SC2 Zerg Build Order: The Five Roach Rush

Description: The goal of the five roach rush zerg build order is to put pressure as early as possible on your opponent and give you an opportunity to safely expand. I should stress that this build is not meant to win you the game outright, but instead give you an opportunity to safely expand, thus gaining a decent advantage over your opponent.

If you arrive as their base and they have walled off very well, either because of supply depots or forcefields, remember not to stand their and take hits. Back off, keep your roaches at the entrance of their base, and harass intermittently while droning up.

The biggest mistake players make is committing to the attack and consequently losing the game. Don't make the same mistake.

Find out more after the jump.

Strengths

Safe, early aggression that provides an opportunity for you to safely expand
Strongest against Protoss, but also decent against Terran and Zerg
Fastest way of pumping out a set of roaches without being crippled economically

Weaknesses

If against a Protoss player, this zerg build order can be halted by continuous forcefields
If against a Terran player, this build order can be hard countered by marauders with concussive shell. If they have a decent sized army consisting of marauders, you're going to want to back off
Slightly delays a strong early game economy for a very strong mid game economy.

Build Order
Remember - the numbers in the build order represent how much food you should have. It is assumed that you will be building drones to obtain that number, unless otherwise specified.

13, 14, or 15 Pool depending on how aggressive your opponent is
16 Extractor
15 Overlord
Pool Completed: Make a Queen and two Zerglings
300 Minerals: Build a Hatchery at your natural expansion
100 Gas Build a Lair
150 Minerals: Pull one Drone off of Gas and make a Roach Warren

The key is to continually spawn larvae and pump out the roaches as soon as possible. Remember - this zerg build order is meant to give you the freedom to expand, not win the game. There are many variations on it and you can find them in the source list.

Team Liquids variant is the following...

9 - Overlord
13 - Spawning Pool
13 - Gas *[1]
15 - Overlord
15 - Zergling
16 - Queen
18 - Drone
@Queen 75% - Roach Warren
19 - Metabolic Boost
@Queen 100% - Overlord, Inject Larva
@125 - Pull all Drones off Gas
19 - 5 Roaches
29 - Overlord
29 - 3 Drones or Zerglings
32 - Hatch
31 - Zerglings+

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