EPTThe reason why I am posting it anyway is that I noticed although the guides are catered towards the lower league players, some of their experiences don't really match up with mine and seems a little bit too harsh (lower league only need to focus on macro etc) and that I want to contribute in some ways for the game that I love.
Here's my own experience in lower leagues and in what area I improved on to get me promoted:
(Zerg is my main race, I borrowed my friend's silver Protoss account and promoted to Plat, so take this in mind)
From Bronze to Silver:
Zerg no doubt, is the race that requires the most game knowledge. It isn't a race that you can just build and win with. You will need to know what scouting information to look for and know how to respond to it while making sure you remember your injections.
I have always played macro games and they almost never work out in Bronze because there are a lot of random pushes and all-ins and cheese.
Sometimes even if I knew it is coming, I just can't defend against it properly. Bunker rush was a nightmare, 4 gate was scary (especially when there is a hidden pylon somewhere in your main base).
I watched a lot of progamers' games and yet none of their games seems to match up with what I have experienced, or the timing is just different.
Of cause, I would win a lot of games too if I defend the cheese and when it comes to macro game, I always always win. However, losing to cheese had locked me up in bronze for 3 months+ (despite having more than 70% win rate and facing silver)
How I managed to get out from Bronze is:
Read builds better and play a lot more defensively. I would put down pre-emptive spine crawlers and spores, extra queen. The good thing about bronze is that either they push out for an all-in attack or they never attack until they are maxed.
This has let me played a lot of 3 or 4 bases scenario, get a taste of getting my injection on time with 4 bases and therefore my macro was relatively good for a bronze. (I did not lose a single macro game in silver).
From Silver to Gold:
Zerg:
I have only spent about 2 weeks in silver, which wasn't surprising because I have only faced at most 5 silver players in all my 50ish games in Gold.
There are relatively less cheese compared to bronze and you should start to face some timing push.
The game would usually go up to 2 base (or 3 if you are a zerg), there are some very strong 2 base push players that I faced. You will need to learn how to scout for his unit composition at a good timing.
I won't comment too much because my experience with silver is just very little.
Protoss:
As for Protoss, I was already a Plat Zerg by the time I started using it.
Protoss in general is less complicated than zerg in Silver, I only have done 3 gate robo until I got to very high gold. (even so, I didn't have a proper build order at all)
PvT is not too difficult at this stage, all you need to be careful is that he could do a 3 rax timing push, which you will need immortal to defend with.
colossus deathball in general is extremely powerful in PvT because he could be over producing vikings or too little, any of which he would lose the game quite easily.
Sentries are extremely powerful at this level, you can often catch his army off guard and split his units into half very easily.
PvZ on the other hand, I have faced a lot of mass speedlings play when I try to expand to my natural. It isn't so hard to hold if I had enough sentries and some zealots. For all my PvZ, I have only went for Mass chargelot+archon combination and this composition is so strong yet effectively that despite my macro wasn't so good (not used to constant worker production), as long as you chrono those upgrades and get those archons out, this force is unbelievably strong and requires no micro at all.
How I got out from Silver:
If I were to pinpoint one thing that separate myself from the silver zergs, it was the icefisher build that I used. The build is extremely safe against most cheese and easy to follow, also you can start practise your creep spread since you will have 4 queens on the field early.
I also went infestor heavy due to Spanshiwa's awesome playstyle, and since I have good experience with Dota, microing infestors was relatively easy for me.
For protoss, I would say that you will have to play the game safe by using forcefield, I have faced a high amount of strong one base timing push as protoss and 3 gate robo with heavy sentries is extremely safe against these pushes.
From Gold to Plat:
Zerg:
From gold to plat is probably one of the hardest to get to in my experience. Not that it will take long but it will require you to tighten up a lot of the flaws that you have. One prime example is that you should move your drone to your natural when you have around 200 minerals.
You cannot rely too much on pre-emptive spores and spines too much because the gold/plat players can get their expansion timing right on, and you cannot be wasting too many drones on these structures. Positioning and flanking also becomes more relevant.
For Muta users, you will also need to make sure you know when and when not to commit the mutas for trade off and also start to know that relying too much on muta is extremely risky because one mis-engagement and you could lose most of your mutas, rendering your mid-late game very weak.
I used to go ling/infestors in all my matchups, but since the nerf hit infestors hard on ZvP, I will leave how you deal with P to you. Personally I am relying on nydus+lings and quick ultras in diamond.
Creep spread becomes more crucial and I think you would notice by this level. Creep spread delays terran pushes, and pushes the protoss's forward pylon a bit backward.
There are also cheese at this level, some are very well executed.
One example is that this player would cannon up, goes 2 stargates and drop hidden expansion while I am contained in my base. He would just make sure I am contained. Then he would build up a huge colossus deathball and just out macro me easily.
Protoss:
One very crucial point about Gold to Plat is knowing how many production facilities you can support and I would generally go for 3 gate expand then robo in PvZ and into 5 gate 2 robo then expand while putting pressure. Or I continue with my mass chargelot archon build (you can have 7 gateways on 2 bases for this build) for 2 base timing attack.
Another important point is knowing when to pull back from harassment. Very often I would lose due to not remembering the goal of harassment.
Also , learn to defend against 1-1-1 and always position your army well whenever you have spare apm. Always make sure you are engaging at a good location and micro your stalkers to deal with anything that is annoying your colossus.
It becomes harder to just win with a deathball, most often you would lose all your colossus. This then becomes the next big decision making, whether you think you should continue pushing or retreating and wait for more colossus and tech up to a bigger ball with stargate units etc.
I have faced almost no cheese at this level except all-ins (mainly 1-1-1).
How I got to Plat:
at this point of the game, you will start to face a lot more macro games and drop play, ling run-by, warp prism harass, well controlled stargate harassment etc.
The most important mindset is to stay calm, make sure you are getting the basic (not getting supply blocked, constant worker production etc) and SCOUT. It appears that many players would simply stop scouting when they are harassed. And quite often after you fended off the harassment, you would then see he has an expo up or a huge army coming that you cannot handle well without a specific unit.
There are other points that I might have forgotten to put, but one thing that is certain:
Focus on IMPROVING, not winning.
The biggest improvement of all my play is not macro/micro, but it is my mechanics.
With better mechanics, I can get things done faster and better and allowing me to do MORE. for example, creep spread, overlord positioning, army positioning. These will take a lot less time if you can get your mechanics right, and that will also mean that you can focus more on micro and macro-ing.
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If you have read all the way, congratz! I have never expected anyone to really read this and so there could be a lot of mistake in grammar and also is quite messy
Hopefully it has given you some insight on whatever you were looking for, have fun laddering
(and if I were to add, for zerg, plat to diamond: Get good at defending against hellions and prepare for 4 gate whenever the toss is delaying his natural expansion for even a 30 seconds late and get very good at defending FFE-> whatever 6 gate or 7 gate whatever unit, whatever upgrade timing push)
