"We Few Still Fear the Fog"
Zerg Vs Protoss Match up analysis.
by sataNik.
GENERAL
1.07 History
In 1.07 days fast expand was almost routine play for Zerg, focusing on creating a big economy right away. If Zerg managed to keep the exp, the advantage was obvious and if toss tried to fast expand himself he had to face so many threats (muta, lurk drops, mass ling, mass hydra with +1, more expanding by Zerg, etc) that he needed extreme detail AND luck to survive as he had no way of early game recon.
Knowing all these, most good toss players tried their chance with an aggressive opening, aiming at taking the Zerg exp rite away.
Most Korean Zerg masters, not wanting to risk against a good micro-ing rusher
toss, chose to safely pool first at 12 and hatch rite after at the exp.
1.08 Changes
1.08 Patch brought a big relief for protoss, as it gave him more early game capabilities with the increase of spawning pool cost, the weakened sunken colony and the stronger zealot. (Zealot's 20 more armor in place of shield). So it is obvious that if 1.07 fast exp was risky, 1.08 fast exp is like playing Russian roulette.
THE PLAN
The plan is to take the only safe fast expand (gas) you have in order to be able to multiple tech mid-game. Usually you take your time to tech, working at your econ with 3 hatch, but in some occasions 2 hatch lair just calls for it.
3 hatch in 1 base AND gas?? Sure, you have gas in deposit as you make speedlings or drones from 3 hatch and lair after. This way you can have both spire and hydralisk den and produce the units of your choice after you see the toss course of action. I like to have as many options available in early/mid game as possible.
If a toss makes bold, risky moves, it is Zerg's duty to punish him fast with the appropriate units. Failure to do so will inevitably result in a disadvantage. Typical winning variations include lurkers-drones-exp or lurker-ling-scourge containment if he goes speed zeals and temps, mass muta-lings if he goes fast robo, lurker-ling drops if he expands fast with cannons.
BUILD ORDER
9 Overlord
9 extractor trick
10 scout with drone (optional)
12 Gas
12 Pool (delay pool if such information is acquired)
From here the deviations are infinite.
Protoss play will determine the course of action.
2nd hatch goes at ramp for option of ramp sunken or at main for better mining.
Of course there are many occasions where it's absolutely safe to make 2nd
and/or 3rd hatch in new exp. slots.
EARLY GAME VARIATIONS
A. Aggressive Protoss.
A1. Gate(s) in center of the map:
1 sunk inside drones so that all buildings are covered, 4-6 lings to keep the initial rush.
If he makes more zealots, make more zerglings and speed followed by hydras.
Lings are the primary force, hydras act as ramp breakers. you kill the
Gateways and expand if he has cannons to secure his main or just kill him if he
hasn't.
A2. Gate(s) + forge to blockade ramp:
If he has cannons above ramp attack with speedlings, all drones and some
Hydras to destroy the blockade. (2-3 hatch) ~15 drone
If he has cannons below ramp go relatively fast lair for transport and
Transport hydras and speed lings to attack his main or flank the blockade. (3 hatch) 20+
Drone.
A3. 2-3 Gates in main:
Make a sunken, a few lings and drones initially, but only lings after you have
around 25 drones because tech-ing too early puts the base in danger.
B. Defensive Protoss.
B1. 1 Gate, Gas:
Get only 100 gas and have 12-13 drones in mineral. Make 2 more hatch, one at
Expand and then upgrade lings, and make lings only, rally-ed at his choke. If he has
Battery take gas for 2-4 hydras only as ramp breakers. He can't hold his ramp unless
he cannons. In this case make drones, tech and exp b4 making 2 many lings or try to break in b4 the cannon warps in.
B2. 2 Gate, early Gas:
Don't make lings at all unless he comes to you. Most likely he wants to tech
fast with the option of making zealots in case of rush.
B3. 1 Gate, Fast exp (no cannon):
3 hatch (3 base) speedlings attack him, make drones if he manages to defend.
B4. Fast exp with cannons (no gate):
Exp x 2, contain.
B5. Fast exp with gate and cannons:
Damage him with the initial 6-8 lings, and muta-ling him for the kill or lurker-scourge to contain and grow.
Anther option is to get 100 gas for speed lings, make 10-12 lings to kill his
Scouting probes and exp x2.He will be afraid of multi lings and make more cannons.
If he is relaxed and techs, multi ling him.
MID GAME STRATEGIES
A. One Base attack plan.
Toss stays 1 base 4 a long time making strong ground army.
A1. He goes zealot-temps.
Power 2 base and go lurker-sunken-scourge. Upgrade carapace ASAP. He's heavy on
gas, he needs observers and he relies on psi/archons for anti-air so guardians is
best late game choice with shift to hydra/crack.
A2. He goes goon-reaver.
Don't power but make speed lings and expand far away. Go muta and get +1
Carapace rite away because he will make corsair. His army is very strong but immobile so flank him only when you're sure you have him or you're obliged to fight. Cliff sunks
are strong because reaver can't hit them. Watch out for devastating reaver drops, have
scourge in key places. When you flank target reavers with muta and shuttle with
scourge.
If he switch to zeal/archon/reaver go guard/crack. As guardians is the number one threat, he might be well prepared for that with a corsair fleet. In this case should be ready to switch to ultra/hydra/crack.
B. Tech to harass/expand plan.
Toss techs to delay the Zerg development and expand.
B1. Fast corsairs to temps.
Go spore/sunken to defend and fast lair for drop/speed/lurker/scourge as you power.
Another option is to go fast den with +1 hydra attack, econ of a little more than 1 drone per mineral patch and try to attack him with slow ovie or contain him, as you take the mineral exp, 2nd gas and lair. His fast temps will have double psi and he can also psi raid/dt drop etc so be aware and keep some army in all bases. Later on I suggest going hive for cracks ASAP, get 2 more evo, spire for scourge, a few lurks and take map without making more drones than 1/mineral patch.
If he masses corsairs get over speed b4 hive and upgrade air carapace.
B2. Fast corsairs and robo.
Go lair ASAP, defensive sunkens to protect exp from cliff goons, the natural
follow up. Get spire for muta/scourge and air carapace upgrades non stop.
Most likely he will keep up with reaver/goon/corsairs/zeal and not go templars
due to gas limitations. In this case go guard/dev/crack after powering.
If he goes a few templars with goons mostly, make speedlings to flank and
don't power too much. Late game guard/crack or ultra/crack will own his goons.
If he goes zeal/goon/temp go lurks and power a bit.
UNIT ANALYSIS
ZERGLING (The MVP)
The cheapest and most cost effective unit of zerg is the zergling.
Properly upgraded it's devastating and I always use it in this match up.
But due to its low hit points, later on it requires support.
Also it's kind of difficult to control and requires extreme precision
when flanking with many groups. A perfectly executed ling flank is
a piece of art and it grants you great satisfaction ^.^;;
Zerg have many nice utility units but most are gas heavy.
Its all in place as extensive ling usage makes multi teching viable.
ENEMIES watch out!!
No1 : Ling Burner (zealots with attack grade exceeding your carapace)
No2 : Reaver (balls of fire)
No3 : Archon (they burn)
Conclusion : avoid heat.
HYDRALISK
The most widely used unit and the most stable one. Fair cost, it gains
strength in high numbers. Due to its stability it is best for securing a win
once you have economical advantage. It is possible to win by making only hydra
but I almost never start with hydra. Usually I switch to them when its
advantageous or when necessary (i.e. he went archons as a response to
muta-lings
so I go hydra, or I have to defend vs. corsairs/drops).
ENEMIES
No1: Psionic Storm (move out!)
No2: Reaver (sprint towards and kill the damn thing ignoring the pain)
No3: Disruption web (move out!)
Conclusion: Hydra dancing might sound like fun but it's more like the
Dance make when someone is shooting at your feet :P
Also good acceleration is required.
MUTALISK (my love) ^^
There is nothing I like more than entering to a semi-prepared toss base
with a muta group. Hit and move, go in circles, Destroy as he runs in panic
where you choose. Targets are everywhere, max damage is in order. However,
once the surprise is gone and defenses are up it's rarely a good idea to
keep up muta production. They are used to scout the map, harass weak spots,
protect against drops and maybe be transformed to guardians or devourers.
ENEMIES
No1: Archon (Avoid)
No2: Corsair fleet (upgrade carapace)
No3: Psionic Storm (PAY ATTENTION to mutas, not your damn base you macro freak)
keke
Conclusion: Surprise!! ;)
SCOURGE (Discount catalogue below)
Shuttle: 
200 25- 75
Shuttle with cargo: priceless 25 -75
corsair: 150-100 25- 75
scout: 275-125 37.5- 112.5
observer: 25-75 12.5- 37.5
Conclusion: Happy customer's choice!
LURKER
This unit is the bane of zeal/temps strategy. 1 psi is not enough to kill
These things now and zealots are served as breakfast. Used in most of the games That surpass the early stages, it grants a solid toss containment or ample time To work on econ. you just support with lings or hydras and splash scourge for observers.
Number one choice for drops, it wounds the toss economy but more significantly it creates problems for him that require immediate attention and inevitably he postpones his plans.
ENEMIES
No1: Reaver/goon combo
No2: Corsair/carrier combo
Conclusion: how would you like your zealots served?
QUEEN
This unit is a spell caster which can prove very useful in certain
Situations but most of the time it's not needed. However it's very cool to find a good
use of them or just splash a few. Strong uses include:
1. Ensnare vs. zealots if you have hydra.
2. Parasite expensive units (archons/reaver etc) to locate the enemy position.
3. Broodling again and again if the game takes such a course that you know it will last long (both sides focus on defense and stability).
ENEMIES
No1: Time (very micro dependent unit in a macro stage of the game)
Conclusion: long live the queen!
ULTRALISK
This is the best late game unit in the zerg arsenal. In combination with
Hydras and cracklings it absorbs most of the enemy fire giving the smaller units. Time to kill. It's better to fully upgrade them before you engage because the difference is huge.
ENEMIES
No1: reaver (mass reavers will blast them in seconds)
No2: dt (detection is sometimes hard to get)
No3: archon (he might just have a chance)
Conclusion: make and own.
GUARDIAN / DEVOURER
This game winner is no1 selection if opponent lacks air force. Just spread
Them out and psi doesn't have a chance vs. them as log as they are on cliff. Like mutalisk, surprise element is of the essence as a prepared protoss will have a corsair fleet and own them. In combination with devourers it's a good fight vs. corsairs. In this battle air carapace makes huge difference. If toss has scouts instead of corsair, scourge is better support than devourer.
ENEMIES
No1: scout
No2: carrier
No3: corsair
Conclusion: don't mess with protoss air.
DEFILER
More powerful spell caster than queen, the defiler can reverse the odds in
late game. Plague will seriously weaken the enemy's army and buildings and
swarm will make cannons useless so as to blitz-kill heavily cannoned
expansions.
Hmm, I think they should be made in every game that includes a hive and I
forget to make them too often :/
Mental Note: vd,c,bf,c,w.
ENEMIES
No1: laziness
No2: amnesia
No3: over-optimism
Conclusion: hey why bother? I'll just overwhelm him...0-1 T.T
Go-_-sU Trix , Details and "How to"
1.Uses of burrow.
- burrow lings in strategic places of the map to locate the enemy army
- burrow lings in expansion slots to delay or misplace the build of nexus
(especially good if he goes cors/dt/expand and you have burrowed ling in time)
- burrow drones to save them.
- burrow defilers on cliffs to have them safe and ready for casting.
2. Ramp breaker.
Bring 2-4 hydra to shoot from below or bring 2-3 drones to mine from
the toss main but instead attack as they pass inside the zealots. This
misplaces the zealots leaving a gap.
These are of course only support for the 3 hatch lings that are rally-ed at
the ramp. The reason it works is that reinforcements from 3 hatch >> 1 gate.
3. Multiling.
You make drones initially and get only 100 gas for speed. Make one sunken to deny recon. Once you have around 10-13 drones per base you make lings only and hatches as your mineral count increases. Hatches are made with a higher priority than overlords as long as you don't have hatches with 3 larvae waiting.
When you have around 5-7 hatch send 12 lings to kill scouts, rally all hatches outside toss natural and make next hatch at your minerals as you send all lings to attack. Reinforcements can be ample but if he has heavy stationary defenses it is better to change rally points and make drones.1-2 rounds of drones is enough to max 3 base econ.
Mass ground army with 3 evo and center flank play is in order.
4. Island exps.
A zerg who has powered 2 base vs. an aggressive toss most of the times relays on sunkens to protect his heavily droned 2 base. This makes further land expanding a bit insecure, since sunkens are left behind. In this situation
Island exps. are the best choice as they are easily defended:
- Patrolling scourge will bring disaster to dropping attempts by toss.
- Nydus is a must as it provides automatic drone/army transfer.
Mass drops, guardians, queens, defilers is the way to play in this type of
isolated game.
5. Militaristic theory.
Zerg's mechanic of the hatchery along with superior mobility make a very
Strong Game plan possible. Most pro zergs play this way as it is the most ambitious game style but it's also the most skill dependent. Hatches and units all hot keyed, good control, good timing when flanking and speed at keyboard are required.
The following rules generally apply:
(a) New hatcheries are made aggressively towards the center, but in exp
slots.
(b) Military advantage must be able to be achieved at least by the time that
takes for the toss army to reach the closest exp, if not already achieved.
(c) 1 drone/mineral econ + no drone transfer maxes out drone productivity.
(d) Hatches in bases with already 12 drones make army only.
(e) Hatches in bases with none or few drones make drones as long as (b) is true.
(f) None or minimal sunken use.
END.
The ideas and views are highly subjective and might be wrong.
Opinions, suggestions and questions are welcome.
