Techniques

**Techniques** are a gameplay mechanic in *Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night*. They are special and powerful attacks, or other special abilities, that Miriam can perform in the game by the use of determined weapons or weapon types, and the input of a specific button combination.

## Overview

Techniques can be discovered by examining bookcases found throughout the game world, each of which that provides an explanation on how to perform a particular action, along with which weapons it can be used with. These notes are stored in the "Journal" section of the menu. However, an entry won't be added to the "Techniques" section of the menu until the player has performed the according Technique in-game at least once. It isn't necessary to find the bookshelf explaining the Technique in order to use it; the player only needs to have an appropriate weapon and input the command.

Techniques use MP in the same way as Shards, with either a one-off cost or a continuous cost, depending on the Technique in question. They are affected by Words of Wisdom just like Shards are. They tend to function by adding percentage buffs to a weapon's base damage rather than dealing fixed damage; as a result, weapons with a low base ATK (such a Ridill) are weak when using Techniques. Miriam is vulnerable during the wind-up animations of most of these moves, and if she's hit during this time, the move will be canceled.

All but three Techniques are accompanied by a "Mastery" bar, which fills up as the Technique is used on enemies (simply performing it on nothing won't result in any Mastery gain). Once the bar is completely filled, a "Technique Mastered" popup will appear over Miriam's head.

Mastery of a Technique means that in addition to the listed weapons, all other weapons of the same type can use that Technique. For example, if Miriam has Mastered the Technique "Parry", normally limited to Blutgang, she will be able to perform it with any Sword or Mace. Techniques without Mastery bars remain exclusive to the weapons they are assigned to.

Mastery is key to unlocking the full utility of Katana-type weapons, as these weapons have more Techniques than any other type.

## Descriptions

### Daggers

#### Assassinate

Miriam warps a short distance forward and performs a single slash in the opposite direction to the one she was initially facing, intended to function as a back-stab, before returning to her initial position.

#### Surprise Gift

Miriam throws the equipped weapon in a straight line in front of her, in a manner similar to the classic Dagger subweapon of the *Castlevania* series.

### Swords & Maces

#### Power Slash

After a short windup animation, Miriam slams the equipped weapon to the ground in front of her: the attack is short-ranged but deals extremely high damage.

#### Force Blast

A mighty swing of the equipped weapon that deals high damage. If the weapon has an elemental effect, there will be a special effect at the point of the swing. Light weapons produce a spinning projectile that moves forwards, Dark weapons a damage-over-time sphere that remains on the ground for a short time, Fire a powerful explosion, Ice a shower of shard projectiles, and Thunder a vertical lightning strike from the top of the screen to Miriam's location. The Red Umbrella produces a unique blood spiral effect similar to Bloodless' own attacks with it.

As well as the swords listed in the Journal (shown in the table above), Force Blast is also unlocked by default on the Red Umbrella and any Sword or Mace built with 8-Bit Coins or unlocked via password, with the exception of Redbeast's Edge.

#### Parry

Miriam holds up the sword in front of her: with mediocre timing it will simply count as guarding the attack, but timing the move close to the point where Miriam would take damage will result in a special counter animation where Miriam teleports into the air above her opponent and performs a powerful downward slash. The counter is the only thing that increases this move's Mastery.

Parry only works on attacks which inflict Slash, Thrust or Strike damage, which includes contact damage from touching an enemy: it will not block elemental attacks or status effects.

#### Back Steal

Exclusive to the Bandit Blade and has no Mastery bar. The command move can be performed in either direction and warps Miriam to the left or right edge of the screen, where she performs a single sword strike facing the middle of the screen and then returns to her original position. The strike functions as if the Pickpocket Shard is active, giving a chance of forcing the enemy to drop one of their items: if the move kills the enemy, there is a chance it will drop two items on death.

#### Brynhild's Blessing

Exclusive to the Valkyrie Sword and has no Mastery bar, and only unlocked once all other Techniques reach 100% Mastery.

### Greatswords & Axes

#### Sickle Moon

A running move that ends with an upward strike. Miriam will run for as long as the attack button is held and performs the strike when the button is released. The Technique can be used for movement as well as combat, but is very MP-hungry compared to the Accelerator Shard.

#### Trucidating Gyre

Miriam spins up into the air and then performs a downward slam. Both the upward and downward portions of the move deal damage. The player can hold the attack button to charge the move in order to increase its power: with no charge it is rather weak. There is a cut-off to the charge at which point the move will be performed automatically, it cannot be held forever.

### Rapiers

#### Thousand Blossoms

Unleashes a flurry of rapid stabs in front of Miriam that lasts as long as the button is held.

### Spears

#### Orbital Wheel

Miriam begins to twirl her spear around in front of her, increasing in speed the longer the attack button is held, with continuous MP drain. The spear deals damage and at high speeds will also destroy projectiles reliably, but Miriam is not invulnerable while using it and if the spear is not in the right place she can still be hit. The move ends with a slash that hits all around Miriam.

The move is fairly easy to gain Mastery for by finding a room with spawning Dullahammer Heads or Maledictions: this words particularly well with the dense spawns of these enemies inside the Towers of Twin Dragons on Hard.

#### Penetrate

Miriam holds the spear in front of her at waist height while charging forward in a manner very similar to the effect of the Accelerator shard, though jumping will end the run. She will run forward for as long as the attack button is held. She will pierce through any enemies she encounters without taking damage, and deals much greater damage than Accelerator. This comes at the cost of an MP drain rate 12 times greater than Accelerator.

#### Lunging Serpent

Exclusive to Sanjiegun and has no Mastery bar.

### Shoes

#### Flashing Air Kick

A three-step sweeping kick that pushes forwards, accompanied by Miriam counting to three in French: it can be performed on the ground or in the air. The range is quite short and it can be a little tricky to repeat the command input within the time required, but it deals respectable damage. The hits are just above Miriam's waist level and it cannot strike small enemies such as Toads unless they jump into it.

#### Hatchet Heel

Miriam performs a flip-kick forwards, striking in a 180-degree arc above her: if performed in the air, she drops down to the ground. On the ground the flip can be performed over and over and carries her a short distance forward each time. As with Orbital Wheel, it is very easy to gain Mastery for this move just by repeatedly performing it in a corner in a room with respawning enemies.

### Katanas

#### Eleventh Hour

Essentially the same as Parry for Katanas, with a slightly different effect: a successful block-and-counter will briefly freeze all enemies and have Miriam perform a standing horizontal strike.

### Guns

#### Rapid Fire

Holding down the fire button after completing the command move will cause the equipped gun to fire continuously as long as the button is held, with the rate of fire constantly increasing until the MP bar is depleted.

## Trivia

* Techniques are very similar and are likely inspired by the Critical Arts command-move weapon abilities from *Castlevania: Symphony of the Night*.
* Crimson Storm was called Crimson Blizzard prior to the 1.04 patch.