StarCraft 2: HOW-TO NYDUS RUSH!

How does a top-level player execute a Nydus Rush?
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In this video I analyse a recent game between Serral and SpeCial. In this match on Backwater LE Serral decides to rush a Nydus Worm with minimal amounts of scouting. How does Serral execute this Zerg rush?
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StarCraft 2 website: www.starcraft2.com
StarCraft 2 is a military science fiction real-time strategy video game developed and released by Blizzard Entertainment for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. Legacy of the Void is the third and final part in the StarCraft 2 triology.
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[@elyssium_]

SpeCial: I knew I should've blown up the tunnels in the campaign.

[@BenMojo.]

😅

[@leonardoguerra5275]

Dude I think that I just play sc2 because of your casts.

[@Golab08]

Same ;P

[@Truemmerphantom]

Dito. Wouldn't have picked up the game without Lowko. Never regretted it since then. :)

[@christopherwestra5774]

I watched you years before I started playing

[@pancutirimicuaro]

I started to play the ladder bc of him

[@dallinstovold4700]

Me too I didn't know what the game was until I watch your games and casts

[@202gatitin]

I really like these videos explaining the build, separating the buildings, or stages, into groups, what you must do it your strategy fails etc. Much better for learning than just the times and builds in a row. You get to know exactly what the build is about and it is much easier to remember it, as you said. Make more of these, please!!!

[@horn2102]

i love nydus rushes

[@vladimirandric8506]

i prefer planetary rushes :)

[@MrsNotorials]

*Cries in psionic*

[@ZiroDeagle]

Cries is marine rush

[@emberck]

Really like this kind of strategic analysis... please do one this toss!

[@TheOneHyer]

I love this style. This format is very educational.

[@alexanderschulz2100]

5:12 that tumor is to give his queens and zergling more mobility . it prevent the scouting of the nydus.

[@ZiroDeagle]

True

[@steven6666600000]

Love it how as soon as I get back into SC2 you start doing your how to videos again :)

[@wadeprantle]

These are what I'm here for lowko! So I'll take any and all strats for builds. Smashing that like button for you!

[@Thunderbearim]

Don't know if you know, but he likely used this build because of SpeCial vs Snute in the RO8 on Leipzig. SpeCial did the exact same build vs Snute on the same map, where he dismantled Snute with the Liberator harassment. The timing is perfect with this and as you might have noticed, the production wasn't out yet as he had been teching all the way instead of producing, being extremely greedy.

[@nilius90]

Exactly that, Special dismantled Snute on this map and Serral mostlikely came up with this as his solution.

[@Poncherello777]

Definitely do more of these for all races, i love your build analyses.

[@benely3754]

really like the in depth analysis and the steps to follow the same build so I can practice it.

[@j0hnmedved]

Awesome video, Lowko! I'd love to see more like this lowZ

[@carlfredricks7624]

I don’t play Zerg, but seeing the awesome strategies that you’ve analyzed makes me want to! Keep the good work man.

Love this kinds of videos! I found out your channel because i was lokking for toturials for zerg! Please more videos like this one!! Greetings from Peru

[@Poldax]

Loved your clarity!

[@CronFizzle]

Great video. Love the build walkthroughs

[@mranger4232]

Would love to see more videos like this with critical analysis to further help players take their game to a new level.

[@Diviblo]

I think the video does not explain Serral's reasoning TBH. This build is very reactive and is NOT something you should randomly go for agains the terran, cause if he goes mech, he can focus down the nydus with cyclones very quick. But at 3:30 Serral scouted an intended proxy in bottom left. 3:30 is too late for any production proxy for terran, so it must be fusion core. Proxying armory or ghost academy is a bad idea, cause if zerg scouts and kills one of those, you cannot build ghosts and hellbats anymore until you remake the building at your base. For the liberator range, however, you only need a split second to start the upgrade, then you don't give a damn about the core. And because SpeCial has invested so much in libs/core/upgrade, Serral knows there won't be enough cyclones/tanks to defend straight roach nydus. Otherwise a build like this is an all-in and a gamble.

[@schimmligerveganer2065]

Diviblo Great observation, thank you! This should've definitely been mentioned in the video.

[@loup067]

I think with players this ranked, he kinda know what he is doing, right?

[@zmanm82]

Nydus Rush is what made me main Zerg haha. Great video, would love to see more like this!

[@Joppsta360]

I love the play by play analysis. I don't really play SC2 for ladder, only COOP but I can appreciate nerding out over strategy like this. I was kind of this way when playing RUSE (dead game, can't get it anymore sadly, something to do with licensing I think) so I can totally relate.

[@nicoliljestrand3757]

This is a very good video Lowko!! Serral is amazing! Torille!

[@Jawzah]

TORILLE! .. Um is that Finnish or something else? But yeah - very good video and excellent play from Serral.

[@joeyfairey1725]

This was awesome! Thanks for breaking it down.

[@TheKirout]

First : I love when you do those kind of videos second : could anyone write down the build order?

[@philistineau]

Love it. You should show us an example game with you playing.

[@christronius1724]

As always Lowko shows us the best matches and he is the best :D #nydusRUSH

[@vaclavdvorsky702]

Yea... blizzard should make him rich through Lowko anouncer I would surely buy... "Your base is under attack" would be replaced with "the enemy is not done just yet"

[@alexpp1002]

You said there was no scouting by Serral, but at 3:30 he made A KEY SCOUTING of proxy Fusion Core at the left bottom of the map. And that was a main reason why he decided to go nydus rush.

[@florianvialou3870]

Great video!

[@arturrocci8338]

We love casts like this!

[@lautaa33]

Nice vid! Some points on the game: Serral went for nydus on this map because Special went for the liberator range build against snute on this map which proved to be insanely strong (there are spots at the third where queens won't reach ranged liberators). Nydus kills the liberator with range build quite consistently. The creep tumor at the natural instead of inject is done by serral (and other pros like elazer) in almost all ZvTs, and even some ZvPs. If you go for quick third and constant queen production at your natural like Serral likes to do, you don't have enough minerals to use all your larva if were to inject with both queens initially.

[@tavar123]

Very useful and interesting !!

[@Chaikitty]

Love the detailed analysis! Protoss build analysis next? :P

[@jakoshin4702]

12:26 “Absolutely eh, Shrek’s his opponent” lol. Man I love your videos Lowko. My wife thinks I’m crazy being 32 and I don’t even play the game anymore.

[@cerber3260]

I think it would be great to teach us how to effectively counter or at least expect builds like this coming, since you are setting trends on the ladder with your videos :D

[@Nostra_]

Kerberos he told us how in the video Just focus the nydus

[@cerber3260]

You think thats going to work lol. You should be SpeCials coach cause it seems like he needs your advice. For obvious reasons, thats not the best way to counter this strategy.

[@cerber3260]

TheGuruStud Well then its a pretty op build cause what terran is waiting in his base with enough units to instakill a nydus that could spawn whereever it wants. And SpeCial didnt get a real chance to scout this because it was build and used immediatly. I get your point that thats an armytrade but because zerg can power out so many units terran has no chance unless he specifically prepares for this thing. And in that case terran loses in macro.

[@ben8929]

Kerberos You can't really counter if you are going for the build that Special used in this game. This Nydus build was designed specifically to counter it. So if you expect to get attacked with a Nydus just do a less greedy build that builds units actually capable of destroying a Nydus (unlike Hellions and Liberators).

[@_evillevi]

I too am interested in the heavy strategic nerdy focused videos!

[@ESPFTW]

You help make me want to play SC2. This is a good problem to have

[@darkwolfener9273]

I don't even play multiplayer, i just play coop but your videos are amazing keep it

[@shermuhammadkhan3383]

Great video lowko ! ( I really love the strategic , educative nerdy videos that can help us get better , and id Really love it if you did more strategy/ countering / timing attack / theorycrafting videos ) also One thing that I dont understand is why do pro zerg players take their second gas in their natural instead of their main ? Like the advantages of doing so really puzzles me , and the only reason I can understand is because they can take the second and third gasses at the same time without moving their screen this way , so it may be easier , if any zerg player has an explanation , I'd love to know :)

[@EpicJuiceFilms]

To protect the gas and drones from aggression to the main early on from things like liberators, warp prisms, oracles, bane/marine drops, ect. The idea is that they will have a lower chance of taking out both your gasses, if they do heavy harassment damage.

[@Wikingdew]

They don’t want to put all Their eggs in one basket so to speak

[@shermuhammadkhan3383]

Woah , never really thought of it that way , thanks guys !

[@user-tx8cn3wf4z]

You should analyze every replay like this one) ..very value

[@henryhobo7650]

Also lowko can u tell us more things like "roach warren finishes at same time as lair if u do it at X time" i love that stuff. So helpfull

[@Friedrich713]

Aggressive zerg strategies? Always! Beastyqt (I believe you've hosted him before) did 50 strategies to gm as Zerg recently. Among them are great ways of utilizing swarm hosts. I just love SHs!

[@MorodinStyle]

I love your videos! good vibes☺

[@maxwu3395]

Love these types of videos by you. Your vids on roach ravager builds got me far. But I think it's hit a limit. Would love yo see your guides on latest meta and builds now that roach ravager is less good.

[@dominikradzik7778]

It would be cool if you did a build where there are units that are not used as much. In lower tiers i seldom see people use swarm hosts, distributors , and ghosts, and show how they could be used defensively or aggressively

[@kuznetsovvalery2707]

Thank you for the analyzes video! I really your casting, but analyzes are way more useful!

[@henryhobo7650]

Lowko your nerdy style vids are my fav keep them coming. Im zerg and terran mech always beats me. Can u do a vid?

[@ben8929]

Against mech you should expand more and try to have map control. If you manage to see the enemy army on the map and engage it in a favorable position when the tanks are not in siege mode you can easily destroy it.

[@alejandro3736]

I would like to see something like this but with terran. I play a lot of random and sometimes I just don't know if I should go for a marine or a reaper or when to go for the second gas or the factory and when to harass with the drops

[@darrellaveril4699]

and lowko, if i want to nydus rush,do i have to follow the build order?????( please answer my 2 other question in your new videos, thankyou)

[@RainStorm148]

actually, are you able to target abilities on the command cart?

[@brundige47]

yeah, do more of these strategy analysis business. gotta get those build orders figured out.

[@claudioorlandini6456]

hi man, how see replay Pack: 2018 WCS? when I copy the files to the folder, I can not see the reeplay, are incompatible. P.D: my game lenguage is latin america. Thank you

[@Riki-dx2og]

nice more like this please.

[@natrix9651]

Special happy holiday :)

[@ARiot04]

Let's learn SC2! Do Protoss tutorials next?

[@darrellaveril4699]

lowko, does it also apply at zerg vs protoss

[@kagulat]

newbie here. how did he spawn the nydus worm into the terran base without the creep on the floor? did i missed something? i'm confused..

[@blackphant8399]

where can u download the replays?

[@SebastianPappG]

Nydus at min 6. Amazing

[@jesusperezurribarri4729]

You should be a International ST2 Caster, i love the game since i saw your videos :D

[@lippyausletzeburg1455]

i already loved to use the Nydus in the BETA :)

[@davidakiva7963]

Bruh how do you stop the worm lolol. Gets me all the time.

[@matthewsteyn7019]

go strait for the worm before they can get all their army out then use your units to clean up the relatively week zerg army

[@argenti1801]

I'm a simple man, i see nydus i press like

[@willsbossygaming9333]

I would do this strategy for awhile and instead of roaches I would do like 6 queens and as many lings as I could. The timing for this push has to be perfect. I would normally time it around 5-6 min. Even then against Protoss it would fail sometimes. Then again in the silver league what do I know

[@sethsonnier5843]

Hey lowko! Long time fan first time commenting. Everything I have come to learn about Zerg is contributed to learning from you. You are the man. I noticed you really favor the roach ravager timing attacks. Scarlett likes her burrowed banelings and creep spreading. Life is amazing with his hyper aggressive zerglings. I've also noticed a player nabbed livibee she's good she favors infestors and kind of needs to work on her scouting she's kind of defensive Zerg but not as efficient as say stephano. I really really like your answer to protoss Canon rush with a nudus solution. I have a question. Do you know any players that play with Scarletts play style. But uses burrowed ultralisks for ambush? Would you do a game like this for me? I would be highly interested in the results. I've noticed when Terran scan they scan on creep so it's better to borrow closer to the enemy base but not on creep so like closer to their ramp

[@gloriousrobotbunny3275]

i get slightly turned on by the apm counters going wild. can you add an apm counter to your other videos?

[@kohlsinnombre9279]

i know this is 2 years later but. w h a t ?

[@gloriousrobotbunny3275]

@@kohlsinnombre9279 im 90% sure it was meant as a joke

[@darrellaveril4699]

lowko, what is idle time?????

[@jonsolo32]

I have a question... How do you get your units to unload immediately from the worm?

[@LowkoTV]

You click the worm, click the unload button, ctrl click the queens and start transfusing. This all has to be done in under a second.

[@jonsolo32]

LowkoTV and this is why Protoss will be master race. Lol. Thanks. I thought there was a faster way. I’m just too slow. ;)

[@Gnarlynative]

I wish my strategies were that snug. I never make time to base gameplay off of vespene amounts. Its such a great way of playing the game.

[@ElekrisLP]

Does anyone happen to know why Serral places his pool like this? I thought you only place it like this in ZvZ to place your Queen in the gap...

[@Damlorindgren]

Actually, can you make a video about how to do an early push with roaches?

[@Fishbro]

I honestly downloaded starcraft cause of you

[@rompevuevitos222]

Every time that i watch one of your vids i go to play some SC2 but then it bugs out and disconnects me or something and i give up, when it works it starts downloading for at least 20 mins just for a VS AI match and i get bored of waiting. The few times i tried to try and play again the game just gets stuck at the login screen and nothing works

[@zaxtonhong3958]

Definitely an issue on your side. My friends and I can play sc2 whenever we want with a sub 1 minute load time.

[@rompevuevitos222]

Yeah but since Blizzard's help tickets haven't been working for months i can't do anything about it, actually, i've seen comments on the tickets not working from 1 year or so

[@titaniumonyx6074]

how we share replays to lowko tv stuff?

[@g.zoltan]

send an email to [e-mail] with the replay file attached

[@mareksoukup8452]

where and how did u learn so great english -phrasology , dimension of vocabulary and accent ?

[@RushingRussianify]

Professional PF rush TvP please!

[@ChaosPhoenix777]

I miss, "hello everyone, my name is Lowko!" *Wink*... Video commentary.

[@bradp7917]

First, I love these kinds of videos with explanations and strategy. This works on this map with this player because 3rd base easy and macro player. Excellent. More like this. Also placement of the nydus worm. Usually i try to hide the nydus on the side of teh base out of sight but serral put it right in front near the ramp. Was that on purpose? If so why?

[@noedamidaux8389]

Serral placed nydus in the middle of the base because at this level of play , Special will ALWAYS spot it .So he prefer to be directly in the production facilities of the terran instead of slowly advancing with creep and let the terran get time to react .

[@ben8929]

Special couldn't destroy it anyway because he had only hellions

[@vertner2246]

so gooood!!!!!!

[@murataruta542]

fuccking great now we are just gonna have nydus rushes all week :))

[@rohanparker9004]

Heck yes!

[@AndrewGunner]

he did heavily target the nydus, though. And Serral did use a transfuse on that nydus.

[@jesterhat]

Why did he put the nydus worm there? I usually try to hide it in the corner of the base...?

[@noedamidaux8389]

Serral placed nydus in the middle of the base because at this level of play , Special will ALWAYS spot it .So he prefer to be directly in the production facilities of the terran instead of slowly advancing with creep and let the terran get time to react .

[@Mecha444]

Tips: you need a overlord to transform and then you need a changlinga and your Changling must pretend go to scout then nydus worm come will recruit a many zerg

[@patrickbourne3819]

I never realised how much planing was involved in the high level of games. Like he must have done this so many times against AI

[@RMJ1984]

Nydus should really be changed from a building to a big underground worm, that can hold x amount of supply and move around. That would lead to some interesting underground harassment.

[@ZirJo]

Great, can't I like this video twice?

[@joelatwar]

I need an updated version for 2022

[@synka5922]

9:30 At first i afraid i was petrified, i knew that liberator range had got me in his sight, but then i did want to attack i didnt want to type gg, but at the end of the day, terran was op! Source: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iXrOY4ysnr-Crrs

[@douglastang123]

is protoss and terran boring to watch? cuz theres a shit ton of zerg plays but theres nth wrong wit tht

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

i learn from your experience

[@r.dommizsed2377]

sure you know how to propetly micro a nydus rush, but do yu nou de wei?

[@petibojkov6813]

Yeah Lowko, do more vids like this, but not just for Z :)

[@KasperSOlesen]

Back in the early days of SC2 I used a Nydusling rush tactic that actually got me all the way up to Diamond league. I could not stay in diamond league, it was too high for me and a bit of a fluke, but here is a very close match I had with a Protoss diamond player where I used a nydusling rush tactic: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKbHeGqErdZ3mq8

[@canebro1]

Zerg? Defensive? I don't think I have ever heard those two words in the same sentence before. I think zerg, I think hyper aggressive.

[@Regunes]

Zerg is agressive on broodwar

[@richiec7700]

I would say Special is more micro focused vs macro focused. This map he seems to go greedy due to the layout. Special plays the map here.

[@zamba136]

i tend to sneak in a Nydus against Zerg, these days. they never expect it. funny as hell.

[@epicbiohacks1495]

I use nydus but only with lurkers Hydras Ultras around 12 minutes

[@Yue4me]

this kind of build cant be use randomly. i used to focus nydus rush but the opponent just do baserace with me and even faster.

[@davidkozik5049]

6:30 is RUSH ? I m going to rush in 3:30 - 4:00 min..... BTW, terran armi in 6 min. is epic.. :)

[@Hitman41k]

WTF are this res numbers?