Zerg Hotkeys (Control Groups)

[neozxa]

When I play Zerg, I usually hotkey all of my Hatcheries to 1 and all of my Queens into 2. I prefer to hotkey all of my production buildings into the left side of my keyboard since trying to press the right side of my keyboard with my left hand is reallly difficult. When you want to Inject Larvae, I press 2 to select all of my Queens and use the minimap to inject the Hatchery next to that Queen. For my army, I usually hotkey them at 3 - 7 when I play Zerg.

[ch1leang0d]

i prefer all queens on the same hot key to fend any early enemies off and use the "base key" to quickly larva inject every hatchery at once

[TheBaconofWar]

how do you remove something previously hotkeyed from a hotkey?

[obisPOV]

this is just what i needed man, thank you you are like santa claws.

[obisPOV]

good stuff man, you are easy to listen to.

[BossBullWoW]

thx!

[Jonsse]

I would also suggest hotkeying 0 as all Nydus worms when you have some.

[LintyHaloHunter]

All queens on 1 hotkey then v shift backspace and center your mouse

for instant injects

[bburditt]

@LintyHaloHunter You must have a really flexible hand.

[fiebenj]

@bburditt you can change the key for backspace...I have mine set to spacebar

[elbrambrink]

@LintyHaloHunter re-hot key backspace to ` (the one next to 1) for even easier injects

[herbalman2000]

there is an easier way, all hatches on 5 all queens 4, use the backspace to cycle through all your availible hatches and just keep hitting backspace v click on hatch. I made it easier for myself putting v for larva inject on to mouse button 4, and backspace on space bar, now all i have to do is space click click, space click click, space click click etc... the only problem is you cant select each hatch individually for example when you want to jump to the location where you are being harassed

[olentattimies]

I dont know why, but i like to bind them this way mainhatch 7 -> scouting overlord 3

roaches / hydras 2 -> lings 1 -> infestors 3 ( this over-writes the scouting overlord

-> 2ndhatch 6 -> 3rd hatch 5 -> all queens to 4 -> all hatcheries to 8 :)

[Vulcanizebitch]

I've changed the 'Base Camera' hotkey from backspace and onto spacebar. This allows me (When all Queens are on a single hotkey) Press 6 > Space > V > Space > V etc.

[TheFireInside9]

1: Main Army

2: Casters

4:Hatcheries

5-9: Queens for my first hatchery and so on in descending order. :D

[devilish882]

how do u deselect or select an additional unit if u have already boxed over a group of w/e



[Horace993]

what a collection of nerds around here :)), get out and live your life..

[Sachems49]

@Horace993 lol thats mature Horace

[MrPotatoTomato]

How the hell do u press backspace that fast?? It's across the keyboard!!

[0ngus]

@MrPotatoTomato he wasn't pressing backspace. he was double tapping 5 (for example). this jumps the camera to whatever is in control group 5

[Superpippo121]

thx

[fosterboy12388]

Fastest way is the backspace method.

Hot key all your queens to 1 group

Select them

Press V once

Hold right shift with your thumb

Repeatedly hit backspace and click in the centre of your screen.

All hatcheries are injected! Extremely fast!

However it also isn't perfect, when you add a new hatch and you don't have a queen on it, it can be problematic and you can often have your queens running around the map if your not careful.

Still the best method i've found though!

[csiebler]

@fosterboy12388 I use this method but in early game I use the 'Saved Camera Slots' set to F2 F3 F4 etc. If I have a queen at my main I hit F2 queen then spit, F3 queen then spit and so on. Late game I get the bonus of fast injects while early game I don't have queens running around all over the place.

[Nachtgrabb]

I works!

[sharif9876]

i cant seem to select multiple hatcheries at once, I click one hatch then ctrl+click the next but it doesn't select them all

[Rathianhunter]

@sharif9876 use shift click on each one

[0ngus]

@sharif9876 it is shift, not control to add things to your selection

[Streakist]

Do you jump back and forth using backspace? Cos I find backspace annoying sometimes when a production/upgrade is finished it goes to the location of the production. Is there a better alternative? Thanks

[Andyiron777]

Can you have saved control groups so that every game you play hatercheries/queens will be set to the same hotkey every game without reseting them every game you play?

[TexasYu]

wow that is so much better.. i feel like my zerg macro has gone up 10 fold

[fluflam]

My minimap is like not calibrated so it goes slightly away from where i click on the minimap. This is often a huge problem when injecting larva, can you calibrate the minimap or something?

[w4vezf9a]

2 zerg didn't make the video.

[Flamez2k10]

@w4vezf9a that was a terrible joke

[w4vezf9a]

@Flamez2k10 Oh well, worth a shot anyways :3

[KingOSketchKomedy]

I just use armies as even numbers, bases for odd ones and my current warp pylon as the one higher than the highest I'm using.

Simples.

Ex: 1: main 2: zeal/stalk/sentry 3: nat 4: voids/phoenii 5: expo 6: high Templars 7: expo 8: harassment units 9: expo 0: warp pylon.

Hope this helps but I'm still half noob so what do I know :P

[WTFericFTW]

Or you could bind all of your queens and hatcheries to the same hot key, allowing you to just press the hotkey for all queens/hatcheries then press what ever hotkey for spew larve. For example, I have my queens and hatcheries bound to 4, by spew larve hotkey is Y. I can press 4 then Y very quickly allowing all of my hatcheries and queens to spew larve all at once. That's how I WOULD do it if I had Starcraft.

[TheGangofwolves]

remember good ol' Starcraft brood war, where you could only have 12 units in a single hotkey?

[SH3IKH1]

I LOVE YOU

[PrettySneaky]

Awesome video. Since I started to hotkey my queens individually my macro has improved immensly. Never thought of adding the hatch to each queen control group though. Very clever..slurmdog's technique seems pretty good aswell but I think Psy's will fit me better.. But I have to try to see for myself..

[iaiceikiingi47i]

TLO injects via the mini-map, and he's totally a noob. But I agree that that is a much faster way to inject but the backspace trick is the fastest.

[noobrages]

wow just cause u dont use these hotkeys you dont dislike O_______o

[Cbav]

How are you "jumping between" your hatchery and overlord like that? / How is the camera focusing on them? Pressing the hotkey and then what?

[3000L1ghty]

@Cbav Double tap the hotkey

[boullionk]

sweet, psy is numero uno!

[TheGear4ever]

theres always at least 1 guy who misses the like botton

[ReNcE254]

wow 1 dislike

[hubomba]

What map is that?



[WundayLate]

@hubomba He uses the map editor to place the units i believe.

[Freakenstei]

all queens in 1 group and v on minimap. TLO uses this. :)

[MALKton]

@Freakenstei

great stuff. just tried all queens on 3 + v on minimap + all hatch on 4. turns zerg makro (formerly known to me as pain in the ass) into real fun :)

[SupaPoopaScoopa]

@Freakenstei As good a TLO is he get a lot of stick from the other pros for not always hot keying well. But he can be forgiven as he plays all races.

Hot-keying the queens is by far the fastest way, Check out morrow, replays when he lava injects.

[LucSCD]

how do you select 2 or more hatcherys at the same time if tey are not in range of eachother?

[solieusflame]

@LucSCD click on one, hold shift, click the other.

[redimitrakistorm]

good job of putting sport (especially a fun one) above gaming just for once ;)

[246trinitrotoluene]

here's what I do:

1,2,3 for units -- 3 usually ends up as infestors (like your idea of roach/hydra in each group, rather than in clumps)

4 -- all my queens, i use V and click on each hatch using the minimap, but this is sometimes hard

5 -- all my hatch, so i can build units

your idea of 5, 6, 7, 8 for individual hatch/queen combos is nice b/c it jumps direct to that hatch so you cant miss the click.

also sometimes when i drone up, I build too many drones at one base, so this could fix it

[zackthecurls]

I'm such a loser. I just noticed how people can manage so easily now haha........okay...I'm a loser.

[insgr]

thanks psy

[blackzerg19]

I use Hatchs in 5, queens in six; inyect larva+shift and click in alls the hatch in the minimap

[SirOblivion]

Really helpful, thanks!

[Patryk1258]

Thx for the HELP!!!

[Terina6885]

Wings OF Liberty, get it right (lnkgt, c0m/4Ep)

[brandspankinNEWB]

hes better than husky ^^

[AdmiralGreenscreen]

I make my Hatcheries on six and Queens on seven Tech buildings on eight, nine and ten are reserved for specail cases and one through five for variability in ops. I ussually keep my ground force and air force in seperate control groups with casters seperate. This is a good video it's given me some things to think about.

[poobslag]

about keeping casters different - don't infestors have preference so that if you had a mob of units + infestors selected, you can still use stuff like fungal growth? i mean still probably OK to keep them separate, you don't want casters in the front lines - but I don't think it's super necessary for infestors

[mimbach11]

perfectly explained, thank you!

[sodasodahero]

But if you have like 3 hatcheries on 1 control group.. and you want drones on only 1 hatchery, how would you do that?

[jgordon707]

@sodasodahero Im not exactly sure, but you press your control group, then TAB to the specific one you want. Go to 4:25

[cesarerich]

how do you put all hatcheries to one hotkey



[MrTitus50]

@cesarerich shift key, i guess :)

[mommasboy0]

how did you split the lings and roaches at 1:00?

[shumped]

@mommasboy0 he explained that.

[mMAmericanSpiritMm]

is there a way to select all units of one type from all areas? like a select all larvae command?

[x8swift8x]

@mMAmericanSpiritMm if you're selecting all of your hatcheries, you will select all of your larvae when you press S

[mMAmericanSpiritMm]

@x8swift8x Thanks for the reply and sorry i very wasn't clear, but i meant other units as well, even the off-screen ones. like select all infestors available, or select all marines, or all barracks...? Life would be better with those hotkey abilities.

[eladimir]

Love it PSY, thanks alot!

[Mifflaff]

ty :)

[crashsoul02]

thanx for advices

[remmo123]

thanks for this

[glennols]

would also like to know how to rebind town hall button

[alienacidtechno]

I prefer Alt+Ctrl+Del combination for my Queens, it works great!

[deaddu]

@alienacidtechno

Does anyone fall for that anymore?

[DuckPhona]

How do you make it so you get all the hatcheries or queens etc. all in one control group when they are so far away? I am aware of 2x click that selects all near units of same type, but queens/hatcheries are always too far away from one another for that to work. Is it control click orr...? Halp D:! Thanks in advance.

[12345678963852741]

@DuckPhona click shift while selecting ;)

[Masheengann]

Thanks for these tips, will definitely help me out, really slow atm :S

[PhillipH903]

thanks man...just started playing sc2 and you are a big help!

[chrisofrays]

how do you move unit types within a group. like with your two hydra+roach groups,if i wanted to move all the roaches forward in one group how would i do this?

[cdis2188]

@chrisofrays you cant. within a control group you can press tab to cycle through the types of units for their special abilities, but they all move when you tell them to attack or move - cant do it individually within a group. thats what 2 control groups are for :)

[alidonut]

Thx 4 the vid Psy. I also used to hotkey Queens to 5 but changed it to 8 so I can quickly go V-Rightshift-Backspace using the technique slurmdog described.

Hotkey 5 is IMO very useful for Infestors because now you can cast all their spells as well as burrow, with minimal finger adjustment whilst holding your left pinky on SHIFT (obviously for queing orders and multicast).

[TalikXX]

This was a very helpful video, thanks a lot. :)

[crazzynez]

im a giblet! :)

[Zach1O8]

Thank you so much, was linked to this by a friend

[Jaikith]

Thank you!

[barophobia]

Is the Queue button broken for everyone using Chrome or is it just me? Every time I try to click on it the dang just plays the video which isn't what it's supposed to do.

[fauxkamie]

ty psy <3

[DontFearGrim]

when i hotkey a hatchery to like 3, when i try to change it and hotkey something else to 3 it keeps the hatchery on it... how do you take off hotkeys?

[aznguyen316]

more opener tuts for zerg please! basic openers vs toss and then vs terran?

[TerrorBlack]

Twilight is such an ugly tileset ;_;

[slurmdog]

I prefer All queens to one hotkey, rebind Backspace to a key on the left side, (I'm using grave: ` ) or just move your hand over to the right when injecting.

1. Select all queens via hotkey

2. Press V and hold shift.

3. Press your 'focus on townhall' key (backspace, or in my case `).

4. While holding shift, click the hatchery/lair/hive.

5. Repeat steps 3-4 for how ever many hatcheries you have.

This technique is faster, and uses less control groups than yours, PsY.

[Jaikith]

@slurmdog How do you rebind??

[MadBagOfHorses]

@slurmdog /agree

All queens on 1 key FTW. The queen nearest the hatchery you inject will accept the command... except in situations where you have 2 hatchs on 1 base, when you give an inject order on one hatch the queen at that node will accept it and start moving but if you instantly do another inject order on the next hatch at that node the queen at that node will be busy and it will give the order to another queen, further away.

[shadow2wolf]

@slurmdog ? whats focus on townhall and what does backspace do? sorry im nub :(

[slurmdog]

@shadow2wolf Backspace is the default key. You can use a program from teamliquid to rebind it somewhere easier to reach. When you press it, it centers your screen over your hatcheries cycling through them.

[Angens]

@slurmdog How do you rebind your keys in SCII?

[justdiv12]

@slurmdog I DONT GET IT i dont kno why i cant do it fast enough

[TeQuiiLaSHoTZz]

@slurmdog wow that is very cool. I tried it with backspace but I can see how it be so quick with the rebind. now I need to work out how to rebind

[TeQuiiLaSHoTZz]

@slurmdog ok. I cant find a way to rebind! so many forums about it but nothing on how its possiable

[deepwaterDW]

@slurmdog it doesn't really uses less controll groups, coz you'll have to hotkey all the hatcherys individually eg: to make droner to a expansion

[juju52291]

@slurmdog not everyone cheats and rebinds their keys. and btw, what if you want to select an individual hatchery? you would still have to bind each hatchery to a hot key. let's say you just put up an expansion and you want to create drones at only one hatchery? you'd have to hot key them all anyways.

[slurmdog]

@juju52291 It is not cheating, stated by blizzard: "UI/Hotkey adjustments: They are not planning on having a fully customizable UI but they will have customized hotkeys. For advanced players, they can even open a textfile and edit each individual hotkey."

The program just makes it easier for less technically inclined players to change the keys. To create drones from one hatch, I hkey them all to 1 key and tab to the one hatch I want. Play however you want, I'm just stating the fastest way.

[juju52291]

@slurmdog it's not necessarily the fastest, but ok

[Danellis09]

@juju52291 CHEATS! how is that cheating thats like saying using hotkeys is cheating its something that blizzard put into the game you can use this to your advantage for lesser player they might not be to bothered but its definatly not cheating

[juju52291]

@Danellis09 yeah, rebinding keys is not cheating. my bad.

[deanodynamo]

@slurmdog This is what I do, seems to be a little simpler.

2. Press V

3. Click your hatchery on the mini map (cursor turns green)

4. Repeat steps 2-3 for how ever many hatcheries you have.

[AresHeroSC]

@slurmdog This is a good way to do it, but it is not significantly faster, as you saw you can hit 4 hatches in 1 second. Additionally it does not allow you to jump around between your bases. I use psy's way and it is really helpful for responding to harss(ex: the alarm goes of at your nat and you just hit 6 x2). Also, you have the potential problem of miss clicking while you are on your "queens" hotkey causing them to all run to some random location on the map. I would put psy #1, this 2nd.

[Voracle]

@AresHeroSC I totally agree. Other methods require special key maps, or minimap injection. Minimap injection works but if your queen runs out of energy then THE NEAREST queen will walk to inject... sometimes they walk out across the map and get killed. Psy's method was actually first recommended on the Team Liquid page. Having individual hatchery groups also make it much easier to streamline economy growth by specializing certain hatcheries.

[alahad]

@AresHeroSC what do you think about clicking it on the minimap? like having all the hatcherys on one hotkey and all the queens in another one, select hotkey for queens then v then shift then click in minimap for all 4 hatcherys? you don't have to press v several times as psy said so... what do you think?

[AresHeroSC]

@alahad That is a terrible idea. You can do that but it is very slow compared to psy/idra's method and the backspace trick. It is tough to do quickly on large maps when the icons are smaller and you have other buildings/your army near them. Additionally you lose the ability to jump between each of your bases quickly which is very helpful in responding to harass and multi-pronged attacks. The only methods I recommend are Psy/Idra's and the backspace trick provided that you rebind BS to ~ key

[alahad]

@AresHeroSC ok thanks... Im... thinking on switching to zerg or maybe keep protoss zerg as my 2 races but don't know... this was helpful

[maxdekroon]

@AresHeroSC if an alarm goes off because you are harassed you can just press space to got to the situation ^^

[AresHeroSC]

@maxdekroon Thank you for replying to a comment I made 9 months ago :s ..In any case, you would potentially have to hit space multiple times to get to a far base. The backspace trick takes into account macro hatches so to get to your 4th you would have to hit space 5 times in some situations (not ideal). Also, after using Psy/IdrA/Destiny's way for almost a year now I have found that another advantage gained is the ability to pull queens to 1 location for defense w/o having to go click them.

[AdmiralGreenscreen]

@slurmdog exactly what I do. it's much more generally efficient for me.

[246trinitrotoluene]

@slurmdog

how do you rebind hotkeys?

the game only gives me 5 choices.. moving the left hand to backspace and back to V is not pleasant

[rebelcaptain01]

@slurmdog

you don't even have to hit backspace.

Have all your queens on 1 hotkey, then hit your larva hotkey and click where each hatchery is on the mini map. There's no need to ever look at the hatchery

[slurmdog]

@rebelcaptain01

Yes, this is true, but on large maps, trying to click the tiny pixel on the minimap can be hard sometimes.

To each his own for these methods IMO. If you can get multiple hatcheries injected constantly and fairly efficiently, a few milliseconds won't mean much.

[Rand0mAsian]

@rebelcaptain01 i find it faster to click on hatcheries using backspace (custom hot key'd to w. its much faster to go 4(queen) shift+v, w click w click w click. 11 back to army.))

[kyrannippel]

@slurmdog I do a similar thing, only I rebind backspace to my scroll button on my mouse (aka using the scroll wheel as a button). This way i just click-click with my index and middle finger after selecting queens and pressing shift+v

[Hazetheassassin]

@slurmdog that bad cause you lack vision using this technique and cannot choose the queen you want in certain micro battle

[iamwalls]

Very helpful. Thanks!

[RhapsodyWizard]

HELLO GIBLETS? :p

[ngilford1]

Thanks a ton Psy! I play toss, but I still found this very helpful, like double tapping a hotkey go the ctl building/group. Thanks!

[spidermannen]

You can also hotkey your queens together with your hatcheries and just press v and then press the icon for the hatchery you want to inject...

[airmanmuzukashii]

@spidermannen They removed wireframe casting several patches ago.

[s4n17y]

<3 ur vids duud

[Farzher]

moar tutorial videos!

[p4tchMe]

at first: WHOHA to that hatch stuff^^ thx

just a little add i experineced to be very helpful:

when u built a unit u first select the larva and press Z for Zergling e.g.

now u have the egg and u can alrdy put the egg into ur selection groupe

so u dont always have to go back and gather units from ur rally points or lose units to an screwed up one.

with overlords u can do simillar: jsut built them and then send the eggs to a safe position.

the true master will always be disciple ;)

k.u.t.g.w.

[silentao]

i use the same hotkeys, except i hotkey the queen only in 5-9 without the hatchery. what is the advantage in hotkeying the queen together with the hatchery?

(I was never been in a situtation when i wanted to produce from specific hatchery..)

Thanks for the vid, the unti hotkeying was intresting!!

[Fr0ggeh86]

@silentao Yeah I wonder the same thing, I also only hotkey the queens by themselves.

[paulvanvulpen]

@silentao

Well, if the queen dies you still have a fast way to get back to the base in which it died.. Allowing you to quickly make a new queen, as well as maintaining the main (making new buildings, upgrades etc) while she is gone.

Hope that makes sense.

@psystarcraft

Thanks for the video! I was surprised I do almost exactly what you do! The only thing I do different is the group composition in 1 2 & 3. It makes a lot of sense what you did with roach + hydra & muta + lings. Thanks for that!

[dbronco520]

Thanks Psy!

[Darkkor3]

nice that helps with zerg.. but now i need terran and toss as i play random :P

[Kindred1a1]

man if only there was someone that would do that for protoss.

I tried zerg a couple of times...and wow i suck lol

[buteredtoast72]

awesome vid psy thanks, ive been trying to better my zerg skills and this helped a ton

[GunDream]

I like to put all my hatcheries on 4 as well.

[ayekuf]

cool, thanks

[robin2thek]

this was a great video!!! thanks! more plz, I´m a noob :D

[OpRedDawn]

Yeah the biggest thing was with the queens and hatchs for hotkeys. Thanks for the tips. Time to out-macro some bitches!

[TheSpambomber]

awesom realy helpful make more videos like this

[Ribokt]

Thanks Psy, I have been looking for something like this.

[DelphanGruss]

Awesome advice... now I just need to Survive long enough to use it in-game.

[HxCxKnate]

stupid question.... i know to hotkey units its just control + #

.. how do u hotkey buildings?

[SmashingLink]

@HxCxKnate same way

[Pirwzwhomper]

@HxCxKnate same way, just like units

[SoccerDude214365]

@HxCxKnate same way as units. ctrl + the number key you want to bind them to. For buildings its useful to know that holding shift while clicking on a unit/building adds it to your current selection.

[OmnipotentO]

i rather like my hotkey system and unless this is way better i don't think-

yeah after watching, your system is definitely better

[jenslyn87]

Thanks a lot for this awesome video. Really helped!

[linkysc]

Thanks a lot Psy! :D

[unc0nnected]

Nice wrk on the vid.. this is a great tidbit for us zerg players.. Can't wait to implement this!

[jpshuijb]

man i need this for terrans :(

[Colyers]

Awesome tutorial

[icebr8ka]

thanks man!! awesome tutorial

[Seam00120]

I use 9 for hatcheries, 9-5ish for the queens, then 1-4 for army. Not too different.

[SoccerDude214365]

How do you keep track of when you need to inject?

[psychavoK]

@SoccerDude214365 Every 25 seconds, just check up on it :o

[MiloDaemon]

@SoccerDude214365 Play some games (vs A.I., though preferable regular ones) where your goal is not so much to win, but to just have perfect macro. After a while you'll know subconsciously when to exercise macro mechanics.

[s031720]

thank you! Ive been doing it pretty much like you (except been doing the newbie-friendly variant and not the pairing up with hatch/queen).

I think I have to see if I can remember my paypal account and donate.

[ecopsorn]

Psy you're awesome but please start to play Protoss soon :)))))) I need Protoss advice man ^^

[RetributionAngel]

i think its better to have the buldings on 0 9 8 7 hatch evo ect.

and have 1-6 for troops

caus you will have maybe a small herasing or distraction force on 4-6

and the main force 1-3

depending on game lenght tech ect.

cau 1 big force won´t win you the game if your opponent splitts his army up and multi attacks your bases