• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 05:22
CET 11:22
KST 19:22
  • 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
RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners12
Community News
ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !8Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win4Weekly Cups (Dec 1-7): Clem doubles, Solar gets over the hump1Weekly Cups (Nov 24-30): MaxPax, Clem, herO win2BGE Stara Zagora 2026 announced15
StarCraft 2
General
When will we find out if there are more tournament ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career ! Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview Weekly Cups (Dec 1-7): Clem doubles, Solar gets over the hump
Tourneys
Winter Warp Gate Amateur Showdown #1 Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship RSL Offline Finals Info - Dec 13 and 14! Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 504 Retribution Mutation # 503 Fowl Play Mutation # 502 Negative Reinforcement Mutation # 501 Price of Progress
Brood War
General
BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ How Rain Became ProGamer in Just 3 Months FlaSh on: Biggest Problem With SnOw's Playstyle screp: Command line app to parse SC rep files [BSL21] RO8 Bracket & Prediction Contest
Tourneys
Small VOD Thread 2.0 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] WB SEMIFINALS - Saturday 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO8 - Day 2 - Sunday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Game Theory for Starcraft Current Meta Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Nintendo Switch Thread Mechabellum Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread PC Games Sales Thread Path of Exile
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
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Survivor II: The Amazon Sengoku Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread The Games Industry And ATVI YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
TL+ Announced Where to ask questions and add stream?
Blogs
The (Hidden) Drug Problem in…
TrAiDoS
I decided to write a webnov…
DjKniteX
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Thanks for the RSL
Hildegard
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 1398 users

hand positioning for macro and micro. - Page 2

Forum Index > Brood War Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 All
RHCPgergo
Profile Blog Joined June 2005
Hungary345 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-27 14:21:53
October 27 2011 14:21 GMT
#21
On October 27 2011 23:11 wishbones wrote:
Show nested quote +
On October 27 2011 06:34 ArvickHero wrote:
its awkward to have to use your pinky to press shift/ctrl at first, but after a bit you forget it ever being an inconvenience .. its the only way anyways unless you play lefty-style

ha so true, my left pinky is a gosu! the hands adjust to the need be positioning, just use guitar hero as example first try cant hit 3, then 4, then 5, then its easy, i never made it past 4. fuck the orange green button! nvm its orange. lulz. god..


My left pinky gets VERY tired when I try to use it... maybe I used my thumb for ctrl for way too long. I'm trying to change but it's hard...

Also, what fingers do you use as a zerg to macro from your hatches? Like 4sz5sd6sm7sh8so9su etc. It is really challenging for me to learn using the keyboard without looking, I often hit wrong keys on accident. Can anyone help me out? I've started practising a few days ago to improve my play.
Jerokar
Profile Blog Joined March 2011
Denmark83 Posts
October 27 2011 14:36 GMT
#22
On October 27 2011 09:15 CaffeineFree-_- wrote:
FPS style. WASD, pinky on shift thumb on space bar.

I hold my left hand like this too, while playing any PC game AND while typing.
"More gg, More skill." -WhiteRa
L_Master
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States8017 Posts
October 27 2011 15:10 GMT
#23
On October 27 2011 07:10 obis wrote:
sometime's it's even hard to keep in track of the mineral patches, like when an scv or worker just come's out and you have to assign him to a patch sometime's they all look full it's hard to tell. is it possible to just send him to the closest patch?


Yea, thats pretty much fine, especially once you already have more than 9 workers. For your first few it's probably not a bad idea to get in the habit of sending them to patches sequentially.

As far is the topic is concerned I basically have two hand positions. One is at the far right with my index on p; and then middle 0, ring 9, and pinky 8. Then the other is at the left for 1a2a3a. Actually, the way I hit 1a2a3a right now is terrible (middle finger for all 6-8 clicks), but I'm working on revamping and using pinky on 8 and the rest if the fingers for the 1,2,3,4. It should be a bit faster and significantly more accurate once I'm used to it. Right now its awkward as hell though.
EffOrt and Soulkey Hwaiting!
erikzbi
Profile Joined May 2011
China43 Posts
October 27 2011 15:18 GMT
#24
hello here,

I'm a zerg player. and my hotkey left hand is usually just the asdf.
when i macro though, i will release my right hand and my right hand will press 09876 or sometimes 5 and for each number i click(which is a hatchery) i press sh or sz or so for hydra, ling, or ovie. so it will be 0sh9sh8sh7sz6sz or sth like that
obis
Profile Joined September 2011
Canada98 Posts
October 27 2011 15:40 GMT
#25
i'm beginning to think that the FPS W A S D hand position is the real way to go, because it is the easiest i think.
duncan.mc
Profile Blog Joined July 2008
United States231 Posts
October 27 2011 16:45 GMT
#26
On October 28 2011 00:40 obis wrote:
i'm beginning to think that the FPS W A S D hand position is the real way to go, because it is the easiest i think.

I don't understand the reasoning behind WASD for BW. Most of the action is in the numbers and F-keys for me. They're how I get around the map so it's natural to already have my fingers there on the numbers. What benefit does WASD give?
djm858
dementrio
Profile Joined November 2010
678 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-27 17:09:40
October 27 2011 17:04 GMT
#27
You only need to be able to quickly find the F key with your index finger. On most keyboards the F key has a bump for that purpose. You should not try to keep your fingers on S,D,F while you stretch your pinky to reach control, rather keep your hand in a comfortable position and shift it to the left to find the control key. Or any other key. After that you return to the rest position by finding the F key with your index finger.

This is not "gaming" typing. Every kind of typing requires you to use control keys. What differs is that you only use one hand, so it does feel uncomfortable to reach for the right-hand keys; I personally think there's nothing wrong with looking at the keyboard when you have to; it's still going to be a lot faster than using the mouse.

edit: to give an idea, when you hit control+c your hand should look very much like when hitting a+f. It's just shifted southwest. There's no reason it should be uncomfortable.
fencer
Profile Joined October 2011
122 Posts
October 27 2011 19:26 GMT
#28
Do you people who are, say, C- or higher ever look at your keyboards? Or do you glance at it every now and then when you need to find a particular key just like us at the lower levels?
Disc Golf is Awesome! Thought I'd throw that out there =)
ArvickHero
Profile Blog Joined October 2007
10387 Posts
October 27 2011 19:31 GMT
#29
On October 28 2011 04:26 fencer wrote:
Do you people who are, say, C- or higher ever look at your keyboards? Or do you glance at it every now and then when you need to find a particular key just like us at the lower levels?

if you play long enough, the only time you'll be glancing down at the keyboard is when you're offracing or when you need to press the hotkey of some obscure thing you almost never make
Writerptrk
ninini
Profile Joined June 2010
Sweden1204 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-10-29 07:08:54
October 28 2011 05:51 GMT
#30
On October 27 2011 06:50 obis wrote:
i'm trying to practice but it's so frustrating always trying to use my pinkie and then stretching my other finger's to hit the number's. whatever i'm still learning new way's.

You shouldn't have to stretch that much, because there's two CTRL keys. I always set up my comsats to 9-0 with the right CTRL key. If you're Protoss you should macro from the right, which means you put your pinky on B and your thumb on the right SHIFT and CTRL keys.

The correct army setup is SHIFT, A, 2, 3 for the first 4 fingers I believe. On that positioning, you can type 1a2a3a4a (long,ring,long,ring,index,ring,index,ring) and assign hotkeys and shift select/drag etc without moving your palm. You also use that setup for Terran and Zerg construction of hatcheries, supply, factories etc, with the thumb on B/V.
shaggles
Profile Joined October 2011
Poland108 Posts
October 29 2011 21:46 GMT
#31
As a Zerg player I use controls 1-3 for units and 4-7(perhaps 8) for hatcheries, this results in following finger positioning:

A basic position: Thumb on space and ring middle and index on 1-2-3 (at start); Pinky on SHIFT key. My keyboard if quite far to the left.

Note that following movements are possible:
a) sliding pinky down to CTRL key for binding. Size of my hand allows me to reach with index finger for number keys up to 7, 7 being full span, this means that if I fully open my hand, I know, I am at nr 7
b) sliding right and up for S key. As all zerg production requires pressing s-key, you will in most cases do sth like number+s+letter, with the letter being H, M, U. The letters are in most cases pressed with index finger. Note, that in all cases the wrist is slightly up. Since I bind hatcheries at 4 - 7, I use middle finger for numbers (with an exception of 4 - ring finger). To quickly hatch units I ROTATE my wrist counterclockwise, and thats it.

For drones ofc you cannot use the same routine as D key is close to S and hand might be unstable while rotating. You first put your middle finger on D and then start using index on numbers, creating forth-and-back movement of hand.
For lings this goes little complicated: first you slide to S with ring(!) finger and rotate hand to put pinky on Z. Then index finger is used for 4-7 as necessary with forth-and-back hand movement.

This type of hand positioning is perhaps useful in situations where you have to micro constantly and reinforce without getting back to hatch area (I don't use F2-F4 a lot), and is suitable for early and midgame situations. The two drawbacks are:
a) overlords are outside the reach so you have to make up for it other way, and
b) since I mechanically use 4sh5sh6sh7sh routine I sometimes end with excessive scourge count or overlord sight developed

In the late game, when there are a lot more hatcheries then available bindings, you sometimes tend to make unit like mouse-drag (or ctrl-click larva) + letter key. As now only a single letter is required, you rotate hand and press M or O with index, U with middle and H with ring finger (note, that if your wrist is still where it was, an you just rotated the hand, and you have ring finger bent in half, it is correctly positioned, you dont have to look). You should then only take care of index finger pointing at M.

Attack was covered in ninini's post. For buildings you have to locate B key (with index finger) and then either
a)build Pool with pinky, Den and Extractor with ring finger Evo and Hatch with middle (note clockwise hand rotation), or
b) slide index finger to V for Spire or Defiler Mound, or
c) put middle on V for Nydus or Cavern

My opinion is that SHIFT, M and B key location along with practice of reaching S are most important for Zerg

Other keys:
C: index finger from basic position
A: ring finger from basic position A-2-D in basic position is the same as H-U-M in "late game position"
W: ring finger. You may prefer to keep Defilers in the control group 3 after this

Final note: A serious problem in this routine is "how to use burrow, hold and patrol with this hand positioning". First you may like to bind lurkers or mutas on 8 or 9 and shift hand, I cannot give advice on that. Since I usually keep mutas under "2" and lurkers under "1" controls, U and H keys are within hand size (As Ctrl-7 described earlier). But there must be better method.

I am not by any means pro-player. I just described what I do.
I play the Chess of Computer Age
Flamingo777
Profile Joined October 2010
United States1190 Posts
October 31 2011 02:13 GMT
#32
Zerg: SDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSDSD...; Index and ring fingers respectively...
Torenhire
Profile Blog Joined April 2009
United States11681 Posts
October 31 2011 03:53 GMT
#33
On October 27 2011 23:21 RHCPgergo wrote:

Also, what fingers do you use as a zerg to macro from your hatches? Like 4sz5sd6sm7sh8so9su etc. It is really challenging for me to learn using the keyboard without looking, I often hit wrong keys on accident. Can anyone help me out? I've started practising a few days ago to improve my play.


I use... index on 4/5/6
sz = middle s, ring z
sd = middle s, index d
sm = middle s, thumb m
sh = middle s, thumb h
so and su are middle/thumb as well.

I have an awkward hand position but that's what I use. I also have the problem as whoever it was on page 1 that my keyboard is kind of angled on my desk.
SirJolt: Well maybe if you weren't so big and stupid, it wouldn't have hit you.
gvb
Profile Joined March 2010
United States30 Posts
October 31 2011 17:47 GMT
#34
~140 APM Zerg here. Hope this helps, but I could probably improve this significantly.

5-0 hatches
1-4 units.

At the start of the game, I have my ring, middle, pointer on 3, 4, 5 in that order. 3 & 4 are my first Ovies and 5 is my first hatch. Scouting drone is 1.

For lings and drones, my pointer finger presses 5, 6, 7, 8, etc for the hatches while my ring finger and pinky hit the sd, sz.

For overlords and hydras, it's 5-s-h with my pointer, ring, and thumb.

For micro, I switch really far back to pointer on 1-4 and my thumb hitting the A key for a-moving.
tryummm
Profile Joined August 2009
774 Posts
November 01 2011 02:33 GMT
#35
I used to look for this in professional VODs when they would cut to players. They use all kinds of hand positions and generally I don't think it really matters what hand position you use. Anyways, hitting the keys should be comfortable and completely habitual to an SC player, unless you just picked the game up. In my opinion, just spamming 123123123123123 over and over again whenever you're not making effective actions will raise your eapm and make your more comfortable while playing. If you watch a youtube video titles "APM Demonstration" about SC Professionals you will see they do this. This idea is reinforced by footage of the professional SCBW practice houses by Artosis, FPViews during broadcasted games, B.Net attacks, and watching players warmup before the game.


Also, just practice hitting ctrl+1,2,3,etc.. before games or when on forums, etc.

So, despite how pestimistic some people are about spam, there is a strong argument that the best players in the world do spam during their games and you will see an increase in your APM (And not just while spamming). I guarantee it.
sluggaslamoo
Profile Blog Joined November 2009
Australia4494 Posts
Last Edited: 2011-11-01 06:37:54
November 01 2011 06:37 GMT
#36
If that's the case use your thumb and press CTRL on the right side of the keyboard instead

Blackman I think used patrol instead of attack as well and had his units on 67890.
Come play Android Netrunner - http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=409008
CaucasianAsian
Profile Blog Joined September 2005
Korea (South)11586 Posts
November 01 2011 18:11 GMT
#37
On November 01 2011 15:37 sluggaslamoo wrote:
If that's the case use your thumb and press CTRL on the right side of the keyboard instead

Blackman I think used patrol instead of attack as well and had his units on 67890.


The majority of protoss players do that., since p(probe) is on the other side of the keyboard
Calendar@ Fish Server: `iOps]..Stark
FlaShFTW
Profile Blog Joined February 2010
United States10252 Posts
November 01 2011 20:07 GMT
#38
I play Terran and Protoss so I have two hand positions but they both become one position getting into mid game.
Protoss: pinkie to index on 7-0 with thumb on space bar. I use a 0 hotkey on nexus and 9 hotkey on scout so I can insta make probes and stuff. And when I need to build something, my hand pivots so the pinkie hits the B button while my hand still rests on the 8-0. This allows for easy pylon making.

Terran: Thumb on S key while index-ring 1-3. Beginning to try and incorporate pinkie on shift, but its really hard!!!
Writer#1 KT and FlaSh Fanboy || Woo Jung Ho Never Forget || Teamliquid Political Decision Desk
TL+ Member
ArcTimes
Profile Joined January 2011
Peru269 Posts
November 02 2011 03:59 GMT
#39
I have my pinky in the shift key. I press ctrl with my pinky too. I have my middle, ring and the other between the pinky and the middle (sorry, i don't know it's name in english, anular in spanish xD) in 1, 2 and 3. My thumb is in the letter "b" o "build" and i press space with the lower part of my thumb. And yes, i move my hand a lot in the keyboard. Specially to press "P"
Prev 1 2 All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
CranKy Ducklings
10:00
Master Swan Open #99
CranKy Ducklings25
LiquipediaDiscussion
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
Livibee 117
ForJumy 20
MindelVK 8
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 8600
Horang2 847
Jaedong 614
Larva 528
firebathero 505
Leta 360
EffOrt 189
Mong 118
Pusan 113
Last 76
[ Show more ]
ggaemo 57
yabsab 36
NotJumperer 27
ZerO 21
Shinee 15
Movie 13
zelot 11
SilentControl 6
Dota 2
XcaliburYe311
League of Legends
JimRising 438
Counter-Strike
zeus1027
edward146
oskar109
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor158
Other Games
summit1g5546
XaKoH 127
Trikslyr26
ZerO(Twitch)1
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1012
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 11
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• LUISG 25
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Dota 2
• lizZardDota2109
League of Legends
• Jankos1812
• HappyZerGling123
Upcoming Events
WardiTV 2025
39m
Spirit vs Cure
Reynor vs MaxPax
SHIN vs TBD
Solar vs herO
Classic vs TBD
SC Evo League
2h 9m
Ladder Legends
8h 39m
BSL 21
9h 39m
Sziky vs Dewalt
eOnzErG vs Cross
Sparkling Tuna Cup
23h 39m
Ladder Legends
1d 6h
BSL 21
1d 9h
StRyKeR vs TBD
Bonyth vs TBD
Replay Cast
1d 22h
Wardi Open
2 days
Monday Night Weeklies
2 days
[ Show More ]
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
WardiTV Invitational
5 days
ByuN vs Solar
Clem vs Classic
Cure vs herO
Reynor vs MaxPax
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #4 - TS3
RSL Offline Finals
Kuram Kup

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
YSL S2
BSL Season 21
Slon Tour Season 2
CSL Season 19: Qualifier 1
WardiTV 2025
META Madness #9
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22

Upcoming

CSL Season 19: Qualifier 2
CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Big Gabe Cup #3
OSC Championship Season 13
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
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.