Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Starcraft 2 Thoughts: Broodlords Support units Part 1

I have a very different perspective on Broodlords than most.  I think they should be played like a Meching Terran.  Slow pushing towards the enemy, with aggressive Creep spread, high Queen count, and expansions towards enemy.  Even Proxy Hatches like Stephanos, with spine, spore, and Queen support.

I have mentioned this build to others before, but now that Stephano is using some similar concepts, I thought people might actually think about it, instead of dismissing it out of hand.

Broodlords are very strong, but they require a very specific support unit composition to be effective. So if you have a strong Ultralisk centered army your not going to be able to support Broodlords well.


Broodlords are similar to a meching Terran, only slower!  Ideally if your going Broodlords vs Terran you need to have a strong defense vs Ghost, Vikings, and if facing a smart Terran Ravens as well (think multiple HSM).  That is what you need to be sure the Broodlords can stay alive long enough to do any damage.
 
Ghosts are the easiest to deal with, since the Broodlords can kill them all by themselves as long as they can see them.  So you need, from worst to Overseer (worst choice, cause of snipe), Infestor, or Spores (best choice, only costs minerals, hardest to kill, and also works vs other threats to Broodlords).


Vikings can be countered from worst to best by Corrupters (horrible choice since Vikings counter them!), Infestors (Fungal/Infested Terran), Mutas, Hydras, Queens, or Spores.  Now if you want the best counter Mutas are the choice, but they take a lot of gas that you need for the Corrupters, and for morph to Broodlords, so considering the gas cost they are not a good choice economically speaking.

Infestors are not cost effective vs Vikings, unless your massing Infestors, which you can't do if your going Broodlords.  Infestors can work, but a not vs a good player that knows how to deal with them.

Same to lesser extent with the Hydras, so Spores are the best with DPS, HP, & Detection. Combined with Queens for Transfuses for Broodlords,  and for Creep Tumors for Creep pushing. 


So with Spores that do 17.4 DPS vs Air, and detect Ghost at range of 11, vs Snipe range of 10, and your dealing with the two main threats at once.  Add some Spines, and the Queens can switch hit between Air attack or Ground attack as needed, not to mention healing 125 hp per Transfuse on the 225 hp Broodlords, or if really needed on a Spore or Spine.


I like Overseers, but they work poorly vs Terran with Ghosts for detection, I think they should be used offensively to Contaminate critical production structures!  Mass Overseers in the late game should be very strong.

Couple of other key points, is having at least one group of 6 Corrupters patrolling for Medivac drops, since 6 Corrupters will two shot medivacs. Get Air Armor upgrades first, and ground attack upgrades, both Missile and Melee.  Melee attack upgrades help Broodlings, and Missile attack helps Queens, and Hydras. 

Also, having Nydus for additional defensive response would be key.  Not sure what best ground unit to make would be, I want to say Hydras, but in small numbers, and lots of Queens.  With this build you would always be on creep, and would use Nydus for fast ground unit movement.

Strongest Terran response to this play style would be Ghost with Nuke, Mass Vikings (to delay, and also to counter attack by dropping into ground mode in Main or Expos), & Ravens for PDD.

But you can counter the PDD, with more Spores, since they don't take supply or gas!!

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