Intro:
Smth smth i’ve played game long, i talk to top players, etc, etc. you know the stuff people always say? just pretend i said it too.
Also you know how star rating is so im gonna just not even reference it here and will instead use difficulty names to distinguish difficulty since they just do a much better job at it.
PSA: IF YOUR HANDS BURN THEN STRETCH THEM APPROPRIATELY, IF THEY FEEL NUMB IN ANY FASHION STOP PLAYING, YOUR WRISTS ARE WORTH MORE THAN THIS GAME.
IF YOU DON’T KNOW HOW TO STRETCH EFFECTIVELY THEN PRAISE LORD DR.LEVI:
Here’s a good source of a hefty amount of maps if you’d like to bulk download: community/forums/topics/1398422?n=1
Preface
“BUT WHY EVEN WRITE THIS DIDN’T DRACE DO THIS ALREADY???”
I mean yes but the guide is very outdated and has some bad takes in my opinion, namely being:
Which tells people to focus on physical training which is just not all that helpful since this game is so much more than the physicality and it needs to be applied in actual gameplay. You just don’t need muscles that strong to play this game until the very highest of levels.
And this one especially:
Why are the osu!mania forums saying how you should just play a “real” rhythm game instead of this one once you’re good? This one is clearly more popular than yours so maybe it’s actually just as valid of a rhythm game? I don’t think people think this way anymore but still.
Which tells people to focus on physical training which is just not all that helpful since this game is so much more than the physicality and it needs to be applied in actual gameplay. You just don’t need muscles that strong to play this game until the very highest of levels.
And this one especially:
Why are the osu!mania forums saying how you should just play a “real” rhythm game instead of this one once you’re good? This one is clearly more popular than yours so maybe it’s actually just as valid of a rhythm game? I don’t think people think this way anymore but still.
“bUt WhAt If I dOn’T hAvE mAnIa GeNeTiCs??”If you actually think genetics are what’s holding you back then you should get your wrists checked by a professional because that’s either a physical disability or bullshit that you tell yourself to justify why you’re bad at the game 
just be born into ATTang’s family next time noob, you could never hope to be as good.
just be born into ATTang’s family next time noob, you could never hope to be as good.
WHAT KEYBOARD SWITCHES ARE THE BEST FOR MANIA?
Generally p much any switches work, you can even play on a membrane to an extremely high level (for example: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjSR-IddHr8 )
However there is a real case to be made for why browns/reds are better than blues and this is because of how the actuation point works, more specifically how the reset works if you look here:
you can see how the key needs to be entirely raised to reset for another keytap.
As for which is better between the reds/speed silver/browns the only real defining factor is the amount of travel necessary if you bottom out the key, but in order tap as fast as possible you shouldn’t ever bottom out or completely reset the key and instead motion it above and below the actuation point (known as “actuation surfing”) and browns give a clear indicator of where this is whereas reds/speed silvers don’t, essentially making it the same as trying to learn how to acc if the game never showed you any of your judgements, you can do it sure but it’s waaaay harder for no real reason.
(P.S. a LOT of people prefer gateron browns to cherry mx browns as they’re a bit lighter)
However there is a real case to be made for why browns/reds are better than blues and this is because of how the actuation point works, more specifically how the reset works if you look here:
you can see how the key needs to be entirely raised to reset for another keytap.
As for which is better between the reds/speed silver/browns the only real defining factor is the amount of travel necessary if you bottom out the key, but in order tap as fast as possible you shouldn’t ever bottom out or completely reset the key and instead motion it above and below the actuation point (known as “actuation surfing”) and browns give a clear indicator of where this is whereas reds/speed silvers don’t, essentially making it the same as trying to learn how to acc if the game never showed you any of your judgements, you can do it sure but it’s waaaay harder for no real reason.
(P.S. a LOT of people prefer gateron browns to cherry mx browns as they’re a bit lighter)
HUMBLE BEGINNINGS (easy/beginner/ez diffs~):
You should start by playing easy difficulty maps, the ranked sections has lots of these or even standard convert maps work just fine! Make sure to aim for an S rank here to make sure you can hit the notes on time, accuracy is very important in this game!
At this point it really is just a matter of play more w, you’re just learning how to associate the finger movements with the notes here and not much else, anything you play can do this essentially, you won’t be at this stage for very long.
Make sure these settings are off otherwise every map will scroll at different speeds!
Solleks made a solid beginner guide if you'd prefer a video
At this point it really is just a matter of play more w, you’re just learning how to associate the finger movements with the notes here and not much else, anything you play can do this essentially, you won’t be at this stage for very long.
Make sure these settings are off otherwise every map will scroll at different speeds!
Solleks made a solid beginner guide if you'd prefer a video
PATTERN RECOGNITION STAGE (normal/advanced/nm diffs~):
Now it’s time to start playing some normal difficulties, it’s very important that you play maps made for the mania mode specifically now as the autoconverts won’t actually make patterns, rather just place the notes randomly.
At this point patterns start to form and you have to begin combining notes together as such a pattern to be able to properly handle the sheer density of notes on screen. Essentially you read every single note right now and you need to start to see the patterns instead.
This is also where it becomes more important to try different maps so that you have some exposure to each type of pattern, the ranked section has lots of normal difficulties that are short because of how the criteria works so take advantage of that! you’re the target demographic!
It’s best to aim for S rank here still but don’t be too scared to push yourself with some difficult maps you can only get an A rank on, they make for great goals to come back to later on and see how much you’ve improved!
A big part of this stage is learning where to set your focus during play and finding the scroll speed that works for you. You’ll notice how lots of different players use lots of different scroll speed, it depends on a lot of different factors such as your screen size, where you're focusing your attention on the screen, your actual reaction times, your skin’s receptor size and much much more, this is why it’s not the best idea to just copy your favourite players scroll speed and rather find the one just right for you!
At this point patterns start to form and you have to begin combining notes together as such a pattern to be able to properly handle the sheer density of notes on screen. Essentially you read every single note right now and you need to start to see the patterns instead.
This is also where it becomes more important to try different maps so that you have some exposure to each type of pattern, the ranked section has lots of normal difficulties that are short because of how the criteria works so take advantage of that! you’re the target demographic!
It’s best to aim for S rank here still but don’t be too scared to push yourself with some difficult maps you can only get an A rank on, they make for great goals to come back to later on and see how much you’ve improved!
A big part of this stage is learning where to set your focus during play and finding the scroll speed that works for you. You’ll notice how lots of different players use lots of different scroll speed, it depends on a lot of different factors such as your screen size, where you're focusing your attention on the screen, your actual reaction times, your skin’s receptor size and much much more, this is why it’s not the best idea to just copy your favourite players scroll speed and rather find the one just right for you!
PATTERN REFINEMENT PHASE (hard/hyper/hd diffs~):
Now you’re moving on to hard difficulties, this is where you no longer rely on single note reading and instead just read different kinds of patterns.
The most important thing you can do at this stage is to just play a large variety of maps you can, you’ll start to figure out what kinda maps you like and if you like a map don’t be afraid to maybe check the mapper out! They usually have more stuff that’s similar!
Most of the maps you play at this stage tend to be quite “bursty” since you don’t really have a strong sense of pattern recognition just yet they let you push that without exhausting your mind. you’ll start to see a lot more triplets, shorter streams, chord usage, long notes and even some jacks! Try to make sure you play all different types of these as being much worse at one can make it much more difficult to improve in another and forms awkward skill balancing later on.
Another great place for practice at this point are multiplayer lobbies! There is always a good selection of host rotation rooms for this difficulty range, playing with people, making friends and socialising while playing is fun and this way you can find lots of popular maps you might never have heard of before!
The most important thing you can do at this stage is to just play a large variety of maps you can, you’ll start to figure out what kinda maps you like and if you like a map don’t be afraid to maybe check the mapper out! They usually have more stuff that’s similar!
Most of the maps you play at this stage tend to be quite “bursty” since you don’t really have a strong sense of pattern recognition just yet they let you push that without exhausting your mind. you’ll start to see a lot more triplets, shorter streams, chord usage, long notes and even some jacks! Try to make sure you play all different types of these as being much worse at one can make it much more difficult to improve in another and forms awkward skill balancing later on.
Another great place for practice at this point are multiplayer lobbies! There is always a good selection of host rotation rooms for this difficulty range, playing with people, making friends and socialising while playing is fun and this way you can find lots of popular maps you might never have heard of before!
BRINGING IT ALL TOGETHER (insane/another/mx/shd diffs+):
Ok so now it’s time for some insane difficulties this is where it gets hard!
From now on 96% is the benchmark instead of just an S, you should have good enough accuracy at this point!
Also I will refer to “rates” (multiplying the speed of the map) as these are the most effective to train at higher levels simply because they make every map in the game hard enough to be a challenge if you speed it up enough giving you much much more practice maps at the appropriate level.
You can dl here: https://github.com/FunOrange/osu-trainer
Now you have to apply the pattern knowledge you’ve learned thus far into actual practice so we start by breaking down each skill set separately and what defines them.
From now on 96% is the benchmark instead of just an S, you should have good enough accuracy at this point!
Also I will refer to “rates” (multiplying the speed of the map) as these are the most effective to train at higher levels simply because they make every map in the game hard enough to be a challenge if you speed it up enough giving you much much more practice maps at the appropriate level.
You can dl here: https://github.com/FunOrange/osu-trainer
Now you have to apply the pattern knowledge you’ve learned thus far into actual practice so we start by breaking down each skill set separately and what defines them.
Jacks:
Jacks (or jackhammers) at first seem like they’re entirely a physical trait but that’s not true, most new players can hit a single key fast enough to jack 150bpm but can’t read the patterning in order to actually play maps of that calibre.
Jack Speed: this is simply just how fast you can read, start and stop jacking at certain bpms, most people will refer to this as “vibro” as the technique you use to hit these at very high speeds is essentially tensing up and vibrating your arms and changing the distance moved rather than the speed you move to be able to control it, this is the physical aspect of jacks and should be trained just like how you would train any other muscles, repetition and pushing yourself but don’t push too hard or you’ll just injure yourself and that’s counter-productive for what we want. Also important to note that hitting your keys harder is not the same as faster, it’s quite the opposite! to be hitting as fast as possible you should be actuation surfing.
Jack Control (light chordjacks): these are patterns such as quadstream or jump/handgluts (repeated jumps/hands e.g. [13][23][24][41].) these are about being able to control stopping and starting your jacking speeds in order to hit them appropriately, these are mostly a reading skill and therefore should be trained on stuff you can appropriately hit (e.g. 96%~) and pushing that up to be able to combo it effectively everytime and then going up a rate, this is better than simply just playing the highest rates and mashing because that forms bad habits and poor reading techniques which are especially detrimental on reading focused patterning like these.
Dense Chordjacks: this is about reading and control much more than the physical aspect, these are the type of jacks in which you start to “negative read” where the amount of notes is too dense and you start to instead read where the notes aren’t, for example:
in this type patterning you would simply see the gaps and hit everything else rather than the usual reading process of reading the notes you hit. The only effective way to practice this is really just by playing lots of these types of maps and slowly pushing how fast you can go since it’s so unique in how you have to handle it.
Jack Stamina: this feels obvious just play jacks until your forearms begin to burn, stop, stretch effectively and repeat, each time you will have a bit more stamina.
Jack Speed: this is simply just how fast you can read, start and stop jacking at certain bpms, most people will refer to this as “vibro” as the technique you use to hit these at very high speeds is essentially tensing up and vibrating your arms and changing the distance moved rather than the speed you move to be able to control it, this is the physical aspect of jacks and should be trained just like how you would train any other muscles, repetition and pushing yourself but don’t push too hard or you’ll just injure yourself and that’s counter-productive for what we want. Also important to note that hitting your keys harder is not the same as faster, it’s quite the opposite! to be hitting as fast as possible you should be actuation surfing.
Jack Control (light chordjacks): these are patterns such as quadstream or jump/handgluts (repeated jumps/hands e.g. [13][23][24][41].) these are about being able to control stopping and starting your jacking speeds in order to hit them appropriately, these are mostly a reading skill and therefore should be trained on stuff you can appropriately hit (e.g. 96%~) and pushing that up to be able to combo it effectively everytime and then going up a rate, this is better than simply just playing the highest rates and mashing because that forms bad habits and poor reading techniques which are especially detrimental on reading focused patterning like these.
Dense Chordjacks: this is about reading and control much more than the physical aspect, these are the type of jacks in which you start to “negative read” where the amount of notes is too dense and you start to instead read where the notes aren’t, for example:
in this type patterning you would simply see the gaps and hit everything else rather than the usual reading process of reading the notes you hit. The only effective way to practice this is really just by playing lots of these types of maps and slowly pushing how fast you can go since it’s so unique in how you have to handle it.
Jack Stamina: this feels obvious just play jacks until your forearms begin to burn, stop, stretch effectively and repeat, each time you will have a bit more stamina.
Dense Stream / “Stamina”:
Most people just refer to this element of the game as stamina but that is kinda undescriptive since all skill sets require stamina to some degree like a super long chordjack map with no breaks is definitely a stamina file but we don’t label it here so I prefer to refer to this section as dense streams meaning there is chord usage in the streams but since it’s only 4k this is limited to only jumpstream and handstream without causing jacks.
Dense Jumpstream/Handstream: most of the difficulty in the denser jumpstream or handstream maps comes from the trills and anchors layered into them so we’ll split this section into those instead.
One-handed trills/split trills: these are extremely draining and are hard to hit both in bursts and longer extended ones, a huge part of learning how to trill faster is more about your technique than actually moving any faster, you really need to learn to actuation surf in order to trill effectively since this way you move your fingers much less space and can conserve much more stamina at very high speeds.
2h trills/jumptrills: these can be very draining for long durations and mostly play out as a controlled jack since it’s essentially an alternating one. Most of the difficulty comes from transitioning in and out of these trills since the motions your hand requires can be much different than how you would comfortably stream higher speeds.
Anchors/”runningmen”: this is essentially performing a jack during the stream, this is much more important for handstreams than jumpstreams as with the sheer density makes for heavy anchor usage, for this it’s very important for your long jack speed to be better than the jacks created and your streaming capabilities are also higher since the combination makes it more complicated to parse.
Endurance: play more w (no but really this feels obvious just play long endurance testing maps until your forearms/wrists begin to burn, stop, stretch effectively and repeat, each time you will have a bit more stamina.)
Dense Jumpstream/Handstream: most of the difficulty in the denser jumpstream or handstream maps comes from the trills and anchors layered into them so we’ll split this section into those instead.
One-handed trills/split trills: these are extremely draining and are hard to hit both in bursts and longer extended ones, a huge part of learning how to trill faster is more about your technique than actually moving any faster, you really need to learn to actuation surf in order to trill effectively since this way you move your fingers much less space and can conserve much more stamina at very high speeds.
2h trills/jumptrills: these can be very draining for long durations and mostly play out as a controlled jack since it’s essentially an alternating one. Most of the difficulty comes from transitioning in and out of these trills since the motions your hand requires can be much different than how you would comfortably stream higher speeds.
Anchors/”runningmen”: this is essentially performing a jack during the stream, this is much more important for handstreams than jumpstreams as with the sheer density makes for heavy anchor usage, for this it’s very important for your long jack speed to be better than the jacks created and your streaming capabilities are also higher since the combination makes it more complicated to parse.
Endurance: play more w (no but really this feels obvious just play long endurance testing maps until your forearms/wrists begin to burn, stop, stretch effectively and repeat, each time you will have a bit more stamina.)
Speed
The art of manipulation:
So you probably are used to always hearing that manip is bad and you should never manip but I'm here to give the complete opposite argument.
Literally every player who is playing extremely fast simple streams manipulates them. The entire skill of speed is actually being able to optimise this manipulation to where you can still accurately hit the notes while doing so.
For speed it becomes even more essential that you play stuff closer to your comfort zone, these patterns are really easy to fall behind on and lose acc. “Overtraining” or playing maps too hard for you will only build poor habits and mindblocks i recommend aiming for higher acc on these files because of this, 97% is a bit of a better benchmark than the usual 96%
Soft single note streams: these are usually really fast streams that avoid all anchors so as to make them easy to “manipulate”. These kinda patterns are almost entirely about your reading capabilities but you will find that you need to be able to oh (one-hand) trill fast enough to be able to control a given speed e.g. you need to be able to effectively oh trill 170 in order to be able to control a 340 stream mostly because of how similar a lot of the motions end up being.
Index-style single note streams: these are single note steams in which you mostly alternate which hand you use for each note making the map feel like a 2h (two-handed) trill, this is still a very reading focussed skill set however it focuses a lot on the minijacks caused by the anchors to create harsh reading and patterning, these will be a lot more draining to play usually because of that. A lot of the focus on these patterns is from varying speeds you feel like you have to play to focus on each part separately.
Light jumpstream: jumpstream maps that have little jump usage and/or are very easily manipulatable fall under this category since they mostly focus on the speed of said jumpstream rather than how draining it is to keep it, a lot of the time jumps are used in order to make the streams feel faster rather than denser by using split jumps in different ways for example:
In this you can see the use of the [14] is quite hard to notice at first and rather just feels like the roll is a touch faster than normal, things like these are mostly what make these kinds of patterns harder to read.
Bursts: literally any short stream. Most of the time bursts are either focussed on being as awkward as possible to really focus the difficulty of said burst or really soft in order to give a smooth feeling to start or finish something, these are actually almost entirely reading since it’s such an explosive style of play the physical aspect of these tends to not be the challenge so much as being able to focus on that explosive burst accurately and then still focus on the rest of the map, this quickly becomes VERY draining to do since it’s literally pushing you to most you can for a short period.
So you probably are used to always hearing that manip is bad and you should never manip but I'm here to give the complete opposite argument.
Literally every player who is playing extremely fast simple streams manipulates them. The entire skill of speed is actually being able to optimise this manipulation to where you can still accurately hit the notes while doing so.
For speed it becomes even more essential that you play stuff closer to your comfort zone, these patterns are really easy to fall behind on and lose acc. “Overtraining” or playing maps too hard for you will only build poor habits and mindblocks i recommend aiming for higher acc on these files because of this, 97% is a bit of a better benchmark than the usual 96%
Soft single note streams: these are usually really fast streams that avoid all anchors so as to make them easy to “manipulate”. These kinda patterns are almost entirely about your reading capabilities but you will find that you need to be able to oh (one-hand) trill fast enough to be able to control a given speed e.g. you need to be able to effectively oh trill 170 in order to be able to control a 340 stream mostly because of how similar a lot of the motions end up being.
Index-style single note streams: these are single note steams in which you mostly alternate which hand you use for each note making the map feel like a 2h (two-handed) trill, this is still a very reading focussed skill set however it focuses a lot on the minijacks caused by the anchors to create harsh reading and patterning, these will be a lot more draining to play usually because of that. A lot of the focus on these patterns is from varying speeds you feel like you have to play to focus on each part separately.
Light jumpstream: jumpstream maps that have little jump usage and/or are very easily manipulatable fall under this category since they mostly focus on the speed of said jumpstream rather than how draining it is to keep it, a lot of the time jumps are used in order to make the streams feel faster rather than denser by using split jumps in different ways for example:
In this you can see the use of the [14] is quite hard to notice at first and rather just feels like the roll is a touch faster than normal, things like these are mostly what make these kinds of patterns harder to read.
Bursts: literally any short stream. Most of the time bursts are either focussed on being as awkward as possible to really focus the difficulty of said burst or really soft in order to give a smooth feeling to start or finish something, these are actually almost entirely reading since it’s such an explosive style of play the physical aspect of these tends to not be the challenge so much as being able to focus on that explosive burst accurately and then still focus on the rest of the map, this quickly becomes VERY draining to do since it’s literally pushing you to most you can for a short period.
Tech
So remember how I just told you that manipulation isn’t bad and you should do it, yeah completely ignore that for tech. lol
What even is “tech”?
Technical maps usually refers to maps in which you use multiple skill sets at the same time as one another for example:
Minijacks (my beloved <3) are usually only used when layered into another patterning e.g. fast streams or do give a powerful finish to a stream. They usually just focus on transitioning your hands into the jacking motion as fast as you can since just hitting the key twice at almost any speed is p easy so this actually becomes almost entirely a reading skill when used sporadically.
Bursts usually are patterned in a way that causes awkward anchors because of prior layering schemes you end up jacking at the same time as playing a stream which is why it becomes technical.
Polyrhythms are literally playing multiple rhythms at once and usually are done so in a way to use different skill sets for each rhythm followed.
But then there’s also another side to tech being both:
Obscurity or jarring patterns causes harsh reading, this can be done through different awkward patterning choices taken over cleaner ones becoming harder to read.
And irregular rhythms being just naturally awkward to time due to how we perceive sound and expect music to play, like it’s much harder for someone without much musical knowledge to be able to follow rhythms like 5/8 or 15/16, it just requires more musical accuracy.
What even is “tech”?
Technical maps usually refers to maps in which you use multiple skill sets at the same time as one another for example:
Minijacks (my beloved <3) are usually only used when layered into another patterning e.g. fast streams or do give a powerful finish to a stream. They usually just focus on transitioning your hands into the jacking motion as fast as you can since just hitting the key twice at almost any speed is p easy so this actually becomes almost entirely a reading skill when used sporadically.
Bursts usually are patterned in a way that causes awkward anchors because of prior layering schemes you end up jacking at the same time as playing a stream which is why it becomes technical.
Polyrhythms are literally playing multiple rhythms at once and usually are done so in a way to use different skill sets for each rhythm followed.
But then there’s also another side to tech being both:
Obscurity or jarring patterns causes harsh reading, this can be done through different awkward patterning choices taken over cleaner ones becoming harder to read.
And irregular rhythms being just naturally awkward to time due to how we perceive sound and expect music to play, like it’s much harder for someone without much musical knowledge to be able to follow rhythms like 5/8 or 15/16, it just requires more musical accuracy.
Long notes
MAKE SURE YOU’RE USING SCOREV2 OR THE LAZER CLIENT WHEN PLAYING LONG NOTE BASED MAPS AS IT COMPLETELY REWORKS THEM MECHANICALLY
So i’m mostly an etterna main and felt like i should use someone who is better at ln than i am for reference here since they likely will have better opinions and tips, here is Solleks’ guide who is a stronger LN player than I: here is the video
and here's the spreadsheet of practice maps!
(hi Solleks if you’re reading this you made a really good guide
)
The noodle converter is a great tool to create ln maps of any density you’d like for practice purposes. community/forums/topics/191952?n=1
Hybrid: hybrid long note maps tend to have more focus on holding a note while playing out other patterns and tricky releases layered in, these kinda maps tend to feel similar in how they play and there’s A LOT of practice maps ranked and unranked.
Release timing: essentially entirely a reading skill try to find lots of maps and focus on the releases of each long note as well as the initial press
Density: this is really just being able to focus on making sure you keep notes held and focus on release windows while still being able to play other patterns normally, there’s not really much to do with this but practice lots of different long note maps, they usually don’t take as long to learn or practice as other skills since you already have such a strong reading foundation built.
Inverse: for inverse you should treat every note as a release instead of a tap, you do this by reading the spaces between each ln and timing your release for that window rather than trying to time a tap and press
So i’m mostly an etterna main and felt like i should use someone who is better at ln than i am for reference here since they likely will have better opinions and tips, here is Solleks’ guide who is a stronger LN player than I: here is the video
and here's the spreadsheet of practice maps!
(hi Solleks if you’re reading this you made a really good guide
)The noodle converter is a great tool to create ln maps of any density you’d like for practice purposes. community/forums/topics/191952?n=1
Hybrid: hybrid long note maps tend to have more focus on holding a note while playing out other patterns and tricky releases layered in, these kinda maps tend to feel similar in how they play and there’s A LOT of practice maps ranked and unranked.
Release timing: essentially entirely a reading skill try to find lots of maps and focus on the releases of each long note as well as the initial press
Density: this is really just being able to focus on making sure you keep notes held and focus on release windows while still being able to play other patterns normally, there’s not really much to do with this but practice lots of different long note maps, they usually don’t take as long to learn or practice as other skills since you already have such a strong reading foundation built.
Inverse: for inverse you should treat every note as a release instead of a tap, you do this by reading the spaces between each ln and timing your release for that window rather than trying to time a tap and press
Accuracy
There is a better guide on more specifics for accuracy here: community/forums/topics/1217364?n=1
Accuracy can be split into 3 different types and all need to be trained differently, those being:
Ratio (a.k.a. MA/FA): this is the amount of 300 and max 300 you get and is mostly used in order to determine accuracy beyond that of an SS, generally the best way to practice this to go for SDG (single digit great/200) scores, SS scores are still good but a few minor slip ups doesn’t make the practice any less effective so don’t worry if you’re just shy of the SS.
Acc % (a.k.a. PA): this is referring to the amount of 200s you get on a score, the best way to work on this is by just pushing for higher acc scores in the 98%-99% range on the hardest maps you can.
Bad count (CB count): this is the amount of 100, 50 and misses you get, if you have any of these the game won’t count it as an FC for achievements! This is really just working on your consistency. The best way to work on this is to play a huge variety of maps minimal times, i highly recommend joining multiplayer lobbies for this!
Accuracy can be split into 3 different types and all need to be trained differently, those being:
Ratio (a.k.a. MA/FA): this is the amount of 300 and max 300 you get and is mostly used in order to determine accuracy beyond that of an SS, generally the best way to practice this to go for SDG (single digit great/200) scores, SS scores are still good but a few minor slip ups doesn’t make the practice any less effective so don’t worry if you’re just shy of the SS.
Acc % (a.k.a. PA): this is referring to the amount of 200s you get on a score, the best way to work on this is by just pushing for higher acc scores in the 98%-99% range on the hardest maps you can.
Bad count (CB count): this is the amount of 100, 50 and misses you get, if you have any of these the game won’t count it as an FC for achievements! This is really just working on your consistency. The best way to work on this is to play a huge variety of maps minimal times, i highly recommend joining multiplayer lobbies for this!
APPROACHING THE SUMMIT (extra diffs):
RATES: IF YOU STILL DON’T HAVE A RATE CHANGER. WHY? GO DL IT NOW PLS: https://github.com/FunOrange/osu-trainer
Mindset: if you’re not enjoying the game you’re gonna tilt and have a bad time which DRASTICALLY hinders improvement, if the game is starting to aggravate you take a break, get a snack, relax, remember you play this game for entertainment!
Specialisation: while I will always strongly hold the opinion that well roundedness is best, this is about the point where you’d start to specialise and focus on a certain skillset that you enjoy the most, this is fine to do but other skills being too far behind can bottleneck improvement.
RATES: RATES ARE SO IMPORTANT FOR ALLOWING YOU TO ACTUALLY HAVE MAPS TO CHALLENGE YOURSELF
Map variety: make sure to dabble in lots of different types of maps since being bad at one skill can really hold you back in another much more than you realise! For example working on chordjacks will help out with handstream since you get used to more density and will have an easier time handling the anchors. Working on your worst skillset is the best way to get that oh so desired “skillboost”
Tourneys: a player is only really as good as their tournament performance in my opinion and they will always do a better job at making sure you utilise all skillsets than a ranked leaderboard will, they’re not for everyone though if you don’t like to compete.
There’s usually a good amount of tourneys on forums: community/forums/55
RATES: IF YOU STILL DON’T HAVE A RATE CHANGER. WHY? GO DL IT NOW PLS: https://github.com/FunOrange/osu-trainer
Mindset: if you’re not enjoying the game you’re gonna tilt and have a bad time which DRASTICALLY hinders improvement, if the game is starting to aggravate you take a break, get a snack, relax, remember you play this game for entertainment!
Specialisation: while I will always strongly hold the opinion that well roundedness is best, this is about the point where you’d start to specialise and focus on a certain skillset that you enjoy the most, this is fine to do but other skills being too far behind can bottleneck improvement.
RATES: RATES ARE SO IMPORTANT FOR ALLOWING YOU TO ACTUALLY HAVE MAPS TO CHALLENGE YOURSELF
Map variety: make sure to dabble in lots of different types of maps since being bad at one skill can really hold you back in another much more than you realise! For example working on chordjacks will help out with handstream since you get used to more density and will have an easier time handling the anchors. Working on your worst skillset is the best way to get that oh so desired “skillboost”
Tourneys: a player is only really as good as their tournament performance in my opinion and they will always do a better job at making sure you utilise all skillsets than a ranked leaderboard will, they’re not for everyone though if you don’t like to compete.
There’s usually a good amount of tourneys on forums: community/forums/55
RATES: IF YOU STILL DON’T HAVE A RATE CHANGER. WHY? GO DL IT NOW PLS: https://github.com/FunOrange/osu-trainer
Additional notes (general learning advice):
Rest well: making sure you get adequate sleep and are well rested will greatly benefit your learning!
Stay hydrated: lack of hydration will almost always completely halt learning, make sure you’re drinking at least 2 litres of water a day! (I have no idea how americans measure this, 8 cups? Half a gallon? 70 fluid ounces? 3.5 pints? Just use metric ffs)
Look after your body: working out sounds hard but it doesn’t have to be, just a simple 10 push-ups, sit-ups and squats a week will greatly help your physique and mental state, it’s very important to get at least 2hrs of exercise a week!
Take breaks: taking a break from the game is a great way to come back with a fresh mindset and restart the improvement process, also when you come back there’s a whole load of new maps to try out!
Don’t overdo sessions: playing for extremely long sessions e.g. 4+hrs usually won’t help you much past a point since you’ve already strained yourself, it would be much more efficient if you pushed hard for an hour or 2 then played again later on!
Set goals for yourself: both short-term and long-term goals are very beneficial for different reasons.
Short-term lets you track progress and make sure you’re improving at the rate you want but try not to set these goals too high since you want to be able to reach them relatively soon.
Long-term goals on the other hand are great for keeping you motivated to push yourself for an eventual goal you can be proud of.
Let yourself be bad: everyone is bad at something they haven’t practised, it’s just how it works, it’s important to allow yourself to just be bad and not worry about playing the hardest possible maps or getting the highest possible rank and rather just take your time with your own goals!
Don’t expect every session to go well: some sessions you just won’t be playing that well for reasons out of your control and this is fine you can still play some easier stuff on these days or just take time off and do something else, don’t let it get you down cause it’s really just an inevitability, athletes in different sports can’t always perform at their highest levels for the same reasons, you just have good days and bad days.
Listen to others’ advice: there’s always someone better than you at the game and people always have things to say about how they improved differently and it’s always good to listen to their stories and maybe it can apply to you or it can give a new perspective on certain aspects of the game.
Stay hydrated: lack of hydration will almost always completely halt learning, make sure you’re drinking at least 2 litres of water a day! (I have no idea how americans measure this, 8 cups? Half a gallon? 70 fluid ounces? 3.5 pints? Just use metric ffs)
Look after your body: working out sounds hard but it doesn’t have to be, just a simple 10 push-ups, sit-ups and squats a week will greatly help your physique and mental state, it’s very important to get at least 2hrs of exercise a week!
Take breaks: taking a break from the game is a great way to come back with a fresh mindset and restart the improvement process, also when you come back there’s a whole load of new maps to try out!
Don’t overdo sessions: playing for extremely long sessions e.g. 4+hrs usually won’t help you much past a point since you’ve already strained yourself, it would be much more efficient if you pushed hard for an hour or 2 then played again later on!
Set goals for yourself: both short-term and long-term goals are very beneficial for different reasons.
Short-term lets you track progress and make sure you’re improving at the rate you want but try not to set these goals too high since you want to be able to reach them relatively soon.
Long-term goals on the other hand are great for keeping you motivated to push yourself for an eventual goal you can be proud of.
Let yourself be bad: everyone is bad at something they haven’t practised, it’s just how it works, it’s important to allow yourself to just be bad and not worry about playing the hardest possible maps or getting the highest possible rank and rather just take your time with your own goals!
Don’t expect every session to go well: some sessions you just won’t be playing that well for reasons out of your control and this is fine you can still play some easier stuff on these days or just take time off and do something else, don’t let it get you down cause it’s really just an inevitability, athletes in different sports can’t always perform at their highest levels for the same reasons, you just have good days and bad days.
Listen to others’ advice: there’s always someone better than you at the game and people always have things to say about how they improved differently and it’s always good to listen to their stories and maybe it can apply to you or it can give a new perspective on certain aspects of the game.