Playstyles

While it's true that all MOON (Mouse-Only) players exclusively use the mouse buttons to click, they employ a variety of clicking styles and grips. These styles can affect comfort, consistency, and the execution of certain skills. For example, some styles may be suited to speed and streaming, while others offer greater precision for timing and aim-intensive patterns. However, because hand size, physical characteristics, and personal preference vary between players, no single style is universally considered superior.

Clicking Styles

Singletap (Single-click)

Singletap is the oldest clicking style in both MOON and the wider osu! community. The player uses a primary mouse button (typically M1) to play most 1/2 patterns, commonly referred to as jumps. For denser 1/4 patterns, commonly known as streams, the player alternates between both mouse buttons (M1 and M2). Although singletapping has declined in popularity throughout the broader osu! community over the past decade, it remained the dominant style among MOON players for considerably longer. Today, pure singletap is relatively uncommon, with many players instead adopting hybrid techniques.

Hybrid

Hybrid players do not adhere to a single clicking style. Instead, they switch between techniques depending on the map, pattern, or what feels most comfortable at the time. A hybrid player may change their approach based on spacing, rhythm, or fatigue. Hybrid is currently the most common clicking style among MOON players.

Full Alternate

Full Alt is a clicking style in which the player alternates between the primary and secondary mouse buttons regardless of pattern type. Unlike perfect alt, most player still have a preferred starting button, sometimes referred to as a dominant finger. As a result, although the player alternates consistently, certain patterns -- such as triples -- are typically initiated with the same mouse button each time.

Perfect Alternate

Perfect Alt (sometimes called Perfect Full-Alt) is a variation of full alternating in which the player alternates perfectly from one object to the next without resetting their alternation. Unlike full-alt, there is no preferred starting button or "dominant finger"; every hit determines which button is used for the next object. As a result, the starting button for any given pattern depends entirely on where it occurs within the ongoing alternation sequence.

Singletapping is generally regarded as the easiest clicking style for new players to learn and is often associated with achieving stable accuracy. At the other end of the spectrum, Perfect Full-Alt is typically considered the most difficult style to master, as maintaining uninterrupted alternation throughout a map can require significantly more consistency and coordination. Despite these differences, all major clicking styles are considered completely viable, and each is represented by accomplished MOON players. As a result, there is no widely accepted "best" clicking style.

Mouse Grips

A mouse grip describes how a player holds the mouse. There are many different aspects to how a player holds the mouse, the most significant factors being grip style and finger placement.

Grip Styles

This section is currently incomplete. Future revisions may document common grip styles such as palm, claw, fingertip, and pincer grips, and how they relate to MOON play.

Finger Placement Notation

The FPS (First-Person-Shooter) community commonly describes mouse finger placement using a three-digit notation. Each digit represents the number of fingers resting on the left side, top, and right side of the mouse, respectively. For example, a 122 grip places one finger (the thumb) on the left side, two fingers (the index and middle) on the top, and two fingers (the ring and little finger) on the right side. This convention assumes a right-handed grip. For left-handed players, the left and right sides of the mouse are reversed.

Common Finger Placements

122 arrangement

122 is by far the most common finger placement among MOON players. It closely mirrors the "index-middle" keyboard playstyle, with the index finger operating M1 and the middle finger operating M2.

131 arrangement

131 places the index finger on M1 and the ring finger on M2, leaving the middle finger free. This arrangement is considerably less common among MOON players and is analogous to the "index-ring" keyboard playstyle.

The 131 layout is more common in FPS games than in osu! because it allows the player to use the mouse wheel without lifting a finger from either primary mouse button. This can be advantageous in games with frequent mouse wheel inputs, such as Apex Legends. Because osu! rarely requires the mouse wheel during gameplay, 122 remains the dominant layout among MOON players.

Playstyles beyond Mouse-Only

ClickX

ClickX combines one mouse button (M1 or M2) with one keyboard key (K1 or K2). It is the mouse equivalent of the TapX playstyle.

Quadratap

Quadratap uses all four primary inputs (M1, M2, K1, and K2) to play maps. Quadratap Perfect Alt is widely regarded as one of the most difficult playstyles to master. because M1 and K1 cannot be pressed simultaneously, nor can M2 and K2, players must carefully coordinate their inputs to avoid overlapping finger presses. Developing this level of coordination requires a substantial amount of practice. While the playstyle is often considered to have an exceptionally high skill ceiling, relatively few players have invested the time necessary to realize its full potential.

MOON hybrid styles

Examples of MOON hybrid styles include:

• Keyboard for streams, MOON for jumps.
• ClickX for streams, MOON for jumps.

For further reading, refer to the osu!wiki. It features a more complete list of other playstyles, including non-mouse playstyles and playstyles for other osu! gamemodes.