Starcraft 2 Actions Per Minute

Starcraft 2 Strategy Guide --> Starcraft 2 Actions Per Minute (you are here)

In Starcraft 2, actions per minute, or APM, is a measure of how many actions a person takes in a minute. APM includes actions such as moving units, attacking, and using abilities. It does not include selecting units.

In this Starcraft 2 actions per minute guide, I will be revealing a blueprint for how you can learn to improve your APM in an effective and meaningful way. Why would you want to improve your APM? Well, the main reason you would want to improve your APM is because the best players always have a high APM.

In Starcraft 2, actions per minute are direct measure of how well you navigate the interface, the ease at which you can command your army, and ultimately your ability to execute strategies in battle. All of these things serve two purposes: they save you time and increase the value of each unit.

Someone with really good APM can build up their economy faster than their opponent and can win with a slightly smaller army. However, APM alone will not make up for building nothing but Zerglings when your enemy is a Terran player with Hellions.

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Starcraft 2 Actions Per Minute Beginner Guide

As a beginner, there are a couple areas you want to focus on when trying to improve your Starcraft 2 actions per minute: hotkeys and unit groups.

Hotkeys refers to the keyboard shortcuts for various actions in game, such as training units, constructing buildings, or attacking enemy units. In order to boost your Starcraft 2 APM, you will have to get good at using these, and by good I mean use them exclusively.

The easiest way to learn how to use hotkeys is to always use them. Whenever you do not know a hotkey, mouse over the action you want to take, read the letter, and then press the key on your keyboard (the letter for the hotkey is mentioned on the tooltip), even if taking the time to find the hotkey slows you down. If you always click something, you will never learn the hotkey.

You will want to learn every hotkey. You should know that "H" is for hold, that "S" is for Supply Depot, and that "S" and "D" is for making Drone. Hotkeys speed up your Starcraft 2 Actions Per Minute immensely. Using the keyboard to train units, build structures, and initiate commands gives you plenty of time to use your mouse for unit control.

Unit Groups refers to assigning your units to a hotkey. By selecting a group of units (or a single unit), you can then hit the CTRL key + any number to assign that group of units to a number. That way, if you press that number, you will automatically have selected that group of units.

You want to assign each type of unit to its own unit group. Individual unit groups will help you control specialist units and use spells. As an example, good players will macro their Sentries to their own group, select them, and use hotkeys to pop Guardian Shield and lay down a ton of Force Fields very quickly.

Individual unit groups also help you control movements. For example, if your Colossi push too far forward, you will want a unit group to pull them back behind your other ground forces so they stay safe.

I also like to put my entire offensive force in a unit group. It makes it faster to pull your entire army back if you feel the need to retreat. I also like to group a Probe/SCV to a unit group as it saves some time when building new things.

I am sure you can see how unit groups can boost your Starcraft 2 actions per minute.

Wrap-Up

As a beginner, you should focus on mastering hot keys and unit groups as soon as you possibly can. It will be impossible to rank up and get into the top leagues without these skills.

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