Dance Dance Revolution, Pump It Up, and StepMania were just a few musical sensations to previously take over the gaming scene. Now that many of us are older and don’t have the physical desire or capability to stomp around on a square pad in front of all our friends, osu! is here to solve all our dance music withdrawals.
Not only does osu! fulfill that DDR-induced hole inside of us, but it also sharpens most of the skills necessary for the popular MOBA – League of Legends.
I’ve grouped my findings into 5 main correlations below.
1. Reaction Time
Assuming everyone reading this has played League of Legends before, we all know how important reaction time is. Whether it’s that split second the enemy’s AD Carry steps too far forward or their jungler pops out of the lane brush to gank you, how long it takes you to react could mean the difference between winning and losing.
osu! takes just the same amount of, if not more, reaction time to whip your mouse back and forth across the screen. By practicing harder songs on osu!, you’re also increasing the exact skill necessary for dodging the most lethal of skillshots in League of Legends.
2. Concentration
Have you ever been in a game-deciding team fight and threw it because of how nervous you were? You knew exactly what you did wrong as soon as you died, but your body was so tense that you couldn’t think straight.
It happens to the best of us! But osu! is the perfect way to calm ourselves down. By taking a deep breath and powering through intense songs, we learn how to keep a level head during even the most excruciating moments.
3. Peripheral Vision
We’ve all heard our teammates scream “GG NO MAP AWARENESS.” Of course, you and I would never do such a thing… right? Either way, being able to watch our mini map, cs, and poke at the same time can be a very tiring aspect of League.
However, by grinding osu! we are forced to watch the entire screen at all times to see where the next note will pop up. For songs we’ve never played before, we have to pay extra attention to how many times to hit each note, whether to go back and forth or even spin the mouse in a circle as fast as we can.
What better training to pay attention to that little square in the bottom left corner?
4. Accuracy
How cool is that blind Jinx ult snipe from across the map? An unavoidable aspect of League is always going to include skill shots and our ability to hit them with ease.
osu! requires us to not only be aware of our cursor at all times, but to also be able to place it correctly in the exact spot at an exact time. If this doesn’t scream League of Legends skill shots, I don’t know what does. It’s also a great tool to hone our ability to last hit that damn cannon minion.
5. Hesitation/Timing
We’ve all missed that perfect oppurtunity to start a fight by hesitating that perfect ult. In osu!, hesitating often means losing the game.
By learning to go all in without second guessing yourself, you’re also improving your ability to make plays. Many high level players are where they are because they go for that flash ult initiation, whereas being too timid to win the game will never get you where you want to be.
Harness your inner doublelift and start playing osu! today! There’s a reason League of Legends pros, such as Dyrus and Madlife, play the game. You’ll see your mechanics drastically improve within 30 days, or your money back. Garen-teed.
(See what I did there?)
