Thanks for watching! I should explain what’s going on in the demonstration at the end of the video. Why does the battle go so much better for me just because I use hotkeys effectively? It’s because I get the important stuff done faster. I take less time to activate Stimpacks on my Marines and Marauders, increasing my DPS earlier in the fight (thus more damage throughout the fight) and I also fire off my EMP rounds faster, meaning they do a lot more damage to the Protoss shields and contribute to killing off some of the opponent’s army faster (thus less damage taken throughout the fight). If you found this video valuable, I’d be super grateful if you could hit the like button and leave a quick comment, as it really helps the video reach more people. And if you want to help a tiny channel grow, consider subscribing! ✅ If you have any questions or comments, let me know! I tried to keep the video as short as possible so I may have skipped over something important or maybe I failed to explain something properly. Thanks for supporting me. 😍
Dude amazing, I’ve played sc2 since it first came out and the game never taught control groups, without any of these my apm is 40-47 , with this I’ll probably get up to 100 without anything besides yours tips you gave thank you so much!
As an experienced sc2 player I highly recommend the Grid hotkey layout for new players. Its just as viable as standard but it makes memorizing the hotkeys 10x easier. It will let you focus more on the actual game during the initial learning phase.
Now trying SC2 for the first time after coming from playing Dota2 for years. I can tell you Grid makes so much sense for transitional (and like you said, new) players
I watched your macro tutorial video almost a year ago and loved it, I thought that it was really well done for new players. Today I randomly get to visit your channel again, and I am so happy to see that you made more of these high quality videos for SC2 beginners. As a more experienced player I really thank you for providing this kind of content for new players to enjoy the game, it's that kind of videos that make SC2 continue for a long time. Subscribed.
Thank you so much for your kind words! It means a lot to me if I can help beginners get into StarCraft, and in some small way help keep the flame burning for this amazing game! 😍
I'm happy to see guides on this game even though this game is old and not as popular as the first few years. As a fan going back to this game every year to get my RTS craving, I appreciate you taking care of the new SC2 players. It brings me joy when I pair up with someone new cause that's another person that discovered this amazing game. Keep up the very good guides & content!
Trully useful for novice players! This series helps to break the firts the most daunting barrier of playing RTS - player can't do anything in time and in constant hurry, so there is no way it can think, react and most important enjoy the game. Thank you a lot! Hope your channel will grow!
I tried SC2 a while back and only got into a few missions before getting distracted and dropping it. I finally got back into recently which led me here. I have to say though… out of all gaming content creators I have watched i have never seen someone edit so professionally along with so much detail put into explanation. You are also the first person that has mentioned external gaming techniques such as good posture. That amazed me that something so important but easily forgotten was mentioned. Truly great content on your channel. Keep it up!
These videos are so much more consumable (for me anyway) than the other ones that I found initially. Having a "Grand Master" explain how to do stuff and trying to follow them at blinding speed is frustrating. Not saying you aren't a Grand Master but these vids are so much easier to digest as a beginner. Thanks for all the effort you put into this.
As an original StarCraft/Brood War Campaign veteran, this was incredibly useful to me as it put in perspective the amount of reliance I have on the mouse. I knew the hotkeys existed but turned a blind eye to them as I thought I'd never be able to remember them all. Now to find how to move like the scout unit did using multiple movement points...
I'm glad that someone is making Starcraft II videos for beginners that are up to date since I've recently decided to start playing this game and I was worried I joined in too late. Keep up the good work.
i have been playing this game for years and this video showed me some stuff i even didnt know! ty for the high quality and easy to understand video my guy keep it up!
Incredibly helpful video for me as an intermediate beginner! Very well explained, good use of video footage, nice advice and as a bonus, you got a nice voice to listen to. Thanks man!
Your videos explains everything perfect. The information is very straight to the point without any confusion. As a gm player myself trying to teach others from time to time, i often refer them to a video of yours that would explain things exactly the same way I would. Keep up the good work.
I just started playing StarCraft 2 outside of the Single-Player campaigns and am currently practicing against AI (I haven't dared to play against other players yet, but do want to :) ). I have begun to use hotkeys, but in a very minimalistic way, and this video looks really helpful, and I'm going to try out the things you recommend! Naturally, it will be overwhelming at first, but so far I am enjoying the progress I make with each match, and this will help a lot.
This chanel is really underrated, amazing video man, im a starcraft vet but i also learned some cool stuffs, great edit and great mic, i wish you the best luck ❤️
Thank you for this video. I've been wanting to learn how to play Starcraft ever since I was a kid, now that I'm in my early 30s these tutorials really helped me enjoy the game. Kudos my guy!
Thanks mate! I've been practicing your macro tutorial and even though i have a long way to beat your record it has been really helpful. Now i will practice the drag scroll and camera hotkeys Thanks again
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:57 🖱️ Using hotkeys is crucial in StarCraft 2 for efficiency and speed. 02:30 ⌨️ Command hotkeys issue specific orders to selected units or structures. 03:54 🎯 Master the "Attack Move" (A-move) technique for better army control. 05:48 🙅 Avoid over-reliance on the "Select Army Units" (F2) hotkey; use control groups for precise control. 10:15 📷 Efficiently control the in-game camera using various methods, including location hotkeys. Made with HARPA AIok
Excellent video, just started with SCII a couple of years ago and still learning, I've advanced pretty far but still have so much room to improve and had been looking for this kind of info for so long ago. Cheers!
Just a small thing about creating control groups - you can actually bind control groups to mouse buttons and letters on keyboard too. I find for example, q and w are easier to reach than numbers.
I've been waiting 9 years for this video, my kids are now adults, I've seen governments shift back and forth, but at least now, I can play Starcraft like a pro ! Watch out, here I come !! (Totally worth the wait, your videos are the best!)
Well done, I've been playing since brood war, played beta of sc2 and still play this game that I enjoy so much. Never knew about the middle mouse button allowing you to scroll. Merci!
Thank you for such good guide! It really helps to bring new players to the game. Only thing i would change it would be to recommend the Grid Layout to, because learning hotkeys can be very daunting for a beginner and the Grid layout is very intuitive, specially for a starter that may be choosing a main race to play.
Just by chance, i key my base buildings exactly like you show! I also put probes at difft locs on 0, 9, 8. Nice to know pros dont use them anyway. Great vid! I plan to try loc keys & base jump asap.
thanx for the great video, your voice is so suiting for these type of videos this is how i used numbers for ever, even in warcraft so my main building is 9, other buildings are 8, for flying units that hits air for example viking i use 7, and for other flying units for example banshee or raven i use 6, if i go heavy on the mech and strong ground units then 6 is for something else, thors for example, 1 is all my marines plus marauders or similar units, and on the 2 only marines, so if i need to clean air by targeting i use 2 so i dont bother marauders or any other units, on 3 ghosts or reapers or similar, 4 is always tanks plus sometimes thors, or similar, 5 is the mostly medivac and 0 is for special strategies, so 0 is never the same, it depends on what unique units i am using that game or for the units i dont have space on other numbers, sometimes battlecruisers will be 0, or group of medivacs full of army thirst to do some damage to his workers, or widow mines if 3 is already used, maybe liberators if i need 6 for something else in that moment and so 8,9 and 0 are much closer to my hand than other buttons because i change them to be on the side of my mouse when building its Q instead of B, so building supply depot is QQ, very quickly, especially since i always used Q to change between weapons in fps games, QW is for barracks and so, building on V are on E, so EE is factory, EW starport and so on when pushing forward with units i am not clicking all the buttons constantly, i click on 4 and 5 and then click to follow marines and marauders, 7 is always following 6 so until fight begins i mostly use 1,5,7 and not so often 0 thats how i play, i enjoy playing like this even if its not the best way and i am not planning to change anything because i used to this and its very fun to me and the only way it makes sense
Thank you for the video. Though I had hoped for some more advanced information. I knew all the stuff about control groups and hotkeys already. What I was always wondering was like pro players seem to be able to look into several locations nearly at the same time by switching through them quickly. At the same time they can micro for instance marines out of range of a storm in different directions at the same time or out of the splash of a baneling. First of all, if I am using mostly keys at the left side of the keyboard, it might be easy to set and access control groups 1-5 but higher numbers get harder to press, because you would have to move your left hand farther over the keyboard. I know in addition to control groups you can also use cameras with the Shift key and some letter or lower number, but I was wondering if it would be reasonable to change the control groups of 6 and above to something nearer to the left side of the keyboard. Most tutorials seem to teach about how to use the default hotkeys. But do pros do that or do they reconfigure their hot keys?
Most pros customize their hotkeys over time to fit their playstyle. Some play with mostly standard hotkeys while others will make huge changes. You should definitely make whatever changes will help you play more effectively. Camera location hotkeys are extremely powerful and the pros use them extensively (changing them around as needed throughout the match) but as you said, you should definitely move some of the control group hotkeys around to make it easier for you to reach them. If there are hotkeys that you don't need to use a lot, you could switch them out for something more useful. For example, if you play Terran you could switch W, Q, Z to command groups instead. Q is used for "Select worker" but it's probably worth less to you than an extra control group.
Brother that is a great video. There is saying from " idiot isnt the one that doesn't understand things, idiot is the one that can't explain it" You just expandedy my, you have been so helpful, more then you know! If I could click the like bottom 50 times I would! Thanks for the info man
Just started playing last night trial by fired my first match and I did end up with the victim but it was rough!! This hotkey setup is definitely a godsend coming from WoW!
11:20, this is a really specific question for an old video, but I've struggled to find a good answer to this... why not rebind the wasd keys to take the place of the arrow keys? Only a few units actually need that many hotkeys for each of their different abilities, and I've found that advanced movement commands (stop, hold position) aren't that commonly needed to require easy access on a grid. Compared to both drag and edge scroll it feels so much easier and more precise, and in situations where I literally don't have enough fingers (microing a spell caster during a big battle) I can just revert to edge scroll for a few seconds. Is there something I'm missing? I've literally never seen a pro use wasd, hence why I feel weird about using it myself, and get the sense I'm wandering into some bad habits
Interesting question! You could try it, but my instinct tells me that you’re probably going to be giving up more than you gain in terms of efficiency, and you might be learning a bad habit. Pros generally avoid scrolling whenever possible regardless of method, though of course it’s sometimes unavoidable. Personally I wouldn’t give up any of those four keys for a (most likely) small gain in scroll efficiency. Attack move and stop are both critical to micro, and D is important for Z and T at least. W you can probably spare if you’re not playing Protoss. Either way, good luck! :)
@@Altercate Thanks so much for the reply, I'll definitely keep that in mind. I've noticed now that it's so effortless I'm overusing it when I shouldn't be. How best do they avoid scrolling? Minimap? Saved locations? How difficult is this during big battles halfway across the map? I know there aren't many objective right answers but I hope to at least know the wrong ones on how to learn this
@@strydersoucie1024 Big WASD camera person here. However, I'm training myself to unlearn it. I still use WASD as my home keys though (A for Attack, S to Stop, W Patrol, D for Hold). Reason to unlearn? - I felt it was defining my camera control. When I needed to move the view across the map - even if it was some distance away, I found myself scrolling there using WASD. Whilst I think WASD is great for close micro control, it hurt every other scenario of camera control and unit movement. This led to a 'blinkered' view of the map, where I only concentrated on the areas my WASD took me - it was like playing through a letterbox. Free from WASD, I find myself thinking about the whole map and getting the camera to places quickly (such as camera hotkeys and snapping to control groups - not to mention the very important mini-map).
Great vid. Would like to add, control groups don’t need to be on number keys. You can use tilde or mouse buttons or whatever you like or is comfortable. Also, you can put multiple productions facilities on same hot key and just tab through. Saves you from having three hot keys instead of one. Same for upgrade structures
i think running through this video with a not so good player would make the experience alot easier to learn the player may then be able to ask you questions as you go ... i think this could be important due to the fact lets face it SC2 players tend to be snobs (for the fact that alot of the good players forget that they ALSO were newbs at one time) .. and new players may be embarrassed to ask such questions. im just a nobody but ive been playing these games for years and i know i like to ask alot of questions that others are to embarrassed to ask .. main point its al about learning and asking those important questions learning and having fun while you do it... i have to say im new to your videos i love how you do things i can see youll be a HUGE youtuber for sure keep it up...(ok didnt mean for this to be so long my apologies)
No worries, I'm happy to get such thoughtful comments on my videos :) I agree that the attitude of many players can be pretty harmful to the community. As you said, we all start as noobs and honestly everyone who plays this game has a lifetime of learning ahead of them. No one is perfect. It's all about the journey and pride can definitely get in the way of improving for some people! I like your idea of running through the video with a beginner to discuss it. Unfortunately I haven't been able to put much time into StarCraft lately so I don't know when I'd be able to produce more content for the game right now... :(
@@Altercate is there a way to automaticaly add units to a control group straight from production? it gets tedious constantly checking all baracks and adding them manually
@@ussfriendship8989 Afraid not! Units can only be added to a control group after they are created. But you can use the F2 key to select all army units on the entire map at the same time!
@@Altercate damn, in my opinion thats an oversight but i (accidentally) found out you can set the rally points of barracks to follow a unit, that should be a good idea right?
@@ussfriendship8989 Setting the rally point to a unit can be useful for sure, although it can backfire if the unit you're rallying to dies in combat. To avoid this, make sure you rally to a strong unit like a siege tank or thor if possible (and avoid rallying to medivacs as they will automatically pick up the marines when they reach the transport). You can also hold shift and rally to multiple units - as long as one of them survives, your new units will keep rallying to your army!
Great video! I would like to add programmable buttons on your mouse if it has any. I personally set the buttons that I cannot reach with my left hand to the mouse programmable buttons.
You can also rebind the keys you know. I click the num lock button then pull it off so i cant accidentally push it. Make the zero attack move, the back space the esc and 1 through 9 the powers in order from top to bottom. Also the six keys above arrow keys are command groups. Basically just jam everything you can to the right on key board num pad.
Thank you! You should give it a try sometime. There's some great casual game modes like Co-op Commanders if you're not into the competitive scene, too :)
@@Altercate Yeah, I just had my first few games against the AI with some friends yesterday. It's really fun even though I built the most random army I could in the first games haha
I rebind my unit abilities to the same keys according to their grid position. So C is the first ability for all units or buildings (stim, blink, feedback, create marine, chrono boost, weapon upgrade) V is always the second ability (storm, create marauder, nexus recall, guardian shield, armor upgrade. F is the third (hallucinate, merge into archon etc) Im not comfy moving me left hand off of the wasd area, so I dont use 5 or beyond and I certainly dont use P, god no) Still I have a ton of available keys to use for buildings or groups: 1-4, tilde, B, mousewheel click, left and right mouse buttons, W) Works for me!
I love your vid, learn alot from them but have 1 question: is there anyway to select single working worker? Every times i need to build something i have to go back to my Comand center and use my mouse to select it, is there any hot key to automatic select 1 for me?
Good question! Unfortunately there is no hotkey for this, but I recommend doing this: 1. Go back to the Command Center 2. Make a quick selection box to grab a bunch of workers (faster than trying to click a single one) 3. Click one of the SCVs in the information panel (green wireframes at the bottom) to select that specific unit. This should be faster and more reliable than selecting a single worker on the screen! Also, if you happen to have an idle worker somewhere, you can hit F1 to select it. But this isn't very reliable and you should do your best to never have idle workers in the first place by shift-clicking them back to the mineral line after you issue a construction order. 😂 Thanks for your kinds words and let me know if this helps!
If you just want to build something in your base it is also fine to select multiple workers and issue the build command. Only the closest worker will go and build it. But it is very important that you don't issue a move command. If you move command somewhere obviously all of the selected workers will go there.
I feel like that control groups could use a lot of modernizing. Perhaps for a potential SC3, but some changes could be implemented into SC2. Warpgates actually have their own dedicated button, W. This should have been something implemented for more things. Like spell casters could be automatically set to a button. Perhaps this customization can be made before a match, and you just bind all your units and it saves those bindings permanently so you don't have to do it every time. So I could set all my Star Gates to binding 9 for example, or Forges to Binding 5. And it just saves this permanently so you don't have to do it every time. Likewise, all units of a specific type could automatically be set to a binding like all Ghosts are set to binding 1, etc.
I could definitely see a newer iteration of StarCraft - or Frost Giant’s Stormgate - going that route. The argument goes that setting up control groups is a part of player skill, and removing that aspect would lower the skill ceiling. But the same was/is said about having to manually order workers to mine in Brood War etc. I don’t think it would lower the skill ceiling by very much to streamline the hotkey setup, so I’m all for it!
@@Altercate Yeah it's a quality of life improvement. People said the same thing about autocast spells too when they were introduced in Warcraft 3. There's always going to be gatekeeping from elitists, but like everything, they're wrong.
Definitely something that needs more attention! So many of the greatest SC2 players have had major issues with carpal tunnel and other health problems.
Thanks for watching! I should explain what’s going on in the demonstration at the end of the video. Why does the battle go so much better for me just because I use hotkeys effectively? It’s because I get the important stuff done faster. I take less time to activate Stimpacks on my Marines and Marauders, increasing my DPS earlier in the fight (thus more damage throughout the fight) and I also fire off my EMP rounds faster, meaning they do a lot more damage to the Protoss shields and contribute to killing off some of the opponent’s army faster (thus less damage taken throughout the fight).
If you found this video valuable, I’d be super grateful if you could hit the like button and leave a quick comment, as it really helps the video reach more people. And if you want to help a tiny channel grow, consider subscribing! ✅
If you have any questions or comments, let me know! I tried to keep the video as short as possible so I may have skipped over something important or maybe I failed to explain something properly.
Thanks for supporting me. 😍
Dude amazing, I’ve played sc2 since it first came out and the game never taught control groups, without any of these my apm is 40-47 , with this I’ll probably get up to 100 without anything besides yours tips you gave thank you so much!
@@jameshinged3002 Awesome, glad I could help! 😀
@Axel Ave see I got the game when it first came out which was felt like 2012/2013 so I’ll certainly have to try that but I have og wc3 aswell
Man @Altercate you just unlocked my brain like Neo from the Matrix
what a fantastic video :D!
Old man retired this really helps me I was lost until watching this. I keep going back to learn and practice thanks 77yrs old
That's awesome to hear! Good luck with the game and have fun :)
Heck yeah dude
Keep on gaming!!
Gaming forever ! 43 yo here and everyday wanting to game more !
never quits
As an experienced sc2 player I highly recommend the Grid hotkey layout for new players. Its just as viable as standard but it makes memorizing the hotkeys 10x easier. It will let you focus more on the actual game during the initial learning phase.
I definitely recommend players to try Grid out! I always stuck with Standard myself but Grid seems really efficient! 😀
Sad to say i got used to standard hotkey
@@jkielacague5760 sad to say I’ll have to move from classic to … grid?
Now trying SC2 for the first time after coming from playing Dota2 for years. I can tell you Grid makes so much sense for transitional (and like you said, new) players
Only problem with Grid is the attack key is allll the way on T which is annoying
I watched your macro tutorial video almost a year ago and loved it, I thought that it was really well done for new players.
Today I randomly get to visit your channel again, and I am so happy to see that you made more of these high quality videos for SC2 beginners. As a more experienced player I really thank you for providing this kind of content for new players to enjoy the game, it's that kind of videos that make SC2 continue for a long time.
Subscribed.
Thank you so much for your kind words! It means a lot to me if I can help beginners get into StarCraft, and in some small way help keep the flame burning for this amazing game! 😍
It's been about 10 years since I've last played this game. Just got back into it, and I greatly appreciate the tips.
I'm happy to see guides on this game even though this game is old and not as popular as the first few years. As a fan going back to this game every year to get my RTS craving, I appreciate you taking care of the new SC2 players. It brings me joy when I pair up with someone new cause that's another person that discovered this amazing game. Keep up the very good guides & content!
Thanks so much! I want SC2 to live forever and I'm happy to do my small part to help more people get into it :)
The health concern at the latter part is a welcome bonus!
Very important, and easily forgotten! 😀
Trully useful for novice players! This series helps to break the firts the most daunting barrier of playing RTS - player can't do anything in time and in constant hurry, so there is no way it can think, react and most important enjoy the game. Thank you a lot! Hope your channel will grow!
Thank you so much, and good luck with the game! 😀
I tried SC2 a while back and only got into a few missions before getting distracted and dropping it. I finally got back into recently which led me here. I have to say though… out of all gaming content creators I have watched i have never seen someone edit so professionally along with so much detail put into explanation. You are also the first person that has mentioned external gaming techniques such as good posture. That amazed me that something so important but easily forgotten was mentioned. Truly great content on your channel. Keep it up!
These videos are so much more consumable (for me anyway) than the other ones that I found initially. Having a "Grand Master" explain how to do stuff and trying to follow them at blinding speed is frustrating. Not saying you aren't a Grand Master but these vids are so much easier to digest as a beginner. Thanks for all the effort you put into this.
Glad I could help! :)
@@Altercate Are you grandmaster level in the game?
dude talking about health and posture in the end of the video just made me your fan !!!!
I've seen a bunch of tutorials lately and yours is the most easy to understand. Thank you.
Awesome! Glad I could help :)
As an original StarCraft/Brood War Campaign veteran, this was incredibly useful to me as it put in perspective the amount of reliance I have on the mouse. I knew the hotkeys existed but turned a blind eye to them as I thought I'd never be able to remember them all. Now to find how to move like the scout unit did using multiple movement points...
I'm glad that someone is making Starcraft II videos for beginners that are up to date since I've recently decided to start playing this game and I was worried I joined in too late. Keep up the good work.
Glad I could help! Never too late to get into StarCraft 2! Just stay patient, try to focus on the learning process, and have fun! 😀
@@Altercate Thanks, there is a lot to learn so hopefully the game won't die any time soon since I've heard that Blizzard pulled the plug last year.
@@gio1470 As long as they keep the servers up, we should be fine! 😀
Wonderful video. I am trying to get into sc2 at the age of 36 so i really needed something like this. Much appreciated.
Glad I could help! Good luck with the game and have fun :)
I legit was just wondering when you gonna upload again and here we are!
I strike when you least expect it! 😂
Thanks for supporting me!
Bro i legit came to this channel 7 hours ago watching some of his latest sc2 videos and the Same day he uploads!
@@tzakman8697 Perfect timing! Thanks for watching! 😍
Very helpful guide! And thanks for putting the time to emphasize the health aspect of playing video games.
i have been playing this game for years and this video showed me some stuff i even didnt know! ty for the high quality and easy to understand video my guy keep it up!
Thanks! Glad I could help :)
Incredibly helpful video for me as an intermediate beginner! Very well explained, good use of video footage, nice advice and as a bonus, you got a nice voice to listen to. Thanks man!
That’s very nice of you to say!
This video is helping me get into SC2, something I never thought I'd have the attention span for!
Your videos explains everything perfect. The information is very straight to the point without any confusion. As a gm player myself trying to teach others from time to time, i often refer them to a video of yours that would explain things exactly the same way I would. Keep up the good work.
Wow, thank you so much! That's so cool to hear :)
I just started playing StarCraft 2 outside of the Single-Player campaigns and am currently practicing against AI (I haven't dared to play against other players yet, but do want to :) ). I have begun to use hotkeys, but in a very minimalistic way, and this video looks really helpful, and I'm going to try out the things you recommend! Naturally, it will be overwhelming at first, but so far I am enjoying the progress I make with each match, and this will help a lot.
Good luck! The number one tip I can give is to focus on learning instead of winning! :)
This chanel is really underrated, amazing video man, im a starcraft vet but i also learned some cool stuffs, great edit and great mic, i wish you the best luck ❤️
Thank you so much :)
Thank you for this video. I've been wanting to learn how to play Starcraft ever since I was a kid, now that I'm in my early 30s these tutorials really helped me enjoy the game. Kudos my guy!
To this day, your Starcraft videos are still the best videos every new Starcraft players should watch.
Thanks mate! I've been practicing your macro tutorial and even though i have a long way to beat your record it has been really helpful. Now i will practice the drag scroll and camera hotkeys
Thanks again
Keep up the good job and let me know how it goes! 😀
🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation:
00:57 🖱️ Using hotkeys is crucial in StarCraft 2 for efficiency and speed.
02:30 ⌨️ Command hotkeys issue specific orders to selected units or structures.
03:54 🎯 Master the "Attack Move" (A-move) technique for better army control.
05:48 🙅 Avoid over-reliance on the "Select Army Units" (F2) hotkey; use control groups for precise control.
10:15 📷 Efficiently control the in-game camera using various methods, including location hotkeys.
Made with HARPA AIok
Great tutorial... I almost needed to take notes, but you covered so much I didn't know!
Excellent video, just started with SCII a couple of years ago and still learning, I've advanced pretty far but still have so much room to improve and had been looking for this kind of info for so long ago.
Cheers!
Just a small thing about creating control groups - you can actually bind control groups to mouse buttons and letters on keyboard too. I find for example, q and w are easier to reach than numbers.
That's good advice! I definitely think every player should experiment with the hotkey setup to find the one that fits them best :)
Oh cool. Didn't know this
VERY good video. The editing and graphics were perfect, great job!
I've been waiting 9 years for this video, my kids are now adults, I've seen governments shift back and forth, but at least now, I can play Starcraft like a pro ! Watch out, here I come !! (Totally worth the wait, your videos are the best!)
A really useful video. I'm not a very good player, but I love playing it. It's going to help me manage control groups better. Thanks a lot.
Well done, I've been playing since brood war, played beta of sc2 and still play this game that I enjoy so much. Never knew about the middle mouse button allowing you to scroll.
Merci!
Thanks! Glad I could teach you something new after all this time 😂
Awesome as always... finally had the guts to play the game... your videos helps a lot. Thanks
Awesome! Glad I could help :) Good luck with the game and have fun!
Your videos are incredibly underrated.
Thank you! :)
Thank you for such good guide! It really helps to bring new players to the game. Only thing i would change it would be to recommend the Grid Layout to, because learning hotkeys can be very daunting for a beginner and the Grid layout is very intuitive, specially for a starter that may be choosing a main race to play.
It is the most valuable and useful video about this topic on the whole Internet. Thanks a lot!
Thanks for the video! It's useful for someone who is 11 years late into the game like me :)
Glad I could help! 😀
HUGE video with a lot of superfluous information for Novice players but - some gold nuggets in there. Thanks
Just by chance, i key my base buildings exactly like you show!
I also put probes at difft locs on 0, 9, 8. Nice to know pros dont use them anyway.
Great vid! I plan to try loc keys & base jump asap.
What a great video man!!! Alot of content packed into 20 mintues! Well done
Thanks so much! Glad I could help :)
thanx for the great video, your voice is so suiting for these type of videos
this is how i used numbers for ever, even in warcraft
so my main building is 9, other buildings are 8, for flying units that hits air for example viking i use 7, and for other flying units for example banshee or raven i use 6, if i go heavy on the mech and strong ground units then 6 is for something else, thors for example, 1 is all my marines plus marauders or similar units, and on the 2 only marines, so if i need to clean air by targeting i use 2 so i dont bother marauders or any other units, on 3 ghosts or reapers or similar, 4 is always tanks plus sometimes thors, or similar, 5 is the mostly medivac and 0 is for special strategies, so 0 is never the same, it depends on what unique units i am using that game or for the units i dont have space on other numbers, sometimes battlecruisers will be 0, or group of medivacs full of army thirst to do some damage to his workers, or widow mines if 3 is already used, maybe liberators if i need 6 for something else in that moment and so
8,9 and 0 are much closer to my hand than other buttons because i change them to be on the side of my mouse
when building its Q instead of B, so building supply depot is QQ, very quickly, especially since i always used Q to change between weapons in fps games, QW is for barracks and so, building on V are on E, so EE is factory, EW starport and so on
when pushing forward with units i am not clicking all the buttons constantly, i click on 4 and 5 and then click to follow marines and marauders, 7 is always following 6
so until fight begins i mostly use 1,5,7 and not so often 0
thats how i play, i enjoy playing like this even if its not the best way and i am not planning to change anything because i used to this and its very fun to me and the only way it makes sense
Thank you for the video. Though I had hoped for some more advanced information.
I knew all the stuff about control groups and hotkeys already. What I was always wondering was like pro players seem to be able to look into several locations nearly at the same time by switching through them quickly. At the same time they can micro for instance marines out of range of a storm in different directions at the same time or out of the splash of a baneling.
First of all, if I am using mostly keys at the left side of the keyboard, it might be easy to set and access control groups 1-5 but higher numbers get harder to press, because you would have to move your left hand farther over the keyboard. I know in addition to control groups you can also use cameras with the Shift key and some letter or lower number, but I was wondering if it would be reasonable to change the control groups of 6 and above to something nearer to the left side of the keyboard.
Most tutorials seem to teach about how to use the default hotkeys. But do pros do that or do they reconfigure their hot keys?
Most pros customize their hotkeys over time to fit their playstyle. Some play with mostly standard hotkeys while others will make huge changes.
You should definitely make whatever changes will help you play more effectively. Camera location hotkeys are extremely powerful and the pros use them extensively (changing them around as needed throughout the match) but as you said, you should definitely move some of the control group hotkeys around to make it easier for you to reach them.
If there are hotkeys that you don't need to use a lot, you could switch them out for something more useful. For example, if you play Terran you could switch W, Q, Z to command groups instead. Q is used for "Select worker" but it's probably worth less to you than an extra control group.
Great video - this is just what I was looking for, for a friend I’m trying to get up to speed with the game. 👏
Brother that is a great video. There is saying from " idiot isnt the one that doesn't understand things, idiot is the one that can't explain it" You just expandedy my, you have been so helpful, more then you know! If I could click the like bottom 50 times I would! Thanks for the info man
Great video for an old dude trying to get back into RTS 💪🏼
Thank you for this video! Its helping me with other RTS's too, like C&C.
Glad I could help! :)
This should have 150k views. Another excellent tutorial.
Thank you so much! 🙏
Never knew A moving from minimap always targets the ground. Really good info.
dude tyvm
Glad I could help! :)
Just started playing last night trial by fired my first match and I did end up with the victim but it was rough!! This hotkey setup is definitely a godsend coming from WoW!
Great starcraft 2 tutorials! Please keep them coming :)
Good video getting an old WC1 and SC-BW player up to speed.!
Thanx allot! You explained some doubts that i have over a decade!
11:20, this is a really specific question for an old video, but I've struggled to find a good answer to this... why not rebind the wasd keys to take the place of the arrow keys? Only a few units actually need that many hotkeys for each of their different abilities, and I've found that advanced movement commands (stop, hold position) aren't that commonly needed to require easy access on a grid.
Compared to both drag and edge scroll it feels so much easier and more precise, and in situations where I literally don't have enough fingers (microing a spell caster during a big battle) I can just revert to edge scroll for a few seconds.
Is there something I'm missing? I've literally never seen a pro use wasd, hence why I feel weird about using it myself, and get the sense I'm wandering into some bad habits
Interesting question! You could try it, but my instinct tells me that you’re probably going to be giving up more than you gain in terms of efficiency, and you might be learning a bad habit.
Pros generally avoid scrolling whenever possible regardless of method, though of course it’s sometimes unavoidable.
Personally I wouldn’t give up any of those four keys for a (most likely) small gain in scroll efficiency. Attack move and stop are both critical to micro, and D is important for Z and T at least. W you can probably spare if you’re not playing Protoss.
Either way, good luck! :)
@@Altercate Thanks so much for the reply, I'll definitely keep that in mind. I've noticed now that it's so effortless I'm overusing it when I shouldn't be.
How best do they avoid scrolling? Minimap? Saved locations? How difficult is this during big battles halfway across the map? I know there aren't many objective right answers but I hope to at least know the wrong ones on how to learn this
@@strydersoucie1024 Big WASD camera person here. However, I'm training myself to unlearn it. I still use WASD as my home keys though (A for Attack, S to Stop, W Patrol, D for Hold).
Reason to unlearn? - I felt it was defining my camera control. When I needed to move the view across the map - even if it was some distance away, I found myself scrolling there using WASD. Whilst I think WASD is great for close micro control, it hurt every other scenario of camera control and unit movement. This led to a 'blinkered' view of the map, where I only concentrated on the areas my WASD took me - it was like playing through a letterbox.
Free from WASD, I find myself thinking about the whole map and getting the camera to places quickly (such as camera hotkeys and snapping to control groups - not to mention the very important mini-map).
Great vid. Would like to add, control groups don’t need to be on number keys. You can use tilde or mouse buttons or whatever you like or is comfortable. Also, you can put multiple productions facilities on same hot key and just tab through. Saves you from having three hot keys instead of one. Same for upgrade structures
Had no I dead you could add buildings/units to existing control groups. This is a game changer for me
This is the best guide (in general not just sc2 related).
Thank you so much :)
definetly helpful. started game a few days ago and your videos helped a lot
excellent content. I really love your starcraft II videos. I hope you can do more
Thank you so much! I've got more StarCraft 2 guides planned! 😀
Super helpful! Just getting back into the game
Never played the game but this video was wildly helpful for starting
i think running through this video with a not so good player would make the experience alot easier to learn the player may then be able to ask you questions as you go ... i think this could be important due to the fact lets face it SC2 players tend to be snobs (for the fact that alot of the good players forget that they ALSO were newbs at one time) .. and new players may be embarrassed to ask such questions. im just a nobody but ive been playing these games for years and i know i like to ask alot of questions that others are to embarrassed to ask .. main point its al about learning and asking those important questions learning and having fun while you do it... i have to say im new to your videos i love how you do things i can see youll be a HUGE youtuber for sure keep it up...(ok didnt mean for this to be so long my apologies)
No worries, I'm happy to get such thoughtful comments on my videos :) I agree that the attitude of many players can be pretty harmful to the community. As you said, we all start as noobs and honestly everyone who plays this game has a lifetime of learning ahead of them. No one is perfect. It's all about the journey and pride can definitely get in the way of improving for some people!
I like your idea of running through the video with a beginner to discuss it. Unfortunately I haven't been able to put much time into StarCraft lately so I don't know when I'd be able to produce more content for the game right now... :(
Love all of your starcraft content man, really appreciate it
Awesome, glad I could help!
this helped me a lot, I didn't know much about the control group hotkey!
Thank you for the guide. This is so useful for all players.
Incredible accurate! Thanks for the Health parenthesis 😀
8 9 0 can be used if you have a programmable mouse with side keys, like the G502 Logitech.
Great video! Helps a lot as I'm back to playing starcraft :D
Thanks for the video
Im currently playing through the campaign and this video was suuper helpful
Before i didnt even know control groups existed :)
Glad I could help! Have fun with the game 😀
@@Altercate is there a way to automaticaly add units to a control group straight from production?
it gets tedious constantly checking all baracks and adding them manually
@@ussfriendship8989 Afraid not! Units can only be added to a control group after they are created. But you can use the F2 key to select all army units on the entire map at the same time!
@@Altercate damn, in my opinion thats an oversight
but i (accidentally) found out you can set the rally points of barracks to follow a unit,
that should be a good idea right?
@@ussfriendship8989 Setting the rally point to a unit can be useful for sure, although it can backfire if the unit you're rallying to dies in combat.
To avoid this, make sure you rally to a strong unit like a siege tank or thor if possible (and avoid rallying to medivacs as they will automatically pick up the marines when they reach the transport).
You can also hold shift and rally to multiple units - as long as one of them survives, your new units will keep rallying to your army!
Great video! I would like to add programmable buttons on your mouse if it has any. I personally set the buttons that I cannot reach with my left hand to the mouse programmable buttons.
Definitely a great idea! 😀
Thank you for your work! Your contents are awesome, and I introduced them to my friends so they can get into this beautiful game.
Thank you so much for saying that! I'm glad I could help, and I hope your friends enjoy the game! 😀
This was extremely well made. Thank you!
God tier video. Thx for the high-valued lessons. Subbed
Thank you so much! Glad I could help 😀
Great content! I use an alternate keyboard setup and was just curious on how to set it up in a way that made sense for me (going grid)
thanks for all the work, this is amazing for me as im a new player... former player in the early 200s.. but picked it back up!... thanks for the help
This was so helpfull thanks
This was exactly what I needed to get back into sc2
Glad I could help! Good luck with the game 😀
Great content! Looking forward to more StarCraft vids!
Just came across this gem. Thank you for making it!
You can also ctrl click on the idle worker icon to select all idle workers. Its efficient enough and you dont use it that often.
Excellente piece of advise
As a novice i didn't know there was so many hot keys. I always wonder why everybody control there unit better then. Great video
Really well structured video
Thank you! :)
You can also rebind the keys you know. I click the num lock button then pull it off so i cant accidentally push it. Make the zero attack move, the back space the esc and 1 through 9 the powers in order from top to bottom. Also the six keys above arrow keys are command groups. Basically just jam everything you can to the right on key board num pad.
Great video! I never played this game but always wanted to.
Thank you! You should give it a try sometime. There's some great casual game modes like Co-op Commanders if you're not into the competitive scene, too :)
@@Altercate Yeah, I just had my first few games against the AI with some friends yesterday. It's really fun even though I built the most random army I could in the first games haha
*Hot keys definitely helped as my APM was on par with my friends
Loved this one too! When other SCII videos?
Thank you! I have more videos planned, don't know for sure when I can get the next one out but I'll do my best! 😀
returning player here. Very helpful inputs.
I rebind my unit abilities to the same keys according to their grid position.
So C is the first ability for all units or buildings (stim, blink, feedback, create marine, chrono boost, weapon upgrade)
V is always the second ability (storm, create marauder, nexus recall, guardian shield, armor upgrade.
F is the third (hallucinate, merge into archon etc)
Im not comfy moving me left hand off of the wasd area, so I dont use 5 or beyond and I certainly dont use P, god no)
Still I have a ton of available keys to use for buildings or groups: 1-4, tilde, B, mousewheel click, left and right mouse buttons, W)
Works for me!
I love your vid, learn alot from them but have 1 question: is there anyway to select single working worker? Every times i need to build something i have to go back to my Comand center and use my mouse to select it, is there any hot key to automatic select 1 for me?
Good question! Unfortunately there is no hotkey for this, but I recommend doing this:
1. Go back to the Command Center
2. Make a quick selection box to grab a bunch of workers (faster than trying to click a single one)
3. Click one of the SCVs in the information panel (green wireframes at the bottom) to select that specific unit.
This should be faster and more reliable than selecting a single worker on the screen!
Also, if you happen to have an idle worker somewhere, you can hit F1 to select it. But this isn't very reliable and you should do your best to never have idle workers in the first place by shift-clicking them back to the mineral line after you issue a construction order. 😂
Thanks for your kinds words and let me know if this helps!
Use a control group for the worker
If you just want to build something in your base it is also fine to select multiple workers and issue the build command. Only the closest worker will go and build it. But it is very important that you don't issue a move command. If you move command somewhere obviously all of the selected workers will go there.
this video deserves so many likes
Impressively clear and useful. Thank you!
I feel like that control groups could use a lot of modernizing. Perhaps for a potential SC3, but some changes could be implemented into SC2. Warpgates actually have their own dedicated button, W. This should have been something implemented for more things. Like spell casters could be automatically set to a button. Perhaps this customization can be made before a match, and you just bind all your units and it saves those bindings permanently so you don't have to do it every time. So I could set all my Star Gates to binding 9 for example, or Forges to Binding 5. And it just saves this permanently so you don't have to do it every time. Likewise, all units of a specific type could automatically be set to a binding like all Ghosts are set to binding 1, etc.
I could definitely see a newer iteration of StarCraft - or Frost Giant’s Stormgate - going that route.
The argument goes that setting up control groups is a part of player skill, and removing that aspect would lower the skill ceiling. But the same was/is said about having to manually order workers to mine in Brood War etc. I don’t think it would lower the skill ceiling by very much to streamline the hotkey setup, so I’m all for it!
@@Altercate Yeah it's a quality of life improvement. People said the same thing about autocast spells too when they were introduced in Warcraft 3. There's always going to be gatekeeping from elitists, but like everything, they're wrong.
Even after 2 years, nice video, thanks
I learnt a lot from this video!! Is there a reason why we dont set the control groups for the bases to something like 1,2 or 3?
Awesome and useful, thanks for the hard work and dedication to put this together!
Glad I could help, and thanks so much for saying that! :)
This guide is a lifesaver
My son and I just finished and are off to put this into practice!
That's awesome! Good luck! 😀
Thank you it is very helpful!
Awesome! Glad I could help! 😀
Subscribed the second you mentioned taking care of our health. Like hot damn no one talks about that.
Definitely something that needs more attention! So many of the greatest SC2 players have had major issues with carpal tunnel and other health problems.
Nice guide! Thanks!!