Master Forms
What it is
Master forms are sword skills taught by wandering teachers after you beat a Sword Master. They come in two kinds.
Slot forms go in your one Master-form slot, so only one is ready at a time. They share one rest timer. Written techniques keep their own slots; a form never takes one of them.
- Wall Turn, Reed Slip and Air Step (Gale)
- Cinder Lunge (Ember)
- Stone Hinge and Plunging Strike (Stone)
Free forms need no slot. Once learned they are always ready, with any form equipped or none.
- Ember Riposte, Gale Shove and Stone Break: answers you throw right after a perfect guard
- Spell Cut: a timed swing that cuts a hostile spell bolt out of the air. It has its own page: Spell Cut.
Every form costs real Aura, ends in a short exposed recovery, and gives you no invulnerability. The cost is the same while you are awakened.
Slot forms
| Form | Teacher | You need | Cost | Shared rest | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wall Turn | Gale | Sovereign and a Gale Master clear | 20 Aura | 6 s | 0.5 s after landing |
| Reed Slip | Gale | Form and a Gale Master clear | 12 Aura | 2.5 s | 0.7 s |
| Air Step | Gale | Form and a Gale Master clear | 15 Aura | 3 s | 0.4 s on land, 0.3 s in water, 1.2 s if stalled |
| Cinder Lunge | Ember | Sovereign and an Ember Master clear | 25 Aura | 5 s | 0.8 s, 1.2 s if stopped |
| Stone Hinge | Stone | Sovereign and a Stone Master clear | 20 Aura | 6 s | 0.5 s |
| Plunging Strike | Stone | Sovereign and a Stone Master clear | 20 Aura | 6 s | 1 s on land, 1.2 s if stalled |
Free forms
| Form | Teacher | You need | Cost | Recovery |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ember Riposte | Ember | Form and an Ember Master clear | 12 Aura | 0.6 s, 1.2 s if stopped |
| Gale Shove | Gale | Form and a Gale Master clear | 10 Aura | 0.5 s |
| Stone Break | Stone | Form and a Stone Master clear | 16 Aura | 0.9 s |
| Spell Cut | Ember | Form and an Ember Master clear | 14 Aura on a cut, 6 on a miss | 0.3 s on a cut, 1 s on a miss |
Form is Aura Stage IV and Sovereign is Stage V. See Aura.
How to get it
- Reach the Aura stage in the table.
- Clear that school’s Master trial. Clears from before the form existed still count, and any breathing method works. See Sword Masters.
- Find a wandering teacher of that school. Talk to them for a hint about the next lesson they can give you. Then sneak and use them with an empty main hand while they can see you (within 6 blocks).
- Read the illustrated lesson and accept it. You learn the form for good, and get the lesson as a written book if you have a free inventory slot. The lesson also stays in your Grimoire and on the Master-form pages.
Each teacher works through their lessons in order. A lesson you cannot learn yet (because your stage is too low) is skipped.
| Teacher | Lesson order |
|---|---|
| Ember | Cinder Lunge, Ember Riposte, Spell Cut |
| Gale | Wall Turn, Reed Slip, Gale Shove, Air Step |
| Stone | Stone Hinge, Stone Break, Plunging Strike |
Stone Hinge is still in testing and is off unless your server operator switches it on. While it is off, a Stone teacher starts with Stone Break.
How to use it
Equipping and switching
Open the Cord screen (K), click the Aura badge, then Master form. The Field forms page, reached from the same screen, holds every form except Wall Turn and Stone Hinge.
- Equip puts a slot form in your slot. Empty Master-form slot clears it.
- Equipping one slot form removes whichever was in the slot.
- Free forms need no equipping. Their pages say “Always ready; no slot needed.”
You can only equip or switch on safe ground, out of combat, when nothing else is in progress, and after the shared rest is over. Switching never skips a rest you still owe.
All forms use the Equipped Master form key, C by default, except Spell Cut, which uses your normal attack. You can rebind the key under Wildercord: Master forms in Minecraft’s Controls. A small line above the hotbar shows the form’s state and rest.
Every form needs a held Aura weapon and free movement. You cannot start one while flying, riding, swimming, climbing, guarding, frozen, pulled, or during another art. Sneak cancels a form. A hit that lands interrupts it. Nothing is refunded.
Wall Turn
An air kick off a wall.
- Jump so you are in the air beside a solid wall with room for your body.
- Press C to brace. You stop against the wall for up to half a second.
- Let go, then press C again to kick away. Hold a movement key to steer. The kick always leaves the wall, up to 4 blocks across and 1.25 blocks up.
- Land on safe, solid ground. You get one Wall Turn per jump.
Other Aura arts wait until you land. Falling still hurts.
Cinder Lunge
A short charge that ends in one cut.
- On solid ground, look where you want to go and press C.
- You plant for a quarter second, then dash up to 5 blocks.
- The dash stops when it reaches a foe. You then cut the nearest foe ahead, for more than an ordinary swing.
If a wall, ledge, hazard or ward stops the dash early, there is no cut and the recovery is longer.
Reed Slip
A quick side step that keeps you facing your foe.
- On solid ground, hold a strafe or back key and press C.
- You slide 2.5 blocks that way. With no key held, you step straight back. It never moves you forward.
During the recovery you cannot guard, step or use arts.
Air Step
One extra step on the wind.
- Jump or fall. You must be in the air, not in water.
- Press C. You rise a little (less than a block) in the direction you look.
- Land. You get one Air Step each time you leave the ground.
Ceilings and wards stop it. You still take any fall damage you owe. Landing in water ends it with a short splash recovery.
Stone Hinge
A planted stance that turns a frontal shove to one side.
- Stand on firm ground (not sneaking). Hold exactly one strafe key, left or right.
- Press C. You plant for 0.3 seconds, then catch for 0.6 seconds. You can barely move while planted.
- The first melee blow that comes from in front of where you planted (within about 60 degrees) pushes you toward the side you held, at the same strength, instead of backwards.
The damage still lands. Only the shove turns. Turning your camera after planting does not change which way counts as “in front”. The 6-second rest starts at the plant, even if nothing hits you.
The plant is refused before you pay if that side is unsafe: a drop, hazard, ward edge or the world border.
Plunging Strike
A dive from the air that strikes all around where you land.
- Get into the air with at least 2 clear blocks below you.
- Press C. You hang for a moment with your blade high (sneak to stop).
- You drive straight down. Landing on solid ground strikes every foe within 2.5 blocks.
Water splashes it out with no strike. Hazards or a very long fall stall it. Fall damage still counts.
The guard answers: Ember Riposte, Gale Shove and Stone Break
These three answer a blow you have just caught. When a perfect guard catches a hit from a living attacker, the HUD shows Opening! and you have about 0.8 seconds to press C. The movement key you hold picks the answer:
| Hold | Answer | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | Ember Riposte | A short dash, up to 2.4 blocks toward the attacker, and a cut. Walls and ledges stop it with no cut. |
| A strafe key | Gale Shove | Pushes the attacker (or the nearest foe ahead) away and gives them 3 seconds of Weakness. No damage. |
| Nothing, or back | Stone Break | A slow, plain lift and a heavy blow, 2 seconds of Slowness, and it drops a player’s raised guard. |
If you have not learned the answer you picked, you get the next one you know, in the order Riposte, Shove, Break.
Spell Cut
Hold an Aura weapon and attack just as a hostile spell bolt reaches you to cut it out of the air. See Spell Cut.
Tips and counterplay
- Practice on safe ground. Each form costs real Aura and gives no XP. The first time you complete a form, you get a short message saying so.
- Wall Turn: the brace is a pause. An archer can hit you there. Plan your landing before you kick.
- Cinder Lunge: the crouch is the warning. Step aside and the lunge passes your old spot, leaving the user exposed at the end. Standing at a ledge or behind a block stops it short with no cut.
- Reed Slip: it is not a dodge. Nothing passes through the user; they just leave the lane. Punish the heel recovery.
- Air Step: it is a small lift, not flight. Use it to clear a ledge or to break a fall’s timing, not to escape.
- Stone Hinge: hit from the side or behind, use arrows or blasts, or simply wait out the 0.6-second catch. Those all push as normal. Mobs with extra knockback and attacks that skip the normal melee hit are not turned either.
- Plunging Strike: the hang is the warning. Step more than 2.5 blocks away, or fight near water.
- Guard answers: they only open after a perfect guard. Do not swing into a swordsman who is holding a guard. Stone Break is the slowest; it is easy to see coming from someone fresh.