ZvZ - Alternative Approach to Dealing With a 6 Pool All-In
This guide will cover an alternative approach to dealing with the 6 pool all-in.
Typically if a player goes pool first they should be able to defend against the 6 pool with just their drones, closely followed up with some lings and a queen.
But in some cases this is very difficult because your either unprepared, not watching your overlords, you went hatch first, scouted late or maybe you were just a little late with your build.
Instead trying to muscle your way out with micro, you can alternatively move everything you have to the opponent's base forcing to make difficult decisions.
General Steps 1) Below is an example where I scouted the all-in to late, I had already placed my early hatchery and had a late pool because of it.
The drones indicate to me that lings will follow and that there was probably a spine on the outer perimeter of my creep somewhere that I failed to see.
2) As you can see, my opponents spine has almost finished and my pool hasn't finished.
In this particular game my opponent made the mistake of getting surrounded and losing a few of his units to my drones, but ignore this and just take note in most cases you will have way more drones than he has units and so it isn't impossible to come out ahead.
The problem is trying to micro slow drones against fast lings on creep with a spine about to finish.
Instead what I should do here is go around him with my drones towards his base and rally all my lings I can afford with my larva (save some money for spines).
3) So here the situation gets more complicated.
My hatch will probably die quite soon and but this is an important part of winning the game.
You can see the drones are on the way to the opponent's base and lings are half way done in their eggs, also rallied.
3) Finally arriving at the opponent's base you should build spines and defend them with your left over drones and lings.
The situation might very greatly depending on how many units your opponent has managed to save and make.
In this situation he choose to spend his money on a spine (he actually cancels it for lings later but it didn't matter at this point) 4) So back to our base, if your opponent has killed your hatchery it is actually a good thing because the creep will dry up and his spine will bleed out.
You will have to adjust your play accordingly because if you kill his hatchery this will happen to you too, but you should win because he kills your hatchery first.
Smart players will uproot and avoid the bleed and the game will end up being about who has more units to kill the uprooted spines.
5) But what if he doesn't kill your hatchery and you don't kill his? You will have to be careful here because if you kill all his buildings at this base you have to be very sure you can run all the way back home with your spines uprooted and your units safely to kill his last left over spine or spines so win.
6) The very last option you should work towards is a stalemate.
If you realize that your opponent has too many units or spines for you to engage its best just sit tight with your left over units and spines and wait for the stalemate.
If he uproots his spine try to calculate wither you can move out with your remaining units to kill it before it roots again.
Use your overlords to find an advantages situation.
The advantage of killing his hatchery is that you can see all his remaining buildings and thus the remaining spines that have uprooted and hid.
Conclusion Having this alternative option to dealing with a 6 pool all-in can be very vital, especially when your behind.
Now that you have the knowledge of how things can play out, it gives you a heads up against your opponent who is likely a repeat cheeser who will not think things through and kill your hatchery and let his spine bleed out or at least remain on low hp.
Because most players don't have much experience with this sort of end game situation it's very very common for players to just kill each other's bases as quick as possible and not think about the creep drying up.
Try to be careful not to do this so quickly.
You will also discover that players don't think about the stalemate and will just attack you as a last resort, try not to make this mistake and sit tight near your spine and play carefully and as a last resort work towards a stalemate and let's face it a stalemate is much more desirable than losing to a cheesy 6 pool all-iner.
Typically if a player goes pool first they should be able to defend against the 6 pool with just their drones, closely followed up with some lings and a queen.
But in some cases this is very difficult because your either unprepared, not watching your overlords, you went hatch first, scouted late or maybe you were just a little late with your build.
Instead trying to muscle your way out with micro, you can alternatively move everything you have to the opponent's base forcing to make difficult decisions.
General Steps 1) Below is an example where I scouted the all-in to late, I had already placed my early hatchery and had a late pool because of it.
The drones indicate to me that lings will follow and that there was probably a spine on the outer perimeter of my creep somewhere that I failed to see.
2) As you can see, my opponents spine has almost finished and my pool hasn't finished.
In this particular game my opponent made the mistake of getting surrounded and losing a few of his units to my drones, but ignore this and just take note in most cases you will have way more drones than he has units and so it isn't impossible to come out ahead.
The problem is trying to micro slow drones against fast lings on creep with a spine about to finish.
Instead what I should do here is go around him with my drones towards his base and rally all my lings I can afford with my larva (save some money for spines).
3) So here the situation gets more complicated.
My hatch will probably die quite soon and but this is an important part of winning the game.
You can see the drones are on the way to the opponent's base and lings are half way done in their eggs, also rallied.
3) Finally arriving at the opponent's base you should build spines and defend them with your left over drones and lings.
The situation might very greatly depending on how many units your opponent has managed to save and make.
In this situation he choose to spend his money on a spine (he actually cancels it for lings later but it didn't matter at this point) 4) So back to our base, if your opponent has killed your hatchery it is actually a good thing because the creep will dry up and his spine will bleed out.
You will have to adjust your play accordingly because if you kill his hatchery this will happen to you too, but you should win because he kills your hatchery first.
Smart players will uproot and avoid the bleed and the game will end up being about who has more units to kill the uprooted spines.
5) But what if he doesn't kill your hatchery and you don't kill his? You will have to be careful here because if you kill all his buildings at this base you have to be very sure you can run all the way back home with your spines uprooted and your units safely to kill his last left over spine or spines so win.
6) The very last option you should work towards is a stalemate.
If you realize that your opponent has too many units or spines for you to engage its best just sit tight with your left over units and spines and wait for the stalemate.
If he uproots his spine try to calculate wither you can move out with your remaining units to kill it before it roots again.
Use your overlords to find an advantages situation.
The advantage of killing his hatchery is that you can see all his remaining buildings and thus the remaining spines that have uprooted and hid.
Conclusion Having this alternative option to dealing with a 6 pool all-in can be very vital, especially when your behind.
Now that you have the knowledge of how things can play out, it gives you a heads up against your opponent who is likely a repeat cheeser who will not think things through and kill your hatchery and let his spine bleed out or at least remain on low hp.
Because most players don't have much experience with this sort of end game situation it's very very common for players to just kill each other's bases as quick as possible and not think about the creep drying up.
Try to be careful not to do this so quickly.
You will also discover that players don't think about the stalemate and will just attack you as a last resort, try not to make this mistake and sit tight near your spine and play carefully and as a last resort work towards a stalemate and let's face it a stalemate is much more desirable than losing to a cheesy 6 pool all-iner.
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