Legacy of the Void Build Order Guide: Nerchio's 3 Base ZvP Roach-Hydra-Lurker
This build was used in the latest Dreamhack Roccat LotV tournament by Artur "Nerchio" Bloch, who is currently rank 1 GM in Europe and finished Top 6 at Dreamhack.
This build showcases an attack designed primarily to counter gateway-based armies and uses the Lurkers to play defensively and establish a 4th base and Tech to Hive. This is a solid opener in PvZ which also allows you to make adjustments and variations based on scouting information.
Build Order:
13 Overlord
17 Hatch
18 Pool/Hatch (If Protoss is trying to pylon block/deny 3rd just go pool first)
18 Pool/Hatch
19 Gas
19 Overlord
@Spawning Pool finished build 2 queens
@100 Gas get speed and take 2 drones out of gas
(Snapshot at 3:30, Nerchio throws down an evolution chamber for Zergling drops however this is optional and not necessary)
Build 2 Queens, 1 at 3rd base and one for creep spread (4 total)
Once Queens are queued add 3 Gas and go back into 1st gas (Should have 3 saturated bases at this point)
Throw down a Roach Warren, +1 Melee and get Lair (Lair timing should be around 4:15)
Once Lair finishes throw down Hydralisk Den, once the den is finished then instantly morph into a Lurker Den
(Lurker den starts morphing around 6 minutes, 4th base also thrown down)
Power Roaches and Hydra, then morph 6-8 Lurkers once Den has finished, by now 4th should be established with enough creep spread for the Lurkers to be able to play defensively.
(At 7:30 should be close to max with lurkers morphing, Nerchio has also taken gas in 4th quickly to keep up Lurker and Hydra production)
Strong Against:
- Zealot Archon Timing – This build has become popular due to upgraded ling style into Ultralisks being strong due to the ling buff, this basically straight up kills it as the Protoss cannot deal with the Hydras and Lurkers with this composition.
- Blink Stalker builds – This is also good for handling those pesky blink stalker 3 base builds, as again Lurkers destroy gateway units and Hydralisks trade very well against Stalkers.
- Immortal timings – Provided you can get the Lurkers down before the push comes, this army trades extremely well against immortal pushes.
Weak Against:
- Heavy Stargate Play – If you commit too heavy to Lurker and the Protoss decides to make a lot of void rays/carriers you will get destroyed if its un-scouted – if you scout the Protoss going heavy Stargate you can either go for a big Hydralisk timing to try and destroy the Protoss 3rd and starve them out or you can throw down spire and mass expand, teching to hive quickly to make corrupters and vipers to try and take out the air fleet.
- Heavy early game pressure – If you open something like 3 hatch and the Protoss decides to Proxy 2gate you are pretty much dead, however that doesn’t happen too much and occasionally you can hold with 2 hatches. You need to be wary of a cannon rush on the second or 3rd and also builds like DT rushes or early oracle can be very strong due to later lair timing. As per usual it is imperative you have an overlord near the main and natural to be able to fully scout and make sure that you can prepare appropriately for any build the Protoss is going to throw at you.
Variants:
With this you can open into a +1 attack Roach Ravager push, instead of going heavy Lurker if you want to get aggressive earlier on you can just make a ton of Ravagers and try and break the Protoss, you will be able to snipe a lot of cannons and pylons using the mortar ability and try and break the Protoss 3rd, it also straight up kills adept pushes if you open this way as well.
You can also go for a heavy Hydralisk play instead of Lurker and just go for a massive Ling Hydra timing and try and kill the Protoss early game, however because of the Pylon Charge I wouldn’t really recommend this unless the Protoss is going super greedy because it can be hard to attack into 3 charge pylons, the Protoss defending army and cannons.
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