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So I’m a 29 year old American who’s been playing SC since it came out. I didn’t have internet connection as a kid so I never used the multiplayer.. In fact I never used to use BW.. I would play the original with myself vs 7 comps and try to survive using codes. I had a blast doing it.
So a couple years ago I happen to come across a preview for starcraft 2 …which led me to youtube to find more....which led me to HDstarcraft..which led me to Huskystarcraft.. and ultimately led me to here.
I started to play online… Not even knowing about Iccup I’d just go to USeast on battle.net….. boy…I had no idea I was this bad at the game… When I first logged on I was arrogant.. of course having played against 3 or 4 comps with no codes and being able to build a solid wall with terran.. leaving me free to slowly build a fleet of battle cruisers…keep in mind I never used to play broodwar.. lurkers.. wtf was that?.. medic? C’mon overrated.. I don’t want a woman in my army
After watching Husky cast the pro-korean scene I started to fall in love with BW on a whole new level.. I installed the expansion pack and started to learn all the new (to me) units. I recruited my Brother-in-law to play some LAN games with me.. a couple of 25-26 year olds sitting at the kitchen table playing starcraft.. what’s cooler than that?
When I’d play online I was scared to play 1v1.. mostly because when I’d play 3v3 people online were a$*h0L3s and would get so angry at me when I’d try somehting other than the standard rush builds everyone does… god forbid I go for fast nukes.. jeez.. you don’t have to just quit and call me a “f’n noob”..
Then one day I went onto Iccup.. Hey.. this guy wished me good luck.. that was nice of him….
I wouldn’t play much 1v1 because I’d get so amped up.. I mean to me it was personal.. if I lost I would be ruined. “I shouldn’t be losing I’ve been playing since like 99… why are these guys so friggin good”.
Then.. I read about some using hotkeys…”what the hell is a hotkey.. is he hacking?”
That’s right.. I’d been playing years not touching the keyboard other than to type… I could actually hold a D ranking on ICCUP w/o touching the keyboard
Mostly because I knew cheesey quick build orders like 1 base lurker and getting fast DTs… Proxy gates.. why not?!?
I average 70 APM with no keyboard.. I started to take pride in it… I created a hanlde ‘idontusehotkeys’ and would tell people if they asked me why that I only had one arm..
I just got SC2… and I told myself when I got this game I would relearn the game.. I would force myself to use hotkeys…
My problem is.. I fumble all around.. I’m one of those guys who can type 60WPM but with only 3 fingers.. total.. from both hands.
My eyes need to be on the keyboard to type effectively.. so trying to use hotkeys with one hand and multiple fingers.. while not looking at the keyboard is a giant struggle for me.. I have to re-learn everything..
I don’t even know the keys to press.. I know that shift saves commands almost like a que.. and that I can create a control group of units or buildings.. but I don’t know the shortcuts for building or the units…
So here goes.. I’m going to try it out.. My first goal.. get top ten in my bronze league with hotkey use…
 
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You should start using hotkeys dawg.
keep your left pinky on CTRL and start to learn the positions from there.
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70 apm no keyboard is pretty legit
good luck learning hotkeys!
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Calgary25977 Posts
No advice, just wanted to let you know I rarely read Blogs to completion and that I liked your story 
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lol'd at the "I have only one arm"-story only so that you can hide the "dirty" truth 
Maybe you don't know that already, there is an option to display the hotkeys in-game. It will show the key in the corner of each icon and should be pretty helpful.
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Isn't 60 WPM a bit slow? I forget...
In any case, you can set the hotkeys to what you want and to be honest, learning hotkeys is a stairway of learning. Don't try and learn everything at once and divide the steps of learning by categories: 1. Essentials (or commonly used keys [like making larvae -> S then D, Queen Inject -> V]) 2. Then start with hotkeys in battles (Burrow, Fungal Growth) and go from there, don't move on until you master the one before.
And before you know it, you'll be reaching for that stupid fucking I key for the infestation pit!
Don't worry, hotkeys isn't a bitch to learn, but it's like riding a bike, one pedal follows the other and eventually you cycle faster than the wind!
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Just get comfortable with a keyboard. Train yourself to touch type first. If you type faster WPM, you will naturally get higher APM in Starcraft. It's just a general familiarity with the keyboard. Also, listen to Day[9]'s stuff on mechanics. Helps with hand positions on the keyboard.
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lol'd at the "I have only one arm"-story only so that you can hide the "dirty" truth
hahah so true
I did not know they showed you the hotkeys Cope.. helpful hint
Torte.. 60 maybe slow.. to be honest that's what I remember from having to test it in highschool.. which was 11 years ago..so I may actaully be a bit faster now. Maybe there's a place online to test it.. just for curiosity purposes
I'll take your advice.. not moving on... it's so easy just to quit using them when I'm in trouble or rushed.. it's a mental thing.. I need to force myself.
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On February 11 2011 01:40 Ignorant prodigy wrote:Show nested quote +lol'd at the "I have only one arm"-story only so that you can hide the "dirty" truth hahah so true I did not know they showed you the hotkeys Cope.. helpful hint Torte.. 60 maybe slow.. to be honest that's what I remember from having to test it in highschool.. which was 11 years ago..so I may actaully be a bit faster now. Maybe there's a place online to test it.. just for curiosity purposes I'll take your advice.. not moving on... it's so easy just to quit using them when I'm in trouble or rushed.. it's a mental thing.. I need to force myself.
Oh, you can quit during panicky states. Don't force yourself to ruin games just to learn hotkeys.
It comes in time. When things are slow and simple, use hotkeys. When things require more of your attention, don't bother with the hotkeys, you probably won't recall what you are learning to use anyways.
Steps man, steps
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Nope just took an online test.. deifnately still 60WPM ..
according to wiki the average professional typist reaches 50-70WPM
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On February 11 2011 01:42 Torte de Lini wrote:Show nested quote +On February 11 2011 01:40 Ignorant prodigy wrote:lol'd at the "I have only one arm"-story only so that you can hide the "dirty" truth hahah so true I did not know they showed you the hotkeys Cope.. helpful hint Torte.. 60 maybe slow.. to be honest that's what I remember from having to test it in highschool.. which was 11 years ago..so I may actaully be a bit faster now. Maybe there's a place online to test it.. just for curiosity purposes I'll take your advice.. not moving on... it's so easy just to quit using them when I'm in trouble or rushed.. it's a mental thing.. I need to force myself. Oh, you can quit during panicky states. Don't force yourself to ruin games just to learn hotkeys. It comes in time. When things are slow and simple, use hotkeys. When things require more of your attention, don't bother with the hotkeys, you probably won't recall what you are learning to use anyways. Steps man, steps
that's good.. because I don't think I'd win a game for a long time if I forced myself lol
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Oh, I'm only 80 WPM
Guess I was thinking of something else ):
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D on Iccup is respectable will get u into top 10 plat no prob!! GLGL
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On February 11 2011 01:50 Torte de Lini wrote:
Oh, I'm only 80 WPM
Guess I was thinking of something else ):
ONLY. 80 WordsPerMinute is around the 400 to 500 LettersPerMinute. Unless your confusing it with ActionsPerMinute.
Being able to type blind helps but isn't needed for SC2 as long as you know where the hotkeys are. After knowing their location with near perfect accuracy it's all about speed building.
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On February 11 2011 02:09 Nyxs wrote:Show nested quote +On February 11 2011 01:50 Torte de Lini wrote:
Oh, I'm only 80 WPM
Guess I was thinking of something else ): ONLY. 80 WordsPerMinute is around the 400 to 500 LettersPerMinute. Unless your confusing it with ActionsPerMinute. Being able to type blind helps but isn't needed for SC2 as long as you know where the hotkeys are. After knowing their location with near perfect accuracy it's all about speed building.
I did some cheap WPM test on this site. Said 80 with like 2 faults.
Oh wow, really? 400-500? Guess I'm a fast typer ;D! Too bad it doesn't translate into good gaming on SC2 ):
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lol don't sweat it man, i think i read somewhere there were pros who didnt' use hotkeys too =]
...can't remember though. Just whatever makes you comfortable.
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let's not turn this into a wpm thread; a lot of people on TL type way over 100 WPM, some even over 150, but it shouldn't* correlate with sc/sc2 skill
i liked your blog :-) personally when i go about learning hotkeys (building-wise) for a brand new game (for instance i started playing age of empires2 a while back), i just find the things i click the most, and spend a second to mouseover and see what the hotkey is. then i just focus on that one hotkey (sometimes i learn more than one in a game) for that game. and i just keep on adding to this. the progression goes something like worker hotkey -> basic militia -> any farm/supply type of building -> necessary upgrades -> etc
eventually you just pick most of them up. some i still don't know to this day, even in sc1 (rare researches like scout range for example)
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On February 11 2011 02:21 JeeJee wrote:
let's not turn this into a wpm thread; a lot of people on TL type way over 100 WPM, some even over 150, but it shouldn't* correlate with sc/sc2 skill
i liked your blog :-) personally when i go about learning hotkeys (building-wise) for a brand new game (for instance i started playing age of empires2 a while back), i just find the things i click the most, and spend a second to mouseover and see what the hotkey is. then i just focus on that one hotkey (sometimes i learn more than one in a game) for that game. and i just keep on adding to this. the progression goes something like worker hotkey -> basic militia -> any farm/supply type of building -> necessary upgrades -> etc
eventually you just pick most of them up. some i still don't know to this day, even in sc1 (rare researches like scout range for example)
150 is crazy sick lol but yea some people are crazy 
60 with 3 fingers is insanely fast
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On February 11 2011 02:21 JeeJee wrote:
let's not turn this into a wpm thread; a lot of people on TL type way over 100 WPM, some even over 150, but it shouldn't* correlate with sc/sc2 skill
i liked your blog :-) personally when i go about learning hotkeys (building-wise) for a brand new game (for instance i started playing age of empires2 a while back), i just find the things i click the most, and spend a second to mouseover and see what the hotkey is. then i just focus on that one hotkey (sometimes i learn more than one in a game) for that game. and i just keep on adding to this. the progression goes something like worker hotkey -> basic militia -> any farm/supply type of building -> necessary upgrades -> etc
eventually you just pick most of them up. some i still don't know to this day, even in sc1 (rare researches like scout range for example)
Thanks, that sounds like a good approach. One thing I practiced last time I played was just using the "A" for attack, I was so used to clicking a group of units, the attack icon, then a spot on the mini map.. by doing that I would have to right click on the map.. using the A key let me use the left click.. it felt so abnormal.
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Make a stream, I'd like to watch that. PrinceXiscor (sp) was trying something similar on his featured stream.
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Mario teaches typing ftw!!
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lol I'm trying to play with them and he's trying to play w/o them?! That's too funny
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if you've ever compared an fpvod of a progamer and an fpvod of an amateur, the biggest difference is always the mouse speed. Amateurs have very slow mouse speed which degrades by a considerable amount during middle and late game, especially during little skirmishes all over the map. Progamers incredibly fast mouse speed, which allows them to multitask. Far too much attention has been paid to hotkeys and not enough to mouse speed imo.
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wow 70 apm w/o a keyboard is pretty impressive
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YO i had the same problem~ I use 3 fingers per hand to type and i averaged 70-80 apm in bw with mainly my hand It took me about 1-2 months to get me used to using the keyboard but it helped a ton now that i use hotkeys so much more because your macro will get better and your management also gets alot better. How about you try playing the whole game without touching the small panel in the right hand corner? shouldnt be hard, since its Bronze league but even if you do fail at doing so, practice using hotkeys against the computers.
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Just updating my blog... My original computer couldn't handle the SC2 graphics even on Low so I wound up splurging last week on a custom built one.
It's been a struggle so far to say the least. I did terrible in my placement matches and lost the first 10 or so games I played..
I'm 28 wins and 31 losses right now and ranked 15th in my bronze league.
I have to admit more often than not I just find myself using the shift and control group my production facilities..not using the otherhotkeys as diligently as I want to.
i think part of my problem is i never get to play for more than a couple hours.. which makes getting into a rythm a problem.. especially with my 1 year old trying to climb stairs and falling off the couch while i'm being attacked lol
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gogo right hand fighting! :O how do u warp in enough units to form an army???/
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you mean when I cheat and don't use hotkeys?
I select my gateways (double clicking one to select all) select the unit I want to create from the bottom right selector.. hold shift and click a bunch of times anywhere powered by my pylon (warp prism)
If i don't hold shift i have to keep going back to the right and select a new unit.. that's very time consuming.. so I have become comfortable holding shift to warp in units...
but I do the same for every race.. I play as random
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alright, so I'm moving on up. Ranked 8th in my Silver league and I'm on a hot streak. I've won 7 straight.
not that 2v2 or 3v3 league placement means much but I'm Plat in 2v2 and Gold in 3v3.
Hoping to hit Gold in 1v1 by the end of the season!
![[image loading]](https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/221659_1696254641814_1101273780_31488257_3482758_n.jpg)
my hotkey useage is coming along.. still don't use them more often than not but I think what's helped more than anything is finding build orders that work for me. I play random and as Terran and Protoss I'm 63% win ratio.. I struggle as Zerg though
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new challenge: get D+ on iccup or masters' league without touching the keyboard
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Good thought.
As far as where the keys are yes I am familiar with them . If I don’t look at the keyboard and type I make quite a few more ‘fat fingered’ mistakes than if I look at it.. thing is when I look at it it’s not like I’m searching for keys as much as I just do a blank stare at the middle of the keyboard.
I think the issue is I don’t hold my hands over the keys like they teach you in school. Since I only use 4 fingers (3 from my right and 1 from my left) it becomes interesting when I start jabbing for keys with my left hand alone.. especially w/o looking. Considering I’m right handed and use the mouse with my right.. typing with just my left becomes significantly slower and sloppier when playing starcraft.
I’ve been doing it for my whole life this way and I think that’s why learning hotkeys has been such an issue for me.
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i read this while switching between being appalled and awed
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i'll take that as a compliment
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Well after the ladder's unlocked it promoted me to gold. Then I lost 7 straight.. whoops.
My new goal is to hit Platinum before this season ends. My hotkey usage.. well… lack there of.
Still only using control group 1 for production buildings and holding shift for commands.. the rest is all mouse play.
Two things I’m having issues with and need to start improving on.. micro and better zerg play.
Yesterday TVT I tried to capitalize on my opponent only getting 3 marines and going fast starport. I walked up his ramp with 6 marines before his bunker finished and killed off his marines.. then he brought all his SCVs to the fight.. but I couldn’t micro well enough to kill them.. they were winning the fight. It made me feel terrible. I had the game basically won but could not pull it off.. he wound up winning that game and I was so far ahead… TVT used to be my best match up.. I was like 80% win ratio.. it’s dropped to 65% or so.. and still falling
The lower level zerg’s in bronze and silver could be beaten pretty easily.. Now I can’t beat Zerg for crap. I think I’ve lost like 10 straight games against zerg. Muta/Ling/infestor/broodlords aarrgg.
Roach Hyrda no problem.. unless it’s zvz then It’s a race to who can get the most roaches.. so lame.
Protoss has now become my best race to play with.. only PvP I'm so tired of seeing 4 gate... 1 base play all day for these people
Need to seriously improve in those area’s. I think the good news it every game’s a challenge now.. whereas before I would almost always win if I didn’t make stupid mistakes.. now even if I don’t make mistakes I could lose
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Don't know if anyone is even following my blog but....Promoted to Platinum last night! woo hoo!
Went from Bronze to Plat in 1v1 in less than 250 games total. I'm hoping to hit diamond in less than 400. Here goes!
Zerg is still my weakest race but I've started to find strats that are working. If I can keep improving my Z I should be good.. I feel my T and P are progressing well!
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Congraaaaaats!!!
Sounds like you've definitely improved and stepped up your game over the last 4 months :D Keep it up! I'll be rooting
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Any story that Chill approves of is worth reading. I'll be watching for your inevitable promotion to Master's in the future! (^_^)
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This blog was pretty inspirational :D
I'm around that level, feel free to PM me if you want some practice games!
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This blog motivates me. :D Never give up trying! Good to hear that you're doing fine!
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Almost a year later and I finally broke into Diamond!
I’m using A for attack.. which has drastically improved my “micro”
Control grouping my buildings (never my units though)
Using ctrl to grab all like units (most of the time I find it easier to double click though)
Using shift que religiously
Hitting ctrl+f1 to grab idle workers
But that’s all I’m using the keyboard for… still selecting which buildings to build and which units to produce by clicking the display on the bottom right. And still click the display to use casters’ abilities. Which makes fungals/forcefields and EMP very hard..Injects also suffer quite a bit for it
Getting yelled at a lot by my peers to use more hotkeys.. but the fact I started using “A” for attack is a big deal for me.
I’m trying real hard to incorporate “F” for forcefield.. but struggling with it.
I don’t think I can bridge the gap to Masters w/o using more hotkeys.. army management will become a big issue… macro especially for zerg will be a big hurdle with my current inject style. My APM isn’t terrible… I’m around 89 EAPM according to sc2gears. Higher when I play zerg for some reason.. Protoss being the lowest.
Since I was promoted I thought I’d update my blog!
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I didn't know about A-move for like 5 years of BW and Wc3.
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I found this story really interesting because I'm probably the complete opposite in terms of keyboard use.
I loved DOS and resisted Win 95 for as long as possible. I think I only started to use a Mouse in FPS games once Quake came out.
But Microsoft pretty much design all their applications to be able to be used entirely without the mouse. So I learned to use hotkeys for just about everything I could.
You're probably super accurate with the mouse, right?
Best of luck picking those hotkeys up!
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So my first post was Feb 11th 2011. I know that’s old and I shouldn’t be upping old posts… but
On Apr 11th 2013 I made Master! Woo hoo.
Over 2 full years of playing random on Ladder and I managed to get into Masters with using very few hotkeys. I very rarely cheese on ladder… but the reputation of random players is to cheese so I often get cheesed myself. I’ve become ok at holding cheese… and some of my builds are outside the norm.. for example I open 2 gates before core into expand in PvZ… I do rely a bit on people not knowing the correct reaction to the unique builds I won’t lie.
Whatever the race I tend to play turtle into massive armies.. mostly because harassment taxes my slow play a bit too much and my macro slips.. also I shy away from spell casters for the most part.. Raven/ HT and Siege tanks really are about all the units I use which require more than just ‘A move’
I average 90-120 APM according to SC2gears. Zerg is much higher.. but considering I literally click each unit I want to build..when I build 40 lings that’s 20 clicks right there! lol
I rely HEAVILY on shift que. Without shift que I don’t think I could get out of Gold.
My hot keys consist of “A” for attack and “CNTRL F1” in rare circumstances to grab idle workers. In early game if I’m protoss I will occasionally look down at my keyboard and press the F key to use forcefield.. but this is rare.
My control groups are:
Terran: 2 = Command centers; 1 = Production based on strat.. i.e. Barracks for Bio, Factories for Mech, Starports for Sky
Protoss: 2 = Nexuses; 1 = Warp gates
Zerg: 1 = Hatcheries
That’s about it. I use “Q” for push to talk if you wanna make that count lol
Maybe when Legacy of the Void comes out I will make a stronger push to use more hotkeys. Maybe.
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EPT
