Tech

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Tech, sometimes called techniques, are special moves Madeline can do to enhance her mountain-climbing ability. They come in a wide range of uses and difficulties. Many can be used to skip sections of a room or multiple rooms at once. There are a lot of techs in Celeste and their variations, so it is virtually impossible to describe them all.

All numerical values of speed given are in pixels per second.

Note: Some higher-level and more obscure tech may be missing, improperly named, or poorly described, so do not expect 100% accuracy or comprehensiveness. If you notice any issues, inaccuracies, or typos, please let us know by reporting them on the talk page or fixing them yourself. This way, you get to improve Celeste Wiki for future readers, and we appreciate your help in making the wiki more complete!

Some other (possibly more extensive) sources of tech:

Last revision: 16.09.2024 (DD.MM.YYYY). Update?

Mechanics[edit | edit source]

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

Berry Mechanics[edit | edit source]

The first strawberry Madeline carries is collected when she is on the ground (except strawberry blockfields), jumpthroughs, or most other non-moving entities for 9 consecutive frames. The next berry is collected after 9 additional frames, and so on.

Climbhop[edit | edit source]

Climbing onto the top of a ledge causes Madeline to do a small hop to get onto the platform. This usually does not occur if the platform has spikes or spinners on it that would kill Madeline. Horizontal controls are disabled during a climbhop.

Corner Correction[edit | edit source]

A leniency mechanic where dashing or jumping within 4 pixels of a corner of a solid surface causes Madeline to automatically be pushed around the corner rather than getting stopped by it. This was added to make tech such as wallbounces easier and generally make the game feel better.

Coyote Time/Jump[edit | edit source]

Madeline can input a jump for 5 so-called "coyote" frames after walking off a ledge, allowing for more distance in certain situations. Hyperdashes and superdashes can be done during coyote frames despite not being on the ground.

Dash Attack[edit | edit source]

The dash lasts for 15 frames (including 3 freeze frames). The period of 6 frames after the dash is known as Dash Attack, since Madeline can perform wallbounces and interact with entities (like Dash Switches or Kevin Blocks) during this period as if she is still in the dash state. However, executing a jump (including a climbjump/wallkick) or grabbing the entity will cancel the Dash Attack and the entity won't be activated; while this could be used intentionally, it is often done by mistake resulting in Madeline being stranded and dashless.

Directional Spikes[edit | edit source]

Spikes won't hurt Madeline if she collides with them, as long as she's moving in the direction they point.

Fastbubbling[edit | edit source]

Pressing the dash key inside a stationary green or red bubble makes it move instantly in the chosen direction, saving around a second if done immediately after entering a bubble. It is not counted as a dash. Fastbubbling, like most inputs, can be buffered, so optimal fastbubbling is almost always pressed and held just as Madeline is on her way into the bubble.

Fastfalling (Fastfall)[edit | edit source]

Holding down mid-air changes Madeline's max fall speed to 240 pixels per second instead of the usual 160. This is notably required in Farewell and is used to save time in "falling" areas.

Input Buffering[edit | edit source]

Attempting to perform an action that's not currently possible will "buffer" (store) the input for the next 5 frames. If it becomes possible within those 5 frames, Madeline will instantly perform it. For example, if you press jump slightly before landing on the ground, Madeline will jump on the first possible frame. This is notably used to execute tech instantly after a screen transition or to turn frame-perfect tricks into 5-frame windows. It can be done with almost every action in the game.

Liftboost[edit | edit source]

When being moved by an entity like a Zip Mover, the amount it moves you is stored as a value called liftboost. When grabbing or standing on the moving entity, your speed gets set to your liftboost value. When jumping or dashing, liftboost is added to your speed (only the horizontal portion of liftboost is applied after a dash). Liftboost is still applied to the player for 10 frames after Madeline stops being in contact with the block, and notably, is not removed after a jump or dash, allowing the liftboost to be applied multiple times for extreme speed gain.

Other actions, such as hypers, supers, and dashes, apply liftboost the same way a jump does. The speed calculation for a hyper is (260+liftboost)*1.25 horizontal and (-105+liftboost)*0.5 vertical, so liftboost is applied slightly differently to hypers than to other actions.

Screen Transition[edit | edit source]

When transitioning between two screens, Madeline's dash(es) and stamina are restored. This can be used to gain height or reach otherwise unreachable areas. This is required to get a crystal heart in Old Site.

Additionally, after doing a vertical screen transition, Madeline gets a slight vertical speed boost to ensure that she passes the jumpthrough or does not return so quickly.

Dash Tech[edit | edit source]

Dash Techs require a dash to perform, though, for many, a dash can be substituted with a bubble.

Spring Cancel[edit | edit source]

Dashing just after hitting a spring cancels all momentum given by the spring. It can be done on both normal and sideways springs and also be a buffered input if you do not have a dash before hitting the spring.

Superdash (Super)[edit | edit source]

Reverse Superdash (Top), Superdash (Bottom)

To perform a superdash, dash horizontally on the ground and jump before the dash ends. This will result in a longer and faster jump, granting 260 speed.

Superdashes can be extended or reversed.

Hyperdash (Hyper)[edit | edit source]

To perform a hyperdash, dash diagonally downwards into the ground and jump before the dash ends. This will result in a burst of speed similar to a superdash, only granting 325 speed instead of 260, and half the height of a regular jump.

To gain the higher speed of a hyperdash as well as the full jump height of a superdash, you can do a short hyperdash by only tapping jump and then doing another full-height jump afterwards. This is usually referred to as a hyper bunnyhop.

Hyperdashes can be extended or reversed.

Wavedash[edit | edit source]

Wavedash and Reverse Wavedash

The wavedash is a variation of the hyperdash in which the down-diagonal dash is started midair rather than on the ground. Wavedashes are functionally identical to hyperdashes as they provide the same speed and height, however, wavedashes can be done in spaces with less available ground. Wavedashing is taught in the Event Horizon subchapter in Farewell.

Wavedashes can be extended or reversed.

Extended Dashes[edit | edit source]

A dash lasts 15 frames. When performing a dash, there is a 10-frame cooldown before Madeline's dash is restored. When performing a super/hyper/wavedash, you can regain your dash by jumping at the right time; dashing after the 10-frame cooldown has passed, but before the dash has ended.

Reverse Dashes[edit | edit source]

When performing a super/hyper/wavedash, the direction of your dash is not actually relevant. By jumping in the opposite direction of the dash, the tech can be performed in the opposite direction, for instance, a reverse wavedash by dashing down-left and jumping right.

Superwave[edit | edit source]

An extended superdash immediately followed by a reverse wavedash. It is mostly performed on pink clouds or crumble blocks.

Ultradash (Ultra)[edit | edit source]

Ultra

An ultradash, commonly referred to as an ultra, is a diagonal-down dash performed when Madeline is traveling with a high horizontal velocity. By doing it, she gains a 1.2x multiplier to her horizontal speed upon touching the ground.

The simplest and most common way to perform an Ultra is to perform a hyperdash (though one can be performed any time Madeline is moving fast, like after dashing diagonally-down out of a red bubble or getting flinged by a bird) and dash down-diagonally as soon as possible. The dash must end before Madeline touches the ground to maintain the momentum (Dashing will reset your speed after ending, unless the dash is down-diagonal. Landing on the ground converts a down-diagonal dash into a horizontal dash, thus losing the speed), so players should start from high enough up that it will end before they land. It's important to jump right after you touch the ground to lose as little speed to friction as possible. Players should aim not to buffer the jump input because this is likely to prevent the 1.2x boost, and instead should jump shortly after landing on the ground.

Chained Ultras[edit | edit source]

Multiple Ultras can be done in a row. This requires very specific terrain, but Madeline can quickly reach incredible speeds due to the multiplicative speed gain of Ultras.

Grounded Ultras[edit | edit source]

Grounded Ultras are the fastest way to move on flat terrain (390 speed optimally). Dashing down-diagonally while on or very close to the ground will still give the 1.2x speed multiplier, but all of it will be lost when the dash ends.

To perform a Grounded Ultra, down-diagonally dash into the ground. As this is a down-diagonal dash, you will receive the 1.2x speed multiplier, but since down-diagonal dashes are converted into horizontal ones on the floor, the excess speed will be removed when the dash ends. Because this is essentially the same input as a hyper (a down-diagonal dash into the ground), players can jump before the dash ends to perform a Hyper and be given 325 speed and Hyper height. This can be chained infinitely on flat terrain by dashing down diagonally right after jumping. It's more optimal to jump as late as possible, on the 14th frame optimally.

Grounded Ultra Cancel[edit | edit source]

When dashing at high speeds, excess speed is only removed once the dash ends. By interrupting the dash before it ends, the speed from the grounded ultra can be retained. This can be done in different ways: grabbing a throwable, skipping a cutscene, bouncing on a snowball, so long as it interrupts the dash.

Delayed Ultra[edit | edit source]

When colliding with the ground, if your last dash direction was down-diagonal, you will get an ultra, granting a 1.2x speed multiplier and crouching you. This can be abused by dashing diagonally without landing on the ground, stalling in the air before landing somewhere different, and gaining the 1.2x speed multiplier at a later point somewhere different.

An iconic example of an RTA (humanly possible) Delayed Ultra is used in the Awake checkpoint of 2A, where runners build up massive amounts of speed utilizing a Delayed Ultra, multiple cornerboosts, and multiple chained Ultras.

Heart Ultra: see #Heart Ultras.

Demodash (Demo)[edit | edit source]

Demodashes (shortened to demos), also known as crouch dashes in-game, is a tech that allows the player to dash with the crouched hurtbox (4 pixels instead of 9), allowing you to slip through spinners, dust bunnies, and other obstacles unharmed, provided the gap between them is at least 4 pixels.

When a demodash ends, Madeline will uncrouch, returning her hitbox to full height. This is often used to make cornerkicks more lenient by demodashing up-diagonally into the corner, causing Madeline to uncrouch as soon as she passes the corner and touches the wall.

You can bind a Demo button in-game since the 1.4.0.0 version of the game. You can do a demodash manually by dashing down and then holding a different direction before (within 4 frames or 0.068 seconds) — but not during — a dash. There are no advantages to doing them manually.

Demohyper[edit | edit source]

Dashing down-diagonally is not necessary to do a hyperdash - so long as Madeline is crouching, a hyper will be performed instead of a super. This means doing a horizontal demodash will result in a hyper rather than a super. Demohypers have a higher dash speed than regular hypers (240 instead of 169) since they're horizontal rather than diagonal dashes, though this can be disadvantageous in places where space is limited.

Up Diagonal Demo (Diag Demo)[edit | edit source]

It is also possible to Up-Diagonal Demodash with the demo button. It reduces Madeline's hitbox and hurtbox and allows for an easier cornerkick. This can be done by doing the diag-demo onto the ceiling that precedes the corner. After the end of the dash, Madeline's hitbox will return to normal and make the cornerkick possible if Madeline is close enough to the corner. It also has a few other uses.

Wallbounce (wounce, wb)[edit | edit source]

Wallbounce

Wallbounces are a tech mainly used to gain height. To do a wallbounce, dash up and jump during the dash duration while next to a wall. Wallbounces set you to 170 horizontal speed and 160 vertical speed, being a slightly lower vertical speed than an updash (240 speed), so jumping as late as possible is more optimal for gaining height. Horizontally, it has 10 pixels of leniency in the best case when including updash corner correction and wallbounce leniency.

Wallbounces can be performed out of red or green bubbles as well.

Spiked Wallbounce[edit | edit source]

This refers to wallbouncing on a wall with spikes. Since spikes do not kill the player when moving away from them, you need to be moving horizontally before the wallbounce, which is possible during dashattack after your dash ends. This is far more precise than regular wallbounces due to wallbounce leniency not being available and previously mentioned factors.

Dashless Tech[edit | edit source]

Dashless Tech refers to tech that do not require a dash to perform. They tend to be more complex or precise.

Bunnyhop (Bhop)[edit | edit source]

A bunnyhop is loosely defined as jumping the moment 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. Bunnyhops are often used after a wavedash or a hyperdash to get the height of a full jump and keep the speed received.

Because each jump gives Madeline a short burst of speed (+40 speed), repeating bunnyhops is the fastest method of dashless movement along flat ground. It is common among speedrunners to bunnyhop in Prologue, as it is not possible to dash there.

Cornerkick[edit | edit source]

Cornerkicks are wallkicks off corners. Performed when Madeline passes right under them, they give a little bit of height.

To cornerkick, jump towards the corner, and press Jump again when you're right next to the corner.

Cornerkicks will be neutral if no directional keys are held on the frame you press jump (unless you did a wallkick right before, which will result in another wallkick).

Ceiling Pop (cpop)[edit | edit source]

Tutorial (referenced in Celestecord): Parrot Dash (YouTube)

When Madeline grabs a wall with downward momentum, she slides a tiny amount down. If she holds 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 forward momentum and push her below the ceiling (it can also miss if you didn't properly manip your horizontal subpixels before). This tech can also be turned into a buffer if a setup is found even in vanilla like the last room of Shrine in 4A for speedruns, or if the map is designed to keep the ceiling pop as buffer such as the ones used in MOCE // CPVL.

Crouch Jumps[edit | edit source]

Madeline can jump while crouching and will keep crouching as long as she goes upward or doesn't have enough room above to uncrouch. This can be used to reduce her hitbox to avoid getting hit or fit through smaller gaps. Madeline can also climbjump while keeping crouch state, but she can not grab walls without moving downward and being uncrouched. Wallkicks and Neutrals will also uncrouch you.

Note that it is possible to be crouched while holding a wall if the player lands a delayed ultra by sliding to the bottom of a wall while still grabbing it, or grabbing a dream block after demo-dashing through. They can then wallclimb upward while keeping their crouched hitbox until they next move downward.

Neutral Jump (Neutral)[edit | edit source]

Neutral jumping

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

To do a Neutral, jump off 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.

5jump[edit | edit source]

When Madeline grabs the top of a wall, she will slide down a significant amount and not be able to climb up further. However, you still can climbjump or wallkick off the top of the wall. A 5jump is executed by using a neutral climbjump to reach the top of the wall and then jumping or climbjumping off it. This tech allows you to cross a 5-tile gap, hence its name.

Cornerboost (cb)[edit | edit source]

When Madeline collides with a wall (when her speed attempts to move her inside the wall and is blocked by the tile), the game stores her current speed as "retained" speed. If the wall no longer blocks Madeline from moving forward within the next 5 frames, the retained speed will be refunded (so Madeline will keep moving at the speed she had when she hit the wall).

The most common way to intentionally use retained speed is to do a cornerboost. Doing a climbjump at the top of a wall with momentum will push Madeline over the top and refund the retained speed. Since climbjumps cancel dashes, this is a way to preserve the speed of a dash if it would otherwise have been lost when the dash ended.

Pixel positions for a good or bad cornerboost on a normal horizontal dash, which gives Madeline 240 speed (4px per frame).

Climbjumps, like ground jumps, give Madeline +40 speed in the direction the player is holding. If the climbjump is done before Madeline collides with the wall, that extra +40 speed will be included in the retained speed value. This is known as a 'good cb', whereas climbjumping after colliding with the wall is called a bad cb. Above 180 speed, it is possible that there will not be a frame where Madeline can climbjump before she collides with the wall, and as such, a bad cb will be inevitable even when jump is buffered. There are 3 pixels Madeline can occupy and climbjump on before she actually collides with the wall, so if moving at 4px/frame like in a typical horizontal dash, 1 in every 4 pixels will give a bad cornerboost.

Downward Cornerboosts[edit | edit source]

Grabbing a wall immediately removes all of Madeline's speed. Note that grabbing is not the same as climbjumping. In order to grab a wall, Madeline needs to:

  • Be on one of the two pixels closest to the wall
  • Not be moving upward
  • Not be in dash state
  • Not have less than 20 stamina (sprite flashing red)

As you do not want to grab and lose all your speed for a cornerboost, another of these conditions must be met if Madeline is moving downward and the player wants to cornerboost. The simplest method is to do a down diagonal dash, as in a delayed ultra. However, if the cornerboost needs to be done without dashing, Madeline needs to be 3 pixels away from the wall — too far to grab it but close enough to do a climbjump. She will now be moving upward on the next frame and unable to jump for that reason. Note the similarity to climbjumping on a moveblock without activating it, which is also about avoiding grabbing the block.

6jump[edit | edit source]

A '6jump' is a dashless cornerboost that travels over 6 tiles, typically over spikes. This is done by being at full air-strafe speed (90) and doing a cornerboost on the top of a wall to gain another +40 speed. It must be done in the first room of Crossing for the Winged Golden Strawberry in dashless City.

Double Cornerboost (dcb)[edit | edit source]

If Madeline has a horizontal speed below ~144, it is possible with precise pixel positioning to climbjump once and not yet collide with the wall, making it possible to execute a second climbjump before colliding and gain an additional +40 speed. This is typically a frame-perfect input, as you need to jump twice on consecutive frames.

7jump[edit | edit source]

A '7jump' is a dashless double cornerboost that travels over 7 tiles. This is done in the same way as a 6jump, by being at full air-strafe speed (90) but then doing a double cornerboost on the top of a wall to gain an additional 40+ speed to the first cornerboost (the player also needs to be lower on the wall to account for this).

8jump[edit | edit source]

An '8jump' is a dashless tech that travels over 8 tiles. This is done in the same way as a 7jump by being at full air-strafe speed (90) but starting with a ground jump before getting to the wall which gives 40+ speed, and also adding another non-cornerboosting climbjump after the double cornerboost, which while giving 0+ speed, gives extra height to clear the 8 tiles. This tech is heavily subpixel-dependent.

9jump[edit | edit source]

A ‘9jump’ is a dashless tech that travels over 9 tiles. This is done in the exact same way as an 8jump but with a higher subpixel value, allowing the player to travel 9 tiles.

Reverse Cornerboost (rcb)[edit | edit source]

A reverse cornerboost is executed by climbjumping a corner that is behind Madeline. This cancels the dash and conserves momentum on top of giving height like a normal cornerboost. However, the +40 speed from jumping is applied in the opposite direction, slowing Madeline down slightly. This is usually done to cancel an up-diagonal dash and is beneficial because the speed from the dash (minus 40) is conserved. This was initially considered a TAS-only tech, but it has been implemented by high-level players, especially in individual-level runs.

Neutral Reverse Cornerboost (nrcb)[edit | edit source]

A neutral reverse cornerboost allows you to not lose any speed compared to a regular reverse cornerboost. To execute this, you must face towards the wall and then release all directions before jumping. Since this is a neutral climbjump, pressing the opposite direction Madeline is facing within the next 11 frames will cause a wallboost — setting your horizontal speed to ~125 no matter the previous speed. For this reason, neutral RCBs are generally undesirable at high speed as air friction is doubled when you are not holding the direction that Madeline is moving, and the 11f of extra friction outweighs the -40 speed from the reversed climbjump. However, this is sometimes used intentionally at low speeds to gain speed from the wallboost (e.g., Pillarless in 5B) or to wallboost after a screen transition and gain some extra horizontal speed (e.g., the fastest entry to City start room 6).

Spiked Cornerboost[edit | edit source]

A Spiked Cornerboost is a cornerboost on a corner that has spikes on one or two adjacent surfaces. A notable example of a spiked cornerboost is the "Dreadcorner" strat in 5B, which skips the same rooms that a Bubsdrop does.

Disappearing Block Cornerboost[edit | edit source]

A block disappearing (such as a door or a cassette block) works just the same as going over the top of a wall for the purpose of refunding retained speed.

Spike Climb[edit | edit source]

Spikes can not kill you if you are moving away from them, so long as your speed is above 0, even if that speed is absurdly low. Hence it is possible to climb spiked walls by entering them with a very low speed, then maintaining that low speed while close to the wall, such that you can exit by jumping away or climbjumping. The way to maintain the low speed depends on the context but is most commonly done by alternating between left and right every frame until exiting the spike climb. An example of an RTA spike climb includes beating this room in 1B dashless.

Spike Clip[edit | edit source]

Spikes only kill Madeline if the bottom pixels of her hurtbox touches the spike. So you can clip through spikes if the spikes have no tiles below them and you are travelling at a high enough speed. Such that on one frame your bottom pixel is above the spike hitbox and the next frame below it, hence not dying.

Spike Jumps[edit | edit source]

Spikejumps can refer to one of two situations: either Madeline is being pushed into spikes (via wind), or spikes are being pushed into Madeline (when attached to moving blocks).

Wind applies a constant movement to Madeline every frame, however, this movement is applied independently of her regular speed calculations and after collision checks occur. As a consequence, during downwind it is possible to jump off surfaces beneath spikes before collision checks are applied. Or during sideways wind, you can wall jump off surfaces to the side of spikes thus climbing a spiked wall. The former is heavily subpixel-dependent.

It is also possible to have a moving block push spikes into the player due to how the game logic order works. 1 frame prior, you must be in a position such that the player is on top of the surface of the move block the next frame. 1 frame later you are on the surface of the move block when the game checks if you are touching ground, thus allowing you to jump. You do not die due to the collision checks happening once before the block moves up, and one right after the spike jump, thus you are never in the spikes during a collision check. The game also gives the player stamina back due to briefly being in contact with the ground.

Stamina Cancel[edit | edit source]

When climbing a wall, holding up and tapping grab repeatedly instead of simply holding up and grab lets you climb the wall with less stamina than normal, if done correctly.

Wallboost[edit | edit source]

Pressing away from a wall 11 frames or less after neutral climbjumping will refund the stamina cost from the climbjump as the jump is converted into a wallkick 'after the fact.' After performing a wallboost, unlike a normal wallkick, you can still press toward the wall again to quickly return to it. This allows stamina-less climbing, but is only faster than neutral jumps when performed optimally in a TAS. It has other uses, mainly in beating stamina puzzles. Performing a wallboost will cause falling blocks to drop instantly, since you stopped grabbing the wall, but it's possible to regrab them significantly faster than you could with a neutral jump or a wallkick.

If you do a wallboost while grabbing a wall and also touching the floor, the stamina from a climbjump will still be 'refunded' despite not being consumed in the first place. This means you will have 137.5 stamina, whereas Madeline's maximum stamina is supposed to be 110, allowing you to do five climbjumps before running out instead of four.

Cornerboost Wallboost (cobwob)[edit | edit source]

It is a wallboost from a cornerboost. The cornerboost must be done with a neutral climbjump, then holding the direction opposite to the one climbjumped towards to do a wallboost, which resets any speed you originally had due to the way wallboosts work, thus making you jump towards that direction.

Wallboost Neutral[edit | edit source]

It is possible to scale walls without using stamina by doing a wallboost and turning back towards the wall, repeating this allows you to gain height forever. They serve the exact same function as regular neutral jumps, but can be useful in some specific situations, including skipping stamina sections of a map if the “Disable Neutral Jumps” setting in Extended Variants was enabled by the mapper, effectively bypassing it.

Cornerslip[edit | edit source]

If Madeline grazes the ground without colliding, her dash is refilled without resetting her vertical speed. It also gives coyote frames which can allow you to perform a crouch jump out of the cornerslip, and this is called a jasig jump, named after a speedrun strategy in Chapter 3 called jasig.

Entity Tech[edit | edit source]

Entity Tech refers to using various blocks or entities to do useful techs.

Archie[edit | edit source]

Tutorial: Flesh117

An Archie is entering a bubble with a crouched hitbox (from any direction), raising it by two pixels. This is usually performed with a demodash, but can also be done simply using a crouch jump. Archies are possible because bubbles center your hitbox when entered, hence you will be higher up if you enter the bubble with a smaller crouching hitbox.

Bubble Super / Hyper[edit | edit source]

If the game considers you grounded while in a bubble, you can hyperdash or superdash out of the bubble. Once you leave the ground, for 5 frames, you are in "coyote time" when the game still considers you to be on the ground. By entering a bubble and inputting a hyper or a super within this 5-frame window, you will gain the speed boost as well as keep your dash from the bubble, even if the bubble is mid-air.

Bumper Clip[edit | edit source]

When a bumper is hit, its hitbox is removed for a few frames. During this time the player can buffer a dash through it thus passing through the bumper. You have to hit the bumper at a precise angle to be able to pass through it with the dash and it can be done in any direction.

Explosion Boost[edit | edit source]

Explosions caused by pufferfishes, bumpers, or reviving seekers grant Madeline some momentum. If you're holding the same direction Madeline is boosted towards, you gain about 50 extra horizontal speed.

Fish / Iceball / Oshiro / Seeker / Snowball Jump[edit | edit source]

Holding jump when bouncing off the top of something (Oshiro, snowballs, pufferfish, seekers, or ice balls in vanilla) grants a significant amount of height compared to not pressing jump, and if dashed into will also preserve any horizontal momentum as the bounce will cancel the dash. For this reason, dashing horizontally onto one of these entities and jumping is sometimes referred to as a "fish super", "snowball super", and so on, despite mechanically not being related to a superdash.

Cloud Jump / Spiked Cloud Jump[edit | edit source]

Madeline only needs to jump when the cloud is at its highest position to gain the vertical speed boost; this can be used to avoid dying if there are spikes or other hazards under the cloud. Jump quickly to push it down, then jump again as it comes up.

Cloud Super/Hyper[edit | edit source]

Just like on the ground, Madeline can do a Super or a Hyper off clouds and still get the vertical speed bonus, although it is somewhat more precise. Input a Super or a Hyper as the cloud bounces upwards. The higher you jump, the more height you'll gain.

Cloud Hyper Bunnyhop[edit | edit source]

On top of doing Supers and Hypers on clouds, you also can do a Hyper Bunnyhop on white clouds, but since it's extremely tight, most Cloud Hyper Bunnyhops are done with a reverse Demohyper (doing a Demohyper instead of a regular Hyper makes it easier since the vertical dash of the Demohyper is faster and thus goes further than a down-diagonal dash).

To execute it, do a very short Reverse Demohyper with a tiny jump as soon as you land on the edge of the cloud, then Bunnyhop when the cloud reaches its highest position to get maximum height.

Core Hyper/Super[edit | edit source]

Core blocks give coyote frames before disappearing at the end of their launch, and a hyper/super can be performed during coyote time. The speed from this is combined with a large amount of horizontal liftboost granted by the core block, causing core hypers to give high amounts of speed.

Delayed Blockboost[edit | edit source]

A blockboost can still be achieved while not in contact with the block, but instead walljumping off another surface within a 9-frame window of no longer being in contact with the block. Most commonly done by holding a zip mover or dash block, then diagonal dashing towards a wall and jumping off of it to retain the momentum from the block.

Dream Grab[edit | edit source]

Dream Grab

When exiting the dream block, you can hold the grab button and the opposite direction. This causes Madeline to grab the side of a dream block from which she exited. This tech is taught in 2C.

Dream Jump[edit | edit source]

You can jump out of dream blocks since they give coyote frames. The jump grants height along with the +40 horizontal speed granted by ground jumps. To execute it, simply press jump as you leave the dream block. This tech is taught by the bird in 2B.

Dream Double-Jump[edit | edit source]

Buffering a dream jump will grant the jump without consuming coyote frames, allowing a second jump to be performed after leaving the block. Optimally, this can grant a slight amount additional height compared to a regular dream jump, and will also give an additional 40 horizontal speed, making it almost as fast as a hyper (320 speed compared to 325).

Dream Hyper[edit | edit source]

Instead of simply jumping out of dream blocks, a hyper or a demohyper (which has a slightly bigger window) can be done in the few frames right after you leave the dream block due to coyote frames. This grants 325 horizontal speed and halved jump height, identical to a regular hyperdash. Unlike dream jumps, dream hypers do not give your dash back, as it is used after exiting the dream block.

You also can do a superdash out of a dream block, though this has less practical use than dream hypers or a dream double-jump.

Dream Smuggle[edit | edit source]

By dashing into a dream block and grabbing a throwable entity right before entering it, Madeline can carry it while dashing through Dream Blocks. This tech has no viable uses in vanilla, but is common in modded maps.

Featherboost[edit | edit source]

Holding a diagonal direction with the movement buttons on the first frame of feather movement will give you an initial speed boost.

Feather Super[edit | edit source]

If you move horizontally along the ground in a feather and perform a jump, you will exit the feather state and perform a long jump. Despite the name, feather supers bear no mechanical relation to superdashes.

Heart Ultras[edit | edit source]

This is performed by down diagonal dashing on the same frame as collecting a crystal heart. This can be turned into a buffer by using up Madeline’s dash before bumping into the heart which refills your dash. It is usually only done for fun and to add flavor when beating a map due to it being satisfying to perform, but can also be necessary in modded maps if it is part of the gameplay (using fake hearts). Also note that the name of the tech is a misnomer, as the down diagonal dash by itself is not an ultra in most cases.

Jumpthrough Clip[edit | edit source]

If Madeline is crushed between a block and jumpthrough, she is pushed downward through the jumpthrough.

Feather Clip[edit | edit source]

Feather clip in Reflection

By touching a jumpthrough in feather mode before the feather expires, Madeline can pass through jumpthroughs from the other side.

Lava Neutrals[edit | edit source]

There is a single pixel of solid lava right infront of the lava hurtbox, so despite the fact that you can not grab and hold onto the lava, it is possible to buffer neutrals off of the lava or ice using this 1 pixel of leniency. Similarly, lava climbjumps, lava walljumps, lava wallbounces, lava 6jumps, lava 5tiles, and so on are also possible.

Moon Boost[edit | edit source]

If you do a superdash or demohyper into the top 3 pixels of a moon block, due to corner correction the player is corrected to be on top of the moon block, but simultaneously the block will also be pushed. Since the moon block is moving while you’re on top of it, the block gives you liftboost and results in a major speed boost.

Neutral Drop[edit | edit source]

Holding down while letting go of a throwable drops the throwable in place and resets any horizontal momentum it may have had, rather than throwing it towards a side. It is necessary for all types of vators.

Reform Tech[edit | edit source]

Reform Tech is tech done with blocks that will disappear and respawn at their initial position, like cassette blocks and moving blocks, while they are reforming.

The block will not become solid if Madeline is in it and will instead start reforming once she leaves the block. The block becomes solid before spikes and other entities on the block are generated (except on cassette blocks, which reform instantly), enabling Madeline to grab onto normally spiked walls of the reforming block, or land on the reforming block even if its floor is spiked.

Reform Kick[edit | edit source]

Reform kicks are performed by being inside of a non-solid reforming block's hitbox, then moving horizontally out of the block after it is supposed to start reforming. If you input a jump while exiting the block, you will wallkick off its side. This is possible regardless of whether this side is spiked or not.

Reform Boost (Cassette Boost)[edit | edit source]

Cassette Boost

If you are near the top of a cassette block when it reforms, your position will be snapped upwards, placing you on top of it. By jumping as this happens, the sudden vertical movement is added in the form of liftboost, granting a considerably higher jump. The jump input cannot be buffered.

Cassoosted Fuper[edit | edit source]

A Cassoosted Fuper is getting a cassette boost as you perform a feather super. This is a joke tech, primarily mocking the Celeste communities' culture of making portmanteaus out of tech names.

Seeker Bounce[edit | edit source]

After hitting a wall, seekers enter a different state for a brief moment. In this state, you can bounce into them and get a horizontal speed boost (approximately Hyper speed). On top of refreshing your dash, it also affects your vertical speed depending on the angle at which you bump them. You cannot bounce off the top of the seeker since that's where the hitbox for "killing" them is.

Theo/Jelly Regrabs[edit | edit source]

A Jelly Regrab

Grabbing a Theo Crystal or a Jellyfish in a dash state cancels it, which makes you maintain your vertical and horizontal speed. You can do a regrab even if you're already holding a throwable: to do so, throw it and quickly dash and grab into it. This can be useful if a small amount of height or distance is needed. Theo Regrabs are more challenging than Jelly Regrabs.

Jelly Laddering[edit | edit source]

Using two jellyfish, Madeline can grab one after the other to keep some of her vertical or horizontal speed.

You can use this tech to move upwards indefinitely by dropping and regrabbing the jellyfish, though it has few practical uses and is quite inconsistent.

Theo/Jelly Ultras[edit | edit source]

You can also use the regrab mechanic to cancel a grounded ultra, cancelling a dash without losing any speed at the end.

Throwable Backboost (Backboost)[edit | edit source]

Throwing a jellyfish or Theo crystal grants Madeline 80 speed in the opposite direction it is thrown. This can be exploited by turning around briefly and throwing the throwable backwards, granting the speed bonus in the forwards direction.

Jellyvator / Theovator[edit | edit source]

Vators rely on the fact that holding down while releasing Grab will simply drop the throwable Madeline is holding (neutral drop) rather than throwing it. After dropping an item, dash upwards into it and grab it again. The dash will be canceled and its momentum preserved, giving Madeline 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 canceling the dash but simply due to Madeline being higher up when it is actually canceled. Theo crystals provide less height than jellyfish since holding a jellyfish lowers Madeline's gravity.

Waterboost[edit | edit source]

Waterboost (TAS)

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

Koral Clip[edit | edit source]

If an entity such as a kevin, zip mover, etc. pushes Madeline (or a throwable) against a screen border such that Madeline is clipped into the entity, then the entity starts moving back away from the screen border, Madeline will teleport to the side the entity is moving towards. This happens as if you end up clipped inside an entity, the game is coded to teleport you out in the direction the entity is moving.

Other Tech[edit | edit source]

These techs have very niche uses. Some of them are very difficult to perform.

Bino Tech[edit | edit source]

To understand bino tech, its important to understand that binoculars have two parts. When Madeline first interacts with binoculars, she enters the bino walk, where she will slowly walk to the center of the binoculars. Once she reaches within a certain range of the center of the binoculars the second part of the binos begins, where Madeline will look inside the binoculars, and be able to move the camera around freely. Most bino tech is exploiting flaws in one of these two stages.

Bino Clip[edit | edit source]

To reduce strain on the game, when the player uses binos, the game will unload spinners not currently visible, allowing Madeline to dash or walk through them safely until they load back in. To do this, look in the binos, move them away enough to unload the spinners, and then quickly leave and dash through them before they come back into view.

Bino Control Storage[edit | edit source]

Bino Control Storage done by a TAS in Farewell.

Bino Control Storage (BCS) is a tech that allows Madeline to move while using binoculars. When Madeline enters binoculars, she is turned from the Normal state, used for walking around regularly, to the Dummy state, which is generally used for cutscenes. Because the Dummy state is what prevents Madeline from being able to move around while using binoculars, if it is possible to cancel the Dummy State while using binoculars, Bino Control Storage is also possible. The most common ways to do this are through cutscenes (when cutscenes end, they set your state back to normal), and explosions (which set you to StLaunch). Bino Control Storage is especially common in modded maps featuring crystal bombs, due to the ability to create explosions in arbitrary locations.

When having Bino Control Storage, all the attributes of being in a binocular still apply, and this creates some nuances in how one must route around it. First, Pressing Jump, Dash, Cancel, or Confirm will cause Madeline to exit the binoculars immediately, because this is also true when Madeline is using binoculars normally. In order to press jump or other buttons without exiting the binoculars, you need to pause buffer the input to avoid this constraint. Importantly, the demo button will not close the binoculars when pressed, meaning that demos are a common tool for moving around with Bino Control Storage. Another important thing to note is that Madeline is invisible when using binoculars, due to her being made invisible and replaced with a sprite on the binoculars when entering the binoculars.

When exiting binoculars, Madeline's state is set to normal. This means that any state Madeline is in when exiting Bino Control Storage will be cancelled.

Bino Interaction Storage[edit | edit source]

Bino Interaction Storage is a trick that allows the player to reset Madeline's state back to normal on screen transitions. When entering the bino walk, the binoculars store that Madeline is currently using them. If Madeline becomes airborne for even one frame, she will exit the binoculars, and be set back to the normal state. Due to an oversight, the value that stores whether or not Madeline is currently in binoculars is not reset when this happens, meaning the game thinks she is still using binoculars. The next time the player screen transitions, the game believes that madeline is still in the binoculars, so it attempts to cancel them, and part of this process is setting Madeline's state to normal. This means that any state Madeline is in before the screen transition will be cancelled on the first frame after screen transitioning.

The two main uses of this tech are for cancelling dashes (which can be very useful for cancelling grounded ultras and keeping the 1.2x speed boost from them), and cancelling Badeline orbs, which normally play a slow animation when Madeline first enters a room.

Bino Extensions[edit | edit source]

Bino Extensions are a tech that allows Madeline to increase the power of bino clips by moving the camera much further away than would usually be possible. Normally, after moving the camera a certain distance away from the binoculars, Madeline will no longer be able to move when exiting the binoculars, and the screen will fade out. The range of camera positions where madeline can exit without fading out is centered around where the camera is on the frame madeline enters the binoculars. This means that moving the camera to the edge of the range it can go without a fadeout, then exiting and reentering increases the range that madeline can move the binoculars. Due to the fact that the camera returns faster the further it is away from the binoculars, this trick has diminishing returns.

Bubsdrop[edit | edit source]

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

Cassette Raise[edit | edit source]

A raised cassette block. You can move through the solid purple section.

Remaining inside a cassette block while it activates and deactivates causes it to move upwards by two pixels. This can be repeated indefinitely. The cassette block will leave a trail matching its color, but it is not solid and Madeline can pass it.

Cutscene Warps[edit | edit source]

Some cutscene skips only teleport Madeline along the X-axis and keep her Y position. This allows Madeline to end up in unexpected places and is sometimes used in 2A and 5A to skip a part of the room.

Half Stamina Climbing[edit | edit source]

For a straight vertical wall, immediately after performing a wallboost, there are 2 frames where Madeline is still close enough to the wall to jump off it. Climbjumping gives you +40 speed back towards the wall, allowing you to return to the wall sooner at the cost of stamina. This combination of a wallboost and a climbjump uses the stamina of one climbjump but gives the height of two.

This tech can be made somewhat more RTA-viable by binding the same key to left, right, and jump. After climbjumping away from the wall to wallboost, pressing it within 2 frames makes Madeline turn around and climbjump.

Madeline can also neutral jump within 2 frames of a wallboost. This does not consume stamina and allows Madeline to climb faster than using only neutral jumps.

The 100% TAS uses this tech when obtaining the heart in 6A.

Kermit Dash[edit | edit source]

Kermit Dashing is a very rarely forced tech. Dashing through a vertical screen transition cancels your dash, but does not remove the 'dashattack' timer which allows Madeline to do dash actions like wallbounces, breaking blocks, and entering dream blocks, sometimes called kermit wallbounces and so on. The dash direction of a cancelled dash is also maintained. For example, this lets you activate a Kevin from angles not usually possible or for preserving your dash. This is used in the "True ending" in Ivory from Strawberry Jam Collab.

Pause Buffering[edit | edit source]

When unpausing the game, there is a short window in which the game has not started yet. Inputting during this period up to 6 frames (notably longer than the standard 5-frame buffer window) before the game starts will make the input occur on the first frame of the game running. This allows you to input a movement command as well as another pause command, effectively making the game run one frame at a time, making frame-perfect techs significantly easier to perform.

Roboboost[edit | edit source]

Video: ZKB (YouTube)

Roboboost refers to doing a 6f hyper bunnyhop followed by a reverse cornerboost, all on a moving block. This tech is generally TAS-only and incredibly complex to do RTA. Roboboosts are also colloquially known as mb6fbhsphdrcb, an abbreviation for "moving block 6-frame bunnyhop subpixel hyperdash reverse cornerboost", usually as a joke about the excessively long abbreviation.

Screen Transition Cassette Offset[edit | edit source]

Screen transitioning while a cassette block activates causes all cassette blocks of that color in the new room to be 1 pixel higher and all cassette blocks of the previous color to be a pixel lower.

Spinner Stunning[edit | edit source]

Information: Msushi (YouTube)

Spinners only gain collision when within a certain distance of Madeline, and they check whether they are in this distance every third frame. By pausing on the frame this check occurs, the check is skipped, keeping the spinner uncollidable. This can be chained to keep spinners nonlethal for arbitrarily long time periods. Critically, this check has a pseudo-random offset on each spinner, effectively separating all spinners into three groups, only one of which may be stunned. While humans have performed spinner stunning, it is generally considered a TAS-only tech as each pause is frame-perfect, and without using hitboxes it is impossible to tell which group is being stunned. Lightning can also be stunned in the same manner as described above.

(Note that spinners are made uncollidable rather than unloaded — they are still loaded as usual, just unable to kill Madeline.)

Spinner Freeze[edit | edit source]

After the player waits for around 118 hours in a level, the TimeActive variable will stop increasing due to floating point imprecision. TimeActive is the variable that decides which spinner group to check, so two-thirds of spinners will never be loaded, making a variation of spinner stunning humanly possible.

Undemo dashing[edit | edit source]

This tech is the opposite of a manual demodash. Instead of forcing the frame 1 crouch check to be made on a non-downward dash, the player avoids the crouch check on a downward dash by redirecting from a neutral or non-downward direction. It is useful in particular circumstances, like entering a dream block uncrouched or collecting a heart from the bottom with a down dash. A good example of this is the Weightless Pressure mod.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

  • 1A — Dashless tech is used extensively to collect the Winged Golden Strawberry. The Cornerkick named "Coffee Jump" refers to the Cornerkick in the room with the coffee shop in the background.
  • 2A — Screen Transitions must be used to obtain the Old Site Crystal Heart.
  • 3A — The Elevator Shaft Demo strategy, which requires a Demodash through the Dust Bunnies created by Oshiro, can be used to skip many rooms at once.
  • The bird will teach the player multiple techs throughout the game: climbing and dashing in Prologue, Dream Jumps in 2B, Wallbounces in 7B, and Hyperdashes in 8C.
  • The game will teach Wavedashes to the player in Farewell on the screen after the Heart Door in Event Horizon. The bird is also mentioned in that tutorial.
  • Several techs are named after prominent players:
    • The Demodash is named after the player DemoJameson, who discovered the tech on October 14, 2018.
    • Roboboosts are named after the TASer TheRoboman, who discovered the tech on July 28, 2021.
    • The Koral Clip is named for the speedrunner koral, who performed one accidentally in early 2021.