View Full Version : Reavers in PvZ
What the hell counters Reavers? There's not a single Zerg unit I know of that can cost-effectively beat Reavers.
Lets say the Protoss has an army of Dragoons and Reavers. No amount of units I'll throw at that is going to deal an amount of damage worth the cost of units I spent. How the hell do I fight Reavers? Even if I don't let him expand, two bases is more than enough to hoarde an invincible P army of doom.
they're slow, they require lots of micro, and more than that, they require an already big ball of units along with them.
their advance can really be slowed by sniping/attacking shuttles and so on... besides that, this is what you do:
Defilers plague their stuff.. if reavers only have 1 hp, they are VERY easy and fast to snipe out, at least compared to what it was before. In addition, you will need a lot of ultra. Since ultra ling alone will have a lot of trouble getting to the reavers, you're going to need a little bit of extra, so your army should consist of:
ultra/ling/hydra/defiler
for which defiler is for plague, hydras are for attacking yes, but also for sniping reavers, and lots of ultra/ling to soak the damage and deal damage overall.
tho yes, there is no direct counter. Just like there isnt a direct counter for everything in starcraft. However, the best counter is simply playing solid and not letting him outplay you and using the right unit choise.
Reavers are strong, but nothing impossible if you dont let your opponent to mass up too much
My problem with Reavers is that outplaying your opponent with Zerg means not letting him expand while expanding myself, but if he has Reavers I only have time to do one of those things; if I go attack him, he can easily fly to my bases and scarab my workers while corsairing my overlords. If I defend my bases, I'm letting him build cannon+reaver walls that will be impossible to walk into later, thus letting him secure expos.
Reaver range > sunken range. Cliffs: bane to hydralisks trying to catch speedy shuttles.
...You and I are talking about totally different situations it seems. why didnt you say reaver/sair if you meant it like that?
if he has all that AND an army that your own army cant beat, then its gg, but if its only reaver/sair, its np.
basically sunken to every mineral line, as well as a spore colony to each exp. Keep making hydras with missile weapon upgrades. you can also use scourges while he doesnt have many sairs yet. You basically keep making hydras/scourges while making hive tech... you also take much more exps than unit production hatcheries with your money.
When you get hive tech, if he still has mass sair, you make devourers. corsairs deal little damage, so they cant even touch devourer carapace. You can also make defilers for plaguing his stuff as well as dark swarm for busting his exps... meanwhile you can also make additional evolution chamber for carapace, make crack, ultra upgrades and so on if he decides to switch to normal ground. If he switches to normal ground very quickly, then make lurker upgrade before hive.
and remember, you dont always have attack every expo attempt he makes with everything you got.
and most of all, keep map control. units sitting at your choke will lose the game.
and for you especially aqo, against this build you cannot waste units. if he does reaver/sair, then too bad. the game is gonna last a while, but if you start wasting units then you're dead.
Yeah, I watched some of my replays and looks like wasting units is really down my throat >.<
But I'm not talking just about sair/reaver, I'm actually pretty good at dealing with that. I was talking about Reavers in general. He can have like only 2-3 sairs for scouting and a big goon army, with Reavers in the middle. It's impossible for my lings to reach the reaver simply because they're always covered from all directions, hydras die just as fast to the combination of range and splashy range... the real counter would be defilers, but he can get a goon-reaver army way faster than I can tech consume, and by that time he'll already be taking down my expansions and it's all over.
Since goons are so fat, even my hydras can't focus fire on the Reavers that are behind them. Air would die to the goons, scourges is definitely out of the question. So basically, he has this big force of goons and reavers that leaves his highly-cannoned base and starts walking over my expansions. What can I do to stop it? nothing.
At least when it's zea+templar I can micro to dodge storms, but Reavers have infinite scarabs...
neobowman
10-08-2008, 5:42 PM
Mutalisks? They are very manouverable and can pick off stray dragoons with ease. If you send an attack, you can try and harass him to force him back and also pick off shuttles too.
No... really... mutalisks stop working when he has 8+ dragoons and 3 corsairs, which is about the time when spire is ready.
It would certainly be a nice idea to harass his base, except adding a few cannons is so easy, fast, and cheap, while replacing my dead hatcheries isn't.
ForTheSwarm
10-08-2008, 5:46 PM
What about using ultralisks like Ahzz suggested? If the goons are so packed together, the scarabs will waste time trying to get to the ultras. Yes, the dragoons can kill them fairly quickly, but at least it's not your 100 lings or hydras getting wasted in one scarab.
Like I said, the problem is that the Protoss can push out real early with this, before I got tech like ultras or defilers.
Cpt.Chronic
10-08-2008, 7:53 PM
muta/scourge/ling (just don't attack from the same direction with mutas and scourge against sairs) or mass hydras with burrow at key drop/shuttle path locations
neobowman
10-08-2008, 10:28 PM
Wait, he has corsairs too? Ok? Does he have enough resources to support it? Try hydralisks. If you can flank well, you'd probably have enough hydralisks to beat his army. Sure a ton of them will die but it'll probably work.
mm. what pisses reaver protosses the most is burrow. they drop at ur mineral line, u just burrow and they cant touch ur drones.
and if its 2-3 sairs only I dont see why you're whining since you can kill them with 6 scourge ez.
the rest I've explained already.
I'm whining because his corsairs just fly behind his goons. Scourges are just as fast as them, can't catch up before dying pointlessly.
I guess I phrased this wrong. I can defend from Reaver drops fine. My problem is when Protoss use Reavers as part of their main force, that also includes other units as fodder and extra damage.
I'm whining because his corsairs just fly behind his goons. Scourges are just as fast as them, can't catch up before dying pointlessly.
Gogo scourge micro? If you're letting goons kill your scourges, thats wasting units, which is something you want to avoid.
It's true, wasting units really kills me. Ahzz already told me this above anyone else here.
I just played some games are learned something more important than keeping my units alive though, scouting earlier with a drone ;o it never dinged in my head earlier despite seeing it in some helpful FPVODs until now
I always thought I should send like my 12th drone, but no! that's wrong! doh D: now that I scout earlier I don't even have to get to midgame, I eat protoss alive with 4hatch hydra. Also, hydra drops into their mineral line are fun.
really aqo, I already answered your question. in my very first post.
and of course using scourges alone will just result in them dying at this point. What if you use them while goons & co are occupied with ultralinghydra
Yeah you're right Ahzz. I just need to have a better sense of knowing when to engage my enemy, and better micro, so that I can actually execute the advice you gave me.
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