[Celldweller]

I think one of the hardest challenges for all Star craft players was the initial learning curve, everyone has experienced it. Huk, Idra, MC, they were all noobies once, just like many "forever bronze" players today.

So how do people get out of Bronze?

Most people are in Bronze for one reason:

MACRO.

When you play in Bronze, you aren't looking to use some uber micro strategy you just watched on GSL, you just want to macro.

Follow three steps to get out of Bronze (I assure you this will get you out of Bronze):
Never get supply blocked
Never float your minerals
Expand

Since you can interpret these three steps in one hundred different ways, I'll put it more simply.

Your bronze opponents will 99% of the time supply block themselves sometime in the game, if you never supply block yourself you are automatically given an advantage over them.

If you build more production facilites, 3 for each saturated expo, your minerals will never be too high, and since you aren't supply blocked, you are always making units.

Expand when you can defend an expansion.If I see someone FE, I think to myself, I can expand now since he won't have units out for another few minutes, OR I can punish him for expanding so quick and make him cancel it, to stop any kind of economic advantage.

I am only a platinum player, a few days ago I recently just got back into the game, I had to retrain myself to do all these things again and I want to share my thoughts with you.

[Yonge]

totally agree. I'd also add to PLAY SAFE. Alot of the time when playing in the bronze league, I found alot of 1-2 base all ins so as long as you can defeat their major push, you'll be way ahead in economy and will overrun them no matter which race you play.

[Celldweller]

Originally Posted by Yonge

totally agree. I'd also add to PLAY SAFE. Alot of the time when playing in the bronze league, I found alot of 1-2 base all ins so as long as you can defeat their major push, you'll be way ahead in economy and will overrun them no matter which race you play.

ahh yes, that reminds me, another step is scouting a lot, scout if he has an expand, scout what his making, and act accordingly.

If someone is one basing, taking and expo and playing defensive will put you far ahead of him

[|Erasmus|]

On that... most lower league players are not very map aware. So just leave your scouting worker behind the minerals at the natural. Chances are they won't go find it until they try to expand, so you can see if they haven't done that, then you just need to work out what they are up to and shut down their one base shenanigans.

[ToRDeathsFang]

99% of the time in Bronze you won't lose because they had a better unit composition. It will either be you didn't scout their terribly executed all-ins, or they just had better macro than you. Like the above have stated, don't worry about trying all these difficult micro skills, just work on having lots of workers, expanding often and not getting supply blocked. Eventually once you overcome these problems you can start taking into account the many tricks to up your game.

[ETL.Branno]

i went straight into gold when sc2 came out just from watching day9 back in the beta (i didnt have a beta key)

these are a couple of the best from memory

http://blip.tv/day9tv/day-9-daily-12...l-play-3670919
http://blip.tv/day9tv/day-9-daily-16...things-4010379

Quick Comments

breadfan:

THANKS! Hadnt seen these

[Yonge]

What's helped me lately are the dApollo youtube vids from Bronze onwards.

Don't have youtube at work so can't post the links but you can find them here from:
http://zergnewbs.wordpress.com/

even if you just watch the first 2 episodes, you'll be set. Can't imagine the number of times where I can almost hear his voice telling me to larva inject!

[utlanning]

Originally Posted by Yonge

What's helped me lately are the dApollo youtube vids from Bronze onwards.

Don't have youtube at work so can't post the links but you can find them here from:
http://zergnewbs.wordpress.com/

even if you just watch the first 2 episodes, you'll be set. Can't imagine the number of times where I can almost hear his voice telling me to larva inject!

www.youtube.com/dignitasapollo

The videos are really good, but it's important not to be confused/distracted by his mechanics (zipping everywhere on the minimap etc.) and just listen to him describe what he is doing. Pay special attention to the build orders and his reasoning for doing certain things in what situation etc.

In lower leagues playing safe is very important. If your macro is good and you know what he is doing it becomes very easy (almost trivially easy at times) to defend and win. As mentioned, at that league most people won't know much beyond a specific 1 or 2 base all-in so if you can beat that it doesn't really matter what you do so long as you have enough workers / production.

[IAmOrion]

when i first started playing in season one i was originally placed into silver. i got bumped up to gold through luck more than anything but i never did particularly well there (had about a 30% win rate after playing 10 games or so in gold league ). At that point i switched to zerg and started to practice 15 hatch 16 pool 16 gas and just outmacroing the very hard AI. I moved house and didn't get to play ladder again till season 4 but i was placed straight into platinum when i did get back on and that was with pretty much no understanding of scouting, absolutely no ability to control my units and no concept of what i should do after i got zergling speed, i just made as many drones as i could without dying and spent money as fast as possible.

playing the very hard AI is also a good way to practice for anyone whose ladder anxiety stems from fear of losing (like me)

[ToRPandarine]

When I first started playing SC2 I was but got demoted after a long series of defeats. This was in season 3. I watched some videos, observed a few games and just played a lot of practice games. In season 4 I was back in . Joined a clan, played more practice games, ladder here and there and watched more videos and some streams whenever I can. Now, in season 5 , I'm still but the matchmaking system of Blizzard's puts me up against players who are either very good but lack the drive or the dedicated players of my league.

This is what I think most players need to understand and grasp for a promotion, stay there and get further promoted.

• Macro - no point having insane micro when you have little to nothing to micro with.
• Production of workers - you must constantly produce workers if you want the economy to support your macro.
• Supply - dont ever get supply blocked.
• Build orders - cheese builds aside, a player must have a clear build to follow.
• Map awareness - a player must have the habit of glancing at the minimap every minute or so.
• Map control - can't move out if you dint know what is in the blue yonder can you?
• Unit composition - a good unit composition increases the chances of a win.
• Micro - don't just let your units die or do nothing! Micro them a little!

I might edit this later cause typing on a tablet can be a bitch sometimes.

[breadfan]

Originally Posted by ThePandarine

When I first started playing SC2 I was but got demoted after a long series of defeats. This was in season 3. I watched some videos, observed a few games and just played a lot of practice games. In season 4 I was back in . Joined a clan, played more practice games, ladder here and there and watched more videos and some streams whenever I can. Now, in season 5 , I'm still but the matchmaking system of Blizzard's puts me up against players who are either very good but lack the drive or the dedicated players of my league.

This is what I think most players need to understand and grasp for a promotion, stay there and get further promoted.

• Macro - no point having insane micro when you have little to nothing to micro with.
• Production of workers - you must constantly produce workers if you want the economy to support your macro.
• Supply - dont ever get supply blocked.
• Build orders - cheese builds aside, a player must have a clear build to follow.
• Map awareness - a player must have the habit of glancing at the minimap every minute or so.
• Map control - can't move out if you dint know what is in the blue yonder can you?
• Unit composition - a good unit composition increases the chances of a win.
• Micro - don't just let your units die or do nothing! Micro them a little!

I might edit this later cause typing on a tablet can be a bitch sometimes.

That's a lot. Honestly, I think to be promoted to silver, all you need is to focus on supply and worker production - you can get to gold off one base (I did).

Build orders can help, or they can be detrimental. If your build order is about fast tech or elaborate timings and you can't macro well enough to pull it off, you'll probably just lose. Don't pick something cool and complicated, pick something simple that builds a solid core of tier 1 units.

Map awareness, map control, unit comp and micro all don't matter until at least gold, where you will start to really develop those skills, and will improve steadily into plat and diamond. My advice to bronze would be to try to glance at the minimap as often as possible (and your money), but otherwise don't worry about any of this

It's easy to think "I need to do this, this this this this this and this!" but really, if you do all those things on the list, you are most of the way to master! I got to gold by 3 raxing and 1/1/1'ing, and it was only then that it was even worth considering playing a macro game.

[Champi]

I used to be bronze like you, then i took a 4gate in the knee

[nirvAnA]

Huk, Idra, MC, they were all noobies once, just like many "forever bronze" players today.

This isn't true. All of them placed into diamond on their first try (which was the highest league at that time) cause they brought over their mechanics from the previous games they played, as did nearly any other player who has been competitive in RTS games.

This goes to show you how much of a factor the mechanical aspect of the game takes up, since they obviously knew nothing about the strategical aspect in their first 5 games.

So yea, I agree with the Celldweller, the easiest way to get out off bronze is to fix your mechanics with a simple BO, and later on worry about timings and stuff.

Quick Comments

|Erasmus|:

It's just that their noobie phase was back in BW... ;)

[Celldweller]

Originally Posted by nirvAnA

Huk, Idra, MC, they were all noobies once, just like many "forever bronze" players today.

This isn't true. All of them placed into diamond on their first try (which was the highest league at that time) cause they brought over their mechanics from the previous games they played, as did nearly any other player who has been competitive in RTS games.

This goes to show you how much of a factor the mechanical aspect of the game takes up, since they obviously knew nothing about the strategical aspect in their first 5 games.

So yea, I agree with the Celldweller, the easiest way to get out off bronze is to fix your mechanics with a simple BO, and later on worry about timings and stuff.

I mean, they aren't gifted, they didn't come with skills on the first RTS game they played, just as many new bronze players haven't played WC3 or BW so they end up in a very low league in the beginning.

[Champi]

actually i believe platinum was the highest league at the time. i remember being placed into plat in the beta, which im sure is when all those big name boys made the switch, with maybe the exception of MC. idra deffinitely did though.

either way nirvana is right, learn a build order for each matchup from a replay of a good or your fave player, and just practice it over and over until your confident in how solid and refined you can do it. then try to learn another build for each mathcup, rinse and repeat.

try not to make the mistake of overthinking a game before you know enough about it to have answers for yourself

just practice the basics, this is a hard game, and takes a long time and a lot of hard work to improve in it. just be patient and vigilant and you will reap the rewards ^^

Quick Comments

	Maynarde:	Well said, so true
	Spud:	VERY QUALIFIED TO SPEAK ON THIS TOPIC

[TFCsoultouch]

I personaly think that the best way to get out of lower leagues is to just copy pro build and try to do the same. start with one base build to get use to make units and just micro so you dont have all the macro things to watch then u can improve your micro point and your unit making point.

[Statix]

I can add a bit to this as ive been a bronze for near 2 years and im telling you its all to do with the AMOUNT you play and HOW you play.
Before i went sc2 crazy i was playing only a few games a fortnight. When i say a few i mean less than 10. This is no good. The game shifts all the time, players get better and because of the lack of play you dont. There is a clear example of me and one of my friends, he is gold i was bronze, obviously i could never beat him. Hes not played like he did since last September and he popped online last week and i won 6 out of 6 as a silver league player against a gold. Hes OUT of practice. theres no doubt if he went back to basics and got back into the rhythm hell beat me again. Another point with amount is i hit the ladder stupid hard for 2 weeks when i was on holiday, ive never done that before and i got promoted in that week. My win/loss has always been around the same but the more games you rack in the more stable i think your matchups get with evenly matched players.

How you play is the next thing. Im telling you that learning builds against the different races and drilling them so you know where you are at all times is how you win. At first i was doing the BUILD when i NEED it i heard spread around a few forums but then a few coaching sessions showed me 5 builds, 1 for each match up and some all ins. i was taught how to read scouting info and when to possibly expect and then react to it (im zerg btw). then i was told to drill it like crazy. One of the sessions i had the coach said he used to drill his build orders 5 times every day, ladder 10 games then analyse the replays to see where there were gaps. Now he is a GM of course and i am not, but i did start to focus on areas and then analyse the replay. this site has helped me greatly with that, the GM Manual and info from PiG and Nemo has made me a 10x better player . . i believe. If i lose a game and then start to wonder why, i analyse the replay looking at these simple things (in no order btw they are all important as each other)
1. Injects
2. Idle larva
3 saturated base
4. Build order
5. money spending
6 supply
7. scouting

When i started to do all this in a cycle i got promoted. In short, play loads of games, focus on small areas at a time and learn your builds

[Jaywalk]

hide bases, they never get found.

Quick Comments

	ToRRedemption:	I lol everytime i see this, ive seen this 5 times
	TCPKiaSu:	lol

[Asrathiel]

Originally Posted by ToREchoes

hide bases, they never get found.

Yeah they do

[TN.Fitz]

Haha I sometimes get de-ranked back into bronze. I hate the leagues in Starcraft II it is so hard to get out of your rank. The best way to get out of bronze I have learned is just continue to win. Like many people stated above the key to this macro. Most bronze players will build up for some type of timing push (for them). If you are able to hold that off most times people will say the "gg" and then leave or just leave without the gg.

As for me as I know how to macro and take exspands it never hurts to know some marine micro. Marine, tank will pretty much wreck any push the opponent will put at you .