7 Roach Rush Into Baneling Bust

[e][h]7 Roach Rush Into Baneling Bust

Strategy Information

Matchups:

ZvT

Type:

Build

Popularized by:

Unknown

Overview

This is a simple 7 Roach Rush with a solid transition out of the cheese if the build does not kill off the opponent entirely. This build absolutely requires doing damage to your opponent, as you will be far behind in economy.

Goal

This is an offensive cheese build which aims at punishing a greedy Terran who goes Command Center first.

Basic Build Order

" 7 Roach Rush into Baneling Bust"
9 Overlord 12 Spawning Pool 13 Gas 16 Queen 18 Roach Warren 2x Overlord When 200 Gas has been harvested pull the Drones off gas. 34 Hatchery 33 Overlord 6:00 3 Drones for gas & Get 2nd gas Drone until 32 Supply (Roaches will die) Metabolic Boost Baneling Nest 2xOverlord 8:40-8:50: Max out on Zerglings and morph Baneling to bust the Terran's wall down.

Notes

• The food count varies as you cannot always trade off Roaches for units/workers effectively.
• Upgrades and Tech are listed in this way for a reason. You need speed for Zerglings to cross larger maps to hit the timing and execute the Baneling bust correctly.*

Scouting

• There are few strategies that hit early enough to warrant paying attention to gas or other timings of the Terran. This is also a strategy that starts with an early Pool and can therefore not be done after scouting the opponent's opener.

• You'll want to fly Overlords to possible spawning spots like on other maps. If you scout the Terran attempt to hide the Overlord before the Terran spots your scout. The Terran can guess your position and help determine which way to send a scout. The strategy is stronger if the Terran does not see the suspicious one base play before it is too late.

Execution

• Aim for the weakest point in the wall-off, but Bunkers and not Supply Depots and Add-Ons should not be targeted unless there is no other choice.
• Both Marines and SCVs takes 3 shots to kill.
• Avoid getting your Roaches surrounded by the SCVs. Kite for as long as possible to do maximum damage versus the workers.
• If you cannot avoid getting surrounded by the workers, hug the wall to minimize surface area. This limits the damage taken by the Roaches from SCVs as those can do quite a lot of damage.

Maps

Pro features

The Roach rush is strong on maps like Entombed Valley, Antiga Shipyard or Tal'darim Altar where there is not always fixed spots. It is stronger on smaller maps as the rush distance is shorter.

This prevents the Terran from scouting you first 100% of the time to spot the incoming Roach rush.

• Entombed Valley
• Tal'Darim Altar LE
• Antiga Shipyard

Con features

Long rush distance, fixed spots, scouting pattern and Xel'Naga towers make this a hard map to Roach rush out without being spotted relatively early by a Terran who sends out a reasonable SCV scout.

• Daybreak

Replays & VODs

	Symbol	Symbol opens up with a 7 Roach Rush against a surprised Marineking's 2 Rax. The Roach Rush still cripples and puts Symbol ahead.
	MarineKing
	Date: 2012-06-19
	Patch: 1.4.3	VOD