APM

From The StarCraft 2 Wiki

Actions Per Minute is a measurement of StarCraft skill, commonly used in the StarCraft community. Also known by the acronym; APM, and usually referred to as such.

Contents 1 Definition 2 How APM is Calculated 3 Valid Actions 4 The Final Result 5 Third-party Software

[edit] Definition

APM, or Actions Per Minute, is a fan-created method of determining a player's speed during the game. The primary purpose of the APM result is an attempt to measure the user's skill level by analyzing how quickly and consistency the player performs various actions in game.

[edit] How APM is Calculated

APM is calculated by taking the number of actions the user performs divided by the games duration in seconds, and multiplied by 60. The first 80 seconds of the game are discarded and not included in the final result.

For example, if the player had performed 2,268 total clicks for an 18 minute (1,080 second) game, the APM result would be:

   2,268  The total number of actions
/ (1,080  The duration of the game in seconds
-     80) The first 80 seconds
*     60  Converted to minutes
  —————
     136  APM

[edit] Valid Actions

Not all clicks from the player will be recorded, some valid actions include:

• highlighting a building
• moving a unit
• building a structure
• casting a spell
• training a unit
• initiating the researching of an upgrade
• all hotkeys
• ordering a worker to begin mining
• morphing or evolving Zerg structures or units

Invalid clicks that are not recorded include:

• clicks on the map that are not part of the above list.
• clicks on the minimap.
• F2,F3,F4 keys.
• any keys that are not used by the game.

[edit] The Final Result

Interpreting the final APM result is highly subjective but is usually a good indication of skill. By taking a player's average APM over several games, one can roughly gauge the player's competency level.

• Around 50 = An inexperience player.
• Around 100 = An average player.
• Around 150 = An above average player.
• Around 200+ = An experience player.

The above groupings and resulting APM is for indicative purposes only, and does not usually mean that a player with 90 APM cannot defeat another with 160 APM.

[edit] Third-party Software

The most popular third-party software to monitor APM in StarCraft is BWChart