Exactly one week ago our beta keys arrived. We have been testing out the new units for the three new races, and our resident StarCraft pro Caboose has managed to get playing with the Zerg down to a fine art. Using roaches early on to overwhelm the underdeveloped defences of his opponents, his record victory is 6 minutes.

Step 1 – Get the ball rolling

Get your economy going, focusing on minerals early on. Roaches are a very powerful early unit, and cost 75 minerals and 25 Vespene gas.

Allocating 8 drones to minerals and 2 to Vespene gas in the beginning should do the trick. Also, building a Queen early on will increase the speed at which you can create larvae, unlike in StarCraft where you would need to build an additional hatchery.

Step 2 – Find your enemy

And bug him. Caboose likes getting a drone in his enemy’s base early on. It’s good to keep an eye on your opponent’s progress.

Step 3 – Set up a Spawning Pool

As soon as you have enough minerals, create a Spawning Pool.

Step 4 – Set up a Roach Warren.

These little tykes are the key to early success with the Zerg, so you want to get them up and running as soon as you can.

Step 5 – Zerglings

While you’re waiting for your Warren to be completed, you can build some Zerglings and send them off on a pre-emptive strike on your enemy’s base. When the odds start looking bad, pull them back a bit and wait for your Roaches.

Step 6 – Roaches

The rest is fairly simple. Once your Roach Warren is up and running, send about 7 in to join your Zerglings. There is a good chance that at this stage your Roaches and Zerglings will be able to overwhelm your enemy’s early defences.

Of course there is room to add your own touches, but if you follow these basic steps, and everything goes well, you should end up with something that looks like this.

Update

It is important to be very quick if you want to pull this off. If you’re opponent has air support by the time your Roaches show up, you can kiss your early win goodbye.