Zergs has been, and always will be, about getting into first base as soon as humanly possible. They’re built solely for rushing down and overrunning your opponent(s) as fast as possible. While some veterans have complained that the Zergs don’t feel as fast as they should be, just getting a few Zerglings and Roaches out with an upgrade or two can spell doom for opposing players who incorrectly build their choke points and place their defenses properly.

Anyone playing against the Zerg will have a number of things to worry about: quick rushdowns at any moment, burrowed units ambushing your attack party, a lot of distractions coming from you at all sides, Overlords and Overseers creeping around the side of your base acting as spies. Zergs are also good at changing from one designation to another in a few seconds to accommodate the situation (which I’ll address later below). While their late-game defenses and offensives aren’t as hard-hitting as the other two factions, a good Zerg player does not let a typical 1v1 match last more than 10 minutes due to their huge offensive options.

New Tricks Worth Noting

Roaches + Unwary Nydus Worm = I Win!

Roach Infestation: The online word and comments from early closed beta testers holds truth: Roaches are now the bread-and-butter unit for a rush army. They can regenerate health while burrowed, has good range for their ground-only spit attacks, and are tough. Just remember that they can be killed easily with sustained damage (stalkers, siege tanks, stim-packed marines, etc.) and they only attack ground units. I know a few people who made the assumption that they can deal with air units; they paid dearly for that mistake.

It also helps that you quickly research Glial Reconstitution(increase their speed) and Organic Carapace (regeneration when not burrowed) at the Roach Warren. This basically improves their already-good stats as rush units, as well as being used later for mid/late-game.

Research Burrow ASAP: There are no two-ways around this: Burrow is an important thing to research as soon as you get access to it. It’s part of using Zerg mind games onto your opponents; basically to put the fear that you have units buried in hotspots and close to your base to ambush his rush party.

Mighty Morphin’ : Some Zerg units can morph on the spot so that they can change their function on the fly (do this in a hidden spot, duh). Your mid-game Zerglings can morph into the useful Banelings for a quick sabotaging, while your Corruptors can morph into the gunship-built Guardians. Don’t be too shocked if you see a small group of Zerglings attacking and distracting your base for a few seconds while the Zerg player is secretly researching Banelings to attack en masse at your base’s weak spot.

There’s also one thing to note: a Baneling that exploded will not damage a Baneling next to it. This means that you will efficiently demolish a lot of structures around its target as long as they’re not intercepted by anything.

Crawl Space: Spine Crawlers and Spore Crawlers aren’t just the backbone of your Lair’s defenses, they can also uproot and relocate to other parts of your base in case you have generated a lot of creep around your playing field. One basic tactic to follow is to spread creep over the map’s natural choke point, then place your Spore and Spine Crawlers around the area.

Queen’s Ransom: For the love of god, use the queen as soon as you get your first wave of Zerglings and Roaches out. Their healing ability Transfusion can be beneficial and they can spit out creep-generating tumors so that your home field is well-secured (creep makes all your land-based Zerg units run around faster). Two Queens are good enough for supporting your early assaults. Also, the Queen can target your hatchery with Queen Ichor and churn out four larvae for faster unit-building.

Flying Through The Moon: While Zerg’s air forces aren’t much to brag about from my point of view (half of their forces move pretty slow), their early flyer units have their uses. Most rush-heavy players will definitely get Mutalisks out as quick as they can as the perfect air distractors. They’re fast, shoot their projectiles rapidly and can also strike two extra targets, and can attack on the move with some good-old APM clicking with a group of them. Again, distract an opponent with a swarm of these while you use another group of Roaches/Zerglings/Hydralisks for the kill.

Overlords? Overseers? Over-wha?: While you can still pull off the Overlord-floating-and-spying-on-opponent trick (make sure to upgrade their movement speed), they don’t act as detectors anymore. You either have to get a Spore Crawler up and running or change your Overlord to an Overseer. They will lose the ability to carry troops and spit out creep, but they now function as detectors and can make a changeling. Use changelings to spy on your opponent’s base for potential Nydus worm-dumping tactics.

Speaking of creep, make your inactive Overlords around your base spread creep when you can. The more of that purple gunk, the faster your units move.

Is it wrong to think about seafood at a time like this?

Late-Game Tricks: If somehow your opponent’s turtling strategy is effective, fret not. The new Ultralisks can burrow (you had that researched early, did you?) and complement your hydralisks. While I haven’t tinkered around too much with the Corruptor’s building-disabling ability (I basically change my Corruptors to Brood Lords), they can still act as support units for your ground-based army.

Multiple Nydus worms placed at multiple locations around an opponent’s base can be a game wrecker for them, since they have to send out a few of their units to guess where your armies are coming out from. Just remember to make sure you have a unit or two be around the area (burrowed units or changelings); Nydus worms can only spawn at places not covered in fog of war.

That’s all I got for the Zerg. If you have any new tips to share, do give a buzz. Stick around next week for word on the Protoss. Or is that Protosses?