How to Play Protoss
- At any point after you reach a certain tech path, you can either throw down a nexus and expand or throw down gateways and attack with your excess minerals
- Focus is always on one of 3 things: tech, units, or economy. Identify which area you need to focus on and dump ALL chronoboost into it. (i.e. +1 and warpgate for tech, gateways for units, and probes for economy)
- In the early game, every stalker made is one less upgrade, tech structure, or gateway
Mechanics
- Build buildings then F2/F3/F4 and shift-click on resources
- Always look at the minimap while making buildings or units
- When building units, look at money and supply
- Cycle through production while attacking (e.g. 5-6-7-5-6-7 once during a fight)
- Always keep your screen on your units when not macroing
Shift focus areas daily:
- Watching minimap
- Increasing APM
- Mouse accuracy
- Keeping money low
- Cycling through production
- Scouting
Maps and Strategy
- Map strategy - What is my strategy based on the layout and size of this map? Should I be aggressive or passive? Should I be looking to end the game before 3 or 4 bases or do I want to take it to a split-map scenario?
- Expansion layout - Where and how do I take my first 3 or 4 bases? Depending on my strategy, which bases will be best to take?
- Map tactics (topograhy) - Are there any map features to abuse? Where should my army be stationed in order to deal with pressure? Can I attack into certain areas or not based on choke points and ramps?
Late Game Mentality
- Macro game focus -Focus on playing macro styles that force you to test and push your multi-tasking and macro ability. This will allow you to get better at macro quickly so that you can focus on things like micro and strategy later.
- Standard play - Play "standard" macro builds that have many resources and pro replays/VoDs to look up. Not only are standard builds generally the most effective builds, but playing them allows you to improve your game sense and knowledge of timings faster. Once you feel comfortable playing standard games, it's okay to branch out into more unorthodox builds.
- Expansion advantage - Expansion management is at the core of SC2. If you ever get an expansion advantage, you are in the lead and you indirectly put pressure on your opponent to either attack or secure their own expansion else they risk falling behind.
- Marginal advantage - "When ahead, get more ahead." If you gain some kind of advantage (e.g. killing workers, getting a faster expansion, come out ahead in an engagement), you don't need to try anything risky. Most of the time, it's better to continue the game, doing your best to avoid mistakes, and allow your lead to marginally increase into a greater advantage.