ZvT Roach-Ling-Baneling Pressure: Revisited

Several weeks ago I put out a guide on the ZvT roach ling baneling bust off two bases. At the time it was a very viable strategy and a good build to use in a best of three series. I began by explaining why all-ins and cheeses are an important part of the game all of that still stands. The build itself, however, needs to be revisited.

It is safe to say that the build I previously covered has now been made rather obsolete. Given the ever-shifting sands of the Starcraft 2 metagame, it is common to have to revise builds, so without further ado, here is the new ZvT roach ling baneling pressure. Enjoy!

TSL_HyuN's Roach-Ling-Baneling Pressure:

The Korean pro-gaming team TSL (Team SCV Life) is notorious for having a very powerful Zerg lineup, boasting players like Symbol, Shine, Revival, HyuN, and now with the TSL-Millenium partnership, Stephano. Naturally, having so many top-notch Zerg players in one team has lead them to develop their own distinct style in ZvT. In particular TSL is famous for the 2-2 maxed out speedling-baneling-mutalisk midgame pressure hitting at about 16:00.

Recently however, TSL_HyuN exhibited a brutally effective pressure build in the TeamLiquid Starleague 4 Ro32 matches against Major. HyuN is an ex-Brood War player, and is now playing Starcraft 2 full-time. In game 2 of his series against Major, up 1-0 against the Mexican Terran, HyuN showcased a pressure build that hits slightly earlier than the one I previously wrote about, with roughly the same amount of units, with two extra queens and a third base as well.

The third base means that this build is not all-in, it is more of a pressure build, therefore it is preferable for anybody seeking to improve their mechanics to do this build over the many roach ling baneling all in builds available to Zergs nowadays. This build is meant to work against a 1-barracks expand or a command center first build.

You begin this build by opening with the standard 15-hatchery. After placing the hatchery drone to 16 supply and make a spawning pool (15 hatch 16 pool has pretty much been established as the optimal build order, because the pool and hatchery finish at the same time allowing you to immediately begin two queens, making it the most efficient opening).

Once your hatchery and your pool have finished, make two queens at once while you continue droning. Don't take gas until your first pair of queens are finished, when they spawn make two extra queens immediately while you take two gases in your main. Your queens should hatch at about 4:50, give or take a couple seconds, when you're around 30 supply. The gas in your main is a good idea because passive gasless Zerg play with a good number of queens so so common now that any Terran player scouting no gas in your natural and 4 queens will just assume you're playing passive.

Speed is begun as soon as possible after taking 2 extractors

Begin mining gas as soon as possible, and start the metabolic boost (zergling speed) upgrade as soon as possible (this should be at around 6:00). Now there's two approaches to figuring out the timings for the roach warren. You can either pay attention to the game timer located just above your minimap, and place your roach warren down at 6:20, or you can use gas as a timer.

I prefer the latter option, for no particular reason other than that I find it easier to pay attention to my gas count than my game clock. Because gas always mines at a fixed rate, the gas timer is no less effective than the game timer in this phase of the game. Taking the gas as your timer, you should aim to throw down your roach warren when you have between 90 and 110 gas, 100 gas being best.

Roach warren going down at roughly 6:20, close to 100 gas, though a little late

At this point you should have 4 queens (two spreading creep at your front and two injecting larva into your hatcheries), about 100-120 gas, and about 40 to 44 supply. You should have 38 drones, the optimal number at this stage in the game, meaning 3 per geyser and 16 per mineral line, adding up to 38. Now you should stop all drone production, making 3 overlords (perhaps 4 if you really want supply) as you wait for the roach warren to complete (it should be done at about 7:00).

Now you'll notice minerals begin to stockpile, and if possible you should move a drone out to take your third base at around 7:00 minutes. Don't forget to keep spreading creep. As soon as your roach warren completes, make as many roaches as possible, between 10-12. Now make a baneling nest as soon as you've started roach production (the economics should work out so that you'll have enough gas to make it once your minerals get to 100). When you've made the first round of roaches, move out as you make between one to two rounds of lings (between 20-36). You should be moving out at about 8:00 minutes.

Notice how the baneling nest after roach production makes the timings line up well

You will reach the front of your opponent's base at around 8:30, depending on the map size. Make as many banelings as possible, this should leave you with about 10 banelings, 10-12 roaches, and as many lings as you made in one to two cycles of ling production. It is important to remember to drone up behind this attack. If you were intending to go all in then you wouldn't have placed a third hatchery down.

Without saturation on your third base the hatchery is an empty investment, so drone up after making a round or two of lings. As soon as your banelings morph, attack your opponent, prioritizing bunkers and clusters of units, try to avoid hellions and kill SCVs whenever possible. Roaches and lings will provide added damage. Do as much as you can with your army while you drone behind the attack.

Unit count just before attacking 

Make an evolution chamber and begin your lair tech as soon as you have 100 gas after morphing the banelings. Alternatively you can begin lair tech first and then take a third gas geyser while making two evolution chambers. If you've done enough damage to your opponent you won't have to worry about an attack for at least a minute or two, leaving you free to drone as you please. If you opponent has made banshees, make a couple of extra queens and place spores down.

It is most likely that you'll be ahead at this stage in the game so you need to maintain your lead by not letting banshees or hellions ruin your economy. Once you've hit lair tech, move into any mid-game style you find appropriate. Good luck and have fun!

I bungled the attack but I had a third and a worker lead to fall back on, even though I didn't kill many of his harvesters

 

Here is the video for HyuN vs Major game 2 in the TSL 4 Ro32.

Special thanks to Zombiebait who agreed to be a dummy opponent for me to execute this build against for the replay!