[Delraich]

I have some forum posts talking about actions per minute, and i was particularly interested in the ones that talk about effective actions per minute being much more important than just making sure it is high.

My APM is 25-30 though, which seems miserable, and was wondering what the heck are people doing with their keyboards to get an APM of over 100 or whatever? Can someone maybe post a video of their hands or something just so i can get an idea of what mine should be doing?

Is there a minimum number where you can say that you are alright even though its really low. Like if you are super efficient and only click once on a place etc, what is the lowest decent APM.

[FrOst]

APM is not important, it's about being able to multi-task correctly and making proper decisions to win games. Yes, being able to play faster does help at the higher levels of gameplay, as it's needed for perfect macro and reaction timings, but this doesn't have much to do with APM. A good player will use his actions effectively rather than spamming to show off numbers.

Notable APMs:

rLsMilionair (sorry bro had to mention you), in all his games I've spectated his APM averages 70-80. He is top 200 SEA. Just because his APM is low doesn't mean he is a bad player.

White-Ra, average APM of 110 (Mines the same and I'm only in diamond D: ), takes out oGsMC who averages 200+

ST_July, 350+ This guy is a monster, but I guess all Korean pros are.

Like I said before, APM is only important when you're using it effectively, otherwise it's just a number. If you want to improve the speed you play at, hotkey units and buildings to control groups, so you can build units without looking at your base and react quickly when your army is under attack. It takes a lot of practise to get good at, so keep at it

[cruxis]

Day9 says 100apm is about when you start being competitive.

[jason]

my apm on average is 120, and i'm in diamond. Apm doesn't really matter unless it is actually properly used, like every step you make is necessary and not for the sake of getting a higher apm.

people with 200 + apm is literally smoking their keyboards. Only professional gamers should actually have 200 + apm properly used. It takes a lot of practice to do so.

Because starcraft, this game, as amazing as it should be, is all about
- when you do stuff,
- the order of you doing stuff,
- how you execute it
- how many things you can do at once
to make your play better. The more practice you get, the better you become in all those factors. So the better you get in all those factors, the faster you will then eventually play, and the higher the apm you will get.

25-30 is acceptable for new players.

But seriously, anything below 10 is like people who only uses their mouse and sits all day thinking of what they should do and are completely new to the game.

100 + is for players like high platinum and diamond league I guess.

But those are just imaginary numbers. For example :
If you are good at macroing ( build your army), you may have a high apm, but if you can't execute the battle properly, and loses everything and loses the game, you may be in bronze league. But how fast you built your army has lead to a high apm. So players might have 60 apm but in bronze league.

[HaNdFisH]

If you have less than 30 apm you probably aren't using control groups/hotkeys much. Try to learn to almost never click any thing and to have the bulk of your army in a control group at all times.

You certainly don't need 150+ apm to be competitive, at least on SEA. You should find though that your APM is at least 60+ or so if you are actually using control groups/hotkeys and moving your army around on 2 bases with proper macro. I wouldn't worry about your APM so much as keeping your minerals low while not letting your army wander off to its death. APM should come naturally as you improve.

[Aean(:]

You need like 60 apm to never miss a cycle of worker production / army production which is something you should work on as a new player.
When you almost complete building a worker, you should start another one. Failing to do this will result in mineral build up (not always though), same goes for unit production.

At higher apms, players (for example a zerg) tend to:
Constantly scout with a single ling to see if they're opponents have hidden/normal expos, moving overlords into positions for sight or sacking later on, sacking overlords for scouting information, poking at the front of the ramp to see unit composition, these all add up onto a player's APM. And on top of that, not missing a larva inject and constantly making units and/or drones.

[AlphaWhale]

Honestly, half the time lower level players manage to "achieve" high actions per minute is because they spam move commands/right click when they are controlling units.

The number in APM is made out to be way more important than it is. You should be more concerned about what you are clicking on, how often and how efficiently. Not how many buttons are you pressing every minute.

As a zerg player, you'll see APM jump up to 250/300+ easy, that's just from making banelings/resupplying. It looks impressive but it doesn't mean I'm good, it is me holding down one key for awhile.

Generally at 25-30 you should be analysing why you are sitting around that number. You may need to play the game faster, scroll between your production facilities. Watch a replay of yourself but don't open the APM counter, watch the game in your perspective and see where you're clicking, how often and how you can improve.

[Satu]

Having solid mechanics is more important than having solid APM. In fact, APM is just one part of overall mechanics, and thats pretty much why. Through concentrating on all of your different tasks to achieve, your APM should naturally increase as the speed that you think through these tasks increases. It shouldn't be the other way around, unless you wish to have some of your APM being inefficient.

[Cordance]

Zergtastic hit the nail on the head.
Most high APM spam is at the start of the game is more a warm up than actual APM. How ever something that people with higher APM than you might be doing is the tap check of buildings. A short explanation following;
Command center hotkeyed to 4 barracks hot keyed to 5 factory hot keyed to 6. Tap 4 check bottom of your screen for SCV energy for mule. Tap 5 check if you need to build a barracks unit. Tap 6 Check if you need to start building a mech unit.
(There are day 9 dailies on this particularly ones where he talks about looking at different things efficiently)
This kind of action also can show why some of the higher end players are reducing their APM as they get better. Lesser player will need to check more often due to less accurate timing on the production. The better you get at knowing the timing the less times you will need to check on buildings that are still half way in production of a unit.

[tin]

i try to just make sure im checking on all my production buildings so my hands just tend to spam 4 5 6 sometimes 7 but i still dont do it as efficiently as i would like like day 9 says just run through your mental check list probes pylons units upgrades scouting

[Delraich]

Thanks for all the replies. I reformatted the replies into a few catagories based on my original question.

APM that is really bad (less than 10):
"Anything below 10 is like people who only uses their mouse and sits all day thinking of what they should do and are completely new to the game".

APM that is OK for a beginner but is not at a competitive level (25 to 30):
25-30 is acceptable for new players. Generally at 25-30 you should be analysing why you are sitting around that number.

APM minimum level for competive play (above 60):
rLsMilionair (sorry bro had to mention you), in all his games I've spectated his APM averages 70-80. He is top 200 SEA. APM is at least 60+ or so if you are actually using control groups/hotkeys and moving your army around on 2 bases with proper macro. You need like 60 apm to never miss a cycle of worker production / army production which is something you should work on as a new player. Day9 says 100apm.

Reasons for low APM:
Not having solid mechanics (APM is just one part of overall mechanics). Through concentrating on all of your different tasks to achieve, your APM should naturally increase as the speed that you think through these tasks increases.

More specifically, if you want to improve the speed you play at:
Hotkey units and buildings to control groups. If you have less than 30 apm you probably aren't using control groups/hotkeys much. Something that people with higher APM than you might be doing is the tap check of buildings. You may need to play the game faster, scroll between your production facilities. Constantly scout with a single ling to see if they're opponents have hidden/normal expos, moving overlords into positions for sight or sacking later on, sacking overlords for scouting information, poking at the front of the ramp to see unit composition, these all add up onto a player's APM. And on top of that, not missing a larva inject and constantly making units and/or drones.

[cure]

APM isn't really that much a requirement for protoss unless you're going for phoenix play. Take Roz for example, he's always in the top15 and he plays on not more then 100APM. Like the others above said, focus on your macro. Just keep making workers, attacking units, and scout often. You should've have about 60-70 apm if you're constantly doing all that as protoss.

[SiZeMaTTeRs]

I have to agree with Cure, APM is not really that important, it does play a part in games, IMHO what matters the most is your response time during the game, if your response time is good in the game, you should have a decent amount on APM.