Techniques

The Techniques menu.

“	Techniques are special moves tied to specific weapons. By inputting the right sequence of buttons, you can expend MP and use the technique.	„
	~ Terms' description

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.

List of Techniques

Name	Description	Book Location	Command	MP cost	Class	Weapons
Assassinate	"Maneuver behind enemies and attack their blind side."	Bridge of Evil	↓ 🡧 ← → + [Attack button]	30	Daggers	Kukri Swordbreaker Carnwennan Mandau Pasir
Surprise Gift	"Hurl your equipped weapon at enemies."	Arvantville	↓ 🡦 → + [Attack button]	30	Daggers	Baselard Main Gauche Carnwennan Mandau Pasir
Power Slash	"A powerful one-handed blade attack."	Towers of Twin Dragons	↓ 🡧 ← → + [Attack button]	20	Swords	Ulfberht Sword Hofud Ridill Morgenstern (unlisted)
Force Blast	"Draw on your sword's magical power and unleash it upon enemies."	Underground Sorcery Lab	↓ 🡦 → + [Attack button]	30	Swords	Florenberg Almace Caladbolg Fragarach Dáinsleif Blue Rose Yagrush Sharur Mistilteinn
Parry	"Deflect physical attacks."	Hall of Termination	→ → + [Attack button]	15	Swords	Blutgang
Back Steal	"A Bandit Blade art that lets you slip behind foes and steal from them."	Dian Cécht Cathedral	→ ← → + [Attack button]	30	Swords (Exclusive)	Bandit Blade
Brynhild's Blessing	-	-	↓ ↓ + [Attack button]	30	Swords (Exclusive)	Valkyrie Sword
Sickle Moon	"Close the distance and slash upward."	Hall of Termination	↓ 🡦 → + [Attack button]	60/s	Greatswords	Gram Schedar Durandal
Trucidating Gyre	"Spin toward enemies and transfer the momentum to your blade."	Entrance	↓ 🡧 ← → + [Attack button]	50	Greatswords	Pelekus Berdiche Ukonvasara
Thousand Blossoms	"Riddle enemies with a blur of thrusts too fast to count."	Entrance	[Attack button] [Attack button] [Attack button] ...	20/s	Rapiers	Rapier Stinger Kazikli
Lasting Wound	"Unleash a trio of slashes in a single breath."	Hidden Desert	→ ← → + [Attack button]	30	Rapiers	Misericorde Joyeuse
Orbital Wheel	"Create a defensive barrier by spinning your spear."	Entrance	↓ ← ↑ → + [Attack button]	60/s	Spears	Lance Gae Assail
Penetrate	"Charge through enemies with your spear at the ready."	Forbidden Underground Waterway	↓ 🡦 → + [Attack button]	60/s	Spears	Gondo-Shizunori Leng Yan Ju
Lunging Serpent	"A Sanjiegun technique that lets you release the staff to strike from afar."	Dian Cécht Cathedral	→ → + [Attack button]	30	Spears (Exclusive)	Sanjiegun
Hatchet Heel	"While airborne, bring your heel down on enemies like the fall of an axe."	Garden of Silence	↓ ↓ + [Attack button]	20	Shoes	Lethal Boots Hell's Knells
Flashing Air Kick	"Perform up to three spinning kicks by repeating the same command."	Galleon Minerva	↓ 🡦 → + [Attack button]	15	Shoes	Kung Fu Shoes Dragon Shoes
Critical Swing	"Lash at enemies with a single, mighty strike."	Dian Cécht Cathedral	↓ 🡦 → + [Attack button]	30	Whips	Thorn Whip Snakebite Albireo
Crimson Storm	"Channel your fighting spirit into your blade, then unleash it."	Forbidden Underground Waterway	↓ 🡧 ← → + [Attack button]	30	Katanas	Tsurumaru Dojigiri
Helmsplitter	"Leap forward and bring your blade down on the enemy's head."	Towers of Twin Dragons	↓ ↓ + [Attack button]	20	Katanas	Honebami Swordfish
Jinrai	"Draw your blade and strike enemies down in one fierce motion."	Livre Ex Machina	→ ← → + [Attack button]	50	Katanas	Raikiri Mikazuki
Crescent Stroke	"Slash upward as if drawing an arc."	Glacial Tomb	← ↓ → ↑ + [Attack button]	30	Katanas	Zangetsuto Mikazuki Grand Izayoi
Sansetsuzan	"Chain together up to three vicious strikes by repeating the command."	Forbidden Underground Waterway	↓ 🡦 → + [Attack button]	20	Katanas	Tsurumaru Dojigiri Mikazuki
Eleventh Hour	"Deflect physical attacks."	Entrance	→ → + [Attack button]	20	Katanas	Nodachi Honebami Zangetsuto
Rapid Fire	"Hold the command button to keep firing."	Dian Cécht Cathedral	↓ 🡦 → + [Attack button]	80/s	Firearms	Blunderbuss Toradar Verethragna

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 sub-weapon of the Castlevania series.

Swords and 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 and 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.

Gallery

Journal entry for Hatchet Heel.

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.