Overlord Speed Opening ZvP

Intro

Below is the WCS Fall Replay pack which contains all of the replays that I reference throughout the article. Overlord speed openings were popular at this event after their recent cost reduction buff and new map pool. The upgrade is often even researched before Zergling speed. This can make you somewhat vulnerable in different situations so there are a few varying openings that you can choose to do in each match up. The trade off for each variation balanced how much gas is mined and how quickly which results in faster Zergling speed vs more economy and queens (more minerals).

EU Openings

There have been two different standard openings in Korea vs the foreign scene for ZvP for awhile now, the main difference being that the Korean opener delays the second Queen to place a third Hatchery on 20 supply early which allows for more Larva to be spent on Drones earlier on to boost your economy. This delays the second Queen, which can make it more difficult to defend 2 Adept pressures from Protoss. These two different openings appear to both still be popular in their respective regions, but both can be adapted to include overlord speed.

Lambo vs Rob | Serral vs Has/Hellraiser

In group stage 1, Lambo used this overlord speed opening vs Rob to win 2-1 on all three maps (he lost against a sentry immortal all in on world of sleepers, so I would take a look at acropolis and winter’s gate first).

Serral also used this build vs Has on Thunderbird and against Hellraiser on Thunderbird, both in group stage 3.

16 – Hatchery
18 – Gas
17 – Spawning Pool
Rally Drones 17-19 into gas
20 – Overlord
20 – 2x Queens + 4x Zerglings
@100 Gas – take 1 drones off gas
30 – Hatchery
30 @100% Queens – Overlord Speed + take 1 drone out of gas
32 – Overlord
32 – Queen
34 – Drone in the main rally into gas
@100 Gas – Zergling Speed
41 – Overlord

Reynor vs ShoWTimE

In group stage 3, Reynor defeated ShoWTimE 2-1 using his ZvP Overlord Speed opening in the game on Triton.

16 – Hatch
18 – Extractor
17 – Spawning Pool
Rally Drones 17-19 into gas
20 – Overlord
@60 Gas – Take 2 drones out of gas
20 – 2x Queens + 4x Zerglings
26 – Drone //Main Base Rally into Gas
30 – Hatchery
@100% Queens – Overlord Speed //Main Base
32 – Overlord
@70 Gas – Take 1 Drone out of Gas
36 – Third Queen //Natural
40 – Overlord
@100 Gas – Zergling Speed

KR Opening

So far there hasn’t been a ton of Korean ZvP in the GSL on the newest patch, however luckily for us Rogue did an overlord speed opening against Zest in the round of 8 on Thunderbird as well as King’s Cove.

Rogue vs Zest

In addition to this vod, since AfreecaTV is amazing we also have the vod from Rogue’s POV during these.

16 – Hatchery
18 – Gas
17 – Spawning Pool
Rally Drones 17, 19, 20 into gas send the 18th drone to the third base
20 – Hatchery
20 – Queen //Natural Base
Optional – 2x Zerglings //You can choose to make 2 Zerglings here, to send 1 or 2 of them around the map to try and scout the Protoss main base
@75 Gas – Overlord Speed //Main Base + Take 1 Drone off of gas
26 – Overlord
26 – 4x Zerglings //If you made 2 Zerglings earlier and only sent 1 of them to scout, you can afford to only make 2x Zerglings here.
28 – Queen // Natural Base
@100% Overlord Speed – Third Queen //Main Base
36 – Overlord
@100% Third base – Fourth Queen //Third Base

Back on Gas and Dealing with DT drop

I have actively chosen not to include times to put drones back on gas on all three of these builds, as the ideal time to put back on gas depends on what you scout. Generally the time to put back on gas will vary from rallying drones from your first completed inject (drones in gas ~3:25) to much later in the game around 4:10. Essentially what it comes down to is you want to fill your gas back up to 3/3 just before or as you start teching up (example: getting your lair / RW and extra gases when playing a roach style). The speed at which you tech up, can vary depending on what you scout with your speed overlords. As a general rule vs Stargate openers you can afford to tech a bit slower and therefore afford more drones and put back on gas later and against Twilight or Robo openers you want to tech faster and put drones back on gas faster.

Note: if you aren’t sure when to put back on gas or not at a level yet which you can decide based on what you scout from the Protoss player, I would recommend the earliest timing (rallying Drones from the Larva you gain from your first inject finishing) which is around ~3:25-3:30.

The Dark Templar drop is one of the most difficult builds to deal with using the Overlord speed opener, because spending gas on Overlord speed and Zergling speed delays your lair which you need to build Overseers. Generally Zerg should start Lair around 3:30 against the Dark Templar drop build which isn’t reasonably possible when spending gas on Overlord speed and Zergling speed. To counter act this, against this build specifically, cancel zergling speed and start your Lair @3:30 so that your Overseers can be on time and then defend with Roaches (put drones back on gas at this time!). You can start Zergling speed later on in the game if you wish in this scenario (if you are playing a ling bane ravager or similar style) however this isn’t necessary.