Fastest nydus swarm host ever BROKE my brain - StarCraft 2

Subscribe to PiG Casts! 🐷 This 1-Base Nydus Swarm Host build really broke my brain. Now I have to inflict this pain onto others!
--
🐷 Main Channel: / pigstarcraft
🐷 Second Channel for Learning StarCraft 2: / pigrandom
--
🐷 Watch live at / x5_pig
🐷 Support PiG: / pigsc2
🐷 PiG’s Discord: / discord
🐷 PiG’s Website: www.pigstarcra...
--
#Starcraft2 #SC2 #PiGStarcraft

[@Absolute_ZUNO]

Hi Pig. I'm Zuno, the opponent of this game. Thanks for the fun game, and thanks for using my build afterwards. I enjoyed watching your variations!

[@PiGstarcraft]

Woah Zuno thanks so much for posting! Such a clever build dude, hats off to you!

[@danielskrivan6921]

"Dear Harstem. I had double the APM and half the resources lost of my opponent, and yet..."

[@Pr4n4v13]

I would love seeing this on IODIS🤣

[@AwesomeCrabman]

Protoss is imba af

[@jm458205]

You forgot double the efficiency, and this really would make a great episode it was a rather unique game Are probes imbalanced or do I suck?

[@danielskrivan6921]

@@jm458205 Half resources lost is double efficiency, no?

[@jm458205]

@@danielskrivan6921 for some reason I missed the word lost earlier... thought you were referencing that he had half eventually a third of the resources of pig

[@yaelz6043]

Respect to pig for being able to go in and out like that for a solid half hour.

[@chrayez]

His zealots were a little late on the pull-out a few times. But he still recovered incredibly quickly to go back in.

[@Big5ocks]

Our boy has stamina ;)

[@PiGstarcraft]

I've trained this game for years, I'm not just gonna blow my zealots away for no good reason ;)

[@erikkarlsson9192]

:3

[@danagray9709]

Thinks got a little hectic when their Nydus worm pushed into his back door, but pig took it like a champ.

[@squiggzzz]

I like how PiG casts this game as if he's never seen it before

[@erikkarlsson9192]

no.

[@PiGstarcraft]

GUYS new vid of me inflicting this pain on others coming up very soon! I did it on stream and it was DIRTY AF. EDIT: HERE IT IS kzbin.info/www/bejne/fHmbeYZ4qs2bg5Y

[@Sotzrem2007]

yes please

[@TheAerosolNinja]

Yessss pig daddy.

[@sirius5152]

It's quite surprising that Pig have never encountered this strat before, especially considering he usually plays on NA. I remember few guys terrorizing EU ladder with this exact strat at 2019 at around 5.3k mmr. One of them called 'Bolo' if I remember correctly. He even made the exact same wall with nydus, infestation and spine. It was absolute pain to deal with back then, because nydus was completely busted (cheaper, no cooldown, insane load/unload speed), queens were stronger and no super battery for protoss.

[@seppwurzel8212]

Why didn't you mass void ray instead of spending thousands of minerals into useless zealots?

[@rauminen4167]

Would love to see it

[@jiveydiogenes]

This is honestly the most exciting SC game I've watched in ages! I love this!

[@SamRoads]

If only every game of SC was this thrilling!

[@davemountford748]

15:32 "Nydus in my back door, very painful" - we'll take your word for it Pig!

[@Big5ocks]

There was a couple of points where if Zuno made 50 Zerglings or 20 roaches you would have just been dead! wp for scratching out the win in the end, looking forward to your adaptation of the build

[@PiGstarcraft]

yeah by all rights I should have lost this game

[@Big5ocks]

@@PiGstarcraft sorry, I didn’t mean to make that sound so critical. More that if you make it to the late game you should not forget it when you do this nydus rush… That was just what stuck out to me while I watched Zuno floating 2k minerals most of the game.

[@doughnut4867]

This has set back starcraft 17 years

[@SamRoads]

It's the most exciting game I've watched in a year.

[@hawianpunch28]

"With so much incompetence and and panic" -PiG. I have never related to a line more about how i play starcraft....

[@MuklukYoutube]

This randomly was suggested to me and is the first video of yours I've seen. Absolutely loved it. Subscribed.

[@drewloe]

Hey Pig, this is one of the best games I've ever watched. With so much going on... it felt like an actual campaign mission. Loved the war of attrition. Would like to see more games just fought to the bitter end. Also... The zealot at 15:42 understood his mission.

[@brandonguthrie6511]

My brain broke just from watching, I can't even imagine what it was like to play against.

[@LittleRainGames]

It is hell. Last week my friend and I played a 2v2, we had no idea what to do. They would pop out of a worm, fly the swarm in and go back into the worm to hide. It was our worst game ever and we couldnt do anything. And we are only silver 1.

[@fleurdewin7958]

I really want to see real Zerg experts like Dark and Serral play their version of this strategy . Must be really exciting to watch the whack-a-mole game.

[@acquaintedfowl1767]

imagine if the zerg had the micro to also use infestors to fungal and let the locusts engage properly...

[@danagray9709]

Quick! Hide this strat before the Zerg start dominating the top spots again!

[@thefirstsol1770]

They actually played like this in some games in World Team League 2v2. These games were either instant win or instant lose though because how swarmhost nydus strategy works

[@AddictedShuffler]

your brain must have been a clusterfuck of "oh shits" in this entire game. Good job winning it!

[@Laezar1]

What I like about that is that if opponent doesn't respect the early pool you can just swarm with zerglings anyway, and if they start building defenses the swarm hosts tear through those. Maybe being more patient with the swarm host not launching everything at once every wave and using the nydus as a forward position that you actually defend rather than letting it die and rebuiild over and over again might be more worth it. Maybe mixing that with some banelings too, since you're getting tons of free units you can have a pack of baneling waiting to punish a counter attack (forces opponent to take good engagements which takes time and give your locust time to repop).

[@jkkim6928]

Zerg just needed to macro better that’s all

[@PiGstarcraft]

yeah the threat of the early pool forces entirely the wrong reaction, beautifully silly build

[@silverlightsun]

@@jkkim6928 This is a warning from the Terran Confederate: General, you are in violation of the statue "100011 Don't give gameplay tips to zerg players", this is a punishable offense. Transmission ended.

[@jkkim6928]

@Paul M punish me daddy

[@stevef68]

Haha, now you know how us plebs on the lower ladder feel every game!

[@velfar]

That was insanely well played PiG! Yet we could say that according to Salt Mines lore, you be mad, you should have accepted your rageloss, no skilz xD

[@PiGstarcraft]

1-2 cost inefficiency - I was just mad, I should have accepted the no skill loss man

[@letitbe90210]

Pig you'll always be one of the best sc players to me because of how much knowledge you have about it and how much experience you have playing. but that guy is going to have the greatest strat ever once he gets it dialed in. i dont think theres a toss harass faster than that.

[@PiGstarcraft]

I've been experimenting with the build myself - new video showcasing my adventures to come :)

[@lindalobstadefenda]

13:40 stratacticly. i think the poor pigbrain is still broken :) This is one hell of a game :) ok.. time to unpause and see who wins

[@NeonKix]

I absolutely lost it at "Geriatric Tortoise" @16:25

[@SadPandaisSad]

I've had this build played agaisnt me (D2 Na P) and it was incredibly hard to deal with. I'm so glad you uploaded this!!

[@ledrash6079]

I have seen this strategy from zergs before, a long time ago. Must be like 7 years or so when a "lot of people" (several different accounts, but might have been the same one) tried it out in diamond. Since i play zerg as well, i was very confused the first times and also made it work myself a few times, but in the end it disappeared. Fun to see its back.

[@heckler2611]

I used to lose 2 TvZ games (Gold league) against this Nydus/SH build, I felt really angry at myself for losing against 1-base Zerg, now watching this I can at last forgive myself.

[@Hitmann0]

I came back just to give props for the "Hentacle wall" comment at 15:28.

[@Wilde_Wolfe]

Holy Hell Pig! That was an interesting strategy!!! Totally thought you lost this one... a COUPLE TIMES! Don't break my heart Pig!

[@chaoscultist5679]

I played against this exact strategy literally to the letter on NA ladder yesterday, now I know who to thank for putting this strategy out there. While it was extremely confusing, after I shut down the 4th nydus attempt I simply just walked across the map and killed him with 25 marines and 2 tank before things got out of hand.

[@ruwach1755]

I feel like with a game like this, the Zerg shouldn't be allowed to leave the game right away. They should be forced to stay like an extra 5 mins to watch their entire base burn after all the mental torture they've done. 😂

[@FamSisher]

Hey let us have this one, we just have some pent up aggression from getting harassed by oracles and reapers and adepts and widow mines and BCs and hellions and void rays and phoenixes and DTs and hellbats and probes

[@EMDRONES]

@@FamSisher but if we don’t harass u take the whole map

[@nightbanegodnomadicdruid6698]

Just because we take the empty spaces is no reason to blame us for your turtle mentality....

[@FamSisher]

@@EMDRONES Yeah that’s fair, once you start creep spreading you really can’t stop.

[@EMDRONES]

@@nightbanegodnomadicdruid6698 exactly why we all push lol 😂 Protoss true turtles 🐢

[@artcrafter9941]

I am really amazed how u casted this game as if you never played it. But it should have felt like a dream playing that anyways

[@sebytro]

What a rollercoaster of a game! Well done, PiG! Kudos for the win.

[@GardenCG]

Damn, that was epic half hour of chaos and mayhem.

[@PashaSlavaUkraine]

your casts are beyond entertainment its straight funny AF

[@FunnyFungus]

I love the word “stra-tactically”!

[@Jolly9988]

Korean server has sewer mermaids too!?

[@jwmmitch]

That was such a fun match to watch you cast and roast yourself. It definitely looked like Zuno could have won with just a little tweak, but maybe that is the limit of the swarm host timer. Great game. Great cast

[@paulpickett4522]

xD The level of entertainment value of this episode is nuts

[@lynk_1240]

I am surprised it took so long for this strat to surface.

[@ledrash6079]

I've seen it over 7 years ago. Its not really new :)

[@chaiherobay9932]

Think what might make this even better is to throw some infestors in there as well so that the zealots can't just run away when the locust waves hit. Harder to micro sure, but I think it could be more effective.

[@vegetasaijan6052]

I´d love to see this Zerg build optimised and properly executed. Properly used swarmhosts are always nice to watch.

[@PiGstarcraft]

Got another vid coming up for this ;P

[@rasmusjp]

I played against the silver league version of this last night. So incredibly tiring; like a literal game of whack-a-mole for over half an hour.

[@twilightgardenspresentatio6384]

I never watch the videos where pigs playing and I think it’s because he’s not able to see and call both army’s actions but here I can follow along better. I don’t play the game though, I just watch the replay casts

[@AxelTT555]

there's one Russian GM guy, Medoed. He plays very similar SH build against all 3 races. Of course not against 6k players. He calls it mushroom build. Sure it is mostly viable vs toss, but he manages to make it work against T and Z. Not against high level opponents though. Anyway great cast thanks

[@AxelTT555]

he does not play this build only ofc, but has the whole series filled with opponents tears and no gg quits.

[@scufitzuca]

Couldn't be more proud of my boy PiG! gg!

[@johnclasing4627]

It's funny I just played a lower level game just like this in a ZvZ where they surprised me with swarm hosts and nydus and I ran around making new bases for half the game before finally overwhelming them with superior macro.

[@MsHojat]

Man if he threw in some speedlings to have map vision and map control and deal with the zealots I he would have won.

[@walden6272]

Yup if he use lings runbys to kill his probes it would eventually destroy Pig's economy.

[@swgigegoh3798]

with what larva ?

[@blaskbulwark2881]

"I've never played a game like this in my mou... In my life." Interesting slip.

[@Erebus2075]

you have 3 response to swarmhost and it is ALWAYS!!! these 3. 1. you attack with everything not needed to defend vs. slow queens (ignore the locus wave it's like baneling you just take some losses, just move your drones to another spot; this will straight up win you the fight, bc just 6 locus wasting their wave means 24 army supply not in the fight at their main, that's 12 zealot he is down on you early or mid game so it should already be a win just on that, while they lost stuff their next wave comes up and is forced at home, just pull back, wait for it to die and go in again, if he got 10+ host and keep staggering the locus, perfect just build up air and end it. 2. you got planty of aoe and just instant kill the swarms, in this case you don't want to kill the host you want to send attacks and trade every time he wasted his wave getting it killed quickly. again lots of supply doing nothing. 3. split up units to deal with the nydus spawns, think its 3 zealot to each location and you are safe (again you don't mind them popping out some units, just make sure you keep killing that nydus so they can't retreat. so. 1. counter attack extremely aggressively every wave he use on your side. 2. kill off wave easily and built a deathball he can't stop with so many host. 3. kill off his transport and escaped so he can't get in position to do significant dmg. host are too easy to deal with if you don't panic and have the apm (which i don't but theory is easier for me than forcing myself to repetitively do these boring apm spam training to pull off the strategies that should have been the focus and core of the game, but fckit ;)

[@Erebus2075]

also as nydus user only the first nydus can be within his easy reach, second and third need to be far enough out for him not to come for them, close enough to escaped or reinforce; fourth+ need to go for backstap attack while you attack other areas, as a constant harass to keep them back every time they become aggressive; ow and don't use swarmhost with them, they are terrible and anyone who are half decent at the game will win unless they noob out in panic and just die within the first 3-4 waves ;P also IF you got nydus, make hatches at their mineral fields (those they are not at yet) move drones with nydus and mine as much as you can from their side in case its a split map scenario ^^ also its mindfcking to get to your next base and not only does all the drones escaped and all you get is like 500mineral worth, but half the base is mined out and there is little to nothing p&t can do about it if they let Z have map control early

[@brictit]

28:30 he cares about us :)

[@VeryBadPlayerTV]

was a solid game to watch but this whole time i think to myself, had you just placed a shield battery or 2 or 3 in your main or anywhere the swarm hosts attack u can just overcharge your nexus and uhh u wouldn't die so easily

[@MsHojat]

overcharge has a cooldown

[@lynk_1240]

Or if his first stargate unit had been a voidray instead of an oracle

[@VeryBadPlayerTV]

@@lynk_1240 yea or if he just kept making void rays like 4-5+ just to beat the queens convincingly

[@VeryBadPlayerTV]

@@MsHojat yea but it helps him survive until he can clean them up

[@kusland6786]

Batteries can be sniped easily. Best is blink stalker & high mobility & counter attacks

[@TheBehm08]

I think this works when he sees you’re not going cannons cuz that could save you potentially. He knows you’re holding your front which is a small choke point with only a few units and you wanna play long game Macro. that’s actually incredible from the zerg

[@hansnorleaf]

Every game I play feels like what you describe feeling here

[@oOOoOphidian]

it's a real treat when you encounter the goofiest players on ladder

[@fushey]

Never get Simba’d in the elephant graveyard

[@rhoelg]

wow stressful yet so much fun! gents this is what starcraft is all about!

[@maximusstrength157]

I got nydus swarm host 2 days ago, they must've watched that very videos!!

[@LittleRainGames]

My friend and I faced a player with the same strat in 2v2 last week. Was the worst game we ever played..

[@SS_BAJA]

I'm new to starcraft and seeing how dumb fun zerg can be makes me glad I picked zerg

[@matthewbaumann630]

The Zerg player should use Infestors with his Swarm Hosts to hold the enemy units.

[@hzhang1228]

a physical win but a spiritual loss

[@PiGstarcraft]

felt like vsing florencio :P

[@darrenskeeter4246]

Lol imagine you go to sleep and wake up on a roller coaster. Traumatic lol

[@Rawsawn]

I never understand why Zerg dont do the Terran thing of massive overlord drops to keep protoss at home.. protoss at home apparently. I remember way back, TLO using nydus and drop lords to great success, and it took ages before it was more normal to atleast use nydus

[@charlesogdeniii6393]

A true Zerg swarm. This game hurt my brain. Ggwp

[@swgigegoh3798]

4:20 you should have sent the oracle to the enemy base and kill drones , he has to decide if he brings the queens back so your void ray+ adept can defend the nydus or get all his drones killed/idle this game would have been over

[@Deipnosophist_the_Gastronomer]

Oh those Freudian slips. 😉

[@shawnlongman9815]

I got hit by this strange Nydus worm swarm host rush build on ladder the other day in diamond and I think I was so flabberghasted that I broke mentally and lost to it after opening safe as Terran and getting a good tank count quickly

[@shawnlongman9815]

Was quite the experience

[@jkobain]

Loved these crazy dances. Good job!

[@AtrociousNightmare]

That was a fucking awesome game. GG!

[@FitzAF]

Choked on my coffee when you said how the DTs are pros at evading child support. 💀 I'm actually surprised at how you aren't being invited to cast for DotA, League, or any other big game.

[@TheAerosolNinja]

Awesome video thank you for sharing!

[@CeciShaw]

Amazing comeback!

[@thevennuii9014]

When you said you'll do stupid things i thought you'd get balls on the guy

[@injinii4336]

Yes more 1base swarm host!

[@tyrellwreleck4226]

I'm constantly on korean server. Weird play styles are all over in every league here. Even in diamond and masters. Some protoss will just put cannons in their main.

[@asdfasdf-mn8iu]

Lol, pig mentioning this being god tier strategy is kinda silly, i've encountered this in plat league way back and it was similarly well performed. I feel like pros aren't used to the chaos anymore that lower leagues deal with every day; what i've learned from these games and what he should've done way sooner is build tempests and potentially voids. Tempests lose to mass hydra, but they so easily chip away at the swarm hosts and if you go tempests early enough they don't have hydras yet and you shut nearly any chaotic cheese down.

[@jwmmitch]

Would stasis wards be a good defense against the locusts? Run out their timer?

[@jdcb18]

This should be cold "The Absolute Zuno"

[@BenWeigt]

This is what happens when you forget to ban the sewers from your map pool.

[@DimaNoizinfected]

I'm building 2-3 groups of swarm hosts to attack continously ;)

[@Gandydast]

favorite zerg strat on low mmr

[@Acct1941]

ZUNO is a gigachad. Really hard not to root for him in this matchup ;)

[@gentlecoder5167]

They're probably doing "Swarmhost to grandmaster" challenge 😁

[@MrDirtdogs]

Had never seen this before and then one day I played against 3 different zerg players who did this.

[@niklaswalgenbach6384]

That played a zerg vs me too i played terran , Lucky that He was Really Bad with the swarmhost. On the Same Map😅

[@2korzhik]

Zerg messed things up a lot. First of all his wall was ugly and easy to penetrate. Spinecrawler must be placed in between of infestation pit and nydus network. Your zealot would agro on spine but could attack it only one by one in a row, or required a bit more of a micro. I prefer to make transit from one base swarmhosts to one base muta to do final fatality on opponents eco and ground army.

[@jkkim6928]

Taking inspiration from AlphaStar’s cannon defense?

[@TheRidinhood]

This is what is must feel like when a pro plays against Bly

[@cosmincebuc7234]

Just... Wow

[@mihaih3344]

Toss being super imba

[@DonDensho]

I live in the Philippines, and playing in the korean server is so hard like damn when i watch vids of golds why am i fighting people that are so good but in youtube they are not that good

[@plAQUARIUS]

this is like playing HAS zerg version :D

[@You-ul8qw]

You should 100% submit this game to Hamster to be shown in the rank roulette... see which rank harstem and x player guesses this XD

[@user-uz8js5bm9i]

Such a fun game!!

[@jessejames1590]

if he made creep from his main across the map it was an easy win

[@alvincay4]

Impressive

[@MrNightfate]

did you make the video, ill love to see it

[@dba8211]

Surely Tempest would have been helpful here??

[@InnerRevolutionProject]

why is the nydus wurm burning??^^

[@raf74hawk12]

All zerg buildings do with that particular skin. I think it's called Simulant? Something like that.

[@darthvade]

Swarmhost, Nydus, standard in 4v4 XD

[@Addek88]

Tempest? :)

[@TheTykk]

Zuno is defenetly pro player