Zerg vs Mech compositions

Struggling a whole lot versus Mech lately. And by struggling I mean I’ve lost all but 1 of my last 20 games versus it. There are several things I struggle with immensely and I guess I’ll try to explain all of them in a numbered structure. For context: D2 EU Ladder.

1.) BC Opener means it’s more or less impossible to attack until you have Lair Tech. This is a direct consequence of the Queen nerf and is also noticeable in ZvP if they open Stargate. ¨
2.) I’ve had Terrans camp on 2 Base and being able to create seemingly deathball armies on just that eco alone.
3.) The unit that cause the biggest issues are Thors. Thors nullify any air whatsoever and this idea of Infestors being a hard counter to them I just dont understand whatsoever. My infestors get absolutely melted before they can tether them 95% of the time.
4.) And obviously the mech composition can be very reactive. If I go lingbane they’ll emphasize hellions. If I go Roach/Ravager they’ll go cyclones. If I go infestor heavy they’ll build Siege Tanks. If Brood Lords they’ll spam Thors etc etc.

There are more things that could be added but I guess these are the overarching issues. Any advice etc would ve greatly apprecieted. Cheers

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So like with most posts, it’s hard to give specific pointers without a replay, so if you can post one great. Otherwise I can try and give some advise based on your statements.

1.) Against Terran, there aren’t very many options for a pre BC attack to begin with, and BC’s don’t get out until 5:30 or so at the earliest, when the lair is already done or at least morphing. Terrans also don’t have many good options outside of harass or cheese, so both parties would rather go into midgame anyway. I would recommend a more eco focused approach against Terran.
2.) Camping on 2 base comes with it’s own risks on the Terrans side. They give up map control, eco, and delay any transitions as a result. Let them turtle all they want while threatening with mutas or swarm hosts while upgrading, teching, and mining at your own discretion. Keep tabs on his army size, and have enough army produced to take a positional fight when he moves out - sooner or later he will try.
3)Thors are surprisingly susceptible to roach/ravager armies, especially if there are some ling/bane filtering through the roaches and drawing fire away from the bulk of the army. I think it takes 2 hits from a thor to kill a roach, also 2 hits to kill 2 lings (same larva cost), and lings keep tank splash off the roaches. They also catch most of the cyclone lock ons, even if they get roasted by hellions right away.
Roach/ravager has good burst damage, so the hp and armor of thors is less meaningful against them. Infestors are more for if the game goes the distance and you need to remove 5-6 thors from a fight. They can capture the thors once the fight starts, launching neural too early gives them away.
4.)Mech comps are not as reactive as the Zerg race as a whole, all zerg needs is the right tech. Terrans generally need to decide their tech choice before Zerg since their tech tree is so much smaller, so we have the opportunity to see their tech before they can use it and respond accordingly. For them to react to us means we are showing our hand without using our advantages. It could also mean we are not scouting and therefore not knowing that we are making the wrong units until it’s too late, a sort of build order loss that’s still preventable, so it’s on us to keep an eye on them.

Things that help me against mech are generally scouting related. Seeing that it’s mech initially is critical, an overlord spying the factories or armories in production is ideal, as nearly all mech armies can be fought with just roach ravager ling bane. Catching them out on the map is best, because they will set up a siege line in a very tricky location once they get to you, but are slow and are easily flanked when on the move. This requires having ovies, changelings, or lings out on the map to see the move out, or even creep spread. Lastly, spellcasters are an amazing tool, and in most cases I would recommend vipers over infestors. Abduct forces trades, especially when you can use high ground to shield them from view, and blinding cloud negates the positional strength terrans like to use so much with mech. Separate control groups are a must for them, and make a couple extra if you are still learning them so you can get a couple spells off before they all die. It’s expensive, but makes the world of difference.

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there are several ways, two i know are:

  • sh: say ~66 workers and then ~12+ sh. and here you have 2 options push: Locusts in and follow at Roach/ ravanger/ hydra? if Locusts dead back again. the plan is trade efficiently. the other is rotate with the sh and snipe base.
  • the other from Serral: 90 worker LB Muta or LB RR. mutli attack, 2 armies attacking two sides.

alternatively viper+ hydra that game of neuro (youtube).

I’m not home right now but I have a TON of replays that I can post when I get back for sure, just yesterday I caught a guys BC build perfectly and had 20 corruptors out very quickly - killed all 5 BCs but he just transitioned to Thors and I was stuck with 20 useless corruptors (he had missilie turrets everywhere).
1.) I guess what I meant was that you can’t do a 2 base all in with say Roach Ravager against Terran (or a Protoss who opens Stargate), which is infuriating as hell because both of those races have the abaility to do just that very easily against Zerg (happens all the time on Curious Minds for example).
2.) While that is 100% true the issue is the ability to create a deathball army that I just can’t stop. I suppose Swarm Hosts are something I need to try out more, the reason why I haven’t was because of this one Terran who laughed at my face when I tried to counter BC/Thor with SH/Corruptor, saying that SH are useless against mech.
3.) Hmm interesting I’ll have to give it a try.
4.) While that is 100% true and I have no issue with scouting as a whole, I always succesfully scout to see if it’s bio or mech, the problem is my army composition always gets avsolutely melted. Only times I win versus mech is if I’m on a +2 base advantage throughout most of the game (because it seems that even though my army always loses big time, I have a big enough eco advantage to compensate).

But thanks for the advice I’ll be sure to post some replays when I get back home.

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I feel like I can utilize SH more in this matchup for sure now that I think about it, especially if it’s a Thor/Siege Tank heavy comp. LB Muta I just don’t understand how one can pull of, I’ve tried, I feel like Missile Turrets, Planeteries, and Thors absolutely melt all three of those units without breaking a sweat. LB RR I’ll have to try out more for sure. Cheers!

pay attention, that’s why i wrote extra serral. he said that in an interview.
I also find this style difficult, because it’s hard for me to assess how many resources the opponent still has.
Lb RR, works well when you get into swarm mode.

And Lurkers with +2 range upgrade are also good against thors

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I feel sh is very good at defensive you have place them where they won’t retreat easily