Getting Out of Bronze

Hey everyone, it has been a while since I have written an article and I wanted to jump right back into the swing of things with a new series of tutorials specifically designed to help get you out of Bronze league. The articles I have written in the past certainly still apply; and many of the topics that will be addressed in this series will have similar themes as those I have already explored, however, this series, “Getting Out of Bronze” will do more than just speak about and analyze specific strategies but it will also talk about the general game knowledge and expectations you should set for yourself before you begin any game.

So let’s set things of properly: you’re in Bronze! Or, hey, maybe you aren’t, maybe you’re in Silver but you still seem to be struggling with a lot of match ups and are having trouble coming up with consistent wins, this article is for you!

Hopefully, this will happen :P

Before you can begin to get out of Bronze you need to do one thing: realize that you are there for a reason, you’re probably not particularly good. This may come as a shock to a lot of players but believe me, you aren’t in Bronze but play at a high Diamond level, so stop kidding yourself. Before I really dive into too much detail I should preface this by saying I am not even close to a professional level player, I’m not GM and often times struggle to hit Master, but that is neither here nor there. The specifics of my skill level are not that important. What is important is that I can help get you one the path to success.

Why is APM So Important?

We’ve all seen the pro players in the GSL have their hands flying over the keyboard blasting away and doing more than 300 APM (actions per minute), but the question that a lot of people ask is: is that truly necessary? Or, are they really doing anything important? The answer might actually come as a shocking YES.

While a good portion of key presses during a game of StarCraft are just SPAM (irrelevant key presses), every single button that is pressed has something in common and that is that it keeps your mind focused on the game and your hands warmed up. Furthermore, with your hands constantly moving, they get used to moving quickly to various locations which can make performing actual actions in the game significantly easier – essentially, it is exercise.

Having a high APM is what allows players to have such ridiculously quick reaction times and what lets them move units and execute holds or attacks in ways that you never thought possible.

Something that a lot of people tell lower level players is “just focus on your mechanics and don’t worry about APM until later”. The problem with this notion is that APM is actually a fundamental part of mastering the mechanics of the game. While I don’t suggest you start mashing your keyboard just to see a high number, I do strongly advise players in lower leagues like Bronze or Silver to try and keep their hands moving. This has the strong benefit allowing you to think more about the game and react generally quicker.

Cheese Isn’t Really All That Bad

This is a topic which I have discussed at length in my Responding to Cheese article from a while back and something that is of particular importance to players in Bronze. You’re going to get cheesed. Whether it is a 6 pool, proxy Barracks or a cannon rush doesn’t matter, it’s going to happen and it is certainly going to happen often, so get used to it.

This doesn’t need to be you!

Something I have mentioned in nearly every article I have written is the importance of scouting! Scouting is probably the most efficient counter to cheese. If you know something sketchy is happening and you detect it early, you have much more time to prepare than you otherwise would.

Cheese primarily works because of the element of surprise, you’re not expecting it, and so you don’t prepare for it. Getting cheesed often has the added benefit of almost forcing you to scout often due to the sheer frustration of losing to it so often. The other thing to remember about cheese is that if you defend it, and especially so in lower leagues, you’re probably going to win. Cheese builds like cannon rushes are extremely risky and expensive. Holding one off puts you at significant advantage in the game considering your opponent has devoted his entire opening and early game resources into a strategy that ultimately did nothing. Don’t get frustrated. Persevere.

Don’t Just Sit There, Do Something!

The last thing I wanted to mention in this article is a really bad habit that I see a lot of people in lower leagues have and that is just watching the screen as stuff is happening. This concept ties in very much to the APM section above but is slightly different because this is more of an active DO SOMETHING than a passive MASH KEYS.

So what exactly do I mean? Well, I was watching my brother play the other day and he is a Bronze league Zerg player and every time he would engage in a battle he would just 1A his army and then just watch as stuff would die. Sometimes he would win, sometimes he would lose. Either way, just passively watching a battle makes the game feel very one dimensional and impossible, like nothing you do could matter, when in fact, it does.

I’m not going to say that you need to start pulling off MC level micro but using the units almost never hurts! Pulling hurt units back and focus firing the weak ones are little tricks you can use to help sway a battle in your favour. Furthermore, use your hotkeys! During a battle, don’t just sit the screen there and watch, reinforce, start upgrades, build Pylons, workers, anything, just not nothing!

At the end of the day, a lot of this does come down to sheer practice but these are just a few of the things you should be thinking about in your upcoming games and I promise that it will make the game both more fun and rewarding.

In upcoming articles I will talk more about unit control and passivity and activity. I hope you enjoyed reading this and please feel free to leave feedback!