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Hi TL! Hope you can help me out with this, im new to sc2 so im not sure what im doing wrong/what i should be doing i play toss this is my keyboard
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/v8Gbl.jpg) this is how i keep my hand positioned on it atm
![[image loading]](http://imgur.com/xBFuZ.jpg) yes i know tiny hands xD any tips/advice on proper hand positioning for a protoss player? thanks in advance!
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I'm not an expert and I only somewhat play Protoss, but I'd suggest maybe you want (from pinky -> thumb) ctrl/shift, w/2,e/3,5,b as your default hand positioning. Your hand probably wants to be setup so 2,3,5 feel like the home row, but w/e should also feel comfortable. Likewise you need to make sure your thumb has the freedom to hit v, c, & spacebar. For me I use the side of my thumb to hit spacebar (well I actually rarely, if ever, use space bar). It depends on your hotkey setup and comfort level. It seems like you favor 1 or 4 over 5 for your nexus/hatch/cc (I like it on 5 personally) in which case your hand positioning roughly makes sense. Though for probes I really think you would want to trend way from 4 as it's much more natural to hit 5e with index+middle than 4e and one of the biggest (unobtainable) ideals for your keyboard usage is to not have to hit 2 keys in a row with the same finger.
*This assumes you use w for warpgates which I know some people tend to not do.
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This is a very preferential topic, but from what I've seen most people put their pinky either on the control key or the shift key, then use fingers accordingly.
There's also the issue of holding your hand support (3 general options): -Wrist bearing weight -Elbow bearing weight -Shoulder bearing weight (not having elbow or wrist touching anything, just your fingers on the keyboard)
I'm not sure which of the above is better, or just based on preference (wrist bearing weight seems a lot more difficult to be mobile on the keyboard to reach upper # buttons).
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Coming from FPS's, I generally still have my hand on WASD. Number keys are very close by and I still have instant access to warp gates, attack and stop (although I don't use stop all that often.) Ctrl is pressed with the area below my pinkey^^
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On November 04 2010 05:01 NeXiLe wrote: Coming from FPS's, I generally still have my hand on WASD. Number keys are very close by and I still have instant access to warp gates, attack and stop (although I don't use stop all that often.) Ctrl is pressed with the area below my pinkey^^ ya same ^___^
Because of this I will never be able to be pr0w like all the rts pr0s that can use #s 1-10 on their keyboard.
I can only use 1-4, 5 is stretching it.
In FPS 1 is your main gun. 2 is your side arm. 3 is your nife. 4 is your flashbang/grenade.
Rarely do you go pass that.

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On November 04 2010 05:01 NeXiLe wrote: Coming from FPS's, I generally still have my hand on WASD. Number keys are very close by and I still have instant access to warp gates, attack and stop (although I don't use stop all that often.) Ctrl is pressed with the area below my pinkey^^
W-A-S-D is really really bad. You almost completely waste your ring and middile fingers. You also limit access to the right side of the keyboard (especially 6,7,8) and your fingers 'idle' either with a really steep arch over a,w/s,d or you have to move your wrist to go for the numbers. Your thumb is also hard to idle near/over v,b. WASD positioning is also really bad for some combos, for example 5sd5sd5sd5sd or 4sd (which I'm not a fan of to begin with) for making drones at your hatcheries requires you to hit the # with your index finger then s with your middle then d with your index. With a shifted hand positioning I can hit 5 with index, s with ring, and d with middle for a very fast key combination.
It takes literally maybe 15-20 games to adjust reasonably well to a shifted position. I highly recommend you force yourself to do it. And you can even do it vs AI so you don't have to lose ladder points.
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I keep my (left) hand on ASDF. It is in the middle of (most) every hotkey for the game.I use 3 for my nexus because E (for Probe) and Chronoboost (C) is right under it. 4 for Robo bay, 5 for Stargate, 1 for Main army, 2 for casters (or other important units). Shift and control are hit by my pinky. I got into diamond using this, maybe it will help you! Also, there are some great finger control exercises I can link you to if you want. Any other questions feel free to PM.
-PandaBlunt
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@ Logo
Very good post. I guess the easy way to name this would be E-S-D-F so that it's easier to remember the position?
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On November 04 2010 05:19 MaliciousOne wrote: @ Logo
Very good post. I guess the easy way to name this would be E-S-D-F so that it's easier to remember the position?
It might be, but it's not really accurate because that implies you keep your fingers over esdf while you really want to be focusing on keeping your fingers over the # keys as much as possible. Sure as zerg (especially) you may have a finger more naturally over s due to how often you press it, but even then it's still an exception more than anything (and it may be more ideal to neutral it on 2). F/E especially are hotkeys that don't deserve a neutral finger for zerg and Terran as they don't even correspond to anything particularly important.
Just make sure you understand that while you might call it e-s-d-f that's not actually where you're idling your fingers and you want your wrist and fingers to be in a position where they have their low arch and comfortable rest when held over the # keys so you don't need to move your wrist often.
Basically to me for hotkeys and hand positioning I'm trying to solve the following in order...
1. How can I gain access to the hotkeys I need to hit. 2. How can I reduce the amount of distance I need to move my fingers. 3. How can I reduce the amount of movement in my wrist. 4. How can I create the best cycles of fingers so that I don't reuse the same finger too quickly (5sd being all different fingers rather than index-middle-index for example). This is meant to allow time for my finger to get in position on the next key I want to hit with it before I actually need to hit it. 5. How can I position my hand to be accurate in hitting all of the keys. 6. How can I be comfortable while doing all of the above
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I was going to make a post with pictures regarding this topic when I got banned but wasted my ban on mass gaming lol...
I'm not the best but my mechanics are pretty up par there (around 136 apm in SC 2, uses Terran) Usually the right way to ctrl+1 group is either: use your pinky for both shift+ctrl then index finger on the numbers from 1 to 3. or if you're like flash+jaedong you can use your pinky for both shift+ctrl and I have no idea how they do it.
do not use your thumb, in ctrl-grouping 1-2-3. this is a pretty terrible practice since you're limiting your fingers to doing other stuff (see an episode in Day[9] about keyboard mechanics)
from here on out, use your index/middle finger for 4 to 0 keys then force yourself/practice this until you get a feel for it. use these two (index/middle/ring) for the usuall "A" "S" "F" "G" "Q" "W" "E"
if ever you press from ctrl 8 to 0 usually I use the ring finger for "S" then if you want to ctrl the 8 to 0. use the right ctrl key.
Thumb should be pressing on the following keys "V" "Z" "M" "B" "N" "SPACEBAR" etc.
anyway that's how things go for a terran user like me
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I'm not that great a player (somewhere in Plat), but I'm very comfortable with my keyboard hand. I type with an average of 95WPM over a few minutes, with bursts into 110++. Not the greatest SC2 player, but I can click my keyboard pretty quickly.
My advice: keep your fingers curled like you're playing piano, keep your hand high + fingers curled. Hold your hand on the home row to reach everything fairly easily. Sit with fairly good posture and in an ergonomic position.
I typically plant my pinky on the A or shift key and my thumb in the middle of the keyboard. Ring/Middle/Index stay over SDFG. It's also nice to keep your pinky on the A key so that when you move your hand back to the middle it ends up in the right place instead of a key over.
I hold my pinky on A so I can reach up to the 7 key comfortable without having to move my hand, can stretch to reach 8/9 and only have to move my hand to hit 0. It's also really easy to drop my pinky down to shift and control.
For numbers, I usually use 1-2: ring finger 3-4: middle finger 5-0: index finger but if I'm going quickly and my hand moves around, I use whatever finger is closest/most comfortable.
Try holding your hand so it can move around the keyboard quickly and do typing speed tests where your left hand has to press everything up to 6YHN or even 7UJM to get it used using more of the keyboard fast.
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On November 04 2010 05:30 Licmyobelisk wrote: (see an episode in Day[9] about keyboard mechanics)
could you pls link me? :3
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Since I use 3 army control-groups I always have ring-middle-index positioned over 1-3
What I was wondering, how do you produce zealots/templars (Z/T) with protoss? I've gotten used to using the middle finger for W(arpgate) and then the thumb for Z/T because this way I can immediately go back to my main army with the ring finger on 1 afterwards. How do you do it? Does anybody hit Z/T with index? I simply can't handle holding shift with pinky and stretching with the index to Z/T, but would be curious if anybody does it.
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Your keyboard has a different layout than US keyboards where z is on the bottom left I think. None the less do you have tiny hands or a big keyboard? I have larger than average hands so shift->y (same spot as your z) is not much of a stretch at all. For reference I can hit left shift+o with my pinky and index finger.
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My advice: keep your fingers curled like you're playing piano, keep your hand high + fingers curled. Hold your hand on the home row to reach everything fairly easily. Sit with fairly good posture and in an ergonomic position.
This is what I do, and it works great. I will frequently have my hand a bit sideways though (with my fingers resting on/near ZSDT/5) to keep my fingers near 5-9 (hatcheries, then queens), T (mutalisks), D (drones), S (larva), and Z (zerglings). If I am doing more army control than macro, my fingers move up towards the number keys.
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A little bit off topic but i wanna ask if anyone got the videos from jaedong's hand placement ? all videos from the past were deleted ( youtube) :/
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In response to imperator-xy: Playing much and finding what fits you best is a good idea, however it's also good to check what good players use. Because you can find yourself in a position where you have been playing for 2 years and you have a less than optimal setup, now all of a sudden it has become a bad habit and a lot harder to get rid of since you are used to it.
Just food for thought.
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On November 04 2010 06:21 Logo wrote: Your keyboard has a different layout than US keyboards where z is on the bottom left I think. None the less do you have tiny hands or a big keyboard? I have larger than average hands so shift->y (same spot as your z) is not much of a stretch at all. For reference I can hit left shift+o with my pinky and index finger.
Ah, sorry for confusion, yes obviously Z/Y is switched for me - nice catch btw, haven't thought of that
Dunno if I have a big keyboard but I have definitely small hands (pain for piano-playing as well), I can't even hit left shift + i let alone o with pinky and index; left shift + u is the best I can do and therefore left shift + Z/Y "feels not right"
Before anybody states the obvious: of course nobody should switch away from something he is very comfortable with...I was just asking out of pure interest.
EDIT: Did anybody of you who came from other RTS also have problems with the protoss warpgate macro? Reason: shift; I have NEVER used shift when producing units, I have always queued my buildings to something like 5-0 and produce with 5+hotkey, 6+hotkey etc. where my left hand slided to the middle....now with warpgate tech I'm FORCED to also hold shift with the pinky for more efficiency....tbh I felt like a complete RTS noob at my first tries.
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On November 04 2010 08:02 sleepingdog wrote:Show nested quote +On November 04 2010 06:21 Logo wrote: Your keyboard has a different layout than US keyboards where z is on the bottom left I think. None the less do you have tiny hands or a big keyboard? I have larger than average hands so shift->y (same spot as your z) is not much of a stretch at all. For reference I can hit left shift+o with my pinky and index finger. Ah, sorry for confusion, yes obviously Z/Y is switched for me - nice catch btw, haven't thought of that Dunno if I have a big keyboard but I have definitely small hands (pain for piano-playing as well), I can't even hit left shift + i let alone o with pinky and index; left shift + u is the best I can do and therefore left shift + Z/Y "feels not right" Before anybody states the obvious: of course nobody should switch away from something he is very comfortable with...I was just asking out of pure interest.
i also cant even hit left shift + i, my keyboard isnt big my hands are just kinda small, kinda rly small xD
i seem to keep my ring middle and index on 123 and use thumb for ctrl Z/S and pinky on shift
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i also have very small hands. to practise i type with just the left hand daily. i also practise hotkeys in a word document.
i.e 3is sentrys and 2 is stalkers, example:
3f3g3f3g3f3g3f3g3f3g3f3g3f3g3f3g 2b2b2b2b22b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b2b22b
anyway over time it will just be automatic to what will work best for you naturally.
hope that helps ; )
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Use grid layout. Makes everything ridiculously simple. Manually change commands like attack or burrow if you find their position awkward.
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Grid layout is kinda bad.
You have your hotkey stuff on 1-6 while unit abilities are on the lowest row and in awkward spots like z,x,c. For zerg there's also overlap for zerg with hatchery stuff and larva units. So you can quite easily research hatchery stuff when you want to build units but have 0 larva.
Just do something like 1z and see how awkward/far it is compared to 1b (blink).
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On November 04 2010 11:38 Logo wrote: Grid layout is kinda bad.
You have your hotkey stuff on 1-6 while unit abilities are on the lowest row and in awkward spots like z,x,c. For zerg there's also overlap for zerg with hatchery stuff and larva units. So you can quite easily research hatchery stuff when you want to build units but have 0 larva.
Just do something like 1z and see how awkward/far it is compared to 1b (blink).
I like grid for terran, nice to have building on 1-4 and units on 5, 6. Easy access to attack move and hold, also easy acess to all unit hotkeys. z, x, c arent that out of the way, you are pretty used to hitting them if you are a WoW player.
For Zerg and Protoss though, absolutely hate grid hotkeys for different reasons. Zerg for overlap, and for protoss their standard hotkeys seem more intuitive to me.
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ok thanks all :3 you have been very helpfull to me :D
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Well , as I've always played FPS games my hand is like lying so nice on WASD for some reason...
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United States17042 Posts
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On November 04 2010 05:03 Vz0 wrote:Show nested quote +On November 04 2010 05:01 NeXiLe wrote: Coming from FPS's, I generally still have my hand on WASD. Number keys are very close by and I still have instant access to warp gates, attack and stop (although I don't use stop all that often.) Ctrl is pressed with the area below my pinkey^^ ya same ^___^ Because of this I will never be able to be pr0w like all the rts pr0s that can use #s 1-10 on their keyboard. I can only use 1-4, 5 is stretching it. In FPS 1 is your main gun. 2 is your side arm. 3 is your nife. 4 is your flashbang/grenade. Rarely do you go pass that. 
i'm from an FPS, and it takes about 1 day or 2 to get used to using more than 5 on a keyboard.
5 is my hatchery, every queen i get afterwards is 6,7,8,9,0 (most i've had is that many queen teams).
u're just lazy 
ps. in FPS games you use E for lightning gun, q for Railgun. 1 2 3 4 are just normal, F is rocket launcher...
yuh, i'm talking about the only real FPS game ever - Quake.
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On November 10 2010 07:42 EsX_Raptor wrote:I can't believe this picture is still out there lol + Show Spoiler + Lol did you find this from SFW funny pictures :D ?! Made my day.
+ Show Spoiler +I'm expecting this is not normal position for hand- at all!
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what you do is this... go buy a razer naga, and then you can use all keybindings with your thumb on your mouse 1 through 0, and you can keep your fingers on w,a,s,d, ctrl, space, etc.
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On November 04 2010 11:38 Logo wrote: Grid layout is kinda bad.
You have your hotkey stuff on 1-6 while unit abilities are on the lowest row and in awkward spots like z,x,c. For zerg there's also overlap for zerg with hatchery stuff and larva units. So you can quite easily research hatchery stuff when you want to build units but have 0 larva.
Just do something like 1z and see how awkward/far it is compared to 1b (blink).
Yes, grid is pretty bad, even if you ignore the attack=t problem (too many years of rts gaming using a to attack for me to ever get used to grid). I'm hoping and praying that when the implement customizable keys, that they also let you move stuff around on the grid, so you can set up a grid layout that has better positions.
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