• Log InLog In
  • Register
Liquid`
Team Liquid Liquipedia
EDT 07:44
CEST 13:44
KST 20:44
  • 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
[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Inheritors13[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt2: All Star10Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists19[ASL21] Ro16 Preview Pt1: Fresh Flow9[ASL21] Ro24 Preview Pt2: News Flash10
Community News
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers20Maestros of the Game 2 announced92026 GSL Tour plans announced15Weekly Cups (April 6-12): herO doubles, "Villains" prevail1MaNa leaves Team Liquid25
StarCraft 2
General
Team Liquid Map Contest #22 - The Finalists MaNa leaves Team Liquid Maestros of the Game 2 announced 2026 GSL Tour plans announced Blizzard Classic Cup @ BlizzCon 2026 - $100k prize pool
Tourneys
2026 GSL Season 1 Qualifiers Sparkling Tuna Cup - Weekly Open Tournament INu's Battles#14 <BO.9 2Matches> GSL CK: More events planned pending crowdfunding RSL Revival: Season 5 - Qualifiers and Main Event
Strategy
Custom Maps
[D]RTS in all its shapes and glory <3 [A] Nemrods 1/4 players [M] (2) Frigid Storage
External Content
The PondCast: SC2 News & Results Mutation # 523 Firewall Mutation # 522 Flip My Base Mutation # 521 Memorable Boss
Brood War
General
[ASL21] Ro8 Preview Pt1: Inheritors FlaSh: This Will Be My Final ASL【ASL S21 Ro.16】 Leta's ASL S21 Ro.16 review BGH Auto Balance -> http://bghmmr.eu/ ASL21 General Discussion
Tourneys
[ASL21] Ro8 Day 1 [Megathread] Daily Proleagues [ASL21] Ro16 Group D Escore Tournament StarCraft Season 2
Strategy
Fighting Spirit mining rates Simple Questions, Simple Answers What's the deal with APM & what's its true value Any training maps people recommend?
Other Games
General Games
Stormgate/Frost Giant Megathread Diablo IV Nintendo Switch Thread Dawn of War IV Total Annihilation Server - TAForever
Dota 2
The Story of Wings Gaming
League of Legends
G2 just beat GenG in First stand
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
Vanilla Mini Mafia Mafia Game Mode Feedback/Ideas TL Mafia Community Thread Five o'clock TL Mafia
Community
General
US Politics Mega-thread 3D technology/software discussion European Politico-economics QA Mega-thread Canadian Politics Mega-thread Things Aren’t Peaceful in Palestine
Fan Clubs
The IdrA Fan Club
Media & Entertainment
[Manga] One Piece Anime Discussion Thread [Req][Books] Good Fantasy/SciFi books Movie Discussion!
Sports
2024 - 2026 Football Thread Formula 1 Discussion McBoner: A hockey love story
World Cup 2022
Tech Support
streaming software Strange computer issues (software) [G] How to Block Livestream Ads
TL Community
The Automated Ban List
Blogs
Sexual Health Of Gamers
TrAiDoS
lurker extra damage testi…
StaticNine
Broowar part 2
qwaykee
Funny Nicknames
LUCKY_NOOB
Iranian anarchists: organize…
XenOsky
Customize Sidebar...

Website Feedback

Closed Threads



Active: 2058 users

[H][L] I want to get better at SC2 - Page 2

Forum Index > StarCraft 2 Strategy
Post a Reply
Prev 1 2 All
StevieWonder333
Profile Joined December 2011
55 Posts
April 05 2012 18:42 GMT
#21
If it's any help, I found that when I began to focus more on what my opponent was doing I began to become much better. It was like what I built and how I moved my units began to be a function of my read on my opponent. It is a strategy game after all.
Acritter
Profile Joined August 2010
Syria7637 Posts
April 05 2012 19:47 GMT
#22
On April 05 2012 19:41 Tobberoth wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 05 2012 19:07 Acritter wrote:
Okay. The people here are mostly wrong. The LAST thing you want to start out training is a "macro" build order, because those don't actually teach you how to macro. They teach you how to pretend that you're macroing, but fail because you're trying to juggle too many balls at the same time. What you want to learn how to do is execute build orders cleanly. The way you do that is to start with some simple build order with VERY clear expectations of you (X by this food count, Y by that food count) and keep on practicing it. In general, these are all-in build orders. Once you've mastered a one-base all-in (and by that I mean it's stopped working for you on ladder), start practicing a two-base all-in. And so on. Slowly build upon your knowledge of clean execution as you become a better player. Once you get up to the level where you can perform those all-ins very cleanly at a high level of play, you'll be prepared with the abilities you need to learn different, non-all-in builds against your opponents. Until then, though, just stick to your guns. You wanna know how the Broodwar pros got good? It was by playing the same map against the same opponent playing the same race playing the same build order again and again and again and again until they were PERFECT. That's what you need to learn how to do.

Only exception? No cheese. You win games with an all-in through skill, no matter what some people on here would like to tell you. You win games with cheese through luck. That's not going to help.

Liquipedia should help you with some of these builds, although I think you already have a few on hand to choose from.

Wrong. Allin builds have benchmarks until the final attack, while macro games have constant benchmarks and can be adapted to the length and style you like. No need to juggle many balls at all since you're only focusing on macro, which is what matters anyway.

Going from a macro build you know well to an allin build is a peice of cake, the other way around is almost impossible.

You're speaking from theory, I'm speaking from experience. I used to focus on Gateway all-ins against Zerg. Learning the 4gate +1 Zealot pressure build was as simple as not building a few Gateways-- and because of my experience using all-ins against Zerg, I was able to straight-up WIN GAMES with that Zealot pressure, while I had a third base and a Robo Bay building at home.

I hate seeing people here give such terrible advice on how to improve. It's all based off that stupid, harmful mindset that "macro=good", and it's the reason that EVERY foreign scene is behind Korea, and that NA is the worst. I need to all-in and cheese more.
dont let your memes be dreams - konydora, motivational speaker | not actually living in syria
straycat
Profile Blog Joined May 2011
230 Posts
April 05 2012 20:04 GMT
#23
Just want to say that you probably don't need to feel too worried about single player rank (1v1) being lower than multiplayer (i.e. 2v2 etc). I think that most people have a higher ranking in 2v2s, 3v3s etc than in 1v1. So you might not be bogging down your friends as much as you fear!
GloPikkle
Profile Joined October 2010
United States197 Posts
April 05 2012 20:16 GMT
#24
On April 06 2012 04:47 Acritter wrote:
Show nested quote +
On April 05 2012 19:41 Tobberoth wrote:
On April 05 2012 19:07 Acritter wrote:
Okay. The people here are mostly wrong. The LAST thing you want to start out training is a "macro" build order, because those don't actually teach you how to macro. They teach you how to pretend that you're macroing, but fail because you're trying to juggle too many balls at the same time. What you want to learn how to do is execute build orders cleanly. The way you do that is to start with some simple build order with VERY clear expectations of you (X by this food count, Y by that food count) and keep on practicing it. In general, these are all-in build orders. Once you've mastered a one-base all-in (and by that I mean it's stopped working for you on ladder), start practicing a two-base all-in. And so on. Slowly build upon your knowledge of clean execution as you become a better player. Once you get up to the level where you can perform those all-ins very cleanly at a high level of play, you'll be prepared with the abilities you need to learn different, non-all-in builds against your opponents. Until then, though, just stick to your guns. You wanna know how the Broodwar pros got good? It was by playing the same map against the same opponent playing the same race playing the same build order again and again and again and again until they were PERFECT. That's what you need to learn how to do.

Only exception? No cheese. You win games with an all-in through skill, no matter what some people on here would like to tell you. You win games with cheese through luck. That's not going to help.

Liquipedia should help you with some of these builds, although I think you already have a few on hand to choose from.

Wrong. Allin builds have benchmarks until the final attack, while macro games have constant benchmarks and can be adapted to the length and style you like. No need to juggle many balls at all since you're only focusing on macro, which is what matters anyway.

Going from a macro build you know well to an allin build is a peice of cake, the other way around is almost impossible.

You're speaking from theory, I'm speaking from experience. I used to focus on Gateway all-ins against Zerg. Learning the 4gate +1 Zealot pressure build was as simple as not building a few Gateways-- and because of my experience using all-ins against Zerg, I was able to straight-up WIN GAMES with that Zealot pressure, while I had a third base and a Robo Bay building at home.

I hate seeing people here give such terrible advice on how to improve. It's all based off that stupid, harmful mindset that "macro=good", and it's the reason that EVERY foreign scene is behind Korea, and that NA is the worst. I need to all-in and cheese more.


I agree. I've coached people from Bronze into Diamond and the WORST advice you can give to someone who has abysmal mechanics (ie Bronze through Gold) is to tell them to work on multiple base build orders. They don't have the mechanics to perform them and will just get frustrated. Or they'll think "I'm on 3-bases, I'm macroing" when in reality they're just being bad.

By learning incrementally, they will simultaneously:

1) Learn a build order against each MU
2) Begin to perfect timings
3) Gain experience deflecting cheese
4) Build the mechanics required for 2-base timings

Example. One guy was in Silver, and I told him in every MU, every game, to perform a 1 Rax FE. Most of his games went to crap after about 6 minutes due to his lack of mechanics and game experience. He'd make all sorts of wonky decisions, or forget to make depots, or forget to get gas because he was so busy trying to manage 2 bases while deflecting all the completely awful and botched attacks that come in low leagues. He played over 150 games and did not get out of his league.

I then told him after he was thoroughly frustrated to focus on 1-base all-in timings until he was in Gold before then doing 2-base timings until Platinum. Gold in 26 games, Platinum in 44.

Learning must be incremental otherwise most people will just be overwhelmed.


Swagtacular
Profile Joined March 2011
United States101 Posts
Last Edited: 2012-04-05 20:27:32
April 05 2012 20:26 GMT
#25
On April 05 2012 22:59 decaf wrote:
High masters zerg and terran here.
If you want to improve fast you have to accept the fact that this game is no fun unless you find being competitive fun. After you have done this the fastest way to improve (in my opinion) is:
  1. Pick ONE build order per matchup from a well established progamer (no foreigner and nothing worse than code s). It has to be a macro intensive build like 1rax FE - suck up build order losses. Start with 1 matchup.
  2. Do this by downloading the replay and get your notepad ready to write down the key information.
  3. Go to a build order test map and do this build for 2 or 3 hours straight. Try to copy the build as perfectly as possible - no supply blocks, same order, move your units the same way, no thinking.
  4. Play your build vs practice partners. If you find you make too many macro mistakes go back to build order test map.
  5. Do this for all matchups.
  6. Ladder and get masters easily.
  7. Start thinking now. Add different builds so you can use maps to your advantage.

It took me 3 months to get my terran to high masters that way. It might not be the must fun way to imrpove but it sure is a fast one.



i agree completely with this guy. I did the same thing, and im high masters too. do this.

but add one more thing. If you know what your strong suit is, try to take builds from players who match it.
f.e. - i've pretty much copied hero's build orders for each matchup because i love mutitasking.

edit: also be sure to know timings for the opponent to attack you and check to be sure you can hold thoses
SlacKs
Profile Joined December 2010
Sweden20 Posts
April 05 2012 22:38 GMT
#26
The pros say that the only thing you need to get to masters is Macro. bronze-diamond is only about how good ur macro is. Because if ur in a TvT (for example) if he got 10 marines and you have 18. You will win that fight EVERY SINGLE TIME (with a move) he could micro like a god but you will still win the fight.
So the advice I would give to you is get you're macro straight, never go over 500 minerals. you can stack up on gas, if and only IF you know WHY you're doing it. (example: zerg stacking gas to get out 10 mutas for a badass harass)
And the second advice is that you should learn to scout, you should always know what ur enemy is doing. If you don't, learn how to by watching ur replays and stop at any given moment and ask yourself. What is he doing? (now you know what he is doing because you already got the answer because you have played the game) But the important thing is not what but HOW you're going to learn what he is doing. And this you will learn in replays by looking at what he can have if he goes for a specific build.
I play zerg and i can almost figure out what my opponent is doing only by running up 1 ling up their ramp at specific times that I know in my head, and based around what I can see I can get a picture of what he CAN'T do (THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT, when scouting for information you shouldn't ask yourself what he is doing. But what he can't do. And then I mean efficently. Ofc he can go mutas, but if he only got 1 gas at 10 min. Those mutas will come out very late and they won't be a threat because they are late... By doing this you will end up with the answer what he is doing)
I know its tricky but I'm gonna explain what im looking for when im scouting. IN early game when scouting if he goes for units that cost alot of minerals (core units) for exemple Marines and zealots you're enemy is most likely gearing up to attack you. If he goes for units with a high gas cost he could do 2 things either go for a "smart" unit (Sentry and even sometimes bling and tanks (when used in smale numbers to make a smart defense)) that is cheap in minerals letting him spend more minerals on economy or he is gearing up for a midgame harass (banshe, mutas, void ray, DTs) With experience in you're scouting you will learn to tell the diffrence betwen these two. By simply learning timings when things should hit (efficently) and also by scouting his front you can tell what he is going, alot of sentrys? not going voids or dts. You proberly get the point by now... after early game its really only about knowing how much gas intake he got and you can force him to take specific tech routes and what not, buts thats pretty complicated and could be very dangerous to experiment with if you don't know what ur doing. =)

When you feel confident about those two, my advice nextg is to increase you're APM learn to play faster use (locations hotkeys and use all hotkeys 1-9, I myself have this setup 1-scout, 2-4 army, 5 hatcherys, 6 quees, 7-8 important buildings, 9 spires, 0 evos) because only if you have a high APM can you put in the time to micro. Because if your going to try to micro with a low apm, it will affect you're macro because you don't have what it takes to do so many things at once.

I hope you find something here usefull and feel free to ask me questions in PMs i will most likely not even look back here because I dont spend alot of time on the forum. I however play Zerg in top 25 master league. Been a while since i played seriously now but when i did i competed for money in small tournaments, now i mostly play for fun since i spend most of my time either on the gym or at work. But however this is the way that i got to masters! GOOD LUCK =D
To the victor go the spoils.
Prev 1 2 All
Please log in or register to reply.
Live Events Refresh
Wardi Open
11:00
#84
IntoTheiNu 937
WardiTV517
OGKoka 302
Rex82
Liquipedia
[ Submit Event ]
Live Streams
Refresh
StarCraft 2
OGKoka 302
SortOf 160
Hui .111
Rex 82
Ryung 24
StarCraft: Brood War
Calm 10974
Sea 2772
Jaedong 2619
BeSt 610
EffOrt 604
Hyuk 531
Soma 484
Mini 465
Larva 391
Stork 338
[ Show more ]
actioN 285
ZerO 177
Light 167
Hyun 146
ggaemo 133
Pusan 132
Rush 125
Aegong 115
Snow 112
ToSsGirL 81
PianO 80
Killer 58
Nal_rA 43
sorry 43
Free 33
ajuk12(nOOB) 28
JYJ 21
Shinee 19
soO 19
HiyA 18
[sc1f]eonzerg 18
Shine 16
Barracks 16
Sacsri 15
Bale 12
scan(afreeca) 12
yabsab 12
GoRush 10
Terrorterran 6
Dota 2
XaKoH 608
NeuroSwarm343
resolut1ontv 149
XcaliburYe96
Counter-Strike
olofmeister2871
zeus598
allub434
x6flipin413
edward184
markeloff181
byalli1
Heroes of the Storm
Khaldor197
Other Games
singsing2148
B2W.Neo1107
Happy308
Pyrionflax199
XBOCT188
Mew2King46
ZerO(Twitch)5
Organizations
Dota 2
PGL Dota 2 - Main Stream303
StarCraft: Brood War
lovetv 13
Kim Chul Min (afreeca) 8
StarCraft 2
Blizzard YouTube
StarCraft: Brood War
BSLTrovo
[ Show 12 non-featured ]
StarCraft 2
• StrangeGG 84
• AfreecaTV YouTube
• intothetv
• Kozan
• IndyKCrew
• LaughNgamezSOOP
• Migwel
• sooper7s
StarCraft: Brood War
• BSLYoutube
• STPLYoutube
• ZZZeroYoutube
League of Legends
• TFBlade760
Upcoming Events
Monday Night Weeklies
4h 17m
Replay Cast
12h 17m
Replay Cast
21h 17m
Afreeca Starleague
22h 17m
Leta vs YSC
GSL
1d 21h
Rogue vs Percival
Zoun vs Solar
Replay Cast
2 days
GSL
2 days
Cure vs TriGGeR
ByuN vs Bunny
The PondCast
2 days
KCM Race Survival
2 days
Replay Cast
3 days
[ Show More ]
Replay Cast
3 days
Escore
3 days
Replay Cast
4 days
Replay Cast
4 days
IPSL
5 days
Ret vs Art_Of_Turtle
Radley vs TBD
BSL
5 days
Replay Cast
5 days
uThermal 2v2 Circuit
6 days
BSL
6 days
IPSL
6 days
eOnzErG vs TBD
G5 vs Nesh
Replay Cast
6 days
Wardi Open
6 days
Afreeca Starleague
6 days
Jaedong vs Light
Liquipedia Results

Completed

Escore Tournament S2: W4
WardiTV TLMC #16
Nations Cup 2026

Ongoing

BSL Season 22
ASL Season 21
CSL 2026 SPRING (S20)
IPSL Spring 2026
KCM Race Survival 2026 Season 2
StarCraft2 Community Team League 2026 Spring
IEM Rio 2026
PGL Bucharest 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 1
BLAST Open Spring 2026
ESL Pro League S23 Finals
ESL Pro League S23 Stage 1&2
PGL Cluj-Napoca 2026

Upcoming

Escore Tournament S2: W5
KK 2v2 League Season 1
Acropolis #4
BSL 22 Non-Korean Championship
CSLAN 4
Kung Fu Cup 2026 Grand Finals
HSC XXIX
uThermal 2v2 2026 Main Event
Maestros of the Game 2
2026 GSL S2
RSL Revival: Season 5
2026 GSL S1
XSE Pro League 2026
IEM Cologne Major 2026
Stake Ranked Episode 2
CS Asia Championships 2026
IEM Atlanta 2026
Asian Champions League 2026
PGL Astana 2026
BLAST Rivals Spring 2026
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 © 2026 TLnet. All Rights Reserved.