The Winning Principles

Starcraft II Wings of Liberty is an immensely competitive game. Every game will play out differently and have its own personality. There is no way to simply win a game by going off of a build order. However, there are several general principles which can guide you to victory 90% of the time. This article is general theory regarding these principles which can be applied to any race within the game; for more detailed, race-specific or strategy-specific articles please reference them (here) and (here).

Obviously having ample resources should go without saying. With resources in mind, you must have an aggressive mentality throughout the game. There are three primary forms of attack: Rush, surgical, and brute force. Knowing when to apply each is critical in winning every game--this knowledge can be acquired by spying on the opponent constantly. Much like in chess, it is extremely important that you control the pace/rhythm of the game by being the first to attack, and attacking a critical point.

It is generally a good idea to rush for the initial attack. This accomplishes several things; Initially, it sets you up to be the dominant player throughout the game. Even if your rush fails, some damage was done and while the opponent is rebuilding and trying to make up for lost time you can continue preparing your next attack. Also, it affects the mental state of your opponent, best case scenario an immediate rush will force them to take a more defensive stance, if this is the case then there is nothing preventing you from expanding quickly and using the other attack methods more effectively.

If you decide to rush right off the bat, then utilizing Starcraft macro's becomes an important piece. By binding your hatchery/command center/nexus to a key, and your Barracks/Gateway to another key you can build an army, create workers, and manually maneuver an attack almost simultaneously. You can bind units and structures to number keys by selecting the unit(s) or structures and then pressing CTRL+#, whichever number you bind to will now reference the units you had selected.

After the initial attack, as we enter the mid-game several new factors come into play. There will always be multiple approaches for completing any single task within Starcraft. If you have sufficient resources, you can continue to build small groups of militants and send them to their base while developing (teching/massing) your own infrastructure. This constant harassment should keep them on the defensive. Consequently there are other general methods of attack which you could utilize to win. A constant outflow of troops as we've been discussing could be considered brute force, another sometimes for effective (yet more time intensive) attack would be a surgical attack.

Within a surgical attack the goal is to take out key structures or units in the opponents base. Consistent and reliable spying/probing must take place in order for this tactic to work. How will you know where to drop units and what to attack if you do not know your opponents plan? By spying on the opponent you can find vulnerabilities and in essence always be a step ahead of them. For example, if your opponent is developing tanks and marauders, then build void rays or banshee's as marauders cannot attack air. Consequently, you can use this same premise to prevent the opponent from developing specific units. If you have a strong ground units, and you're against a Zerg, then drop units off right within the base where their tech structures are (destroy the Roach Warren or Spire to prevent counter-attacks.)

Perhaps the most important of the Starcraft 2 winning principles is adaptability. You must be prepared to react to any turn of event within the game. It would be inefficient and slow to literally prepare for any attack, but perfecting the skill of being able to rapidly adapt to changes in the game will make you a winner. Putting yourself in a position to be adaptable requires several things. The hardest of which is having an arsenal of strategies to resort to and use in your mind, the easiest would be spying on the enemy to counter whatever they develop.

To win at Starcraft 2 and play like a pro you must take these general guiding principles to heart. Embed them in your mindset and your plan when you approach each game. Initiate the first attack, and keep enough pressure on your opponent to prevent them from launching a counter-attack. Constantly spy on the opponent to prepare for anything they plan to throw at you. Throughout all the battles be sure to constantly be building your base infrastructure and continue expanding. If massing units fails, or if it feels appropriate to a string of surgical attacks to take out key resource points or structures in the opponents strategy. Throughout the entire game, be consistent in applying these principles and you will be playing like a Starcraft 2 Pro in no time.