ZvZ: What to do against mass hydras?

Hi everyone,

I'm a Platinum Zerg player having issues dealing with mass Hydralyks in Zerg vs Zerg match ups. What units are ideal to dealing with mass Hydralysks? I've tried a variety of things, but haven't really come up with a solid solution.

What do you usually do when facing mass hydras? If you do, that is. Thanks in advance!

 

I find banelings soften them up nicely for your core army (lings, hydras, etc) to swallow. Not as nicely as they did in beta, but they still work pretty well.

 

roach baneling proly you best bet or muta baneling ( mutas dont ever engage the hydras its just that hydras are slow so you can attack everything when he moves out) but i beleive roaches still beat hydras. just try and abuse his less mobile force, which prolly means dont spread you creep and keep his creep down oddly enough

oh and what do i do when i generally m faced with mas hydras, build a collosus then laugh though i dont think that helps you unless your in a ffa with a protoss

 

Thanks for the responses.

I tried using banelings once against hydras, but it didn't work out too well. It could have been that particular situation that it didn't work out, so I will try it again. I tried roaches as well and that didn't work either (again, it could have been that situation that failed because we both had infestors and both fungal growth'd each other during the battle). I'll try and find the replay, so it can be analyzed or something.

 

If they aren't using detectors you could burrow the banelings and press x to detonate them underground. Works wonders for me. Muta,zergling,baneling i find beat mass hydras, don't be afraid to split your army up and hide sections of it outside your base so you can hit them from all sides and triple the rate at which your banelings get within range.

 

Banelings make an excellent counter to hydras, but be sure to get the movement speed upgrade on them if you want them to be very effective. If there is too much creep all over the place and your opponent is managing to kite away from the banelings then add in some infestors so that you can immobilize his force with fungal growth.

 

Creep shouldn't make a big difference, as it is player-neutral. It will provide the same speed bonus to your forces as it does for his, regardless of whose creep it is.

 

It is just that Hydras get much more speed bonus than Roaches or Banelings. I have heard, that they get about 50% increase, while most Zerg units get 30%

 

Easy.

Roaches with infestors.

Overlord drop banelings over his army. Research the carpet bomb technique if you don't know it.

Easy win.

Yes and No.

I will still kill his tumors and spread my own, because his creep gives him vision of the map, not you

 

@Tempest

You realize I was replying to the guy above me right? This is part of the reason why I dislike the quoting rules here, especially if replying to longer posts.

So in reference to the value of baneling speed in battles taking place on creep in Zerg vs Zerg, it won't make a big difference. I only qualified it in the first place instead of saying it would make no difference because of battles on the edge of creep where speed could matter if the hydras are on it and the banelings are not, which was getting more nit-picky than I thought necessary.

 

you dont have to press x to detonate them because then all of your banelings will explode... instead you can just unburrow them so only a couple of them would die...

for example if 1 hydralisk would walk over your 20 banelings.
so if you press X you'll lose all your 20 banelings to 1 hydralisk
but if you just unburrow them only 3 of them will die (it takes 3 banelings to kill a lonely hydralisk)

pressing X will probably just overkill the hydralisks

 

I think you are misunderstanding him. He is suggesting using 'x' to detonate them while burrowed so you don't have that 1s delay vulnerability while they are unburrowing. Nobody is suggesting detonating all of them all at once. And it is no more difficult to only press 'x' while having a few selected than it is to press 'r' to unburrow them while having a few selected.

 

Since you'd group them together it'd be much easier to issue commands to all of them. Pressing their number and 'r' is easier than panning there, selecting the units close to the enemy and pressing 'x'. Moreover, banelings deal damage regardless of whether they attack or are killed, so there's really no point in the underground detonation thing apart from the added satisfaction it brings

 

@Phoenix
Thank you, this is the point I was trying to make. Hydralisks stand more to gain from being on creep than banelings do. Or rather, hydras are more disadvantaged while not on creep than banelings are since they are exceptionally slow.

@KHaYMaN
I simply meant that earlier in the game there will be less creep, and you can catch your enemy mid map with banelings quite easily because the hydras will be slow. Later in the game, when there is more creep around, (in fights where both forces are on creep.....) you will either need very many banelings or a craftier technique than just attack moving them in. Be it burrowing, carpet bombing, or using fungal growth.

My comment about getting the baneling ms upgrade was on an unrelated note, that I believe the upgrade is always worth it if you are incorporating more than a few banelings into your build...regardless of what units you use them against.

 

Have you tried broodlords?

they have much more range than hydras and are almost the same speed outside creep. if the hydras run toward your broods then you run away towards a cliff. Choosing the location of the battle will give you lots of advantages. i find broodlords very efficient against hydras

 

If i see mass hydra from my opponent i go for mass zerlings and brood lords. Zerlings will make it hard for the hydras to strike the brood lords and the brood lords will do the rest. Also brood lords cost a lot of gas and you can produce mass zerlings with the minerals you will have

 

Brood Lords might be another answer to them, but I feel like they would take too long to get. You need Tier three just to get the greater spire. If someone was going mass Hydras I feel like by the time you got to Tier 3 it would be to late. I think Mass Banlings and roachs or Banlings and Zerglings with and upgrade would work better. But thats just my two cents

 

Yes, banelings are probably the best to go for since hydras are light. I only found this out when I encountered a dozen hellions with dire consequences lol.

My usual problem is that I don't make enough banelings. I always think 'hey, they are suicidal, they've got to kick some serious arse'. That said, they do eat up large crowds when you have enough of them, but I really can't decide if the 50/25 plus tech 100/50 really pays off or not. I guess the discombobulation factor that comes from centrifugal hooks plus creep bonus adds to their effectiveness.

 

Rofl, I had a guy go fast hydras when I was doing a hellion drop the other night. Most beautiful thing I've seen

 

mass hydra will lose to hydra+roach, assuming that the matchup is comparable (not 100 units vs 30 for example).

the simple answer to your question is: fungal growth (infestor) with roach+hydra w/ special emphasis on creating a concave with your units when you engage. you will own his mass hydras.