I think the most important thing is to be organized and to have a logical methodology that you follow. Otherwise you will get information overload and youāll probably waste a lot of time.
I find a good way to learn is to follow the mitre att&ck Matrix. Create a folder on your PC for each phase from initial access all the way through impact. Some phases feature a lot more than others in HTB. For example you donāt really deal with persistence or lateral movement all that much. But there is enumeration and privilege escalation involved in practically all the boxes so get really good at those. Start with the basics, learn how to enumerate the most common ports, learn all the tools, read their man pages, and understand exactly what they are doing and why. Anytime you learn something new note it down and put it in the relevant folder. Honestly it can take years just to get really good at enumeration & privilege escalation alone but start with the basics.
Type your comment> @baltazzar said:
personally I am wondering if he takes requests ā¦ Iād love to see him do a series on bin ex 
be it
from beginner to ROPE / Player 2 rootā¦ level
running through all the tools, he flashes through a number in a bunch of videos of course, but ā¦ everything gdb, ghidra, radar, pwn tools etc from beginner up would be what I would ask for probably a lot to ask for but we can dream
of course it doesnāt have to be @ippsec if anyone else wishes to do it Iād be just as happy to watch theirs and work through them
To be fair that would be worth serious donations on patreon
With anything, consistency provides the best results. Iāve met a lot of people that want to be pentesters but donāt really have any type of schedule or plan to improve. This is one of those fields that require an insane amount of time to master. One of the main reasons I did the videos was to pressure myself into sticking with HackTheBox, as Iām sure many people would be disappointed if I stopped.
My suggestion would be to spend 3 days a week trying to learn. To start out, watch a video of a machine and read some walk-throughs on Monday. Wednesday, try the machine you studied on your own. Friday, attempt a different machine or do the machine along with the video.
Once youāre going, try changing it up. Monday attempt to do the machine on your own, Wednesday (even if you completed it monday) study the machine and take notes on what you could have done differently. Use the third day to read up on something, or try scripting a piece of the machine out to get familiar with Python. Not challenging enough? Try scripting it out in Go.
alright,letās do as ippsec said guys 
, thanks a lot everyone for your help, i think it is all about consistency then,
Thanks everyone for your time and effort
As a beginner of htb player , i found myself stuck on a box for many days (sometime even easy box). I wonder should I skim through alot more ippsec video to build some common methodology or this is a common stage all beginner should go through? The former approach make me worry that I may miss the opportunity to develop proper intuition on problem solving but the later one take too long and sometime i lost the passion abitā¦
Any tips ?
ps: i havenāt tried any hard or insane box yetā¦ still hanging on easy and medium as I am very slow in finishing those onesā¦
I think to reiterate everyone else, it takes time and patience. Iāve work in all facets of IT (except programming) and I think having that back end knowledge helps me understand what Iām looking at a bit, but ultimately it didnāt prepare me at all to take on the challenges of these boxes.
This skill set requires you to use new tools that you may not be 100% comfortable with or even old tools that youāve only touched on their capability. Iāve found that learning syntax for these things has cost me more time than actually enumerating boxes.
The single biggest take away from starting HTB and pen testing in general is always having a plan or āplaybookā. If you see port 80 open in nmap you do āxā, if you see an odd service you do āyā. Thereās always a necessity for deviation from the norm, but having a solid flow for enumeration is key to being successful.
To be like ippsec, first you have to start with nmap -sC for default scripts, -sV for enumerate versions, -oA to save all outputsā¦ and then you take it from there.
Type your comment> @squid22 said:
To be like ippsec, first you have to start with nmap -sC for default scripts, -sV for enumerate versions, -oA to save all outputsā¦ and then you take it from there.
LOL
This might take some time so I already run it
I love @ippsec videos myself. That is how I discovered HTB in the first place. Watching him rooting the boxes gave me a good understanding of how to do the proces and started trying boxes. The rest is up to: reading, trying, trying harder and enjoying the ride!