I'm sure most of the people who are reading this are familiar with a basic set. Most basic sets are: Toprock -> Footwork -> Freeze. While this is good to begin with, as you progress you're going to want more variation. Watch any professional bboy, none of them just do Toprock -> Footwork -> Freeze. Here I will list some tips for creating better sets.
1) Work on move combos: This one is pretty basic but get certain combos of moves with good transitions. Work on transitions from footwork to freezes so that they look smooth, that kind of thing.
2) Levels: A lot of people don't think about levels a lot. Most people think, OK so I have my toprock and my downrock. But within each thing you have different levels. For example: When you do your tops are you leaning forward or standing, try switching it up, also with your footwork, try doing some on your elbows, back, even with no hands. This breaks up the monotony of a set without having to stand all the way up or go all the way down.
3) STOP!: Many people early on go: "Alright! I'm going to do tops to footwork no pauses and it will all look smooth!" That's great BUT you should try to break up footwork and toprock. This could be done with things such as a direction change. If you do most of your footwork CCW try going CW. One of the best ways to break up a set is to destroy a beat. If you watch someone like Machine, you'll see that he will do footwork but then when a good beat comes along he maybe stops just so he can hit that beat. Don't do that too much but it's always a good idea.
4) Think about the situation: If you're in a battle and someone just called you out you're not going to want to just go out and do a normal set. Try some sort of travel (For those who don't really know what travels are it's basically a move that causes you to move great distances across the floor towards or away from your opponent) or a diss. That way you grab the crowds attention and you can be like: "His set was ok but watch this shit!" You want to be able to grab attention.
5) Have a a good amount of sets: This is especially important if a battle runs long. You don't want to end up doing the same set with the same moves over and over, mix it up.
I hope this will help new bboys and bgirls succeed.
DEFINITIONS
Transitions: A movement between 2 separate moves used to make them look smooth. (Ex. Knee Drop)
CW: Clock Wise
CCW: Counter-Clock Wise
Blow Up Move: Normally a quick series of freezes or powermoves linked together. (Ex.
This Video)
