Ladies and Gentlemen, in this weeks "tip of the week" Captain Obvious gets deep with the infested Terrans, want to know what Zerg does to your infested buddies? Time to find out..
Many people far and wide claim Terran is overpowered or at least on an advantage, many top players are Terran and many tournaments are won by Terran players. Zerg on the other hand is said to be underpowered. So underpowered in fact that Infestors have decided to use Terrans...
And with great results! Although the main usage for an
Infestor is
Fungal Growth on Terran bio balls, we shouldn't forget what they are really there for. Never complain about mass
marine because playing with
Infestors means beating Terran at their own game. For those of you who didn't realize it yet, lets compare the facts:
Theory
| Marine | Infested Terran |
|  |  |
| DPS | 7/10.5 with Stim | 9.3 |
| Health | 45/55 | 50 |
| Range | 5 | 5 |
| Speed | 2.25/3.375 with stim | 0.9375 |
| Lifespan | Till the Banelings come in | 30sec |
| Cost | 50 minerals 1 supply | 25 energy |
That's right people, with the exception of speed the
Infested Terran matches the
Marine at practically every point. The invested variety is better than a basic
Marine and only slightly worse than an upgraded one. But best of it is, they only cost 25 energy and just like regular
Marines they can be upgraded with weapons and armour, both
Zerg ground carapace and
missile attack improve the
Infested Terran. In addition, the
Infestor's maximum is 200 energy, meaning that just a few
Infestors hold fearsome damage potential.
Infestors can spawn
Infested Terrans while burrowed, this combined with their capability to move when burrowed opens tremendous harassment possibilities. And even the
eggs have found a use, at 100 health and 2 armour they are pretty bulky and can serve as a cheap meatshield.
Practice
Theory is all nice and all but action is where all the action is at. The more blood the better so here are some scenarios where the
Infested Terrans shine.
Harassment
Harassment is what Zerg excel at:
Speedling runs,
Mutalisks, tunnelling
Roaches, you name it. And tunneling
Infestors fit in here perfectly. Instead risking a whole
Speedling or
Roach group, a single
Infestor can sneak in the enemy miner line, spawn eight terrans and back off. This way of sneaking and running can make the
Infestor quite hard to catch and even if it gets killed you only lost one unit. This is also a great way to pick off supply, with good movement your opponent is forced to invest in detection or continue to lose supply (or worse) throughout the game.
Vs the healthy Terran
The Zerg didn't infest terrans for nothing, in TvZ the swarm can have a tough time dealing with Mass
Marine/Marauder +
siegetanks. Those Terrans feel oh so confident and safe but
Infestors give them a taste of their own filth. Besides the regular
Fungal Growth there is a special role for the
Infested Terran as well. In TvZ a
Raven is a rare sight which means that burrowed
Infestors have all the time in the world to sneak up to the Bio Ball. When the tanks are sieged up spawn
eggs in the middle of the ball and let the fun begin. As the tanks start shelling away at the
eggs the Bio Blob around it will take tremendous Area of Effect damage. While the units focus on the eggs you can surface an
Infestor and throw in a
Fungal Growth dealing extra damage and guaranteeing the Bio Ball stays rooted next to the
eggs.
Shield
Theory isn't just theory, it's useful. When the stats of the
eggs revealed them to be quite durable that wasn't some fun fact but actually something you can use to your advantage. Spawn the
eggs just before engaging or between both lines to draw the fire away from your actual units. Two Armour means that
Marines deal only 4 damage per shot and
Zerglings only 3 and 100 health guarantees a long lifespan against slow attack high damage units. Even if he ignores the
eggs they will still grow to be
Infested Terrans increasing your damage output.
Ever been annoyed by Protoss Forcefields? The
eggs are a miniature version and especially effective at blocking the path of
Thors and
Ultralisks.
Base Sweeping
But the most effective use of
Infestors is in the destruction of the enemy base by abusing the
Infestor'ss ability to tunnel and sneak into an enemy base. For this to be effective it is advised to have five or more
Infestors at max energy near the enemy base. Harass a bit to distract the opponent and try to sneak the
infestors to the back of his base, if the front door is closed you can also burrow them near the base cliff with sight on the high ground or transport the
Infestors with
Overlords.
When they are in place devise a plan (you may want to do this in advance) to lure the enemy troops to the front line, faking a full frontal attack works well here. Then all you have to do is spawn the
Infested Terrans and your opponent will be caught split position between 40+
Infested Terrans shooting up his base and your complete army minus five
Infestors. You can also block the ramp with Infested Terran eggs while the rest of the
Infested Terrans tear up the base.
Point of interest: Those 40 marines would also fare incredibly well along with your full frontal attack. If it's not possible to sneak those
Infestors in the back of the base, they should be used as back up for the main force.
