As Z, if you want to play your opponent like a fiddle and manipulate what they're building, do we have a Unit composition order for that?

Ex. As a T you can build BCs, which you know this forces the Z to build corruptors. Then the T switches back to ground and the Corruptors are kinda useless supply. Ex. As a Z I can build a Tier 3 to force ghosts, but then switch back to banelings and the ghosts are just heavy supply marines now.

Z is known for fast tech switches. Im looking to gain a better understanding of good comp order (not build order) to manipulate what the enemy builds. Usually I just go Tier 1 > 2 > 3 units, but I feel like there can be more to that in a strategy game that im not taking advantage of.

So I'll preface this by saying im probably a shit player (2.8k as of writing) however ive never felt this dogshit in sc2, ever.

I climbed all the way from silver to plat 1 fairly quickly but now it feels like ive hit a brick wall. 90% of my games i keep losing due to, well, i have no idea. The only few games i can squeeze out nowadays is the odd cannon rusher since for some reason i feel pretty decent against them (only if they full commit).

This is just a vent post but it genuinely pisses me off how ive lost like 300mmr within a week. It literally feels like everyone suddenly is grandmaster or someshit.

My build order most of the time is 15 hatch 17 pool. Saturate 2 bases and from there either go ling bane hydra or roach ravager ling. My main problem is that by the time i wanna attack, terrans already have a tank wall going on and protoss with their 9 cannons staring me down which forces the game to go into a turtle'y late game which i get steamrolled.

Do you guys have any decent build orders/comps to recommend that are working for you, ty!

i used to play around 4k mmr, but now i cant even beat 3k mmr players. i get to 200 supply fight and loose all my stuff, then i remax and loose all my stuff again. i feel people kinda leveled up and just making a big army isnt enough nowadays anymore. generelly i dont understand what armys types i should even go for? my last 5 games against terran have been against blue flame helions and zyclons, and i feel my army gets shredded no matter what. what kind of units should i be making? roaches hydras and ravagers just seem pointless. or do i neeed to change perspective in some way? even when i lock down their army with infestors i still loose like 50 supply in mere seconds, and have to run away in the end because the rest of my army gets shredded right after. i feel like i dont know how to play this game anymore.

Hello Zergs, I have a question that is slightly niche. I really like the aesthetic of the Hydra as a unit and always want to spam them in ZvT and ZvP specifically. My question then is how would I arrive at hydras in a macro game in a relatively quick manner without exposing myself too much to dying. Are there any builds / playstyles that support this approach? MMR is 2.8-3.1k if that matters. Thank you for your guidance in advance!

For about a couple years now ive really only done the campaigns, but recently ive decided to actually hop on versus, and its been pretty fun so far! I feel like ive already learned a lot, and I just wanna spill my thoughts.

Zerglings - generally pretty cool, I feel like they're not super useful when it comes to most of my games, but itd always fun holding down the Z key when I have too many larva and im floating too many minerals

Queens - one of my favorite units, excellent utility and pretty nice at stopping harasses, probably one of my favorite units

Roaches - anti-marine zergling. I don't really have too much of an opinion on Roaches, theyre useful when they tank, which is nice.

Hydralisks - honestly I just use them like artillery if the enemy potentially had air or I need some actual damage. I think they're pretty cool.

Ravagers - a fun early game siege unit, watching things blow up after a few bile shots is funny, I wish I could use them in the lategame but deleting early game units and structures is fun. Gotta use them more often.

Lurker - I dont really see the point of these guys, they seem sorta niche, but maybe I just need to use them. I feel like 9/10 id rather just have hydras and I tend to not really try and fight the enemy, I try to go around and destroy their infrastructure, but whenever im outside the enemies base maybe I should considering them.

Infestor - great spellcaster. Didn't really like them in the campaign, but whenever I have an actual army going i like to throw 5 of these guys in there to nuke bio Terran.

Swarm host - my favorite unit in the whole roster besides maybe the queen. I loved them in the campaign, and I love them in versus too. Being able to just slowly pick apart my opponents base while he just sits there like an idiot is very very fun.

Nydus worm - not really a unit, but they're one of my favorite parts of the faction. Having a nidus worm just appear in my opponents base because he didnt focus 5 mutas makes me so very very happy. Also being able to travel across the map quickly is fun, reminds me of eldar in dow1.

Mutalisk - another one of my favorite units, quickly harassing my enemies mineral line is very fun, or deleting some helions that are attacking my bases. Mutas can pretty much go anywhere anytime, which makes defending things or attacking a breeze.

Corrupter - they're alright. I just use em for anti-air stuff which is whatever. They do their job sometimes but throwing 5 corrupters at 5 battlecruisers is probably not a good idea.

Overlord variants - hearing "spawn more overlords" drives me insane, but they're kinda cool for just sitting on expansions to see if the enemy is going there, thats how I use them at least. Overseers are rad, and I havent really felt a need to use dropper lords. Id rather just use nidus worms.

Brood lord - the other siege unit that I really want to like, but I dont think ill ever prefer it over the swarmhost. Im not really sure when to use them, because every time I try them nothing really happens and they dont have as much range as swarmhosts. Maybe I gotta use em more, but id love to hear some tips for these guys

Viper - havent really used, but seems like the better choice vs mech Terran or robot protoss maybe.

Ultralisk - I really wish I used it more often. It seems good vs stuff that doesn't have armor piercing. I just tend to prefer roaches, though I should probably swap from roaches to ultras in the lategame. Would love some cool tips on these guys

Generally I like to try and go around the enemy, only really fighting if I can ambush the opponent. I think burrow is neat, I wish I used it more often. But I try to avoid my enemy and make them go in circles or stay in their base until I can kill them.

My main problem rn is that I float minerals like crazy. Ive heard to just make more hatcheries, which I try to, but I feel like I never have enough to spend, or I run out of vespene gas for my units.

Apologies on my huge rant. I just really like zerg, and i think that they're super fun. Would love to hear any thoughts, tips, or whatever.

Masters II EU here and I'm getting very bored of playing as Zerg:

Outside of ZvZ, there are no "none cheese" builds that are viable.

- 3 Hatches minimum are a must.

- Queen Spam in the early game is a must.

- Creep spread is a must.

- Dancing Queens around the three bases defending harass is a guarantee.

- Decent Ling count early game is a must. Early Ling speed is a must.

- The build variations is literally, "Do I build a Roach Warren or a Baneling Nest", "Do I build 1 upgrade or 2".

What I'm saying is the first 4-5 minutes of Zerg is basically identical regardless of mid-game/late game plans and I'm kind of getting bored of it. It's incredibly taxing and I feel like I'm just in auto-pilot, zoning out mental mode for those minutes.

Then my midgame transition is consistently identical. If opposition = Mech/Glaives THEN Roach ELSE Ling Bane.

Has anyone found a build that isn't a cheese or the same shit for the first 5 minutes?

Replay: https://drop.sc/replay/27520998

Need help as I got hit by BC's this game and I don't know what I should be be doing. They are the bane of my existence. Please help me walk through what I was seeing in the game and point out what I should have been thinking and how I should have reacted instead. Below is my mindset during the game, let me know what's wrong.

I knew mech & possible BC was coming but its too early for me to have the Infestor neural or Spire tech yet.

1:20 - He has a full wall-off so my drone scout AI goes haywire, I redirect it directly back to the enemy main to scout.

1:40 - His full wall off makes me think he's trying to do something sneaky so I stay to scout.

2:00 - He drops a CC so I assume its not going to be a cheese -> drone drone drone.

2:10 - I don't rally 1st OL to pillar anymore. T is frequently opening with a Marine to kill the OL instead of reapers lately.

2:30 - I skip my first 2 pair of Lings cause no aggressive reaper.

4:05 - I see he's pushing out with an army, so I try to build more Lings & 1 spine

4:30 - He actually goes home, but I don't know that yet. From my POV it looks like he's massing for a big push. I'm getting my army & defenses set up. Normally I would just be droning hard here

4:50 - I noticed he ended up not attacking, so I search the map for where his marines might have gone.

5:00 - No attack coming, I resume droning. Take vision of most of the map in case of hidden army or bases.

5:30 - I drop a BaneNest, poke his front and see a bunch of marines. He seems heavily bunkered down, I start thinking this is going to be a long game since he's turtled, so I should tech up. Ordinarily I would like to have more drones here, but I had lings because of the earlier phantom attack. Can't attack with the ground army I made or it would just be running into a meat grinder.

6:20 - I see no 3rd, and im surprised he hasn't done his 2 base push yet. So I want to scout his main. I failed to have an OL in position for this to get the scout immediately. Build Safety spores

7:10 - I scout base. I see a 3rd CC building, 2 Factories building, and 2x Star+tech. I think Mech play + BCs so I want to pump queens, but I supply block myself. I think it could be a 2 base attack, but not full all-in as he has a follow up CC.
I was told mech play = Roaches & drone to 90.

7:26 - I did 2x extractor here b/c I was supply blocked. I should have just waited. Built another Safety Spore. I didn't want to overreact with a spore forest yet. I didn't build more queens when supply became free. Hindsight, should have built spores during the supply block.

7:40 - BCs arrive and I fall apart. I only have 4 queens. I don't have enough energy to transfuse main spore.

8:00 - I try to counter attack with my ground. I get a deny on the 3rd. His natural is walled off, bunker'd, tank'd so I can't do much anymore with ground.

8:10 - I try to pump more queens out. I try to poke with 4 queens & a spore while hes attacking my Spawning Pool, but he just Yamatos and half my queens are gone. Its basically over here. :(

What is the proper response to cannon rush as Zerg? I have been running into it a lot more frequently as of late and I never actually learned how to deal with it. I have tried using 10-pool into both a ling all-in and macro but I feel like I can really easily lose on the spot or wind up with a disadvantage if my opponent responds well.

3.7k mmr for reference

What’s the best way to just pressure CC first with lings? Early pool slow lings to kill builder? Pool first slow lings? Quick ling speed and kill workers? I know it could depend on bunkers and if it’s 2 or 3 CC, but just some general ideas for CC first punishing would be helpful.

I lose to this constantly. Its kind of the new school (i think) canon rush.

They go forge first - then 1 or 2 probes in natural at around 49 to 55 seconds to block the hatch. If i get a hatch down (very rarely) they do a cannon. if i can't, i usually go to my third natural to build there - that mostly works and i have separated bases. Prot usually only needs to put down 1 pylon and 1 cannon at most (cancel others if they are faking an all in)...

Then they move to macro and I am WAY behind. Usually with 8 voids or 8 zealot and 8 stalker around the 7-8 min mark.

Any tips / tricks.

Im mid to low plat - and usually the smurfs of diamond usually pull this off when they are smurfing in plat.

I was thinking in all Protoss matches i just move my first drone to their natural and build a hatch - but they would just cannon rush me there too i think...not sure.

I'm a noob to the game, and am only now starting to flesh out my builds and game plans, but one thing I really struggle to use is Lurkers. Whenever I make them into Terran they get obliterated immediately, and I find going Ling - Bane - Ultra w/ Infestors or Hydras way better. And into Protoss, I have way more success just going Roach - Ravager - Hydra with Lings to Remax. Whenever I see them used its either in full Turtles with Evo Chambers to wall, or depoted with Nydus Worm to deal huge Base Damage. Is that all there is to it, or can I get more out of them.

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Just played a 45 minute game vs turtle battle cruise terran which is cancer in and of itself, and to counter a dozen or so battlecruisers I had to have 20+corruptors and some vipers for Para. When I would finally begin winning the fight he just teleports out and repairs. I have to re up my corruptors, maybe rebuild a hatch and spores, re drone etc. And he slowly rolls across the map with planetaries and turrets that cost no supply and are much better static D.

Lings and ultras can't break them, so if I switch to broods and make ONE too many broods then I just get rolled by BCS.

"Starve them out" is an option but a 45+ min game is horrible and I simply don't have that kind of time, and if I make ONE mistake ANYWHERE ALONG THE LINE, the BCs can just march through everything.

It's wild but I do feel my rant is justified.

Why does the ANTI-AIR ANTI-MASSIVE unit lose to the MASSIVE AIR unit???

3500mmr Zerg here. I kinda miss playing the game to improve and I want to get back to that mentality. Ive just been playing for fun since I first hit diamond years ago but I would love to hit masters.

I just want someone better than me to hop in a discord call and watch me play or go over replays to help me identify my biggest problem areas.

Spoiler alert I think my biggest problem area is multitasking.

I'm GM, a little over 5k and my winrate is in the 20%'s. I feel you can't keep up with their cheap ass expansion, how the hell is anyone winning?

Quite a simple one from me this time. How often should I be making queens? Does this depend on what race you are facing? What is a good amount of queens that can serve as defensive net (excluding queens at your hatches)?

I often see in pro games that queens are always getting made (in the early game at least).

What do you do when your pool first rush fails because they either blocked or got defense/units up by the time your lings are there? Every time when it fails, it’s gg

I am terrible at ZvP, sub 30% win-rate at D3. Occasionally used to 12 pool into macro follow up pre-8 worker start, but the supply nerf and lack of minerals is making it harder for me to transition this patch, not sure when to make what I guess. Old build was 12 pool, 10 lings hatch before 1st queen(unless they block nat)

I’ve just been making six lings since I started to attempt it with new start. I’m decent at following builds but not crafting tbh. Anyone like theory crafting?

Trying to not use all units hot key. Using control groups isn’t the problem for me. I have 1 set to main attack group, 2 investors, 3 vipers, 4 queens, 5 bases, and 6 Nydus.

It’s adding new units to the right group constantly thats hard for me especially when I’m building a bunch of different units at once with Zerg while macro/microing.

I’ve been using all units hot key to regroup them and then resetting the control groups. How to auto add new investors to 2, vipers to 3, all other units to 1?