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Created June 9, 2012 03:26
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The Hitchhiker's Guide to StarCraft 2 Terminology

The Hitchhiker's Guide to StarCraft 2 Terminology

Macro

How you play the larger game. Keeping up a stead rate of income, expansions, proper buildings & upgrades.

Micro

How skillfully you can manage a single (or small) group of units, typically in avoiding damage/death.

Kiting

Staying just out of an opponent's reach while keeping him in range just long enough to get a shot off, then fleeing back slightly to repeat.

Manner

Variants are good & bad. Good manner means playing politely, winning on skill alone & being courteous in defeat. Bad manner includes berating your opponent, rage quitting, building buildings/non-attacking units in your opponents base, etc.

APM

Actions Per Minute. An average measure of how many things a player was doing in game (selecting/moving/building/changing focus/etc).

GG (GG WP)

"Good Game" or "Good Game Well Played". A well-mannered end to a game. The player who says it first is typically admitting defeat (aka "I surrender").

GL HF

"Good Luck, Have Fun". A polite way to greet your opponent.

Gosu

Korean for a "highly skilled person". Usually used in regard to people who are in the high leagues or are pros.

Foreigner

Regardless of where the tournament/play is taking place, refers to anyone who is not a (South) Korean.

This is because eSports/SC2 are most popular in South Korea, with many top pros living there to work & practice.

Top 8

Refers to a player's ladder position, being within the top8 in your league usually means you are eligible for promotion up to the next highest league.

Imba

Short for "imbalanced", it refers to the perception on a player's part that an opposing unit (or entire race) is unbalanced out of their favor (in their opponent's favor).

Economy

How effectively you're harvesting minerals & gas. Optimal counts are 16 workers mining minerals (per-base) & 3 workers on each of the two gas geyser.

Scouting

Because of the limits of vision you're allowed by the fog of war, scouting refers to using various units to poke around the map & your opponent's base to determine what they're building, where they're expanding to & what their army is doing.

Supply/food

Out of a 200 max, the number of combined units (workers & attacking) you have present on the battlefield.

(Supply) Blocked

Means you have as many units out as possible for current depot/pylon/overlord count. This prevents you from building additional units (workers & attacking), which affects your income & ability to defend/attack.

Expo

An expansion to a new area with mineral patches close by.

Main

The base you start with.

Natural

The next closest patch of minerals (the "natural place to expand to"). Important because it starts the transition to midgame & is the first line of defense to the main.

Third (The Third)

The third expansion a player takes. Important because it's typically not as close as the natural, resulting in more surface area to defend.

Walling In

Building a set of buildings that completely block an entrance to a base. Typically done at a choke (narrowest point) & used to help delay attackers.

Deathball / Ball of Death

A large army that attacks as one. Commonly seen in Protoss games, typically 80-100+ units.

Build

The order in which buildings/units are built in. Frequently practiced many many times in order to get things solid, though some flexibility is useful.

All-In

An attack where you focus solely on building up as many units as you can (as opposed to saving for upgrades/buildings/expos) with the intent to attack in the short term & overwhelm your opponent.

Area Of Effect

Attacks that do damage to multiple units at once.

DPS

Damage Per Second - How much damage a given unit (or group of units) can deal to the opposing side in a second.

Harass

Using a small number of units to attack an enemy's mineral line, with the intent to hurt their income & perhaps distract their army, forcing them to pull back to defend the relatively helpless workers.

Proxy

A building that placed typically close to an opponent's base (as opposed to within your own base), with the intent to get your units to their base faster at the expense of being well-defended.

Turtling

Staying close to (or inside your base), focusing on attempting to be sure you have adequate defenses.

1-1 (2-1 / 3-3 / +2-+2)

Typically refers to the levels of attack/armor upgrades a unit has.

NOT the same as a 1-1-1!

The 1-1-1

A Terran-specific build (http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/1Rax_1Fact_1Port), very common & flexible.

Destiny Cloud Fist

Using the 1-1-1, referring to the use of Marines, Siege Tanks & Medivacs. Marines can shoot both ground & air units (Stim increases damage at the expense of health), with Medivac there to heal & keep the cheap/weak Marines alive, while the tanks to massive area-of-effect damage.

6 Pool

A Zerg-specific build, it refers to building a single Spawning Pool at 6 workers (start of the match, no additional drones built), allowing for very early zerglings for harass.

NOT building six Spawning Pools, which does next to nothing for production.

4Gate

A Protoss-specific build, this time actually referring to building four Gateways. Once all four are in-place (& converted to Warpgates, allowing them to teleport in at any pylon), using an all-in army to attack quickly.

Base Trade

Refers to when both players attacks their opponent's base(s) at the same time, trying to win by getting rid off all their opponent's buildings (resulting in a win) before your own bases are wiped out.

Smurf

An additional account, bought from Blizzard, used to start afresh. Often done when practicing a different race or when trying to practice a build through all levels of play.

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