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.

This page only glosses over the execution and usability of various techniques. For a more detailed explanation or specific values regarding speed, visit the 'Main article' link below the tech's name.

Dash Tech

Dash Tech refers to techs that require a dash to use, and tend to be simple yet useful. Most dash techs can be Extended, meaning you regain a dash by touching the ground for longer; or Reversed, meaning you dash in one direction but launch in 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, as reversed techs grant the same benefits as extended versions.

Many of the Dash Techs can be fine-tuned with the duration that the Jump button is held. The longer it is held, the higher the tech will go and the longer Madeline will stay in the air. Very short hops are known as Bunnyhops, while holding the button down as long as possible is a Full Jump.

Superdash (Super)

Supers will boost Madeline forward a good amount, going higher and shorter than Hyperdashes.

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.

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 Dash from any position and Jump off the ground, and still perform it successfully.

Hyperdash (Hyper)

Hypers will launch Madeline farther and lower than Superdashes, but are slightly harder to pull off.

To do a Hyper, Dash diagonally down while touching the ground, then Jump. Again, it can be shortened by pressing Jump sooner.

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: See Demohyper below.

Wavedash (Wave)

Wavedashes are a simple way to go far and fast, and as a bonus they automatically give your dash back.

To do a Wavedash, dash diagonally down towards the ground and press jump as you hit the ground.

Reversed: After hitting the ground, Jump the opposite direction of the Dash.

Ultradash (Ultra)

Tutorial: Aiden

After Madeline dashes down-diagonally, the next time she touches the ground her horizontal speed will be multiplied by 1.2. Another unique property of down-diagonal dashes is that unlike every other dash, a down-diagonal will not reset Madeline's speed to 0 if it ends in mid-air. What this means is that a player can dash down-diagonally with a significant amount of speed and, as long as the dash ends in midair, maintain all of that speed until she hits the ground, at which point it will be multiplied by 1.2x, allowing very high speeds to be reached on the right terrain.

The simplest and most common way to perform an ultradash is to perform a hyperdash and then instantly down-diagonally dash. The dash must end before Madeline touches the ground in order to maintain the momentum, so players should start from high enough up that the dash will end before they land. It is usually important to jump just after you touch the ground in order to lose as little speed to friction as possible. Players should aim not to buffer the jump input, (because this has a high likelihood of preventing the 1.2x boost) and instead try to press jump just after landing on the ground. To maintain the maximum speed with the ultradash, players should also aim to down-diagonally dash as soon as possible after the initial hyperdash (or other speed gain).

Grounded Ultra (Gultra): A high speed down-diagonal dash that is done while on or very close to the ground. The 1.2x speed boost will still apply, but all speed will be lost when the dash ends. Because this is essentially the same input as a hyperdash (a down-diagonal dash into the ground), players can jump before the dash ends to hyperdash and be given 325 speed. Then, they can instantly perform another grounded ultra, giving them the 1.2x boost (390 speed), until the dash ends. This can be chained infinitely on flat terrain, and is the fastest possible movement on said terrain.

Variant - Chained Ultra: Multiple Ultradashes done in a row. Requires very specific terrain in order to be possible, but can quickly reach incredible speeds due to the multiplicative speed gain of ultradashes.

Crouch Dash / Demodash (Demo)

Demodashes, also known as crouch dashes, are a technique that allow the player to dash with a smaller hitbox, usually to get to spots that are normally not accessible.

To perform a Demo, press down before (within 4 frames or 0.07 seconds) - but not during - a Dash. If performed correctly, Madeline's hitbox will remain crouched during the Dash, allowing you to slip through spinners, dust bunnies, and other obstacles unharmed. Demos cannot be performed with downward Dashes as the game automatically uncrouches Madeline.

Variant - Demohyper: Jumping during a Demodash will result in a Hyper, because of the crouched state needed for the Demo in the first place.

Wallbounce

Wallbounces are aimed vertically rather than horizontally. They are functionally identical to Superdashes, only up. Unlike supers, they will not restore your dash as you aren't touching the ground.

To do a Wallbounce, dash up and parallel to the wall and press Jump.

Variant - Bubble Wallbounce: Wallbounces can be performed directly out of a green bubble without dashing, if the bubble is launched upwards.

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.

Dashless Tech

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

Bunnyhop (Bhop)

A Bunnyhop is loosely defined as jumping as soon as Madeline hits the ground. Because there is more friction on the ground than in the air, bunnyhops allow Madeline to conserve speed over longer distances.

Variant - Chained Bunnyhop: Because each jump gives Madeline a short burst of speed, repeating bunnyhops is the fastest method of dashless movement along flat ground.

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.

Crouch Jump/Climb

Crouch Jumps will allow you to get into comfy 1x1 (or 1 tile high) areas. 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. If you begin falling down, Madeline will uncrouch automatically.

Neutral Jump (Neutral)

Neutrals are one of the most fundamental dashless techs. They allow Madeline to scale flat and uneven walls alike without using any stamina, even with downward wind.

To do a Neutral, jump off of the wall without holding directional keys, then immediately move towards the wall again. Rinse and repeat to keep moving up. The jumps can be delayed to stay in place.

5 Jump

When Madeline grabs the top of a wall, she will slide down a significant amount and not be able to climb up further. However, the top of the wall is still possible to climbjump or wallkick from. A 5jump is executed by using a neutral climbjump to reach the top of the wall (that is, a climbjump that goes directly upward) and then jumping again off the very top of the wall. This technique allows a player to climbjump over a 5 tile gap.

Variant - 6 Jump: See Cornerboost below.

Cornerboost

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 allow Madeline to conserve all of her previous momentum while gaining +40 speed from the climbjump. They also cancel dashes, which means that the speed of the dash is preserved instead of being stopped at the end of the dash. On their own, cornerboosts 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 or entities 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 Double-Jump: Spamming the jump button twice right as Madeline makes it out of the dream block allows for a longer jump than a normal dream jump.

Dream Super/Hyper

Instead of simply jumping out of dreamblocks, a Hyper 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 (coyote 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.

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)

Elevators rely on the fact that holding down while releasing Grab will simply drop the item Madeline is holding, rather than throwing it. After dropping an item, dash upwards into it and grab the item again. The dash will be cancelled and some of the dash momentum preserved, giving Madeline some more height.

Note: Throwables appear to give more height the later they are grabbed. This is not due to a difference in the amount of momentum preserved from cancelling the dash, but simply due to Madeline being higher up when the dash is actually cancelled. Theo crystals will provide less height than Jellyfish, since holding a jelly lowers Madeline's gravity.

Oshiro / Snowball / Seeker / Fish Jump

Holding jump when landing on top of Oshiro, a snowball, a pufferfish, or a seeker will give Madeline a significant amount of height compared to not pressing jump, and also preserve some of Madeline's horizontal momentum. Madeline's dash and stamina will also be restored whether or not you press jump.

Contacting the top of one of these entities will also cancel Madeline's dash, preserving some of the momentum from the dash. For this reason, dashing horizontally parallel to one of these entities and jumping is sometimes colloquially referred to as a "Fish super", "Snowball super", and so on, despite mechanically not being in any way related to a superdash.

Bubble Super / Hyper

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.

Cloud Super/Hyper

Just like on the ground, Madeline can do a super or hyper off of clouds; although the timing is a bit more precise.

Just input a super or hyper as you bounce 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 (or enough to unload the spinners), then quickly leave and dash through the spinners.

Archie

Tutorial: Flesh117

An "Archie" is entering a bubble with a crouched hitbox (from any direction), which will move the bubble up by two pixels. This is most often performed with a demodash, but can also be done simply using a duck jump.

Obscure Tech

Spike Jump

Spikes and their surface have a short (almost pixel-perfect) window where they can be jumped on, provided there is wind pushing you towards the spikes or the spikes are moving towards you.

In order to jump on them, Madeline needs to be moving away from them (at least aimed away) in the window where you can input a jump. Jumping off of spikes on the ground (not walls) will restore your stamina, but not your dash.

Diagonal Demodash (Diag Demo)

A more advanced version of the Demodash. One of the most obscure techs, it has extremely little or no use in most applications.

On the frame you dash, hold the down direction. In the 4 frames after that, release down, and aim where you want to dash in. This is difficult without binding a Demo button.

Waterboost

When you are on the surface of water, it is possible to jump multiple times with each jump giving +40 speed. Humans can generally only do two or three jumps, while TAS can jump on every single frame, achieving absurd amounts of speed.

Jelly Laddering

Using two jellyfishes, Madeline can grab one after the other to get incrementally small speed boosts and begin to move upwards.

With two jellyfishes, rapidly spam grab.

Lava climbing

Lava is technically a wall, and therefore has a pixel-perfect window where you can climb up it with either climbjumps or neutral jumps. Additionally, you can even wallbounce off of lava. The frame window for this tech can be extended by Jump Buffering. Just don't get too close, as it will still hurt to touch!

Ceiling Pop

When Madeline grabs a wall with downward momentum, she slides down a tiny amount. If she grabs the bottom pixel of a wall while she has a low enough subpixel, she will slide below the wall while still being able to climbjump for one frame. Because there is no wall in the way, this climbjump will give Madeline forwards momentum.

Bubsdrop

The use of a wallkick in order to cancel the upwards momentum gained from going into a vertical screen transition, so that you don't land on a one-way jumpthrough platform and can return to the previous room. Upon re-entering the original room, your spawnpoint will be set to the nearest available spot. In 5B, this trick is used to skip a significant portion of the Central Chamber checkpoint.

Delayed Ultra

Cancelling a down-diagonal dash before it hits the ground will not remove the flag that tells the game to give Madeline a 1.2x speed boost when she next touches the ground. This is usually done using a cornerboost, or by grabbing a throwable object. Any other method of cancelling a dash (such as bopping a snowball) will still provide a delayed ultra, but will likely slow Madeline down enough that the 1.2x speed boost is negligible.

An iconic example of a RTA delayed ultra is used in the Awake checkpoint of Old Site, where runners build up massive amounts of speed utilising a delayed ultra, multiple cornerboosts, and multiple chained ultradashes.

Reverse Cornerboost

A reverse cornerboost is executed by climbjumping towards a vertical corner that is behind Madeline. This cancels a dash and conserves momentum in the same way as a normal cornerboost, but the +40 speed from jumping is applied in the opposite direction, slowing Madeline down slightly. This is mostly done to cancel an up-diagonal dash and is still beneficial because more than 40 speed is conserved from the dash. This was originally considered TAS-only tech but has been implemented by high-level players, especially in IL runs.

Spiked Cornerboost

A cornerboost done on a corner which has spikes on one or two adjacent surfaces. A notable example of a spiked cornerboost that has spikes on both adjacent surfaces is the "Dreadcorner" strat in Mirror Temple, a spiked cornerboost which skips the same rooms that Bubsdrop does.

Wallboost

If a player presses away from a wall shortly after climbjumping, the stamina cost from the climbjump is refunded and the jump is converted into a wallkick 'after the fact'. However, unlike a normal wallkick, you are not prevented from pressing towards the wall again to quickly return to it. This allows staminaless climbing but is only faster than neutral jumps when performed optimally by a TAS. It has other uses, mainly in beating stamina puzzles. Performing a wallboost will cause falling blocks to instantly fall since you stop grabbing the wall, but allow you to regrab them significantly faster than you could with a neutral jump or real wallkick.

If you do a wallboost while grabbing a wall but also touching the floor, you will still be 'refunded' the stamina from a climbjump despite not having used any for the original climbjump. This means you will have 138 stamina where Madeline's maximum stamina is supposed to be 110, allowing you to do five climbjumps before running out instead of four.

Modded Tech

Modded Tech can't be done in the base game due to the level design, but can be found in modded levels. The tech still exists in vanilla, there just isn't a way to perform it.

Dream Redirect

If dash crystals are put inside of dream blocks, Madeline's dash is restored inside the dream block as well as after leaving it. You can dash while inside the dream block and change direction, or dash the same direction for a massive speed boost.

Dream Wallbounce

Wallbounces can be inputted in the few frames after leaving a dream block, similar to supers and hypers.

Mechanics

These "techs" were added primarily to make the game feel smoother and more forgiving to play, but can be taken advantage of.

Screen Transition

When transitioning between two screens, Madeline's dash(es) and stamina are restored.

Fastfalling (Fastfall)

Holding down while in midair will cause Madeline to fall faster after a short acceleration.

Coyote Time/Jump

Madeline is allowed to jump for 5 frames (roughly 0.1 seconds) after she last touched the ground. This includes performing super and hyperdashes.

Fastbubbling

Press Dash while inside of a stationary bubble to make it move sooner. Dashing inside a moving red bubble will use your dash and make Madeline dash outside of the bubble, interrupting it.

Directional Spikes

Spikes will not hurt Madeline if she is travelling away from them or in the direction that they point. This is the method behind Spikejumps and one-way gates.

Input Buffering

Attempting to perform an action while it is not currently possible will "buffer" or store the input for the next 5 frames. If the action becomes possible within those 5 frames, Madeline will instantly perform it. For example, you can press jump slightly before you land on the ground, and Madeline will jump on the first possible frame. This is notably used to execute techniques instantly after a screen transition or to turn frame perfect tricks into 5 frame windows, and can be done with any action in the game (except ultradashes).

TAS-Only Tech

This is tech that is impossible for a human to perform, and as such is only possible in Tool-Assisted Speedruns. Note that multiple techniques such as Ceiling Pops are largely TAS-only due to the precision involved, but can be performed by humans under the right circumstances.

Half Stamina Climbing

Trivia

1A - Dashless tech is used extensively for 1A's Winged Berry. The Cornerkick named "Coffee Jump" refers to the Cornerkick in the room with the coffee shop in the background.
2A - Screen Transitions are used to obtain 2A's Crystal Heart.
3A - The Elevator Shaft Demo strategy in 3A requires a Demodash, however there are also other rooms in the game that it's still useful in.
5A - The Keyskip strategy in 5A requires a Reverse Super.
The bird will tell you multiple techs throughout the game. Notably: Dashing, in Prologue; Dream Jumps, in Old Site B; Wallbounces, in Summit B; and Hyperdashes, in Core C. The game will teach Wavedashes to the player in Farewell.
The Demodash was discovered by the player DemoJameson on October 14, 2018. It was subsequently named after him.