Starcraft 2 Zerg Counters

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Click Here to Get The Osiris MethodCounters are more important for Zerg than any other race, so be sure to study the charts below well.

The importance placed upon counters for the Zerg is not necessarily a disadvantage for this race, but rather related to mechanics. In particular, since Zerg players produce units off of Larva instead of production facilities (like the Barracks or Warp Gate), the Zerg is much more readily able to switch between unit types.

This makes it much more viable for a Zerg player to heavily focus on just 1 or 3 primary unit types. The goal here is actually to try to get your opponent to over produce a certain unit type, which leaves them vulnerable to your reinforcement wave.

For example, a Zerg player with 5 Hatcheries and every tech structure can make 35 Roaches (7 Larva per Hatchery) with one Inject Larva wave, then 40 seconds later, make 30 pairs of Zerglings (should the Zerg have the resources). If the Zerg's opponent builds Immortals to stop the Roach wave, they will be weak to the Zergling reinforcement wave that follows.

Another example would be in Zerg vs Terran. Zergs typically open with several expansions followed by a lot of Zerglings, Mutalisks, and Banelings. The Terran responds to this primarily through units produced from the Barracks and Factory. The Terran typically will only add 1 Starport in the mid-game, as the only useful unit against Zergling, Mutalisk, Baneling combo in the early to mid-game is the Medivac (no gas to spare for Ravens or extra Starports this early).

No matter what units come out of the Barracks or Factory, they are all extremely weak against the Brood Lord. The Terran must get out a sizable force of Vikings if they to stop Brood Lords. However, if the Zerg saves a lot of resources and is able to get out 6+ Brood Lords backed up by 6 Corruptors and whatever Mutalisks are already on the field, it often is too late for the Terran to stop the attack.

Zerg

The chart below is organized such that the left side lists Zerg units and the right 3 columns identify which units easily counter the left side.

For example, in the "Roach" row, the units listed in the same row are all very effective versus Roaches. So, in the "Weak Against the Terran's" column next to "Roach", you will see that the Marauder and Siege Tank are both listed. The Siege Tank and Marauder are very strong versus the Roach.

To see which Zerg units beat other races' units, please see the second chart.

Zerg Unit Weak Against the Protoss's Weak Against the Terran's Weak Against the Zerg's
Zergling Archon
Colossus
Sentry
Zealot (if
Zealots have upgrade advantage)

Hellion
Hellbat
Planetary Fortress
Marine (with support and upgrades)

Roach
Baneling
Air units
Spine Crawler

Roach

Immortal
Void Ray
Colossus (with
support)
Archon (on
a supply basis)
Stalkers (with
Blink)

Siege Tank
Marauder
Thor (with +3 weapons)
Mutalisk
Brood Lord
Swarm Host
Hydralisk Sentry
Colossus
High Templar
Tempest*
Phoenix*
Hellion
Hellbat
Siege Tank
Battlecruiser**
Carrier**
Brood Lord
Swarm Host
Infestor

Mutalisk

Phoenix
Sentry
Archon
High Templar
Tempest
Stalker (soft)

Thor
Marine
Battlecruiser
Infestor
Spore Crawler
Hydralisk (soft)
Corruptor Stalker
Void Ray (only
while Prismatic
Alignment is up)

Viking
Thor
Marine

Hydralisk
Infestor Colossus
High Templar
Siege Tank
Ghost
Brood Lord
Swarm Host
Ultralisk

Immortal
Void Ray

Banshee
Battlecruiser
Marauders
Roach (soft)
Brood Lord
Baneling Colossus
Archon
Immortal
Siege Tank
Widow Mine
Thor
Marauder

Mutalisk
Roach
Ultralisk
Swarm Host

Brood Lord

Tempest
Stalker
Void Ray

Viking
Battlecruiser
Corruptor
Mutalisk
Queen Zealot
Stalker
Marines
Marauders
Hellbats
Zerglings
Roaches
Swarm Host Void Ray
Colossus
Tempest
Warp Prism (soft)
Blink Stalker (soft)
Banshee
Battlecruiser
Siege Tank (soft)
Marauders (in Medivacs)

Brood Lord
Mutalisk
Ultralisk

Viper High Templar
Tempest
Ghost Rarely used in ZvZ; Zerg have no true anti-caster.

*The Phoenix and Tempest are strong against the Hydralisk when the numbers are small and decrease in effectiveness as the size of each army grows.

**The Battlecruiser and Carrier do well against the Hydralisk supply for supply, but the Viper's Abduct abilitycan be used in conjunction with the Hydralisk to counter these massive air units by pulling them over top of a Hydralisk ball.

In the second Starcraft 2 Zerg counters chart (below) highlights which units Zerg players should build in order to counter the enemy. So, if the left heading says "Zergling", you will want to build Zerglings to defeat all other units which are listed in the same row.

Zerg Unit Counters Protoss Counters Terran Counters Zerg
Zergling

Stalker
Immortal
High Templar*

Marauder
Thor
Siege Tank

Zergling
Drone
Queen
Roach Zealot Marine
Hellion

Zergling
Baneling

Hydralisk

Immortal
Void Ray
Stalker

Marauder
Medivac
Viking
Mutalisk
Corruptor
Baneling Zealot**
Sentry
Marine Zergling
Hydralisk
Mutalisk Zealot
Immortal
Colossus

Marauder
Hellion
Siege Tank
Hellbat
Medivac

Roach
Zergling
Baneling
Corruptor Colossus
Carrier
Tempest (soft)
Battlecruiser (soft) Brood Lord
Brood Lord

Immortal
Zealot
Sentry
Colossus
High Templar
Stalker (soft)
Archon (soft)

Marine
Marauder
Ghost
Siege Tank
Thor
Hellbat
Widow Mine

Hydralisk
Roach
Zergling
Ultralisk

Ultralisk Stalker
Zealot
Sentry
Marine
Hellion
Zergling
Swarm Host
Hydralisk
Infestor Zealot
Sentry
Marine
Marauder
Hydralisk
Zergling
Mutalisk
Queen Void Ray
Oracle
Reaper
Hellion
Baneling
Mutalisk (soft)
Swarm Host Zealot
Sentry
Immortal
High Templar
Marine
Hellion
Hellbat
Thor
Hydralisk
Roach
Spine Crawler
Queen
Viper*** Colossus
Carrier
Archon
Battlecruiser
Siege Tank
Thor
Ultralisk

*Psionic Storm can be strong against Zerglings if they are clustered, but a few Zerglings can be microed to snipe unprotected High Templar, particularly when flanking or using a pincer attack.

**Not typically cost efficient. It takes several Baneling hits to destroy a Zealot. Zealots do not cost gas, Banelings do.

***The Viper has no attacks of its own, but using Abduct to snipe large enemy units is a great way to thin the opponent's army before engaging.

These two Starcraft 2 Zerg counters tables should help you out significantly in your online play. The strategy is simple: if you no longer have the element of surprise, plan on taking out your opponent with your reinforcement wave rather than your first attack. Use your first attack to inflict as much damage as possible and then with your reinforcement wave mass whatever units will be strong against whatever your enemy has remaining.

At first, this might take a long time to learn. After all, there are quite a few unit counters in game. Just keep playing and practicing the creation of units which counter the enemy. If you are a Zerg player or struggle beating Zerg players, I would recommend printing these charts out. Then, as you are playing, you could reference the tables to see what you are supposed to build (or avoid building) based on what units the enemy has.

These charts are very important Zerg. Since Zerg can rapidly go between producing dozens of air units to dozens of ground units, being familiar with all the Starcraft 2 Zerg counters can help you easily switch between unit types based on what your enemy has and what he is planning to get.

Click Here to Get The Osiris Method