I have spent the last couple of weeks trying to do a General Picking Guide trying to teach how to figure out by yourself how to pick on any kind of template.
(and when i say i spend the last couple of weeks i mean i started it 2/3 weeks ago left it and decided yesterday to scrap the progress i had and completly redo it)
Obviously its very hard to make a Guide applicable to all kinds of templates considering how different they can be. I still hope it will have for some great use for people that might want to become better or picks or at the very least wanna understand how picks work a bit better.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Fmhup931Z8

feel free to give feetback!

Was this guide intended for total begginers as well?

If yes, in my opinion it feels like it could talk more about basic stuff (like explanation on offensive / defensive kill rates, distribution, ensuing efficient expansion; some keywords you mention could also be described in slightly more detail - safety, cluster, counter etc).
It would also make the transition to more advanced stuff a bit smoother.

What mindset you should have while picking?
Whenever I pick I rarely think of what my opponent might do.
I don't care what my opponent does, and want to focus on my own game plan.

I think this is the only part I actually strongly disagree with. To me, it is important how good my opponent actually is.
When I decide on picks, I roughly estimate what kind of picks my opponent might do / not do, and what kind of game we will get as a result - how fast we are going to meet, how we are going to attack each other, and how complicated game will be.
Having that assumption, if I don't like the chances I get from my picks against the specific opponent, I go back to picking a different strategy, or choose picks more fitting the assumed game scenario.
I pick differently depending on whether I think the opponent is worse or better than me. Also, it's good to mix the picking strategy up, to be less predictable, so I sometimes pick and play like a total shit too.

-Was this guide intended for total begginers as well?

-If yes, in my opinion it feels like it could talk more about basic stuff (like explanation on offensive / defensive
-kill rates, distribution, ensuing efficient expansion; some keywords you mention could also be described in
-slightly more detail - safety, cluster, counter etc).
-It would also make the transition to more advanced stuff a bit smoother.

Off/Def Killrates have more to do with Gameplay and while they do influence Picks if i have to add everything that influences Picks id also have to add AC / MA etc.
Distribution i could explain how its made up tho i didnt see the relevance in that. Maybe you mean something different.
Ensuing Efficient expansion im not entirely sure what you mean with that. I did cover What your picks should accomplish and that would automaticly lead to Decent Expansion Possibilities after Picks. If you mean how to take a bonus correctly once Picks are made than i regard that as Gameplay and had no intention of adding.

Safety, Cluster, Counter could have took a bit more explanation. I Agree and im planning to do a follow up Video after a few responses came.


-I think this is the only part I actually strongly disagree with. To me, it is important how good my opponent
-actually is.
-When I decide on picks, I roughly estimate what kind of picks my opponent might do / not do, and what kind
-of game we will get as a result - how fast we are going to meet, how we are going to attack each other, and
-how complicated game will be.
-Having that assumption, if I don't like the chances I get from my picks against the specific opponent, I go
-back to picking a different strategy, or choose picks more fitting the assumed game scenario.
-I pick differently depending on whether I think the opponent is worse or better than me. Also, it's good to mix
-the picking strategy up, to be less predictable, so I sometimes pick and play like a total shit too."

I was not thinking of the case of Picking differently depending on a very good / very bad opponent. As far es picking differently between different strong opponents we just have a different opinion in that case.
I do not make a strategie depending on the Opponent. And not doing that makes me neccesarly any more predictable. You could simply base it of opportunity on the Board. If an interesting combination presents itself i would go for it regardles of opponent. One doesnt have anything to do with the other imo.
Regardless of that, i dont see how it would be helpful to say "Make different Picks if you play a strong opponent" or something in that direction. That is if anything confusing.

If you wanna clear some things up that i didnt neccesarly understood you can add me on Discord (RJoi179 #0696) and we can talk there. Discord is easier. Or you reply here.

Thanks for the feetback

Edited 8/21/2021 20:02:25

That's exactly why my first question was about the target audience of your guide. In my opinion it would help you narrow down which topics should be included, and which are redundant as too basic. If your target are semi-advanced players, then there is nothing missing here I think.

Distribution I mean the placement of Warlords, and how i.e. those enable or prevent you from using all leftovers to complete the bonus (like Sudan vs Ethiopia on MME).
Off and Def kill rates (along with rounding mode WR/SR which you did mention) determine efficient attacks, number of leftovers, and therefore impact expansion right after pick stage.
To expand efficiently you forecast precisely beforehand what is possible to capture within first 2-3 turns, taking into account previous points.

You are correct, all of the above do not exactly belong to "picking" section, but those are things I personally think about before picking.


As for the second part, yes, this is a matter of personal preference, not everyone plays or has to play in the same way. I just meant I don't put as much effort into picks, and go with standard picks more often when I play against average player, but when I face someone around my level or better, I try to think outside of the box, if I don't want to lose quickly that is.

the video was nice! informative, especially for SR games.

if you learn how to pick normally you'll understand by yourself how to pick differently, there's no need for an explanation on that I think

I pick all the time but nobody picks me

wisdzdisz begginers

I like to pick my nose 👃

I have created a Follow up Video of the Picking Guide Video addresing the lack of explanation on a few things

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuVbMpkF_Fc

Hello, perfectionist here.
1) 2:25 South Africa has wasteland in it. Not the best illustration.
2) the cycle talk is not related to picks, but rather to the game. Figuring out from picks if you have 1st or 2nd order doesn't help you make better picks.
3) 14:21 typo too |-->to. How is a newbie supposed to know what is INNS?
4) I think you didn't explain well the differences between templates enough. There are 4 "basic" templates in Warzone:
a) Special (Small Earth) - here the game is mostly won with picks, you have to think several turns ahead while doing picks.
b) Light (Strat 1v1, SR games) - here you have few picks and relatively easy expansion. FTBs are weaker, sometimes even not worth it. Map shape and wastelands split the map into "regions", your goal with picks is to have a presence in every region, to have very good coverage.
c) Heavy (Old Strat 1v1, WR games) - here getting bonuses is expensive, you usually want to get FTBs or at least STBs. Coverage is less important, you want to optimise your income gain.
d) Many Picks (Numeron) - here you have many picks, you need to get a FTB while having good coverage. In these templates not getting FTB can sometimes mean auto-loss, so picking more than one FTB is a relevant strategy.

Alright, a good balance of safe picks, quick income and coverage are important in both Light and Heavy, I just wanted to stress out that these items have different weights based on template type.

Perfectionist here. It's INSS, not INNS. The cycle part is related to picks.

@Kalisti
1) South Afrika has 5 territories with or without a wasteland so it doesnt matter.

2) The point was to explain why you might not get your 2nd Pick vs your opponents 3rd Pick as i saw multiple times people asking that

3) True. I purposly skipped on INSS aswell as very specific 1 time templates (Bork f.e.) as they require either way to much extra time or i would be talking about 1 specific template which wasnt the point. If i wanted that i could have made a video for each template. So yes i only said INSS because i rly only wanted to addres people who know already what that is, however i didnt made that clear.

4) I wanted to explain the inidividual setting and explain what consequences they might have on picks in a game. If you know how a setting will effect a game you will also know how different templates will be played differently effectivly. Atleast that was the goal. As such i didnt rly care to talk about any templates and infact tried to keep that to a minimum and only use a couple for examples if absolutly necessary.

Tho grouping them into 4 "Basic" Templates was not something i thought of and could have done.

The Goal was to try and explain everything as good as possible within what ended up being a total of 33 Minutes. The fact i was not able to cover everything and/or had to skip on details should be obvious.

I will most likely not do another follow up on the video as i think its a good enough overall Guide for "Beginner / Intermediate" Players which was the goal of the Video. More precise tips and help should be done by a clan and direct coach which i also mentioned at the end of the Video.

-If anything i would think of doing a Team Pick Version of it as that changes the way you Pick significantly-

I think you went a bit far expecting what the Video can offer and what it tried to accomplish

Thanks for the Feedback anyway!

Edited 8/30/2021 11:09:58

Yeah, sorry. I just call them weird bonuses, not INSS. Explaining how the cycle works is relevant. Trying to deduce which order you have from picks is not. Telling people to go for FTB in Strat 1v1 will not likely improve their picking.