Build order guides

ZvP build orders

What's winning in ZvP on the ladder, from real games before patch 5.0.16.

The guide sample covers 1,810 ZvP ladder games from 10 players before patch 5.0.16. The strongest record we can vouch for belongs to Hydra Timing (3 Base): 65.2% over 247 games (likely range 59.1–70.9%). Speedling Flood is the most common pick, showing up in 21.6% of games.

Stats updated Sep 28, 2026

ZvP openers ranked

Ranked by the low end of each opener's likely win-rate range, so small samples can't top the table on luck.

ZvP openers, before patch 5.0.16
#	Opener	Win rate	Games	Played in
1	Hydra Timing (3 Base)	65.2%likely range 59.1–70.9%	2478 players	13.7%
2	Speedling Flood	53.1%likely range 48.1–58.0%	3909 players	21.6%
3	2 Base Roach Ravager All-inFull guide once more games are in	57.5%likely range 46.6–67.7%	806 players	4.4%
4	Proxy Hatch	53.0%likely range 46.4–59.5%	2177 players	12.0%
5	Mutalisk HarassFull guide once more games are in	54.0%likely range 43.6–64.1%	876 players	4.8%
6	2 Base Roach/Ravager All-in	49.3%likely range 41.1–57.5%	1386 players	7.6%
7	8 Pool	48.6%likely range 40.7–56.7%	1467 players	8.1%
8	3 Base Macro (Hatch First)	48.0%likely range 39.4–56.7%	1257 players	6.9%
9	17 Hatch 18 Gas 17 PoolFull guide once more games are in	45.3%likely range 32.7–58.6%	537 players	2.9%
10	13/12 Speedling AggressionFull guide once more games are in	43.2%likely range 32.6–54.6%	748 players	4.1%
11	3 Hatch Before Pool	41.3%likely range 32.5–50.7%	1096 players	6.0%

How to beat Protoss openers

All Protoss openers