Very new player here, both to OSU and Rhythm games in general, and I was just wondering how long the progression of skill usually looks like in this game? I have just under 5 hours, and can handle pretty easily just about anything below 3-4* in difficulty, and given that 5* and above looks incredibly scary, I'd like to have some idea of how quickly most players end up getting around that skill level to consistently do songs of that star level (cause I've downloaded 2* songs that play like a much higher, or 4* songs that are easier than 3* so I recognize the skill level can vary on song to song) I'm definitely gonna be sinking a lot of time into this game to try and improve either way, though.

depends but if you want to get to 5* it would probably take you like around 150-200 hours

Oh that's not as bad as I thought. Outside of things like only playing songs at increasingly higher level and continually failing to improve instead of just playing the same songs you know you can do with no challenge over and over, is there any methods to improve faster?

When you fail, ask yourself "why" in order to specifically target your weaknesses so you can change/work on them. Farm maps are okay, but if you want to improve make sure you play a variety of maps that test multiple skillsets. Doing this could also help expose your weaknesses/strengths. Also don't make sure you play maps that are too hard. If you can't read the map and you are just mashing, you aren't going to gain anything out of it except maybe a cool pass, but not anything improvement wise. But also make sure to not play things too easy/comfortable. Pay attention to acc and try to have it as high as possible and adjust mid-song if you are tapping too early or late, but don't beat yourself up over it and only play maps you can get high acc on or else you will find you are staying within your comfort zone. Make sure you play maps of varying song lengths, the longer ones can help train consistency/stamina. Get a good skin that is easy for you to read with clear hitsounds. Here's one that I mixed together in case you don't already have one/want more options: https://www.mediafire.com/file/csem1pxu33knmh2/Aristia%2528Edit%2529_Pink_Instafade.osk/file . Make sure you have A LOT of maps and although playing maps that target skillsets is the most beneficial, make sure you hone your sightreading abilities as well because that will help reading and consistency. Try not to retry spam too much, but as long as you aren't sacrificing consistency, it's fine. Unless it's more comfortable for you/you want to have a gimmicky/unique playstyle, I strongly recommend playing with keyboard to tap and mouse/tablet to aim. This can help if you want a lot of maps (time and space required) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nuz0TVF1IY&ab_channel=basic . There is also other resources like official osu beatmap packs and just searching through songs on the beatmap listings. Another thing that I've found that helps with improvement is to get a rival around your skill level and like compete with each other. Although this is a solo game, that competitive drive that a rival brings can push you to improve faster. (contact me if you want to be my rival btw, washed 80k player with 6 digit skill in need of some motivation). And the most important thing of all is to play through the strain but stop when there's pain and have fun clicking circles!

ainkeK wrote:

When you fail, ask yourself "why" in order to specifically target your weaknesses so you can change/work on them. Farm maps are okay, but if you want to improve make sure you play a variety of maps that test multiple skillsets. Doing this could also help expose your weaknesses/strengths. Also don't make sure you play maps that are too hard. If you can't read the map and you are just mashing, you aren't going to gain anything out of it except maybe a cool pass, but not anything improvement wise. But also make sure to not play things too easy/comfortable. Pay attention to acc and try to have it as high as possible and adjust mid-song if you are tapping too early or late, but don't beat yourself up over it and only play maps you can get high acc on or else you will find you are staying within your comfort zone. Make sure you play maps of varying song lengths, the longer ones can help train consistency/stamina. Get a good skin that is easy for you to read with clear hitsounds. Here's one that I mixed together in case you don't already have one/want more options: https://www.mediafire.com/file/csem1pxu33knmh2/Aristia%2528Edit%2529_Pink_Instafade.osk/file . Make sure you have A LOT of maps and although playing maps that target skillsets is the most beneficial, make sure you hone your sightreading abilities as well because that will help reading and consistency. Try not to retry spam too much, but as long as you aren't sacrificing consistency, it's fine. Unless it's more comfortable for you/you want to have a gimmicky/unique playstyle, I strongly recommend playing with keyboard to tap and mouse/tablet to aim. This can help if you want a lot of maps (time and space required) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Nuz0TVF1IY&ab_channel=basic . There is also other resources like official osu beatmap packs and just searching through songs on the beatmap listings. Another thing that I've found that helps with improvement is to get a rival around your skill level and like compete with each other. Although this is a solo game, that competitive drive that a rival brings can push you to improve faster. (contact me if you want to be my rival btw, washed 80k player with 6 digit skill in need of some motivation). And the most important thing of all is to play through the strain but stop when there's pain and have fun clicking circles!

at least put spaces mf...


anyways as kuju has said, I think that being able to fc 5* maps is a point where you are already good at the game, as in you know all the basics. tho I would say its more about 200-300 hrs of playtime if you don't focus on improvement.

I bless you in your osu! journey...

As for raw numbers like guys said they're something around these on average from what I see:

~125h for stable 4* fcs
~250h for stable low 5*
~500h+ for first 6* fcs on non short farm maps
??? ~1000h+? for 7* - very approx, here comes the most deviations between players

^all for nomod stuff only

Keep in mind grinding won't help in osu much as you need decent playtime over intervals for your skills to raise up, become familiar with and finally grave them into reflexes.

Q for Quinn wrote:

Very new player here, both to OSU and Rhythm games in general, and I was just wondering how long the progression of skill usually looks like in this game? I have just under 5 hours, and can handle pretty easily just about anything below 3-4* in difficulty, and given that 5* and above looks incredibly scary, I'd like to have some idea of how quickly most players end up getting around that skill level to consistently do songs of that star level (cause I've downloaded 2* songs that play like a much higher, or 4* songs that are easier than 3* so I recognize the skill level can vary on song to song) I'm definitely gonna be sinking a lot of time into this game to try and improve either way, though.

To be brutally honest, you are not "easily handling" anything in the 3-4* range. 80-90% acc is not good in general, with the exception of some very high-level maps that are very, very technical (polyrhythmic maps, Aspire maps, etc.). It may feel like you've got a handle on it, even as a 2.5M newbie (and to your credit, to even be able to pass 3-4* maps as a complete newbie to OSU and rhythm games is very impressive), but I would heavily argue that this is not the level that you want to shoot for as far as competency.

A lot of Ainkek's post (when you can work your way through it; jeez, dude, use the enter key more often) is very good general advice, but what I want to get at is that I do not want you to start building bad habits and very..."corrupted" isn't the word I'm looking for, but basically that you're learning certain skills but in a very abstract or incomplete way. Learning proper rhythm sense in a song, being able to read approach circles (how soon you have until you have to hit it, parsing the timing between needing to hit one object compared to the next, understanding the timing for notes stacked on top of each other, etc.), and such are things that you need to grasp on an instinctive, fundamental level before you try to touch even 3* songs, much less 4* or 5* songs. Otherwise you're going to have an even worse time in trying to play those maps than now because at least at this point you're very open and malleable to learning and changing; if we were talking to you even 3 months after playing nothing but 3-4* maps, you'd already have certain tendencies or bad habits that you'd have to break out of.

I'm not going to say that you should stop playing 3-4* maps completely; it's totally fine to dabble in them every so often just to see if you can actually play them better than you did before, but it should not be your focus. Where you need to start is at the bottom. No 3*'s, no 4*'s, not even 2*'s. Start with 1* maps, specifically no-mod 1* maps. You can play at 1.1-1.3 or 1.4* maps if you want, but you still kinda need to start there. I say this because you have a good bevy of Normal/Advanced songs in your top plays (and you haven't even filled that out yet so it's an easy pool to work with) yet you only have one A-rank out of those maps and even a couple C-ranks on some low 2* maps. Even among the [Easy] rated maps, you only have one S-rank (which is your top play) and one A-rank. That, to me, indicates that 2*'s are too far out of your current ability to play right now, and mid-high 1*'s are more or less barely within them; like, right on the very outskirts of what I think is your comfort zone. It is important to play stuff outside of your comfort, but right now you kinda need to establish your comfort zone in the first place so you can have a grasp on what is too hard, what is too easy, and what is hard but not quite that hard. And for someone like you, who's just starting out, that can only begin at/near the very very bottom.

So, for right now, start looking for maps within 1.1 to 1.4*'s. You can do that by inputting "Star>=1.1 star<=1.4" in the beatmap listing page, and just download any and all songs you see that you like (or just all of them, period). What you want to shoot for is at least 90% acc consistently on any song you play; normally I would say 95%, and you should absolutely shoot for that when you have a comfort zone of skill, but I'm going a little easier due to your inexperience with this genre. Once you can hit at least that 90% mark for most songs you download (it doesn't have to be every single one, but probably about 7/10), then you can move up about .1 or .2* and repeat the process. If you find that these 1.1-1.4* songs are falling very easily (that is, you're even getting 95% at minimum every time), then by all means you can move up by even .3 or .4*, but I would strongly advise you don't do more than that.

Depending on how often you play, I would estimate it will take you only a couple of IRL months to get through all of this and start playing 2* maps for real, probly even shorter. You can then apply the same sort of benchmarks to the 2* maps as well: Start with 1.9-2.1* maps, and up by .1-.2* whenever you can consistently get 90-95% acc. Once you start getting to the 2.5* range, that's when I would settle into 95%+ as being the minimum. Hopefully, within half a year you should be able to reach 3* maps and do very well with them.



I get that I'm telling you to take the very slow and steady approach, and I know many people find it to be very boring. But you really don't get to be the next Mrekk or Vaxei or WhiteCat by playing 4*+ maps and praying you suddenly git gud. You have to learn to walk first, and for you in particular you kinda need to learn how to crawl even before that. You may very well be able to progress from crawling to walking to running very quickly, and I genuinely hope you do, but there's no skipping steps.


Lastly, make sure you're having fun. You are more than welcome to at any time decide that this is pointless bullshit and just start playing whatever the fuck you want whenever you want and to hell with this slow-ass shit or whatever. That's totally fine, and if it makes you enjoy the game more, I don't want to stop you. But I think that the price you pay of not instilling the right habits into your play right now when you're new is not worth it. Once you get up to 50-100 hours and can play at least low 3*'s pretty competently you're probly at a good enough place to start figuring out what you can truly enjoy in this game, but those first 50 hours are very crucial.


Thank you for reading my essay, and plz enjoy game.