Thread: Queens are under used

I'm not really sure if this is the place to talk about strategies or not but I'll give it a go.

I've really started to understand the value of queens recently which really improved my zvp and zvt 1v1 game recently. Everyone knows to get one queen per hatch for spawning larva as well as using them for spawning creep. What I didn't do and I imagine most people don't do is get them for defense. Sure maybe you use the one you keep at your hatch from time to time when people come around your hatch but I'm talking getting them specifically for defense. They are good against so many early pushes and they don't become useless as the game goes on. A lot of games I have been making 5 to 6 queens very early while fast expoing.

This isn't something I though of completely on my own, Ive seen Dimaga do it from time to time but in a somewhat different fashoin and adjusted it to work for me. The biggest problem I was having in 1v1s was early harrassment by terran and an early push by Toss with the emphasis being Toss. The three toss pushes that used to give me problems were the two gate with lots of zealots and a few sentries, the four gate with zealots, sentries and stalkers, and then the delayed push with zealots, sentries, stalkers and a collosi or two. Whats great about queens is they help vs the two gate and four gate so much that you can really focus on a good army to kill the collossi along with everything else. What I try to do is make 5 or 6 queens really fast while droning up and getting 2 or 4 lings for scouting and then doing nothing but making drones and getting minerals and gas and teching to mutas. When I see a two or four gate push coming, I will make some lings and use them to defend with the queens. The reason I prefer this to spine crawlers is the mobility, the healing and the ability to spread creep, even if I'm not that great at remembering to continue to creep.


I used to mainly just do this vs toss but recently Ive been doing it more vs terran now as they help against the two things that give me the most trouble. With terran, I normally dont have problem and when I do its usually because of a reaper rush that catches me off guard or hellion harrass into a banshee harrass. While one queen is solid for holding off the super early push, once they start getting 3 or 4 reapers or hellions, they become more than one queen can handle and you start losing drones. The worst one of those for me is the hellion into banshee. That one is hard without queens because the best counter to hellions is roaches but obviously roaches die hard to banshees. If you only have 1 or two queens with no energy they die quickly too. I also find that the hellion harrass delays my tech enough that I usually cant get my spire up before they kill it off. Queens healing eachother with one overseer can completely shut down that harrass however. The downside to this strat is if they don't rush you are just able to drone up harder while scouting their front and spreading creep all over. Just make sure to watch his front so your ready for the MMM push if thats what they are getting.

If anyone is still reading this, I will say I only recomend this for fast expo defense and not a one base defense but since I always fast expo vs terran and toss it pretty much goes for every game except vs zerg.

My build order isn't 100% but it is approx
10 overlord
14 hatch
14 pool
17 gas(so I can build up extra minerals)
17 OL
around 18 your hatch and pool should pop about the same time. Then I have right around 300 minerals and build a queen from each hatch.
22 make 2 to 4 lings to scout
If I see a tech, I will tech from my main and keep making queens from my expo. If i see a push, I will make another queen from each before I tech and then make more from my expo.

Zergs, try this out esp vs toss and let me know if you have similar experiences. I may post some replays later, just keep in mind my macro is still touchy and I don't always do a good job spending my minerals in a timley manner.

Yea, they have other uses later, but for early defense they have worked amazing for me esp vs toss and they dont lose their value as the game progresses.

This build works wonders against early void ray rushes, which a lot of people my level like to do (silver league). Most of the terrans my level just turtle so I don't use it much against terran

14 pool against Terran, 12 pool agains toss unless I scout a cannon or proxy rush, in which case I typically 8 or 10 pool, depending on how hard they rush it and how early I spot it, and I 12 pool against Zerg unless I spot a 6-8 pool going down on my scout.

10 Extractorx2
12 Destroy Extractors
12/10 OL
12/10 Pool
16 Gas
16 Queen

10 Extractorx2
12 Destroy Extractors
12/10 OL
14 Pool
16 Gas
16 OL
16 Queen
16 Baneling Nest
18 Lair
18 Hatchery at FE
(Depending on minerals and gas at this point, I'll either get Burrow for ambushing attacking terrans, or getting drones and Zerglings at a 1-1 ratio until Lair is done and I can grab hydras incase of a bitchy cloak banshee rush)

^ Against terrans really makes for a potent early game mineral economy, permits a massive amount of Sling/Bling for a potent bioball defense, assuming you macro/micro well, and you can defend against pretty much any early game cheese that I've encountered.

Most terran in all levels seem to turtle which isn't hard to beat. Its the harrass that really seems to hurt so IMO I like to defend against the thing that kills me the most.

Vs toss and Terran I never feel the need to get a pool before 14. The econ always helps more.

Against rushing toss, that pool has to drop at 8 or so or you're fucked. Usually 10 pools result in too many zealots to too few Lings, and you loose before game hits 5 mins.