feel free to do whatever you want in late game. Roach/hydra or Roach/infestor are both good.



Why is this strategy good?



You can find every component of a good strategy in this build:



-Apply pressure: Mistakes are a big part of this game. You can't hope your opponent makes one, but you can definitely use pressure and harassment to force them. Forcing unit instead of drone and forcing agression instead of macro is the whole point here.



-To have a plan: Going into a game with a clear plan will help you tremendously. Why is that? Because along with practice, you are gonna be able to master every stage of the game, whatever is your opponent doing. The other reason is that you NEED to be able to transition out of any situation. All-in are certainly important in this game, but only if you can manage a standard game as well. Follow up are key to play a good game.



-To have an all around balanced build: Doing a build that has weaknesses should be avoided for the most part of the game. What i mean by that, is a build that can lose to another build automatically. For example, a 4 warp gate against a banshee with cloak build. A good build will allow you to respond whatever your opponent is doing.



-Putting yourself in cost-efficient situation: Good harassing or defense are related to the damage your able to inflict compared to what it does cost you. In this build, using transfuse and roach to defend efficiently against a more expansive army is key.



-Timing pushes: The way Zerg works makes timing push an even more important aspect of the game. Because unit and drone are all related to larvae, you need to know when it is time to drone and when is it time to produce an army. A good build along with efficient scouting will allow you to macro at the right time. A well used build will diminish the timing window where you are weak, and increase the timing window where your opponent is weak.



Replays



Sadly i have no replay to show you, i need to go ladder and save the replay. I will update.



EDIT: here is the first replay freshly played



2 base roach play



ZvZStandard1

In this replay, on Shattered temple, we spawn on close air position. Only 2 drone kill so no early major mistake on my opponent behalf.The following event that happens in this replay are precisely what i described in this thread.



Hi all,9/10: pool10/10: overlord10/18: 6 zergling13/18: queen ---> larva inject15/18-->17/18: Drone17/18: Overlord19/18: Queen + extractor ---> creep tumor (only 1)As usual, the zergling are reaching the ennemy base at 17/18, so you have to be quick in order to micro the zergling AND produce the extra queen + extractor. You exactly have the right amount of money so you can't do it sooner to be more intensive on the zergling micro.The goal of this build is to apply pressure on your opponent while walling you off with the 2 queen you produced early. It will allow you to pretty much ignore mass zergling play: The wall off will buy you the extra time you need to produce roaches and so deny the mass zergling/baneling play.More so, it will put you ahead economically thanks to early larva inject. Your opponent will feel like he has to do some damage back, but your good defense will totally screw him up. I think the best reponse to this build is to totally ignore the early drone loss, to make a full-drone expand build. But still hard to manage has you have to be prepared to the timing push. No over-droning allowed.On 4 player map, you will sometime need to include a drone scouting if your initial overlord don't find your opponent in close air position. The right timing in this case is to bring a drone at 10/10 food, when your second overlord is just started. Just check the close ground position. If your opponent is neither close air or close ground, it means he is cross position. don't send your drone there, just redirect the zergling in the right direction. Do notice that 4 player map with only 3 spawning location like Shakuras plateau are pretty convenient for this build, because the initial overlord will scout one position in time.I don't use this build on Tal'darim altar or big GSL map. I go for expand first instead.Focus the hatch, your opponent will have to cancel it. Then go for the mineral line, he will have 4 ling max, so focus them so he will have to reproduce them. Anyway, it is pretty rare to see hatch first even on big map like tal darim altar, which is pretty sad. Pretty needless to say that canceling the hatch is enough damage for your 9 pool.Your zergling will arrive in time, you will able to focus the drone. If your opponent is really good at managing is drone, he will lose only 2 to 3 drone, which is enough damage. If he screw up, he can lose them all, it already happen ^^but don't count on it. Anyway, the 9 pool is not supposed to be a direct win strategy at all. Don't let the drone surround you though.Let the best win !Your overlord placement is SO important. I have a individual overlord placement for every map, so it is too long to describe. I'd rather simply tell the goal your overlord are supposed to achieve.Why is it so important? Well, after your initial push, you'll be locked in your base giving up map control for a long time. So you have to be ready to what your opponent is up to.-Scouting the timing of his natural expansion: Usually with your 1st or 2nd overlord, depending which one is in the closest position. When his expansion is finished, draw your overlord back to his 3rd. He doesn't need to die to a queen.-Scouting the attacking path between your base: In order to see his army compo and his timing attack. Always very useful in order to react properly and in time. I use 4 to 5 overlord in order to perform this mission, even on 2 player map.It is important that your zergling die. It is actually better to free up the supply than making another overlord, because it is a tight build.19/18 (-3 supply considering the zergling soon to be dead): Drone with the 1st larva inject finishing.-2nd larva inject: If you want to be super-safe, go send the queen at your ramp right now. If you feel confident he will not send early zergling, then simply wait to a 3rd larva inject, then wall off. if you see only 4 zergling coming, don't wall off. The queen in your base can manage them easily, so you can put a 3rd larva inject without any interruption.22/26: 3rd QueenThe third queen is here to keep a continue larva inject while the 2 other queen are the main defender unit.24/26: 3 drone into gaz24/26: Roach warren24/26 --> 26/26: Drone26/26: 2 overlord26/42: 4 to 5 roach.-When your roaches are done, you should have 300 mineral, plant down your expansion and cover it with your roaches. Let the queen wall off the ramp.-When you have 100 gas, tech to lair.-As soon as your lair is started, take your second gas and start an evolution chamber.-Theoretically, you can keep droning up. Unless your opponent is rushing you, but i will discuss this further in another part of the thread.-As soon as you reach 100 gas again, start +1 attack-As soon as you reach 100 gas again, start roach speed-When your +1 range and roach speed is one third complete, start the mass roach production-You will be able to hit a timing around 80 pop, when your speed and upgrade finishes. Go crush your opponent face.It's a very important detail. First it allow you to join your ramp quickly, as you know queen off creep are sooooo slow. Then, it will allow you to make your 4 initial roaches able to defend your expand against zergling. Without it, they can out micro you. After that, i usually don't spread the creep anymore, unless i take a third. Personnal choice here. Don't spend more energy on creep tumor, you will need it to transfuse your roach against any early agression.It is maybe the most delicate build to hold against. He should attack you just when your 3rd queen is about to pop out. Send her IMMEDIATELY to the front to help the inital 2 queen. You should have just the right amount for 1 or 2 transfuse, so your queen should be able to hold until the roaches come. Needless yo say that after holding this rush, it will be pretty much GG, because he will be SO far behind economically. He spent larva on zergling whereas yours are drone.You'll have 1 or 2 less roach than him. Don't freak out, as long as you are able to tranfuse your own roach (you should have 4 to 5 transfuse available at this point of time) you'll be ok. Start your roach production as soon as you see the push coming, and it's gg.He is toasted. Queenies + tranfuse and roach in time. No match. This build was designed to counter this strat and then evolved.He will not try to bust your ramp, but maybe will try to counter attack whenever your roaches are moving for the push. Just wait for 1 more round of roaches and let them at home with your 2 queen full of energy. it will be enough to hold, and your roach will reach his base so he has to back up.It is important to engage along a wall to prevent a complete surround. keep up the hit and run micro, and you will crush him easily.Well, you'll have more roach than him. Keep rally roach and push endlessly. If you see him making spincrawler and barely hold your push, just keep your roach army at his front without engaging and make an extra round of drone, then keep the roach production. If he manages to pull a even game at this point, then you are about to enter the late-game phase of the game, which i will discuss further in another part of this thread.You have 3 queen and an evo chamber up. 1 spore crawler in mineral line is enough. Take your 4 gas and start hydralisk production. When you have enough hydra to move out, move out.Of course, a well executed all in will do a lot of damage to you. A lot of time, i lose both queen and most part of the roaches. But they should never be able to do some economic damage. And you'll be like 10 to 15 drone ahead, so it's only a matter of time before they die.When your roach push reach your ennemy base, it is time for you to take 1 more gas, and to start +2 attack upgrade. It is important to know when to take an additional gas, as you don't want to have a lot of minerals that you can't spend while producing your roach army. Around 40 drone is the time for you to take your 3rd gas in order to produce roach and keep upgrading while keeping your money low. It will allow you to gain a roach number and an upgrade advantage all game long. But i honestly win 90% of my ZvZ, and 90% of this win are taken when my timing push occur.Feel free to do whatever you want in late game. Roach/hydra or Roach/infestor are both good.You can find every component of a good strategy in this build:Mistakes are a big part of this game. You can't hope your opponent makes one, but you can definitely use pressure and harassment to force them. Forcing unit instead of drone and forcing agression instead of macro is the whole point here.Going into a game with a clear plan will help you tremendously. Why is that? Because along with practice, you are gonna be able to master every stage of the game, whatever is your opponent doing. The other reason is that you NEED to be able to transition out of any situation. All-in are certainly important in this game, but only if you can manage a standard game as well. Follow up are key to play a good game.Doing a build that has weaknesses should be avoided for the most part of the game. What i mean by that, is a build that can lose to another build automatically. For example, a 4 warp gate against a banshee with cloak build. A good build will allow you to respond whatever your opponent is doing.Good harassing or defense are related to the damage your able to inflict compared to what it does cost you. In this build, using transfuse and roach to defend efficiently against a more expansive army is key.The way Zerg works makes timing push an even more important aspect of the game. Because unit and drone are all related to larvae, you need to know when it is time to drone and when is it time to produce an army. A good build along with efficient scouting will allow you to macro at the right time. A well used build will diminish the timing window where you are weak, and increase the timing window where your opponent is weak.Sadly i have no replay to show you, i need to go ladder and save the replay. I will update.EDIT: here is the first replay freshly playedIn this replay, on Shattered temple, we spawn on close air position. Only 2 drone kill so no early major mistake on my opponent behalf.The following event that happens in this replay are precisely what i described in this thread.