I'm familiar with the general mechanics of the game, but what's the best build order for the beginning of the game?
Starcraft – What build order should I use for Zerg in StarCraft 2
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There is no unit that will magically let you beat a Zerg air mix, even Thors fall to mass Muta with a little micro. Instead let's break down what there is and discuss possibilities:
One of the things you need to ask yourself is: Is he Corruptor heavy or Muta heavy? This question will influence the result. If he's Corruptor heavy you're going to want more of a ground response. If he's Muta heavy, you're going to want more of an air response. I'll break down units for you based on this decision.
Corruptor Heavy
This is usually an indication he's going Broodlords, so its not a bad idea to build some extra Thor/Phoenix/Corruptor
- Marines. Any Terran bio structure will have these. They're more cost effective than Muta and with Stim they'll really tear through them. Highly recommended.
- Ghosts. Zerg air is all bio, and a full Ghost gets 8 shots (360hp) which means that Ghosts eat through Muta. When they're out of energy, you're left with a beefy unit (100hp) with +light damage (and Muta are light). Always a good choice.
- Thor. Without SCV, Thor tend to die to Muta very quickly. What's worse, SCVs get hit by bounce. Unless you have a bunch of these guys backed by 15+ SCVs I wouldn't make them the bulk of my strategy (plus corruption will really kill them).
- Missile Turrets. Surprisingly effective vs Muta, especially if you get the range/armor upgrades.
- Hydralisks. For a high dps unit you can't beat the Hydra. Their low hp means you're going to want to engage on creep where you can abuse your longer range.
- Infestors. AMAZING against Muta, especially with Hydra. Use fungal growth and "lol" at your opponent as he watches his 50+ Muta helplessly die.
- Queens. Mass queens are nasty anti, and the healing means you can win this battle without losing a single one (and not spending any gas either).
- Stalkers. Blink micro is the way to go. If he's big enough to push, don't blink in. Instead blink out Stalkers at low HP, they have a longer range than Muta.
- High Templar. You actually aren't going to get a ton of damage in with these as Muta are very fast, but sometimes you have to work with what you got, and these aren't bad.
- Archon. Too slow, too short range, skip them.
Muta Heavy
Against a Muta heavy force you're going to have more success with air to air as every air to air unit stomps on Muta (and breaks even with Corruptors). You're going to want to back this up with a mineral heavy ground force (Queen/Marine/Stalker).
- Phoenix. The anti Muta; they move while they shoot and have a longer range and faster speed. If he chases you he's dead.
- Voidray. Not the best as the Corruptors will eat them up, but if you can get charged you'll win. To help charge a large force spread them out and do NOT focus fire.
- Carriers. Completely nullify the bounce. Unfortunately you die fast to Corruptors so focus fire them down first.
- Corruptors. This should be obvious: Corruptors beat Muta.
- Muta. Ok, who has the bigger Muta ball. The reality of this battle is, if you can get off 1 fungal growth, you'll win almost instantly.
- Vikings. Longer range means you're going to have to harass with these. Don't get into a straight up battle unless you have backup or superior force.
- Battlecruisers. Not great vs Muta, but better than nothing. Bring some SCVs if you want to win.
- Ravens. Little known fact: most large air forces are decimated by Seeker Missile... with the exception of well played Mutalisks. This is very much an estimation of your opponent. If he hasn't shown heavy micro, this is a good way to go. If he has, it is unlikely Seeker Missile will be useful. It's worth noting that both of the Raven's other abilities work against Zerg Air, so it's still useful to keep a couple of these around.
Remember, if you see Muta/Corruptor you need to think "How can I use what I have?" NOT "What should I build?"
Weapon Speed / Armor Health -- Pick you favorite. I prefer Weapon Speed, as it becomes the better option once you consider SCVs / Medics / Science Vessels
Orbital Depots / Micro-Filtering -- if you're good about supply management, go with micro-filtering. This one is also a toss up.
Automated Refinery / Command Center Reactor -- depends on your macro ability. The Reactor becomes slightly more valuable on higher difficulties, but the Refinery enables long-distance vespene harvesting.
Raven / Science Vessel -- Pick Science Vessel for machine repair, unless you really like Ravens.
Tech Reactor / Tech Reactor -- No contest.
Shrike Turret / Fortified Bunker -- Fortified Bunker. The turret is basically equal to a single marine. Fortified Bunker gives it the health of +6 marines.
Planetary Fortress / Flame Turret -- depends on playstyle. Some folks like to spam planetary fortresses on the defense missions, others appreciate the flameturrets. Another tossup.
Predator / Hercules -- neither unit will see much use, firebats / hellions easily outstrip predators, and there is very little reason for drop play in the campaign. That said, the Hercules is very helpful on certain missions, such as the Moebius Rescue mission (exact name escapes me)
Regeneration / Bonus Energy -- The regeneration is very slow. Besides, you have SCVs / science vessels! +100 energy = longer cloaking, more yamato cannons(!), more psionic lash(!), and more healing for medic / science vessel. If you use Wraiths, Banshees, BCs, Ghosts/Spectres, Medics and/or SVs, go for the energy. The regeneration is quite slow.
Hive Emulator / Psi Disruptor -- Depends on playstyle. Emulator requires more micro. Both are helpful.
You can find some additional discussion here.
Edit: Were you looking for armory purchase suggestions as well?
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Best Answer
An opening dictates how you are going to start the match.
The basic Zerg openings:
How to read these: The number indicates the number of drones you should have before your first structure. Since you can only build 10 before an overlord any number over 10 indicates building an overlord on 9 or 10 (9 or Extractor trick is the superior choice). Pool indicates building a Spawning Pool. Hatch indicates building a Hatchery. Gas, indicates building a Vespene Extractor on your nearby Vespene Geyser.
Which opening you choose usually relies on two things:
The Rush: A Rush opening is necessarily an all in, so that is a decision you are making prior to starting the match.
Standard: 13–14 pool is considered standard play, it can easily lead to fast expo or 1 base or speedlings or any of another things. It's considered standard play because of the options it offers you. I believe Slush of Root Gaming still runs this build.
Speedling: This is a strat that cropped up near the end of Beta mostly on Korean servers. If you build your gas before your spawning pool and immediately throw 3 drones in it on completion, then you will have exactly 100 gas when your spawning pool finishes. This leads to early speedlings for heavy pressure. Artosis is a large proponent of this build.
Macro and Macro+: Both of these are fast expansion builds designed to get up a very good early economy. They are very vulnerable to rushes, and require good scouting to support. The advantage of these is that if you can scout when your opponent leaves his base you can quickly put together a large force that will be ready just as he arrives allowing you to hold off the assault and be in better economic position. Idra and Machine tend to run this build.
Sen runs a 12 pool to give him a larger advantage against more aggressive zerg opponents, which are common on the asian server. Outside of him, it is not a very popular build.
9 Overlord vs 10 Overlord
There has been a lot of debate as to getting your overlord after your 9th drone or after your 10th drones. To add confusion it is possible to get your overlord after your 11th drones by building a vespene extractor, building the 11th drone and then canceling the extractor to get your drone back. It is usually agreed that getting your Overlord on your 9th drone, or building it after your 10th and then using the extractor trick to get an 11th while your overlord is building are the better choices.
There is some evidence to indicate 9 overlord is slightly better.
I first wrote this post shortly after beta and while most of what I wrote here still rings true there has been a shift in the Meta game in that time. While 13–14 Pool is still an effective strategy, many more Zerg have shifted towards more Macro oriented builds. 14–15 Hatch in particular has really caught on in ZvT. Everything in the post remains valid but I think it's still worthwhile to update on some of the newer developments.