Starcraft 2 is no doubt the most anticipated strategy game released since Warcraft III. Blizzard has done it again with this incredibly popular title and made a quality game many players were looking forward to. After years of development and a very long time in beta testing, the game is finally out and hundreds of thousands of players are looking for ways to learn the game without actually having to spend 10 or more hours each day playing it and figuring out new strategies by themselves.
Even the pro players who have years of experience with Starcraft have difficulties adapting to this new game but fortunate for us a number of pro players took the time and effort to write quality Starcraft 2 strategy guides so we don’t all have to start from scratch. Even though i mostly play MMORPG games I have to admit I’m a big fan of Starcraft and Warcraft and was looking forward to SC2 for a long time. I’m not really good RTS games but find them extremely fun, especially when I’m consistently winning games, and these guides helped me do just that. Find out below which strategy guide I like most!
- Shokz Starcraft 2 Mastery Guide (review)
Rating:
- Joana’s Starcraft 2 Guide (review)
Rating:
- Starcraft 2 Mastery Guide (review)
Rating:
- StrategyMasters Starcraft 2 Training Program (review)
Rating:
- Starcraft 2 Pros Strategy Guide (review)
Rating:
1. Shokz Starcraft 2 Mastery Guide
Rating:
Shokz SC2 Mastery Guides comes from the author of the best-selling and top rated Aion and Warhammer mastery guides. I was amazed by the amount of content found in those guides and its quality, and again the author came through and made an excellent Starcraft 2 strategy guide covering pretty much everything.
You’ll find information specific for each race: Terran, Protoss and Zerg. Each guide contains best build orders and strategies to fight each race, in both 1v1 and in team matches. In addition there’s a number of other more generic guides such as the one for key binds or using the map editor, among a lot of others. One other thing that makes Shokz guide stand from the rest is videos: you can easily see the strategies explained and it’s a lot easier to understand it then. Additionally it contains replays so there’s no chance you won’t be able to follow the strategies outlined in the guide. Also, Shokz guide is the only one covering the SC II campaign.
Overall I think Shokz SC2 Mastery Guide is the most detailed, complete and up-to-date SC2 strategy guide and it’s my absolute recommendation you get it!
2. Joana’s Starcraft 2 Guide
Rating:
Joana, the author of one of the best WoW leveling guide recently published her second guide. This time it’s not a leveling guide but rather a strategy guide for StarCraft II which contains plenty of quality information. Unfortunately in my opinion it’s not quite ready to beat the currently best guide Shokz.
Joana’s Starcraft 2 guide contains race-specific information, such as best build orders, unit counters, and combat tactics. All game types and matchup combinations are covered, as well as a small number of general SC2 guides and information.
Overall, Joana’s guide comes very close to the quality of Shokz guide and in the near future with enough updates it might become better but until then Shokz guide is still the king.
3. Starcraft 2 Mastery Guide
Rating:
Starcraft 2 Mastery guide is the most recent addition to my list of Starcraft II guides yet it already deserved the third spot. It has very decent number of more and less detailed general guides, as well as race specific strategies much like other guides I reviewed here.
Build orders are of course included, in addition to videos giving you a better insight into the strategies explained. SC2 Mastery Guide also has a number of really cool guides which can’t be found in other SC2 strategy guides but unfortunately it’s not enough to push this guide to a better rating.
Bottom line is Starcraft 2 Mastery Guide has potential, yet not enough content to be a serious competition for either of the above guides.
4. StrategyMasters Starcraft 2 Training Program
Rating:
StrategyMasters publishes also a decent Starcraft 2 strategy guide but in my opinion it’s not as well as the other guides above. It also contains strategies for each of the three races, including build orders, tech trees, units and buildings, key bindings and several more.
There’s also a number of general strategy guides: microing/macroing, scouting, defending and attacking, harvesting & mining etc. Starcraft2 Strategy Training does include some videos and replays in addition to user forums, but in my opinion the contents of other guides are better. You can still check the website and see if something specific in this strategy guide interests you, but my recommendation is to get my number one rated Shokz guide.
I don’t think you’ll be disappointed by its contents, but other guides currently contain a lot more info than this one. Perhaps in time StrategyMasters SC2 strategy training will get better and with the member forums it might be a great resource. If that happens I’ll be sure to update my thoughts about it here. Until then definitely go for Shokz guide!
5. Star2Pros Strategy Guide
Rating:
Starcraft2Pros guide is my least favorite guide for a number of reasons. The claims made on its website are not entirely true, and the guide is not nearly good enough as others.
The overall quality of the guide is less than satisfactory, and while some of the strategies found inside will help you, in other guides they are explained in more details and have accompanying videos and replays. Star2Pros unfortunately is not as complete as they would like you to believe and currently I don’t see a reason why you should download it.
Even if the author (who I’m told is the same one who published the scam-like Fantoms guide for Aion) gave this guide for free it wouldn’t be worth as a replacement for any of the above guides.
Umm Star2 pros is not a scam wow. I got it and it’s great for advanced players who want to compete in tourney’s. I’m surprised did you even bother going into the private forums video 2v2, team tactics etc.. I’m sorry but your review for me is kinda pushing shokz which is great don’t get me wrong I own it but if you are serious then you would get star2pros as well. besides if you win some of the tournaments you can make cash top three cash prizes are 2k for the top three spots..
Star2Pros is horrible, I’m not sure if you are the owner of what Max, but they don’t have anything that you say they do or that they advertise.
First off they have yet to update their guide since the launch of the game, they do not have any forums, and all their videos are stolen videos from youtube which they didn’t even create.
Also there terran guide has been “Down for updates” for the past 3 months since the game came out so this is complete crap and Star2Pros is a complete scam and I would advise anyone to stay away. I’ve contacted the owner numerous times for a refund and he has yet to respond.
If you need a good guide than go with the Shokz Guide.
Does anyone know a good place for zerg build orders ? With timing and indepth explanations ? Thanks
Can anyone point me to an official Starcraft 2 gaming guide,official as in made by the devs.Thanks
this guide is so helpful. I wish i can have one…