Also known as: Blanket Formation
Nominator: m980
Blanket combos are made up of a slider or a hit circle (as the base) with a slider that surrounds that object.
Spacing between these two objects is very important as they are not allowed to overlay each other!
Nominator: m980
Divebomb combos are made up of a straight line of hit objects travelling from the top of the screen (or the middle) towards the bottom.
This makes the hit objects appear as if they are diving.
The last object should always be a slider.
Also known as: Flower Formation
Nominator: 0_o
Flower combos consist of 5 or more hit circles that are all placed around a central point.
The central point can be a hit circle or a slider.
The hit objects are usually a half beat apart.
Alternatively, you could use the end of a slider as the first point (or the start of a slider as the last point) of the flower.
These are really similar to star formations.
However, the difference here is that this forces the player to go along the edges of the hit circles, not through it.
Nominator: mm201
Honeycomb beats are streams of hit circles that are usually half beats apart.
These are placed in a fashion that they all fit on a hexagonal grid.
Using this technique will cause confusion as to what the order of hit circles are by looking at the circles alone.
This forces the player to look at the numbers and/or the approach circles to figure out the order or memorise them.
This could be combined with a low AR (approach rate) to confuse the player.
Nominator: Xgor
A star formation is a 5 pointed star, using 5 or 6 hit circles (the sixth one would usually be placed underneath the first point to complete the star).
The star can visually appear by following the followpoints.
Star formations can be used to make jumps.
Alternatively, you could use the end of a slider as the first point (or the start of a slider as the last point) of the star.
These are really similar to flower combos.
However, the difference here is that this forces the player to go through to form a star, instead of going around it.
Nominator: Daru
The kickstream uses a kick slider (a really short slider) inside of a stream.
This forces the player to pause in the middle of the stream to complete the kick, before continuing the stream.
Nominator: Dragvon
Tornado formations are sets of notes that forces the player to tap circles in a circular motion at a high rate.
This is basically a combination of small jumps (distance-wise) and streams (reaction time-wise).
This can also be a square formation and/or diamond formation repeated a few times, where one of the notes acts like a pivot point.
Also known as: ztrot Formation
Nominator: Jarby
ztrot spacing uses consistent beats placed in a circle-like shape.
The distance between each note increases, then decreases.
The following hit circles will always be on opposite sides of the "circle".
It is recommended to do this with half (or more) beats apart from each other.
After the "circle" is completed, a few more hit circles are placed to go straight through it.
See Mapping techniques/Basics for a description on symmetry.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Nominator: QiiXshinez
The Diamond formation is just like the square formation or square formation v2 but uses rhombi instead of squares.
Nominators: -Xero- and F1r3tar
Double stacks use two notes (or one note and a slider end) that are stacked on top of each other.
Nominator: Lybydose
QQ diamonds are four circles placed one beat apart from each other in a diamond pattern along the four edges (not corners) of the screen.
This is similar to diamond formation, but these are placed at the ends of the x-axis and y-axis.
In gaming, "QQ" originates from Warcraft II, where the player is able to press Alt + Q + Q to immediately leave the battle.
When a player in the chat tells you to "QQ", they are telling you to leave because you are unskilled to play.
Nominator: none
Reversed zig-zag sliders is a variation of the zig-zag Sliders but has the sliders point outwards and away from the next slider.
This creates a quick jump for the player.
Nominator: Beuchi-chan
Square formations consist of 4 hit circles forming a square shape.
These usually have some space between each other.
The square can be angled to form a diamond.
The order of the combos forces the player to go along the square rather than through it.
Nominators: Beuchi-chan and mm201
Square formation v2 is pretty much the same as square formation, but the order of the circles forces you to go diagonally through the square.
Also known as: Triangle Formation
Nominator: kingcobra52
Triangle beats is a very common mapping technique where 3 hit circles are arranged in a triangle.
The order of the 3 hit circles nor the size of the triangle does not matter.
Also known as: Zig-Zag Formation
Nominator: 0_o
Zig-Zag sliders are made up of 1/2 sliders that are arranged in an inwards zig-zag pattern.
This technique needs at least two sliders that are a half beat long and are arranged something similar to the above image.