• Jonathan Lasater

Starcraft 2 is not like other games where simply playtime is all that is needed to improve. This is a game with certain essentials not being immediately obvious to the player (such as not queuing units or the importance of saturating bases with workers). While some folks are capable of intuitively understanding what this games requires to be good, most folks (myself most certainly included) need outside help to learn what to do and not to do. This guide will give you the path to get to Diamond and beyond.

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The Basics

• Common Terms and Definitions in SC2. If you come across a term you don't know, go here to look it up.

• In the options menu, turn health bars to be always on and turn on "show building grid."

• Turn mouse acceleration off. Follow the instructions in this post to make your mouse movements dramatically more precise and predictable - essential for Starcraft 2.

• Read this comprehensive list of interface tips and tricks to control SC2 effectively.

• You need to learn the unit counters and abilities. Starcraft 2 is not a simple rock, paper, scissors-style game. Hard counters exist (such as marines to everything), but most counters are soft in that you will not automatically win the battle if they have one thing and you have the counter to it. The best starting place is the in-game help menu followed up with watching commentated games to learn how the pros do it.

• You need to learn your race’s hotkeys (consider doing the grid hotkeys). To achieve a high APM (actions per minute), it is essential that you learn the hotkeys. It is not difficult to learn them, but it takes conscious practice. The best route that I have found is to play practice games against the computer, and whenever you want to click on an icon, hover over that icon with your mouse to see the hotkey, then press the hotkey. With this method, you'll learn them in no time. You do need to be disciplined about not clicking on the buttons as it's better to force yourself out of this habit early rather than trying to change it later.

• Choose a hotkey setup for your buildings and army. This refers to how you will structure hotkeying your army and production facilities to the number keys. Remember that TAB will cycle you through the different buildings/units in a group.

• How to beat cheese. Until you know the specific things necessary to counter it, cheese can be extremely frustrating.

• List of additional SC2 resources. It is worth devoting an hour or two of your time to go through each of these links to make sure you’re not missing anything.

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The Path to Improvement

• Watch your games and take notes. After you play a game, especially early on, you should watch the replay and try to identify where you went wrong. Use this replay analysis checklist of what to look for. Take Day[9]'s advice to keep a notebook next to you and write down your observations and then periodically review them. Note what you did wrong, and focus on that that thing in your next game. There's a lot to concentrate on, but with conscious practice, you'll improve.

• Conscious Practice. You need to consciously work on your build, on spending your money, on controlling your army, and many other things. I know it's intimidating when you first start, but remember that even the pros had to start somewhere. There is no substitute for practice.

• Watch commentaries and professional replays. Seeing what the pros do and then mimicking them is a great way to improve.

• Don't be afraid to experiment. The ladder ranking is just a number. I experiment all the time and lose points like nobody's business, but that's OK because I am learning.

• When you start initially, you're going to lose a lot. Everyone starts somewhere, and I most certainly started by losing most of my games (hell I still lose a lot). Remember that even the best of the best tend to lose at least 40% of the time. Stacraft 2 can be very mentally draining when you're first starting. It takes time, but eventually, you'll get over the anxiety of playing and you'll be able to play for longer stretches.

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Macro: The Backbone of Wins

If you are having trouble in the lower leagues, it almost always boils down to macro. Micro beyond the very, very basic is just not too important until you get higher up. If your macro is good, you can usually just a-move to win even if you have a bad unit mix.

• Always be building a worker. Always. Just never stop. This is the most important advice IMO. A fully saturated mineral or gas patch will have 3 workers mining it, but keep building them even if you get oversaturated so that once you get an expo up, you can transfer half your workers immediately. If an expo is too intimidating, then just practice one base builds, but keep building workers just so you get in the habit of doing so. Seriously, you should just never, ever stop building workers. Zerg has a unique mechanic, but you should be using your larva to produce a drone at least at the same pace as terran and toss players. It’s tough, but you’ll learn to strike a balance between drone and army production. Here is a great post analyzing optimal worker saturation.

• You have got to use your race’s macro mechanic. You just have to keep reminding yourself to do it until it becomes a habit. Mules for terran, chronoboost for protoss, and inject larva for zerg. If you don't do it, and face an opponent who does, you're almost guaranteed to lose.

• Injecting larva is super-critical for zerg. You absolutely must inject larva on-time. It is the least forgiving macro mechanic in the game currently, but if you master it, you’ll be able to re-macro an army almost instantly and crush your opponent. Also, getting in the habit of spreading creep and having your overlords spew creep is tremendously helpful.

• Your minerals don’t earn interest. Your mineral count should never go above a few hundred unless you’re saving up for an expo or something. In the heat of a battle, it may go up, but if you’re good, you’ll be macroing at the same time. If you consistently have more than a few hundred minerals, build more production buildings or if you’re up for it, build an expo. It is totally reasonable to have 10+ barracks/gateways later in the game + higher tech buildings. If you’re zerg and you can’t expand safely, build a hatchery in your base.

• Don’t queue if you can help it. You get no return on spending that money early. Instead, build more production facilities to be able spend your income productively.

• Build stuff during a battle. If things are hotkeyed properly, it’s not too hard. The only way to do this is to really focus on it, and eventually you’ll just get in the habit of doing it.

• Check your production facilities. Constantly checking on all of your production buildings including CC to make sure they’re building stuff. They need to be hotkeyed so you can just press the relevant number to see what’s happening.

• Check your supply count often. It’s better to have far more food than you need than vice versa.

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Habits to Build

• Hotkey buildings immediately when you start building them.

• Keep scouting throughout the game. Suicide units into their base if you have to. The information gained is invaluable. Sacking an overlord is totally worth it. Use changelings and overseers. I use reapers to poke around. Have multiple observers. Terrans can float unused buildings around the map. If you’re in the midgame, send a cheap unit to check on the various expansion points to make sure your opponent isn’t getting an economic lead on you.

• Always build a depot, a pylon, or put an overlord, around the edges of your base, especially near destructible rocks. This gives you vision of your base and increases your chances of catching a drop before it’s too late.

• Don’t forget upgrades, but if you’re lower level, you probably don’t need to worry about them until mid game (if you’ve got money to burn though, spend it here).

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Highly Recommended Reading/Watching

• Day[9] on how to deal with losing

• The Self-Guided Road to Improvement. This was written for Brood War but it is completely applicable to SC2. I think it's an essential read if you're serious about improving in SC2 (or anything really).

• Starcraft and Flow. TL article on how to increase your enjoyment of the game, and get into the state of "flow" more often.

• The Marginal Advantage by Day[9]. An excellent must-read essay by D9. Remember that you don't need to win by a landslide. A win is a win, and progamers tend to win by the accumulation of small advantages vs. ballsy and very risky all-in strats.

• Reddit thread on the best Day[9] commentaries for noobs. Everything linked in that thread is worth watching. Day[9] is a godsend for SC2 players.

• SC2Builds. Go here for build orders for all races.

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GLHF!