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Here are my strategies for Zerg. Anyway, if there are any questions, comments or errors please e-mail me. |
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Zerg: a Full Game Overview Take advantage of special abilities like Burrowing. Burrow most of the defending units in your town until your enemy decides to attack. This might give your enemy false recon information and fool him into thinking you have fewer troops there than you really do, causing him to underestimate the needed size of his attacking force. When the attack arrives, unburrow all your troops for a surprise attack. The Zerg are a race of biological weapons. Their units are relatively inexpensive for the most part. They can also produce combat units at a much higher rate than the Protoss or Terrans because each Hatchery can spawn three units at once. Every Zerg unit can also regenerate lost hit points. Use all of these aspects to your advantage and try to attack your enemies with a numerical advantage. You may also consider pulling back damaged units or burrowing them to allow for hit point regeneration. Early Game If you should choose to "rush" with Zerglings, try to get around enemy defenses to attack the worker units of the enemy. Zerglings are also effective against enemy structures. Use Overlords and Zerglings to scout the map quickly. Once the enemy has anti-air units, however, you'll want to pull out your Overlord so that it doesn't get killed. Zerg have the advantage of being able to morph three Larvae simultaneously, instead of needing to build multiple Barracks/Gateways. A common opening strategy for Zerg is to attack early by swarming the enemy with Zerglings. Upgrade the movement speed of the Zerglings early. If troops are guarding the enemy workers closely, split your force in half and use one half to distract your opponent first, then attack the workers. You'll usually want to build another Hatchery inside your first town to produce Zerglings more quickly. At any stage of the game, Hydralisks form the backbone of a well-rounded Zerg army. A combination of Hydralisks and Zerglings is your best bet for early game attacks. Send a group or two of Zerglings in first to attack enemy troops, then immediately follow up with Hydralisks to shoot from a distance. The Zerglings should buy more time for the Hydralisks to fire without being attacked themselves. Hit-and-run tactics work particularly well with Hydralisks against Protoss Zealots or other melee units. Research the speed and range upgrades for the Hydralisks. Approach idle enemies with your own group of Hydralisks and target the nearest enemy unit, attacking from the maximum possible range. Usually your enemy will charge at you by targeting the nearest Hydralisk. Try to guess which of your units he's running for and draw them away from the rest of your Hydralisks, which should still be firing. The idea is to keep the enemy moving instead of attacking your Hydralisks. Mid Game It's important for the Zerg to advance up the tech tree to take advantage of the more advanced units. Preliminary Zerg units simply can't compete against some of the more powerful enemy units, such as Carriers and Siege Tanks, and even hordes of Zealots with their speed upgrade will pose problems for Hydralisks and Zerglings. Upgrade your Hatchery to a Lair so that spawning Queens, Mutalisks, and Scourges is possible. Build the Queen's Nest before the Spire to gain early access to useful Queen special abilities. Mutalisks are useful in air combat situations, and can provide good support to ground units. Scourges combined with Mutalisks and Hydralisks are the primary Zerg anti-aircraft forces. The Queen has many abilities that are useful for any Zerg military effort. Ensnare is the most useful and practical ability of the Queen, which will slow down a group of enemy units' movement and firing speed. Always use it on enemy units first, then follow it up with your own attack group. Another important spell for the Queen is Broodling. Locate the most dangerous enemy units before sending in your attack force. Good targets include units like Terran Siege Tanks, Zerg Ultralisks, and Protoss Templars. The Lair also contains many useful upgrades for the Zerg Overlord. The first one that you should research is the speed upgrade. This will finally give the Overlord a decent movement rate so that it can escape would-be attackers, and make it more efficient in a scouting role. Be sure to also research the Ventral Sac, the transport ability upgrade of the Overlord. Obviously, the transport upgrade is a must in island games where it is not possible to walk on land between bases. By this time, Terran opponents may have cloaked their Wraiths. Be sure to have an Overlord tag along with your troops, since the Overlord is the detector unit that can spot cloaked Wraith fighters. Another way to reveal cloaked Wraiths is to use the Queen's Ensnare ability on the location where you suspect Wraiths are. The green goo of Ensnare will decloak all cloaked units so that your units can target them. The Ensnare ability will also reveal Protoss Arbiter-cloaked units as well as remove any Protoss Hallucinations. Your enemy may have added an expansion town or two at this point, and you should have as well. If this is the case, make these expansions your top target priority. Chances are they are not defended as well as the opponent's main town, even though they are more important than their main town in terms of the resources they bring in. Late Game Upgrading from Lair to Hive will allow you to make the most powerful Zerg units. Hopefully by now you have a few expansion towns in which you're harvesting resources to support the powerful units you're spawning. Harvesting Vespene Geysers is particularly important for Zerg players. Be sure to build several Hatcheries so that you can quickly produce large numbers of troops. The first advanced unit many Zerg players get is the Ultralisk. Be aware of its weaknesses though, the most obvious one being its inability to attack air units. Because of its high hit points, Ultralisks are a good frontal assault unit leading the charge. They can absorb attacks from the enemy resistance while Hydralisks in the rear deal most of the damage. A common mistake of unseasoned players is to overlook the usefulness of Defilers. Its beginning special ability, Dark Swarm, is an extremely effective defense for your troops. Dark Swarm creates a cloud of insects that protects ground units within the cloud from most enemy ranged attacks. For example, you can use Dark Swarm on a bank of Protoss Cannon towers, so any melee units that attack those towers will be immune to ranged attack. Think of Dark Swarm as a protective umbrella, protecting your troops from enemy air units like Wraiths or Carriers. Always use Dark Swarm before conducting an attack, just as you would with Ensnare. Be aware that Dark Swarm does not make you invincible; splash damage from Terran Siege Tanks (in Siege Mode) will damage troops inside the cloud as will any melee, non-ranged attackers like Zealots, Firebats, or enemy Ultralisks. Defilers also possess the Plague ability. The Plague ability drains hit points from enemy units and structures, and you can cast it out of firing range of all defensive structures and most units. For example, you can use Plague on Terran infantry and vehicles and then follow it up with a Mutalisk rush. Since Mutalisks can hit multiple targets with one shot, the Terran troops will die rapidly. Combining Plague with the Queen's Ensnare ability on enemies makes battle much easier for your own troops. Plague also affects buildings in the same way, so cast it on defensive structures to wear them down before an attack. With the two powerful abilities Dark Swarm and Plague, Defilers should be part of all of your attack groups late in the game. Once you build a Greater Spire, you'll be able to make Guardians. These long ranged attack units are devastating in large groups. Use the advantage of their extremely long range to soften up any fortified town before sending in ground troops. They're great for long range shelling on island maps as well, but are vulnerable to anti-air units and area effect "spells." The best way to defend them is to keep some Scourges, Mutalisks, and a Queen nearby to buy time for the Guardians to retreat. You can also try protecting them from anti-air units by positioning Hydralisks nearby. Use Broodling on any nearby Templars also. Psi Storm can make short work of an expensive fleet of Guardians. Defensive Strategies The defense of your town, as with any race, should focus around the defense of your worker units. Build a Sunken Colony within range of your harvesting line early on. As the game progresses, build Creep Colonies not only for expanding your carpet of Creep, but also for their cloak detection ability. Spore Colonies supported by Hydralisks can discourage any type of air attack on your town. As with most defensive structures, however, you should never rely entirely on Spore/Sunken Colonies for the defense of your base. There are numerous units in the game that outrange these structures. Park Overlords all around your towns so that all the surrounding area of your town is in view in the mini map. This will help alert you to the approach of the enemy. Tip: Burrow your Drones if they are attacked by enemy troops. They will be safe from attack and won't get in the way of your defending troops. Sunken Colonies in combination with troops can be much help in defense. Consider building them right next to one another in a row. Station Hydralisks behind the Sunkens and put Zerglings out in front of the Sunkens. The idea is to prolong the life of your Hydralisks and Sunken Colonies. Just be careful to spot any long range units or "magic" users; try to kill them before they come in range. Warning: Although the Plague ability works well during attacks on other towns, avoid using it as a defensive measure. Careless placement could result in the Plaguing of your own troops and buildings. To defending against air units, enlist a combination of Hydralisks, Spore Colonies, and Scourges. Have the Scourges patrol back and forth across your town. If you're lucky they might auto-acquire enemy transports full of troops and destroy them along with their living cargo. Your Spore Colonies and Hydralisks should be able to handle the rest. |