Strategy in this context is the overall plan and approach one takes. Or simply, the combination of a build order with specific targets. 14 cc TvZ is not a strategy, it is an opening. 14 cc with factory after 3rd rax into a pre-de ler timing attack is a strategy. Essentially the only real way to improve strategy is to understand the game better, making it a heavily theoretical skill. Below are two examples of how improving strategy in terms of build choice and planning. 19The two subsets of Strategy are:
1. Choosing the best builds and plans
2. Understanding said builds and plans Improving Strategy is rather hit and miss. It is the area that can hold someone back the longest without them realizing it, and it is also the biggest chance for a rapid jump start. A complete newbie can use a much stronger strategy than even some progamers if they stumble upon the right source to emulate from. Now of course the newbie runs into the problem of actually being able to understand the strategy, and in the end the strategy might not even be the right it for the newbie's strengths. However, if the newbie does luck out and chooses from the start a very good strategy, they will save a lot of time practicing and learning an excellent strategy from the start instead of wasting it learning rubbish and only later realizing they need to learn something entirely diferent.
Improving Your build
For example, a PvT build that is quite popular among foreigners on iccup and has been talked about somewhat often in the strategy forum is 2 gate obs into double expand. Why do they do this? To be good against aggressive and allin Terran build orders, namely the 1 fact 1 port and 2 fact openings which give the standard 1 gate expand a lot of trouble. Now any good player will tell you that a 2 gate obs opening has a lot of problems. It puts you economically behind versus a standard fact cc and opens an otherwise nonexistant timing window of 2 base timing attacks. The only advantage it has is safety. But is that even necessary? A lot of players are scared of 12 nexus because they erroneously think they end up behind against bunker rushes or don't have the mechanics necessary to milk the auto win against 2 fact/1 fact 1 port builds. 12 nexus may be hard for low level players because of these factors, but once they are taken care of, it is a gigantic leap forward. It not only accomplishes the goals of the 2 gate obs to block Terran allins and aggressive openings, but it leaves none of the aforementioned weaknesses and can transition into any number of equally viable strategies: 2 base reaver into carrier, fast 3rd, 2 base arbiter, etc. Now 12 nexus has limitations, namely that you can't use it 10 times in a row on the same opponent and not auto lose at least once to BBS. But compared to the enormous problems of 2 gate obs nexus, who cares. The amount of players who know how to play against 12 Nexus properly are very few, even at the pro level, and are simply not worth fretting about when improving an overall strategy focus. Before anyone objects that 12 Nexus is simply an opening, it must be realized that it is such a different opening than any other one for Protoss that the strategies that transition from it are completely diferent. Normal timings get thrown completely out the window and you gain a lot more exibility and can even increase the advantage significantly. Thus inherent to 12 Nexus is the ability to choose from very different followup strategies that are normally not possible. Probably the best way to see what strategies are worth using from the start is to take a progamer who 20is one of the best as his race or matchup. Bisu, Stork, Flash, Fantasy, Jaedong, Calm, among others. Go through their match list and just take a general note of what they use the most, and win the most with. The strategies that rank the highest in both categories are going to be pretty safe bets to go with. By going through this rather simple process you eliminate the normal dificulty in guring out what you should be practicing from the start.