Starcraft 2 Rapid Fire Hotkey

[Bradley Zweig]

Aboveis a hotkey file which you can put in your StarCraft hotkeys folder. The hotkey file is just default hotkeys with all of the changes I have listed below implemented. Feel free to download and use the hotkeys to try them out, and see what parts of the hotkey set up you want to implement to your own hotkey set up, or use these hotkeys and change them based on your hotkey preferences.

In addition to adding these control groups, it is highly recommend to move the steal control groups to something easier to press, generally swapping with the standard ones. Since it is very rare to ever need the same unit/structure on multiple control groups the steal functions are almost always better. I would recommend changed add and steal to a group to Shift+# and Create and Steal to Ctrl+#. You can then move the basic add and steal to Shift+Alt+# and Alt+3 respectively.

Note: in addition to changing your standard control groups to steal, you can consider swapping control and shift so some actions are smoother. Namely, Shift to create and steal allows you to hold shift and deselect units and then recreate the control group when shift deselecting. As well, using control for add and steal allows you to egg hotkey eggs by holding control, clicking the egg and then pressing the hotkey without having to switch from control to shift.

Camera location hotkeys are important to get used to because they allow you to more easily respond to drops/multi-prong attacks, quickly take your next base. In addition to all of this, camera location hotkeys are also the best method for injecting your Hatcheries which is integral to Zerg macro.

Most players use the function keys for camera location hotkeys and this has been provided in the hotkey file above. It uses shift+F1-F8 to set the camera location, F1-F4 to go to the first four camera locations, and then F5-F8 or Ctrl+F1-F4 to go to the next four.

Rapid fire is important for many abilities in the game. It allows you to hold a key and automatically cast spells such as Infested Terran, Neural or Abduct. To set up rapid fire, go to the choose ability or A.I. Target in the hotkeys tab and add an alternate that is the same as the ability you want to have on rapid fire. For example, for rapid fire corrosive bile, which is on C by default you would have Choose ability or A.I. Target to be Left mouse button or C. To add more than one rapid fire key, edit the hotkey file that is in your StarCraft folder and add to the choose ability or A.I. Target field.

Keyboard repeat rate is how fast your computer repeats a key when it is held down and the repeat delay is how long after pressing a key down before your keyboard starts to repeat that key. The fast your repeat rate is, the fast you will be able to make large numbers of units like when remaxing on Zerglings. Additionally a faster repeat rate allows you to rapid fire abilities like Infested Terrans faster, this is often how pros cast large numbers of Infested Terrans quickly, through a high repeat rate, holding down the rapid fire ability and waving their mouse across the screen.

There are a few ways to increase your repeat rate past the windows limits, including through the registry or through your keyboard depending on which keyboard you have. The method I prefer is through an exe file that you can find here. You can also download the file from here below. All credit goes to EricTetz on GitHub.

I would recommend a repeat delay of 120-130 ms and a repeat rate of 1-2. This should allow you to still be able to type normally (repeat delay) but still be able to make units quickly (repeat rate). Keep in mind, this file will have to be used every time your PC restarts.

To use the keyrate file, copy the file path into a command prompt, or drag the file into the command prompt and then set the parameters using spaced numbers for repeat delay first then repeat rate, as shown below. Then hit enter and your repeat rate should be updated!

Good points, also yeah I almost exclusively use steal control groups, generally the only times I am using other hotkey binds are when I am playing archon or something similar to not steal things off of my teammates hotkey. The drone gather ability is a good one to have on rapid fire and something I missed.

In the image above, the six queued up Laborers account for 240 minerals spent that isn't being used. Additionally, the 11 queued up Supply Bunkers costed 1100 minerals, but none are being built. Most of all, the player will be unable to use all that extra supply. In total, the 12 Supply Bunkers account for 144 Supply - too much supply to be utilized. Build only what you need, and spend the rest of your resources teching up and making your army larger.

Certain commanders (such as Kerrigan) spawn a Hero unit. These Hero units are extremely powerful and should be used as much as possible, especially during the early game. They provide the player with early-game power to allow them to push and complete objectives, while macro'ing up at the back to tech up and gain access to high-tier units.

Topbar Abilities provide players with a large amount of power throughout the course of the game. Use these Topbars to help you push and take engagements. They should be used as soon as they are off cooldown, as frequently as possible. You can time your pushes to line up with when powerful Topbar abilities come off cooldown.

It is important to learn the units that make up various Attack Waves that will attack players. Check the Enemy Compositions page to learn about the various enemy compositions in the game. Use that knowledge to build an army that directly counters that composition while allowing you to push and complete the objectives in the game.

Enemy bases can seem very intimidating, discouraging players from pushing in when they're not required to do so. However, playing aggressively can make missions easier by providing players with access to enemy wave spawn points. Players can then use Topbar abilities (such as Abathur's Toxic Nests) to spawn-camp attack waves.

Rapidfire binds the selection of a skill (through its hotkey) and its targeting to the same hotkey. This means in order to cast a skill, you need to press its hotkey once (to select it) and then once more to target it at your cursor's current position.

Rapidfire has its advantages, because it allows you to cast skills in quick succession. This is very important for commanders like Alarak, who depends on Rapidfire for his Ascendant abilities. Without Rapidfire, skills like Mind Blast would be ineffective due to the high amount of clicking required.

Rapidfire cannot be bound in-game. You will need to manually edit the hotkey settings file in order to do so. This is because the game can only bind one key to Rapidfire. Generally, you'll want a lot more to make it effective.

Once you save the file, you would have bound the "Z" key to rapidfire. To test it, play Protoss, and warp in a Zealot (assuming other hotkeys are default). But instead of clicking the location you'd like to warp the Zealot in, just press the Z key again. The Zealot will be warped in.

Some missions in co-op have uncontested expansions, while others might be guarded. Regardless, you should always aim to take your expansion as quickly as possible. Certain commanders (like Mengsk) have ways of capturing expansions unusually early in the game (these are called "Fast-Expand Techniques"). Learn them to strengthen your early-game economy. If you are playing Terran, pre-build your Expansion Commander Center and float it over once you clear the defenders/rocks.

In Versus games, armor is a critical part of a player's macro, as without it, they end up taking much less efficient trades in battle. However, due to the unique nature of Co-op, armor upgrades are not that important because:

Checking creep for the presence of Zerg can allow you to adjust your opening to better counter the potential attack waves you will face at the start of the mission. Press Alt+T. This changes the minimap to a Terrain view. If you see creep, you'll be facing a Zerg composition. If you don't see creep, you'll be facing a Protoss or a Terran composition. The below image shows you an example:

In Co-op, knowledge of the game mode can significantly reduce the challenges that new players face. While some interactions between Co-op mechanics are rare, good Co-op players should at least be aware of:

In Co-op, Point Defense Drones and Point Defense Missiles frequently appear, which can affect your effectiveness in a mission, especially when dealing with Mutators. It is important to be aware of what Hitscan and Projectile attacks are and what the difference between them is.

In short, a Hitscan attack deals damage as soon as it is fired. A Projectile attack has a physcial projectile that must travel to its target to deal damage. For more details on the differences, you can watch the video below:

In Versus games, the worker count displayed at the top of the Primary Structure denotes the worker count that corresponds to the Optimal mining rate. However, in Co-op, the value denotes the Maximum mining rate. More information on these mining rates can be found in the Build Order Theory Guide.

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. All rights reserved. Wings of Liberty, Heart of the Swarm, Legacy of the Void, and StarCraft are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. in the U.S. and/or other countries.

As part of Razer's line of StarCraft II gear, the Marauder's main feature is nifty dynamic backlighting that gauges your APM (actions-per-minute), exclusively in SC2; in other games, it simply glows a static color. And, annoyingly, this smallish keyboard requires two USB ports to make the lights work. Depending on how many actions you're spamming, the Marauder shines from a Protoss blue (when you're almost comatose) all the way to blood-red (when you're a GSL superstar). Unfortunately, the APM colors might show you how bungling of a SC2 player you really are.

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