[G] How to Dramatically Improve Hand Speed - Page 7

Execution Speed
The most important area of multitasking is that of execution speed. Execution speed is a factor that really
dierentiates pros from amateurs and others from those a level or few lower, yet it is scarcely talked about
at all. The easiest way to understand is with a demonstration. Take for example mid to lategame TvZ, right
after swarm is out and the Zerg is busy securing their 4th gas. During this period one approach is to pressure
the Zerg enough so that the Zerg makes a mistake or leaves an opening that can be exploited. Should the
Terran not do any damage before the Zerg can start pumping out 4 gas ultra/ling, the Terran ends up at a
mild to severe disadvantage. Ergo the Terran will naturally march around between various points of entry
throwing irradiates, killing isolated units and sunkens, sieging up, and dropping the 3rd or the main. The
primary factor in deciding victory in this scenario is which side is faster.
If you want proof, go through the best pro TvZ'ers and look at their games in this section of the game.
In virtually every single example you will be unable to point to more than a few second window (at most)
where their army is idle. Some infantry may be providing scourge cover for Vessels to irradiate a deler
or lurkers, other infantry might be denying an expansion or forcing a dark swarm, but something is always
happening. What is more, the Terran army never sits still even if it is not attacking. It provides pressure
by moving constantly, forcing the Zerg to be uncertain to the timing and intentions of his opponent. If the
Zerg is not prepared for the speed of the Terran's movements, some aspect of their defense will be open and
they will either die or get crippled. So not only is it important to be able to initiate the movements at a
non-stop rate, but you also must be able to react to high-speed movements as well. If not, that very same
Terran player might nd themselves victim to a terrifying plague or
ank that just came a second earlier
than they expected. When you look at games of weaker players in the above scenario, you'll see how their
armies stop moving quite often, they don't make enough threats, they don't put on enough pressure; in fact,
they just seem to sit around often. Without the direct pro comparison it doesn't seem that abnormal, but
the dierence between an army sitting in the middle and an army ghting on your doorstep is worlds apart
to the opponent. Should you pit that slower amateur against a pro, the pro could simply win, irregardless
of every other skill, simply by striking faster and more often than his opponent is prepared to handle.
Execution speed is often the factor in many losses attributed to other causes. Think back to some of the
games that you might have lost where the deciding factor was that swarm blocking a winning attack at the
last moment, that Terran army that attacks too quickly and emps your arbiter a second before you are ready
to strike, or the Protoss army that attacks out of the black and crushes your hydralisks because you didn't
have the time to organize them for battle. Once you get to a (not particularly high) level where everyone
has great macro, everybody's micro is solid, and awareness is nice, execution speed is the main mechanical
skill that dierentiates great from good.
Improving this all-important attribute is going to be gradual, and oftentimes enough from the results
18of improving the rest of your skills. Practicing with a concentrated eort to move your armies faster and
faster will obviously help propel this along, but that alone will not do it. In order to increase the speed and
eectiveness of your attacks, you will also need to have the knowledge of what kind of movement, where to
move, and when to move all down subconsciously. This will be acquired both from studying progames and
from your own experience.
Lastly, one nal approach that may help is playing from the other point of view. A Terran player working
on ZvT or vice versa is a particularly great case because of how important execution speed and reaction is in
both sides of that matchup. By doing this, you will get to experience directly just how important execution
speed is. You will lose many times over to those mm that strike right before your defense is entirely setup,
or the lurker/ling that rams into your natural under swarm while you are still assembling your army. An
even greater way to experience this factor and gain insight on how to improve your own play, short of ndng
a practice partner of much higher skill, is to play against a team melee team. As one person is always
controlling the army, it will be abundantly clear how much benet they reap simply from always being able
to move their forces faster than you have experienced.
As we can see every mechanical aspect requires both knowing what to do and actually doing it. One is
a knowledge component gained from both experience and careful studying of pros, the other is a mechan-
ical/subconscious component gained purely from experience. Of all the mechanical skills, multitasking is
the most dependant on experience and repitition. The shortcuts come from knowing what to do; the rest
depends on doing the same things over and over and slowly optimizing them.
Multitasking requires:
1. Understanding exactly what you are doing and why (study/experience)
2. Becoming so familiar with every action that the process becomes subconscious (practice)
3. Optimizing your actions to focus on the most important while ignoring the trivial (experience)
4. Becoming extremely aware of the minimap (practice/experience)
5. Force yourself to become faster by playing against opponents who punish you severely if you don't
(practice)
6. Improving your execution speed (study, experience, practice