StarCraft 2 is currently one of the most popular Real Time Strategy war game in the world today and for good reasons. There are 3 playable races to choose from, each with their own unique strengths, weaknesses and play styles. At the same time, each of these races is balanced in that no one race is better than the other. It doesn’t really matter if you’re new to StarCraft 2 or if you’re a veteran player from the old StarCraft and Brood War days. If you go into a game without any proper SC2 strategies in mind, chances are you will get crushed by the opponents rather quickly.
Each of the different races has their own strategies for playing against different opponents. For example, a Terran might want to send out an early cloaked Banshee against a Zerg but if he is up against a Protoss, he might decide to train more Marauders than Marines. Many players will tell you that you have to learn to go against 3 different match ups. That means if you have to learn how to use your preferred race against Terran, Protoss and Zerg.
But the truth is there are a lot more than just that. Not all Zerg players will do a Zergling rush or invest heavily in Mutalisks. They might be going for Infestors and Roaches, so if you’re only prepared against Zergling and Mutalisks, your army will be torn apart easily. There are a lot more to just learning 3 different match ups. You have to learn how to scout your enemy to see what they are going for, and figure out how to counter that. For example, you’re a Terran who is going up against a Zerg. You’re expecting a fast Spawning Pool from him followed by an early Zergling attack so you’re prepared to train a Marine heavy army for defense. But when you send out your scout to the enemy base, you find that he has taken 2 Vespene Geysers and have a Roach Warren on the way. If you don’t quickly switch to Marauders instead, you’re army will be taken out easily and your base will be rolled over. Likewise, if you trained Marauders and your Zerg opponent went Zerglings, chances are you will lose as well.
But not all SC2 strategies are race specific. Depending on your opponent you might decide that it’s a better idea to rush while other times it might be a better idea to play defensive until you’ve gotten a strong economy and a sizeable army. You also have to decide whether or not you need to do a fast expansion for your strategy to work. If you plan to do an early rush with just Marines, then you probably don’t want to get your Refinery built too early as you need all your SCVs mining minerals in order to get more Barracks and Marines out.
There are many different SC2 strategies you can find and practice, but keep in mind that these strategies are always evolving. For exaple, few months ago, a 4 Gateway Protoss strategy was considered unorthodox. Now, it has become a norm and widely used strategy.