What makes a Kerri player good?

I personally find joy in rushing L&L and VT with Kerrigan, but sometimes I have players ranked higher than me telling me that I’m good.
But I don’t feel good.
I don’t die… and I don’t need a carry on brutal… but what makes a Kerrigan good? Besides watching CTG or other pros use her, is it just being dominant, or is there like a general Kerri skill set that is needed for people to be good?

As someone who plays a lot of Kerrigan myself, I would say there are two things that define a good Kerrigan:

-having the hero on the front lines a lot without dying (so good hero micro)
-using your Omega Worms well to build a good network around the map so both you and your ally have crazy map mobility

Hydras and Ultras are generally better than her other units, so using those well could also be considered a “good” Kerrigan, but honestly no matter the unit comp, if you can make it work, it’s good. Note also that building a dozen Omega Worms and spamming them all over the map doesn’t make you a good Kerrigan, that’s just being silly and excessive.

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Kerrigan as a commander is identified as dominant ground to ground fighter (with Torrasques and Hydras), she is also a good manoeuverer (with Worms) and provides nice bonus resource (Assimilation Aura).

The Hero Kerrigan herself is very powerful provides extra time and resource for her forces to grow (although she cannot withstand mid to late game but by then you will have your forces).

Her weakness is sky. Hydralisks and Mutalisks have good dps but are fragile, they’ll be wiped out in seconds if your controls are too sloppy.

So to be good with Kerrigan, you have to make lots of Omega worms 6 or 8 (but I make them way more hahah) so your allies can move around the map.
And Make ABSOLUTELY SURE that you unleash your Assimilation Aura and Immobilization Wave at the same time whenever you are dealing with mass enemies because they will drop lots of resources.

DO NOT USE MUTALISKS AGAINST VIPERS
Trust me, all your armies and Kerrigan will Die…

The way you say is like you want the little details, well as far as I can see, this stuff is what I find good on Kerrigan:

Kerrigan herself is strong, but takes a while to get her hydra+ultra going, my best tip early game is to try to attack an wave while inside(or close to) a enemy base/outpost, to get the most of assimilation aura.

4 hatcheries is a nice spot for those who don’t want queen macro, 3+ nydus is enough for map control and quick detection, 2 if you’re going mutas.

Always use Kerrigan jump to burst down the beefy enemies or splash, hydras themselves can handle the rest.

If you haven’t put a nydus in a while, put 1 or 2 where you may defend, you definitelly want to fight in the creep most of the time.

2 evo chambers will get your +3/3 real fast with mastery, something you can take advantage vs air.

Lastly, putting masteries where suits you best, with a dominant Kerrigan, you won’t really need ultras, but if she dies while hybrids are in the field then you’re in for pain.

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I mean everything depends.
If I go full Kerri mastery, I almost never build units. Maybe a few lings. I also never expand when using full Kerri, because the research time and gas cost for units is outrageous. That being said, I only go full Kerri on VT, l&l, RoK, and maybe 2 others.

But when I’m in army mode, yah I still use Kerri, unless I go mass muta, then I don’t build an evo ( always memorize viper spawn positions) , but Kerri and mass hydra or ultra is good.

So I do what I should do… it’s just weird to be called good I guess. To me if you don’t lose, then you’re good.

I can say what does make Kerri player bad. I was playing CoA few days ago. Matched with 900+ Kerri. No reply to my “gl hf”, he started to one base “hero solo”. Enemy was ground toss, that was the reason he wasnt completly useless and I didnt leave like in the 10 minute mark.

-not a single nydus
-not sending a single f…ing drone to Jinara the whole game, just coming back with Kerri and wasting my time
-negligible kills by him

I dont like those “I hero solo” guys, who are actually almost useless. So just dont do those and you are good Kerri player, I guess.

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Thats EU huh? I know this guy too. Or at least a similar one. High ascencion level, hero only, one base not doing sh*t the whole game and im pretty sure this guy cannot even carry his own weight. Maybe its a bot?

As for Kerrigan:

  • Maximum hero usage without getting it killed.
  • Min. 3-4 Nydus (my preferation), maybe less at DoN.
  • Cover the ground where fights happen with creep asap (with nydus) -> This supports your allies too! Attackspeedbonus is huge
  • Even if you dont use ground yourself, try to at least let your allie access them with good positioning.
  • If theres enemy terran (nukes) make 2 spinecrawlers close to a nydus at every base entrance.
  • Im mostly building mutas for the sake. But im very aware of mass thors. You cant play against those // Against Vipers, it depends on how good you can filter those insectclouded ones out.
  • Upgrade to hive and upgrade kerrigan at the start of every mission nonetheless. Even if your mastery is skilled towards full army. I find her more then enough to carry early and mid game.
  • Whats the absolute top of all is to learn the mission spawning timers. And trying to figure out the best way of immobilization wave and the ressource aura.
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Did he also forgot to deploy an Overseer?

Kerrigan has Hydra and Nydus.

Hydras alone are god-tier units, when using them with Nydus they become Super Hydra Gods.

Essentially Kerri Hydras are better marines.
Better range
Better Health
Better armour
Better damage

Nydus itselt provide Hydra with
Detection
Better Mobility
Better atk spd

They literally melt anything come in contact. In all honesty, Her hydras melt thing better than 200 supply Zagara’s banelings & Scourges.

The only problem you will ever have is vision. Good thing is you got Kerri. Just move her in for vision, she can die no problem, the important thing is you hotkey nydus and spawn it right in the middle of the attack wave. Unload the Hydras and watch libs fall like dust.

You either win the game or not having enough Hydras.

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good kerri player detected:

  • well executed fast expension
  • steady creep tumors into mass nydus

at least for most maps

I think so. I dont think he did anything beside microing Kerri the whole game.

Tumors are helpful, but on many a map (and against Zerg) it’s just not worth it imo. Many others it’s immensely helpful though I suppose.

Unless you’ve got super high APM you’re better micro-ing Kerri and teching up rather than putting any early time in creep tumours. Unlike Zag, Kerri never needs to run her army anywhere and she can put up instant creep with Omegas for her creep bonus.

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Building an excessive amount of nydus networks can be useful if you create walls, particularly on defensive missions where lurkers are very useful, such as miner’s evacuation where I tend to go up to 6-8. Basically like high hp permanent force fields :slight_smile:
Expensive though, I wish they cost 150 gas like those on ladder.

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Map knowledge and constantly being on the offensive with Kerrigan. You don’t necessarily need to memorize wave timings, that comes naturally after playing a couple thousand games.

If you’re going to use an army, you’ll want extra worms, particularly if you have to hard carry your ally. I tend to go army so I can vomit out my army to cover my ally while Kerrigan goes around heelstomping things.

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  • use Omegaworms (Kerrigan) instead of scans (Reynor) for your ally
  • amazing creep spread and heal for hero units (i.e. go mass queens with a Dehaka ally) --> more vision makes your ally see the whole map and have better reaction time
  • use omega worms to connect all production with the frontline or target areas
    –> I feel like Raynor and Kerrigan are awesome allies because if both load up their units in the nydus after a task is done, Raynor scans if there is a new target spawning, Kerrigan spawns a nydus worm there, unload, kill, back into the nyuds, repeat.
  • clear the really heavy pushes with Kerrigan + hydras (stun + money abilities)
  • spores vs. libs and vipers (+ creep)
  • And you can clear the expansion or the first target pretty quickly

The main thing that makes allies play better is vision, mobility combined with clearing the difficult waves. If you have great multitasking, you can do everything alone.

Edit: my ally and me were kinda fighting over who would be at the front first so I switched into defense and buying time (and because of ling bane)
https://drop.sc/replay/13001823

Edit2: TL;DR
You’re good when you can easily keep up with all the objectives / carry and generate a bank (while getting to 200/200 supply and staying there all the time).

Edit3: another one with mass hydras & nydus
https://drop.sc/replay/13003517

  1. Regular Assimilation aura against big groups of enemies.
  2. Nydus worms in key points of the map and quick reaction to incoming waves.
  3. Creepspread via Nydus or Queen.
  4. Active work with hero without dying.
  5. Not trying to go Muta against Storm/Archons, Scourge/Vipers or Widow Mine/Thors.

I guess I’m bad since I usually go Mutalisks against everything, and make Nydus Worms only occasionally.

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I think good players are defined by their decision making. When I see some people play it’s like an art piece, everything makes sense and aligns like pieces of a puzzle. Those games are really enjoable.

So it’s not about Keri, but about you being at the right place at the right time, using appropriate skills and units, being ready to deal with the map.

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I feel like it’s either-or for Mutas versus Ground. They fly so fast that they react so well regardless of Worm use. Lets be honest here though, the community is good and all but as a whole we get tunnel visioned on stuff like that.