Starcraft 2 Zerg Strategies

By: Michael Carpenter

Break Studios Contributing Writer

These "Starcraft 2" Zerg strategies will help you move up the rank ladder in no time. "Starcraft 2" is a real-time strategy game focusing on resource collection, army composition and attack strategies. The Zerg are the bug-like alien race of the game, featuring extremely fast and large armies. To succeed in "Starcraft 2," you will need to know the strengths of your army and the weaknesses of your enemy's. Protoss and Terran players will have a much harder time dealing with you if you follow these "Starcraft 2" Zerg strategies.

  1. Scout. "Starcraft 2" units often boil down to rock-paper-scissors. For example, zealots dominate zerglings, but zerglings dominate stalkers. The key to playing Zerg in "Starcraft 2" is to scout your opponent. This basically means you need to figure out what he is building so you can build the counter to it. Early game Zerg scouting is a bit weak; you can rush in and out with zerglings or sneak in an overlord. Later in the game when you get a lair, you can build overseers and research burrow. Burrow will allow you to place single zerglings buried across the map. These will not be seen by an enemy unless they have a detector unit. These zerglings act as a great form of surveillance. Overseers can spawn changelings, which will take the form of the nearest enemy. These are great for scouting deep in bases. Keep up the scouting and modify your army accordingly to dominate your opponent.
  2. Queen usage. The absolute key strategy for Zerg in "Starcraft 2" is correct queen control. Queens are your most important unit. They allow you to spread creep via tumors and hatch more units at a hatchery. Make sure each of your bases has at least one queen. Be sure to use spawn larva on your hatchery whenever it is up. An easy way to do this is to group all your queens to a group, press V to activate spawn larvae and click on a hatchery on the minimap. The closest queen will puke on the base. Keep a mental timer of the cooldown in your head. Also, be sure to spread creep tumors everywhere. Creep allows you to see areas of the map so you can see when an attack is coming.
  3. Mutalisk hit squad. The mutalisk hit squad is one of the most annoying things to deal with in "Starcraft 2." Gather a group of mutalisks and fly around the opponents base towards his mineral field. Poke in to see how defended it is. If there are no missile turrets around, destroy all his probes or SCVs. When he comes to defend it, simply fly away. This will completely mess him up. It will destroy his economy and divert his attention, allowing you to get a leg up. Make sure to upgrade your mutalisks so they are even more devastating.
Posted on: Mar. 16, 2011