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Infestor/Corruptor/Brood Lord (vs. Terran)

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[e][h]ZergInfestor/Corruptor/Brood Lord
Strategy Information
Matchups:
ZvT
Type:
Late-Game Strategy

Overview[edit]

Infestor/Corruptor/Brood Lord is a late-game ZvT strategy that utilizes the strength of the Brood Lord against a Marine/Tank army. The Brood Lord is one of the strongest Zerg units against Marine/Tank, with the Brood Lord able to hit the Siege Tank from outside the range of any unit except the Viking, and Broodlings are able to fight and hold back the large amount of Marines long enough for your other units to destroy them. The Corruptors, along with Infestor's Fungal Growth, protect your Brood Lords from Vikings. The Infestor's Fungal Growth, along with any extra Zerglings and Broodlings, protect your Brood Lords from Marines.

Goal[edit]

Once you have enough bases to transition into this strategy, you have reached your end-game ZvT army. Your goal at this point is to push into the Terran army, destroy it, and end the game.

Basic Build Order[edit]

Since this is a late-game strategy, there is no specific build order. However there are some guidelines you should follow when using this strategy:

  • You'll need upgrades, at least level 2 melee and level 2 carapace. This lets your Broodlings hold off the Marines long enough for your Zerglings and Fungal Growth to kill Marines
  • Air upgrades are also important to have. If your mid-game strategy was Muta/Ling/Bane, you'll probably have level 1 or level 2 air attack. When you are using this strategy, you should start upgrading air armor, since it will help your Brood Lords stay alive against Vikings and concentrated Marine fire.
  • All 3 of the units used in this strategy are gas intensive, so you should not be transitioning into this strategy until you have at least 3 bases (4 is recommended). This way you will have enough gas to constantly reinforce this army.
Basic Build

Notes[edit]

If you went for a Ling/Roach/Infestor mid-game, you will need to place your Spire at the same time that you begin morphing your Hive. That way, they will complete at the same time and you can immediately begin morphing your Greater Spire.

Scouting[edit]

It's a good idea to scout to see if Terran is pre-making Vikings in anticipation of your Brood Lords. Sometimes a Terran player will scan and see a Greater Spire, and begin immediately producing Vikings without seeing any Corruptors or Brood Lords. If Terran already has a large army of Vikings, do not make Brood Lords, you can instead go for Ultralisks.

It's also important to make sure your Brood Lords are morphing in a safe place. Try to morph them on a cliff nearby your army, so that they do not get killed while morphing.

Execution[edit]

Everything revolves around keeping your Brood Lords alive. If any groups of Marines move forward to try and kill your Brood Lords, use Fungal Growth on them. If any Vikings move forward to attack, use Fungal Growth on them, and attack them with Corruptors.

Brood Lords should prioritize killing Siege Tanks first. Forcing Siege Tanks to un-siege allows the rest of your army to move forward, and lets your Infestors get close enough to cast Fungal Growth without dying to Siege Tank fire. Next, Brood Lords should prioritize killing Thors, since their ground-to-air attack has a very long range and can hurt your Brood Lords and Corruptors from out of range.

Due to the varying range of the units involved, there is a complicated chain of micro that both sides must use in this type of engagement. Brood Lords try to destroy the Siege Tanks so that Infestors can move forward and use Fungal Growth on Marines and Vikings while the Vikings and Marines are trying to kill the Brood Lords while staying within range of the Siege Tanks so that they are protected from Fungal Growth.

Since Brood Lords move very slowly, this is a fairly immobile army, and so you must prioritize killing Terran's most recent expansions first. It is good to continue to make Zerglings for backstab attacks and to hunt expansions when using this strategy.

Once you have full melee, carapace, air attack, and air armor upgrades, there is nothing left to transition into (unless Terran switches away from a Marine/Tank/Viking army) and you need to have superior micro and macro to win the game.

Adaptation[edit]

Since this is an end-game strategy designed to fight Marine/Tank, the only adaptation that needs to be done is if Terran switches away from Marine/Tank. If you notice that your opponent is skimping on Siege Tanks and making too many Vikings, you can switch over to Ultralisks.

Maps[edit]

Pro features[edit]

This strategy works on any map, but some map features, like cliffs being near expansions, or if the map has an area in the middle that is inaccessible to ground units, are good for Brood Lords. Some examples include:

  • the middle gap in Xel'Naga Caverns, making it hard for Marines to attack Brood Lords
  • the middle gap in Metalopolis, letting your Brood Lords easily attack the gold expansions.

Con features[edit]

There are no map features that are bad for this build specifically, however very large maps will make it hard for Zerg to deny expansions, such as Terminus or Tal'Darim Altar.

References[edit]

Canada Zerg Scarlett Scarlett, in a fantastic performance takes 3 bases, spreads creep up to MarineKing's 4th, delaying MarineKing long enough with Zerglings and Infestors to pull off a well placed push to end the game.
South Korea Terran MarineKing
Date: 2012-12-13
Patch: 1.5.3 VOD