Starcraft Report

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Starcraft 2 - Standard Zerg Build

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This guide will teach you the standard Zerg build used of the top Zerg players on battlenet right now. This build will change depending on how the game is going and what your opponent is doing but it will give you a great starting point.

The build is called a 14 pool build. First off you build up your drones to 10 and the then make an overlord. After the overlord finishes build 4 more drones and then start your spawning pool. While the pool is building make 1 or 2 extractors depending on if you are going for a heavy gas build or not, also continue building drones until the pool finishes. Start a queen when the pool finishes and you should be at 18 supply so you will need to start another overlord.

From this point it depends on what you are going for. If you want to go zerglings I would start the speed upgrade in the spawning pool and build 4 or 5 more drones then just pump out zerglings. If you are wanting to go for roaches or hydralisks I would build the roach warren and build 6 or 7 more drones then start pumping roaches while I upgrade to a lair for hydralisks. The other option is a quick expand and I would normally chose this one. Send a drone to start a new base while you alternate building zerglings and drones until the new base is finished. Watch out for cheese attacks such as reaper rushes or zealot rushes. Protoss and Terran players love to go straight for air and try to takeout our base before we can get some anti air up so make sure you keep an eye out for that. Just make sure you scout as much as you can and get a good idea of what your opponent is doing, the key to winning is knowledge and countering your enemy.

Becoming an advanced Starcraft 2 player is very challenging and confusing. I purchased the Starcraft 2 Advanced Strategy Guide from Star2Pros.com and I have been very impressed with the strategies they teach. I would highly recommend it to any Starcraft 2 player who wants to get to the top of the Diamond Ladders, I think this guide might be the only one of its kind.

Anyways, good luck to all of you and I hope to see you on BattleNet!

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Starcraft 2 - Zerg's Best Counter Units

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So what are Zerg's the best units for taking out marines or marauders, how about stalkers or zealots or even the immortal. This guide will show you which Zerg units to build in order to counter anything that your opponent can throw at you.

Playing against Terran: When playing against a good Terran player you must be ready to change which unit you are using at a second's notice. The key to beating a good Terran player is having the right units at the right time. Below I have included the main units that a Terran player will use and which Zerg unit is the best to taking it out.

Marines and Marauders - build speed upgraded zerglings and banelings
Tanks and Thors - Why just build some infestors of course and turn those tanks back on the Terran player
Banshees and Vikings - Build hydralisks and corruptors and you will not have any trouble controlling the air

Playing against Protoss: When playing against a Protoss player it is important to see the colossus coming and be ready when it shows up. The colossus can wreak havoc on a Zerg player if he is not ready. Below I have included the main units that a Protoss player will use and which Zerg unit is the best to taking it out.

Zealots and Stalkers - Again just build speed upgraded zerglings and banelings, roaches and hydralisks will also do the trick
Immortals - The key to beating an immortal is without question a speed upgraded zergling attack
Colossus - Either get infestors or corruptors but do not attack this unit with zerglings roaches or hydralisks, as the colossus will make short work of them

If you follow these guidelines you will have no trouble taking out a good Protoss or Terran player and you will always be a step ahead of them. Good luck and I hope to see you on battlenet soon!

Anyways, good luck to all of you and I hope to see you on BattleNet!

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Starcraft 2 Terran Vs Zerg - Beating Zerg Early Expansion

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A simple fact of this game is that more and more Zerg players are grabbing their expansions right off the bat. As the game progresses this can put a Terran player at quite a disadvantage. If you're playing against a Zerg player who you think is going to expand quickly the following strategy can be used to deflect the expansion and get that "gg" from your opponent within minutes.

Note: It is extremely important to wall off your ramp in order to avoid any Zergling counter-attack.

You'll want to start with a Supply Depot at 9 followed by a Barracks at 12. When your Barracks goes down go ahead and send out your scout SCV to check your opponents expo. As soon as you can confirm that he is moving for a fast expansion move your SCV out of visibility for a second. Back at your base go ahead and grab a refinery at 14. When your Barracks finishes pump out a couple of Marines immediately and set their rally point for your opponents expo. Forgo a second Barracks in order to get a quick Factory. (You can use the Factory to finish walling off your ramp). As your first Marine is reaching your opponents expo move your SCV, which is still hanging around there, up next to your opponents Hatchery and construct a Bunker. Make sure that the Bunker is in firing range of the Hatchery. At this point it is unlike that your opponent will have many Zergling's, if any, so he may try to send a Drone to stop your Bunker. You can use your incoming Marines to ward this off, as well as any Spine Crawlers he may try to sneak in. Once your Bunker finishes send your marines in and start working on Hatchery while your SCV goes for another Bunker. At your base have a couple of Hellions ready for any Zergling attack that your opponent may counter with. When your Marines finish off the Hatchery this will put you at quite an advantage over your partner. A quick and smart way to finish the game would be to Tech immediately to Banshee. You should be constructing a Starport and an extra refinery. Your opponent will be likely to have no anti-air units except for the queen. Once you have a couple of Banshee's you are in a prime position to Harass him until he "gg's" out.

Anyways, good luck to all of you and I hope to see you on BattleNet!

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Starcraft 2 - General Terran Build Order

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One thing you need to always keep in mind about Terran is that their economy is more complicated than the other races. You face a drop in mineral collection when you steal SCV's from your minerals to mine gas, and also when you need SCV's for building. To counter this Starcraft 2 introduces the MULE. It is an integral part of the Terran economy and I would recommend getting it as quickly as you can.

Initially I recommend starting with nine SCV's. When you hit 9 on your supply go ahead and build your first supply. Your depot will just finishing up when you're 11th SCV pops out so you can go ahead and make another one immediately. Use the same SCV that you built the supply depot with to build your barracks. Make sure to place it strategically in order to block your ramp. Always keep an SCV building at your command center. When the barracks finishes use the same SCV to finish blocking your wall by building another supply depot right there. On your 14th SCV you can go ahead with refinery. IF you stop building SCV's at 14 supply then you will have enough minerals to upgrade to orbital command as soon as your barracks finishes. I recommend this because the faster you can get your mule the better. Once your refinery finishes make sure you snag two more SCV's to mine gas. You will want to make a couple marines as well in order to counter a zergling rush or terran reapers. Next you probably want to build another barracks unless your tanking straight to banshees or siege tanks. At this point you should also have 50 Vespene gas to attach a tech lab to your first barracks. Once your orbital command is finished upgrading call down a mule and continue making SCV's. When you have come to this point you have a standard terran setup. When your tech lab completes you want to produce mauraders and marines (don't forget to add a Fusion Reactor to your other barracks to make two marines at a time). The sooner you upgrade Concussion Shells and Stim Pack at the tech lab the better the edge you will have on your opponent. This initial build is enough to give you the edge either to strike fast or it will give you sufficient defense to quickly tech to siege tanks and air units.

Simply for Marines and Mauraders it is not necessary to immediately get a second refinery but I would recommend you build one as soon as possible. Gas is hard to come by and you want to start collecting as much as possible as soon as possible.

Terran are the most well rounded race in terms of an early game strategy and countering opposing units. They're very hard to get intel on since they can block their ramp very quickly. That being said try to not to use the Comsat too often since the MULE is more important for mineral collection. However against Protoss it is useful to scout for a Dark Shrine in order to prepare for Dark Templars.

Anyways, good luck to all of you and I hope to see you on BattleNet!

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Starcraft 2 - Terran Vs Terran Basic Strategy

Your ranking relative to your opponent's (who is favored to win?)

The reason that you want to take note of who is favored is that generally the favored player will feel more confident and thus play more aggressive often leading to a quicker attack on his part. You can take advantage of this. In this guide we will explore two different strategies against your Terran opponent.

First consider an aggressive move to Siege Tanks. After completing your first barracks move straight to building a factory. You'll want to get a couple marines to ward off harassing reapers. Also throw down a second refinery. As soon as your factory is complete move into building a Starport. While your Starport is being constructed attach a Fusion Reactor to your Factory. This will finish before your Starport does so go ahead and lift off your Factory and relocate it within your base. At this point I would construct another Factory and add a tech lab onto your existing Factory. Next lift your completed Starport onto the Fusion Reactor and quickly make two Vikings to counter enemy banshees. When your Tech Lab on your Factory finishes begin building tanks quickly, also you'll want to research siege mode for your tanks as soon as you can. Tanks and Mauraders can make a deadly combination. However you'll want to have a formidable amount of Vikings present to counter air attacks. Once you have enough tanks build you can expand to another mine or, if you feel you would be favored in a fight, launch an assault. However effective this method is, its limiting factor is most definitely the amount of Vespene Gas you have available so the quicker you move to your refineries the better. Remember to upgrade to Stim Packs for your Mauraders.

Another effective method is to harass your enemy while solidly expanding. After your fist Barracks is completely its usually a good idea to make a couple of marines to counter a quick rush or ward off reapers. After that quickly move to build a second refinery and start your Factory as well. Once your Factory finishes start making Hellions and Mauraders. When you have completed about 4 Mauraders and 6 Hellions you should move into harassing mode. If your enemy is playing towards and early expansion your Hellions will be effective at countering that with their speed. With your own base you're left with several options. If you feel like playing for an end game then expanding to a second mine is a must. You can throw down another Barracks and mass some Marines and Mauraders to cover you while you expand. If your harassing is successful at retreating your enemy then I would recommend an aggressive build with another Barracks and Factory along with a Starport for Dropships and anti-air support.

Anyways, good luck to all of you and I hope to see you on BattleNet!

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Terran Vs Protoss Basic Strategy

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As it stands, Terran is at a definite disadvantage to Protoss. The standard Marines, Mauraders, and dropships are simply not enough to stand against the Protoss, Zealot, Sentry, and Stalker combination. So in case your tired of losing to Protoss using the same old Terran build, the following is a very effective strategy for Terran against Protoss. And, you will notice that Mauraders aren't used at all! This strategy implements a combination of Siege Tanks, Ghosts, and marines for anti-air. Of course you don't want to limit yourself to just those units but they will be the main components of your army. Ghosts have become used increasingly more against Protoss because of their EMP ability to drain the shields of Protoss units, shifting the battle heavily in favor of Terran.

To begin You'll start off with the illusion of a standard Terran build. A supply depot at 9 supply, then straight into a barracks at 11. A scouting probe will think that you are going to mass Marines and Mauraders. However you're gonna change things up a bit. At 13 supply throw down your first refinery. Then upgrade to your orbital command at 15 supply. You're gonna want to pump marines to ward off any zealot rush while you build. At 16 supply grab your second refinery. This strategy requires quite a bit of gas. Next you'll want to tech on a reactor to your barracks to double your Marine building. Now instead of building a second Barracks were going to move straight for a Factory. You will want to pump a few Hellions when your Factory finishes. Following your factory immediately move into a Starport. You will want a Tech Lab on your Factory for Siege Tanks. Once your Starport finishes go ahead and tech to a Tech Lab as well. Now I heavily recommend getting a Raven as soon as your Tech Lab finishes for a couple reasons. One, you will want to ward off any nosy Observers. Also your Raven will come in very handy later.

After this initial build, Siege Tanks are going to be your main priority. You should have a decent army of Marines and Hellions to deflect any incoming attack. Usually the next move would be to begin your first expansion. Once Siege Tanks start coming out you should have plenty of base defense to defend your expansion. The next priority is your Ghosts. This is a must. Their EMP's can change the momentum of a battle with Protoss in a hurry. A second Factory is in order as well to increase tank production.

Something else I would recommend with this strategy is to build a couple of Banshee's in order to harass as well as scout. Once your opponent realizes that he can't beat your ground game he's almost certain to go air if he hasn't already. In this case you'll want to keep your marine production up as well as build a few Vikings. The last thing you want is to have a mass of Tanks and no defense against Void Rays or worse, Carriers.

This strategy has proven to be very effective against the Protoss ground game. Don't be discouraged if it doesn't work immediately. As with all things it will take practice. However if you devote the time it will definitely pay off.

Anyways, good luck to all of you and I hope to see you on BattleNet!

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Starcraft 2 - Zerg's Hydralisk and Infestor Strategy

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The hydralisk and infestor combo is being used more and more on battlenet right now because of the power of these two combined units. This strategy should not be overlooked for a less effective army such as roaches and hydralisks. This guide will show you why to consider using this combo and how use it the right way.

The infestor and hydralisk combo is very effective against an army of small units such as marines and marauders or zealots and stalkers. The infestor can use fungal growth to weaken the units and the hydralisks will finish them off quickly with their ranged attacks. This combo is also perfect for taking on larger units such as thors and tanks or colossus and immortals. The infestor can use neural parasite to take control of the large units and turn them against the enemy while the hydralisks will provide protection for the infestors. This combo is also good against an air attack because of the hydralisk's ability to hit air. However, it will not be able to take on a larger air attack such as mass carriers so make sure you keep an eye out for that and get some corruptors if you see it coming.

You must upgrade to a lair pretty early on so you well be able to build both the infestors and hydralisks. You will need to delay your first expansion until you have the lair upgrade started and build zerglings for protection while you wait. You will be a little weak early on in the game but you will catch up fast when you start pumping out the infestors and hydras. It will take some practice to be able to use the infestors perfectly in the battles but after you have it down there will be few opponents that will be able to put up a real fight.

Anyways, good luck to all of you and I hope to see you on BattleNet!

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