• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EST 00:43
CET 06:43
KST 14:43
  • Home
  • Forum
  • Calendar
  • Streams
  • Liquipedia
  • Features
  • Store
  • EPT
  • TL+
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Smash
  • Heroes
  • Counter-Strike
  • Overwatch
  • Liquibet
  • Fantasy StarCraft
  • TLPD
  • StarCraft 2
  • Brood War
  • Blogs
Forum Sidebar
Events/Features
News
Featured News
RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview8RSL Season 3 - Playoffs Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups C & D Preview0RSL Season 3 - RO16 Groups A & B Preview2TL.net Map Contest #21: Winners12
Community News
ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career !8Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win4Weekly Cups (Dec 1-7): Clem doubles, Solar gets over the hump1Weekly Cups (Nov 24-30): MaxPax, Clem, herO win2BGE Stara Zagora 2026 announced15
StarCraft 2
General
When will we find out if there are more tournament ComeBackTV's documentary on Byun's Career ! Weekly Cups (Dec 8-14): MaxPax, Clem, Cure win RSL Revival - 2025 Season Finals Preview Weekly Cups (Dec 1-7): Clem doubles, Solar gets over the hump
Tourneys
Winter Warp Gate Amateur Showdown #1: Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament $5,000+ WardiTV 2025 Championship RSL Offline Finals Info - Dec 13 and 14! Master Swan Open (Global Bronze-Master 2)
Strategy
Custom Maps
Map Editor closed ?
External Content
Mutation # 504 Retribution Mutation # 503 Fowl Play Mutation # 502 Negative Reinforcement Mutation # 501 Price of Progress
Brood War
General
How Rain Became ProGamer in Just 3 Months BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ FlaSh on: Biggest Problem With SnOw's Playstyle screp: Command line app to parse SC rep files [BSL21] RO8 Bracket & Prediction Contest
Tourneys
Small VOD Thread 2.0 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [BSL21] WB SEMIFINALS - Saturday 21:00 CET [BSL21] RO8 - Day 2 - Sunday 21:00 CET
Strategy
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Game Theory for Starcraft Current Meta Fighting Spirit mining rates
Other Games
General Games
Mechabellum Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Nintendo Switch Thread PC Games Sales Thread Path of Exile
Dota 2
Official 'what is Dota anymore' discussion
League of Legends
Heroes of the Storm
Simple Questions, Simple Answers Heroes of the Storm 2.0
Hearthstone
Deck construction bug Heroes of StarCraft mini-set
TL Mafia
Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas Survivor II: The Amazon Sengoku Mafia TL Mafia Community Thread
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread Russo-Ukrainian War Thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine The Games Industry And ATVI YouTube Thread
Fan Clubs
White-Ra Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
Anime Discussion Thread [Manga] One Piece Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
Computer Build, Upgrade & Buying Resource Thread
TL Community
TL+ Announced Where to ask questions and add stream?
Blogs
The (Hidden) Drug Problem in…
TrAiDoS
I decided to write a webnov…
DjKniteX
James Bond movies ranking - pa…
Topin
Thanks for the RSL
Hildegard
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2216 users

[H] So you want to increase your apm? - Page 2

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
mrblue182
Profile Joined April 2010
United States151 Posts
November 25 2010 14:25 GMT
#21
I average 160 apm without a mousepad. Buying expensive things won't make you play faster.
phaleos
Profile Joined December 2009
Australia105 Posts
November 29 2010 16:19 GMT
#22
APM doesn't mean much, especially not for starcraft 2. In starcraft 1 I played at an average of 300 APM, for Starcraft 2 I could do things competently at 100ish APM. It's more important to train how WELL your brain thinks (making the right decision, having good unit composition, etc) not how FAST it thinks.

Also I don't get why you need to spend 50/100 bucks just to get to 130 APM. My APM sits at 150 (for starcraft 1) with the worst mouse in my house and no mouse pad. The more expensive gaming gears is to get allow me to click more precisely so I could play at 300APM.
The very essential of quoting... is not having one.
donut boi
Profile Joined October 2010
United States154 Posts
November 29 2010 16:31 GMT
#23
a good mouse/mousepad is vital for having high apm
donut the bronut
AnAlbumCover
Profile Joined September 2010
United States138 Posts
November 29 2010 16:35 GMT
#24
For all of those that are just shooting down his post: He doesn't claim that it will work for anyone, he's just trying to be helpful and share what helped him increase his APM.

DUH, apm isn't a measure of your skill, he's not ever saying that. He is just sharing, trying to contribute. Give him a break guys.

OP, thanks. I have found that after buying a Death Adder razor mouse and just trying, actually focus on getting my APM higher, helped a TON. Also, SC2gears with it's apm alert, has helped me get from 80 to about 105 now :D
for a nerdgasm: http://www.teamliquid.net/forum/viewmessage.php?topic_id=197809
Genome852
Profile Blog Joined August 2010
United States979 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-29 16:38:05
November 29 2010 16:35 GMT
#25
On November 25 2010 23:12 nodq wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 25 2010 18:33 uhohh wrote:
Greetings - long time lurker, first time poster.

I see alot of people asking for tips on how to increase ones APM, so I'm posting here to reveal what helped me personally, in the hope that it helps you as well. For me, I always hovered around 70-80apm and as i got better and stuff i started tweaking parts of my play that I thought were important. For starters, you need good gear to be able to keep up with your brain and make your decisions swiftly and most of all - precisely. So spend 50-100 bucks and get a good mouse/pad/keyboard. In the game menu under Gameplay you'll see a "Mouse Sensitivity" bar, most people i found on average were sitting around the 25 mark. What i did was increase that amount by 1, every game i played, untill around 37. I play with regular DPI settings and no mouse acceleration. The things i noticed straight away was that the game felt faster, because i was moving faster. My theory is that if your hands are moving faster than your brain is thinking, then your brain will have to catch up / think of things that you should be doing! This is only supposed to be a little thing, it might only save you 0.1 of a second by getting a worker to build a building at a specific spot, but when all those .1's add up, that will be the difference in how much faster you react/play the game!

This is not for everyone, nor is it guaranteed to work, it's simply what i did and i thought i'd share so we don't see an "HAPL ME INCREEES MA APM" thread every day. some people might get all jittery, it's simply how i increased my apm from 70-80 average to a 130 average, with no unnesscesary clicks.

Hope this helps.


btw. here on TL are some Threads about SC2 ingame Sensitivity Settings etc. 51-54% is equal to the 6/11 Windows Setting, which has no Pixel skipping. So do not set SC2 ingame Sens to higher as 55% or lower as 51% if you don't wanna have Pixel skipping. Set Windows to 6/11 of course.

Ah and, Sensitivity != DPI/CPI


Was about to say this.

Also, you naturally get higher APM by playing the game more and having a larger 'mental checklist.' Training to manually increase your APM by spam is pointless.

In games where I'm constantly fighting with units and macroing at the same time, my average APM tends to be ~140-150. In pure macro games where there's little fighting until a huge engagement, my APM is usually only 100, and a lot of that is just repeatedly hitting my building hotkeys to check production cycles.. kinda spamish.
headies
Profile Joined October 2010
United States63 Posts
November 29 2010 17:23 GMT
#26
On November 25 2010 21:13 SovSov wrote:
Mouse+Keyboard does extremely little to actually help your APM or play

I just felt I should say, when I finally got a good mouse and adjusted my settings correctly my apm DID increase from 80ish average to over 100 almost instantly.

Things like mouse settings and a good keyboard can absolutely increase your apm. Will they make you better? Maybe not, but APM is like a tool available to you. It's up to your skill to use the APM effectively.
Grildrak
Profile Joined October 2010
Sweden44 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-29 18:04:08
November 29 2010 17:57 GMT
#27
On November 25 2010 18:33 uhohh wrote:
In the game menu under Gameplay you'll see a "Mouse Sensitivity" bar, most people i found on average were sitting around the 25 mark. What i did was increase that amount by 1, every game i played, untill around 37


I would say what mouse sensitivity you should use depends on what mouse technique you are using (not technique like laser etc. but how you hold the mouse). I am personally using fingertip grip and for it im having it at the 50 mark

On November 25 2010 23:12 nodq wrote:
btw. here on TL are some Threads about SC2 ingame Sensitivity Settings etc. 51-54% is equal to the 6/11 Windows Setting, which has no Pixel skipping. So do not set SC2 ingame Sens to higher as 55% or lower as 51% if you don't wanna have Pixel skipping. Set Windows to 6/11 of course.

Ah and, Sensitivity != DPI/CPI


guess i should increase it by one stepp:D

btw i have a keyboard almost as old as myself a mouse for something like 7 dollars and a mouse pad for 3 dollars and do just fine with my 80-100 apm in dia with 1900 points

a side note: would be fun to see what mouse techniques ppl playing sc2 are using
http://www2.razerzone.com/MouseGuide/html/palmgrip.php


Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge
Eknoid4
Profile Joined October 2010
United States902 Posts
November 29 2010 21:02 GMT
#28
Unless you're running 800x600 or something there is absolutely no reason to worry about pixel skipping in an RTS. This is not an FPS. For every player of sc2, pros and casuals alike, what slows them down the most is their hand, not their equipment, which means pixel skipping is meaningless and it's just one of those magic words that people hear so they think it's important (Like higher apm).

Everybody drag boxes anyway. There really isn't a scenario where you would wish you could select that one damn pixel in a game where the lowest resolution you'll realistically play on is 1024x768.

That being said, if you want to spend money to increase your mouse accuracy and you are running 1024x768, you're better off spending it on your system itself.

Increasing my mouse speed to 100% in the game has helped me a lot. Took a while getting used to but now I can micro much more efficiently if nothing else.
If you're mad that someone else is brazenly trumpeting their beliefs with ignorance, perhaps you should be mad that you are doing it too.
AZbadfish
Profile Joined September 2010
United States56 Posts
November 29 2010 22:42 GMT
#29
i stopped caring about APM when i saw players with 200+ the first minute of the game. i can't even think of 200 things to do in the first minute.
That is the baddest f*cking rainbow I've ever seen!
uhohh
Profile Joined October 2010
5 Posts
November 29 2010 22:43 GMT
#30
I love how everyone skips over the OP and forgets to see the bit where it says


[B]This is not for everyone, nor is it guaranteed to work, it's simply what i did and i thought i'd share


i never said, increase your mouse sensitivity and BOOM AWESOMEO APM! i shared what worked for ME, if you're already too awesome and think this wont work, go to another thread.

Denzil
Profile Joined August 2010
United Kingdom4193 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-29 22:52:23
November 29 2010 22:51 GMT
#31
I'll stick the Multi-tasking trainer UMS I find it'll help alot more than mouse sensitivity.
Anna: So Sen how will you prepare for your revenge v MC? Sen: With a smile.
DImported
Profile Joined October 2010
Australia149 Posts
November 30 2010 04:35 GMT
#32
You shouldn't worry about increasing your APM. The more you play, the more you will get used to doing the actions you perform regularly and will eventually execute them faster.

It's more important to focus on playing correctly than quickly.
Reason.SC2
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada1047 Posts
November 30 2010 04:41 GMT
#33
On November 30 2010 07:42 AZbadfish wrote:
i stopped caring about APM when i saw players with 200+ the first minute of the game. i can't even think of 200 things to do in the first minute.


They do it to warm up for later.

Your logic is flawed. Its like saying I stopped caring about a car being fast when I saw a car going unnecessarily fast in a school zone. lolwut?
Metalwing
Profile Blog Joined May 2010
Turkey1038 Posts
November 30 2010 04:42 GMT
#34
On November 25 2010 19:39 ChickenLips wrote:
Watch Sjow consistently roflpwn players with two to three times his APM. He has a game plan, he knows his timings and he understands the game.


Watch Inflow's last CW, and watch the ZvZ game. You'll definitely see that apm matters. Period. The player with higher apm got his zergling speed upgrade a few seconds earlier with identical builds and that was the game changing point.
#1 CheckPrime fan // Terrans gonna Terran
Zergneedsfood
Profile Blog Joined September 2008
United States10671 Posts
November 30 2010 04:42 GMT
#35
You should play Osu. It might not help TOO much with APM, but it does help with mouse precision, and that's always a good thing in crucial situations.
/人◕ ‿‿ ◕人\ Make a contract with me and join TLADT | Onodera isn't actually a girl, she's just a doormat you walk over to get to the girl. - Numy 2015
Reason.SC2
Profile Joined April 2010
Canada1047 Posts
November 30 2010 04:48 GMT
#36
On November 30 2010 13:42 Metalwing wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 25 2010 19:39 ChickenLips wrote:
Watch Sjow consistently roflpwn players with two to three times his APM. He has a game plan, he knows his timings and he understands the game.


Watch Inflow's last CW, and watch the ZvZ game. You'll definitely see that apm matters. Period. The player with higher apm got his zergling speed upgrade a few seconds earlier with identical builds and that was the game changing point.


Good illustration of the point.

Just because there exists an example where a low apm player beats a high apm player does not mean that higher apm is not a valuable asset.

From a UFC perspective there are guys (Anderson Silva, GSP, etc) who can beat heavier and stronger opponents. That certainly doesn't mean that if you're in a fight it is meaningless how big and strong you are.
azn_dude1
Profile Joined October 2010
162 Posts
November 30 2010 04:59 GMT
#37
On November 30 2010 13:42 Metalwing wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 25 2010 19:39 ChickenLips wrote:
Watch Sjow consistently roflpwn players with two to three times his APM. He has a game plan, he knows his timings and he understands the game.


Watch Inflow's last CW, and watch the ZvZ game. You'll definitely see that apm matters. Period. The player with higher apm got his zergling speed upgrade a few seconds earlier with identical builds and that was the game changing point.


If you think about it, most pros are at least 120 apm, which is 2 actions per second. Not getting zergling speed in time is not a apm limiting factor because it would be late by half a second at most. It was just him forgetting about when he could actually afford it.
Shikyo
Profile Blog Joined June 2008
Finland33997 Posts
Last Edited: 2010-11-30 05:09:16
November 30 2010 04:59 GMT
#38
My mouse sensitivity is such that a screen's width(I have a widescreen and use 1440x900) equals around 1 1/3 inches on my mousepad. I feel that this is pretty low sensitivity, but I feel pretty comfortable with it. I think I'll try to increase it a little bit, but remember that most of your APM actually comes from the keyboard.

On November 30 2010 02:23 headies wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 25 2010 21:13 SovSov wrote:
Mouse+Keyboard does extremely little to actually help your APM or play

I just felt I should say, when I finally got a good mouse and adjusted my settings correctly my apm DID increase from 80ish average to over 100 almost instantly.

Things like mouse settings and a good keyboard can absolutely increase your apm. Will they make you better? Maybe not, but APM is like a tool available to you. It's up to your skill to use the APM effectively.

I agree about the mouse though, I use fingergrip and my old mouse was a MX500, you can probably guess how that goes. With my Salmosa it's a lot smoother and much more natural. My Goliathus mousepad also feels amazing, it's the best total of ~35 euros I've ever spent.

On November 25 2010 19:39 ChickenLips wrote:
Watch Sjow consistently roflpwn players with two to three times his APM. He has a game plan, he knows his timings and he understands the game.
And he plays Terran.
No but really, his strategies consist of abusive timing pushes. His lategame is pretty terrible and he has no proper multitasking, he just has his timing pushes where he basically gets a mix of units that's difficult for the opponent to deal with, and if he doesn't win with it, he's dead. He has no depth in his play at all. This is pretty much identical to how every superlow APM player can play. He also will outright lose a harrassment war extremely often, and has very bad micro.

And yeah I also am quite sure that it wouldn't work with any other race because of the way the Terran can rely on their unit composition alone to catch the opponent off guard(T can have mixes that require certain responses, whereas both P and Z armies can be simply defeated with superior micro with less emphasis on countering specific unit mixes) without needing great micro as well. It still is an extremely unreliable style and yeah, he'll fall off the map after people learn to deal with it. It's kind of like a Protoss 4-gating every game, just more sophisticated.

On November 30 2010 13:42 Metalwing wrote:
Show nested quote +
On November 25 2010 19:39 ChickenLips wrote:
Watch Sjow consistently roflpwn players with two to three times his APM. He has a game plan, he knows his timings and he understands the game.


Watch Inflow's last CW, and watch the ZvZ game. You'll definitely see that apm matters. Period. The player with higher apm got his zergling speed upgrade a few seconds earlier with identical builds and that was the game changing point.

This is totally irrelevant, I can do a build perfectly up to Zergling speed with 15 apm. It doesn't matter in the slightest at that point, his build just was bad.
League of Legends EU West, Platinum III | Yousei Teikoku is the best thing that has ever happened to music.
MUirbeqU
Profile Joined October 2010
United States41 Posts
November 30 2010 21:10 GMT
#39
I'm pretty sure SC2 measures moving the screen as APM, so that accounts for your increase in APM if its true and if you have to constantly correct your screen position because you have a higher DPI. Also Sc2 measures your in game APM, so your APM is actually higher than replays show. Anyways, I would say it's better to have better control group skills, than some number on a replay. You become more efficient when you don't have to use your mouse for things (hotkeys and control groups) that are on your keyboard.
Eknoid4
Profile Joined October 2010
United States902 Posts
December 01 2010 09:19 GMT
#40
On December 01 2010 06:10 MUirbeqU wrote:
I'm pretty sure SC2 measures moving the screen as APM, so that accounts for your increase in APM if its true and if you have to constantly correct your screen position because you have a higher DPI. Also Sc2 measures your in game APM, so your APM is actually higher than replays show. Anyways, I would say it's better to have better control group skills, than some number on a replay. You become more efficient when you don't have to use your mouse for things (hotkeys and control groups) that are on your keyboard.

wat

moving the screen?

you're joking right?
If you're mad that someone else is brazenly trumpeting their beliefs with ignorance, perhaps you should be mad that you are doing it too.
Prev 1 2 3 Next All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Next event in 4h 17m
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
RuFF_SC2 173
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 2810
Shuttle 1018
Leta 321
ZergMaN 88
Hm[arnc] 22
Mong 21
Bale 7
Dota 2
monkeys_forever487
LuMiX1
League of Legends
JimRising 683
C9.Mang0217
Counter-Strike
summit1g7955
Other Games
Coldzera 933
WinterStarcraft413
ViBE147
Trikslyr30
Organizations
Other Games
gamesdonequick1089
StarCraft: Brood War
UltimateBattle 26
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
sctven
[ Show 14 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• practicex 36
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• Diggity11
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
Other Games
• Scarra1749
• Shiphtur202
Upcoming Events
CranKy Ducklings
4h 17m
WardiTV 2025
5h 17m
Spirit vs Cure
Reynor vs MaxPax
SHIN vs TBD
Solar vs herO
Classic vs TBD
SC Evo League
6h 47m
Ladder Legends
13h 17m
BSL 21
14h 17m
Sziky vs Dewalt
eOnzErG vs Cross
Sparkling Tuna Cup
1d 4h
Ladder Legends
1d 11h
BSL 21
1d 14h
StRyKeR vs TBD
Bonyth vs TBD
Replay Cast
2 days
Wardi Open
2 days
[ Show More ]
Monday Night Weeklies
2 days
WardiTV Invitational
4 days
Replay Cast
5 days
WardiTV Invitational
5 days
ByuN vs Solar
Clem vs Classic
Cure vs herO
Reynor vs MaxPax
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Acropolis #4 - TS3
RSL Offline Finals
Kuram Kup

Ongoing

C-Race Season 1
IPSL Winter 2025-26
KCM Race Survival 2025 Season 4
YSL S2
BSL Season 21
Slon Tour Season 2
CSL Season 19: Qualifier 1
WardiTV 2025
META Madness #9
eXTREMESLAND 2025
SL Budapest Major 2025
ESL Impact League Season 8
BLAST Rivals Fall 2025
IEM Chengdu 2025
PGL Masters Bucharest 2025
Thunderpick World Champ.
CS Asia Championships 2025
ESL Pro League S22

Upcoming

CSL Season 19: Qualifier 2
CSL 2025 WINTER (S19)
BSL 21 Non-Korean Championship
Acropolis #4
IPSL Spring 2026
Bellum Gens Elite Stara Zagora 2026
HSC XXVIII
Big Gabe Cup #3
OSC Championship Season 13
ESL Pro League Season 23
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026
IEM Kraków 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter 2026
BLAST Bounty Winter Qual
TLPD

1. ByuN
2. TY
3. Dark
4. Solar
5. Stats
6. Nerchio
7. sOs
8. soO
9. INnoVation
10. Elazer
1. Rain
2. Flash
3. EffOrt
4. Last
5. Bisu
6. Soulkey
7. Mini
8. Sharp
Sidebar Settings...

Advertising | Privacy Policy | Terms Of Use | Contact Us

Original banner artwork: Jim Warren
The contents of this webpage are copyright © 2025 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.