So, you’ve gone ahead and purchased your copy of StarCraft II! Congrats! You have in your hands one of the most highly anticipated and beloved Real Time Strategy game of this generation. So, what is next? Going online and pitting yourself against various opponents of course.
Beware of the Zergling Rush!!
So imagine this you are commanding the Terran forces (human exiles from earth) and your opponent is in command of Zergs (insectoid assimilators). In any genre of gaming where online battle is involved, victory goes to the player who is able to successfully predict what his opponent’s move is going to be. The map you have got loaded for the game also plays a vital part, for example if it’s a small scale map most Zerg players are going to attempt a Zergling rush earlier on when you haven’t got sizable number of troops or defenses setup. They will attempt to surprise and decimate your forces with a massive Zergling attack or Hydralisk rush! But don’t fret comrade for you are in control of the Terrans which are equipped to repel both attacks.
BUT before we delve into how to repel and decimate a Zerling or Hydralisk rush we must comprehend what entails a Zerling or Hydralisk rush!
Anatomy of the rush:
Let’s be brutally honest! Be it Zerling or Hydralisk rush, its extremely annoying, infuriating (has made me rage quit a few times before I knew how to handle it) to cope with.
Zerling Rush
Zerlings (or little gremlin rascals as I call them) are cheap melee unit. A lonesome Zerling by itself poses no threat as it has low HP making it weak. But in a swarm, they can be very menacing as they act as a shield for more costly and stronger units. Specially for Terran players using Marines and Marauders, the Zerglings surround and outpace them allowing banelings to do the actual damage.
Hydralisk Rush
Unlike their cousins (if you can call Zerlings that!) Hydralisks are ranged units having the capacity to deal massive damage to ground and air targets. Hydralisks are fragile and have low HP, they need to be shielded by units like Zerlings or Roaches. If you are playing Terran, pitting similar units like stalkers Marauders against Hydralisks should be avoided.
How to counter Zergling and Hydralisks rush:
Since, I am a Terran player have an innate disliking of the Zergling and Hydralisk rush, the defense against these early infamous rushes is going to be from a Terran perspective. So without futher ado, here’s what you do! earlier on you need to concentrate on building barracks, supply depot and than acquire the upgrade to academy to have firebats. Barracks will allow you to have ample supply of marines to repel a Hydralisk rush. Believe me marines are very effective against Hydralisks and can annihilate them.
As for Zerglings, your firebats unit can handle anything they throw at you! Its not rocket science just logic. Firebats being air units cant be targeted by Zerglings and have a splash damage that is capable of taking out Zergling easily.
Hydralisk + Zerling Rush Counter
If you are dealing with an innovative enemy you will be facing an amalgamation of Zerglings and Hydralisk rushing you. You need to employ vice versa tactics and deploy multitude of Marines and a dozen or so firebats.
The key factor to consider here is striking a good balance between unit production and resources. While it is a good idea to go with multiple barracks to speed up unit production, this does take a toll on your resource’s repository. What you need to do is horde on atleast 500 minerals and keep them handy for establishing a second town. Why do this you might ask? Because your Zerg opponent is using Hatcheries which double as resource gathering structure and you need to keep up.
To safeguard your town use bunkers to your advantage and have a few SCV’s nearby to repair them. Now it is time to go on the offensive and stick it to those insectoids! Quickly climb up the tech tree so you will have siege tanks at your disposal. The enemy might also follow building multiple hatcheries, so you would need plenty of marines and few siege tanks to torch them all. Since barracks can only produce one marine at a time, bunkers should be strategically placed to repel attacks.
The crux of all the matter is knowing which combination to use and when. Don’t attempt everything at once, pay attention to enemy tactics and patterns and act accordingly. Later on in the game if the enemy tries to overwhelm you by bringing in guardians you should counter those with battle cruisers. Again, the need to strike a balance between resource production and unit production is a vital ingredient.