Starcraft II Tactics

Click here to see how I made it to the top of Diamond league

Hey Jake here,

If you’re looking for some of the best Starcraft II tactics, I’m glad you’ve found this site, and I strongly suggest you keep reading.

Today (well really, last night) is a big day. I finally made it to the top of Diamond league! It took a lot of matches, but I actually got there last night-and was able to stay there today. I decided to give you the uncensored tale of how I did it. I’ll take you along the ups and downs, tell you what did and did not work, and finally the one Starcraft II tactic which really worked for me

I started playing Starcraft two when the beta came out and spent a long time in copper and bronze leagues (back when copper actually was a league). Admittedly, my Starcraft II strategy was awful. It seemed like my opponents could magically create more units than I could. I would constantly get harassed and cheesed. I had no idea how my opponents could counter my strategy so effectively

Eventually, I decided to do something about my noobishness. I began to scour the internet for any sort of info on Starcraft II tactics. I tried to read forums, but the advice they gave was often so targeted and exact that it was hard to implement in game-not to mention the crazy forum politics you have to sift through. Then I thought I was smart enough to figure out on my own what the top players were doing. I studied all of the replays of all my matches, and though I could see what they were physically doing, it was tough to figure out the broad concept behind it so that I could apply their techniques. I got so desperate, I even searched for Starcraft II cheats (there are none for online play). I really didn’t get anywhere for a long time.

Eventually, I stumbled upon the Shokz Starcraft II guidebook, and WOW. I actually couldn’t believe how much it helped. I believe this is because, unlike other sources, you get the picture of a full and complete strategy. They have comprehensive info on all three races (I like to play random), every mode of play, and even a section on the campaign mode. The guide even gives you access to a free members area where you can get updates for life, and exclusive video and blog posts. Click here to gain access. After reading the guide, my win/loss ratio really shot up. The one annoying thing about the guide is that it does not get into how to play mixed race 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 as much as I would like. It can be a source of big confusion having to play with many races at once, and there are many combinations to deal with. However, overall, the guide was fantastic.

I hope you found this story helpful. Click here to get the Shokz Starcraft 2 guide.

Yes, one of the more fun parts of Starcraft II is annoying the snot out of your opponent (it also means you are beating them, or keeping them from executing their build order well). Though I usually stick with random, my favorite race to play is Terran. With Terran, the most annoying and powerful of all Starcraft II Tactics is the reaper rush.

It is not an all out rush, and does not severely affect your build order, as you would probably have a barracks with a tech lab early on anyway. In Starcraft two, reapers are very strong against most tier one units, can jump up and down cliffs, and have incredible micro abilities. Crank out a few in the beginning of a match and you can easily annoy the other player, mess with their economy, and gain vital intel on what their build is looking like.

Here are some quick tips to maximize your reaper micro:

-Scout and harass with the first reaper, while waiting for the second to be produced, rally the second one to where the first one is.

-Against zerglings on creep, with at least two reapers, send the back one on a different path, and use the forward ones to attack.

-Always utilize cliffs, and back door entrances where possible.

-Always target workers first, if possible.

-Against Protoss, try to take out pylons where possible.

-Against Terran, try to take out their tech lab.

-Against Zerg, go for their exractors if possible, you don’t want them to get speedlings as they are a great counter to reapers.

Here are some good unit-by-unit Starcraft II tactics for reapers:

-Marines: make sure you outnumber them by at least one unit.

-Marauders: don’t do it! one maurader can take out four reapers.

-Reapers: make sure you have one more than your opponent and go for postioning advantage.

-SCV’s: try to take out at least two, then you have paid for your reapers (assuming you also made two).

-Zealots: Do the move-hold-move-hold dance around them, reapers are very effective here.

-Stalkers: avoid em’ like the plague.

-Probes: the toughest of all workers to take down, with a slightly better attack.Zerglings: very tough to take down, try to stay    off creep.

-Roaches: deal some damage, then get out of there.

-Queens: You need at least four to kill a queen, high priority target though.  Focus fire, and pull back when she targets you.

-Banelings: very effective.

-Drones: focus on them, but watch how far onto the creep it takes you.

Ok, ok, “what does a Final Fantasy 13 guide have to do with starcraft II?”

It sounds farfetched, but bear with me for a second. There is a lot we can learn from Final Fantasy Strategy. See, unlike Starcraft, Final Fantasty is a turn based based game. When attacking, there are a lot of numbers to consider-damage, hp, mana, elemental efects, etc.

You can calculate when a move will work best, if you have a good chance to win in a battle, and how your attacks will affect an opponent in a certain situation.

And just like Final Fantasy, in Starcraft II, you should know the numbers. This is something that separates good from the really good players. Good players will have an idea of how powerful some units are against others. Really good players will know the numbers.

Really good players will know how much each of their unit’s different attacks damages another unit, how quickly that attack is recharged, and how much health a defending unit has.

So really, there is a lot to learn from Final Fantasy strategy. However, you must also realize where the differences are. In Final Fantasy, you are given ample time to contemplate the numbers, to think about how each attack might effect an opponent, and to select the appropriate one.

Bringing this idea to Starcraft II tactics, we find that you do not have the luxury of time like you do in Final Fantasy. Because of this, you need to know the numbers, and you need to have an immediate grasp on how they work.

Luckily, in Starcraft two, do not have as many options to choose from as in Final Fantasy. Usually, a unit only has one or two attacks and there are only a handful of different units in play.

Final Fantasy strategy provides a detailed look into a small aspect of Starcraft II strategy. One who has played a lot of Final Fantasy knows how important the numbers can be. This same importance should be applied to Starcraft II.

Since this is the first post, I figured I would talk about the first thing which really helped me step up my game. From a beginner’s perspective, this is the most important of all Starcraft II Tactics that I will go over.

It basically boils down to one thing: only use hotkeys. I cannot stress this enough, but every action that can be executed a hot key, should be executed using a hotkey.

This Starcraft II strategy will actually make you a worse player when you first start doing it. And this is why so few people fully implement it. For a few matches, you will be slower executing certain commands.

However, once you develop a muscle memory for all of the hotkeys, you will start to become very quick. This Starcraft II tactic becomes imprinted on your brain. Commands begin to fly from your fingertip, and, most importantly, you raise your actions per minute.

This brings up a very important point. Which is the linear relationship between actions per minute and skill level. You can literally tell a better Starcraft two player by their action per minute count. The better players will actually warm up their fingers in the slow first few minutes of a match by executing needless actions.

If you watch pro starcraft players (yes, I realize this is not Starcraft two, but the concept is the same) you’ll see that they need around 200-300 actions per minute to be competitive.

Of course, these are guys who play in professional leagues in Korea. They are celebrities much like baseball stars in America, but the point is this- If you do not know the hotkeys by heart, when you play starcraft 2, you will suffer a dramatic drop in your actions per minute, and you will not be competitive.