Am I missing something? can some of the braggers on here be that good?

[travcm]

1. Don't waste runes on useless skills
2. Don't waste time recharging or walking around on the map
3. Know where to go next / Don't backtrack / Plan ahead
4. Abuse the best possible armies combinations for the area that you're in

As said before, only time spent on the map counts toward game time. Battle time doesn't count. You can slowly win battles with good planning and then rage drain / mana spring / resurrect (or steal/sacrifice) your army back up to full troops, mana, and rage so after the fight you zoom on to the next without delay. It's not so complicated, but obviously requires playing through the game a few times to know how to do everything in the least amount of walking time.