Zerg, 14 gas, 14 pool into ling muta

The "14 gas, 14 pool" is a strong opening for Zerg when playing against Terran or Protoss. It will get you the economy to do pretty much anything. But because it is only an opening we will also look into a good transition. If you are a beginner with Zerg this is the guide for you.

Opening build
9 Overlord
14 Extractor
14 Spawning pool
15 Overlord
21 Hatchery

While that is the basic build for the opening, there are still some things to think about.

If you build your extractor right after your 14th drone starts building and put three drones in it when it finishes, you will have almost exactly 100 gas when your spawning pool is done. With this 100 gas get Metabolic boost. This upgrade increases the speed of your zerglings and makes a surround much easier.

After you have 100 gas, pull off two drones from your gas and have them mine minerals instead. Try to make as few zerglings as possible, you want most of your larva to be drones for now. If you scouted your enemy with a drone or an overlord and it doesn't look like an aggressive opening (for example a Terran with two barracks and no gas) get one set of zerglings. If you see him being very aggressive, throw down a spine crawler or two and build a few more zerglings. How many zerglings you need to build comes with experience but if you don't feel any pressure feel free to make more drones.

Use the zerglings you build to scout around the map. Killing any workers outside of the enemy's base, taking Xel'Naga towers and running up and down his ramp now and then to see what units he has. Scouting with zerglings is always useful so keep your zerglings active.

At around 20 food you should be thinking about taking your first expansion, 21 food is a good time to put one down. But if you are under pressure try to get it as soon as possible after you've held it off. As Zerg you always want to have atleast one more base than your opponent.

Remember that drone we left in the extractor? By now he should have gathered around 100 gas and when he has get your Lair. Then build extractors on the rest of your vespene geysers to save up as much gas as possible for your spire and mutalisks. When the lair finishes get your spire and a few overlords so that you won't get supply blocked when you get your mutalisks.

After your spire is done you should be able to build around five or seven mutalisks. Don't fly these right into your opponent's mineral line and suicide them. Instead fly around the base and scout what he has, make him build turrets or cannons, deny him any expansions, pick off a supply depot or pylon that isn't close to his army - anything to make him stay in his base. If you see that it's possible to kill a few SCVs/probes then do but don't risk taking too much damage.



This is also a time to think about taking your second expansion. Because of your mutalisks flying around your enemy's base, he is very unlikely to attack until he has a lot of turrets/cannons at the back of his base. He may leave units behind in his base but this makes his army much smaller and will be easy for you to pick off. You can also make drones freely. You should also build a baneling nest if you are up against a Terran and he has more than one barracks.

When you are at about three or four bases you should tech up and get ultralisks or broodlords to make the last winning push.



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