• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 19:25
CEST 01:25
KST 08:25
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
Maestros of the Game: Week 1/Play-in Preview9[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt2: Take-Off7[ASL20] Ro24 Preview Pt1: Runway132v2 & SC: Evo Complete: Weekend Double Feature4Team Liquid Map Contest #21 - Presented by Monster Energy9
Community News
Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw?32Weekly Cups (Aug 18-24): herO dethrones MaxPax6Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris46Weekly Cups (Aug 11-17): MaxPax triples again!15Weekly Cups (Aug 4-10): MaxPax wins a triple6
StarCraft 2
General
Heaven's Balance Suggestions (roast me) Speculation of future Wardii series Weekly Cups (August 25-31): Clem's Last Straw? Geoff 'iNcontroL' Robinson has passed away #1: Maru - Greatest Players of All Time
Tourneys
LiuLi Cup - September 2025 Tournaments Sea Duckling Open (Global, Bronze-Diamond) Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament Maestros of The Game—$20k event w/ live finals in Paris Monday Nights Weeklies
Strategy
Custom Maps
External Content
Mutation # 489 Bannable Offense Mutation # 488 What Goes Around Mutation # 487 Think Fast Mutation # 486 Watch the Skies
Brood War
General
ASL20 General Discussion Starcraft at lower levels TvP BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ BW General Discussion Victoria gamers
Tourneys
[Megathread] Daily Proleagues Is there English video for group selection for ASL [ASL20] Ro24 Group F [IPSL] CSLAN Review and CSLPRO Reimagined!
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Muta micro map competition Fighting Spirit mining rates [G] Mineral Boosting
Other Games
General Games
General RTS Discussion Thread Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Warcraft III: The Frozen Throne Nintendo Switch Thread Mechabellum
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
TL Mafia Community Thread Vanilla Mini Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine Canadian Politics Mega-thread YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
The Happy Fan Club!
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread Movie Discussion! [Manga] One Piece [\m/] Heavy Metal Thread
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion TeamLiquid Health and Fitness Initiative For 2023
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread High temperatures on bridge(s) Gtx660 graphics card replacement
TL Community
The Automated Ban List TeamLiquid Team Shirt On Sale
Blogs
A very expensive lesson on ma…
Garnet
hello world
radishsoup
Lemme tell you a thing o…
JoinTheRain
How Culture and Conflict Imp…
TrAiDoS
RTS Design in Hypercoven
a11
Evil Gacha Games and the…
ffswowsucks
INDEPENDIENTE LA CTM
XenOsky
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 821 users

Question about hotkeys

Blogs > IlIlIlIl
Post a Reply
IMoperator
Profile Joined October 2011
4476 Posts
November 12 2011 10:23 GMT
#1
Whenever I see pros play or hear discussions about hotkeys, I notice that they all have relatively the same ones. 1 2 3 are all army and then 4/5 is CC/Nexus/Hatches and then production buildings are the others. I am just wondering what is the point of putting your army on the first 3 keys? I find that armies aren't very "keyboard heavy" compared to production.
Here's the hotkeys I use:
1 - rax
2 - cc
3 - factories (early game I use this for scout)
4 - starport
5-0 army

I know that hotkeys are a comfort thing, but what's the logic behind putting your army on the left hand side when all you really need to press is a?

*
Dalguno
Profile Blog Joined January 2011
United States2446 Posts
November 12 2011 10:29 GMT
#2
You can keep all army production buildings on one hotkey, and tab through each to make units. Barracks+tab goes to factory, etc.

Army is usually on the first 4(ish) because it generally works best on the hand, for most people. If you can stretch 5-0 for it, that's awesome.
"I'm gonna keep making drones cause I'm a baller, and ballers make drones." -Snute
Kyhol
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
Canada2575 Posts
November 12 2011 10:53 GMT
#3
5a6a7a8a9a0a
1a2a3a
4ddaaaaaaaaa 1ddddaaaaa

To an extent it's about comfort . In general it's about organisation while maximizing efficiency. Simply, you need to press keys fast. So what is faster? 1a2a3a or 5a6a7a8a9a. A reasonable answer would be neither. It's about what you practice and the amount of time you spend pressing set hotkeys. You could have the most disorganized hotkeys in SC2 and still be a beast because you simply practiced them enough to have your hands move at an optimal speed.

I personally like to keep them very basic and organized, that way I can easily be able to locate the keys all game long in tense situations. I have practiced my keys so often that I could play blindfolded and maintain the same apm, I feel comfortable in doing so. The comfort was developed through practice.

Basically find the most efficient hotkeys and practice your ass off with them, or stick to a bad set group of hotkeys but master them. Either way, it's about the speed at which you can hit them not the placement.

My hotkeys
1 2 3 army 4567 buildings 89 still finding out 0 CC
easy to locate, hard to master.
Wishing you well.
Kyhol
Profile Blog Joined October 2008
Canada2575 Posts
November 12 2011 11:13 GMT
#4
"I find that armies aren't very "keyboard heavy" compared to production. "
I can press 1a2a3a in less than 1 second, so think about it like this. 1a2a3a( 1-2 second) and my army has been moved, from there I keep scrolling through my hotkeys while making sure I have my money managed to the proper hotkeys, 4ddddaa(1-2 seconds) 5sss ( 1-2 second ) 6ddvv ( 1-2 second ).
In the span of time I just calculated it took, at worst, 8 seconds to push 21 keyboard hotkeys and then include the respective clicks from the mouse clicks, which would be 6. In 8 seconds you have hit 27 individual motions.

Can you see where it could get confusing if half your shit was on the other side of the keyboard? Gotta be fast bra
Wishing you well.
achristes
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
Norway653 Posts
November 12 2011 16:41 GMT
#5
I'm zerg so I don't know if my keys really matter to you but I use;
1-3 Army
4 Hatcheries
5 Queens
6 Evo's
7-0 Can't really reach them so they are rarely used

If I play terran (I suck at terran BTW) I use;
1-3 Army
4 CC/OC/PF
5 Rax
6 Fac
7 Port
8-0 Generally nothing ^^
youtube.com/spooderm4n | twitch.tv/spooderm4n | Random videos and games I feel like uploading
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 35m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
SpeCial 26
StarCraft: Brood War
Britney 15396
Artosis 721
Aegong 44
sSak 28
NaDa 19
yabsab 6
Super Smash Bros
hungrybox353
Other Games
summit1g5849
Grubby2163
FrodaN1091
shahzam736
C9.Mang0358
Trikslyr136
Livibee128
Mew2King65
ViBE63
JuggernautJason36
Maynarde35
Nathanias27
rGuardiaN19
Kaelaris11
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick449
BasetradeTV14
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 19 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• Berry_CruncH122
• davetesta65
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• sooper7s
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Migwel
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
StarCraft: Brood War
• Pr0nogo 2
• STPLYoutube
• sM.Zik 0
• ZZZeroYoutube
• BSLYoutube
Dota 2
• masondota22626
League of Legends
• Doublelift5897
• TFBlade582
Other Games
• Scarra1099
• imaqtpie965
Upcoming Events
Replay Cast
35m
The PondCast
10h 35m
RSL Revival
10h 35m
Maru vs SHIN
MaNa vs MaxPax
Maestros of the Game
17h 35m
Classic vs TriGGeR
Reynor vs SHIN
OSC
1d 3h
MaNa vs SHIN
SKillous vs ShoWTimE
Bunny vs TBD
Cham vs TBD
RSL Revival
1d 10h
Reynor vs Astrea
Classic vs sOs
Maestros of the Game
1d 17h
Serral vs Ryung
ByuN vs Zoun
BSL Team Wars
1d 19h
Team Bonyth vs Team Dewalt
CranKy Ducklings
2 days
RSL Revival
2 days
GuMiho vs Cham
ByuN vs TriGGeR
[ Show More ]
Cosmonarchy
2 days
TriGGeR vs YoungYakov
YoungYakov vs HonMonO
HonMonO vs TriGGeR
Maestros of the Game
2 days
Solar vs Bunny
Clem vs Rogue
[BSL 2025] Weekly
2 days
RSL Revival
3 days
Cure vs Bunny
Creator vs Zoun
Maestros of the Game
3 days
Maru vs Lambo
herO vs ShoWTimE
BSL Team Wars
3 days
Team Hawk vs Team Sziky
Sparkling Tuna Cup
4 days
Monday Night Weeklies
4 days
Liquipedia Results

Completed

CSL Season 18: Qualifier 2
SEL Season 2 Championship
HCC Europe

Ongoing

Copa Latinoamericana 4
BSL 20 Team Wars
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 3
BSL 21 Qualifiers
ASL Season 20
CSL 2025 AUTUMN (S18)
Maestros of the Game
Sisters' Call Cup
BLAST Open Fall Qual
Esports World Cup 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall 2025
BLAST Bounty Fall Qual
IEM Cologne 2025
FISSURE Playground #1
BLAST.tv Austin Major 2025

Upcoming

LASL Season 20
2025 Chongqing Offline CUP
BSL Season 21
BSL 21 Team A
Chzzk MurlocKing SC1 vs SC2 Cup #2
RSL Revival: Season 2
EC S1
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
MESA Nomadic Masters Fall
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22
StarSeries Fall 2025
FISSURE Playground #2
BLAST Open Fall 2025
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.