Idra vs BounD

EG.IdrA vs BounD, on Entombed Valley, cast by Ipp from RageQuitTV.

Replay of this game at http://drop.sc/144693

Some of my comments, with spoilers, below the VOD.



I have thought for a while that Zerg is the strongest race in Starcraft 2.

I think once Zerg players figure out how to effectively use and coordinate their units and structures, Blizzard will probably have to nerf Zerg a fair bit.

I think this game provides some support for those opinions of mine, even though Idra made several strategic mistakes in this game, he still won pretty easily, his Protoss enemy made some mistakes, but they were far less obvious.  At least to me.

I don't think Idra fully understands yet, or perhaps he understands but doesn't have his build refined yet, using Mass Broodlords with Spine & Spore support.

I have covered this a bit already in Starcraft 2 Thoughts: Broodlords Support units Part 1 (ZvT focus) and in Starcraft 2 Thoughts: Broodlord Support Units Part 2 (ZvP focus).

Some of the keys points that I feel Idra missed, some which I have mention in previous posts, and some I have discussed with other players & coaches.

Not in any particular order, Idra should have done the following, in addition to the things he did correctly:

1. Expand TOWARDS the enemy, just like Meching Terran, for the same reasons a Meching Terran does it.  This keeps your newest & most important mining base as the most protected, because it is close to your powerful but slow moving Army.   This also makes your defense more cost effective, because your bases have less surface area.
2. More Queens for Transfuse and Creep spread.  This would make mass Broodlord with Spine & Spore support a LOT more efficient.
3. Nydus for defense and rapid support at the front, also to cross connect bases.
4. Massing Overseers for Contaminate of key enemy production structures!!!
5. Possibly Hydras, with Creep they are as fast as Stimmed Marines & Maruaders, with Nydus they can move from one side of the map to another instantly.  They also shoot up and down, so they can help defend Broodlords.  Also vs Protoss they dominate everything except for Colossus or HT with Storm, so after a big fight, Hydras will tend to dominate remaining Protoss Army, if you focus down Protoss Colossus & HT with Broodlords, the Hydras will clean everything else up! 
6. To many Infestors, Queens & Hydras are a better use of your supply.
7. Combined Harassment with Overseers + Nydus +Hydra/Ling 

 What should the Protoss player have done?  That is not so clear to me yet.

Some things worth trying:

1. Sentries and Hallucinate, I am not saying this because it was Idra, I think using them as a damage buffer, and to draw Fungals & Neural Parasite to waste Infestor energy.  As well as Guardian Shield & Hallucinated Phoenix scouting
2. Two or three Warp Prisms, with Prism Speed upgrade, one of the standard counters to a Meching Terran is drop play.  I think a Pair of HT for Storm Drops with an Immortal is best.  Immortal to provide Roach and Structure killer with Zealot warp in support, and when HT out of energy you could make them into an Archon.  One Immortal and one Archon with Zealots warped in, would be good at killing Zerg tech structures.  You could just do 2 HT and round of Zealot warp ins, and run away with Prism and HT.
3. More Observers.
4. With the additional Observers, and better Scouting, including Hallucinated Phoenix, Drops could be a lot more effective!  Know were critical tech structures and in base defenses are located.
5. Put down a Proxy Nexus or Assimilators at Zerg's likely 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc expos.  This will delay Zerg's Teching.  I really like putting Assimilators on all the gas at say 3rd & 4th, or 4th & 5th.  They only cost 75 Minerals each, but have 900 total HP + shield.  This also provides more Scouting information, and if Zerg is lazy, may pull whole army or big portion (ie One whole hotkey) to kill them.  Creating opening for a drop or attack from your main Army.

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!!