Why are high APM rates needed?

I've read how professional Starcraft players average over 300 APM in tournament games.

And I've seen replays that didn't reach 300 but were quite high.

Why is this needed, and does 300 REALLY accomplish more than 100-200?

During the first phase of the SC2 beta I played a couple hundred games, and my average APM in replays was usually in the 20-30 range.

For example, if you're moving your entire ground force from your base to the enemy's base to attack, simply highlight your entire group, click Attack, and click the spot right in front of his base entrance.

There's absolutely no need to click 50 times to get your army to his base.

 

That last point may be true, but while you are waiting for your army to move towards your armies base you need to also make sure you continue to build probes, build units, build production facilities, chrono-boost/inject larvae/spread creep/scout/call down mules, take care of idle drones, move new units to attack force, prepare to expand, make sure gas is being mined efficiently, keep supply positive, make sure your attacking forces haven't ran into any issues, increase map control - in any number of ways, etc...

As the game progresses, there is an increasing amount of actions that could possibly help you.

Early game, I think an average of 30 would do about all you can do.

Mid game, It quickly increases to about 150-200.

Late game, it increases past 1000. Obviously impossible for a human to do - I played an AI in which its APM was over 1500 for the last few minutes of the game... it had six expos all mining with queens and attacking forces moving all over and overlords.. etc...

APM is important. Strategy is, however, more important.

 

Actually that last point is false. If you have ranged units (there is a pretty good chance of that in SC2) you don't want your units to start attacking as soon as they see an enemy unit - you want them to close the gap to allow units at the back to get within range, and that's when you want to start attacking (and even then not just giving out the command on the ground but focus firing). Basically the higher the APM the better, no exceptions and no limit after which it becomes useless (e.g., even in very early game you could, theoretically, try and command each of your workers to go straight to a vacant mineral patch instead of letting them move on only after reaching an occupied one). It's just that the human mind and body are capable of so much.

 

It's a little harder than that. Armies that are microed really well have 4-5 control groups. (1a2a3a4a....)

personally, I think apm is overrated as a show of skill. I have the lowest apm of my 6 friends who play BW and SC2 together and I can beat 4 of them pretty consistently, and alot of high ranked players only have like 120. That doesn't mean it's not important though

 

Here's the run down...

APM is important because it represents your micro-management which is your ability to multi-task and macro-task.

like mentioned previously, you want to have your army split up into groups. Imagine your hot keys as followed:
You are protoss for instance and this is your army composition.
#1 ground melee units (zealots)
#2 ground range units (stalkers)
#3 ground casters (sentries, and high templars)
#4 air units

if you send your whole army in 1 big group, your army wont be targeting the correct units necessarily, your units will be disorganized, your zealots are gonna be stuck in the back behind your stalkers and wont be to attack. Your casters are stuck behind your zealots and cant reach their target to cast, and your air units will fly ahead and get killed really quick.

now if you micro'd correctly you would send your zealots in to attract the aggro or damage from enemy, while stalkers and are backing them up and your sentries are able to place forcefields to prevent the zealots from being overwhelmed and place a guardian shield. Your air units will should be targetting all the dangerous units such as tanks, ghosts, infestors, high templars, etc... and supporting at the same time.

 

apm is something mediocre players work on increasing, when they realise they can't play the game any better. A higher apm gives them the delusion of having improved their skill.

high apm is a false goal; the one true goal is to win the game.

 

There is a point where the player may spam 20 times the same button to boost their apm.

Imagine coordinating a battle with the individual groups of units I mentioned before, while building more workers, while building more buildings, while expanding, while pumping units, while exploring the rest of the map, while getting upgrades... its intensive.

someone with a 300 apm average, like someone from korea can easily beat 3 players at once who have an apm less than 80 average

 

you're wrong, you can always get better. APM is real.. it doesn't necessarily win you the game but its an indication on how much you are doing. If you lost a game, and you noticed your apm was around 100, you are doing something wrong or not enough.

It's not like we've heard someone say "OMG that player is so good cuz his APM is so high", instead we say "good players usually have high apms because they need it"

 

'usually' is the key word. The fact that not all good players have high apm is proof that it is not a necessity for winning high level games.

It's an issue of quality vs quantity.

 

During replays I have seen my APM spike over 100 at times but the overall game average is usually 20-30. And at many times during the game it is below 40-50.

Hotkeying each group is highlighting the type of unit, then pressing Control + a number?

I was just getting started on trying that when the beta ended.

 

Agreed. My APM in SC 2 wasn't the best and I still easily got into diamond and dominated for the most part....

 

From what I have seen, tossers (Protoss) have the most ground units that benefit from good micro. It seems like that anyhow.

 

Why are you using derogatory words to describe Protoss players?

 

??? I have no idea what you guys are talking about

Why wouldn't apm be real?
The logic here seems just off.
Especially as all the highest tier players have high apm.


If your apm is higer it opens up for better precision just watch boxer or any of the koreans

higer apm lets you correct mistakes as maybe a probe being idle or some production facility not producing if you then have higer apm you can correct these mistakes faster increasing your overall input helping you winning the game.

You will for example rarely see high tier players have much money in their bank or not producing enough

Also it lets you maximize the effiency of your army

Instead of having used all your armies abilities after 4-7 seconds you have done it in 1-3 seconds which means less units of that type might have survived and is then able to help with their ability.
Like high templars and so on.

It also allows better positioning and so forth.




There are two things apm related

Accurate APM and high APM

Accurate apm is well how accurate you are, you will see high tier players often having incredible hand moves able to move the mouse exactly where they want it to be on the screen rather then waisting time correcting a little miss move.

(this is very good simply stated by day9 in his daily videos (dunno which day tough)

High apm is just how much you can multi task at a given time THIS does not mean that apm is efficient or well used.

One can have high apm but much of that apm is waisted on bad moves or misclicks (like double queing or to many units are stimmed etc.)


Perfecting these two is having good apm





Fast apm isn't good apm

Accurate and fast apm together is good apm

 

APM by itself really doesn't tell you very much. until a battle actually starts and you really need intense micro, you can micromanage your economy/scout with only around 100-150APM. the measurement is pretty silly, kind of like a measurement of how loud a car engine is. just because powerful cars happen to be loud, doesn't mean making a car louder will make it faster.

now, once a battle actually starts, 300 (accurate) APM can make the difference at the professional level. the tiniest things, like keeping a unit just out of range while it kites the enemy and stuff can completely turn the tide of a battle. properly managing multiple bases, keeping up with production, and keeping an eye on the minimap does require more and more APM, but still, that doesn't take too much.

average APM tells you almost nothing... burst APM still doesn't tell you how accurate the actions of the player are. in the professional leagues, you can probably assume all the players actually train and practice for hours each day, so their clicks are accurate... but for the general public, it's a nearly-useless measurement.

Day[9] has a great discussion/tutorial video somewhat related to APM: http://day9tv.blip.tv/file/3732340/

 

APM is exaggerated sometimes.
APM, actions per minute, well... it depends what kind of actions that player is doing.
If they mirco/macro, well that's great APM.
If they're just right clicking like crazy to move units b/c of game anxiety, well they'll get a high APM, but it's not necessarily doing much.

My friend gets a current APM of 300 because she tends to over click.

 

Over clicking is something you should always do, that is good apm


It is used by high tier players to keep on their toes at all time

I think a lot of people here is just trying to paint apm being bad as they them self lack it and see it as necessary elitism.


Apm is part of the high tier player its ilogical to say anything else that having the ability to do more actions per second is bad or unnecessary.

 

Not sure if your version of over clicking is what I've seen.

Thats not really actually "good apm"
spamming your clicking button will only prevent you from macroing your base and fully using hotkeys.
Lots of clicking on "useful" actions is FAR different than say... right clicking your army 30 times just to move them down a ramp (with no enemies around).

 

Looking into Day9 daily number 132 will give a fair summary of how to look at APM.


In my opinion, it comes down to memory vs reassurance.

Some players simply know, either through their own memory or by doing a build many times over, when they need to be doing the next step of their plan.

Other players need to be constantly spamming each building or each unit to reassure themselves that they are, in fact, in the proper position doing the right thing.


Simply raising APM is easy, thats why a lot of people want to paint it as THE good thing to do.
But deciding whether you want the reassurance that comes with high APM or whether you will instead focus on a plan and memory over APM is what makes you a good player.

It is about manipulating the controls to suit your own play style. Personally, I feel that my memory is good enough that I do not need to be constantly checking production facilities to make sure everything is happening as it should BUT at the same time I keep tabs on units often and try to keep them moving into a better and better position.

Never during my whole time playing starcraft have I looked at APM to solve any of my problems, in fact I think it is the last place I would look.

So to summarize my answer to your question, high APM rates are NOT needed UNLESS you are the type of player who benefits from that play style. Whether or not you are that type of player is completely up to you.

 

I think the interesting question is if doing stuff like grouping your initial workers over and over makes your APM better for when you're actually using it for something. That is something I feel is like a joke from the pros to the rest, that it would actually make you better, then they laugh as bad players think grouping their workers over and over would change anything. Though perhaps, it increases your performance but only with such a small number in a thousand matches it would only matter once.

It sort of felt like this was the point some people were trying to make and others defending. Otherwise I don't really understand the question. APM, where? If you're doing everything you need to do and your APM is low it's fine. If you're hoarding minerals and your buildings aren't producing you need an extra APM, if your ranged units are blocking your melee-fighters you need an extra APM and so on.