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The Leng Yan Ju is a Spear in Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night.
Description[]
The Leng Yan Ju uses the "spear thrust" attack motion to deliver an attack based on an ATK rating of 36, with its hitbox passing over a small "dead zone" immediately in front of Miriam like most other spears. Unlike most other spears, which only use the primarily-anti-flier Thrust attribute, this weapon strikes with a blend of the Thrust and Slash attributes. It can inherit the Orbital Wheel technique taught by the early-game Lance.
Leng Yan Ju is the second of two spears in the game that are capable of the Penetrate technique (↓ ↘ → + Attack) by default, which offers a highly convenient utility function that can be used throughout much of the second half of the game. By inputting the command while Miriam is grounded, she will run forward along the ground very fast while dealing rapid thrusting attacks. Even though it takes an exorbitant 60 MP per second to maintain by holding down the attack button, it can be used as a situational stand-in for the speed boost provided by the Accelerator shard near the end of the game. With it, Miriam can quickly traverse long, flat hallways and save time traversing earlier zones, and she can quickly travel between Johannes and Dominique at Arvantville to rapidly alternate between buying and selling items at the supply post and crafting and enhancing at the alchemy service. Mastering the technique allows it to be used with the four elementally aligned spears that remain to be crafted, including the Gae Assail.
Leng Yan Ju can be crafted as an "upgrade" to the Gondo-Shizunori, which is a nearly identical weapon save for 3 less ATK in comparison; that is also a spear that blends the Thrust and Strike attributes and is capable of the Penetrate technique by default. The only material needed for this upgrade is one Diamond, though that only becomes feasible to gather once you reach the Secret Sorcery Lab later in the game because it appears in blue chests both there and in the Inferno Cave. It also drops from the Dark Elementals in the secret lab (4%). Diamonds are also capable of dropping from Light Elementals at an extremely rare 0.5% base chance; while these elementals are primarily found in the upper reaches of Dian Cécht Cathedral, the surprisingly early-game Zagan enemy in Garden of Silence can occasionally summon one.
The Gondo-Shizunori itself is "officially" acquired by "upgrading" a Honebami katana using two Mahogany, a material that can only be found later in the game by opening blue chests starting in the later, post-Blood Steal portions of Forbidden Underground Waterway. One copy of the Honebami can be found in the train ride segment of the Bridge of Evil, though it can be crafted some time earlier by "upgrading" an early-game Morgenstern club with Steel and Damascus after finding Steel Equipment/R in the earlier portions of the Waterway. Susie Quinn's food questline is a vastly preferable method of getting a "free" and "early" Gondo-Shizunori because the blue chests in the Underground Sorcery Lab just after the Bridge of Evil feature the Black Pepper needed to cook the Omurice that is needed to complete her eighth quest, which will give you the spear.
Leng Yan Ju happens to be one of the pieces of "advanced" gear that automatically unlocks for sale at Dominique's supply post once the Glutton Train boss is defeated at the Bridge of Evil; you do not have to craft one yourself to add it to the shop. As a result, once you have reached the Underground Sorcery Lab, you can either buy a Leng Yan Ju directly or make use of the newly available Black Pepper to get a "free" copy of its slightly inferior counterpart. Either course will result in a weapon with the desirable Penetrate technique, and it will be worth creating a Shortcut holding either weapon to maintain easy access to it.
Because Leng Yan Ju can be purchased directly without having to go out of your way to make it possible to do so, you can buy copies of it and Dismantle them for 9 Alkahests each to get more Gondo-Shizunoris. This gives you the spears needed to enhance the Spear Expertise passive shard up through Ranks 8 and 9 and cause the skill shard version of it to appear in your collection, enhancing your performance with all spear weapons. Dismantling Leng Yan Ju also leaves you with a spare Diamond that can be used in other crafts and enhancements some time before you can start reliably farming Diamonds in the Secret Sorcery Lab and beyond.
Availability[]
- Can be crafted by "upgrading" 1 Gondo-Shizunori with 1 Diamond.
- Bought for 14,700G after crafting it. (Automatically appears for sale after defeating Glutton Train.)