One of the major complains from Zergs players around the world currently in Starcraft 2 is their inability to deal with the late game Protoss army. Zerg players are having a hard time facing the late game Protoss Deathball army. The fearsome 200 food Protoss deathball can easily rip apart the Zerg swarm with ease with good ForceField placements while the deadly Colossi dealing massive damage. This complain of imbalance for the late game Zerg vs Protoss has been outline by a lot of Zerg Professional Gamers. EG_Idra will be the first one that comes to mind for his stance on this imbalance issue. Often times, we will see Idra complaining on Protoss Imbaness in his Starcraft 2 online games. Other times, we will see him leaving the game without a GG.
As a Protoss player myself, I have the admit the strength of the deadly Protoss Deathball army. Zerg players often have to stay a base up against either Protoss and Terran players to have a decent chance in evening up the play field. If a Protoss player is left unchecked mining on 3 bases while massing a 200 max food army, the Zerg player is in a lot of trouble if he is not mining from 4 to 5 bases.
A new way to deal with the Protoss Deathball army is to totally avoid direct confrontation (Hit and Run Strategy) with this fearsome army. This strategy is becoming more and more common in online game players as well as in major tournaments by Professional Zerg players. You may be asking why is this 'Hit and Run' strategy and new way of playing feasible. The reason behind the success of this tactic is the introduction of new larger maps. Compared to the previous patch that favours heavily on smaller two player maps, the new maps such as Tel' Darim Altar, Terminus RE, Crevasse for GSL maps and new Starcraft 2 online map pool heavily favours a longer game play. 3 or more bases are very common in game matches now. It seems that the average game play for a game is probably 15 in game minutes.
Lets take a look at the 'Hit and Run Strategy'. With the new maps, Zerg players are able to reach 4 to 5 bases easily transitioning into a late game against Protoss players who may be probably running on 3 bases going for a max deathball army. Zerg has very good haressing units such as the Zerglings, Burrowed Roaches and Mutalisks. With these armies, Zerg players are able to do a two prong /front attacks at two different locations at the same time. Sending your Zerlings to the Protoss second expansion while flying your Mutalisks into the Protoss main base can deal serious damage and wreak the Protoss's mineral line.
The main weakness of the fearsome Protoss Death ball army is the need to keep all the Protoss army units together in a group. Having Sentries for Forcefields and Colossi and Stalkers to deal damage are the scariest part. Using a Hit and Run startegy, you will avoid the Protoss death ball army at all cost. Pulling off tricks such as Nydus Worms at two or three locations at once can often times throw the Protoss player off his game. This strategy is very common in the Terran vs Protoss matchup, where the Terran will split his army having a group attacking the Protoss front while the other group will do a backdoor drop with Medivacs.
In the event of a base trading, you will almost and always comes ahead. Take for example, the Protoss player is attacking your expansions, while you are clearing his main base with Mutalisks and Zerglings, it is always an advantage for you to trade a base one for one. Zerg can easily expand all around the map. The Protoss players has only two options if this scenario occurs, either to go all in and trying to kill you faster or walking and retreating all the way back to his base. Both of these options are bad for the Protoss player. He may have lost too many Probes in the process.
Thus, I would recommend Zerg players to try out the 'Hit and Run' strategy. This strategy has been quite successful since the introduction of larger new maps. Try to exploit the weakness of the Protoss Death Ball army and use the Zerg's mobility and expanding to your advantages.
Good Luck.
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