Mods in the osu.net Player

How mods work in this player

Mods change how a beatmap plays. The osu.net player has six of them: Easy, Hard Rock, Hidden, Nightcore, Daycore and Autoplay. You switch them on in the Mods section of the player's Settings page, not on the map list. They are saved with your other settings, so a mod stays on for every map until you switch it off again. The result screen lists the active mods with short codes: EZ, HR, HD, NC, DC and AT.

Two pairs cannot be combined. Easy and Hard Rock cancel each other out, so ticking one unticks the other. The same goes for Nightcore and Daycore. Everything else can be mixed freely.

Most mods also change your score. The multipliers below are the exact values in the player's code, and when you use several mods they are multiplied together. Hidden plus Hard Rock gives 1.06 × 1.06, about 1.12.

Easy (EZ)

Easy halves all four difficulty values of the map: circle size, approach rate, overall difficulty and HP. In practice that means bigger circles, objects that appear earlier and approach more slowly, wider timing windows and a gentler HP bar. A map with approach rate 8 normally gives you 750 milliseconds to react; with Easy it becomes approach rate 4 and you get 1,320 milliseconds.

Use Easy to learn a song that is slightly above your level, or to warm up. The cost is a score multiplier of 0.5.

Hard Rock (HR)

Hard Rock multiplies approach rate, overall difficulty and HP by 1.4 and circle size by 1.3, never going above 10. Circles get smaller, appear later, the timing windows shrink and misses hurt more. In this player Hard Rock does not mirror the map; the layout stays exactly as the mapper made it.

Try Hard Rock on maps you can already pass comfortably. It is a good way to train precise aim and tighter timing without moving to a much harder map. Score multiplier: 1.06.

Hidden (HD)

Hidden removes the approach circles and makes objects fade out before you hit them. Each circle fades in over the first 40 percent of its approach time, starts fading again soon after, and is fully gone shortly before you need to hit it. Slider bodies fade out while you are still following them. The very first object, and the first object after a spinner, keep their approach circles so you can find the rhythm. On spinners the background and progress parts are hidden too.

Hidden trains you to read the map from memory of rhythm and position instead of watching circles shrink. It feels hardest on slow maps with a low approach rate, because objects vanish long before you hit them. Score multiplier: 1.06.

Nightcore (NC)

Nightcore plays the song at 1.5 times its speed, and the pitch rises with it. Everything in the map speeds up the same way: a 120 BPM song plays at 180 BPM, objects approach a third faster in real time, and the timing windows shrink to two thirds of their normal length. A 3-minute map takes 2 minutes.

Nightcore is the best way to practise speed: fast streams and quick jumps on a map you already know well. Score multiplier: 1.12.

Daycore (DC)

Daycore is the opposite: the song plays at 0.75 times its speed with a lower pitch. Objects approach more slowly and the timing windows are wider in real time. A 180 BPM song becomes 135 BPM.

Daycore is excellent for practice. Slow down a section that keeps beating you, learn the pattern, then try it at normal speed. Because it makes maps much easier, the score multiplier is a steep 0.3.

Autoplay (AT)

Autoplay plays the map for you. The cursor moves by itself, hits every circle, follows sliders and spins spinners, while your mouse and keys are ignored. Use it to watch a map before trying it, or to see how a difficult pattern is supposed to flow.

Autoplay has no score multiplier, and its plays are saved to your history like any other, marked AT. That also means an Autoplay run can replace the History Best for that difficulty on this device, so switch it off before you play for real.

Combinations that make sense

• Easy + Daycore: the gentlest way to learn a song that is far above your level. Score multiplier 0.15.
• Easy + Hidden: an unusual reading challenge, because objects appear early and then disappear for a long time.
• Hidden + Hard Rock: small circles, short windows and no approach circles. A classic test for experienced players.
• Nightcore + Hidden: fast and hidden at once. Objects disappear only a moment before you hit them, so many players find it easier to read than Hidden on a slow map.
• Daycore alone: slow practice of one hard map before you play it at full speed.

Summary

For what the four difficulty values mean, read the AR, OD, CS and HP guide. For ways to use these mods in practice, see the tips page.