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Archive for the ‘Zerg vs Protoss’ Category

Zerg vs. Protoss battles are quite arguably the most thrilling battles to watch. With Zealots heavily guarding the Protoss’ camp and Zerglings constantly advancing to throw down enemy forces, a battle between the Zerg and the Protoss is often decided with one main factor – the strategies used.

As you may know by now, Blizzard doesn’t favor any faction. Each of the Starcraft species is unlike the other and thereby stands head and shoulders with one another. What sets the difference is the cunning and strategic use of each of the faction’s abilities. In this article, you will know a few tricks on throwing down the gauntlet against a Protoss enemy with your Zerg forces and come away as the victor.

Maim your Protoss rival by outnumbering its Zealots with your Zerglings. – Never underestimate the capabilities of the Zerglings against the Protoss’ Zealots. Zealots are the primary attack units of any Protoss forces during the initial stages of the game. And while Zealots may deal massive counters against your forces within melee range, they are never indispensable. On the contrary, they can be easily defeated with Zergling units so long as the Zerglings outnumber them 4 to 1. This ratio can even go as low as 3 or 2 to 1 depending on the terrain as well as the upgrades your Zerglings have received.

Should you choose to follow this strategy, be sure to group your Zerglings tightly together before deploying them. Zealots that can catch Zerglings attacking on them in a single file can almost always take them down without needing reinforcements. Zealots are excellent at standing against Zerglings and they can kill unimaginable numbers of Zerglings in a single attack. When attacking in a massive wave, however, Zerglings can easily tilt the tide of the battle to their side.

Zerglings truly shine in combats when they are upgraded. Evolve your Zerglings as upgrades become available. Doing so will make them less vulnerable to Zealots even when they are attacking in smaller groups. This will also neutralize to some extent the upgrades your enemy Zealots possess.

Another good strategy to use during the initial stage of an attack is to isolate Zealots from their tight groups. This will allow your Zerglings to attack them individually, thereby stripping them off of the protection of their groups.

Use more offensive units

A Zergling attack, although very effective in its own merits, may still lack the powerful special offensive abilities that only other Zerg units can bring to the table. Zerglings could never win out battles by themselves. Once other units are available at your disposal, fortify your strategy by creating more offensive units. For one, produce Hydralisks.

Hydralisks are the basic ranged attackers of the Zerg. These often prove their worth in combats as back up for advancing Zergling units. Hydralisks can deliver even more massive ranged attacks as they undergo evolution to produce Grooved Spines. Spare them some of your resources to allow them to evolve.

Always keep in mind that Zealots, although not as sophisticated as higher-level Protoss breeds, are very capable of defending their camps. Keep your edge over them by having superior Hydralisk and Zergling numbers to throw them down. These two are the bread and butter of your strategy, be it defensive or offensive. All other units are secondary.

Produce your reinforcements

In the middle and well into the end of the game, the course of the battle will most likely shift from ground attacks to aerial attacks. Overlords/Overseers and Mutalisks will prove to be great support groups as well as main attacking forces against your enemy’s camp at this point as Zealots won’t be able to retaliate against your main air units. Should your enemy lack the defense of either Photon Cannons, these units could easily tip the odds to your side.

Ready your camp for attack

It is not unlikely that as the game progresses, your Protoss rival will bring the battle close to your home. Better get prepared with a well-defended camp. It won’t also hurt if you have an expansion colony that could fortify your base and divide the attacking forces.

Spine Crawlers will help a ton in fortifying your defenses. Keep invading forces busy with your Zerglings – usually a massive wave of Zealots are used at this point – and let your Spine Crawlers deal with the rest.

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Protoss Archons are known for their insurmountable power, which can cause minor splash damage against both air and ground units. Their attacks are short-ranged, and have most of their health capacities embedded in their shields.

Veteran players confessed that Archons are not an easy enemy. Nevertheless, they were never left with nothing. Experience taught them to combine different Zerg units to counter Archons. Any of these combinations can be an excellent strategy to defeat the enemy: broodlords and corruptors, roaches and hydralisk, and queen, hydralisks and zerglings.

• Broodlords and Corruptors. Broodlords are flying creatures which serve as the prime aerial siege units for the swarm. When they are deployed to strike assault, they spring out two broodlings on their front. Before the archons are struck, the archons have to first defeat the two broodlings. And by the time these two broodlings are killed, another pair appears. The best place to deploy brood lords is on the cliffs; it will get you through protoss defenses. Corruptors, on the other hand, are your anti-air unit to pair up the brood lords. With its corruption ability—the Zerg slime—you can take extra damage against the archons.
• Roaches and Hydralisks. Your roaches make the best anti-ground unit. They are also almost impossible to kill because they enjoy the ability to regenerate, which can take place while they are burrowed. Also, they can move while they are hidden underneath, so, you can carry out a surprise attack as soon as they emerge. Upgrade on their Glial Reconstitution to accelerate their ground movement. To initiate your anti-air campaign with optimal results, upgrade the Grooved Spines ability of your hydralisks. This will enhance their attack range. Hydralisks can cover both the air and the ground. Together, hydralisks and roaches can beat the archons. If you encounter more difficulties, use your queen.
• Hydralisks and Zerglings. Amass hydralisks in large numbers to overwhelm the archons. Avoid attacking the archons with your hydras in closer range. The Zerglings should have an upgrade on their Metabolic Boost to outrun the Archons, although they are already a high-speed ground unit. When upgraded, they can catch up on the fleeing archons.

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When Void Ray assaults, it locks into a target and unleash its flux field projectors. Its beams of energy are searing and can grow powerful overtime. Protoss players use Void Rays in two ways: as base harassers and as a fleet of destruction.

When they are seen to harass your base, they often come in threes or sixes and equipped with Flux vanes which are used to snipe at your drones and buildings. This can be annoying as your ground units are forced to take a long walk through the enemy’s base. In a situation like this, many veteran players employ the skills of Nydus Worms as they allow your Hydralisks to bounce back from strategic areas.

The trick to learn is to thwart the Void Rays from causing too much blow on your economy, and thus, prevent him from running you over with far superior ground force later on in the game because you failed to provide adequate units to counter them.

Now, if Void Rays are used as a fleet of destruction, they generally come in 10 and even more. This can pose more problems as Void Rays will also do the harassment tactic plus a potential protoss ball that normally comes after the harassment. If you’ve got the opportunity to scout and grow your economy, that could be your salvation. Start amassing Mutalisk. Void Rays just cannot successfully harass the mutalisks. Then attack with a good force of roaches.

Other tactics to employ to counter Void Rays include the pair up between Hydralisks and Mutalisks, Corruptors and Mutalisks, and Hydralisks and Zerglings.

• Hydralisks and Mutalisks. Hydralisks feature high-damage range unit which can attack air and ground units. Upgrade on their Grooved Spines for enhanced attack range. They can be teamed up with mass mutalisks for quick counter attacks. Mutalisks are favored for their multiple target attacks.
• Corruptors and Mutalisks. Corruptors’ Zerg slime is the creature’s remarkable skill. You can also take advantage of its parasite spore. Upgrade on its Carapace for more accurate attacks.

Your mutalisks are impressive in disrupting the incoming Void Rays with their fast-attack skills using micro-management.

• Hydralisks and Zerglings. Hydralisks are Void Ray’s weakness. Amass Hydralisks which should have an upgrade on their missile attacks.

Zerglings go best with Hydralisks to counter attack Void Rays. With Zergling’s high speed in ground assault—do not forget to upgrade on the Metabolic Boost for even quicker movement speed—the Void Rays cannot pursue with their destruction without much toil.

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The High Templar is Protoss’ well-seasoned battle army. Their Psionic Storm can eliminate masses of Zerg battle units. The storm is often the decisive factor in every Protoss and Zerg encounter. Protoss players can also use the High Templar to annihilate the economy of the enemy. Veteran players use the simple tactic of destroying High Templar on the spot, disseminate battle units, and remain optimist that you can defeat them before they have the energy to deliver a Psionic storm.

A few strategies can be employed to end up victorious in such encounter. But the three most effective are to:

1. To use the Queen early on, and dispatch supporting units to engage in the battle.
2. Spread Creep. Use Overlords and Queens. Then, prepare for Ultralisks and Roaches build up.
3. Ultralisk, Hydralisks and Lings.

You can use Ultralisks for a counter-measure. The Ultralisks have the immense vitality to withstand the storm. Once they reach the High Templar, the enemy is as good as dead.

Creep and Battling Units. Zerg’s Creep provides you with a few advantages. One, it accelerate the movement of Zerg units by 30%. Two, it blocks your enemy from expanding because they cannot build on the creep. Three, you can use the Creep to create Spore and Spine Crawlers. Fourth, this provides you with vision, and you have the ability to see which area is the next target of your enemy.

Now, transcend your army into Ultralisks and Roaches. Your Roaches should upgrade on Glial Reconstitution, Burrowing and Tunneling Claws. The High Templar could not do great damage to Roaches particularly that the latter can hide down under and emerge right in front the enemy for the assault.

Ultralisks, on the other hand, can use an upgrade on Chitinous Plating to increase their armor, and Burrow.

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The Protoss Immortals are the surviving Dragoons; but with the Twin Phase Disruptors and more toughened Energy Shields, making them unbeatable in annihilating the enemy artillery and ranged attackers— well, almost unbeatable. The Immortals are susceptible to rapid attacks even from lesser and smaller enemies.

They are generally deployed to combat ground enemies simply because their hardened Energy Shields can do a pretty job in absorbing high damage attacks even from hard-hitting units. Now, the key to your victory is the Zerglings.

Zerglings are among the weaknesses of Immortals. Once your Zerglings are out in the battle, the Immortals can be crippled. However, the Protoss player disseminates the Zealots for back up, which can provide some Zerg players with much difficulty. A few professional players invest on upgrading the Zerglings to beat up even the Zealots, while others team up their Zerglings with other units. It is your choice whether to engage a counter attack single-handedly with Zerglings or release other battling units such as Hydralisks and Mutalisks, and Banelings and Roaches.

Zerglings with Hydralisks and Mutalisks. Zerglings maybe small creatures; but given that they are natural dune runners, you can expect them to be extremely fast in attacking enemy units on the ground. Also, they are inexpensive to build. In order to defeat the Immortals, you need to upgrade its movement speed using the Metabolic Boost. This will ensure that none of the Immortals will flee from your Zerglings. You should also upgrade the attack speed using the Adrenal Gland upgrade because Immortals can really tear apart the enemies. Even the Melee Attack and Ground Carapace should be upgraded.

Once your Protoss opponent releases the Zealot, you can call on your Hydralisks and Mutalisks. Both your Hydralisks and Mutalisks must have upgrades as well because Zealots are not an easy target. The Immortals must still be alive by the time the Zealots are released, that is why it is important to have your Mutalisks ready because Immortals cannot shoot the enemies on air. The Hydralisks can take care of the Zealots, although you have to expect some casualties. The idea is for you to swiftly expand to get a huge economic advantage while your enemy is fast teching.

Banelings and Roaches. While still counting on your Zerglings to defeat the Immortals, you can thereby rely on your upgraded Banelings and Roaches to deal with the Zealots. You may not have air battling units, but you can devise accurate surprise attacks with some skill upgrades.

Your Banelings can use Burrow upgrade as well as the Centrifugal Hooks, while your Roaches—which are hard to kill due to their re-generation ability—can do well with Glial Reconstitution, Tunneling Claws and Burrowing.

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Protoss Phoenix is a fatal and rapid air unit that can assault while on the move, providing a tactical edge for any protoss players. The Phoenixes are a Godsend with their Twin Ion Cannons, which are a smashing hit against any ship. The pilot can even deploy gravity beam to immobilize the enemies for awhile, or destroy them entirely using several phoenix beams. Because it is a fast-shooting unit, it is used to scout and hunt down sluggish air units that are unable to retaliate.

Two tactics that veteran Zerg players employ include the early participation of the Queen. While the Queen makes a good guard for base defense, it is not her primary duty in battling against the phoenixes. You will have to take advantage of the Queen’s creep tumor ability, and supported by other units such as the corruptors-hydralisks-lings combination and the roaches-zerglings-hydralisks.

First of all, the Queen should spawn creep tumors. It gives you a few advantages such as: a vision of the entire map. You will share knowledge of what’s cooking in the enemy’s territory. It enables the Zerg to move really fast while spreading the Zerg creep. It slows down the economy expansion of your enemy, which is really basically the first thing to do in your strategy.

You should control the movement of your enemy. Never allow the Protoss to expand and or use advanced units more than what you can handle or your economy would allow. After you have controlled the expansion of Protoss, select your combination below:

• Corruptors-Hydralisk-lings. Corruptors, once they have upgraded with their flyer attack and flyer carapace skills can cripple the phoenixes on air. They have the corruption ability which can take 20% damage off the phoenixes for 30 seconds.

While you are at it, work your way into building mass hydralisks. More than 25 hydralisks should be decent to cover the back of your corruptors. Also, mass hydralisks do an amazing job of attacking large numbers of phoenix. Upgrade on their Grooved Spines to increase their attack range.
Deploy your zerglings or banelings with speed upgrades. They are best for attacking counter-units of Protoss.

• Roaches-Zerglings-hydralisks. After the queen has disrupted the enemy territory with the creep tumor, spread out your roaches, which are not very easy to eliminate thanks to their regeneration ability. Upgrade on their burrowing and tunneling claws skills to stage successful ambush against counter-units of Protoss.

Zerglings are inexpensive and easy to make, thus, they are reliable in harassing the enemy’s ground units. Upgrade on their Adrenal Gland and Metabolic Boost. The can do high damage against the phoenix especially when you have upgraded on their Groove Spines.

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Although a Protoss Sentry’s attack is weak, its abilities are insurmountable. They are a unique ground unit that can hover around, and thus, able to attack air units as well. Its special ability is to create a force field that enemy ground units are unable to walk through. To mitigate the incoming ranged damage, Sentries simply project their Guardian Shield. Many Protoss players employ sentries as complementary units to Zealots, Stalkers, Immortals and even Colossus. To most Zerg players, Sentries are a hard target; they are also among the favorites to defeat because they only make Protoss units stronger.

So, as soon as you found out your Protoss enemy is about to disseminate the Sentries, upgrade your tech to lair. This allows you to commence the second level Zerg units, buildings and other upgrades. Have large amounts of Hydralisks because they shall compose your main attack units. Also, you are better off attacking the enemy units in battalion. Complete their upgrades consisting of Grooved Spines for enhanced attack range, and Burrow upgrade so some of them can carry out ambush attacks against the sentries. Then combine your Hydralisks with other Zerg units to engage Protoss’ counter-units.

Infestor. If your opponent spreads out colossus, disseminate your Infestors and control the enemy’s mind. You can use their Fungal Growth ability to deal damage against colossus. Upgrade on their Pathogen glands so the Infestors can spawn with greater energy for activating other abilities. Its Neural Parasite ability allows you to smuggle the enemy ground units, including the workers, and thus, allow you to build other buildings. Infestor is also effective against immortals.

Queen. The Key to your victory is to keep your enemy from expanding his economy, while you are effectively expanding yours. Your Queen’s Creep tumor can be effective in slowing down the economy expansion of Protoss or Terran because non-Zerg races are prohibited to build on creep. Also, you can take advantage of your Queen’s ability to heal battle units and buildings using the Transfusion. If the Queen’s energy lowers, no need to fret as she has the skill to regenerate.

Mutalisks and Zerglings. If your Protoss players go for Immortals, build your Mutalisks and Zerglings. Upgrade on the Metabolic Boost so your Zerglings are accelerated. Also upgrade on their Adrenal Gland for enhanced attack speed. You can also use your Banelings and use their ‘suicide bomber’ skills. Upgrade on their burrow; they can detonate their bombs while burrowed.

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Stalker, a Protoss mechanical warrior that can assault the enemy’s air and ground units has the Blink ability to allow it to teleport, at any given time, across the battleground for the ultimate kill or for a smooth escape in a losing battle. The Stalkers are controlled by the Dark Templar warrior to protect the battalion. Known to be deadly and fierce, the Stalkers are also versatile as they can stalk at the enemies; flee from them while still shooting at them. Below are infos on how to handle stalkers with zerg.

They may be hard to defeat in a battle due to their three upgrades on ground weapons, ground armor, and plasma shields. Nevertheless, they also have their own dose of weaknesses. The key to their defeat is when you are able to surround them in a battle field. Your surrounding melee units should be strong enough to contain, and ultimately destroy them.

Now, there are two major melee units that will lead your battalion to victory: the Zerglings and Hydralisks. Zerglings can be backed by Roaches, Hydralisks and Mutalisks, while the Hydralisks can be supported by Zerglings, Hatchery and Queen and Broodlords.

• Zerglings with Roaches, Hydralisks and Mutalisks. Zerglings make a good melee attack units. Upgrade to the fullest level their Metabolic Boost and accrue enormous amounts of Zerglings. If you acquire only 15, they become useless as Stalkers are strong with Blink ability. Build 25 or more Zerglings to surround and contain the Stalkers.
• Upgrade the Burrow and Tunneling Claws skills of your Roaches so they can counter the ambush attack of Stalkers. Your Hydralisks can deal a high damage especially when you upgraded on their Grooved Spines for more enhanced attack range. Stalkers are specifically weak against ranged units. But you will not deal with Stalkers alone, Zealots and perhaps Colossi will appear. Thus, besides Hydralisks, you will need Mutalisks because they are superior over Stalkers and Colossi.
• Hydralisks with Zerglings, Queen and Broodlords. Often, a veteran player goes off 2 hatcheries with a Queen and garners a lot of Hydralisks and Zerglings, then tech to tier 3. Zerglings and Hydralisks are the perfect team-up against Stalkers. The Protoss player would probably go for Colossus because these creatures are a nightmare to Zerg players. Use the 2 Hatchery and Queen to deal a good damage against the remaining units on the ground, while you are preparing for your Broodlords to emerge.

It is crucial that you disrupt the Colossi from eliminating entirely your ground units, otherwise, you will lose. Upgrade and amass more Zerglings and Hydralisks. If things become ugly, construct Spine Crawlers and tech to speed Hydras, at which time, you will gain an edge over the opponent because of faster tech.

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Another genius creation of Protoss race is the Warp Prism, whose advantages include transporting combat forces on the battle ground, transform living and inorganic matters into energy, imprint their unique signature into the crystal lattice core of prism. After reaching the favorable destination, the operation is reversed to reconfigure the stored energy into matter closer to the warp prism. Below are some info on how to handle warp prism. A Warp Prism is also relied upon for its ability to power up the Protoss structures nearby, and replace wrecked pylons in colonies or accelerate the construction of forward bases of the Protoss operations. Also, when it is it is on Phasing mode, a Warp Prism can take advantage of the warp gates to warp in reinforcements such as a Colossus or take them out from the battlefield.

In countering the Warp Prism, an option is to use Zerg’s Queen to disrupt any construction of Protoss structures. Once the Protoss players start to power up his economy for expansion, it will be detrimental to your economy and battle units. The Queen’s Creep tumor can suppress the power of Warp Prism from powering up structures. It may not be for ultimate suppression, but at least, it can be slowed down.

Your Queen can also serve as a protector to your bases, a go-to unit for healing with her Transfusion Ability, and can be enhanced with her Spawn Larva ability. Or, you can also use her Infestor to infest the on-going construction of Protoss structures, thereby creating infested Protoss units.

If the Warp Prisms are used to drop Colossus and other battle units, you have to guard your ground by making it impossible to drop off enemy units. Still, you can rely on your Queen to build Spore Colonies surrounding your mineral line.

There may not be enough energy for your Queen to accomplish all these crucial tasks—although she can regenerate—so it is necessary that during the battle, you are slowly spawning Mutalisks, carefully micro-managed. Upgrade on their flyer attack ability for faster assault and to effectively catch up even the fleeing enemies.

If the Warp Prism brought in Colossus—only one colossus can be transported by each Warp Prism at a time, so maybe your enemies are building a few of these robotic creatures—it can deal a fatal blow to your entire battalion. Back it up with Broodlords. Build up tons of these flying units so many broodlings will spring from them per assault.

Finish off the battle with Grooved-spines upgraded Hydralisks in large amounts. More and swifter units will be to your advantage as the enemy units will be thrown into dilemma.

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Zealot is Protoss most basic unit: tough and fatal in close counters, and relatively cheaper to build. For introductory assaults, Zealots are first on Protoss’s battle units to combat particularly with the Zerglings—which are also very inexpensive to build—as they are also efficacious in staging offensive attacks. Now, many say that Zealots are similar to Zerglings in many ways. Both can close in for melee and attacks. Both are also inexpensive to produce.

However, Zealots are at advantage on close-range attacks. So, as a Zerg player, it is important that you see the trap staged by a Protoss player early on. Zealots have sturdy shields, which means, they can absorb pretty well high damage from enemies, which in turn, make them very convenient and effective to use as a lure. They only become useless to Protoss when higher-ranged units join the battlefield. In which case, the Zealots are either abandoned for a transition into high-end ground units especially the Stalkers and Immortals.

Zealots are also used sometime in mid-game. So if you could start your expansion early to halt their presence on the field, it would be better. However, at one point or another, you would certainly face them. Therefore, it is wise if you work on having an early Spawning pool at 9/10 supply count so that it will be ready by the time the Protoss finished his first Gateway.

Zealots are rather slow as a melee, thus, they are having difficulty navigating around your Spine Crawlers, which should be strategically placed, while the buildings close to the Hatchery or lair. Never forget to raise the count of your drone, and tech up to a Lair.

Have two Queens ready to defend your base, your Spine Crawler, and of course, to spring out Zerglings. Although your Queen can regenerate and make a good protector of your base, you may also need to protect her. If you have found her HP level to be low, run it around your base and let your Zerglings deal with the Zealots. Also, you can use the Transfusion ability of each Queen to heal each other, as well as your Spine Crawlers.

The duty of your Queens does not end here. You have to use them to enlarge the Creep until you have built your Hatchery at a natural expansion, and then walk your Spine Crawlers to your base. Force the Zealots to retreat with your Queens and Zerglings with upgraded Adrenal Gland and Metabolic Boost.

You can leave your Base and Spine Crawlers to your two Queens, and amass tons of Zerglings to deal with the Zealots, unleashing a fatal blow into their minerals. They will then be abandoned by Protoss for other more advanced units. But by then, your Spine Crawlers may have been ready.

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