Zerg: a Full Game Overview

Take advantage of special abilities like Burrowing. Burrow most of the
defending units in your town until your enemy decides to attack. This
might give your enemy false recon information and fool him into thinking
you have fewer troops there than you really do, causing him to
underestimate the needed size of his attacking force. When the attack
arrives, unburrow all your troops for a surprise attack.

The Zerg are a race of biological weapons. Their units are relatively
inexpensive for the most part. They can also produce combat units at a
much higher rate than the Protoss or Terrans because each Hatchery can
spawn three units at once. Every Zerg unit can also regenerate lost hit
points. Use all of these aspects to your advantage and try to attack your
enemies with a numerical advantage. You may also consider pulling back
damaged units or burrowing them to allow for hit point regeneration.

Early Game
If you should choose to "rush" with Zerglings, try to get around enemy
defenses to attack the worker units of the enemy. Zerglings are also
effective against enemy structures.

Use Overlords and Zerglings to scout the map quickly. Once the enemy
has anti-air units, however, you'll want to pull out your Overlord so that it
doesn't get killed. Zerg have the advantage of being able to morph three
Larvae simultaneously, instead of needing to build multiple
Barracks/Gateways. A common opening strategy for Zerg is to attack
early by swarming the enemy with Zerglings. Upgrade the movement
speed of the Zerglings early. If troops are guarding the enemy workers
closely, split your force in half and use one half to distract your opponent
first, then attack the workers. You'll usually want to build another
Hatchery inside your first town to produce Zerglings more quickly.

At any stage of the game, Hydralisks form the backbone of a well-rounded
Zerg army. A combination of Hydralisks and Zerglings is your best bet for
early game attacks. Send a group or two of Zerglings in first to attack
enemy troops, then immediately follow up with Hydralisks to shoot from a
distance. The Zerglings should buy more time for the Hydralisks to fire
without being attacked themselves.

Hit-and-run tactics work particularly well with Hydralisks against Protoss
Zealots or other melee units. Research the speed and range upgrades for
the Hydralisks. Approach idle enemies with your own group of Hydralisks
and target the nearest enemy unit, attacking from the maximum possible
range. Usually your enemy will charge at you by targeting the nearest
Hydralisk. Try to guess which of your units he's running for and draw them
away from the rest of your Hydralisks, which should still be firing. The idea
is to keep the enemy moving instead of attacking your Hydralisks.

Mid Game
It's important for the Zerg to advance up the tech tree to take advantage of
the more advanced units. Preliminary Zerg units simply can't compete
against some of the more powerful enemy units, such as Carriers and
Siege Tanks, and even hordes of Zealots with their speed upgrade will
pose problems for Hydralisks and Zerglings. Upgrade your Hatchery to a
Lair so that spawning Queens, Mutalisks, and Scourges is possible. Build
the Queen's Nest before the Spire to gain early access to useful Queen
special abilities. Mutalisks are useful in air combat situations, and can
provide good support to ground units. Scourges combined with Mutalisks
and Hydralisks are the primary Zerg anti-aircraft forces.

The Queen has many abilities that are useful for any Zerg military effort.
Ensnare is the most useful and practical ability of the Queen, which will
slow down a group of enemy units' movement and firing speed. Always
use it on enemy units first, then follow it up with your own attack group.
Another important spell for the Queen is Broodling. Locate the most
dangerous enemy units before sending in your attack force. Good targets
include units like Terran Siege Tanks, Zerg Ultralisks, and Protoss
Templars.

The Lair also contains many useful upgrades for the Zerg Overlord. The
first one that you should research is the speed upgrade. This will finally
give the Overlord a decent movement rate so that it can escape would-be
attackers, and make it more efficient in a scouting role. Be sure to also
research the Ventral Sac, the transport ability upgrade of the Overlord.
Obviously, the transport upgrade is a must in island games where it is not
possible to walk on land between bases.

By this time, Terran opponents may have cloaked their Wraiths. Be sure
to have an Overlord tag along with your troops, since the Overlord is the
detector unit that can spot cloaked Wraith fighters. Another way to reveal
cloaked Wraiths is to use the Queen's Ensnare ability on the location
where you suspect Wraiths are. The green goo of Ensnare will decloak all
cloaked units so that your units can target them. The Ensnare ability will
also reveal Protoss Arbiter-cloaked units as well as remove any Protoss
Hallucinations.

Your enemy may have added an expansion town or two at this point, and
you should have as well. If this is the case, make these expansions your
top target priority. Chances are they are not defended as well as the
opponent's main town, even though they are more important than their
main town in terms of the resources they bring in.

Late Game
Upgrading from Lair to Hive will allow you to make the most powerful Zerg
units. Hopefully by now you have a few expansion towns in which you're
harvesting resources to support the powerful units you're spawning.
Harvesting Vespene Geysers is particularly important for Zerg players. Be
sure to build several Hatcheries so that you can quickly produce large
numbers of troops.

The first advanced unit many Zerg players get is the Ultralisk. Be aware of
its weaknesses though, the most obvious one being its inability to attack
air units. Because of its high hit points, Ultralisks are a good frontal
assault unit leading the charge. They can absorb attacks from the enemy
resistance while Hydralisks in the rear deal most of the damage.

A common mistake of unseasoned players is to overlook the usefulness
of Defilers. Its beginning special ability, Dark Swarm, is an extremely
effective defense for your troops. Dark Swarm creates a cloud of insects
that protects ground units within the cloud from most enemy ranged
attacks. For example, you can use Dark Swarm on a bank of Protoss
Cannon towers, so any melee units that attack those towers will be
immune to ranged attack. Think of Dark Swarm as a protective umbrella,
protecting your troops from enemy air units like Wraiths or Carriers.
Always use Dark Swarm before conducting an attack, just as you would
with Ensnare. Be aware that Dark Swarm does not make you invincible;
splash damage from Terran Siege Tanks (in Siege Mode) will damage
troops inside the cloud as will any melee, non-ranged attackers like
Zealots, Firebats, or enemy Ultralisks.

Defilers also possess the Plague ability. The Plague ability drains hit
points from enemy units and structures, and you can cast it out of firing
range of all defensive structures and most units. For example, you can
use Plague on Terran infantry and vehicles and then follow it up with a
Mutalisk rush. Since Mutalisks can hit multiple targets with one shot, the
Terran troops will die rapidly. Combining Plague with the Queen's Ensnare
ability on enemies makes battle much easier for your own troops. Plague
also affects buildings in the same way, so cast it on defensive structures
to wear them down before an attack. With the two powerful abilities Dark
Swarm and Plague, Defilers should be part of all of your attack groups late
in the game.

Once you build a Greater Spire, you'll be able to make Guardians. These
long ranged attack units are devastating in large groups. Use the
advantage of their extremely long range to soften up any fortified town
before sending in ground troops. They're great for long range shelling on
island maps as well, but are vulnerable to anti-air units and area effect
"spells." The best way to defend them is to keep some Scourges,
Mutalisks, and a Queen nearby to buy time for the Guardians to retreat.
You can also try protecting them from anti-air units by positioning
Hydralisks nearby. Use Broodling on any nearby Templars also. Psi
Storm can make short work of an expensive fleet of Guardians.

Defensive Strategies
The defense of your town, as with any race, should focus around the
defense of your worker units. Build a Sunken Colony within range of your
harvesting line early on. As the game progresses, build Creep Colonies
not only for expanding your carpet of Creep, but also for their cloak
detection ability. Spore Colonies supported by Hydralisks can discourage
any type of air attack on your town. As with most defensive structures,
however, you should never rely entirely on Spore/Sunken Colonies for the
defense of your base. There are numerous units in the game that outrange
these structures. Park Overlords all around your towns so that all the
surrounding area of your town is in view in the mini map. This will help
alert you to the approach of the enemy.

Tip
Burrow your Drones if they are attacked by enemy troops. They will be safe
from attack and won't get in the way of your defending troops.

Sunken Colonies in combination with troops can be much help in defense.
Consider building them right next to one another in a row. Station
Hydralisks behind the Sunkens and put Zerglings out in front of the
Sunkens. The idea is to prolong the life of your Hydralisks and Sunken
Colonies. Just be careful to spot any long range units or "magic" users;
try to kill them before they come in range.

Warning
Although the Plague ability works well during attacks on other towns, avoid
using it as a defensive measure. Careless placement could result in the
Plaguing of your own troops and buildings.

To defending against air units, enlist a combination of Hydralisks, Spore
Colonies, and Scourges. Have the Scourges patrol back and forth across
your town. If you're lucky they might auto-acquire enemy transports full of
troops and destroy them along with their living cargo. Your Spore Colonies
and Hydralisks should be able to handle the rest.

Next: Starting out with Zerg