How do I effectively counter a cannon rush with Zerg?
I was a victim of a cannon rush in my last Starcraft 2 game. I was playing Zerg and my opponent was playing Protoss. About four minutes into the match, cannons and pylons started going up in front of the only entrance to my base.
What is the best strategy for handling such a tactic? Massed banelings seemed to be pretty effective, but I couldn't get enough of them to break through.
Am I better off attacking the cannon cluster directly, or should I ignore it, push to mutalisks/brood lords and attack my opponent's base?
Solution 1:
If he's got cannons + gateways just outside your ramp, chances are he has minimal forces at his main base. Get a few mutalisks and/or Nydus worms to harass.
You might want to build a second hatchery to facilitate unit production. The reason a contain (not a 'cannon rush', as you labeled it) works so well against Zerg is because they typically need that second hatchery to keep up with (or surpass, usually) their opponent's unit production.
If you can, use your overlords to scout -- a protoss cannon contain might be annoying, but until he expands, you're just as well off economically as him.
Solution 2:
Idra did a fairly good counter to Tester's cannon rush in the Razor King of the Beta. He ultimately failed as Tester planned for a Zergling bust, but I think its a fairly good strategy:
- Build a second hatchery
- Push 25-35 Zerglings (possibly banelings if you think you have time)
- Bust out and hit his main
The key thing is that a 2 Hatch can produce a ton of Zerglings very quickly (with a queen), and because he is so delayed from his cannon rush you should be able to have a great effect.
Its worth noting that Tester's success was his ability to stop this Zergling counter with amazing micro and forcefields.
Solution 3:
Get a Spinecrawler, it outreaches the Photon Cannon (and has bonus to armored which photon cannons are); thus will destroy them all.
Using a Queen to expand your creep, will prevent him from getting too close to your minerals and the rest of your base.
I learned this the hard way...