I've played around 25 games now, and something is concerning me that I know sooner or later I will have to come up against. I rarely ever play against Zerg users, it's normally always Terran or Protoss. My concern is that next time I face off against a Zerg player, I'll get destroyed purely due to lack of experience against them. I've played a few games as Zerg to try and get the hang of how it works, but i'm still finding it difficult to be able to really understand how to fight them. So really, i'm asking for any general pointers or tips on how to play against Zerg as Protoss. This could be anything from opening moves to what I can expect to see from a Zerg player. Any help is greatly appreciated.
I'm only gold so take this with a grain of salt, but a few things that are a pain to play against as a zerg player: Void Rush -Spore crawlers do almost nothing against voids and it takes longer to tech to hydras and mutas than it does for toss to get voids, so Zerg will be fighting you with queens. If he is unprepared it's easy win, but even if he is somewhat prepared you force me to build AA d or extra queens. DT's -Getting detection is more of a pain for zerg than any other race, and dt's supported by phoenix can be devastating Collosi/stalkers/sentries -wrecks pretty much any combo zerg can put together with the exception of brood lords. collusi rip through lings and hydras, sentries block roaches, and stalkers protect collosi from mutas/corrupters
ZEALOTS and QUICK!!!! I've been slaughtered by a zergling rush countless times. Make sure you have at least 1 zealot to every 4 zerglings.
Maybe you forgot that Zerg always have overlords flying around everywhere with detection. Most Zerg get the overlord speed rather quickly in high level play matches.
Maybe you forgot that overlords aren't detectors anymore. They have to morph to overseers for detection. Anyway, I say there are two major things you have to watch out for. 1) Roaches. They are still pretty strong against almost all tier 1 units from protoss. The best way to beat it is to get zealots + sentry, using the sentry force field to block the roaches from escaping so your zealots can get into melee range and slice them up. 2) Mutalisks. First, you need to get an observer ASAP or sneak a zealot into their main to scout the spire. If you see the spire or some mutalisks, get a stargate and start pumping phoenixes. Mass stalkers can hold off mutalisks for a while but it won't be enough in the long run. Just focus on keeping your phoenixes alive, once you have about 12 or so phonixes then you can start being aggressive and take map control away from the zerg.
I'm pretty sure they weren't detectors before Patch 13 as well. I was killed by some DTs when I played as Zerg once. I thought I had detection with my overlords but it appears that I failed...
They haven't been detectors since I started playing a month ago. I don't know if they were detectors before then.
Zerg need to upgrade their overloads to get detection and they have to do it to each and every one ....it cost a bunch. When playing zerg your first pylon should go at the ramp then walled off with your gate i like to have a cannon asap to 1 shot the rushers with a couple (1 will do with a cannon at start game) zels waiting. Get a robo bay up and scout their base great thing about vs zerg is by looking at their buildings you can see exactly what they are going for if they have a tower abandon voids and only build phi/immortals with some dts to keep them spending money on upgrades. If you don't get a zengling rush most likely they are expanding early. I really like vs zerg as protoss because of the dts
As said earlier. DTs do very well against the zerg. If you can tech to it pretty early then you could use them to harass the player. Take out all of the drones and you may even be able to remove the Hatchery/Lair/Hive. Use the observers. I hardly ever play against zerg, but when I do, the player usually forgets that overlords don't have detection anymore...
this is exactly the reason why when i'm playing protoss, regardless if he vr rushes or not, i get spores
Why would you get spores instead of an overseer... sure it's a bit more expensive, but it doesn't use up a valuable drone, and it can move, so you only need one per base.
I can say I haven't actually lost many PvZ matches. Several strategies and openings can work pretty well. A 2 gateway zealot rush usually works pretty well (at 4 or 6 zealots is usually optimal timing), DT rushes accompanied with stalkers to take out the overseer and distract your opponent is highly effective, Void rushes work well if you build up some zealots while teching, Colossi will completely own zerglings, roaches, and hydralisks as long as you have enough support in front of them. Mix it up a bit, get comfortable doing some different stuff, and you'll be owning PvZ pretty consistently And guys, overlords haven't had sight since SC2 alpha was out, so stop arguing about it.
Here's a video of Stalker blink dominating Zerg. The Roaches and Zerglings just couldn't close the gap on the stalkers fast enough and if they got in too far the Stalkers just blinked... holy cow it's crazy. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qB2HVUYUoJc
Defending Build 15 probes for minerals, 4 for Gas 5-8 Pylons (1 near Enemy base, 1 remote location) 3-7 warpgates (spread them out, i like to build a few away from base) 3-5 Cannons blocking ramp / entrance Various Required Tech Building's Attacking The best way to do this this is via several WARPGATE!!, place a few pylons close to there base and pump your DT and Stalkers in there... aim Hive/Liar straight up.. this will disable there resources.. even if they have another base u can follow the drones to there expansion.. Then use the Stakers to clean up there overlords and various units.. but the main target is to pin there reasources low and there supply low.. so u can smash them with Voids or Collosis in another few mins..
When I play zerg,first thing to do is build a wall in my main base,with a small hole to fit 1~2 zealots in stand ground mode. Then I begin harassing the zerg by building phoenixes,while I leave my base at peace,since he has his attention on his base.If the raid goes wrong I try to scout what he is trying to build,but if i can't or don't have the time I usually go for Colossi and zealots on ground with phoenix and VR in air for support. It's important to expand if you feel safe enough,or don't let him expand using your fleet or ground forces.
