Professional Vod
Dark vs TY GSL Season 3 2017 Ro.8 Game 1 Ascension to Auir Game 2 Acolyte
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gFFs-rsQVss?start=622]
Vod Analysis
This match is about as textbook as you get for standard Ling Bane Hydra against Terran. Dark’s build varies slightly compared to the one below, he gets slightly later upgrades as a trade off for an earlier lair for centrifugal hooks.
TY goes for a raven hellion opener and transitions to a standard Terran bio composition. Dark defends the initial attack with 3 creep spreading Queens and a handful of Zerglings. TY follows up with a two medivac stim drop along with a multiprong attack with the initial hellions and reaper. Dark’s queens and lings are positioned well for the hellion attack and he pushes that back easily, however he doesn’t see the drop coming in and is forced to cancel his forth base. From here Dark retakes the fourth, gets up to the comfortable 80 drone count and the rest of the game follows the standard Zerg gameplan.
Game 2 is also a great example of standard ling bane hydra, however Dark goes for a different opener to reach a similar mid and late game composition. It is good for watching the flow of standard ZvT match. Dark goes for the quick 3 hatch because of the map, acolyte. Acolyte is a large map with a very safe in base natural location so he feels safe delaying metabolic boost and getting later Gases.
Spawning Tool
Here is the spawning tool build
Opener
Note: Another good standard ZvT build is the Rule of 1 Gas. The rule of 1 gas build has later upgrades and gets more drones and queens in the early game. I would recommend learning the rule of 1 gas build before any other standard ZvT build, solely because it does a better job at learning how to drone better, a skill that is what makes zerg such a strong race and a skill that will get you into diamond league almost by it self.
13 – Overlord
17 – Hatchery
18 – Extractor
17 – Pool
19 – Overlord
20 – 2x Queen //Send 20th drone from main to the third base gas geyser
24 – 4x Zergling
26 – Metabolic Boost //Move 1x drones from gas to minerals at natural
30 – Hatchery //if reaper finds the drone at the third make an extractor to save it
33 – Overlord
36 – Overlord
42 – Queen
44 – Queen
Build
@4:00 2x Evo Chambers // Put 1 Drone back on gas
@4:25 +1 Melee / +1 Carapace
@5:00 Lair
@5:15 1x Extractor
@5:15 1x Baneling nest
@~5:30 2x Extractor
@100% Lair as you have the necessary gas:
- Centrifugal Hooks
- +2 Carapace
- +1 Range //optional +2 melee instead
- Hydralisk Den
- Hydra Range
- Hydra Speed
@5:50 2x Extractor
@5:45-6:30 4th Hatch + Macro Hatch + Queen at main for Macro Hatch
@~6:30 1x Extractor
@100% +1 Range / +2 Carapace Start +2 Range / +2 Melee
When safe to do so, Infestation Pit > Hive > Ultralisk Cavern > Adrenal Glands > +3 Melee / +3 Carapace > chitenous plating
Composition
Mid-game
The Bane Hydra composition in ZvT needs to have more lings and banes than hydras. Hydralisks have a lot of dps and many advantages over mutalisks in the current meta however they do not have a lot of health. This lack of health means it is crucial to have a buffer for them between the Terran bio army which is why lings and banes are important. If the Terran is forced to run and split due to banelings the hydras are free to get damage done to the Terran. Additionally depending on the engagement due to the high dps of the hydralisk fewer banelings can be required if there are enough Zerglings to get a surround on the Terran army.
Late-game
If Zergs can make it to late-game with Hive, Ultralisk cavern and Adrenal Glands the match begins to sway in their favor heavily. Bio Terran has a difficult time transitioning to something that can deal with Ultralisks effectively, often forced to go for liberators and/or ghosts rather than a more standard mech composition. This means their late-game composition often consists of Marines, Marauders (optional), Medivacs, Tanks and Liberators. The goal for Zerg late-game is to have a Ling Bane Ultralisk army with however many Hydralisks survived from the mid-game. You want to add a spire to build up a corruptor count as the Terran adds liberators to their army. Finally, as hive finishes vipers are an extremely powerful tool for Zerg armies, they can rapidly regenerate energy with their consume ability which allows them to displace liberators and tanks with abduct for easy pick offs, use blinding cloud to disable clumps of tanks as you engage their main army and parasitic bomb which can be devastating to liberators if they are sieged close together.
With all this being said, the most important thing for a Zerg in the late-game is to have a good drone count (75-80) as well as be expanding rapidly. If you have the economy to support it, it is easy to remake an army if you take a bad engagement. Remember, the less economy you have the more you have to get out of each Zerg unit, which can be difficult when engaging a sieged Terran position. This means often the safest route is to just get more economy and deny the Terran from taking additional bases, rather than trying to attack their current bases.
Notes
This build focuses on tech (upgrades) a little more than is required. It is completely reasonable to delay some gas as well as upgrades and lair for faster drones using queens and lings for defense early on.
You want to transition to Infestation Pit, Hive and Ultralisk cavern as you are safe to do so. Depending on the game, your macro, your initial defense and the Terran build you can get infestation pit as early as you have the resources to afford it after getting muscular augments and a few hydras but you can delay the structures into the 8, 9 or 10+ minute mark depending on the game.