Burrowed units on defense are very effective. They make it more difficult for an enemy to assess the strength of your defenses. Unfortunately, burrowed defenders require altertness on your part; if the enemy attacks and you don’t unburrow your defenses, it could spell trouble. An excellent defence setup involves a combination of Zergling and Hydralisk, unburrowed, out a bit from the edge of a line of three or four Sunken Colonies. A short distance out from the Creep, in the direction the attack is expected, burrow another group of units, and more units out a bit further still. When rushed, allow the invasionary force to approach your unburrowed units. The enemy’s units will attack, but as they’re blocked by your defensive units they should be far enough away so as to not be able to target the Sunken Colonies, while still being hit by the Subterranian Tentacles. Seal off any escape attempt by unburrowing your outer forces and hitting the enemy from behind. They’ll be crushed in moments. They beauty of th is defensive tactic is that some attacking players, when a victim of this, will panic when they see the force coming from behind them. They’ll get their units to turn away from the base to face the onslaught, which is a loss of precous seconds for them. Also, by swarming in this manner, the effectiveness of the Zergling is maximized due to the close quarters.

This setup requires a slight tweak when facing Terrans. Burrow your outer forces a bit further than normal. Most Terran players will attack with a combination of Marines/Firebats, Medics, Wraiths, and Siege Tanks. Due to the extreme range of the tanks, your opponent will put them in Siege Mode a short distance from your base as soon as his faster infantry and Wraiths have engaged your defenses at the creep line. Hopefully, they’ll be in Siege Mode right above your outer line of burrowed units. Pop them up, and slaughter the tanks! If the Terran player is dumb, he’ll take the tanks out of Siege Mode, by which time they should all be toast without having fired a single shot. If the tank fires at the units that are swarming it, he’ll end up hitting himself anyway (the Siege Tank does splash damage). An effective counter to this defense for the Terran player: prior to attacking the actual base, set up your tanks in Siege Mode while ComSatting the edge of the Creep. If any burrowed units are around, the t anks will take care of them. Also, a Science Vessel with the ability to Irradiate does well against masses of units, although Irradiating burrowed units takes away from its ranged effect. Just the same, Irradiate is a great way to take out lurkers and swarms of defenders.

If heavy defenses are required, heavy use of Sunken Colonies in combination with Lurkers and other troops make for impenitrable defenses. Try lining your Colonies side by side in a wall. Station Hydralisks behind them and Zergling out in front. The idea is to prolong the life of your Hydralisks and Sunken Colonies. Just be careful to spot any long range units or casters; use the burrowed tactic mentioned above to kill them before they come in range.

Be careful with Defilers on defense. Although Plague and Dark Swarm work well during attacks on other bases, avoid using them as a defensive measure. Careless deployment could result in the Plaguing of your own units and buildings. Remember that the swarm’s protection will affect ALL units underneath. Don’t Dark Swarm your defenses, only to be over-run by melee units and discover your attackers are safe under the swarm!

To defend against air units, enlist a combination of Hydralisks, Spore Colonies, and Scourge. Have the Scourge patrol back and forth across your base. They are usually able to auto-acquire enemy transports full of troops and destroy them along with their living cargo before any units are unloaded. Spore Colonies and Hydralisks should be able to handle the rest.

If your enemy is Protoss, the Corsair’s Disruption web can be a real pain. Be sure to have some Scourge along with a good mix of Guardians and Devourers on hand to take out any attackers while the web is in effect. Using Dark Swarm on friendly buildings/units affected by the Web is a good way to be sure they are safe from ranged attackers; melee units cannot attack under the Web, so your units will be safe from everything but Reavers and Siege Tanks.

One other note: units burrowed along the edges of your Creep will allow you to quickly dispatch any Ghosts that attempt nuclear strikes, saving you from the devastating Nuclear Missile.

Plague is another extremely useful Defiler spell. Although Medics can restore a Plagued unit, damage is still taken. There is no better way for a Zerg player to tear down a fleet of Battlecruisers than with Plague!

Always have a good force of Queens out and about. Use them liberally: spawn broodlings in every vechile and Medic you come across. Make the Terran player paranoid to deploy his Siege Tanks and Goliaths. Parasite Critters. Try to infest a Command Center, and use Infested Terrans against enemy defenses. Don’t bother parasiting enemy units, as the Medic’s Restore can kill the parasite.

The Terrans are extremely vulnerable to Ultralisk. Ultralisk with fully-upgraded armor are impermiable to Wraiths, infantry, and Vultures (since Vultures attack with concussive damage-type). Even Goliaths will only do 6 HP of damage. The biggest threats to Ultralisk are Siege Tanks, Spider Mines, and Battlecruisers. When engaging a Terran’s defenses, target the Siege Tanks first. Next, hit lone infantry units, focusing on Firebats before Marines. Ignore the Bunkers by simply running out of their range; the units inside will have to hop out to attack, at which point they can be quickly dispatched. Supporting Ultralisk with Dark Swarm or against air units with Devourers, Scourge, or Hydralisk will solve the Battlecruiser problem. Be very wary of Spider Mines. If your Ultralisk are tightly packed, only a handful of mines can ruin your day. Once the perimiter defeses are down, bring in a few Overlords and use Hydralisk or Zergling to root out the Mines before cleaning the base off.

Devourers work extremely well against Battlecruisers; the Acidic Spores both nullify the Battle Cruiser’s heavy armor and slow down their attack rate. Guardians are a Terran player’s worst enemy, but be sure to support them against air units. Accompany your Guardian force with a pack of Hydralisk or some Scourge, and a few Overlords to reveal cloaked Wraiths.

Be wary of Science Vessels equipped with Irradiate. If you see a Science Vessel, try to destroy it immediately. Irradiate can be a real hastle, especially when used against expensive units like Queens and advanced air units. Ultralisk are strong enough to survive a few irradiations, but they are still vulnerable to its effects. If a unit is irradiated, isolate it from the swarm immediately! Irradiate is a ranged attack, and will affect surrounding units with devastating results. When a ground units has been irradiate, burrow it immediately; Irradiate does not have its ranged effects when the irradiated unit is burrowed. If you can’t burrow it, try to run/fly the unit into a pack of Terran infantry.

Valkyries and their spalsh missiles chew up Scourge. Don’t waste a whole pack of Scourge if a pair of Valkyries are in the area. Instead, try hit the Valkyries with Plague or Hydralisk. When facing Valkyries in the air, spread your units out as much as possible. A pack of Devourers can tear through Valkyries.

Order the original four Drones to gather minerals at separate patches. Morph four more Drones, and send the Overlord to your opponent’s base.
When the fourth Drone (8/9 control) has hatched, get it started on a Spawning Pool. Morph Drones until control is exhausted, then produce an Overlord.
Once you’ve started the Overlord, mutate an Extractor and morph another drone.
The Spawning Pool and Overlord should finish about the same time; once they do, pull four Drones off minerals and order them to gather Vespene.
Morph four Drones for mineral gathering (to replace the workers gathering Vespene).
As soon as you reach 150/100, evolve the Hatchery into a Lair.
As the Lair morphs, spawn a second Hatchery and a couple of Sunken Colonies or half a dozen Zergling, depending on what your opponent is doing. Be sure to have a free Drone and 200/150 on hand when the Lair is complete.
As soon as the Lair is finished, mutate a Spire. Produce base defense as necessary, but be sure to hatch three additional Overlords before the Spire is complete.
When the Spire finishes, produce Mutalisk and attack when prepared.

Begin by morphing four Drones (ie: until the control meter reads 9/9) and order them all to gather minerals. When you have about 250 minerals, pull a Drone off minerals and move it to an expansion. The instant you’ve gathered 300 minerals, begin a second Hatchery with the Drone at the expansion. Morph another Drone to replace it. As soon as it hatches, you should have 150 minerals. Use the new Drone to begin a Spawning Pool, then morph an Overlord as soon as you can afford it.

The Overlord and the Spawning Pool should finish at exactly the same time. Morph three Drones and order them to gather minerals. When the expansion Hatchery is almost complete, send the three Drones to the expansion and begin Creep Colonies immediately. It’s imperative that you do this; early rushers will hit soon, and you must be prepared. You’ll have enough minerals for the Colonies. Evolve them to Sunken Colonies as soon as you can. Morph six Zergling and an Overlord, and send them to the expansion Hatchery while the Sunkens are evolving. Try to get the expansion up and running as quickly as possible. Create Drones at the expansion. Produce two more Sunken Colonies, make a new Extractor, and start assigning Drones to mineral and Vespene collection. During this time, your main base is responsible for producing Zergling (until you have about a dozen) and an Overlord. The Sunken Colonies should finish before you get attacked. If you are hit, don’t send the Zerglings out to attack until the enemy forces are within range of your Sunken Colonies.

As soon as you have five or six Sunken Colonies, evolve the Hatchery at your main base into a Lair. While the Lair is mutating, create a Hydrliask Den. Once its complete, however, morph no more than a pair of Hydralisk; you need to conserve Vespene.

Upon completing the Lair, you have a choice of what to do. If you have yet to be attacked, it might be a good idea to upgrade the Lurker Aspect to boost your expansion’s defenses a bit. If you’ve already successfully defended against a rush, you may not need the Lurkers. In any case, you should soon begin a Spire and evolve the Pneumaticized Carapace upgrade at the Lair. Begin a second Hatchery near your main base so that the slow Larvae production does not hamper you. Continue to morph Zergling and a handful of Hydralisk while the Spire is mutating. Be sure to leave a few units and an Overlord or two around your main base to protect against Rever and Dark Templar drops.

When the Spire finishes, you should have enough resources for both a Queen’s Nest and three Mutalisk. Don’t worry about the drop-attacks; the Mutalisk are very fast, and can move from your expansion to the main base as required. As soon as the Spire is complete, evolve the Lair into a Hive. From here, you can score a quick victory with either a hard Defiler/Hydralisk or Mutalisk/Guardian rush.

This build-order, if executed properly, should bring you to the Hive in under 10 minutes with two well-fortified mineral nodes.