I've been trying to play zerg for over two months now, but I'm still having a ton of trouble vs Protoss in particular. To zerg players, some questions...

A. You see Toss two gate, what's the best response if they zealot rush, or what's the best response in general? I've tried setting up a sunken line countless times, but zealots overrun them without much trouble.

B. Is microing sunkens necessary during opponent's rushes? I usually let them do their thing, but it fails more often than not.

C. Mid game question, is there a rule of thumb on how many hatches zerg's need to compete with X number of gates? I find myself really short on hatches (3-5) mid game and not keeping up with toss, which leads to my downfall a lot.

I'll add more questions later, but those are a start, thanks.

I'll try to add two cents here:

A: Two gate shouldn't be giving you too much of a problem. Be sure to be scouting VERY frequently to get a zealot count to produce accordingly. And for goodness sakes always leave a ling outside their choke so you know when to move out. I often like to have 3-4 lings between the AI route from their choke to mine so I can see if they're faking a rush, and to have better timing.

Also, a good sunken line will help alot. But once you get 5-6 (if even) just get lings to a ratio of about 3:1. And if you see a forge go up after those two gates and a gas. Get your +1 carapace ASAP or else those zlots will melt though your zerglings. Zerglings are less expensive than sunkens by far, are more cost efficient, and any remainder will be mobile enabling either a counter attack, or just a beginning ground army as opposed to a bajillion sunkens. Also, Sunkens cost 175 (factoring in the drone), a larvae, quite a bit of morphing time, but above all: Sunkens destroy your drone count. So take the 175 and add each sunken as a drone kill and the mineral price grows exponentially.

B: I tend not to micro sunkens unless I'm pretty confident and want to be fancy. And even then it's only vs the first or second wave of MnM in ZvT because of the two hit kills. So I can kill a rine in the time of one tentacle rape using two sunkens, meaning one less rine doing damage for the time it takes to get 2-3 tentacle rapes out. I say as long as it's a sunken *LINE* you should be okay.

C: I try not to focus on Hatchery to Gateway as mid-late game as Hatchery to income rate. About 2-3 hatcheries at each new expo (including the one you are gathering with) should be sufficient. If he has 20 gateways up and you can't support the number of hatcheries it would take to compete, it does you no good now does it?

Just remember you are ZERG you are agressive. If he is going for a rush, prepare for it and he will be behind. Him being behind allows you to expand, giving you an even larger advantage. If you are able to put up a contain for long enough, you should have the game unless you really !@%$ it up or he does something insane that works. Which shouldn't because you were scouting right? Sacrificing an overlord when zerglings can't get in is always worth the cost of the Ovi. 100 mineral maphacks? I'd take it.


Hope I helped. Good luck!

Thanks for the response, also about zerglings vs zealots, what is the best way to micro it? Often times I may have 8-9 lings against 3 zealots, but i usually come out with a loss. What's the best way to go in, or take them on with lings?

All I can think of in ling vs zealot micro is always have all your lings attacking at once. To do this make sure you have them surrounded.

With 9 vs 3 you shouldn't be given a too hard time of just pulling back a ling after you notice it takes two blows. Don't worry if you grab more than one ling. Just try to keep your numbers as high as you can and theirs down as fast as you can. Try to focus on one zlot at a time if they're spaced.

A. I am not that good really but if I scout 2-gate I usually go fast lings and try to punish their mineral line if they move out with their slow zlots. Unless they leave 2 zlots on a ramp choke, but then again they can't go all in leaving two behind. Also, everything is about defending your first sunken colony. If that is up everything else is a piece of cake.

B. Micro is very important, I usually do surround, hit and run on one zlot at a time if I can manage when I have no sunken. Otherwise I allways make sure to attack the moment they attack my sunken line or hatchery. I usually never fight 3 zlots head on with 9 lings.

C. From my own experience, if the protoss goes FE I try to atleast have 2 expands, sometimes 3 if they go sair/dt. If they 2-gate and I manage to hold his rush I double expand and research lurkers or mutas. If I go mutas I do it only to set his main mineral line back and then switch quickly to lurkers. This ofcourse depends wether they build a forg/cannons early on or not.

This will make sure you stay ahead/even with his expansion. The hard part is stopping the toss gaining a third gas that will make him much more dangerous in the mid game. Use ur mobility and dispatch lings to take down expands while engaging his force. Also, as soon as you have 3 gas up and running I usually tech to hive or utilize lurker/ling drops. Never forget to harass his economy or production.

As mentioned above, 2-3 hatcheries/exp, and don't forget to build drones. I see alot of zerg that neglect to build up a decent amount of drones.