Part 2: Advanced Units

Queens: Queens are the early flying mages of the Zerg. They are fast and can take a fair beating. Their "spell casting" range is the best of any of the mage units of any race, so make sure you calculate that into your tactics. Always upgrade the energy capacity after you have three or four queens. Remember how early flying units can get anywhere quickly, so use them in every fight.

    Queen Casting Powers

  • Parasite: The best scouting device in the game. Parasite is irreversible except by drones transforming into buildings. This makes it very useful to keep track of transports (so you can Scourge them easily), Reavers, Archons, Battle Cruisers, Arbiters, and any power unit that you can't cast Broodling on. It also is useful for countering cloaking of Wraiths, Ghosts, spider mines, etc. Always make it a point to parasite a few peons at the enemy's base and a few regular fighters. Use an Overlord or two to draw anti-air fire so you can move in with your Queens. Sacrifice your Overlords, but only sacrifice Queens in extreme cases like if you have to in order to break into a base.
  • Broodling: This spell is designed to take out Siege Tanks, Goliaths, and Templars; but it can also be useful for SCV's, drones, Dragoons, and Zealots. I wouldn't waste it on cheap fighters like Marines or Zerglings.
  • Ensnare: Often used to reveal cloaked units, Ensnare also servers to slow the speed and attack rate of any unit. Make sure you cast it before your units mix with the enemy. Thankfully, ranged units rarely mix, so you can continue to cast it on air units and most terran units. One of the best uses for Ensnare is to slow Protoss Scouts so you can scourge them before they run away.
  • Infest Terran Command Center: This is an inate ability of the queen, and if she is around she'll do it automatically. You can then make infested marines from the Infested Command Center.
  • Infested marine: They are like WarCraft 2 sappers. Aim them carefully to take out Depots and other weak buildings. They can burrow when you research it.
  • Broodling: These are created from the Broodling spell. They are good for killing turrets or sometimes workers if no other units are around. A fun fact: you can Broodling a Broodling and even a larva! A nice way to humiliate your opponent when he's down.
  • Ultralisk: The Ultra is the big, tough, hard hitting monster of The Hive. When you can afford them, you will want many of these guys. As noted above, Hydras are less gas expensive and can pack a similar punch, but the Ultras can really bust through defenses and take a beating like no other Zerg unit. Their only real weaknesses are spider mines, Irradiate (which only partly kills them), and several Reavers backed up by many Zealots. It takes about four lone Zealots to kill an Ultra. Zealots are like Hydras - they are very tough. A large group of Archons is a threat too because of their splash damage, but if you have Hydras or Guardians backing up your Ultras you'll do just fine.
  • Defiler: An inexpensive, but very useful "mage." These strange crawlers are very versatile and are sneaky when combined with the burrow command. Their biggest enemies are Irradiate, spider mines, Guardians, Carriers, and Reavers.

      Defiler Special Attacks

    • Plague: This special has a deadly effect by bringing enemy hit points down to nothing. Use it to break defenses and permanently cripple Protoss units like Carriers and Reavers. It is especially good for killing bunkers, turrets, and Siege Tanks - the Terran's big defense. It will not bring a building with a great amount of hit points down very far.
    • Dark Swarm: Dark Swarm provides ground units protection from ranged attacks, but not splash damage, Scarabs, Firebats, or specials like Storm or Irradiate. This spell is great for offense and defense. Use it to get your Defilers close enough to cast Plague on a Terran defense. Use it to cover your Zerglings and Ultras as they raze a town. Cast it over Hydras to allow them to kill air units with no fear of retaliation. Used in conjunction with consume, you can play very nasty games against range attack units. Don't forget it doesn't protect air units or buildings.
    • Consume: Use this on Zerglings or other convenient, cheap, friendly units to keep your energy in check. You do not get more energy for bigger units, so don't bother. Consume does take a few seconds to coordinate, so it isn't easily abused. It takes four or five Zerglings to fill up your defilers, so try not to depend too much of this right on the front lines, but do use it when needed.
  • Scourge are the most deadly air weapon. Use them wisely and you will be taking out any air units of the enemy. Don't go wild making them because their gas cost will add up quickly. Besides, they produce so quickly you can just wait till the threat is there then produce them on many occasions.
  • Mutalisks: These Zerg flyers are fairly weak in small numbers, but can be devastating in great numbers! Mutas are extremely fast with a quick acceleration. Their acceleration is better than the Protoss Scout. They need to watch out for Psi Storm, many Marines, and especially bunkers with Marines. If you keep your Mutalisks moving, they will never be hurt too badly by Psi storm, so don't worry. Also, if you position your Mutalisks over their men (like workers!), they will storm on their own forces. Try not to overlap your Mutas too much when they are still or one good Storm can take them all out if they don't move when hit with it. If they do move to attack the Templar, right as they are hit with it, they will typical survive, but barely. Mutalisks with Scourge are very good for preventing expansions on island maps.

    Their damage hits for 9, then 3, then 1… it's a 3 hit attack. This makes them much more effective if there are many Mutas attacking your enemies. Think of it sorta as a weak splash damage.

  • Guardians: These long range air siegers are so powerful just because of their flying abilities. This allows them to get into any advantageous position (above a plateau to fire for instance), and they can take out all the land siegers (Tanks/Reavers) and towers in the game. Their big weaknesses are Scourge, Scouts, Battle Cruisers, Irradiate, and Carriers. When escorted by Scourge, a couple of Mutas, and Hydras, they have nothing to fear. Be wary of Archons or Templars however. If you are careless either of those two can kill your guardians quickly. Guardians eat Marines for lunch in any normal game, so laugh at the player who sends 10 marines to kill your 4 guardians! Beware of Psi Storm when attacking buildings.
  • Spore Colony: This is the only Zerg tower that sees cloak. Have a couple at each base once you are rich. Never build towers early, except against Zealot rushes… and even then you don't need to, you can just use Zerglings.