Need help on improving APM

[StubbornRock]

Hi guys, I am a SC2 fan who had a little bit SC experiences, had played SC2 for a month now. I had understand most concept of common techniques against different race and counters to most units but what really pains me is my APM.


From my replay I can see, my average APM is currently around 49-54 (get to 60 when I spam apm intentionally in the early stage). I am reallying struggling as no matter how hard I try my APM never really pass 60 APM.


P.S. Many high level replays really showed the power of high APM, normally a pro player would go up to 100-120
       SC2 standard APM. However what troubles me is where did all those APM go? At least at my level of exp
       I had failed to see it. Any tips where did it go?

[john92]

Use hotkeys

[unclean]

Don't get too crazy about apm, a lot of it is just move order and hotkey spam. If you're doing everything you need to be doing at any moment you're good.

The most important thing is knowing the keyboard shortcuts and hotkeying EVERYTHING so that you can micro your army and macro up at the same time. How you do it depends on what race you're playing, but for example with zerg I hotkey

0 - hatcheries
9 - queens
8 - nydus worms
1 - 4 armies

That way I can do everything but build and buy upgrades without even looking at my base, for example to spawn larvae I just hit 9, then r, and click on my hatcheries on the minimap (sounds weird but it works when you try it).

For terran I keep all production buildings of one kind on hotkeys and use tab to cycle through them, and keep my command centers and a worker that constantly makes supply depots hotkeyed too.

Once you learn how to do that well your APM should go up quite a bit since you don't have to waste time scrolling all over the map to get things done. Command queuing with shift really helps out too, it lets you do things like tell a group of stalkers to move, blink, then attack move, and while they're doing that you can harass with some void rays or pay attention to whatever else is going on.

Hope that helps, doing all that I manage about 100 apm with only a little spam

[StubbornRock]

Thank you for your suggestions unclean. I guess that is my problem, the only hotkey I am using right now is 3-cc/hutch/ned, 1-scout/army. I did put production building like rax in 2. But I always forget to use it.......
I guess I just need to practice a bit more and always remind myself to use them

[ringlas]

APM is not initially bend with the player's performance and skill but it is stated that bellow 110 APM you are far away from the semi-pro stage.

Improving APM does not require you to just begin clicking more, it comes naturally with time and practice.

In the SC universe controlling armies of great variety is actually a pretty good ground for having high amounts of clicking. You need to learn to divide your different units into groups, for example, melee units are ctrl 1, range units are ctrl 2, units with special abilities are ctrl 3, etc... Of course, buildings can also be assigned to hot-keys which is recommended for the ones you use most to spawn units. All the rest lays down to micro. You must first learn to divide your types of units and use them properly without forgetting some and with practice comes wisdom.

APM is just a number, it doesn't show your skill, it shows just how much you spam with your mouse and keyboard along with the real important clicks. However, it's better to spam in the beginning more than it requires so you can concentrate and get your fingers to work fast. You need fast reactions.

However, my advice is simple - 'think'. Watch your own replays, find your mistakes, question yourself 'why did I do this', 'what did I do wrong and lose'. Evolve your game, try to improve, never stick up with one thing doing it over and over again.

Good luck!