EPT+ Show Spoiler +
I shouldnt really have to defend myself here, I get asked this question a lot just because of my job. The reason why I'm not a pro gamer is a dual reason, I don't have the patience and it didnt really appeal to me. I find more enjoyment in watching the game than I do playing this is why I'm a caster.
I made this post because I'm tired of explaining individual parts of this post over and over again. Yes it is very basic because a lot of mid level players need to honestly just start over again. Many of you won't find it useful but I don't really care, some people out there will. Trying to break this down and make fun of it because I'm not a pro gamer myself is silly and childish because there are people out there who can legitimately benefit from some of the things I've written down here.
I made this post because I'm tired of explaining individual parts of this post over and over again. Yes it is very basic because a lot of mid level players need to honestly just start over again. Many of you won't find it useful but I don't really care, some people out there will. Trying to break this down and make fun of it because I'm not a pro gamer myself is silly and childish because there are people out there who can legitimately benefit from some of the things I've written down here.
Yes you, I know there's a lot of Starcraft viewers who are casual they want to have fun. They want to improve but they don't really want to do much better than maybe go up a league, get out of bronze etc. So maybe that's not you, you want to be Masters you want to be a Grand Master, you want to be called a bonjwa, just like your name was Flash.
Does that appeal to you?
Okay first thing you need to do is drop everything you know about Starcraft
Stop pretending you know anything, you are now a newbie and you're starting over. Chances are you've already played this game to a varying degree and you've developed bad habits. You're Platinum? Too bad so sad, if you want to become a pro gamer the number one thing we're going to have to fix is your mentality. That begins with any pretense that you are even good at this game. You have to be willing to drop down to Bronze while learning how to actually play this game. Are you ready to do that?
Good? No you're not try again. Okay you ready now? No you're not but let us pretend that you are so that we can continue.
Mental State
This is the number one problem that most aspiring people face. Okay so you've finally worked up the courage to hit that find match button you play a few games, well then you walk away disappointed because you lost them all.
Now this is a major problem, the first thing you need to realize is that the road to becoming a pro gamer is a long one. You will have to work hard to get there; long term goals are required as well. In short you shouldn't focus on the short term, if you worry too much about this game and not getting better as a player you will force yourself into a plateau. you will hit a point where you don't seem to improve any more if you only try and win this current game not work towards a long term strategy.
In order to set yourself up to become a better player, hell I'll pretend I'm Day[9] for a second. In order to be a better gamer you need to realize that most likely you will have to become worse just to become better in the long run. That is what this is about, we're thinking long term and we're focusing on the long run
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/8A4zx.jpg)
<Insert random stereotypical saying here about having to push before you can pull>
Okay here comes the hard part, you're with me up to this part. Everything seems pretty easy so far you're thinking that you can do this. Ready for the big one?
YOUR LEAGUE AND CURRENT RANK DO NOT MATTER
This one is the hardest one for most people to accept, if you drop down to Bronze while working on your long term plan then suddenly everything was a failure. If you get demoted while trying to improve obviously it meant you did something wrong.
No it doesn't.
You must learn how to play the game before you can learn how to win. Sure you will get wins along the way but this isn't what you should be focusing on to begin with. If you focus on wins you will develop bad habits and these will impede your overall progress. Let me repeat this one more time.
It does not matter if you win or not while you are first starting to play the game. Focus on your basic skill-sets and you will become a better player in the long run.
Okay yes this is boring, a lot of people cannot handle this, you're still allowed to play the game but something you will have to learn is how to separate play from practice which leads nicely into the next point.
Practice Regimes
First thing if you're going to get better you're going to need to practice, and this means understanding that practice is not the same as playing the game. In the same way that if you go to Football practice (Soccer if you're American) you very rarely actually play the game. While at practice you work on dribbling, you work on your footwork, shooting the ball, passing, endurance, and many other of the basic skill-sets.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/SH8r3.jpg)
These players are practicing they are not playing the game.
Okay let's translate this into StarCraft shall we? This means what while you are staring out you are learning the basics. These basics include but are not limited to in roughly the order of importance
- Scouting
- Macro
- Multitasking
- Micro
- Strategy
Please note these are ranked in order for a player who is LEARNING the game. Once you have developed the basic skills of how to play the game these will re-order. To a new player you will most likely die to the ones on top before you do the ones below.
-When you are learning to play the game if you have no idea what your opponent is building you will get yourself into really bad situations that even good unit production cannot fix.
-Similarly if you have good scouting and strategy if you are not making enough units, if you are not chrono boosting effectively if you are not utilizing your macro mechanics you will have trouble being able to win the game.
-You can scout and produce units well but if you don't continue to macro while you are fighting you'll lose the followup battle.
-You will very rarely lose a low league game due to lack of Micro unless you literally just attack move and leave your army alone. Even then if you are macroing effectively and multitasking it is likely you might even still be able to win.
This list is straight forward you should focus on the top two first as well as learning your very basic build order first. Then as you feel like you're starting to master these you should move downwards on the list.
So we've defined what practice is have we?
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/XVVus.jpg)
Now this next part is what I was alluding to earlier. In order to practice effectively if you are limiting yourself to Ladder then you are doing it wrong. Find a good solid build order tester, there are TONS. You want one that will let you choose which race you're facing, it will generally allow you to automatically reset after 10 minutes and reset manually if you need to.
YABOT is a good example, it hasn't been updated in ages but it still works for our purposes. There are also more advanced examples you can find by just searching build order testers on TL reddit or many other sites.
The first thing you need to do is eliminate mistakes in your opening build. Please note that OPENINGS ARE NOT BUILD ORDERS
Openings are the very basic beginnings of the game for example: http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Orbital_Command_Opening
Choosing this as opposed to a 15 command center, or a gasless expansion are your opening builds. These are not build orders these are the basic tools you need to play the game. For protoss this includes a forge fast expansion up to where you build your cyber core, 1 gate expansion, 3 gate expansion, 1 gate robo, Nexus first etc. Zerg should learn how to do a speedling opening (not 6/10 pool versions), hatch first, fast banelings etc.
Your goal in learning how to do these is to be able to learn them so well that you NEVER make mistakes. You shouldn't have to think at all during this part of the game. If you find yourself focusing so much on this part of the game that you are unable to do simple things such as forcing your workers to mine only on the closest patches or block a hatchery with a probe then you most likely haven't practiced this part of the game enough.
So as a new player you will want to learn each of your race's basic openings you can find them here:
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Terran_Strategy
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Zerg_Strategy
http://wiki.teamliquid.net/starcraft2/Protoss_Strategy
Scroll ALL the way to the bottom for your chosen race and find "general build orders" and "openings" you should know how to do all of those builds in and out. Cheese builds come later you can ignore those for now trying to learn cheese too quickly will lead into bad habits such as focusing on the short term and focusing too much on winning this game instead of improving as a player.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/mgf3d.png)
look for these
When to ladder
Once you have these basics set up, or you need a break from just grinding out the game you can ladder. It is acceptable to play for fun still in fact I would encourage it, if you grind this out too hard from the very start you will most likely wear yourself out. Just remember that we are working towards the long term and don't set stock into your rank until you are much further down on the skill list and working on strategy.
If you are the type of person who likes schedules schedule your practice regimes and include time for fun to begin with. If you are not enjoying the game you won't be able to stay with this for the long run.
Once you have these basics down you should now learn Build orders
Go back up to those liquipedia pages I linked and right under "general builds" there should be more specific builds listed under each matchup. These are what you should learn now, they are all variations on the openings that you were previous focusing on, this means that you can easily adapt your opening as you need to in order to turn it into the needed build order. Once again focus on being able to do these without making mistakes.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/uNf2w.png)
look for these
As you learn these builds more and more you should be learning about scouting and how to recognize the other player's openings and early build orders. This means you should probably read up on the other race's builds on Liquipedia so you can recognize them based on what you see. Let's move on to scouting before we come back to practice.
Scouting
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/WFxKo.jpg)
The very basic skill of Starcraft, in order to do anything effectively you need to recognize what your opponent is doing. Learn opponent's build orders, learn when they build gas learn how to eliminate build orders based on what you see early on. When you scout early on you should look for particular things.
- Refineries/assimilators/extractors and when they are built
- Spawning pools/barracks/Gateways and when they are built
- Are they producing workers?
- Is the protoss saving up his energy or using it on probes?
-Subpoint, if you're still in their base or you hid your scout and you see them still chrono boosting at 12+ supply check their gas it's possible they're doing some form of fast expansion.
These are the basic things to look for in any opening, at this point you've learned that certain build orders just don't work from certain openings. A protoss is most likely not going to get dark templars out in any timely manner if he goes nexus first. (Okay so yes they may try but if they do they will have no units and die to early pressure most likely)
By analyzing their opening you can narrow down what their initial gameplan is, these are the very basics of "Strategy" you will get better and better at this as you play more.
Putting everything together
Okay you know now how to perform a basic build order, how to scout and how to evaluate what your opponent is doing. This means you should now start to learn how to choose which build in which situation. If you are going for a dark templar all-in and you see that your opponent has chosen to open up with early detection this is probably not a good idea.
Start to think of Strategy in terms of maps not just matchups but maps as well. The biggest map in the map pool is less likely for a 6 pool to work. Advanced strategy comes not only from matchup information but maps as well. On a map with a very easily defended natural going for early pressure builds are going to be tougher. While a map like Xel'naga with a wide open natural allows for you to apply pressure more easily early on.
If you are going for a gasless expansion as terran and you see your opponent has multiple gateways and a robotics you are going to very shortly need bunkers for defense. These are the very simple basics of decision making, this will only come from practice and discussion with other people you trust.
You get to choose who you trust, and generally anyone you face in ladder is not a trustworthy source. You should be laddering more at this point now and spending less time in build order testers. You need to learn from experience just remember that Ladder is not an ideal practice environment.
![[image loading]](http://i.imgur.com/nka5A.jpg)
Ladder is hard to use as a practice tool because it is random, you cannot say focus on your terran vs protoss in ladder because maybe you get 10 zergs in a row. But you can use Ladder to focus on your basic mechanics, try to perform your build orders now while your opponents are trying to cheese you and apply pressure.
Fun fact: defending cheese comes down to the basics I was telling you about earlier. Learning how to scout effectively and multitask is your greatest tool in stopping dead almost any sort of cheese play your opponent can throw at you. There is no magic bullet to stopping cheese just basic game mechanics.
Okay so you're losing, keep with it focus on your multitasking try to work on moving your scout around constantly while doing your opening build. Try to focus on making your workers double up on the closest mineral patches before mining the others.
Most importantly...
PUSH YOUR BOUNDRIES
Leave your comfort zone, if you stay within what you consider comfortable, if you never keep pushing yourself you will never improve. Period, this is the thing that a lot of people leave out, far too often players do not try new things because they're uncomfortable. A pro gamer learns how to push past this and become a better player.
Focus on doing mechanical things with the game that you find difficult. Try to marine split while macroing, even if you fail keep doing it. You will eventually start to fail less at it. Stay outside of your comfort zone this is the most important part to improving in Starcraft besides the mental game.
As you learn more and more how to do your basic builds without losing you can now start to learn strategy more and more. You can start to try and emulate builds you see pros do in tournaments. While doing this stop and think to yourself WHY they are doing things differently from you. You have to understand the reasoning behind a strategy before you can perform it effectively otherwise you won't know how to react in a panic situation.
As you keep getting better and better Ladder becomes a worse and worse practice tool. You're getting promoted now you're out of Bronze. You're flying through Diamond soon in Masters and sitting on the edge of maybe getting into Grand Masters. How do you make this final leap?
Conclusions
This is the hardest part, I won't lie to you trying to take that extra step up from someone dedicated in their computer room to a professional is very difficult. You should try to ladder less and less, you should be thinking for yourself now. Learn to problem solve, if you're getting killed repeatedly by the same build you're going to have to start figuring out on your own how to solve this.
It should come without saying that learning to do this is not ideal while relying on only Ladder games. You are going to have to try and find players who will play in custom games with you. You should focus on one match-up for a while, change focus say that maybe Tuesday is your Protoss vs Protoss day. Problem solve, help each other with problems you're having. This means maybe he will 3 gate pressure you in the early game for 4 games in a row then you will 3 rax all-in him while he tries to learn how to defend it with his new build the next 4. Take turns helping each other with problems you're having.
Focus in on individual portions of your game again, work on trying to learn how to defeat problematic games. DO NOT ONLY PLAY WITH PEOPLE YOU BEAT EVERY GAME. In order to do this part effectively you need to step outside your comfort zone you will have to play people who can consistently beat you so they can effectively pressure you and force you to learn.
There are countless threads on reddit and Teamliquid about finding practice partners, search for people around your skill level make friends and help each other out.
If you learn to do all of this if you get this far down the page and are looking for more, well then the final step to becoming a pro gamer is simple yet hard at the same time.
Exposure
Let's say you've done all this you have solid practice partners you find yourself getting better and better, your gameplay keeps improving you feel like you can take on the world. Enter tournaments, join a playhem join a local event. Test yourself and your limits, join a streamed KOTH and learn how to play when you know people are watching. Learn how to deal with pressure situations. If you do this if you can start drawing attention to yourself maybe you can find yourself with a team. If there's an MLG in your area coming up and you can afford it maybe enter the open bracket to test yourself. This part is all about selling yourself as a player, don't be obnoxious about it just show that you can do play the game with the big boys and you will be recognized.
Staying on top
Have you gone this far? Are you on a team now? All your hard work is coming to fruition? Don't relax, keep working hard. The moment you drop your guard and stop practicing might be the moment you lose to a no name in a tournament and he starts to make a name for himself. This is an industry in which you never know when the next big name is going to appear and start winning. You must never be complacent always try to improve yourself and.... stay outside of your comfort zone. Keep pushing yourself to become better and better.
TL;DR
+ Show Spoiler +
You don't get one, if you're serious about this go back and read
