Tech

Techniques, often simply known as tech, are special moves Madeline can do to improve her mountain-climbing ability. They come in a wide range of uses and difficulty. Many can be used for skips or "exploits" to skip sections of a level without needing to collect or progress through the level first.

Dash Tech

Dash Tech refers to techs that require a dash to use, and tend to be simple yet useful. Most dash tech can be Extended, meaning you regain a dash by touching the ground for longer; or Reversed, meaning you dash one direction but launch the other direction. Reversing a tech is a handy way to Extend it without much ground room, and as such, Reversed + Extended tech is only referred to as Reversed.

Superdash (Super)

Main article: Superdashes

Supers will carry the player a relatively short distance but give lots of height. To do a Super, dash parallel to the ground and press Jump during the dash. This can be shortened by pressing Jump sooner (or immediately) after Dash.

Extended: Wait longer before jumping after pressing Dash. This enables Madeline to dash after performing a super, instead of having to land afterwards.

Reversed: Dash in one direction, but press the opposite direction (after the dash) before jumping. Madeline will be launched in the opposite direction.

Variant - Mid-air super: Supers don't need to touch the ground the entire time; you can do a dash from any position and jump off the ground, and still perform it successfully.

Hyperdash (Hyper)

Main article: Hyperdashes

Hypers will launch the player farther and lower than supers, but are slightly harder to pull off. To do a Hyper, dash diagonally down while touching the ground and then jump. Again, it can be shortened by pressing Jump sooner. Hypers are taught in Chapter 8's C-Side.

Extended: Wait longer before jumping after pressing Dash. This enables Madeline to dash after performing a hyper, instead of having to land afterwards.

Reversed: Dash in one direction, but press the opposite direction (after the dash) before jumping. Madeline will be launched in the opposite direction.

Variant - Mid-air hyper: Check Demohyper below.

Variant - Hyper Hop: A hyper followed by a bunnyhop is known as a Hyper Hop, and will give a large speed boost compared to a regular hyper. To do a hyper hop, do a hyper with the quickest and shortest Jump you can, then a full-length jump after hitting the ground again.

Demodash (Demo)

Main article: Demodash

Demos are a neat tech that allow the player to dash through hitboxes and get to spots that are normally not accessible, however are rather difficult to learn. To do a demo, press Down right before (Within 4 frames or 0.07 seconds before) - but not during - a left/right dash. If done correctly, Madeline's hitbox will remain crouched during the dash, allowing you to slip through spinners, dust bunnies, and other obstacles unharmed.

Variant - Demohyper: Doing a super (usually a mid-air one) after the demodash will result in a hyper, because of the crouched state needed for the demo in the first place. They are slightly faster than normal hypers because it begins with a horizontal dash rather than a diagonal one.

Wavedash

Main article: Wavedashes

Wavedashes are a simple way to go large distances without too much effort or skill, and they automatically restore your dash on the ground; they are also useful for tight/small spots of ground where a super or hyper is less feasible. To do a wavedash, Dash diagonally down towards the ground while in the air, then press Jump when you hit the ground.

Reversed: After hitting the ground, jump the opposite direction of the dash. There is little practical use for this, other than extra-tight spots.

Ultradash (Ultra)

Main article: Ultradashes

Ultras are a very tricky and precise tech to use, but very useful for speedrunning because of their extreme speed. They rely on the mechanic that downwards diagonal dashes add to your speed rather than removing the boost at the end of the dash. To do an ultra, dash diagonally down towards the ground and press Jump when you hit the ground, not before or after. A more detailed guide is listed above. These give you a 1.2x speed boost.

Grounded Ultra (Gultra): You can perform a wavedash immediately followed by a down-diagonal dash, which will give you ultra momentum, but for a very limited time. This is typically used in speedrunning as the fastest means to travel long flat distances. However, grabbing a throwable as you jump off the grounded ultra allows you to keep your ultra momentum.

Chained Ultra

Variant - Chained Ultra: Similar to normal ultras, but you want to dash as soon as you leave the ground. The earlier you dash, the more momentum you get from the chained ultra.

Wallbounce

Main article: Wallbounces

Wallbounces, unlike the other mentioned dash tech, is aimed vertically. To do a wallbounce, follow the same steps for a Superdash, but against a wall (and dashing up) rather than the ground. Wallbounces do not restore your dash.

Variant - Mid-air wallbounce: Wallbounces don't need to touch the wall the entire time; you can do a dash from any position and still kick off the wall.

Variant - Spiked wallbounce: Wallbounces can be done on walls with spikes; just make sure you hit the corner of the wall that doesn't.

Jelly/Theo regrabs

Throw the throwable in front of you, then updiagonal dash to pick it up again, giving you a boost. Theo regrabs are considerably harder than jelly regrabs.

Jellyvator / Theovator (-vator)

Main article: Vators

Elevators rely on the fact that pressing Down while releasing Grab will simply drop the item Madeline is holding, rather than throwing it. After dropping an item, Dash upwards while holding Grab to grab the item again. Madeline will get a small speed boost upwards.

Note: Theo crystals do not give a speed boost; Jellyfish do, and will give a larger one depending on how late in the dash they were grabbed.

Dashless Tech

Dashless Tech refers to techs that don't need a dash to use, and tend to be more complex. Unlike the dashing variants, these cannot be extended or reversed.

Fastfalling (Fastfall)

One of the simplest techs to perform, Fastfalling will (you guessed it) make Madeline fall faster. Air friction will remain the same. To fastfall, hold Down while in mid-air. This has little practical use outside of speedrunning and a few rooms in Farewell.

Coyote Jump

Coyote Jumps are more a mechanic than a tech; Madeline is allowed to Jump for a few frames after the player walks off the ground. This is useful for getting a little farther when you need it. It is also what enables moves such as dream jumps and dream hypers.

Bunnyhop (Bhop)

A Bunnyhop is little more than hitting the jump button for as little time as possible. Repeated bhops are slightly faster than normal walking, and can be added to some dash techs to increase speed.

Ledges

Ledges refer to the corner(ish) of a tile that doesn't actually have spikes on it, but next to it (usually on a wall). These are completely safe to stand on, although they are rather tiny. To stand on them, stand just next to the corner of the tile.

Cornerkick

Cornerkicks are the use of bottom corners of terrain to kick off, giving a little more distance when it's needed; and are moderately easy to learn. To cornerkick, aim away from the wall, Jump towards the corner, and press Jump again when you hit the corner. Madeline will kick off the corner of the wall in the same way.

Note - Spiked walls: Spikes do not hurt when Madeline is moving in the direction they are pointing. If the corner of the wall has spikes in the same direction you want to go, you can still safely kick off of it.

Crouch Jump/Climb

If crouching before a Jump, Madeline will remain crouched while jumping; and can climb while still being crouched. To do this, hold Crouch, then Jump while holding Crouch. You can throw a Grab into the mix and climbjump at the same time.

Neutral

Main article: Neutrals

Neutrals are one of the most fundamental dashless techs, used in a variety of base game and modded maps. They are moderately hard to learn, but easier to master. To do a neutral, kick off a wall without holding a direction, then immediately hold a direction towards the wall; repeat until the wall is climbed.

Fastbubbling

Fastbubbling is a very simple tech - just press Dash while inside of a bubble to make it move sooner. Again, this has little practical use outside of speedrunning.

5 Jump

5 Jumps use two climbjumps - one after the other - to clear 5 tiles in a single jump. To do a 5 Jump, climbjump off a wall (straight up), and as you hit/grab onto the wall again, climbjump and move left or right.

Dreadcorner

A Dreadcorner refers to the corner of terrain that has spikes on it. This is actually safe to jump on, yet pixel perfect. To play it safe, you can use a wall that ends on the same tile (if available), fall down, and then jump.

Cornerboost (Cboost)

Cornerboosts are easier done with dashes, but can be done dashless. They are arguably an exploit that grants a horizontal speed boost; when climbjumping on the top corner of terrain with horizontal momentum, they give a multiplicative speed boost, similar to Ultradashes. On their own, they can clear about 6 tiles without using a dash.

Variant - 6 Jump: 6 Jumps utilize cornerboosts as a dashless tech, where a 5 jump is done while already having horizontal momentum. To do a 6 Jump, get some horizontal motion to the wall corner and climbjump on it, as if you were doing the second half of a 5 jump. A cornerboost will be done instead, going 6 tiles.

Throwable Backboost (Backboost)

Throwing an object in the opposite direction Madeline is moving gives her a small initial speed boost. Performing an ultra directly after will utilize this extra speed and launch Madeline even faster.

Entity Tech

Entity Tech refers to using blocks of various kinds (and their respective mechanics) to do specifically useful techs.

Dream Jump

Dream Jumps grant a small upwards (but mostly horizontal) speed boost when exiting Dream Blocks. Simply press Jump as you leave the dream block.

Dream Super/Hyper

Instead of simply jumping out of dreamblocks, a hyperdash can be done in the few frames right as you leave the dream block. This will give you a much larger horizontal speed boost but does not go as high as a dream jump. Note that unlike the dream jump, this does not give your dash back, as it is used after exiting the dream block and requires a dash.

Core boost

By jumping off a fire core block a few frames after it breaks, you can gain an additional boost of speed, about 1.2-1.5x.

Core Super/Hyper

Using the same logic of Dream Supers/Hypers, you can get a very large amount of speed and height by inputting one of these techs at the last few frames of the core block's launch.

Fish/Bumper/Seeker Boost

All of these entities provide a large amount of momentum when used in a certain way (Getting near them, Touching them, and Stunning them, respectively), but share a common mechanic. When holding in the same direction as Madeline is boosted, you will gain an extra boost of speed; about 1.5x to 2x.

Bubble hyper/super

This can only be performed if the bubble is level with the ground Madeline is standing on. Dash right into the bubble, and before you enter the bubble, very quickly input a hyper/super (not extended). The bubble will then launch you with the momentum of either a hyper or a super, depending on which one you used.

Cloud Jump / Spiked cloud jump

Rather than jumping with a cloud, Madeline only needs to jump when the cloud is at its highest position. If there are spikes or other hazards under the cloud, Jump quickly to push the cloud down, then Jump again as it comes up.

Binoculars Clip (Bino Clip)

In order to reduce strain on the game, when using binoculars, the game will unload spinners that aren't currently visible; allowing Madeline to dash or even walk through them with total safety (at least until they load back in). To do this, look in the binoculars, move them as far away as you can, then quickly leave and dash through the spinners.

Screen Transition

Not a tech in itself, however when transitioning screens Madeline's dash (and stamina) is automatically restored. This leads to some useful applications for collectibles split between two screens that would normally be unreachable on a single screen; it is most notably applied for the crystal heart in Old Site or the first key in Celestial Resort A-Side.

Trivia

• Dashless tech is extensively used in Chapter 1's Winged Berry. The cornerkick named "Coffee Jump" refers to the cornerkick in Chapter 1 in the room with the coffee shop in the background.
• Screen Transitions are used for Chapter 2's Crystal Heart.
• The Elevator Shaft Demo strategy in Chapter 3 requires a Demodash, however there are also other rooms in the game that it's still useful in.
• The Keyskip strategy in Chapter 5 requires a Reverse Super.
• The Demodash was discovered by the player DemoJameson on (DATE NEEDED). It was subsequently named after him.
• Wavedashes are used extensively in the Farewell chapter.