Welcome to my humble little guide and one that's sure to help you out on your journey to being a true Sol stealing master!

Now as I'm sure you've might've noticed whilst first delving into the game a few key things: One being that this game plays and functions much like Hollow Knight but with a bigger focus on slight stealth mechanics and a Countering system as the bread and butter for combat, but Two and most importantly, Skills.


WIthin Nine Sols are 36 Skills to acquire in the game, 4 of which you already start off with and as you go further down the tree, the skills will require more points to activate but generally the majority of them will require 2 points to get.

This guide will be set up to show the skills at each skill tier (based on point cost), the special martial techniques you learn, and how to utilize everything in your arsenal to it's full potential!

I have also added in the Jade System as well as the Jades you find/purchase throughout the game! You start the game with only 2 computing power (or Pips as I'll refer to 'em in this guide) but through either finding and/or purchasing TAO-90 Computing Units, this can be increased to a maximum of 10!

Starting off our guide is perhaps the shortest list for skills, that being the 1 point skills comprising of only 3 new skills and 1 stat booster.

Swift Runner

Requirements: None

In-game Description: Hold down [bound button] while moving to greatly increase movement speed on flat ground. Shortens travel times along familiar paths.

Personal Thoughts: Of the initial set of 1 point skills, this one's probably not fully necessary to get right off the bat as it's more of a QoL skill than one that helps out in combat as holding down your dash button while moving just makes you move slightly faster.

Recommendation: Low


Shadow Strike

Requirements: None

In-game Description: Inflicts increased damage when striking an enemy from behind with a strong attack.

Strong attacks include any Azure Bow attack, the final strike of the Triple Slash, and Talisman Explosions.

Personal Thoughts: This one is a must-have right off the bat as it'll make short work of any standard mooks in your way and even when it doesn't one shot them, it WILL take off a considerable chunk of their health! (Roughly 50-60% depending on the enemy). This skill can further be complimented by talisman explosions and even Charged Strike which further buffs the damage output of this!

Recommendation: Very High

Bullet Deflect

Requirements: None

In-game Description: Deflects certain projectiles like arrows or bullets back at the enemy with a precise parry. Useful against ranged enemies.

Personal Thoughts: Whlie certainly not my first pick, this is a definite close second. While your aerial counter WILL block any attacks from any direction, until you pick this skill up, arrows and other non-crimson ranged attacks will bypass your guard. Just don't expect much of a damage output from this starting off but instead grab this to further enhance your defenses.

Recommendation: High to Mid


Qi Boost

Requirements: None

In-game Description: Increases maximum Qi charge capacity through advanced Qi training methods.

Personal Thoughts: This one's pretty straight forward and simply increases your max Qi by one pip. Starting off in the game you'll probably not have many options for Talisman tweaking but it's still nice to have. This is especially so since your Qi Blast technique can use up, at max, 3 Qi, leaving you with one to spare for either a quick bit of damage or making building up to another 3 Qi burst that much quicker.

Recommendation: Low to Mid

Now we have the real meat n' potatoes of the skill tree as this contains a whopping 19 skills and all of them pretty helpful in what they do! For this section, I'll be listing these skills by row and going from left to right.

Row 1:

Swift Rise

Requirements: Swift Runner (1 Point)

In-game Description: When knocked down, press [Input Button] to quickly dash and get Yi back up on his feet. Speeds up recovery and allows Yi to swiftly engage with an enemy's follow-up attack.

Personal Thoughts: A must have when it comes to dealing with difficult battles. Most mini-bosses and bosses can easily knock you over and while you are able to jump back up to your feet, you're still left vulnerable for a few seconds. Swift Rise negates this entirely and lets you get back up IMMEDIATELY so long as you utilize your dash to get up and even give you a few immunity frames to boot!

Recommendation: Very High!


Life Recovery

Requirements: Qi Boost (1 Point)

In-game Description: Recover some health after picking up experience dropped after death.

Personal Thoughts: Short n' simple! You get health back when you grab your death point. The actual amount you get back is I wanna saaaay.... 30-40%? Not an excessive amount but it can mean the difference in surviving a difficult fight. Just make sure you don't get too risk in waiting out to grab it, lest you lose a hefty sum of Jin on you.

Recommendation: Low to Mid


Qi Boost (2)

Requirements: Shadow Strike (1 Point)

In-game Description: Increases maximum Qi charge capacity through advanced Qi training methods.

Personal Thoughts: More Qi! Again! Granted More Ki won't do you much good past 3 since Qi Blast only uses 3 and Water Flow only uses 2 BUT if you do pick up Full Control, that one uses 4 at max charge. Alternatively, having an extra slot does mean banking Qi for quicker talisman use, though that's more situational.

Recommendation: Low


Backlash

Requirements: Tai-Chi Kick (Story Progression)

In-game Description: Increases the Internal Damage inflicted by a successful Tai-Chi Kick or Skull Kick.

Personal Thoughts: You can never say no to more Internal Damage as the more that stacks up on a boss/enemy, the more chunk damage you do with your talisman bombs ESPECIALLY if you utilize Full Control to really Maximize the damage potential. That being said, there aren't too many enemies that really utilize the crimson attacks you can Tai-Chi Kick off of so it's more of a QOL kind of upgrade but a nice one to have all the same.

Recommendation: Mid to High


Skull Kick

Requirements: Tai-Chi Kick (Story Progression)

In-game Description: While in the air, hold down [Input Button] and press [Input Button] to perform a special kick which will bounce you up in the air for a bit if successfully landed.

Skull kick can be used as an alternative to the Tai-Chi Kick.

Personal Thoughts: While this ability seems a lil daunting at first, in practice this lets you both counter AND attack at the same time! Though it will take some getting used to in not using the default instinct of guarding and it doesn't make for TOO much difference in combat but hey, more damage is more damage AND you get to style on your enemies. What's not to like about it?

Recommendation: Mid to High


Breathing Exercise

Requirements: Bullet Deflect (1 Point)

In-game Description: Take a breather to recover Internal Damage after a precise parry.

Personal Thoughts: Now it may seem a lil confusing to wonder what exactly the game means by a "precise parry" but basically when you block an attack two things can happen: If you got the correct timing of the block down, you'll negate all damage and block the attack, but if you were perhaps a half-second two early or late, you'll simply graze the attack and take internal damage. What this skill does is boost your precise parries so in addition to negating the attack and giving you a Qi charge, it'll also heal some of your internal damage! Combine this with some helpful jades and it can make for a useful means of making sure your health is topped off at all times.

Recommendation: High

Row 2:

Leverage

Requirements: Unbounded Counter (Story Progression)

In-game Description: Increases Internal Damage inflicted by Unbounded Counter.

Personal Thoughts: Much Like Backlash up above, this lets you cause more internal damage on a successful parry with Unbounded Counter, but unlike Tai-Chi Kick, Unbounded Counter lets you parry ANY crimson attack so this can possibly see more mileage. Though considering how late in the game you get Unbounded Counter, said mileage may vary but it's a nice upgrade all the same.

Recommendation: High


Water Flow

Requirements: Swift Runner, Life Recovery, Qi Boost (1) (4 points total)

In-game Description: Talisman will automatically detonate after a short delay, lowering the risk of being attacked during Talisman detonation.

Attaching a talisman consumes two Qi charges. Talisman explosions convert all Internal Damage into direct damage.

Personal Thoughts: Water Flow is an alternate method to utilizing your talisman bombs as well Qi Blast and Full Control both require manual input and timing, Water Flow is entirely automatic. Simply tag 'em like you would and let it go off on it's own. This essentially gives you the opportunity to get more attacks in against the boss or focus up on countering it's attacks against you at the sacrifice of lower talisman damage.

While on the surface it would seem like Water Flow pales in comparison to Qi Blast and Full Control, Water Flow is perfect for handling fast attacking or nimble enemies that do NOT give you enough time to properly set off your talisman bombs. As such it's a good option to have and even better, it only uses 2 Qi too!

Recommendation: High


Full Control

Requirements: Qi Boost (1 + 2), Shadow Strike, Life Recovery ( 7 Total )

In-game Description: Hold down [Talisman Button] and release it to control the length of talisman detonation time. It will determine Qi charge usage and explosion damage.

Talisman explosions convert all Internal Damage into direct damage.
Personal Thoughts: Full Control is the polar opposite to Water Flow as this one takes longer to set off than both it AND Qi Blast, but the pay off is not only increased damage, almost double damage, but a guaranteed stun on the boss for a few seconds if you set off! Now obviously this is a risky gamble as even just sitting there for more than a few seconds unguarded can easily spell out death for you from enemies and bosses alike. It's all a matter of timing and carefully knowing your opponents attacks so you can more easily abuse their openings.

My recommendation for fully utilizing this is to use it on slower attacking enemies first to try and get it's timing down then once you get the hang of it, use it more often and you'll come to appreciate just how powerful Full Control really is!

One last thing: Full control at this state uses up however many Qi you store up for it during the charge so it can be as little as just 1 or all the way up to 4! Just keep in mind that your Talisman Blasts won't be set off automatically like Qi Blast once it's fully charged. You have to release the talisman button at the charge you want.

Recommendation: High (only if you're confident in your own abilities)


Incisive Drain

Requirements: Shadow Strike, Tai-Chi Kick, Qi Boost (2), Backlash (5 Total)

In-game Description: Gain one additional Qi charge after successfully performing a Tai-Chi Kick or Skull Kick.

Personal Thoughts: More Qi means more talisman bomb opportunities and more opportunities means more damage! This upgrade basically gives you 2 Qi per Tai-Chi Kick or Skull Kick instead of the usual 1 Qi per block. Very handy!

Recommendation: High


Enhanced Bullet Deflect

Requirements: Bullet Deflect, Breathing Exercise (3 Total)

In-game Description: Increases damage inflicted by Bullet Deflect

Personal Thoughts: Pretty straightforward, reflected ranged attacks do just a lil bit more damage to the enemy than usual. Granted the actual boost to damage is pretty small so I wouldn't pick this up unless you simply wish to get it just to move lower down on the skill tree.

Recommendation: Low

Row 3:

Enhanced Blade (1)

Requirements: Unbounded Counter, Leverage (2 Points Total)

In-game Description: Increases damage inflicted by all slash attacks, including the Triple Slash and the Charged Strike.

Personal Thoughts: More Sword Damage, woooooo! Now you would THINK that would be a pretty big boost right? Well it is... but it's really only noticeable on regular enemies. It doesn't make too much of a difference against bosses since you do more talisman damage to them than sword damage, but it does mean that you can more easily 1-shot most mooks with a simple Shadow Strike using Triple Slash or Charged Strike!

Recommendation: Mid to High


Enhanced Talisman (1)

Requirements: Swift Runner, Qi Boost (1), Life Recovery, Water Flow (7 Total)

In-game Description: Increases Talisman explosion damage.

Personal Thoughts: Now unlike Enhanced Blade, Enhanced Talisman is a noticeable boost to damage since Talisman explosions are your bread n' butter for most finishers and just doing damage in general, ESPECIALLY against bosses and mini-bosses.

Recommendation: Very High!


Azure Recovery

Requirements: Qi Boost (1), Life Recovery (3 Total) and Azure Bow

In-game Description: Gain some Azure Sand after picking up experience dropped after death.

Personal Thoughts: As you know, Azure Sand is the limited Ammo to your bow so having a means to recover some ammo mid-fight with an enemy, boss, or mini-boss in addition to getting health back is a pretty nice bonus.

Recommendation: Low to Mid


Enhanced Talisman (2)

Requirements: Qi Boost (1 + 2), Shadow Strike, Life Recovery, Full Control ( 9 Total )

In-game Description: Increases Talisman explosion damage.

Personal Thoughts: Basically more or less what I already mentioned above with the other Talisman damage boost sooooo... more damage! Yaaaaay!

Recommendation: Very High!

Row 4:

Unbounded Drain

Requirements: Unbounded Counter, Leverage (3 Total)

In-game Description: Gain one additional Qi charge after successfully performing an Unbounded Counter.

Personal Thoughts: Much like the other Qi boosts to your counters, this one goes Unbounded counter to upgrade it from 1 Qi per parry to 2 Qi per parry! Very good to have once you've gotten more practice with Unbounded Counter.

Recommendation: High


Qi Boost (3)

Requirements: Swift Runner, Qi Boost (1), Life Recovery, Water Flow (7 Total)

In-game Description: Increases maximum Qi charge capacity through advanced Qi training methods.

Personal Thoughts: Considering how far down on the tree these two Qi Boosts are, you've likely reached the point of having the need for plenty of Qi so these two are a nice bonus to have!

Recommendation: Mid


Qi Boost (4)

Requirements: Qi Boost (1 + 2), Shadow Strike, Life Recovery, Full Control ( 9 Total )

In-game Description: Increases maximum Qi charge capacity through advanced Qi training methods.

Personal Thoughts: Same as above!

Recommendation: Mid


Enhanced Blade (2)

Requirements: Tai-Chi Kick, Backlash, Bullet Deflect, Breathing Exercise, Incisive Drain, Enhanced Bullet Deflect (9 Total)

In-game Description: Increases damage inflicted by all slash attacks, including the Triple Slash and the Charged Strike.

Personal Thoughts: Much like what I listed before about Enhanced Blade, it's more of a boost to damage to regular enemies than bosses or mini-bosses.

Recommendation: Mid to High

Unbounded Charge

Requirements: Unbounded Counter, Leverage, Unbounded Drain (3 Total)

In-game Description: Generates a Qi charge when charging the Unbounded Counter.

This charge will dissipate after a short while.

Personal Thoughts:Honestly this one is just... baffling for me. It generates a Qi charge but then.. vanishes once the charge is gone? it's not like you gain an extra Qi with the counter since it still gives you just 2 Qi. Maybe there's something else I'm missing to this?

Recommendation: ???


Enhanced Water Flow

Requirements: Swift Runner, Water Flow, Qi Boost (3), Unbounded Counter, Leverage, Unbounded Drain (11 Total)

In-game Description: Expend one less Qi charge when using Water Flow.

Personal Thoughts: Not the biggest upgrade in the world but it DOES mean Water Flow is much cheaper to use. In fact with this upgrade it makes it the cheapest talisman power to utilize! This does not affect it's power at all however, so you'll still have to utilize the Jade system to make the most of it.

Recommendation: Mid to High


Enhanced Qi Blast

Requirements: Swift Runner, Water Flow, Qi Boost (3), Qi Boost (1), Life Recovery, Full Control, Qi Boost (4), Shadow Strike, Qi Boost (2) (15 Total)

In-game Description: Obtain one Azure Sand after detonating a three-charge Qi Blast.

Personal Thoughts: This is an AMAZING upgrade to have as this essentially means you can have a steady supply of Bow ammo just by doing your basic Talisman explosions. This can be very good against certain boss fights or even just tough miniboss fights too.

Recommendation: VERY High!


Enhanced Full Control

Requirements: Qi Boost (1), Life Recovery, Full Control, Tai-Chi Kick, Backlash, Incisive Drain, Qi Boost (4) (14 Total)

In-game Description: Use Full Control to detonate a five-charge Qi Blast and cause massive damage.

Personal Thoughts: Your standard 4 Qi blast gets upgraded to a 5 Qi Blast and the damage increase is INSANE, especially when coupled with the talisman boost skills and any jades that also boost talisman damage. In terms of raw damage, this one can NOT be beat. Even against the final boss a full 5 Qi blasts with the talisman boost kills can take nearly a 1/5th of the health bar. Of course, that's only IF you manage to fully charge it, but not only does it chunk the boss's health, it will even stun them for a few seconds!

Enhanced Full Control is tricky to get the timing down but definitely worth if it you want to just STYLE on bosses!

Recommendation: VERY High! (but only if you're confident in your skills)

This section contains all the special Techniques you'll learn throughout the game and the requirements needed to get them.

Immortal Dash

Requirements: None! You start with this.

In-game Description: Press Template:Button while on the ground to dash forward and evade enemy attacks. Also effective for evading Crimson Attacks and lasers.

Personal Thoughts: Immortal Dash is a vital tool to have as this is basically your means to dodge attacks that are otherwise impossible to counter for Yi (initially). It also makes for an early means of quick movement before you get Swift Runner. Just keep in mind that you can only Dash on the ground.


Qi Blast

Requirements: None! You start with this.

In-game Description: Hold down Template:Button to generate an explosion by charging a talisman with up to three Qi charges.

All talisman charges inflict internal damage upon impact. Talisman explosions convert all internal damage into direct damage.

Personal Thoughts: Your main method of dealing big damage to opponents and also a great finisher as well! Each Qi Blast can use up to 3 Qi when detonated but it can also run with less as well in exchange to less damage.


Triple Slash

Requirements: None! You start with this.

In-game Description: Press Template:Button repeatedly to materialize your internal energy into a blade and unleash a three-hit combo.

Use with caution as Yi will be momentarily vulnerable after the combo has been initiated.

Personal Thoughts: Your basic 3-hit combo attack. If you're not blocking or exploding things with your talisman you BEST be smackin' 'em with your Qi-Blade! There are a few talismans out there that can boost the damage of your basic attack but it's mostly only useful against your basic fodder.


Parry

Requirements: None! You start with this.

In-game Description: Press Template:Button to deflect enemy attacks and convert them into Qi charges. Imprecise parries will result in some internal (recoverable) damage taken.

Certain moves like crimson and fire attacks cannot be parried.

Personal Thoughts: One thing to keep in mind with parrying any attack is the following: As it states in the in-game description, you cannot block crimson or fire attack. While you can only block in the direction your facing, you CAN block any directional attack while you're in the air!... provided they're not crimson/fire attacks either.


Tai-Chi Kick

Requirements: Central Transport Hub Root Node (story progression)

In-game Description: Press Template:Button to bounce off New Kunlun's green energy orbs to gain access to new areas or explore new paths.

If a green glow is present on an enemy using a Crimson Attack, Yi can use Tai-Chi Kick to inflict Internal damage to them.

Personal Thoughts: Tai-Chi Kick now gives you the option to block certain crimson attacks! These are typically denoted with an on-screen red flare before the enemy performs their crimson attack, though typically if they're grounded and they perform a crimson attack, it's most likely counterable by Tai-Chi Kick. Keep in mind however, that not every crimson attack will be parry-able by Tai-Chi Kick as there are a few that you'll still just have to avoid but this technique will definitely make countering a lot easier!

Another thing to keep in mind: Some attacks from bosses'll be small energy orbs and those can be countered by Tai-Chi Kicks! So always remember: If it's an orb, you can kick it!

And anything that's countered by Tai-Chi Kick can be countered by Skull Kick too! (once you unlock it of course.)


Charged Strike

Requirements: Greenhouse Root Note (story progression)

In-game Description: Hold Template:Button to charge. Yi will glow green once it has fully charged. Release the attack button after charging to unleash a powerful forward thrust which can destroy enemy shields and hard obstacles.

Personal Thoughts: Now I personally haven't found too much use with charge strike besides it's main use in breaking obstacles, HOWEVER, it DOES make for a much stronger use for Shadow Striking enemies since the damage buff applies to it too! In fact, with the right upgrades and Jades, you can practically one shot most if not all grunts this way!


Air Dash

Requirements: Factory Root Node (Underground) (story progression)

In-game Description: Press Template:Button in midair to dodge enemy attacks and avoid taking damage.

This is an essential skill to master for aerial combat.

Personal Thoughts: Not only does this give you some much needed quick movement in the air but now you can dodge grounded AND aerial attacks!


Unbounded Counter

Requirements: Factory Root Node (Machine Room) (story progression)

In-game Description: Hold Template:Button to charge and release Template:Button at the right moment to deflect any attack (including Crimson Attacks) and inflict Internal Damage.

Personal Thoughts: Unbounded Counter takes some getting used to but this upgrades your parrys to essentially block ANY crimson or fire attack! (save for ONE attack from the final boss)

Just keep in mind that you can essentially only utilize Unbounded Counter on the ground since nothing happens while you're airborne.


Cloud Leap

Requirements: Four Seasons Pavilion Root Node (story progression)

In-game Description: Muster energy from the elements and press Template:Button to jump once more in midair.

Expands Yi's exploration range and allows him to fly over enemies and reach previously inaccessible heights.

Personal Thoughts: Not too much to say about this. It's just your standard double jump but it DOES mean more chances to dodge enemy and boss attacks a lil easier.

Given the limited text amount per section in steam guides, I'll be breaking up the Jades into 6 categories:

Green

Yellow

Red

Blue

Purple

Teal

As with the Skills n' Techniques section, I will be providing the usual information in the structure of Requirements/Cost, In-Game Description, My Personal Thoughts, and Recommendation.

Also with the added titles to the Jade Colors, it's more of a general theme I see with those jades being utilized or given a proper group name.

Stasis Jade

Requirements/Cost: Defeat Red Tiger Elite: Baichang (first miniboss)
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Attaching a talisman will temporarily immobilize that enemy.
Time immobilized will vary depending on the enemy.

Personal Thoughts: This jade's very handy early on especially considering this is the very first one you get to play around with! You might have noticed starting off that attaching your talismans does NOT stop any attacks from the enemy or boss you fight but what this Jade does is essentially give you juuuust enough time to set off your talisman bomb. (about 2 to 3 seconds of stun) Keep in mind however that this jade isn't nearly as effective on certain bosses as the stun time window gets shorter over the duration of the game.

Even still, this is a very handy utility jade to have and use!

Recommendation: High



Mob Quell Jade - Yin

Requirements/Cost: Prison Treasure Chest
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Allows talisman attacks to simultaneously hit an additional target.

Useful for battles against multiple enemies.

Personal Thoughts: Utilizing either Yin and/or Yang will allow your talismans to tag one adjacent enemy near Yi. With just one, your talimans can blow up two enemies and with both they can blow up three enemies! Considering the Jade Power cost however, it may be best to have just one of 'em equipped as it can make short work of groups of enemies and pairs well with Water Flow.

Recommendation: Mid



Mob Quell Jade - Yang

Requirements/Cost: 4 Seasons Pavilion - 3D Printer Shop - Purchase for 750 Jin
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Allows talisman attacks to simultaneously hit an additional target.

Useful for battles against multiple enemies.
Personal Thoughts: Same as Above.

Recommendation: Mid



Steely Jade

Requirements/Cost: Power Reservoir (Central) Treasure Chest
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Enemies will not be able to interrupt a talisman detonation. However, damage will still be taken.
Equipping this jade will make you fearless in battle.

Personal Thoughts: I'm not too big a fan on this one because if you can just figure out enemy attack patterns then this Jade is effectively just wasting power. I do see merit in utilizing this with Full Control to really maximize the damage whilst sacrificing health but you can also just easily do that whilst avoiding attacks.

Recommendation: Low

Pauper Jade

Requirements/Cost: Power Resevoir (East) Treasure Mech (Under the block elevator)
1 Pip

In-Game Description: Increases Jin collection radius, allowing for the collection of Jin from even farther away.
Waste not, want not.

Personal Thoughts: The increase to the collection pull for Jin isn't substantial but it's juuuust enough of an increase to make Jin grinding much easier.

Recommendation: Low



Soul Reaper Jade

Requirements/Cost: Lake Laochi Ruins (Eastern Building) Chest Puzzle
1 Pip

In-Game Description: Any Jin and experience absorbed by the enemy that killed you can be recovered using a talisman explosion.
This removes the need to actually kill the enemy that killed YI.

Personal Thoughts: Unless you're struggling with a particular enemy or group of enemies, I wouldn't recommend this one too highly.

Recommendation: Very Low



Avarice Jade

Requirements/Cost: Greenhouse - Celestial Spectre: Shuigui (Miniboss)
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Increases the gold gained from killing enemies, making each battle more profitable.

Personal Thoughts: The general increase in Jin gained while this jade is equipped is around I want to say 10-15%. Not a whole lot but the small amount does stack up after awhile. Couple this with the Pauper Jade and you've got a nice money making combo!

Recommendation: Low (Mid if equipped with Pauper)



Cultivation Jade

Requirements/Cost: Yinglong Canal Treasure Chest
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Slightly increases experience gained from defeating enemies.
Suitable for a diligent Fangshi.

Personal Thoughts: Like the Avarice Jade, this Jade increases XP gain by around 10-15%. Though unlike the Avarice Jade, I'd say this one isn't nearly as necessary unless you're really wanting to grind out skill points.

Recommendation: Low

Immovable Jade

Requirements/Cost: Lake Laochi Ruins (West Building Puzzle)
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Reduces time required to execute Charged Strike when standing still.
Be still as a mountain in the face of a formidable foe.

Personal Thoughts: This Jade reduces the time to get a charged strike from 1 second to around half a second. That may not seem like much but it can make for some very fast power strike attacks and can be utilized to make a pretty beefy power strike build. Just keep in mind the reduction ONLY applies if you're grounded and not in the air.

Recommendation: Mid



Harness Force Jade

Requirements/Cost: 4 Seasons Pavilion (Gift Chiyou the painting Shaunshaun makes for you)
1 Pip

In-Game Description: Performing a precise parry will complete any ongoing charging for Charged Strike, making it immediately available for use.
Personal Thoughts: Considering how quick it is to get a charged strike (especially with the Immovable Jade) you'd think this one would be redundant and you'd be half correct on that. In reality if you can properly time a Charged Strike build up before parrying an attack, this can make for even FASTER Charged Strike opportunities! The flipside, of course, is that unlike the Immovable Jade, this relies not only on parries to fully utilize this jade, but a very strong sense of timing and good parrying to make the most of this.

Recommendation: Mid to High (Depending on your own personal skill)



Swift Blade Jade

Requirements/Cost: Abandoned Mines - Treasure Mech
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Increases Triple Slash attack speed, but inflicts some Internal Damage to Yi for every attack performed.

Personal Thoughts: The increased attack speed is nice but not at the cost of getting internal damage with every attack. Now this can be mitigated with some of the other jades that can either transfer internal damage from yourself onto the enemy or just outright negate it, but even then I don't think it's worth using up 2 Jade Pips or more just to make this one work.

Recommendation: Low



Qi Blade Jade

Requirements/Cost: Grotto of Scriptures (Entry) Treasure Chest
3 Pips

In-Game Description: Consumes two Qi charges on the third hit of the Triple Slash to Inflict much higher damage.

Personal Thoughts: This Jade can give Triple Slash the much needed OOMPH to make it much more of a damage dealer in combat and when combined with Water Flow combos, you can easily wipe the floor with most mobs! Just keep in mind it's steep price of 3 pips though.

Recommendation: Mid to High


Health Thief Jade

Requirements/Cost: Purchase from Chiyou for 600 Jin
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Recovers some health after a successful Shadow Strike.
Steal an enemy's health to heal yourself.

Personal Thoughts: This Jade is a lifesaver to have early on since you'll most likely be relying on Shadow strike to deal with most grunts in the early game. You don't recover much health back but it does means you get better mileage with your medicinal pipe since you won't have to use it as much.

Recommendation: High (Early Game), Mid to Low (Mid to Late Game)


Focus Jade

Requirements/Cost: Factory (Production Area) - Celestial Sentinel: Wuqiang (Miniboss)
3 Pips

In-Game Description: Consumes one Qi charge when executing a Charged Strike to deliver a more powerful strike that hits harder and reaches farther.

Personal Thoughts: Charged Strike already does some good damage on its own, but combine it with this and it can be a real powerhouse! In fact, in some cases you could even forgo talisman use to use this instead as your main damage dealer if you combine it with the other two quick charge up jades. It also pairs nicely with Water Flow for extra damage.

Recommendation: Mid to High

Hedgehog Jade

Requirements/Cost: 4 Seasons Pavilion (Help Shaunshaun with the tree by giving him 1 fertilizer)
3 Pips

In-Game Description: Allows precise parries to inflict Internal Damage to the enemy.
Harness their power and return the favor.

Personal Thoughts: If you're anything like me, you'll have gotten the hang of parrying by the time you pick up this Jade and makes for a VERY nice defensive option as all that internal damage on whoever you're fighting (especially bosses) will quickly rack up!

Recommendation: High to VERY High!



Reciprocation Jade

Requirements/Cost: Purchase from Chiyou - 4000 Jin
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Transfers part of your Internal Damage to the enemy after a successful Unbounded Counter, punishing the enemy and defusing a dangerous situation.

Personal Thoughts: Being able to negate ANY of your internal damage without having to use up a heal is an amazing thing to have! Granted this is only usable if you've gotten used to Unbounded Counter's weird timing but this makes for a great defensive option and a means to shed off internal damage of any sort! The amount that is removed however is not much but even still the tankiness this jade can provide cannot be ignored.

Recommendation: Mid to High



Bearing Jade

Requirements/Cost: Apeman Facility (Depths) - Statue Puzzle Chest
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Reduces knockback from enemy attacks when parrying. Increasing stability when enduring heavy hits.

Personal Thoughts: I haven't found too much use out of this jade in particular but it is useful for not getting knocked around too much when parrying so that you don't go flying into an environmental hazard or another enemy or group of enemies. It's purely a situational kind of jade.

Recommendation: Low



Divine Hand Jade

Requirements/Cost: Grotto of Scriptures (West) - Treasure Chest
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Press Template:Button right after a successful Unbounded Counter to perform continuous Unbounded Counters.
Gain a powerful defensive ability along with higher risks in execution.

Personal Thoughts: This jade will allow you to consistently keep putting up Unbounded Counters with each successful parry with one. I personally don't see too much merit in this unless you're dealing with a boss that does multiple crimson attacks in a row or if you simply want to style on them! Either way, it does make for an easier means of keeping up the full block consistently.

Recommendation: Low to Mid



Ricochet Jade

Requirements/Cost: 4 Seasons Pavilion - 3D Printer Shop - Purchase for 500 Jin
1 Pip

In-Game Description: Even with imprecise parries, projectiles can be deflected back and inflict increased damage.
Must be used in tandem with the Bullet Deflect skill

Personal Thoughts: This jade just means that even if you mess up your timing on trying to reflect projectiles, it'll still work. That doesn't mean it'll negate the internal damage from a mistimed block however but it does help to lessen up goofups with parries. The increase to damage isn't all that spectacular either but as they say, every little bit helps.

Recommendation: Low to Mid (early game)

Qi Swipe Jade

Requirements/Cost: Boundless Repository - Vault
3 Pips

In-Game Description: Increases Qi charge capacity by one. After executing a precise parry, gain two Qi charges and take some internal damage.

One must take damage to inflict damage.

Personal Thoughts: This essentially makes it so you get 2 Qi per parry rather than one at the expense of taking internal damage. Much like the Swift Blade Jade, I don't see much use in this jade since you already get Qi quickly enough through fast parries and the internal damage + 3 Pip cost just makes this jade feel more risk than reward.

Recommendation: Low



Swift Descent Jade

Requirements/Cost: Factory (Underground) - Treasure Chest
1 Pips

In-Game Description: Hold down Template:Button and press Template:Button in midair to execute a Swift Descent. This move can also be used to dodge attacks.
This jade also reduces the cooldown time for Immortal Dash.

Personal Thoughts: For such a low cost, this jade can add much more maneuverability in the air, effectively letting you dash downward rather than forward! This could make for some interesting movement tech in combat to dodge more tricky attacks.

Recommendation: Mid to High (situational)



Last Stand Jade

Requirements/Cost: Purchased from Chiyou for 2000 Jin at any point
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Increases damage output when health is below 25%.

Break the cauldrons and sink the boats. Make your last stand.

Personal Thoughts: Definitely a risky Jade to utilize but if you feel confident in your skills, this Jade'll give you around a 20% boost to damage with your strikes, talismans, bow, tai-chi kick, and unbounded counter. One trick to keep in mind: Internal damage to your health counts towards the 25% threshhold.

Recommendation: Mid to High (dependent on your own skill)

Iron Skin Jade

Requirements/Cost: 4 Seasons Pavilion - Gift Chiyou one of Shaunshaun's story books
3 Pips

In-Game Description: Converts some damage to Internal Damage, granting you the ability to better endure fierce combat.

Personal Thoughts: Already this is an amazing buff to have! Rather than take full health damage, some attacks'll just straight up convert to internal damage instead and if you combine that with a few other Jades to either negate, heal, or transfer that internal damage, this Jade alone can make you one VERY beefy Solarian.

I want to say the chances of damage being converted to internal damage is somewhere between 30-50%?

Recommendation: High



Breather Jade

Requirements/Cost: Outer Warehouse - Room with Enemy Gauntlet and lowering ceiling
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Striking enemies with a slash attack will recover some Internal Damage back into health.
Allows for some respite during battle.

Personal Thoughts: Well would ya look at that, a Jade that can pair nicely with the Iron Skin Jade. If you're one to be aggressive but accrue plenty of internal damage, this jade effectively heals up your internal damage pretty quickly with each strike!

Recommendation: High



Recovery Jade

Requirements/Cost: Purchase from Chiyou for 1000 Jin
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Increases the recovery rate of Internal Damage, helping Yi get back into the fight quicker.

Personal Thoughts: Unlike the Breather Jade, this one more buffs the recovery SPEED of healing from internal damage which, while it's not better, it's certainly good. It's not that much of a speed increase but it's fast enough that even a staggering amount of internal damage can be healed back up quickly... provided of course you don't get hit.

Recommendation: Mid to High



Medical Jade

Requirements/Cost: Purchase from 3D Printer Shop for 500 Jin
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Increases health restored with the medicine pipe, but slowly applies healing over time rather than immediately. Healing is instantly interrupted if damage is taken.

Personal Thoughts: This is an odd one. Rather than give all your health immediately back, it comes back at a somewhat faster buildup speed similar to healing from internal damage. The tradeoff is that you get around 30-40% more healing than you normally would without this Jade. However, take any damage and any potential health gain you still might get is stopped completely.

Not a bad Jade to have but only take this if you're confident in your own abilities early on. This Jade also becomes less effective once you start upgrading the potency and uses of your medicinal pipe over the course of the game.

Recommendation: Mid (Early game)



Quick Dose Jade

Requirements/Cost: Purchase from Chiyou for 1250 Jin
2 Pips

In-Game Description: Shortens the time needed for Yi to use his medicine pipe, reducing his chances of getting hit.

Personal Thoughts: Considering how easy it can be to lose health at times, especially against tough or fast enemies/bosses, being able to shorten down how much time is needed to heal is a GOD SEND! Some enemies/bosses are so aggressive or fast in their attack patterns that unless you know how to properly space yourself or time their attacks, there's almost no wiggle room to heal without getting hit RIGHT afterwards!

This Jade in turn cuts down on the required use time from 1.5 seconds to around .5 seconds!

Recommendation: VERY High!



Revival Jade

Requirements/Cost: Factory (Great Hall) - Help lower the bridge for Chiyou
2 Pips

In-Game Description: When HP reaches 0 for the first time, you will revive and regain 25% health.

Personal Thoughts: Having a 1up handy can make or break surviving a tough fight, especially if the enemy manages to kill you off before you've used up all of your medicinal pipe charges!

If you want to play a bit dangerously too, since this Jade always brings you back at 25% of your health, you can combine it with the Last Stand Jade for a boost to damage and really live dangerously!

Recommendation: VERY High!

This section of the guide'll be a lil bit more generalized, in the sense that I'll providing tips on how to properly utilize your skills to their fullest but it's up to YOU to master them!

How I'm going to structure this is simply have each part branched into themed groups Such as all the upgrades for Unbounded Counter or Tai-Chi Kick! Other than that, this part'll be pretty brief!

Movement

• Try to be as mobile as possible! Staying in one spot for too long, especially against multiple opponents can get you easily killed!
  
• Use Immortal Dash and Air Dash for more than just Crimson Attacks! Sometimes it's easier attacking an enemy from behind than just a full frontal assault or to avoid a flurry of attacks!
  
• When starting out get Swift Rise as soon as you can as it can get you back in the fight much quicker after getting knocked down!

Counters

• Early game, focus on learning openings and attack patterns, every enemy and boss has good opportunities to attack and the best way is to go on the defense and parry!
  
• Parrying on ground will only work on attacks to in the direction your facing, but aerial parries are omni-directional!
  
• Skull Kick's a lil tricky to get used to but it can give you some much needed distance from the target and deal some damage to boot!
  
• Unbounded Counter also has tricky timing to it but it can effectively parry nearly every attack in the game with some very few exceptions so do your best to practice with it a lot!

Jades

• Jades can help fit any niche scenario you need for a fight: Wanna deal with crows? Yin/Yang + Water Flow and a few damage Jades.
  
• I would personally prioritize offence over defense in most cases but there are some scenarios, like drawn out boss fights, where being more tanky is necessary.
  
• While some of the money jades do give you extra, it's not by much, instead prioritize how much you can collect from a short distance to maximize profits!

Thank you for browsing through my guide! This guide's a bit scuffed in parts and I'm still planning on adding a few things, but it's otherwise done for now.

Hopefully this helps you out!