How to Counter Zerg Units in Direct strike

A guide to StraCraft mode Direct Strike. If you struggle to counter specific Zerg unit in Direct Strike this can help you.

How to Counter Zerglings

Zergling is a biological light unit. Zergling is the strongest early-game unit, no unit counters a herd of Zerglings. Not even Banelings if you position Zerglings correctly.

As Terran build Hellbats and upgrade Infernal Pre-Igniter (blue flame).
As Zerg build a few Banelings and a few Roaches and eventually upgrade to T2 and build Lurkers and Infestors to Fungal the enemy’s Lings.
As Protoss you need to be patient. Don’t build Zealots, even Zerglings without Banelings kill them. You can build Oracles and make Zerglings obsolete but you cannot build anything on the ground. Adepts deal bonus damage to light units and they can shade away but they don’t have splash damage and Zerglings are the fastest unit in the game so they catch them easily. Build some High Templars for the Psionic Storm. The ultimate weapon is a Colossus but it’s a Tier 3 unit.

How to Counter Banelings

Baneling is a kamikaze biological unit that deals bonus damage to light units.

As Terran build Marauders in front to tank the damage and then build Marines far behind them. When the Banelings hit the Marauders you don’t want Marines to be hit by their splash damage. You can also ignore ground and build just air units such as Ravens. But be aware that the Banelings eventually crash into something so look at your ally coming right after you.
As Zerg build fewer Banelings. Be aware that e. g. two Banelings can blow up six Banelings. So just build fewer Banelings, position them correctly (not all together) and then build Roaches and Queens.
As Protoss build anything except for Adepts and Zealots. Archons are probably the best. Immortals are good. Stalkers are good. The storm is good. Disruptor is not that good because it usually does not kill that many Banelings.

How to Counter Roaches

Roach is an armored and biological unit.

As Terran build Marauders. They have a lot of HPs and they deal bonus damage to armored units.
As Zerg go Zerglings/Roaches/Hydralisks composition. Put a few Zerglings in front to tank some shots. Then let Roaches tank the upcoming damage and let Hydralisks do the real damage. Do not forget to research Grooved Spines to increase the attack range of the Hydralisks. Whenever the enemy roaches attack your roaches and not Hydralisks you are winning. Eventually switch to Lurkers as always in ZvZ.
As Protoss build Zealots to tank some damage and Immortals to shred the Roaches. Immortals kill Roaches fast. But have something to buffer for them because they are vulnerable to Zerglings. Don’t build just pure Immortals. You can also opt for Disruptors as the Nova kills Roaches (and Hydralisks) immediately.

How to Counter Hydralisks

Hydralisk is a light and biological unit.

As Terran build Marines and you can mix it with Ghosts to snipe (Steady Targeting spell) some of the Hydralisks.
As Zerg you can build many Banelings and they will destroy the Hydralisks in the matter of second. But Baneligs are easily countered by enemy building their set of Banelings. Go for Roaches, Hydralisks, and Lurkers. Add a Queen if you want to get some healing.
As Protoss build High Templars for the Storm and Immortals to kill the injured Hydralisks. You can also opt for Disruptors as the Nova kills Hydralisks (and Roaches) immediately.

How to Counter Lurkers

Lurker is a biological armored unit that you can morph from a Hydralisk. It’s an invisible unit once burrowed.

As Terran build Marauders, Ghosts, or Liberators.
As Zerg build more Lurkers basically… ZvZ is often Lurkers' war. Build Queens to heal your Lurkers and to shoot down Overseers. If there are not enough Lurkers (in the beginning) you can build just Roaches with speed (Glial Reconstitution) and maybe Ravagers. They will kill a small amount of Lurkers. But eventually, Lurkers are going to win so you need to transition into something else, e. g. Lurkers.
As Protoss build Immortals. Be aware that Disruptor’s Nova doesn’t kill a Lurker. You need two Novas to kill them for sure. And if you don’t kill them immediately Queens will heal them.

How to Counter Queens

Queen is a biological unit and spell caster that can heal other Zerg units.

As Terran build Ghosts and snipe (Steady Targeting) the Queens. Build some units to buffer, e. g. Marauders. Be aware that Queens can heal each other. The more Queens the more healing. Hence you cannot kill the Queens slowly because they regenerate mana they heal themself again. The faster you kill Queens the more likely you clear the whole wave of Queens. Sniping them using Ghosts is perfect for it. You can also build Liberators, they kill Queens fast enough.
As Zerg go for Roaches, Ravagers, and Hydralisks. Zerglings kill Queens fast enough but they are easily countered by Banelings.
As Protoss go for Immortals and High Templar. Don’t even research the Storm, just use Feedback to drain all the energy from the Queens. The Queens are useless without the healing and Immortals kill them fast. One or two HTs are enough.

How to Counter Mutalisks

Mutalisk is a biological and light air unit. Their attack bounce to three targets in total. They tend to clump up so any AoE damage is a perfect counter. Be prepare for a lot of Mutalisks as they are quite cheap.

As Terran build Marines and Widow Mines. Research everything: Stimpack, Combat Shields, and Drilling Claws for the mines. Later, you can build Thors and the Explosive Payload active.
As Zerg if you are hit by Mutalisks by surprise you are in a hard position. There is nothing that counters them immediately. Start building Queens and later add Infestors to the mix to Fungal the Mutalisks. You’re going to win eventually because Mutalisks are not good in the late game.
As Protoss do not build Phoenixes. Phoenixes counter Mutalisks in the normal SC2 gameplay but they don’t counter Mutalisks in Direct Strike. Mainly because you cannot control them and micro them. Build Archons, Stalkers with the blink upgrade, and High Templars for the Storm.

How to Counter Corruptor

Corruptor is an armored biological air unit that deals bonus damage to massive units.

As Terran build Vikings and Ghosts for the Steady Targeting spell.
As Zerg build more Corruptors and build Viper for the Parasitic Bomb. Queens are also good because they hit air units and they can heal your Corruptors.
As Protoss build Void Rays. They deal bonus damage to armored units. You can add a few High Templars for the Storm.

How to Counter Ultralisks

Ultralisk is an armored massive unit. It deals splash damage and it has a lot of hit points and quite strong armor.

As Terran build Ghosts to snipe the Ultralisks and Marauders as they do bonus damage to armored units.
As Zerg build Broodlord to mess with the Ultralisks and build Lurkers to slowly kill them. The idea is that all of your Lurkers deal damage to the Ultras while Ultras are busy killing Broodlings.
As Protoss build Immortals. Immortals just wreck them.

How to Counter Broodlords

Broodlord is an armored massive air unit. It doesn’t attack, it just throws small Broodlings. They do some damage on the impact and then they continue to attack enemies. They have an incredible range.

As Terran build Thors and laugh.
As Zerg build Corruptors.
As Protoss build Tempests or Void Rays. But Void Rays will be shut down by Hydralisks, Queens, and Infestors most probably.