Starcraft 2 Guide – Building a Solid Foundation for High Level Play
To get very good at something you have to learn and master the basics. Whether it is getting better at Starcraft 2 or playing a musical instrument you have to not get ahead of yourself. It can be boring learning the basics but you have to go through it or else you will have a huge gap in your play. That is what we will go over in this Starcraft 2 guide. I also recommend signing up to this Starcraft 2 forum for plenty of free tips and strategies.
Starcraft 2 Basics Guide
There are so many concepts to learn about in Starcraft 2 such as countering cheeses, macro, micro, hot keys, unit counters, how to execute strategies, and taking advantage of the map. But before you even think about getting into the details you must slow down and master the control interface as well as the art of macro.
Macro and hot keys are the basics of the game. If you really want to get a comprehensive guide on them then my Starcraft 2 guide can help you out. If you don’t use hot keys then let me just say this once. Hot keys are mandatory!
You need to use them because it makes performing clean actions so much easier. Start by learning how to set control groups. It is very simple. You just select a building or a unit. Then hold control and press the number you want to it hot keyed to. Once you have set it rather than finding that unit or building on the map and using your mouse to click it you can just hit that number and boom, it is selected.
This makes your life so much easier. All pros use hot keys. This is how pros can produce units quickly while still handling their army in battle. Multi tasking is essential when becoming a better player so make sure to use them.
All players set their control groups differently. As a Terran player I like to set my Command Center to “4″, my Barracks to “5″, and so on. That way later in the game I can still produce units while dropping Marines and Marauders into one of my opponent’s mineral lines.
Hot keys make it much easier to outplay your opponent and that is ultimately how you win more games. There are hot keys you can set and then there are hot keys pertaining to each race. Every action has a hot key. For example to use the Force Field ability with a Sentry you need to have one or more selected and then hit “F” to select that action. Then use your mouse to click where you want them set down to.
Hot keys take a while to learn. Don’t overwhelm yourself by trying to learn them all for your race. Instead start by setting control groups and avoiding using your mouse to select buildings and units once you have hot keyed them. Then try to learn 2 more hot keys for each game you play.
I found it best to not play ranked matches when learning my hot keys since I didn’t feel like I was under pressure. Mastering the controls is how you will build a solid foundation and play at a higher level in no time. You can learn more with this comprehensive Starcraft 2 guide created by Grandmaster players.
