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Advice -- going from beginner to 6 star player in 550 plays

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Topic Starter
sadpwner
Disclaimer 1: If you regular songs above 6.5 stars, this guide is probably useless for you. I don’t recommend you waste time reading it. This guide was written very specifically for going from 4 star to 6 star.

Disclaimer 2: I am still bad at the game, and I still have a lot of improve. There are already many players so much better than I am. I do not claim to be better than them.

Disclaimer 3: Not all of these tips will work for you. Some of them are just preference. I just included w/e helped me.

Disclaimer 4: My account is 3 years old. However, I played at very irregular intervals that involved long breaks. I stopped for a year and by the time I came back, I was struggling to play 4 star songs. Hence, the beginner title. Just look at my historical. I was also never able to break the 4.5 star difficulty in my past sessions.

About me:
I started playing again a month and a half ago. Through little practice, I am able to sight read most 5.5-6.5 star songs and get decent combos.
Though, my profile stats are garbage so I don’t expect you to believe what I claim. I’ll provide some replays. I just quickly sight read some songs for example-sake so they weren’t perfect. Though, I most of them were pretty minor errors. Oh and before you, there's a reason for having no fail on which is detailed later.

You guys need to be aware that most players are stuck in the 4 star range. Anything above that is like a dream. Whenever I go into MP, players fail maps I host in the 5-5.5 star range. Players from the 40k rank range fail even. I wouldn't have wasted an hour writing this if I didn't want to help others.

Proof removed for now because of the complaints. I'll come back once I comply with their demands.

Lmao, this wasn't worth it at all. The sheer amount of time I wasted doing this could have been better invested in playing a variety of other maps and gaining more experience. Anyway... https://youtu.be/8f7XKBFlZI0

Before I begin, I need to brief on some prerequisites to osu!.
The most important requirement to playing Osu! is enjoying the game. It doesn’t matter why you are playing Osu! but if you are not enjoying the game, just stop. Osu! is a game you play for yourself. You will end up quitting in a month if you aren’t enjoying what you’re playing. Also, no one gives a shit if you can play Osu! well. Most people don’t even know what osu! is. For those that say, ‘I’ll enjoy osu! once I get good at it’, you won’t get “good” at it until you play for a very long time. I recommend you play up to the 5 star songs so you don't quit prematurely tho.

Don’t force yourself to improve. Improving is a natural process as you play. This means don’t spam osu! for like hours unless you can withstand it mentally and physically. If you notice performance drops or wrist strain, stop playing or take a break. If you strain yourself too hard physically, it just means you can’t play for the next 1-2 days due to injury. I do chin ups and push ups every 2-3 days but I still get pain from too much osu!.

Now that the common sense stuff is out of the way, I'll begin. REMEMBER SOME OF THESE ADVICE ARE PURELY SUBJECTIVE AND PREFERENCE. THEY WILL NOT ALL WORK FOR YOU. SOME OF THE THINGS I SAY MIGHT BE WRONG AS THEY ARE BASED ON MY LIMITED EXPERIENCE.

  • Always play songs that are shorter than 1:34. When you play long songs, you are wasting time by playing mostly easy parts that you can already clear –probably. Long songs tend to only have 1 or 2 difficult parts which aren’t really that hard compared to shorter songs. When you are playing short songs, you are always playing the good part. When you play long songs, you have to waste a lot of time playing easy stuff to get to the hard part. You can however use the editor and skip to that part if you really want. You also don’t have the stamina to play long songs. When you get to the 6 star mark, the songs regardless of length will vary a lot in difficult so play w/e.

    Always have no fail on. No fail is for practising. Turn off no fail if you're competing. No fail basically allows you to practice hard maps you otherwise wouldn't be able to. As you keep practising these maps, you eventually get use to them and adapt a new playing standard. There is really no point of not having no fail on. Unless you can get As on 7 star songs, you aren’t making leader board scores any time soon. No fail allows you to play the song fully which will help you gain more experience than repeatedly restarting over and over to play a part you keep failing. Not to mention it’s more fun to finish the song. You also don’t have to worry about silly mistakes that you know you could have cleared easily. It takes the stress off playing. The only time you want to restart is when you make 2 or more mistakes at a difficult part excluding streams. Having no fail on requires you to be honest.

    Don’t waste time restarting if you messed up in the first few seconds.
    Always sight read songs and never rely on memorising the song. When you sight read, you are advancing skills that are transferable. Memorising a song is limited to that song and cannot be transferred most of the time. A good way to do this is not to clear the same song more than 1-3 times in the same day. If it’s a hard song with lots of patterns, then you can go for 5-6. That also means don’t retry a song a ton of times for a full combo because you are wasting time. Follow the recommended amount and if you get a fc, good for you. Though, if you can sight read and get a fc, then you should probably play harder songs.

    Don’t play songs that are obviously way beyond you like failing in the first 10 seconds. You are wasting time. There are many songs which are your skill level. Play those.

    Know what song is a good song and a bad song. You play osu! by listening to the rhythm. You don’t try to watch the circles and time it. Good songs follow a beat and are predictable. You also get better at streaming (consecutive circles close to together that generally require 2 fingers to clear) by learning how to go along the rhythm. Generally, songs below 5.5 star are out of rhythm. I know I said not to force yourself to improve but try to make it to the 5 star range quickly. The plan iis to play the widest range of quality songs as possible.

    Don’t play heavy streaming maps. They are generally too difficult for you unless you can read the rhythm or time very well. You’ll learn how to stream over time naturally. Also, streams at lower difficulties seem out of rhythm IMO. Idk faster streams just seem some much easier. They also kill your stamina which isn’t something you have a lot of when just starting off.

    Remove all distractions and useless information from your playing environment. I have effects turned off in sound but that’s preference. Having it on may help you read the rhythm more easily but I can get the same effect by listening to my keyboard taps anyway. Click tab and turn off score. Click shift tab and disable UI. I also play with no follow paths because I watch the circles rather than follow the lines. Though, that might make it harder when playing hidden o.o
    http://imgur.com/Krb1Y65

    Use most or all of your tablet area. I think almost no competitive player uses a tiny portion on their tablet. The reason being is it allows you to be more precise and accurate. The transition might be difficult but you will get use to it.

    Set the pause menu key to something close to your fingers to avoid wasting time. I have mine on control.

    MP is shit. Play SP so you can play and improve at your own pace and under your own conditions.

    Don’t limit yourself to z and x on the keyboard. Play with what is most comfortable. I play with r and g.

    Buy a mechanical keyboard ( I use red) and a tablet if you are looking to improve quickly. Mouse is harder to improve with. Don’t bother with 60hz+ monitors. The circles are stationary so 60 fps is sufficient, and I already mentioned how you don’t time most of the time. You listen to the beat.

    If your finger sweats too much while using a pen and it slips, there are a few methods around it. Tape your finger to the pen. Tie rubber bands around your pen. Stick some high friction surface to it like paper tape. Cut out the index finger of a glove and glue it to your pen. Buy a pen with a grip. I just wear a latex glove while I play. It does wonders and I highly recommend it. The glove has low friction with my tablet allowing me to move with ease which is how I move fast. I also have my pen taped as suggested above.

I’ll go over a few basics on clearing some patterns now.

Z= left click. X= right click
You actually need to time these most of the time rather than listening to the beat. I only mean the first circle. The following 2 are hit by following rhythm.
Zxz. Xzx. Normally
Zzx. Xxz When you single tap for a long time and can’t zxz fast enuf.
These are sliders that are fast and close. You stream them.
Zxzxzxzx
Double tap if the song is manageable. Use z and x if it’s too fast or you run out of stamina.
There’s a version that’s like that but with a longer pause between the circle
Zz with a slight pause

For steams, it’s just alternating z and x. You clear them by listening to the beat.

These are pretty much the only patterns shared across the maps.
Nabel_old_1

sadpwner wrote:

Always play songs that are shorter than 1:34.

Always have no fail on.

Don’t play heavy streaming maps.
Best advice ever 10/10.
Nadfee
"They" say slow and steady wins the race.. but what do I know.

I doubt that the majority of the beginners would want to fully enjoy the game at 5-6 stars as it starts to become a chore (to improve) than to enjoy. Patterns are a part of the game that is suppose to be explored by the players and not told in a guide/advice post. I also have to disagree on the Multiplayer part as it drives you to be better than the others, unless you already are a weak person and cannot handle the pressure from better players (why even feel pressured?)

I can only see that the OP just tl:de'd the game (too long don't explore) and tells you stuff to do and not to do. Why? I really doubt there are beginners who'd go out of their way to search a "guide" on how to become better, if those players have gone that far deep into asking how to improve, then they have already lost the majority of "fun" in the game.

Well, at least this is my point of view. I don't think you should've bothered writing this post and focus on yourself. I personally think its a waste of time because almost none will take advantage of what you are saying. Peace.
Sayorie
>ctrl-f "play more"
>no results found
Gumpy
I can't tell if troll or serious
Ninonuko
Just because you could see every objects doesn't mean you're able to sightread 6*..... It's not as easy as you think.
B/C is ゴミ even on od 9 it's still ゴミ.
Drezi
Horrible advice, guide to zero consistency, "look I can play 6 stars maps 80% C 8-) 8-) "
Sheikah
Is this serious? I'm genuinely asking
Drezi
It's dead serious look at his top ranks.
Sheikah

Drezi wrote:

It's dead serious look at his top ranks.
Yep I know but I'm asking about his advice. I mean, I'm a new player and I'm trying to improve my acc, speed and reading at same time. So, sometimes I play normal using mods, sometimes hard songs using hr and sometimes I just try to pass insane songs.

I don't know if I'm going in the right direction or maybe NF can help me. I'm enjoying the game trying reach a decent skill to play some songs that I Like but are just insane or extra.
Bence
This made me upset

sadpwner wrote:

streams at lower difficulties rarely follow a rhythm because they are too slow
This made me even more upset
Sayorie

Sheikah wrote:

Drezi wrote:

It's dead serious look at his top ranks.
Yep I know but I'm asking about his advice. I mean, I'm a new player and I'm trying to improve my acc, speed and reading at same time. So, sometimes I play normal using mods, sometimes hard songs using hr and sometimes I just try to pass insane songs.

I don't know if I'm going in the right direction or maybe NF can help me. I'm enjoying the game trying reach a decent skill to play some songs that I Like but are just insane or extra.
Just progress through higher difficulties without mods and you'll do fine.

Unless you're playing maps with death bursts that can instantly kill you, which most usually can only be found on very difficult maps, you shouldn't need NF. If you think you need it in a certain map, then most likely it's too hard for you.
N0thingSpecial

sadpwner wrote:

Don’t play songs that are obviously beyond you
coughironycough

When you play long songs, you are wasting time
coughstaminacough

There is really no point of not having no fail on
coughing intensifies

Don’t play heavy streaming maps
Lung cancer intensifies

Disclaimer: I actually agree with one or two points, but the rest .... oh my
Sayorie
Saphirshroom

sadpwner wrote:

Don’t play songs that are obviously beyond you. You are wasting time. There are many songs which are your skill level. Play those.
[ ] Jhin
I guess this is a guide on how to look at the screen and randomly double tap while hoping you get good acc and call it rhythm when you just clicking by instinct which is pretty stupid later on.
Really, just play maps by AR (keep bpm in check) and learn to read them, don't jump straight into 6* as soon as you can, you'll just get inconsistent and won't learn other basic things that requires months of practice, like HR,DT,HD all of these mods help you a lot at ar8/9
gregest
and people say /r/osugame is worse than GnR
I Give Up
This advice changed my life. thankyou
Mahogany
This topic makes me want to kill myself
E m i
omg this is literally a collection of things to try to make G&R users mad i refuse to believe that it's an actual guide.
and no playing maps in the 70-90% acc range isn't the reason ;w;
DeathHydra
Looking at the response, this seems like a retarded advice. Won't even bother reading it.

Please enjoy game
Topic Starter
sadpwner
Come on guys, I specifically said I didn't think I was a good player, and I said I had a lot to learn. I posted advice and if it helps someone, it helps someone.

Nadfee wrote:

I also have to disagree on the Multiplayer part as it drives you to be better than the others, unless you already are a [i]weak person and cannot handle the pressure from better players (why even feel pressured?)
Did you even read why I said not to play MP? It's because you cannot play how you like. You can't pick the songs you want. You have to wait for others. You need to find players. Overall, you could just play SP and save all that time. I also mentioned how a majority of players host 4 stars making it difficulty to find maps outside those range.

Well, at least this is my point of view. I don't think you should've bothered writing this post and focus on yourself. I personally think its a waste of time because almost none will take advantage of what you are saying. Peace.
There are other guides on the forums as well. Are you going to go over there and say they're useless?

For the rest of what you said, I don't know what the hell you are going on about.

DeathAdderz wrote:

Looking at the response, this seems like a retarded advice. Won't even bother reading it.

Please enjoy game
That's subjective and so is my advice. I wrote disclaimers for a reason.

Momiji wrote:

omg this is literally a collection of things to try to make G&R users mad i refuse to believe that it's an actual guide.
and no playing maps in the 70-90% acc range isn't the reason ;w;
I didn't say it was a guide. I said it was advice. I even specified that some of them were mere preference.

Akatsukie wrote:

I guess this is a guide on how to look at the screen and randomly double tap while hoping you get good acc and call it rhythm when you just clicking by instinct which is pretty stupid later on.
Really, just play maps by AR (keep bpm in check) and learn to read them, don't jump straight into 6* as soon as you can, you'll just get inconsistent and won't learn other basic things that requires months of practice, like HR,DT,HD all of these mods help you a lot at ar8/9
Yeah, I admit my rhythm was absurdly off. I mentioned I was sight reading for a reason.

Saphirshroom wrote:

sadpwner wrote:

Don’t play songs that are obviously beyond you. You are wasting time. There are many songs which are your skill level. Play those.
lmao, I meant absurdly beyond your level like can't get pass the first 10 seconds. You won't improve if you don't challenge yourself.

N0thingSpecial wrote:

coughironycough


coughstaminacough


coughing intensifies


Lung cancer intensifies

Disclaimer: I actually agree with one or two points, but the rest .... oh my
Did you even read the reasoning behind why I suggested such?

Why must you play long songs to build stamania? You could play 2 short maps in succession and that's your long map.

Mind explaining why no fail is bad? Unless you are cookiezi tier, score means shit.

Arthraxium wrote:

Just progress through higher difficulties without mods and you'll do fine.

Unless you're playing maps with death bursts that can instantly kill you, which most usually can only be found on very difficult maps, you shouldn't need NF. If you think you need it in a certain map, then most likely it's too hard for you.
I have NF on all the time for the reason I stated. Idc what map it is. I believe life drain is artificial difficulty. The end score only matters. The only reason to have NF on is so you can't skip the hard parts of the song. Though, you can generally tell which parts are hard.

Bence wrote:

This made me upset

This made me even more upset
Well, I don't often play heavy steam maps so my bad if I am wrong. I just found faster streams are much easier than slower ones. Perhaps the wording was wrong. I meant to say, they aren't timed well. This is just my experience while playing short maps. I'll remove it if you want since you seem to have more experience.

Drezi wrote:

Horrible advice, guide to zero consistency, "look I can play 6 stars maps 80% C 8-) 8-) "

Drezi wrote:

It's dead serious look at his top ranks.
lol was sight reading. I'll get an A 2morrow if you wish. Like I said, I don't play the same song pass 5 times so fc is rare 4 me.
Bence
Omg this just keeps getting better
Do you have any advice for a 20k shitter on how to fc 7 star maps? I want to fc Image Material for example
Sayorie
DeathHydra
Nice 69 combo
Nabel_old_1

sadpwner wrote:

Well, I don't often play heavy steam maps so my bad if I am wrong. I just found faster streams are much easier than slower ones. Perhaps the wording was wrong. I meant to say, they aren't timed well. This is just my experience while playing short maps. I'll remove it if you want since you seem to have more experience.
Faster streams are easier than slower one because you don't have to follow the rythm, you can just alternate fast.

sadpwner wrote:

lol was sight reading. I'll get an A 2morrow if you wish. Like I said, I don't play the same song pass 5 times so fc is rare 4 me.
Even if you sight read a map you should still have decent scores, 90% of my fcs are first plays.
Saphirshroom

sadpwner wrote:

Come on guys, I specifically said I didn't think I was a good player, and I said I had a lot to learn. I posted advice and if it helps someone, it helps someone.
This will probably hurt people more than anything else

[...]
There are other guides on the forums as well. Are you going to go over there and say they're useless?
See above

[...]
That's subjective.
Twenty people just said basically the same subjective thing.

[...]
I didn't say it was a guide. I said it was advice. I even specified that some of them were mere preference.

[...]
Yeah, I admit my rhythm was absurdly off. I mentioned I was sight reading for a reason.
Your average accuracy is <87%. Reaching 98% shouldn't be a problem even on sightreads.

[...]
lmao, I meant absurdly beyond your level like can't get pass the first 10 seconds. You won't improve if you don't challenge yourself.
1000pp is like 3 stars level.

[...]
Did you even read the reasoning behind why I suggested such?

Why must you play long songs to build stamania? You could play 2 short maps in succession and that's your long map.
Last time I checked, marathon runners run a marathon, not 4 quarters with pauses in between.

Mind explaining why no fail is bad? Unless you are cookiezi tier, score means shit.
With NoFail you circumvent the limits the game imposes on you to protect you. You don't learn anything from mashing through hard sections.

[...]
I have NF on all the time for the reason I stated. Idc what map it is. I believe life drain is artificial difficulty. The end score only matters. The only reason to have NF on is so you can't skip the hard parts of the song. Though, you can generally tell which parts are hard.
Drain keeps you in the right map range. It's not artificial difficulty, it's a wall.

[...]
Well, I don't often play heavy steam maps so my bad if I am wrong. I just found faster streams are much easier than slower ones. Perhaps the wording was wrong. I meant to say, they aren't timed well.
If they get ranked they're timed well.

[...]
lol was sight reading. I'll get an A 2morrow if you wish. Like I said, I don't play the same song pass 5 times so fc is rare 4 me.
See above.
Endaris

Sheikah wrote:

Drezi wrote:

It's dead serious look at his top ranks.
Yep I know but I'm asking about his advice. I mean, I'm a new player and I'm trying to improve my acc, speed and reading at same time. So, sometimes I play normal using mods, sometimes hard songs using hr and sometimes I just try to pass insane songs.

I don't know if I'm going in the right direction or maybe NF can help me. I'm enjoying the game trying reach a decent skill to play some songs that I Like but are just insane or extra.
Try this instead:
t/342548
*shameless advertising intensifies* :D
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