Since patch 1.1, are Hydras more viable against Terran?

Question

I have played only one game as Zerg since the new patch, and i used a lot of hydras to win. Against me a Terran with 15 marines, 15 marauders, 3 tanks and 2 thors (I guess).

Anyway, I have made a few roaches with the hydras, and i thought "man, with the marauders and the tanks, you are just giving him free kill by using roaches".

So my question is: should I use hydras as the basis of my army? The bonus of tank and marauders won't apply, and hellions should not be too problematic...

Can an army of hydras and speedlings can be enough to handle a powerful Terran army?

What do you think about it?

ps: I am not into that baneling thing :(

Answer 1

I think Idra said it best:

The tank's damage was also changed from 50 to 35+15 vs armored, but this is essentially irrelevant in ZvT, they will now kill hydras in 3 shots instead of 2, but hydras are not usable vs terran because of their poor mobility and ridiculously low hp.

What he is getting at is: although they are now better against Siege tanks, the fundamental problems that exist with Hydras have not changed. If you didn't feel you were able to use them as the basis for your army before, then you shouldn't now.

On the other hand, if you were having success with Hydra's prior to the patch, they certainly haven't gotten worse.

Answer 2

Can an army of hydras and speedlings can be enough to handle a powerful Terran army?

For any type of equivalent army (unless you have a LOT more hydras)... no.

You need to be into the baneling thing, otherwise you are using the wrong tool for the job.

Answer 3

A few comments spring to mind:

1. A big marauder/marine ball spells death for hydras because they just don't do enough damage to hold out against the marauder splash and marine stim. Armor upgrades help but not all that much. And protoss zealots tear them up even worse. In short, do not use hydras to stop infantry.
2. Sadly, they're even worse against the ranged big boys like siege tanks and colossi. Siege tanks pop them in droves, even with the 1.1 patch, and colossi tear them up almost as fast because the AI tends to group them in nice straight lines.
3. Hydras are pretty slow moving, though they become tolerable if you're careful about spreading your creep, so if you use them be sure to get your queens pooping out creep tumors everywhere both for speed and vision. Of course, you should be doing that anyway.
4. The basic problem with hydras is that they're too weak, too slow, and too numerous to last long or be easily micro'ed to keep them effective in many situations.
5. Where hydras really shine, in my view, is as ranged defense against air units. In fact, they're arguably the best go-to unit for stopping terran battlecruisers. You can pump them out pretty quickly, so they're easy to build en masse and they do good damage.

If you watch pro replays, you'll find most pros don't use them much until their opponents start leaning heavily on air power, then you'll see them build masses of hydras as cheap, mobile anti-air units. They're not nearly as powerful as they were in the original game (wherein hordes of hydralisks could wipe out just about anything), but they're still very useful against air.