About This Guide
This guide is the 4th instalment of my series of guides on low AR. This guide will teach you to play negative ARs from -1 to -35 in addition to the freeze frame mod for these ARs. This guide will teach my reading method. This isn't to say there are no other viable styles, but I know it works, so that is what I'll teach. Additionally, this guide is designed for lazer, but the same concepts apply in Standard and McOsu.
So why listen to me? I may not be the best low AR player around, nor am I very famous, but I have been playing low ARs for a bit more than ten years (it feels crazy typing that out..) and have been playing sub-0 ARs for the last few years so I should know what I'm talking about. You can also check out my Youtube channel to see my abilities.
This guide will be broken into the following parts:
As a side note, this guide will not teach HD as I am personally unable to play it at these ARs.
Reading Technique
This list will be ordered in level of importance.
Where to Look
While low AR players have varying opinions on this matter, as a general rule of thumb, you should look at where you need to hit next. While it seems like, as a low AR player, you must always be reading ahead, you don't. If you are new to low AR, reading ahead will do you no favours. Please focus on the next circle and the next circle only. If I can read AR-35 by only looking at the next circle, you do not need to be reading ahead while playing some 2* map.
If you are more advanced, reading ahead occasionally can be helpful so you can disregard what I have said previously.
Brightness Reading
The most important reading skill for negative AR reading is brightness reading (in my opinion). You may not have realized it, but just before you need to hit a note, it lights up. Reading this is what I call brightness reading. Brightness is a superficial game mechanic that was purposefully added to the game by peppy to make the game 'feel better'. He probably didn't realize that someone out there would use it to read with.
Essentially, all you have to do is hit the circles that are brighter than the rest. That's it.
While this technique sounds very simple (and it is), there is only one thing you need to know about it: the duration of brightness depends on the speed of the map. And no, I am not talking about BPM here—the speed of the map in terms of whether you are using Half Time or Double Time mods. Brightness lasts significantly longer when using Half Time than without it and significantly shorter with Double Time. The longer brightness lasts, the more overlap there can be, so it is possible to have multiple notes that are bright. This means you must remember the order in which they light up.
The only other thing you should know about brightness reading is Kiai time. Kiai time is a mode mappers usually add during more intense parts of the song, like the chorus. The only thing you need to know about kiai time for brightness reading is that it causes all notes on the board to light up simultaneously in a pulsing pattern, making it more challenging to find the note you need to hit. To read brightness during kiai time, you must locate the still-bright circle when the rest of the circles darken down. Reading brightness during Kiai time will take practice (yes, play more!).
Follow Points
If you are new, the following two reading techniques will not be needed. If you are more advanced, read ahead.
There are two ways of using follow points to read: by following the lines to find the next circle and/or by using the fade-in of the follow point to find the correct order of the circles. Following the lines is self-descriptive; you follow the follow points to find the next circle to hit.
Follow points appear after the circles appear, a little before you need to hit the circle. From my observation, you generally have 2 or 3 follow points at a time on the higher densities. By observing the fade-in of the follow points, you can determine the order of the next circles you need to hit. You can also use the lack of follow points as a hint that a circle does not need to be clicked for now.
Approach Circles
While it may seem impossible to read approach circles, it is useful to know how many times to click on a particular note. You can also use this information to gauge which note to hit first.
Skinning
Skinning is probably the most important thing here. If you want a skin to use that you know will work, you can use my skin and ignore the rest. Read on if you want to make your own and want some tips.
Numbers
If you are reading using my technique, there will be no numbers. Given the number of circles on the screen you may have with sub-0 AR, numbers may only serve as a distraction.
Slider ends
Slider ends always made things more challenging, but a change peppy made to lazer a couple of months ago made it almost unfeasible for sub-0 ARs. Essentially, peppy made the slider body darker (easier to read), but the slider ends brighter (harder to read). This change makes it extremely difficult to read with slider ends.
Follow Points
I suggest straight-line follow points with a distinctive color to help it stand out. There are also more creative follow points that tell you which way to go, which is the go-to if you want an easier time.
Combo Colors
It is interesting to note that reading brightness works best on brighter combo colors. A plain white combo color works best. I do not have a strong opinion about having multiple combo colors, but it may be easier with just 1.
Transparency
Circles should be slightly transparent so you can see underneath them, but the higher you set the transparency, the less noticeable the brightness becomes. I think around 20% transparency is reasonable.
Everything Else
The above are the most critical skinning elements to highlight. You want to make the rest of your skin as simple as possible and hide elements that can be hidden.
Where to Start
When starting at any AR, you must find the star level to play. Start from a higher number (say 3*) and just keep dropping it until you can pass a map on the first try. Start picking random maps around that star level to play. The great thing about low star maps is that they do not have many jumps, so it lets you learn to read the map correctly and focus on the next circle.
Your goal at the beginning is to pass maps. Passing maps is already a challenge, so have fun beating the HP drain. Even with the lack of jumps, this won't be easy initially. Slowly increase the difficulty as you play. If you can't read specific maps, shelve them for later. I do not go for FCs (as I don't find it fun), but it is an option if you would like.
As the brightness duration is longer for slower maps, you may want to start playing with Half Time. I could only play with Half Time initially, and it is probably good practice to start with something slower before going faster. Also, if you decide to use Half Time, you will want to play low star maps and not Half Time versions of higher star maps. Remember, you want to work on focusing on the next circle only (so no jumps early on).
Going Sub -10
To go sub AR-10 on a normal map, use the osu-trainer tool. I like to browse maps on the Standard client, edit maps of interest to 2x speed, and then import them to Lazer. I then play the map at 50% speed to mimic the actual map on a lower AR (mind the music distortion).
To upload maps to lazer without importing your entire Standard library, you will first have to set the osu files to a blank default. This will save the edited beatmap into the osu-trainer folder, which you can then drag into lazer.
Mods Discussion
I will only discuss the Freeze Frame mods and Random mods in this discussion.
Freeze Frame
The freeze frame mod makes all the notes of a specific combo appear at the same time. This has the effect of increasing object density and reducing your effective AR. Reading brightness is especially effective with this mod as it lets you know which circle to hit next (one of the significant challenges with the mod).
Random
The random mod is by far the most challenging mod for reading. This is because a human mapper will generally place circles in a certain way, allowing you to "guess" where the next circle will probably land. Since the placement of circles in the random mod is... well, random, you cannot know where the circles will land, so it forces you to be reactive and get used to odd patterns.
I would advise you to learn to get comfortable playing man-made maps first before venturing into this mod. With this mod on, you must also drop the difficulty significantly.
This guide is the 4th instalment of my series of guides on low AR. This guide will teach you to play negative ARs from -1 to -35 in addition to the freeze frame mod for these ARs. This guide will teach my reading method. This isn't to say there are no other viable styles, but I know it works, so that is what I'll teach. Additionally, this guide is designed for lazer, but the same concepts apply in Standard and McOsu.
So why listen to me? I may not be the best low AR player around, nor am I very famous, but I have been playing low ARs for a bit more than ten years (it feels crazy typing that out..) and have been playing sub-0 ARs for the last few years so I should know what I'm talking about. You can also check out my Youtube channel to see my abilities.
This guide will be broken into the following parts:
- Reading Technique
- Skinning
- Where to Start
- Going Sub -10
- Mods Discussion
As a side note, this guide will not teach HD as I am personally unable to play it at these ARs.
Reading Technique
This list will be ordered in level of importance.
Where to Look
While low AR players have varying opinions on this matter, as a general rule of thumb, you should look at where you need to hit next. While it seems like, as a low AR player, you must always be reading ahead, you don't. If you are new to low AR, reading ahead will do you no favours. Please focus on the next circle and the next circle only. If I can read AR-35 by only looking at the next circle, you do not need to be reading ahead while playing some 2* map.
If you are more advanced, reading ahead occasionally can be helpful so you can disregard what I have said previously.
Brightness Reading
The most important reading skill for negative AR reading is brightness reading (in my opinion). You may not have realized it, but just before you need to hit a note, it lights up. Reading this is what I call brightness reading. Brightness is a superficial game mechanic that was purposefully added to the game by peppy to make the game 'feel better'. He probably didn't realize that someone out there would use it to read with.
Essentially, all you have to do is hit the circles that are brighter than the rest. That's it.
While this technique sounds very simple (and it is), there is only one thing you need to know about it: the duration of brightness depends on the speed of the map. And no, I am not talking about BPM here—the speed of the map in terms of whether you are using Half Time or Double Time mods. Brightness lasts significantly longer when using Half Time than without it and significantly shorter with Double Time. The longer brightness lasts, the more overlap there can be, so it is possible to have multiple notes that are bright. This means you must remember the order in which they light up.
The only other thing you should know about brightness reading is Kiai time. Kiai time is a mode mappers usually add during more intense parts of the song, like the chorus. The only thing you need to know about kiai time for brightness reading is that it causes all notes on the board to light up simultaneously in a pulsing pattern, making it more challenging to find the note you need to hit. To read brightness during kiai time, you must locate the still-bright circle when the rest of the circles darken down. Reading brightness during Kiai time will take practice (yes, play more!).
Follow Points
If you are new, the following two reading techniques will not be needed. If you are more advanced, read ahead.
There are two ways of using follow points to read: by following the lines to find the next circle and/or by using the fade-in of the follow point to find the correct order of the circles. Following the lines is self-descriptive; you follow the follow points to find the next circle to hit.
Follow points appear after the circles appear, a little before you need to hit the circle. From my observation, you generally have 2 or 3 follow points at a time on the higher densities. By observing the fade-in of the follow points, you can determine the order of the next circles you need to hit. You can also use the lack of follow points as a hint that a circle does not need to be clicked for now.
Approach Circles
While it may seem impossible to read approach circles, it is useful to know how many times to click on a particular note. You can also use this information to gauge which note to hit first.
Skinning
Skinning is probably the most important thing here. If you want a skin to use that you know will work, you can use my skin and ignore the rest. Read on if you want to make your own and want some tips.
Numbers
If you are reading using my technique, there will be no numbers. Given the number of circles on the screen you may have with sub-0 AR, numbers may only serve as a distraction.
Slider ends
Slider ends always made things more challenging, but a change peppy made to lazer a couple of months ago made it almost unfeasible for sub-0 ARs. Essentially, peppy made the slider body darker (easier to read), but the slider ends brighter (harder to read). This change makes it extremely difficult to read with slider ends.
Follow Points
I suggest straight-line follow points with a distinctive color to help it stand out. There are also more creative follow points that tell you which way to go, which is the go-to if you want an easier time.
Combo Colors
It is interesting to note that reading brightness works best on brighter combo colors. A plain white combo color works best. I do not have a strong opinion about having multiple combo colors, but it may be easier with just 1.
Transparency
Circles should be slightly transparent so you can see underneath them, but the higher you set the transparency, the less noticeable the brightness becomes. I think around 20% transparency is reasonable.
Everything Else
The above are the most critical skinning elements to highlight. You want to make the rest of your skin as simple as possible and hide elements that can be hidden.
Where to Start
When starting at any AR, you must find the star level to play. Start from a higher number (say 3*) and just keep dropping it until you can pass a map on the first try. Start picking random maps around that star level to play. The great thing about low star maps is that they do not have many jumps, so it lets you learn to read the map correctly and focus on the next circle.
Your goal at the beginning is to pass maps. Passing maps is already a challenge, so have fun beating the HP drain. Even with the lack of jumps, this won't be easy initially. Slowly increase the difficulty as you play. If you can't read specific maps, shelve them for later. I do not go for FCs (as I don't find it fun), but it is an option if you would like.
As the brightness duration is longer for slower maps, you may want to start playing with Half Time. I could only play with Half Time initially, and it is probably good practice to start with something slower before going faster. Also, if you decide to use Half Time, you will want to play low star maps and not Half Time versions of higher star maps. Remember, you want to work on focusing on the next circle only (so no jumps early on).
Going Sub -10
To go sub AR-10 on a normal map, use the osu-trainer tool. I like to browse maps on the Standard client, edit maps of interest to 2x speed, and then import them to Lazer. I then play the map at 50% speed to mimic the actual map on a lower AR (mind the music distortion).
To upload maps to lazer without importing your entire Standard library, you will first have to set the osu files to a blank default. This will save the edited beatmap into the osu-trainer folder, which you can then drag into lazer.
Mods Discussion
I will only discuss the Freeze Frame mods and Random mods in this discussion.
Freeze Frame
The freeze frame mod makes all the notes of a specific combo appear at the same time. This has the effect of increasing object density and reducing your effective AR. Reading brightness is especially effective with this mod as it lets you know which circle to hit next (one of the significant challenges with the mod).
Random
The random mod is by far the most challenging mod for reading. This is because a human mapper will generally place circles in a certain way, allowing you to "guess" where the next circle will probably land. Since the placement of circles in the random mod is... well, random, you cannot know where the circles will land, so it forces you to be reactive and get used to odd patterns.
I would advise you to learn to get comfortable playing man-made maps first before venturing into this mod. With this mod on, you must also drop the difficulty significantly.
