[G] Gosuface's guide to Protoss Hotkeys

A keyboard stance is a certain position on the keyboard where you put your hands. The basic typing stance is pinky to pointer a-f on your left hand. A basic P keyboard stance is your middle finger on 0 and your pointer on P. You switch stances when you "lift" or more accurately "slide" your hand. If you just move "up and down," or just move your fingers, you're in the same stance.

When I say hotkeys, I'm referring the keyboard minus f2, f3, and f4.

My basic hotkey setup is 1, 2, 3, units. 4, 5, 6, 7, gateways. 8, 9, 0, nexus. 7 rob bay or stargate. And 4 becomes units when I need it. When I give examples it will be with this setup

When I refer to fingers on your left hand, from left to right, they are pinky, ring, middle, then pointer.

If you press alt then a number, you fly to it, as if you double tapped.

You've heard this one.

You've heard this one too. If you don't know why, you will soon.

Let's say you click on a gateway with the intention of building a goon. Now that you've clicked on it, you can only do ONE thing with your hotkeys. Press d. If you select your gateway with a hotkey press, as opposed to a mouse click, then build with another press, that's TWO hotkey presses. 4, then d. Finally, to build a gateway with hotkeys, you select a probe, press b, then g, then use your left pinky to press shift and click back on the minerals. That's THREE button presses.

Let's apply my axiom to building that gateway. I press b with my pointer, g with my middle, then shift with my pinky. Three different fingers for three different hotkey presses.

This is an application of the above axiom. It'd be great if there was bpshiftbacktominerals key, but there isn't. Using three fingers cuts down the time between the button presses. Lifting your fingers wastes time. And if you have to lift your hand that takes even more time. Which is what you do if you don't use different fingers.

Double tapping is quick, though. You don't have to move your finger at all. Just lift it. However, when you're in your "economy stance," with your middle on 0 and pointer on P, your thumb is always on alt. So you can press alt 0 faster then 0 lift finger then 0. Hotkey three nexuses in a custom game, then try to double tap between them. Then try to alt 098 between them. You'll see the speed difference.

I'll get more into alt keys later

This axiom is a common-sense expansion of 2. Let's say I'm building a pylon. What should my keyboard stance be? Well, what keyboard stance will allow you press all three buttons (b, p, then shift back to minerals) without lifting your hand? Your basic middle on 0, pointer on p stance. You rotate your pinky a bit down to the p without lifting your hand, then tap p with your pointer, then shift back to your minerals with your right thumb. Tasteless talks about this in his guide.

already talked about this one. Far right of the keyboard. Middle finger on 0, pointer on p. Ring on 9, pinky on 8. Thumb on alt.

Obviously the focus of this stance is building probes. Your thumb stays on alt. Which lets you fly around your nexuses and send probes to work. 0 middle finger, 9 ring finger, 8 pinky.

You can build pylons from this stance. Rotate your pinky down to P, press p with your pointer, then shift to minerals with your right thumb. Tasteless explains how this is right in his secrets of the progamer keyboard series.

You can build your cyb core from this position too, pinky rotates to b, ring finger goes to y.

You can build a nexus by rotating your pinky down to b, along with your whole hand, scrunching it up so yo hit nexus with your ring, and you can shift with your thumb.

You can almost build cannons from this stance. You need to slide your ring finger to b, then press c with your pinky. Same deal for rob supp bay. Pinky to v, ring to b.

You can also patrol attack, but none of your groups will be on 098 so it's only good for early game harrass.

Finally, you can build corsairs from this stance. Pinky stretches to 7, pointer hits o.

This ones a bit left of center.

Here, there are two stances which are very close to each other.

1) Pure goons. Put your ring on 4, middle on 5, pointer on 6. Pointer presses beyond 6 if you have gateways that high. Your pinky is on d. Thumb on or near alt

2) Goons and lots. This might be the best stance to use for beginners. It breaks axiom 3 (use as many fingers as possible) if you're only going to build goons, but you might not want to think too much about where to place your hand while playing. Middle on 4. Ring on d. Pinky on z. Pointer on 5. Pointer presses from 5 up (instead of 6, so you lose some time.)

3) High templar. Templars should always be built out of 4 and 5. That's because templars are built with your pointer on t. Ring on 4 then pointer t, middle on 5 then pointer t. Your pinky can stay on d or z, so that when you hit 6, you can start pressing d or z with your pinky then move your pointer to 6 and 7 and so on.

You know how to do this! Ring on 1, pinky on a, middle on 2, pointer on 3. GG.You also bind 1-wherever you feel comfortable stretching your pointer to from here, with pinky on ctrl.

Three stances. Simple. Sure, there are things you can't do with these stances. Like build DT. Or build an assim. But you know my axioms. You can figure it out! Just make sure you can get into these three stances quickly after.

What the hell... yeah, don't worry about understanding this picture until you read the below.

Obviously, you're going to need to switch between these stances often. And luckily for you, it's really easy. If you you alt with your left thumb then you must hit 4 with your RING. NOT YOUR PINKY. Use your left thumb as a pivot. Then you can switch right into the goon stance described above. Ring on four, pinky on D. You can get into your goon lot stance too, if you rotate your middle to four.

So, you can fly around, build probes, then start macroing, at very high speeds. Late game, when you're not building units, and instead you're building "waves," you should still hit 4 with your ring so you can click gates and tap d without moving anymore.

Essentially, your left thumb stays on alt all game. You PIVOT with your left thumb from macro stance to econ stance and back. Yes a toss has to build gates and forges, bind units, and the like, But when macroing and econing, keep it on alt.

So... while I describe econ stance and 1a2a3a and macro stance as different stances... they're really just on stance! PIVOT ON ALT! If you have big hands, you can even 1a2a3a. Try it! Put your left thumb on alt, pinky on 8, then slide your fingers to left until your ring hits 4 and pinky d, then keep sliding until your ring hits 1 and your pinky a. Your middle finger will glide over the fkeys while your at it!!! Making it into one movement will help you learn how to go b/w them. Does the picture make sense now? Three stances can be accessed in one movement.

No, it won't be this smooth in the game. You'll have to build a gateway, then lose alt as a pivot. Then you'll have to stance switch. Just find your alt pivot, then find the rest of your keys, and you'll be good. Remember to be smart! Don't stance switch into the stance which is easiest to find (probably econ for you). Stance switch into the stance you need! Normally, though, probes are the most pressing concern. If you have to always return to a stance, econ stance isn't bad. Better than 1a2a3a.

You 098 as screens. You have f2, f3, and f4 as screens. You also have where your units are as screens. That's all you need. You don't need to scroll anywhere. Put your tech above your nexus (so your probes don't get mixed up) so when you go to your nexus, you see your tech. Or maybe have a tech f3 screen. No need to scroll.

Don't waste your f-keys on nexuses. Why do you go to them? To build probes. Thus, you'll be in your econ stance. Thus, you'll be able to alt to them as fast as hell. The only exception is PVP when reaver drops are common. In this case, you might be in the macro stance, where the fkeys are closer than alt and 09.

You've heard this before. F3 gates. F4 choke. F2 upgrades and tech. To set quick rallies you f2 to your gates, f3 to your choke, then right click, then f2 back. It'll come quick if you do it in a custom game for awhile. But why isn't alt 5good enough, you ask, my dear reader? Well if you're in a macro stance, or the 1a2a3a stance, f2 and 3 are closer. Use your head.

It's useless in getting into any of the above three stances. Only use it if you're on the left side of the keyboard, and don't have your left thumb on the right alt. Very few uses It eats up your pinky, which you just can't afford to waste.