15 Hatch Zergling All in ZvP

Introduction

This is the infamous 15 hatch ZvP build that the SC2 Swarm team to great effect in the CTL (chobo team league). Embedded below is one week we decided to push the build to its limits to see how far it could go because our opponents Born Gosu decided to field mostly Protoss players. The build won 5 out of 5 sets in leagues ranging from Gold to Diamond 1 against them. Even in higher leagues, I have seen/used this build to defeat Grand Master opponents. The build is so strong because it is hard for Protoss players to identify and it is simple to learn and execute.

Caution: While many all in builds can help your practice mechanics and get better at the game, this is NOT one of them. It is fun and easy to learn and use, but be careful as it is strong but does not help you to learn how to play major parts of the game. I would strongly suggest that you practice/use more than just this build for ZvP.

Build Order

12 – Drone //Rally to gas
14 – Extractor Trick to 15/14 //Rally 15th drone egg to natural
15 – Hatchery
14 – Extractor //Use a Drone from minerals and try to place this right after your hatchery goes down
13 – Drone //Rally this to become your spawning pool
14 – Spawning Pool
@100% Extractor – Place 3 drones from minerals into gas
14 – Overlord
Extractor trick to 15/14 //Only do this if the probe can not see you do it
@100% Overlord – drone to 16
@100 gas – take 3 drones off of gas and send them to the natural
@100 Spawning Pool – 6 lings + Metabolic Boost (Zergling Speed)
20 – Queen @ Natural
Constant Ling Production, rally zerglings across the map.
26 – Overlord
28 – Second Queen @ Main base

Notes

• If you can get Zerglings into their base right away, attempt to shut down the pylon powering the gateway first. Generally you can get zerglings into the base if the Protoss player hasn’t fully walled off by then (common if they do not know what you are doing, which can be difficult to tell because this build is hatch first). Alternatively, if they aren’t reacting / didn’t probe scout, but did wall off with their tech structure (Twilight Council, Stargate, or Robotics Facility) you can hide zerglings on the side of the map so that when they send their first gateway adept across the map to get a scout in you can run into the base before the second one is finished (and while the first is in the middle of the map) and kill the pylon.
• If you can only sneak a few zerglings into the base before the adept walls off the base, go straight for the surround on the adept and kill it with zerglings from both sides. If this occurs, it is best to use one or two of the lings on the inside to try and block probes from fully walling off that section, so you can run everything in once the adept dies.
• If they fully wall off, or get a wall up with a unit, keeping macroing and making zerglings and attack the wall. It is possible to win by killing the wall and breaking through. Make sure to be attacking whichever structure is still being built with as much surface area as possible first and then attack other structures in the wall as a second priority, as it will be easier to get through the building structure (less hp and can not be healed by a shield battery).
• To attack a Protoss wall with a unit in the wall, the unit will aggro all of your zerglings if you simply a move. To get around this, attack move the building structure in the wall, and then box some zerglings and attack different points in the wall, including whichever unit is in the wall. Alternatively, you can a move first (which will target the unit in the wall) and then box and split lings off to attack different structures in the wall.
• Remember that attacking the wall efficiently (fewest zerglings in the back not attacking anything) isn’t as important as keeping your macro up (constant ling production/spending larva, injecting, making enough overlords etc).
• Finally, target the pylon powering the front gateway first and once the gateway is unpowered run into the Protoss main base to unpower whichever tech structure they have (if they have one). Once the pylon(s) are unpowered you have won the game, as the Protoss player has no way to make more units.

SC2 Swarm Community Team

If you are a StarCraft 2 player of any race and any skill level, you can join our team by joining our discord channel and filling out the application form found in the #sc2swarm-info channel. We are a relaxed but competitive team and have great coaches / high level players of every race. The team as a whole puts in lots of effort to improve and to play well in our CTL matches by learning, practicing and teaching many different builds and reactions. If you are looking for an SC2 community to be a part of, we accept players with good applications of any race or skill level. Not interested in being a part of the team? If you would like to learn to play better at the game or be a part of our SC2 community, you are also welcome to join the discord and ask questions, post replays for help and participate in discussions.