i once had to leave for a trip to europe causing me to rust. a lot. so i was super mad that i lost 2 months worth of stamina when i came back. this was the point i almost quit mania, but then i learned about derusting. so what i did was pick a certain skill, push myself a bit, but not too much. too much push could lead to sore hands after playing and could cause injuries (it happened to me).
here’s my guide on each skillset:
jack - play jack at the speed you feel like you wont drain stamina, but youre exerting a lot of effort—so somewhere in the middle of the 2. play any sr, bpm, or density you feel is comfortable with you. aim for control and not passes—try to also get an accuracy that is pleasant to you—i recommend S ranks. (ex. break 1.2 pass with 89% is worse than colorful 1.4 98.5%)
tech - i would give the same advice as the jack skillset, but this is a bit more complicated. i’d say aim for the same things, but try to aim for stable accuracy. what i mean by that is you maintain consistent accuracy in the song. this is a similar concept to conserving stamina on jacks, but its more of keeping it instead of possibly losing acc in the latter half.
speed - i dont play speed a lot but it is REALLY hard. honestly just aim for good acc and combo on speed maps. it may sound like repetitive advice but its really important especially since sometimes combo breaking can lead to consecutive misses on the note you missed on.
stamina - i recommend getting derusting in stamina by playing jack. although it may sound counterintuitive, jack helps in increasing your stamina more than the skillset actually does, especially denser patterns. it will definitely help you with your stamina. also for every one of these skillsets just follow the one i put on jack.
ln - i cannot really help with this since i also suck at ln but heres what i recommend: practicing your release times are really important to maintain good acc and good ratio. early or late releases can cause something called “negative ratio” wherein you get more pfs than marvs or more 300s than 320 or rainbow 300s. not looking where the notes are at is also important, as it can give you more vision on incoming notes rather than current ones, as our brains tend to register the lns immediately after seeing it. dont be like me because sometimes i dont follow this advice and i keep breaking combo lol. for more ln advice, i recommend checking “SwagBoyOnOsu”s post on the “How do I stop being absolute garbage at LNs“ thread.
since i keep talking abt good acc and ratio, lets also talk abt that
acc & ratio - i call ratio “acc v2” sometimes because its a less punishing judgement than others. so, how to get good at this? first, pay attention to your unstable rate. if you dont have it enabled or its too small, check it in settings. checking this bar can help you track if youre hitting too early or too late so paying attention helps with your performance. additionally, you can try to use hr (hard rock) to lessen the timing window, but personally i dont do this because it can get annoying at times. you can also use score v2 which i highly recommend, which tacks your accuracy including ratio.
although the advice im giving is pretty good, it will never be as good as this advice, which is to have fun—having fun is a game changer; it helps you stay motivated to keep improving, and its something you have to have on your own, and its something the best teacher could never teach. i hope this guide helps you to derust and enjoy your stay in the mania community <3