So I just started to learn how to play with Zerg. They are a bit more confusing then they were in SC1, but once I got the hang of them they were a lot of fun to play with. So my buddy that I play with alot only use protoss and 90% of the time masses Voidrays. How do I counter Voidrays with Zerg. He just destroys me everytime with them. By time he gets up to Voidrays the only counter I can manage is Hydros. Protoss just seems to get to Voidrays too fast for me to do anything. So what should I do?
hydralisks will work but you have to make sure there range is upgraded and they are on the creep so because they are extremely slow so make sure to spread creep and use tumors. im guessing mutalisks would also work.
He seems to have a good amount of Voidrays by time I get a few Hydras. So I guess I just need to learn how to get to Hydras fast?
shouldnt be that hard to get hydras just as fast if not faster than void rays. plus you can build at least 3 hydras at once and he can build one void ray at a time. if you use your queen you can build even more hydras. for you to get hydras you need -spawning pool -lair -hydralisk den for him to get void rays he needs -gateway -cybernetics core -stargate plus hydras are much less mineral and gas intensive than void rays so you should be fine.
Hardly build any units and have 2 extractors down by the time your spawning pool finishes and you'll easily have enough to stop him. Also queens are fantastic against void rays as they cost no gas and you can get them very early so if you not confident with the hydras get 3-4 queens and focus fire.
hydras work really well against void rays make sure to target fire them, if u need to u can spawn extra queens, and if u have to get spore crawlers
Queens are good early if you're behind and need air defense asap. Later use Hydras. Ideally you want to have your OLs spread out and dropping creep, hopefully with speed, and flank/surprise the void rays when they come into your territory. Later on you can use fungal growth to help keep them pinned down.
thank you guys im a protoss player and you just showed me one of the zergs biggest weaknesses MWAHAHAHAHA
The trick is, if you can't scout the protoss, assume he is rushing void rays. What I always do is get my extractor right after my spawning pool, spend my first 100 gas on zergling speed, my second 100 gas on lair. As soon as the lair finishes, I immediately throw down the hydra den, even if I haven't scouted him. Blizzard, in their infinite wisdom, had the foresight to make the hydra den take about 30 seconds to complete, ensuring that you can get them out before void rays arrive. Even if he isn't actually rushing void rays, hydras are still very good, so you might as well follow this build just to ensure you don't lose to void rays.
Typically if I can't scout their base I assume they have gone VR or some other tech. Typically I lay down some spine crawlers and tech to muta. My muta's allow me a chance to: 1. Harass their mineral line. 2. Scout their base 3. Kill their VR (usually they only have 2 and I have a minimum of 3 muta. 4. If they did quick expand, kill all their workers 5. Harass immortals if they were dumb enough to build them Assuming they did go VR, they're in trouble. After that point, you continue to harass with muta or you build corruptor to kill any more VR (VR is incredibly weak to corruptor if you micro correctly and don't let them charge). Typically I grab an expo at this time. If they didn't have any stalkers handy or any cannons on their mineral line, the game should be over. If they insist on massing VR, grab some ground units for their stalkers, some muta for harass, and corruptors for the VR. Tech up to broodlords, morph a few of them and wipe their base. If they choose to go carrier, even better. Mass corruptor smokes carriers.
Mutalisks with a few sport crawlers at each base/expo keep you safe from deadly void ray rushes, but you need to be really careful to prevent the protoss player from getting to large numbers of void rays since they become more and more deadly in numbers. Once you find a protoss player with void rays, or the ability to produce void rays, constant scouting is key. Since void rays are a fairly expensive unit, you can catch a protoss player off guard early in their build when they either: - over-committed to void rays and have a minimal land army in order to allow void ray mass production OR - expanded and just begun to bring in stargates in larger numbers while maintaining a moderate land army In the event that they have a small land army, an early attack can catch them before they have the capability to repel it (requires some good timing, but once you get a feel for it, it wont be that hard to pull off) If they expanded though, harassment and an effective army mix is what you should do. Harass with mutalisks and zerglings while building up a solid roach/hydra mix (roaches to soak damage, hydras to dish it out) to take out the land army. As long as you keep void ray numbers low, you will frustrate the other player or force a costly transition. All in all: as long as the void ray numbers arent high, you won't be troubled too much by them
