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The Zerg are an alien race in the StarCraft universe. They are similar in appearance and behavior to the Tyranids of Warhammer 40,000 as well as the 'bugs' of Starship Troopers.  Zerg Hydralisk
History
Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow. The Zerg were created by the mysterious and ancient race of the Xel'Naga in an experiment after they abandoned the Protoss, but rebelled against their creators and absorbed them. They are a purely biological race (using no machinery) that uses genetic modifications to create new subspecies: every time they conquer a planet, they add their victims' genes to their genetic pool.
When the Xel'Naga created the Zerg, they embued them with the purity of essence, in contrast to the Protoss' purity of form. Fearful of the chaotic in-fighting that had enveloped the Protoss, the Xel'Naga created the Overmind, an enormous brain-like entity, to bring order to the Zerg. When the Zerg destroyed the Xel'Naga fleet above their homeworld Zerus, they retrieved records of the Xel'Naga experiments with the Protoss. They then devoted their energies to seeking out the Protoss in the hope of absorbing them into the Swarm, uniting purity of form and of essence, thereby creating a perfect being.
All Zerg are directly subject to the will of the Overmind; it is a biological impossibility for them to oppose its directives. Only Cerebrates (smaller brains) have some intelligence, and control a different army (called brood), using Overlords to directly control the warriors/workers. The lesser Zerg minions are wholly dependent upon the Cerebrates and the Overlords for order. Should a Cerebrate die, his brood will run amok and attack each other. In the context of a multiplayer match, when an Overlord dies, a Zerg player loses control points, and must grow more overlords to replace the loss. Without these control points, additional zerg units cannot be built. Even Zerg buildings are living organisms, and aren't built but grown. They act as would internal organs, the Zerg's Hive Cluster being the body.
Note: Zerg's broods are named after Norse mythological monsters (Jormungand, Garm, Surtur, etc.).
Main gameplay attributes - Low cost per unit produced
- Low unit power
- Low supply consumption per unit
- The Zerg units (and buildings) automatically heal over time. All Zerg ground units can be healed by allied Terran medics (Brood War only). Also, most of the land units have the unique "burrow" ability; this is a very effective way to set up an ambush. Burrowed units can only be harmed by some types of damage (ie Psi Storm) but cannot attack, move or use special abilities. The only exception is the Lurker, which can only attack when burrowed. Burrowed units can only be attacked or damaged by splash damage, or by direct attack if the unit is revealed by detectors. Burrowed Zerglings spread throughout the map provide a very cheap and effective method for following enemy troop movements.
- Least efficient building method, extreme building restrictions. Zerg structures can only be built on the Creep. The Creep is formed by either an hatchery (Zerg's main structure) or by a Creep Colony. (note: on some StarCraft maps the restriction is nearly eliminated.) Certain buildings must be 'upgraded' to attain higher technology level.
- All Zerg units are made from larvae at the Hatchery. This allows Zerg to quickly switch unit combinations, counteracting the high building cost. It also allows for expansions to be used for unit production without spending more resources on production buildings, whether to assist in an offensive, or for emergency defense.
Three special abilities in particular stand out: - "consume", a Defiler special ability. It destroys a targeted unit of your own army and partly restores the energy (50 energy points regardless of the consumed unit) (required to use special abilities) of the caster. Because of the very low unit cost, the Defilers can recharge instantly almost for free. Other races must wait for the energy to replenish over time.
- "spawn broodling", a Queen special ability. It destroys the targeted organic unit almost instantly and creates small, very low-health units called Broodlings that are used mainly for scouting or heckling purposes. Typically used to destroy deployed Terran Siege Tanks.
- "plague", a Defiler special ability. It reduces the affected unit's HP by 200 hit points or down to 1 hit point, whichever comes first. It is very useful against grand fleets of Battle-Cruisers and Carriers, or against Terran or Protoss bases.
Units
Land - Drone - worker, consumed when creating a new base structure.
- Zergling - melee attackers, the weakest of the basic ground units, but very low-cost, as a single egg hatches two zerglings; the "Adrenal Glands" upgrade available at Hive tech level gives them a 33% increase in attack speed. Movement upgrade is also available. Zerglings' power must not be underestimated; it is easy to quickly produce huge amounts of them, and when fully upgraded, their sheer numbers can overwhelm an opponent quickly.
- Hydralisk - distance attack. Generally regarded as the most versatile unit, masses of hydralisks can defeat most anything (especially when used in conjunction with Dark Swarm). Hydralisks are the only Zerg ground units that can attack air units, so they are essential in any game. Many people feel that, at only 75/25/1, Hydralisks are also the most cost-effcient unit in the game. Hydralisks are quickly dispatched by reavers and siege tanks. Movement and attack range upgrade available.
- Lurker - morphs from Hydralisk. Must burrow to attack, but is invisible to opponents like all burrowed units. Devastates Terran infantry, and opponent's zerglings, or any unit with low hit points. Splash damage is linear and does not decrease with distance or position. Consumes twice as many supply points as hydralisk. (Brood War only)
- Defiler - caster, no non-special ability attack. Have 3 types of special abilities: "consume", "dark swarm" and "plague". "Consume" sacrifices a player controlled zerg land unit for 50 energy points for the defiler regardless of the unit sacrificed. "Dark swarm" is a temporary area effect special ability that negates all ranged attack that falls within the dark swarm -- only melee and spash damage can affect health points. Dark Swarm tends to be the Defiler's most useful special ability. In the hands of an expert, it allows a small group of hydralisks or zerglings to destroy far superior forces. A fleet of carriers foolish enough not to retreat from 12 hydralisks would find itself decimated in short order. "Plague" is a very lethal special ability, reducing the affected units or structures HP by 300 hit points or down to 1 hit point, whichever comes first. It is very useful against grand fleets of Battle-Cruisiers and Carriers. Special ability and energy point upgrades must be researched before use (dark swarm is the only inherent special ability).
- Ultralisk - Expensive heavy melee unit. In Brood War an armor upgrade for the Ultralisk is available that makes them almost impervious to lighter Terran attacks. Speed upgrade also available. Their physical attack is seriously lacking, though, for the cost and size. They make amazing meat shields as the surrounding zerglings and hydralisks deal the real damage. They are also useful for simply intimidating an opponent; an inexperienced player will typically panic at the sight of even a small group of Ultralisks.
- Broodling - special unit, see "Spawn Broodling" in general attributes above. Spawned by the death of an organic land unit when affected by a Zerg Queen's Spawn Broodling special ability. All broodlings will die eventually regardless of health about two minutes from the time they were created.
Air - Overlord - flying transport unit. A certain minimum overlord/unit ratio is required. The Overlord is much like the Terran Supply Depots, but it can learn a dropship capability which makes it a very useful ship, and the earliest troop-drop capability of any race. It is capable of detecting cloaked units. Upgrade in speed and sight distance also available.
- Mutalisk - distance attack. Bounces thrice for reduced damage in each successive attack. At 100/100/2, they are extremely expensive for their 9 attack, but properly used and against the right units, they are worth every penny, so long as they are left alive. Mutalisks are often used to harass the opponent's harvester units. Precursor for Devourer and Guardian.
- Guardian - can only attack air-to-ground. Morphs from Mutalisk. Long range attack, but very slow. This is the main Zerg artillery (siege) units.
- Devourer - can only attack air-to-air, with slow attack speed and relatively little damage. However, each attack splashes Acid Spores on nearby air units, which both slow attack speed and cause other attacks to inflict more damage. Also morphs from Mutalisk, but moves much faster than Guardians. (Brood War only)
- Queen - caster, no non-special ability attack. Special abilities: "parasite" (enables you to see what the infected unit sees, including detecting ability -- can be negated by restore special ability (Brood War only) -- inherent special ability (no special ability upgraded needed)), "ensnare" (area effect special ability that slows enemy's units and attack rate) and "Spawn Broodling" to kill an organic unit to create two low-hitpoint broodling units. Also, the Queen has the ability to infest a heavily damaged (red) Terran Command Center and transforming it to a factory of explosive zombies aka Infested Terrans (500 explosive damage with splash -- good for those suicide runs <g>).
Buildings
Basic buildings - Hatchery - creates larvae from which to evolve units. Provides one supply.
- Extractor - built over a Vespene Geyser, this building allows Zerg Drones to harvest gas.
- Evolution Chamber - researches upgrades for Zerg Melee Attacks, Ranged Attacks, and Ground Armor.
- Spawning Pool - allows for the construction of Zerglings at the Hatchery. Contains the research upgrades "Metabolic Boost" and "Adrenal Glands."
- Creep Colony - produces the Creep. Can be upgraded to Spore or Sunken Colony.
- Spore Colony (air defense) (surface to air attack only) (detector -- detecting ability)
- Sunken Colony (ground defense) (surface to surface attack only) (NOT a detector -- CANNOT detect cloaked or burrowed units)
- Hydralisk Den - allows for the construction of Hydralisks and Lurkers at the Hatchery. Contains the research upgrades for the Hydralisk.
Advanced buildings - Lair
- Evolved from Hatchery
- Grants access to advanced structures, units
- Spire - grants construction of Mutalisks, Scourge
- Greater Spire (required for Devourer and Guardian morphing)
- Queen's Nest
- Hive (evolve from Lair)
- Nydus Canal - build in pairs, can teleport units.
- Defiler Mound
- Ultralisk Cavern
- Infested Command Center (it is assumed that it is an Advanced Building, because you can only get it with an Advanced unit)
Note: Except for the Hatchery and Extractor, all Zerg buildings must be constructed upon the Creep. When a Hatchery or a Colony is destroyed, the Creep will recede unless there is another nearby Hatchery or Colony to support the Creep. Structures near no Hatchery or Creep Colony will retain enough creep to maintain themselves, but further building will require additional Hatcheries or Creep Colonies.
Strategies General: Zerg is a very strangely balanced race and must be played with utter care. While churning troops out (constantly building them), they're only slightly faster than Terrans, they can -suddenly- create a significant amount of units (3 per hatchery, plus one every 20 seconds later) at once. In fact, as long as enough hatcheries are present, and enough resources, Zerg will never have any problem building any army they wish in short order. This is a dangerous production -and- versatility bonus.
Their return cost is building expenses. Including drone-creation-time (since drones are lost), Zerg are, without question, the game's slowest and least efficient builders. Defense buildings are even worse in the equation, having three build times: drone -> creep colony -> sunken/spore. Hatcheries cost 300 minerals, plus 50 more for the drone, which is almost highway robbery compared to the 150-200 that both other races play for all their troop production buildings. A lost building is worse for Zerg than 10 lost units.
Because of slow building and drone-sacrifice, Zerg have the weakest starting economy, hands down. They make that up with an early scout (overlord, but be careful. If he dies, you've lost against any good player). An early strike to damage the enemy mineral line will usually even up the odds or push the Zerg player to the advantage. Since hatcheries allow the building of 3 drones as quick as one, by mid-game (if they are still alive) the zerg economy tends to catch up and even push ahead of the other economy.
It is a horrible misconception that all Zerg can do is rush, a misconception a Zerg player will always turn against the opponent. If early harassment fails, a drop of zerglings and hydralisks before the 10-minute mark (or Lurkers if your economy is that good), into their backline, will usually be met with little resistance while the opponent repositions his choke-blocking troops to defend his failing base (scout it out first).
A final warning to all Zerg players. Never, ever launch a direct assault at the opponents most well-defended choke-point unless you use a trump strategy. Yes, winning that with units to spare would effectively guarantee a win, zerg tend to end with a higher unit-loss rate than anyone else. 100 Hydralisks and zerglings -can- be massacred running up a cliff blocked by supply depots, defended by marines (potentially in bunkers) and supported by tanks. At the same time, 5 mutalisks and 2 guardians would stop the same defense without a loss.
Zerg versus Zerg: Since there are only two major starting strategies (Mutaling: mutalisk teamed with zerglings, and Hydralurk: Hydralisks teamed with lurkers) there isn't much variety. If the enemy hits hard with zerglings, either zerglings and hydralisks or lurkers will counter. If they hit with mutalisks, hydralisks always win. Against Zerg, the expansion war is significantly earlier than in other races, since a completed hatchery means expanded creep and more military.
Strangely, in ZvZ, tech tends to take the back seat to churning out your standard military and strengthening their attack and damage. It's not difficult to tech a level 2 hatchery, which is all that's required for lurkers or mutalisks. Devourers are rarely important in ZvZ because Zerg tend not to flaunt power-unit air superiority, and guardians, while useful, need a significant army as backup.
Zerg versus Terrans: This matchup usually has the Terran player getting the dreaded "M&M's", or Marines and Medics. This is usually countered by attacking the Terran's base with Mutalisks or a Lurker Drop, so they have to run back and defend themselves, or simply building an army of hydralisks larger than the enemy's position, defending areas with Lurkers, and utilizing position and 'dancing' to achieve a high kill ratio. The Zerg advantage in an M&M situation is that Zerg can build units 3x faster than terrans.
If the Terran goes Heavy Metal (Tanks and Goliaths), then Mutalisks are the solution, ignorant of weakness of the explosive attack goliaths have, few terran players realize that mutalisks defeat them.
If you can, steal a Command Center with a queen. It's more difficult than it sounds, but infested terrans can lay waste to an army in large numbers.
Finally, the big Zerg weakness tends to be casters. This remains true here. Irradiate is quite painful. A single science vessel casting irradiate on itself can destroy a resource line or an army of zerglings. Cast on swarms of hydralisks, irradiate can kill far more than just the targeted unit. However, the Zerg player can mitigate the effects by burrowing the irradiated unit, which prevents it from damaging the other units near it.
Zerg versus Protoss: This is a war of attrition. You will almost certainly take more losses, but as long as you keep losses comparable, you will win. Early Zerg units tend to be more powerful than early Protoss units in the lategame. Lings are just so much cheaper than zealots, and with their attack and move upgrades, they will more than win with a 3-to-1 superiority. Dragoons do explosive damage. Large Zerg units are generally specialized (Lurker, Devourer, Guardian, Overlord, Ultralisk). Standard armies of zerglings or hydralisks, and even mutalisks, have a dangerous advantage over them, as long as you keep superior numbers. A dead Protoss unit is a much bigger deal, after factoring in time and resources, than 4 or 5 dead Zerg units, and Zerg units are usually at least half as strong as a Protoss unit.
The big worry against Protoss, more so than any other combination, is the casters. A single psi-storm can spell death for up to 20 zerglings, or a dozen of any other main-army Zerg unit. When attacking Protoss, you must always babysit the troops, even if they are cheaper. Fifty lost troops is still fifty lost troops.
Plot advancement in StarCraft: Brood War Spoiler warning: Plot or ending details follow. The Zerg were originally controlled by the Zerg Overmind, who was destroyed by the Protoss Tassadar (at the cost of his own life) at the end of StarCraft Episode III
By Episode IV, it was revealed that the Zerg had formed a new, young Overmind on Char, the adopted Zerg homeworld, but it was captured by the United Earth Directorate in Episode V. In Episode VI, the final act to date, Sarah Kerrigan, the self-claimed Queen of Blades, a former human Ghost telepath soldier who had been infested (transformed) into a Zerg/Human Hybrid, had the second Overmind killed and claimed leadership over the entire Zerg Swarm.
With the Terran Dominion decimated, the expeditionary fleet of the United Earth Directorate destroyed, and the Protoss homeworld Aiur conquered by the Zerg with the survivors fleeing to Shakuras, the Zerg currently stand as masters of the StarCraft universe.
Zerg Heroes Daggoth Kaloth Sarah Kerrigan Torrasque Vice Admiral Stukov Zasz Zerg Overmind
See also
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