How to Ladder Efficiently

You’ve heard pro gamers say it, and it’s true. No matter how much time you put into this game, if you don’t use that time effectively and efficiently then you will improve in a rate far slower than you are capable of. We have far less time than what pro gamers have in playing this game, so the question is, how do we maximise our limited time in ladder for improvement?

There 4 main points that I will discuss here that will definitely help you in improving, no matter what your league and race is. Whether you’re in Bronze, Gold, Diamond and everything else this can help you in improving at a faster rate.

1) Have an Open mind

Starcraft II is a difficult game. Heck, even some people who devote their careers and lives to this game have difficulty. Without having an open mind you are limiting yourself and your play to go higher. I’ve experienced this myself, where I used to refuse to wall off v Zerg, or not go some heavy tech build despite the map.

What I mean by having an open mind here is to never discount something that you consider insignificant out of the question.

For example: you know that you are hindering yourself by only having 2 hotkeys for your army. You know that by having 3 hotkeys for different units of your army you will improve your play, but you don’t want to change it because you will then have to relearn your hotkeys and your muscle memory will be messed up.

Another example: you know that you are struggling v Zerg, for whatever reason. Don’t be shy to ask a Zerg friend or even go to the numerous chat channels available that are dedicated for practice.

2) Have a Goal for Each Match and Stick With It

This can be anything like: planning to go for a late game approach based on the map thus tailoring your build around it (e.g. focus on early upgrades + defenses, early expand); or something like having constant upgrades, directly continuing to +2 attack after +1 is finished.

Another good example is to trying out a build order and sticking with it. Often times players like to play as they want, no Build Orders, no Plans, nothing. This is bad. By doing a build over and over again you will have a better understanding in the game, by knowing what the counter of the build is, what the build is good against and what map the build is designed for.

These types of goals, be it small (immediately continue upgrades) or large (trying to go for late game), will force you to focus that will help to improve you overall as a player.

3) Always check your replay afterwards, whether you win or lose and try to amend it directly on the next game

This can help to show you your flaws. For example, you may have missed a timing in your game where you could have killed him; or you didn’t have control of the middle Xel’Naga Tower in the early game etc. Small or large flaws does not matter. The most important thing is to never try to turn a blind side on something you might regret later, when you are accustomed in not doing that particular thing which can hinder you (e.g. refusing to scout early game etc.).

You are not perfect. As long as you can identify a flaw in your play and you fix it directly in your next game, you will improve fast.

4) Try To Have Fun and Do Not Be Afraid To Lose

In the end, this is just a game. You may try as hard as you might but if you don’t enjoy doing it then you’re doing something wrong. Don’t be afraid to lose, as long as you know where you went wrong it’s fine since you can fix that in the next game. Don’t take a single match too seriously and try to enjoy yourself.

 

To Conclude:

In the end what I’m trying to say is just to play the game with a positive mindset. Sure, you can improve by doing cheese over and over again, no matter the map and race. But then you are not really improving yourself as a player, and cheese gets much harder to pull off the higher your league is anyway, so focus on having a solid playstyle and don’t forget to enjoy yourself!

GL HF!