How To Play Osu Drums

Gameplay of osu!taiko osu!taiko Interface

osu!taiko is a game mode in osu! that borrows some elements from the Japanese rhythm game, Taiko no Tatsujin (released as Taiko: Drum Master in North America).

To access the osu!taiko game mode, press Ctrl+2 at the same time.

Alternatively, click on the Mode button and select osu!taiko.

osu!taiko playfield

For players with prior Taiko no Tatsujin experience:

No chibi dancers at the bottom (must be storyboarded)
The health bar must be at least 50% full to pass the song (which is not really obvious using the default skin; please look in the Skin Compendium for a decent osu!taiko skin)
Kiai Time triggers the "Go-Go Time"
- Gameplay gimmicks like the hit balloons or forked paths are not implemented (only the barebone basics)
Background display difference
- osu!taiko-specific beatmap usually has its own custom background, leaving upper section empty
- A video or static background image-only beatmap will take the lower portion only
- If there is an element of storyboard, it will take over all the available screen space except the gameplay-important parts

For newcomers of osu!taiko mode, the screen is split to two different sections; the upper section contains the gameplay elements while the lower section contains an image or video for the beatmap. At the upper section, there is the health bar, which unlike other game modes, starts off empty and must be filled up to at least 50% full or half-full to pass the difficulty. At the top-middle part below the health bar, a taiko drum is located at the left-side and a moving conveyor belt which carries the hit objects from right to left passing through a double white circles which serves as judgement circle near the taiko drum. Above the taiko drum is the animated taiko mascot which will react based on judgement received along with upper background colour changes. Lastly, there is the usual score, accuracy, and timer of the beatmap at the upper-right.

Please note that health drain is disabled in osu!taiko, so only the hit objects will affect the health bar. Combo will not break when playing on an empty field. Unlike osu!, the combo milestone celebration is every 50 consecutive hits. The base score will be boosted after obtaining a combo that is a multiple of 10, but stops at 100 (max combo limit for the boost). If the combo is broken, the boost resets back to the base score. During Kiai Time, every successful hit will give the player 20% more points over the current score amount. Score gained from a hit can be checked below the accuracy at the upper-right corner in red.

osu!taiko hit circles

Each taiko notes (or notes, for brevity) will appear as either a red or a pale-blue circle. Those coloured circles were named Don (red notes) and Katu (blue notes), respectively.

If it is a small red note, press the button bound to the inner portion of the taiko drum or hit the large flat area (center) of the TaTaCon. If it is a small blue note, press the button bound to the outer ring of the taiko drum or hit the sides of the TaTaCon. If the note is a LARGE circle, press or hit both of either inner or outer drum depending on the colour of the note for double point (a single correct hit will give single point instead).

The notes must be pressed or hit in the small white judgement circle next to the drum. Hitting the wrong colour, or both red and blue colours at the same time, will be considered a miss.

osu!taiko drumroll

Hit the inner (or outer) drum continuously for points until the end of the drumroll. For LARGE note, hit both buttons on the inner (or outer) drum simultaneously and continuously until it is done. Do note that drumrolls hits were hardcapped and only counted when hitting on the tiny hit circles, rather than drumrolling as fast as possible as in Taiko no Tatsujin.

Drumrolls can be ignored with no health penalty, as it does not recover the health bar at all. However, it will cost possible points gained from the drumroll. Each successful hit on the tiny hit circle gives a static 300 score.

osu!taiko spinner (denden)

Hit the inner and outer drum in order (like red, blue, red, blue, red, blue, ...) until the denden counter reached 0. Starting colour does not matter (allowed to start with blue if desired), and failing to complete it will incur miss health penalty but no combo break. Hitting the same colour will not decrement the denden counter, until a different colour is hit instead.

It does not increment the combo counter, and does not recover the health bar in any way. Each successful denden hit only gives a static 300 score, and denden completion will give a perfect(GREAT) large note score.

Refer to Play Styles page under osu!taiko.

The default controls for osu!taiko are:

Type	Mouse	Keyboard	TaTaCon
Red	Left click(L)	`X`(L) / `C`(R)	Flat surface of the drum
Blue	Right click(L)	`Z`(L) / `V`(R)	Outer surface of the drum

The placement of in-game cursor does not matter when playing.

If Relax mod was used, the score judgement only account for hit timing only (automatically rectify wrong colour hit with correct colour).

TaTaCon drum controller were primarily made for the home ports of Taiko no Tatsujin and Taiko: Drum Master.

Scoring Values can be found in Score under osu!taiko Scoring Values section.

Scoring section details all the intricacies of scoring, including mathematical formula.

The scoring terms in osu!taiko use the same terms used in Taiko no Tatsujin as shown below:

GREAT (良), or 300
GOOD (可), or 100
MISS/BAD (不可), or Miss

Grade	Condition
SS	100% Accuracy.
S	Over 95% Accuracy (90+% GREATs, or less than 1 GOOD for every 10 notes).
A	Over 90% Accuracy (80+% GREATs, or less than 1 GOOD for every 5 notes).
B	Over 80% Accuracy (70+% GREATs, or less than 1 GOOD for every 3.33 notes).

The song accuracy is calculated by sum of all note accuracy divided by number of notes. A GREAT (良) counts as 100%, a GOOD (可) as 50% (half) and a MISS/BAD (不可) as 0% (which breaks the combo). Drumrolls and spinners do not influence the accuracy.

In other words: Accuracy = Total points of hits / (Total number of hits * 300)

Term	Formula
Total points of hits	((Misses * 0) + (100s[GOOD] * 0.5) + 300s[GREAT]) * 300
Total number of hits	Misses + 100s[GOOD] + 300s[GREAT]
s	Number of

Unlike osu! or osu!catch, a miss in Taiko will not reduce the score from maximum possible score greatly. Instead, constantan score is reduced per miss if each miss is separated by more than 100 combos (with the existence of shaker and large notes, score loss would be larger).

For example, in a typical difficulty, breaking a combo in the middle of a song, without accounting for large notes and spinners, would result in a maximum loss of 44,000 points (to bring the combo back up to 100).

Each GREAT (excluding Kiai Time's 1.2x bonus) is worth 300 + RoundDown(Combo / 10) times n up to a maximum of 300+10n points, in which n depends on the difficulty rating of the song.

Each GOOD gives half of the score as GREAT does, while zero score is given for MISS/BAD.

Double score is given for successful hit on large notes (different from Taiko no Tatsujin, left and right drum must be hit at the same time very precisely in order to allow a successful hit of large notes).

For yellow long notes (drumroll), 300 is given per hit in the small one while 600 per hit is given to the large one.

For denden/shaker notes, each strike/shake gives 300 and finishing the denden/shaker gives score twice as much as a GREAT of the current combo.

A typical value of n (4.5-5 star difficulties in old 5 star ratings system) is 80, which gives a maximum score of 1,100/2,200 at 100 combo and later combos. For 4 - 4.5 star difficulties, n is equal to 64 in which the maximum score per hit is 940/1,880. In the hardest case, n is equal to 96 in which the maximum score per hit is 1,260/2,520. There are lower value of n for even easier difficulties.

Unlike osu!/osu!catch, a miss in osu!taiko will not cause a drastic score difference from the maximum possible score (in osu!/osu!catch, score deviation damage from a miss grows wider the higher the maximum combo and especially breaking in around half combo of the maximum combo). Instead, a constant score of n (explained above) is reduced per miss if each miss is separated by more than 100 combos. With the existence of shaker and large notes, score loss would be larger.

For example, in a typical difficulty (80), breaking a combo in the middle of a song without accounting for large notes and spinners, would result in a maximum loss of 44,000 points (to bring the combo back up to 100, all GREAT score value).

Also unlike the other game modes, Kiai Time has an effect on scores because it refers to the "Go-Go Time" in Taiko no Tatsujin. While Kiai Time is active, the drum in the upper left changes animation, the playfield has a background gradient and the hit area gains a fire graphic around it. Additionally, all hit notes gain a 1.2x score multiplier, long yellow notes (drumroll) included, except for hits on a denden/shaker (the final hit is still multiplied).

In short: Score = {ScoreValue + [min(RoundDown(Combo / 10), 10) * RoundDown(taiko score multiplier * raw mod multiplier)]} * Kiai Time

Term	Meaning
ScoreValue	The Score Value gained from the hit (300/600, 150/300, or 0/0).
Combo	(Combo before this hit - 1) or 0; whichever is higher
taiko score multiplier	[Depends on difficulty rating] Possible values are: 32, 48, 64, 80, 96
raw mod multiplier	The raw multiplier of the selected mods (shown multipliers are usually rounded up)
RoundDown	Round down this value to a whole number instead, removing all the decimal values.
min(x, y)	Always pick the lowest value between x or y.
Kiai Time	If Kiai Time was active, this value is 1.2. Otherwise, the value is 1.0.

Exceptions:

Each successful drumroll hit gives a constant GREAT Score Value (300/600 for small/large drumroll respectively) with Kiai Time bonus only.
Each denden hits/shaker shakes gives a constant GREAT Score Value (300) without Kiai Time bonus except for last denden hit/shaker shake, which gives a large GREAT Score Value (600) with current combo multiplier.

Small/Large Notes:

GREAT given if drummed inside the judgement circle perfectly with correct colour.
GOOD given if drummed slightly away from the judgement circle with correct colour.
MISS/BAD given if drummed too early, too late, missed the judgement circle, or drummed the wrong colour.

Drumroll:

Constant 300/600 score with Kiai Time bonus when available given per small notes drummed successfully in the drumroll with any colour.
No score given when drummed on the gap of the small notes.
No MISS/BAD for not doing the drumroll as per Taiko no Tatsujin style.

Denden/Shaker:

Constant 300 score given per hit/shake until completed.
GREAT given on the last hit/shake.
MISS/BAD damage given (not considered a miss) if failed to complete the Denden/Shaker successfully.

The following each add a point to the score/combo multiplier:

Getting GREAT or GOOD on small/large notes.

The following will reset the score multiplier to zero:

Getting MISS/BAD on small/large notes

The following will not increase or reset the score multiplier:

Doing the drumroll.
Not doing the drumroll.
Completing the Denden/Shaker
Not completing the Denden/Shaker

The system used to calculate health gain is complicated so it will not be explained in detail. It all revolves around the HP difficulty setting which can only be set by the mapper itself.

Note: The health bar must be at least 50% full to pass the beatmap.

The following will result in health recovery:

Getting GREAT or GOOD on small/large notes.

The following will result in health loss:

Getting MISS/BAD on small/large notes
Not completing the Denden/Shaker

The following does nothing to the health bar:

Doing the drumroll.
Not doing the drumroll.
Completing the Denden/Shaker

Note: It is entirely possible for a beatmap to never pass by design due to the beatmap containing drumrolls and/or dendens/shakers only.

Refer to Skinning page of osu!taiko for full information.

The red notes refer to normal hit circle,
- large red notes needs a finish hitsound.
The blue notes needs to have a whistle/clap hitsound on that hit circle,
- large blue notes need both finish and whistle together.
The sliders represents the long yellow note (also known as drumroll)
The spinner represents a shaker.

Design placement of the notes does not matter.

When a map conversion happens (playing an osu! map in osu!taiko mode), very short sliders (usually less than a beat) are automatically converted to red or blue notes, depending on the hitsound used.

For maps with 125BPM or lower, 1/8 drumrolls are given instead of 1/4 drumrolls.

Do note that 1/8 rhythms are not often used in music. It is not suggested to place slider when in 1/8 rhythm.

Also note that 1/6 drumrolls are given if the slider tick rate of 3 was used.

Playing on an empty playfield does not incur any miss.
Drumroll: The upper limit on number of hits on the slider is:
- 4 times of the length of slider, or
- 8 times of the length of the slider in songs that is equal or lower than 125BPM.
Unlike the other game modes, Kiai Time has an effect on scores because it refers to the "Go-Go Time" in Taiko no Tatsujin. While Kiai Time is active, the drum in the upper-left changes animation (named pippidon or Don/Katsu in Taiko no Tatsujin), the playfield has a background gradient and the hit area gains a fire graphic around it.
- Additionally, all hit notes gain a 1.2x score multiplier, long yellow notes included, except for hits on a shaker (the final hit is still multiplied).
Mascot for osu!taiko is pippidon.
When played by Auto, the player name will be mekkadosu!.

osu!taiko logo in the Special Modes Taiko logo in Special Mode

The Use Taiko skin for Taiko mode in Options sidebar under Skin section will use the taiko folder's skin elements when playing in osu!taiko, regardless of current skin's taiko elements. The folder used to hold Taiko by LuiginHann skin, which could be downloaded from the now-deprecated osume.exe (an osu! updater when osu! need to update) under Skin tab.