BURROWED UNITS In the early game, sending out Overlords is a great way to discover the location and race of your enemies, and to watch over key choke points so as to be warned of a rush. As the game progresses, however, it becomes more and more of a risk to allow your Overlods to stray far from defenses. After a few minutes, and especially when playing against a Terran player who's Marines can fire at air units early on, its a good idea to replace your scouting Overlords with burrowed Zerling. Burrowed units serve well as cloaked observers to warn of incoming attacks. And Zergling are cheap, costing only 50 minerals for two. Having advanced warning of an oncoming rush is a big advantage in the early game. When you've stumbled upon an unoccupied resource node, burrow a Zergling there. They'll provide intelligence as to whether or not its safe to expand. And if someone else decides to move in, you'll be the first to know about it. Bury multiple offensive Zerg units close to the resources at an expansion node. As soon as an enemy's worker begins construction, unburrow your units and nail it. He looses his worker and the money it cost him to begin the building. Be warned: a smart player would first send a unit to observe the area, but until the middle game or unless they send an Overlord, they'll be unable to detect your burrowed units. If your opponenet sends an escort of troops with his worker, don't worry; allow him to build around you. Because your units are so close the the resources, you'll end up with workers trotting over the heads of your burrowed units. Create a diversion somewhere else to draw your enemy's attention away, unburrow your units and nail the workers, then re-burrow them. This tactic is usually safe, because many players forget to leave defenses or build detectors inside their base. It's a great way to grind an enemy's economy to a hault. Think of the surprise your opponent will experience when he realizes that all his workers have been executed and he doesn't know how! It is impossible to construct buildings on top of burrowed units. If you burrow units in the right places at an expansion node, you can prevent the enemy from building their Command Post/Hatchery/Nexus. When they try to build on top of your burrowed unit, they'll get an error message disallowing the action. Only units with the ability to view burrowed Zerg units will recognize why. Most of the time, units sent to expand will not have this ability, and even if they execute your unit, you'll at least have had time to muster a forcie and attack the fledgling expansion. When burrowing large numbers of units, stack them on top of each other. If an enemy dectector should happen along, he'll be able to identify only the top unit. You can have a huge force appearing as just three of four burrowed units! Even better, you can mask the presence of higher-tech units by burrowing Zergling directly on top of them. The only unit an enemy will see see is the Zergling! MANAGING ZERG DEFENSES The new Sunken Colonies are formidable defenesive structures. Although their damage type is only explosive (ie: a reduction for small units), they still deal out the punishment. Lurkers are incredible defenders, in that their splash damage can really dispatch an enemy ground force quickly. Hydralisk are excellent against air units, and Spore Colonies are excellent heavily-armored dectors. Despite requiring creep, the Sunken and Spore Colonies are the most heavily armored defense structures in StarCraft, packing a walloping 400 HP while costing 175 minerals (including Done). Burrowed units on defense are very effective. They make it more difficult for an enemy to assess the strength of your defenses. Unfortunately, burrowed defenders require altertness on your part; if the enemy attacks and you don't unburrow your defenses, it could spell trouble. An excellent defence setup involves a combination of Zergling and Hydralisk, unburrowed, out a bit from the edge of a line of three or four Sunken Colonies. A short distance out from the Creep, in the direction the attack is expected, burrow another group of units, and more units out a bit further still. When rushed, allow the invasionary force to approach your unburrowed units. The enemy's units will attack, but as they're blocked by your defensive units they should be far enough away so as to not be able to target the Sunken Colonies, while still being hit by the Subterranian Tentacles. Seal off any escape attempt by unburrowing your outer forces and hitting the enemy from behind. They'll be crushed in moments. They beauty of th is defensive tactic is that some attacking players, when a victim of this, will panic when they see the force coming from behind them. They'll get their units to turn away from the base to face the onslaught, which is a loss of precous seconds for them. Also, by swarming in this manner, the effectiveness of the Zergling is maximized due to the close quarters. This setup requires a slight tweak when facing Terrans. Burrow your outer forces a bit further than normal. Most Terran players will attack with a combination of Marines/Firebats, Medics, Wraiths, and Siege Tanks. Due to the extreme range of the tanks, your opponent will put them in Siege Mode a short distance from your base as soon as his faster infantry and Wraiths have engaged your defenses at the creep line. Hopefully, they'll be in Siege Mode right above your outer line of burrowed units. Pop them up, and slaughter the tanks! If the Terran player is dumb, he'll take the tanks out of Siege Mode, by which time they should all be toast without having fired a single shot. If the tank fires at the units that are swarming it, he'll end up hitting himself anyway (the Siege Tank does splash damage). An effective counter to this defense for the Terran player: prior to attacking the actual base, set up your tanks in Siege Mode while ComSatting the edge of the Creep. If any burrowed units are around, the t anks will take care of them. Also, a Science Vessel with the ability to Irradiate does well against masses of units, although Irradiating burrowed units takes away from its ranged effect. Just the same, Irradiate is a great way to take out lurkers and swarms of defenders. If heavy defenses are required, heavy use of Sunken Colonies in combination with Lurkers and other troops make for impenitrable defenses. Try lining your Colonies side by side in a wall. Station Hydralisks behind them and Zergling out in front. The idea is to prolong the life of your Hydralisks and Sunken Colonies. Just be careful to spot any long range units or casters; use the burrowed tactic mentioned above to kill them before they come in range. Be careful with Defilers on defense. Although Plague and Dark Swarm work well during attacks on other bases, avoid using them as a defensive measure. Careless deployment could result in the Plaguing of your own units and buildings. Remember that the swarm's protection will affect ALL units underneath. Don't Dark Swarm your defenses, only to be over-run by melee units and discover your attackers are safe under the swarm! To defend against air units, enlist a combination of Hydralisks, Spore Colonies, and Scourge. Have the Scourge patrol back and forth across your base. They are usually able to auto-acquire enemy transports full of troops and destroy them along with their living cargo before any units are unloaded. Spore Colonies and Hydralisks should be able to handle the rest. If your enemy is Protoss, the Corsair's Disruption web can be a real pain. Be sure to have some Scourge along with a good mix of Guardians and Devourers on hand to take out any attackers while the web is in effect. Using Dark Swarm on friendly buildings/units affected by the Web is a good way to be sure they are safe from ranged attackers; melee units cannot attack under the Web, so your units will be safe from everything but Reavers and Siege Tanks. One other note: units burrowed along the edges of your Creep will allow you to quickly dispatch any Ghosts that attempt nuclear strikes, saving you from the devastating Nuclear Missile. PLAYING VS TERRAN Nearly all the Terran units are ranged attackers. As a result, the Defiler's Dark Swarm is unarguably the most useful ability when facing a tight Terran defense. Cast Dark Swarm along the edge of a Terran's defense and attack with Hydralisk and Zergling. Target the Firebats and Siege Tanks first (remember that Siege Tanks are not affected by Dark Swarm). If the Firebats come under the protection of the Swarm, use Zergling to take care of them. By consuming Zergling, your Defilers can effectively Dark Swarm the entire base. When using Hydralisk, be careful not to Dark Swarm enemy units/buildings unless melee attackers (ie: Zergling or Ultralisk) are at hand. Plague is another extremely useful Defiler spell. Although Medics can restore a Plagued unit, damage is still taken. There is no better way for a Zerg player to tear down a fleet of Battlecruisers than with Plague! Always have a good force of Queens out and about. Use them liberally: spawn broodlings in every vechile and Medic you come across. Make the Terran player paranoid to deploy his Siege Tanks and Goliaths. Parasite Critters. Try to infest a Command Center, and use Infested Terrans against enemy defenses. Don't bother parasiting enemy units, as the Medic's Restore can kill the parasite. The Terrans are extremely vulnerable to Ultralisk. Ultralisk with fully-upgraded armor are impermiable to Wraiths, infantry, and Vultures (since Vultures attack with concussive damage-type). Even Goliaths will only do 6 HP of damage. The biggest threats to Ultralisk are Siege Tanks, Spider Mines, and Battlecruisers. When engaging a Terran's defenses, target the Siege Tanks first. Next, hit lone infantry units, focusing on Firebats before Marines. Ignore the Bunkers by simply running out of their range; the units inside will have to hop out to attack, at which point they can be quickly dispatched. Supporting Ultralisk with Dark Swarm or against air units with Devourers, Scourge, or Hydralisk will solve the Battlecruiser problem. Be very wary of Spider Mines. If your Ultralisk are tightly packed, only a handful of mines can ruin your day. Once the perimiter defeses are down, bring in a few Overlords and use Hydralisk or Zergling to root out the Mines before cleaning the base off. Devourers work extremely well against Battlecruisers; the Acidic Spores both nullify the Battle Cruiser's heavy armor and slow down their attack rate. Guardians are a Terran player's worst enemy, but be sure to support them against air units. Accompany your Guardian force with a pack of Hydralisk or some Scourge, and a few Overlords to reveal cloaked Wraiths. Be wary of Science Vessels equipped with Irradiate. If you see a Science Vessel, try to destroy it immediately. Irradiate can be a real hastle, especially when used against expensive units like Queens and advanced air units. Ultralisk are strong enough to survive a few irradiations, but they are still vulnerable to its effects. If a unit is irradiated, isolate it from the swarm immediately! Irradiate is a ranged attack, and will affect surrounding units with devastating results. When a ground units has been irradiate, burrow it immediately; Irradiate does not have its ranged effects when the irradiated unit is burrowed. If you can't burrow it, try to run/fly the unit into a pack of Terran infantry. Valkyries and their spalsh missiles chew up Scourge. Don't waste a whole pack of Scourge if a pair of Valkyries are in the area. Instead, try hit the Valkyries with Plague or Hydralisk. When facing Valkyries in the air, spread your units out as much as possible. A pack of Devourers can tear through Valkyries. GUARDIAN TACTICS Guardians are great units. They can strike from out of range of troublesome Missle Turrets, Bunkers, Photon Cannons, and Spore Colonies, and can really dish out punishment. Despite being powerful against ground units, however, Guardians are extremely vulnerable from the air. Since they have no air-attack capability, they must be escorted by Hydralisk, Mutalisk, a wing of Scourge, or a handful of Devourers. Alternatively, when attacking with Guardians create a diversion on the opposite side of your enemy's base to lure away the airborne defenders. As soon as he moves to counter it, launch the Guardians. It'll be awhile before he notices them. To preserve the life expectancy of your Guardians, morph them on site. Fly your Mutalisk to the location where you intend to attack before morphing them. If you morph into Guardians first, it will take them much longer to cross the map, therefore resulting in easier interception. When attacking with Guardians, the best thing to eliminate first are your opponent's workers; they are vital to his econmy, and at they drop like flies at the hands of the powerful bombers. Fly around his base without being seen and strike from the back where the resistance is least. Once you've savaged the workers, take out any anti-air units or buildings. Next, target Stargates, Spires, and StarPorts to elminate air unit production. If your opponent is Terran, he may lift off his buildings. That's OK; any building in the air is one less building that he can use Continue to destroy all resistance on the ground and then use Hydralisk to finish of the buildings buildings. When playing against a Protoss player, watch out for High Templar. Spread out your attacking force so as to minimize the effectiveness of Psionic Storm. Concentrate on taking out Photon Cannons and Pylon support for Gateways and Stargates. The hard-hitting Devourers perform very well against all Protoss air units, and are the best way to defend against airborne defenders. Guardians are also extremely effective on defense. Having a handful around to support your ground defenses is a good idea for two reasons. Once an attacker's anti-air units are eleminated, the Guardians can finish off the attackers un-hindered. Also, if a Protoss Player Disruption Webs your defenses, use the Guardians to take care of the ranged attackers (remember that melee units cannot attack under the Web, since they too are disabled). LURKER TACTICS The Lurker is arugably the best new unit introduced to StarCraft by the Brood War Expansion Set, basically because it address all the problems the Zerg had up until that point. Before Brood War, the Zerg had no cloaked attacker, meaning that detection was only necessary to root out burrows. Also, with the exception of the Infested Terran (a unit rarely seen in regular play) and the Mutalisk (with an attack factor of only 9), the Zerg had no splash attacker that would work well on defense. For splash units, the Terrans had the Seige Tank and the Protoss had Reavers and Archons, but the Zerg had to either create a static defense with Sunken Colonies or comit a ton of units to guarding the hive. Well, the Lurker solves all of these problems. When burrowed, the Lurker's spines rip through the ground, damaging all units in a straight line from the Lurker to its target. Since its attack type is Normal, the Lurker performs equally well against all ground units (Normal Damage Type means no attack scaling ratios). Lurkers are a great way to negate the effects of Medics; although Sunken Colonies damage infantry at the same rate as Medics can heal, Lurkers can rip through multiple units at a time. Zealots, too, fall quickly at the hands of two or three Lurkers that are plugging a choke point. Of course, the swarming masses of an enemy's Hydralisk or Zergling are no match for a Lurker's spines; only a handful of shots from the burrowed Lurker are necessary to decimate the enemy Zerg. Burrowed units are the primary form of intelligence for a Zerg player. At expansion nodes, bury a pair of Lurkers to destroy any enemy workers that attempt to build there. This works especially well against the Protoss, as Observers (the only mobile Protoss detector) aren't available until the mid-game. Once observers are available, though, be wary of air units and Dark Templar; station an Overlord and a few Hydralisk with your Lurkers if you can spare them. Terrans can ComSat, but this ability has limited energy. A smart Zerg player will expand with Overlords to detect cloaked defenders, so leaving a handful of Hydralisk with your expansion Lurkers will defend against Overlords and air units. Lurkers also work well on attack because they exploit errors in the targeting AI. Basically, enemy defenders will not attack your units unless they pose a threat. Lurkers cannot attack above ground, so escorting them with attacking units allows you to get them in position without being attacked. Be sure that there are no detectors in the area, or else as soon as they burrow they'll fall under attack. Hit a base with a small mix of Zergling and Hydralisk. At the same time, rush a pack of Lurkers into the base, and burrow them in a location where no detectors exist (preferably near the worker line). Be sure to support them with further units, though; Spider Mines, Psionic Storm, and Scarabs will make quick work of Lurkers. EFFECTIVE NYDUS CANAL TACTICS One of the strengths of Zerg forces are the speed with which they can be brought to bear. Nydus Canals are an integral part of mass troop movement, and should be implemented to maximize swarm control. Mutating a Drone into a Nydus Canal requires only a Hive and 150 minerals. The exit can be placed on any visible Creep. It is imperative to network your expansions with your main base via Nydus Canals so that defenses can be deployed as quickly as possible. When amassing a large force, stashing your units at a remote location keeps them safe from Irradiate, Psionic Storm, and other nasty anti-Zerg abilities. Nydus Canals make this networking possible. Before invading an enemy Zerg's expansion, begin mutating a Nydus Canal. Destroy the base with your forces, and pop the Canal's exit on the now-receeding Creep of the expansion. Once complete, Drones can immediately be sent through to establish an expansion in your name. Think of the surprise your opponent will have when he counter-attacks the expansion, only to find four Sunken Colonies already in place! When playing against a Zerg opponent, assemble a large land-based attack force. Take a Queen and parasite a Drone or Overlord in the back of the enemy's base. With a Drone, mutate a Nydus Canal on friendly Creep, but place its exit on your opponent's Creep (which you can now see). The instant the Canal is complete, quickly pump your forces through and begin attacking. You should be able to totally destroy the enemy's base. The reason why this tactic is so successful is that most players concentrate their defenses along the front of their base, subsequently ignoring their rear. The only way to defend against this tactic is to destroy the Nydus Canal before it is complete, so if they have no forces in the immediate facinity (and if you act quickly), you ought to be able to attack fast enough to still get your forces through.