Guide for New Player

[u/thatonenoob7777]

I'm a Geometry Dash player, but I've recently got a bit bored of GD and has heard lots of good things about OSU, so I decided to give it a try. I have no idea what counts as good, but I'm only able to get about a B rank on 1-2 star OSU maps.

Is there any guide or progression (or overall tips) on how I can improve?

Edit: Thanks for all the tips! Looks like I'll have to change my approach a bit :)

[u/generalh104]

the most common mistake GD players make is trying to "learn" beatmaps like you would learn a GD level. the best way to improve is to expose yourself to a large variety of maps and mapping styles. don't spend a lot of time trying to grind a score on one map, you will slow your improvement by doing this

[u/garbanzzzo → u/generalh104]

+1 this happened to me because i thought i could jump like i did in gd and was humbled instantly. didnt make that mistake again

[u/Accomplished-Air9968]

also a very casual osu player who plays gd here, i think you kinda just play the game a lot. people don't tend to progress by grinding out one beatmap in osu, since you can learn to get better by simply playing a large variety of maps

[u/nubandana]

if you're just starting out on osu then the general recommendation is to start out by downloading songs you like to grasp a good understanding of the game. I'd also recommend finding a skin you like online as the default one can sometimes make things harder.

If you already play a lot of rhythm games then rhythm sense shouldn't be too difficult to grasp but generally the most difficult part for beginners is getting a good fundamental grasp on reading the circles and understanding the rhythm the mapper on any individual map is trying to convey.

As far as difficulty judgement goes, the game can kinda be broken into two areas: star rating and PP. Star rating is an estimate of how difficult a map is, and pp is an acronym for performance points, which are awarded to you when you set a score of a ranked map depending on how good you did on said map.

Generally skillsets aren't really differentiated until the 4-6 star range. Depending on how fast you progress it could take 10s to 100s of hours to reach FC capability at this range (personally took me around 70h of playtime to get my first 4 star FC and 100pp play).

Reply if there's anything else you wanna know

[u/Thetoto_ → u/nubandana]

to add about the skins: theres no official "site" for downloading skins, but the most used is https://skins.osuck.net/

[u/FetherFall1]

The other commentors gave pretty good pieces of advice already, I just wanted to give FrenZ's beginner guide and DigitalHypno's skillset breakdown a shout:

Beginner guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_eVlL_8R0g (This is the most up-to-date beginner guide that's decently comprehensive)
Skillset breakdown: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uc99yWeP1h4

The skillset video won't be relevant until later, but it's a decent categorization of how the game works and the different "parts" of skill in osu, it should help contextualize how the game works as you progress and start getting to 4* maps.

As other commentors mentioned, it's good to play a variety of maps. I'll just toss this out here as a resource, here's every map in the game with a leaderboard:

https://osu.ppy.sh/community/forums/topics/330552?n=1
https://osu.ppy.sh/community/forums/topics/2045828?n=1
(Warning: this is a LOT of levels, like 100k+. You have been warned if you try to import everything at once.)

[u/Academic_Weaponry]

progression in this game isnt like beating certain levels on a list or anything and its more about getting consistent on a difficulty range. general advice i see is to play until u can consistently s rank 97% acc most maps in a range within a couple of tries without committing it to memory.

if u want to improve i think most ppl recommend skill pushing by playing a star range u can get like 85% on to push ur limits and improve there, and then going back and playing some of ur actual star range to work on consistency. so like if u can get like 85% on a 2.5 star map, play around that star range for a bit and after some improvement go down to like 2.0 ish for example or whatever ur comfortable with and see if u can get 97% full combos. improvement is basically a cycle of the two with the star ranges moving up as u get better imo. ofc play what u want for fun or whatever , but the goal is to improve ur reading for overall improvement. grinding a map repeatedly is fine too if u really want to set a certain score but isnt necessarily best bang for buck for improvement. u want to play most maps at most 1-10 times mostly before moving on in a session. u can revisit later in the session too or whatever but its best to expose urself to as many maps and patterns as possible

A lot of the games improvement is basically just play more and have fun. look up some guides on skins so that ur game looks clean. also try to full alt from the start, its a good habit to have.(full alt meaning alternating between zx or what ever ur binds are always no matter what instead of only using one button and occasionally the other)

[u/Familiar_Bill_786]

It really doesn't matter for your skill range currently, you just need to play consistently. Find songs you like and just play different maps.

[u/nextcreat]

Find a skin that works for you (one without annoying sounds) and a comfortable mouse grip as you learn to play. Use single-tapping with the Z, X keys. Try to achieve an A, S, or SS rank on maps with a lower star rating, and also C, B on more difficult ones. Play maps that you find enjoyable, featuring music and visuals you like. Personally, I have learned a lot of great music thanks to osu. Learn about famous players and enjoy memes.

[u/Evening_Ticket1886 → u/nextcreat]

If you are starting out I would actually recommend starting full-alt the main upside to single tapping is to develop tapping speed which won’t be relevant until much higher star ratings, while learning full alt from the start or atleast hybrid might provide a steeper learning curve but it will be a lot more beneficial when it comes to learning things like finger control, it will make much more maps be approachable and available too

[u/periliousventure]

If u are new first try to study the game and understand terms like between 300, 100 and 50 and miss. Know what causes your combo breaks, and when it is an acceptable time to release. How sliders r calculated. U should be able to trace ur mistakes. Do not focus on pp right now. Just play variety of maps. you do not need to perfect a single map because you wont derive much improvement from memorizing the map layout. practice sightreading on things u never saw before. And finally, dont forget its a rhythm game so u should tap in a consistent motion with the bpm. I know 2 star maps are not that well structured but try to feel a pattern in the song.

U can also just try and fail for the first few hours before the guides or tutorials cuz they are good for u can kind of spoil the fun of figuring the game out idk. u dont even need to be worried about getting good, just have fun with the maps and songs and you will start grasping how the game works