[Hijung]

A question I've been asking myself for a while is 'How do I improve? What can I improve in?'

I'm Gold Z, probably low Silver T and P, and I'm kind of leaning towards P right now. That indecision has been the bane of my existence ever since I picked up Sc2, lol.

However, when I watch a replay, I never know where to EXACTLY look at, what I did wrong.. Sure, there's a few 'Oh, I could've done this/that' or 'My army can be better used over here' or 'I lost because of X' but I can never see past that.

My question is, how exactly do I improve? I can hammer out 20.. 30 games per day and lose 75% of them again or I can ask you guys for help, I've chosen the latter.

Thanks in advance.

[|Erasmus|]

First thing to learn then is macro, I guess.

Get a replay of a pro build, then when you watch a replay compare how close you are in supply, etc. to the pro at any given point. Work out why you failed (supply block, missing production cycles, not defending properly against harass) and what you can do better in that regard.

[iM yang]

Try playing while trying to follow what pros do, build orders, reactions to things they scout - if you don't feel like playing, read guides or watch replays until you have some idea of what to do, then play to execute it.

Have you actually done 30 games a day over a period of a couple weeks or are you just saying that you COULD?

[TheGentleman]

I strongly suggest you select just one race and stick to it. Playing the other races is good to get an understanding of how the other races work and what their limitations are but at the end of the day you will improve fastest by trying to improve just one of the races.

If you're genuinely stuck then there are several options available to you that you may be unaware of.

1. Coaching: Yes this costs money, but these coaches have been where you are and know how to get where they are. Like personal training at a gym coaching will speed your results allowing you to obtain your starcraft goals faster.

2. The replay feedback thread! (click here) This thread is frequented by many helpful people willing to look over your replays (especially replays you're stuck on) with the goal of helping you improve. Often times these helpful people point out mistakes that you didn't even know you were making.

3. Watch streams: Watching professionals play (especially when you try and analyse their play) will help give you an insight into why decisions were made and concurrently improving your decision making skills.

4. Join a Clan: I cannot emphasise this one enough, a clan is full of helpful people often who share goals similar to yours. Some are in a clan just to fool around of course but others are there who want practice against people of your skill level. Which leads me to point number 5.

5. Practice partners: These are people who wish to improve much like yourself. They will look over your replays and you will look over theirs. You will help each other get better at the game. Clans are an excellent place to find practice partners as well as this thread. EDIT: You can use the quick find feature found in the features menu above or click here.

If you're genuinely stuck chances are you're doing stuff wrong that you aren't even aware of so hopefully one of the 5 tips above helps you out.

Good luck and stay classy

Quick Comments

	PiG:	great advice yo
	AxS.Sorathez:	Listen to this man.

[Hijung]

@IMYang, that was kind of an exaggeration, haha.

My schedule right now is around 20 games on Saturday and from 9-11 on weekdays due to school, due to holidays that schedule is out of the window so I probably could.

[TN.Fitz]

I'd say find your balance. I know for me I prefer watching then actually playing. See if you can expose yourself at least a little bit to the pro scene, play games. Work on hotkeys and speed overall with your macro. That is most likely the best way to improve. Once you have a grounding for that try thinking about positioning your army in such a way that yew can flank or what have yew haha hope this helps

[Sephyre]

Originally Posted by Posijuice

However, when I watch a replay, I never know where to EXACTLY look at, what I did wrong.. Sure, there's a few 'Oh, I could've done this/that' or 'My army can be better used over here' or 'I lost because of X' but I can never see past that.

One simple thing would be to look at your main production building.

It was a tip from Day9 from a long time ago that really helps.

It sounds like your main race is zerg, so load up your most recent replay (win or loss) and just watch a hatchery.

Literally don't move the camera (you can have the replay on 4x-8x so it doesnt take long).

Just by watching your hatchery (ignore the minimap) you'll see how often your queen is just sitting there ready to inject and that's one huge fundamental right there.

While you are watching your hatchery and seeing how often you 'miss' injects, have a look at your minerals and see the unspent climb up. Pause the replay a few times and start to think about what you could have done with that money. If you're getting over 1k+ then you could be grabbing a drone and adding a macro hatch, or making an additional queen, or units (which is where the larvae comes in again).

You can get all of that just by watching the hatchery.

It sounds like you are trying to improve to many things at once. Nobody plays games non-stop and just 'becomes' good, you have to work at it.

As a disclaimer I have only just returned to the game. When I last played Diamond was the highest league and I was in it. Now i have just placed in plat and am having to re-learn/re-grind/improve again to regain where i was.

[PiG]

Follow gentleman's advice!

When watching a replay watch only your macro! Learn some markers for instance I tell zergs they should always have 50 drones by 8:00 unless they are HEAVILY pressured. A little helion/marine/stalker pressure shouldn't stop you getting 50. Watch pro Terran and Protoss players replays to see when they have 50 probes/scvs by and make sure you are doing the same.

Reasons you won't reach these goals: Supply blocks, lack of constant worker production, random build orders.

Fix these things!

Another low league mistake is to just randomly build units early on. You need to identify all your scouting que's. e.g. watching 2nd gas + chronoboost to identify a 4 gate. If you aren't reading into things like gas timings and such then you need to start doing that! Only build the minimal amount of defence at each period so that you can maximise your economy!

gl!

[S2Glow]

dont be too frustrated , i know how you feel! take a break and play again , you must have a goal just like me!