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The Counter Window After Enemy Engage

Situation

The enemy engages one side of the zerg. Some friendly players take damage, but many others are safe.

This is one of the most important moments in ZvZ.

Correct response

Players still in danger should stabilize. Safe players should prepare pressure.

A counter window exists when:

  • enemy damage has already landed
  • enemy mobility or engage cooldowns are spent
  • your zerg is still alive
  • enemy frontliners or DPS are overextended
  • your DPS/supports are close enough to punish

What each role does

Role Correct response
Endangered players survive, use defensives, stay in healing/support zones
Safe DPS step into useful range and pressure
Support DPS land pierce/heal cut/utility on the exposed group
Tanks stop enemies from walking out freely
Healers stabilize the actual danger area
Supports layer defensives so the turn can happen

Common failure

Everyone keeps running because damage happened somewhere on screen. The enemy spends cooldowns, gets no kills, and still resets for free.

Review questions

  1. Who was actually in danger?
  2. Who was safe enough to pressure?
  3. Did the zerg kite too far?
  4. Did support/healing stabilize the caught players?
  5. Did DPS begin moving before the counter call finished?

Drill

After every enemy engage in VOD review, divide players into:

  1. still in danger
  2. safe and should pressure
  3. too far to affect the fight

The third group is the correction target.