Hello there osu community! I have written you some tips on how to improve your gaming skill at osu no matter how bad or good you are. Keep in mind that these tips might or not work. So don't try to rush things in a desperate manner or expect massive change within hours.
I am 18 and I am a self-proclaim analyst who loves to observe & critically think in my own ideology, so I am here to share what I have concluded BASED FROM MY POINT OF VIEW when watching a lot of replays from the top scores of the game and videos from players.
First, I would like to make some annotations:
- Don't over-extend the use of fingers (keyboard users)
This will cause you too much fatigue in your hands. Little pain means improvement but you should take a break if it hurts.
- Don't hesitate because you're not seeing results
Stay relaxed and have patience, Roma wasn't build in one day.
- Don't overdo practice
(3-4 hours a day should be an absolute max) since it will start getting less fun and more of an obligation that will lead to you not wanting to practice anymore.
- Don't practice always the entire song
It's not bad to retry the song for several times but the smaller the info you put in your memory, the easier will be to remember. If you practice the whole song, you may also remember, but will not be as effective than practicing the song in parts. Remember, osu in a way is a muscle memory game.
- Edit mode is your best friends
Many think that the best way to practice is simply putting the music in NF or HT or even both. It is not bad to use them but it can develop a bad visual coordination and bad rhythmic accuracy.
- Remember that accuracy+stamina > speed
Don't just be tapping rapidly when a stream shows up. It is not how it look. Study it well or follow the rhythm and let your instinct do the tapping.
- Play on a chair and in position
You'll develop back pains if you don't play in position. You need to be comfy as possible to get accuracy and more endurance.
Now let's get started:
1. Do finger warming exercises. Stretch your fingers so it releases all that muscle tensions and be more agile.
2. Warm up with recognisable maps that are a bit lower than the skill level of your prime.
3. For all tablet users, use pen mode (NOT MOUSE MODE). Believe me, you'll regret it if you do.
4. Turn off pointer enhancement.
Right click in Desktop / Personalize / Change Mouse Pointers / Uncheck Enhance Pointer Precision
6. Play in DirectX with Unlimited FPS. If laggy, then set it to 120FPS but try to keep far from OpenGL.
7. The lesser the osu resolution, the more FPS you'll have. But play your resolution as your preference, it really doesn't matter.
8. USE YOUR WRIST TO CONTROL YOUR PEN. A lot of people tend to hover using only fingers and have low activity of the wrist. This will create fatigue and your index finger will get reddish. Your accuracy will improve if you use more your wrist. Only use finger movement to do zig-zags for example or when necessary. (yet again, this is preference)
9. Don't use the default skin. It's actually an excellent skin but what makes it annoying are the splashes that make the notes hard to see.
Recommendations: WhiteWolf's Skin, -Kamui-, Niko's Skin, NikkoDots (Great for challenging hidden players)
10. Put the DIM at 0 for every song, disable videos and custom skin if necessary. No matter how cool they look they're just distractions.
11. Try to equalize Master / Effects / Music ... Having everything too loud can cause delays when hitting a note without you even noticing it.
MOUSE SENSITIVITY / TABLET
A lot of players tend to change either to full or small area whenever they feel to. But this is wrong. You should stay with one.
IMO I highly recommend setting your tablet area like the full area of a CTL-460. If you have that tablet then it doesn't matter and
why? Well the reason is that playing on a full area with a small tablet really improves the control of your accuracy. So it's not about the tablet, but the area you use.
If for somehow you feel that you need an extra movement speed at certain songs, don't try to change the sensitivity. You probably haven't achieved hand speed yet.
DO NOT rest your hand on the tablet. It will fatigue your hand more and lose grip on the pen. Also can damage your tablet sensibility if your hand is the sweaty type. The right way to do is to lay your wrist just about to bottom of the tablet.
LAY YOUR ARMS ON SOMETHING... If you have arms by mid-air and streaming for example, I can guarantee that you won't get past 10 seconds before showing arm fatigue.
Talking about stamina.... Stamina is greater than speed. If you're tired, give yourself a little break and then come back on. You'll improve in a way.
REST ON THE CHAIR.... Don't play staring at the LCD like a maniac. Having a good position keeps you relaxed and play better eventually.
HOLD YOUR PEN FIRMLY and figure out your own way to manage a comfy grip.
EDIT MODE
The very best players use edit mode and plays songs by PARTS while memorizing movement on the pen. Once they think they have it, they just rely on the
muscle memory and follow their instincts of tapping along with the rhythm. They have to concentrate as well or course. Shorcuts from edit mode are also quite handy
like F1 (Exit Test Mode) & F5 (Test Mode). Don't worry if you have to save in order to play test mode, you can always re-download the last version of the song at the song-list.
Try to avoid Auto Pilot mode, since there's a lot of music that have some notes that it doesn't need to be hitten entirely like short sliders. It will just mess your tapping
and you'll think you're the problem.
CHALLENGE YOURSELF
After you have mastered a song without mods, try it with them. It will improve more your skill and mods are the road to be in the big leagues.
Don't quit if you're losing in multiplayer, it makes you feel like ashamed and it's embarrassing. Try to stay till the end, even though you weren't
good at it, people can remember you and the day they see your name they'll see how much you've improved =)
If you think you're not good, keep trying, but don't be a quitter. Work smarter, not harder" If I could do it within a month, you can do it aswell in a lesser time.
I may be wrong or not at certain point since it has to be with just preference, but like I said. This is based on how I managed to improved so it doesn't mean it's gonna work the same for anyone. I don't want any flame in my topic. There can be people who agrees or disagree, I am here to learn aswell from everyones opinion! But would appreciate any corrections and will be accepting any extra tips if you want me to add them.
Kind regards, Shiyo ~
I am 18 and I am a self-proclaim analyst who loves to observe & critically think in my own ideology, so I am here to share what I have concluded BASED FROM MY POINT OF VIEW when watching a lot of replays from the top scores of the game and videos from players.
First, I would like to make some annotations:
- Don't over-extend the use of fingers (keyboard users)
This will cause you too much fatigue in your hands. Little pain means improvement but you should take a break if it hurts.
- Don't hesitate because you're not seeing results
Stay relaxed and have patience, Roma wasn't build in one day.
- Don't overdo practice
(3-4 hours a day should be an absolute max) since it will start getting less fun and more of an obligation that will lead to you not wanting to practice anymore.
- Don't practice always the entire song
It's not bad to retry the song for several times but the smaller the info you put in your memory, the easier will be to remember. If you practice the whole song, you may also remember, but will not be as effective than practicing the song in parts. Remember, osu in a way is a muscle memory game.
- Edit mode is your best friends
Many think that the best way to practice is simply putting the music in NF or HT or even both. It is not bad to use them but it can develop a bad visual coordination and bad rhythmic accuracy.
- Remember that accuracy+stamina > speed
Don't just be tapping rapidly when a stream shows up. It is not how it look. Study it well or follow the rhythm and let your instinct do the tapping.
- Play on a chair and in position
You'll develop back pains if you don't play in position. You need to be comfy as possible to get accuracy and more endurance.
Now let's get started:
1. Do finger warming exercises. Stretch your fingers so it releases all that muscle tensions and be more agile.
2. Warm up with recognisable maps that are a bit lower than the skill level of your prime.
3. For all tablet users, use pen mode (NOT MOUSE MODE). Believe me, you'll regret it if you do.
4. Turn off pointer enhancement.
Right click in Desktop / Personalize / Change Mouse Pointers / Uncheck Enhance Pointer Precision
6. Play in DirectX with Unlimited FPS. If laggy, then set it to 120FPS but try to keep far from OpenGL.
7. The lesser the osu resolution, the more FPS you'll have. But play your resolution as your preference, it really doesn't matter.
8. USE YOUR WRIST TO CONTROL YOUR PEN. A lot of people tend to hover using only fingers and have low activity of the wrist. This will create fatigue and your index finger will get reddish. Your accuracy will improve if you use more your wrist. Only use finger movement to do zig-zags for example or when necessary. (yet again, this is preference)
9. Don't use the default skin. It's actually an excellent skin but what makes it annoying are the splashes that make the notes hard to see.
Recommendations: WhiteWolf's Skin, -Kamui-, Niko's Skin, NikkoDots (Great for challenging hidden players)
10. Put the DIM at 0 for every song, disable videos and custom skin if necessary. No matter how cool they look they're just distractions.
11. Try to equalize Master / Effects / Music ... Having everything too loud can cause delays when hitting a note without you even noticing it.
MOUSE SENSITIVITY / TABLET
A lot of players tend to change either to full or small area whenever they feel to. But this is wrong. You should stay with one.
IMO I highly recommend setting your tablet area like the full area of a CTL-460. If you have that tablet then it doesn't matter and
why? Well the reason is that playing on a full area with a small tablet really improves the control of your accuracy. So it's not about the tablet, but the area you use.
If for somehow you feel that you need an extra movement speed at certain songs, don't try to change the sensitivity. You probably haven't achieved hand speed yet.
DO NOT rest your hand on the tablet. It will fatigue your hand more and lose grip on the pen. Also can damage your tablet sensibility if your hand is the sweaty type. The right way to do is to lay your wrist just about to bottom of the tablet.
LAY YOUR ARMS ON SOMETHING... If you have arms by mid-air and streaming for example, I can guarantee that you won't get past 10 seconds before showing arm fatigue.
Talking about stamina.... Stamina is greater than speed. If you're tired, give yourself a little break and then come back on. You'll improve in a way.
REST ON THE CHAIR.... Don't play staring at the LCD like a maniac. Having a good position keeps you relaxed and play better eventually.
HOLD YOUR PEN FIRMLY and figure out your own way to manage a comfy grip.
EDIT MODE
The very best players use edit mode and plays songs by PARTS while memorizing movement on the pen. Once they think they have it, they just rely on the
muscle memory and follow their instincts of tapping along with the rhythm. They have to concentrate as well or course. Shorcuts from edit mode are also quite handy
like F1 (Exit Test Mode) & F5 (Test Mode). Don't worry if you have to save in order to play test mode, you can always re-download the last version of the song at the song-list.
Try to avoid Auto Pilot mode, since there's a lot of music that have some notes that it doesn't need to be hitten entirely like short sliders. It will just mess your tapping
and you'll think you're the problem.
CHALLENGE YOURSELF
After you have mastered a song without mods, try it with them. It will improve more your skill and mods are the road to be in the big leagues.
Don't quit if you're losing in multiplayer, it makes you feel like ashamed and it's embarrassing. Try to stay till the end, even though you weren't
good at it, people can remember you and the day they see your name they'll see how much you've improved =)
If you think you're not good, keep trying, but don't be a quitter. Work smarter, not harder" If I could do it within a month, you can do it aswell in a lesser time.
I may be wrong or not at certain point since it has to be with just preference, but like I said. This is based on how I managed to improved so it doesn't mean it's gonna work the same for anyone. I don't want any flame in my topic. There can be people who agrees or disagree, I am here to learn aswell from everyones opinion! But would appreciate any corrections and will be accepting any extra tips if you want me to add them.
Kind regards, Shiyo ~