Techniques

The Techniques screen.

“	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 are found in bookcases scattered all over the Hellhold.

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 Archives 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 bookcase explaining the Technique in order to use it; the player only needs to have an appropriate weapon and input the command. There are 24 Techniques in total in the game.

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 as 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. The Mastery Tome is able to make the process go quicker, as it adds a 20% increase in the proficiency intake.

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 the Blutgang, she will be able to perform it with any Sword or Club. Techniques without Mastery bars remain exclusive to the weapons they are assigned to.

List of Techniques

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

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 backstab, before returning to her initial position. This Technique can also be performed in midair.

Surprise Gift

Miriam throws a copy of her weapon in a straight line in front of her, in a manner similar to the classic Dagger sub-weapon of the Castlevania series. This Technique can also be performed in midair.

Swords and Clubs

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 forward, 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's 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 the Redbeast's Edge.

Parry

Miriam holds up the sword in front of her; with average 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 she 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 a determined distance to the left or right, where she performs a single sword strike facing the opposite direction and then returns to her original position (similarly to the Assassinate Technique). The strike functions as if the Pickpocket Shard is active, giving a chance to make the enemy 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. This Technique is hidden and can neither be glimpsed in any bookcase nor it is listed in the Archives; and as a further caveat, it only becomes available to use after every single other Technique has reached 100% Mastery.

Brynhild's Blessing behaves similarly to the Helmsplitter or the Parry counterattack (although it can be done at any time).

This Technique is known for allowing the player to reach certain areas earlier than intended (e.g: performing it while floating on water allows the player to submerge without possessing the Deep Sinker or Aqua Stream shards), as well as glitching through certain areas for the same effect (e.g.: can be used to bypass the gate in the Bridge of Evil without the Passplate and all the effort it takes to get it). Because of this, it is often used during speedruns in NG+.

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-consuming 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. It cannot be held infinitely, though; there is a cut-off to the charge at which point the move will be automatically performed.

Rapiers

Thousand Blossoms

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

Lasting Wound

Miriam performs a quick triple swing motion with the rapier, visually forming a letter "Z" in the air.

This is a reference to the fictional character Zorro, a masked outlaw vigilante who defends the people of California against corrupt, tyrannical officials during the 1800s. His signature all-black costume includes a cape, a Cordovan hat, and a mask covering the upper half of his face. His signature move are three successive slashes with his sword that form a letter "Z".

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 reliably projectiles, although 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 her.

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

Penetrate

Miriam holds the spear in front of her at waist height while charging forward in a very similar manner 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 and pierce through any enemies she encounters without taking damage, dealing much greater damage than Accelerator. However, this comes at the cost of an MP drain rate 12 times greater than Accelerator.

Lunging Serpent

Exclusive to the Sanjiegun and has no Mastery bar. Miriam stabs forward with the Sanjiegun and this extends about double its size while producing energy blasts all around it.

Shoes

Flashing Air Kick

A three-step sweeping kick that pushes forward, accompanied by Miriam counting to three in French: "Un... Deux... Trois". 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 forward, striking in a 180° 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.

Whips

Critical Swing

Miriam lashes the whip downward onto the ground in front of her and a whirlwind briefly rises from the spot of the impact.

Katanas

Jinrai

Miriam crouches readying her sword and then dashes forward at an extremely fast speed while swinging it, covering a long distance and producing a ray of light along her path.

Crimson Storm

Also known as "Crimson Blizzard". Miriam slashes with the katana, producing a large energy ball that is launched straightforward at great speed.

Helmsplitter

Miriam performs a quick leap forward, slamming her sword downward with both hands.

Crescent Stroke

Miriam performs a circular swing with her katana, starting from the bottom and ending with the sword held behind her, tracing a perfect circle in the process which generates a damaging crescent moon shaped energy circle.

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.

Sansetsuzan

Miriam successfully performing the full Sansetsuzan.
大往生 ("great death")

A three strike combo move with the katana (the required button combination must be inputted for each swing). Miriam starts with a sideways slash, then follows with a two-handed upward slash, and ends with a two-handed downward slash.

Each time a slash successfully connects with the enemy, a large kanji will appear on the screen: 大 ("great") on the first one, and 往 on the second and 生 on the third ("death/submission"), forming the full sentence 大往生 ("great death").

Firearms

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.

Videos

Bloodstained Ritual of the Night - All weapon Techniques and Shard skills

Trivia

• Techniques are very similar and are likely inspired by the Critical Arts command-move weapon abilities from the Castlevania series (introduced in Castlevania: Symphony of the Night).
• Katanas have the most Techniques of any weapon type, totaling six. Firearms and Whips are tied for the fewest, having only one each.