Breathing methods

A breathing method is the element your Aura takes. Each one colours your Aura, adds its own touch to your blows, and gives you five arts: special cuts you play by swinging a set pattern with your sword. There are 16 methods. For how to choose and change one, see Aura.

How arts unlock

Every method’s arts open at the same Aura stages and use the same swing patterns:

Art	Opens at	Play it with	Aura cost	Rest
First Art	Glow	swing, swing, low swing	6	3 s
Second Art	Flow	leaping swing, then a low swing	8	4 s
Third Art	Edge	your first swing after a perfect Aura Guard	8	4 s
Fourth Art	Form	your first swing after an Aura Step	10	5 s
Final Art	Sovereign	three full swings, then a low swing	40	30 s

Some arts set their own cost or rest; the Aura page in game always shows the real numbers.

Method	Element
Ember Breath	Fire
Rime Breath	Frost
Thunder Breath	Storm
Gale Breath	Wind
Stone Breath	Earth
Verdant Breath	Life
Hollow Breath	Void
Starlit Breath	Arcane
Hourglass Breath	Time
Crimson Breath	Blood
Tide Breath	Brine
Iron Breath	Metal
Dune Breath	Sand
Echo Breath	Wind
Dawn Breath	Arcane
Venom Breath	Life

Ember Breath

Fire

Breathe as a banked fire breathes: slow, deep, and hot at the heart.

Ember: from Flow a coated blow may set its foe alight, and from Edge it always does.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Kindling Draw	A fast low draw-cut that sets the foes in front alight, and a line of fire racing on ahead along the ground that burns for three seconds, setting alight whatever walks into it. (The fire is only light: nothing in the world catches.)
Second Art	Rising Cinders	A rising slash that throws the foes in front into the air in a shower of embers, setting them alight. A moment later cinders rain off each one onto whoever stands near it.
Third Art	Backdraft	The counter returns your caught blow as flame: a short braced thrust with 0.2s windup and 0.7s exposed recovery. Acceptance spends Aura, starts its rest and lowers your guard. Your selected foe must stay visible, hostile and within 6.5 blocks; losing it spends the counter without damage or splash. An accepted empty counter keeps only its flame cone.
Fourth Art	Wildfire Rush	Straight after your step, a second rush seven blocks on, cutting through every foe in the way and setting them alight. The ground behind you burns for four seconds.
Final Art	Sunfall	You leap, a sun gathers on your blade, and you come down in a blazing arc: everything near where you land is struck hard, set alight and thrown back, and a ring of fire stands round the spot for five seconds, searing whoever crosses it.

Rime Breath

Frost

Breathe as frost settles: so still the air forgets to move.

Rime: a coated blow slows its foe, a little longer at each stage.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Frostbite	A cut that crusts and slows the foes in front. A third crust within eight seconds freezes a foe solid for a moment (a player only briefly), frozen for a mage’s Shatter too.
Second Art	Hailfall	A cut in front, and a cloud ahead (over the foe you struck) that rains hail for a second: every stone that lands on a foe strikes it and slows it, up to three on one.
Third Art	Glacier Mirror	The counter: whoever struck is frozen solid (a player only briefly) and the foes beside it chilled, and a mirror of ice stands before you for two and a half seconds, turning projectiles from in front back at whoever loosed them.
Fourth Art	Skate	Straight after your step, a glide eight blocks on along a path of ice you lay as you go (over water it freezes for real, and thaws in time, only where you may build). For five seconds the path speeds you and your allies and slows foes; a frozen foe in the way shatters, its ice cutting those near.
Final Art	Winter’s Hush	A hush falls over a wide cone in front: everything in it is frozen solid (a player only briefly), and a moment and a half later everything still frozen shatters, hard, its ice cutting those near.

Thunder Breath

Storm

Breathe in the moment before the storm breaks, and hold it there.

Thunder: a coated blow may throw a spark to another foe nearby.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Crackle	Three cuts on one foe faster than the eye, each throwing a spark of lightning to another foe near. The first breaks whatever it was winding up: a charge, a bow, a fuse.
Second Art	Skyfall	A bolt called down out of the sky a moment later on the foe you struck (or the ground ahead), striking everything under it, holding it still a moment, and arcing on to two more foes near. What it strikes is left ionised for a storm spell.
Third Art	Static Riposte	The counter: lightning through whoever struck, then leaping on to the nearest foe, and on again, up to four more, a little weaker each time, each one held still a moment.
Fourth Art	Bolt Step	Straight after your step, you blink from foe to foe, up to four near and in sight (those ahead first), with a cut on each that holds it still a moment.
Final Art	Heaven’s Spear	You stand and gather lightning on your blade for a moment, then drive a lance of it eighteen blocks down your line of sight through everything in it, and the sky strikes each foe it ran through.

Gale Breath

Wind

Breathe as the high wind breathes: never twice in the same place.

Gale: a little more speed while you’re in a fight, more at each stage.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Cutting Breeze	A blade of wind loosed off your cut, flying twelve blocks on past your sword’s reach, cutting up to four foes and pushing them back.
Second Art	Updraft	The foes in front thrown high, and you rising after them, hanging a moment to follow. While they’re up your blade lands a quarter harder on them (and spells bite them harder too).
Third Art	Eye of the Storm	The counter: a spinning cut all round you that throws every foe near back. For three seconds after you’re the eye of a storm: projectiles turn aside before they reach you, and foes are blown back off you.
Fourth Art	Tailwind	Straight after your step, a long dash thirteen blocks on, the foes in the way cut and shoved aside, and the wind at your back: you run faster for five seconds, and your allies near the way faster still.
Final Art	Hundred Winds	For three seconds you’re a whirlwind of cuts, drawing the foes round you in and cutting them over and over, and at its end throwing them all into the air.

Stone Breath

Earth

Breathe as the mountain does, once a century, and do not move.

Stone: blows push you back less with an aura weapon in hand.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Rockbreaker	A heavy cut that shakes your foe’s footing: it can’t act for a moment, goes heavy-footed, and is cracked so spells bite it harder, the shock spilling onto those beside it.
Second Art	Avalanche	A slam where you come down (still in the air, you’re driven down first), and a shockwave rolling out over the ground, striking everything it reaches, throwing it back and slowing it.
Third Art	Unmoved	The counter: whoever struck is hurled back by their own blow and stunned as they land, and you harden like stone for four seconds: blows land a fifth lighter and nothing knocks you back.
Fourth Art	Landslide	Straight after your step, a heavy charge eight blocks on that catches the foes in front and carries them along, throwing them on at its end. A foe driven into a wall is crushed against it.
Final Art	Mountain Splitter	An overhead strike that splits the ground in a line fifteen blocks ahead, stone bursting up along it in turn and throwing up whatever it reaches, hard. (The stone is only a shape: the ground is never broken.)

Verdant Breath

Life

Breathe as the green things do, taking in the light and giving it back.

Verdant: a coated blow mends you a little.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Thorn Lash	A lash of thorned vine flicked out four and a half blocks, past your sword’s reach, cutting up to three foes in front. The first it catches is rooted where it stands for a second and a half (it can still strike, not walk away; a player only briefly) and pricked by the thorns while it’s held.
Second Art	Blossom Fall	A falling cut through the foes in front, and where it lands a carpet of blossom opens for four seconds: you and your allies on it are mended at once and a little more each second, and foes on it are slowed.
Third Art	Rooted Parry	The counter rises from a low brace: 0.3s windup, then roots, nearby thorns and three to six health from your caught blow, followed by 0.8s exposed recovery. Acceptance spends Aura, starts its rest and lowers your guard. Your selected foe must stay visible, hostile and within 6 blocks; losing it spends the counter without roots, thorns or healing. An accepted empty counter keeps its thorn pulse and healing.
Fourth Art	Wild Growth	Straight after your step, a second rush seven blocks on, the foes in the way cut and snagged by roots, and brambles springing up behind you for five seconds: foes in them are slowed and pricked, your allies in them mended.
Final Art	Grove’s Heart	You plant your blade in the ground: roots burst up under every foe within six blocks, striking hard and binding them for two and a half seconds (a player only briefly), and a grove rises round you for eight seconds, mending you and your allies each second and slowing and pricking the foes still in it.

Hollow Breath

Void

Breathe out until nothing is left, and let the hollow pull.

Hollow: foes near the one you strike are drawn toward it.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Void Cut	A cut that tears a hole in the air at your blade’s end and draws up to three foes in front, from as far as five and a half blocks, in to your feet: struck, slowed a moment and shadowed (a life spell on them sets off Blight). A boss is never drawn.
Second Art	Collapse	A falling cut that opens a well in the ground ahead: for most of a second it drags every foe within four and a half blocks in toward it (a player can always run out of it), then collapses on everything it gathered.
Third Art	Null Parry	The counter: the blow your guard caught is swallowed by the void, and whoever struck is cut and silenced: a creature can’t cast, draw a bow or light a fuse for three seconds; a player can’t cast, play an art or use the Aura key but to guard, for a second and a half. The foes beside you are shoved off.
Fourth Art	Rift Step	Straight after your step, you go into a rift and come out of another just past the nearest foe ahead (up to eight blocks), cutting it as you pass. The rifts’ edges drag in and cut whoever stands near them.
Final Art	Event Horizon	You cut a black sphere into the air ahead. For two seconds it drags in every foe within seven blocks (a player can always run out of it) and grinds whatever it holds, then it crushes everything near it, hard.

Starlit Breath

Arcane

Breathe in time with the far lights, and they lend you theirs.

Starlit: your aura gathers faster, from blows and the breathing stance alike.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Star Needle	A thrust that looses three darts of starlight nine blocks on, each seeking a little toward a foe. Each that strikes sets a star on its foe (for your next Starlit art to burst) and gives you half an aura back.
Second Art	Meteor Shower	Stars brought down out of the sky over a circle ahead (round the foe you struck), the last a great one on its heart that sets stars on what it strikes. Each foe struck gives you an aura back.
Third Art	Constellation Guard	The counter: whoever struck is cut and set with a constellation of four stars that burst one by one a moment and a half later, each giving you aura back. Every foe near already carrying a star of yours bursts at once.
Fourth Art	Comet Dash	Straight after your step, a second rush eight blocks on trailing stars, the foes in the way cut and starred. A moment later the trail bursts star by star along its length, striking everything near it, an aura back for each foe it catches.
Final Art	Nova	You gather starlight on your blade for a moment, then it bursts out in a ring over everything within seven blocks, striking it hard and throwing it back; starred foes burst with it. You get aura back for every foe struck, up to half of what it cost.

Hourglass Breath

Time

Breathe in the space between one grain falling and the next.

Hourglass: a little more attack speed with an aura weapon in hand.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Echo Cut	A cut in front, and a golden afterimage left where you stood that strikes it again a moment later, the way you faced, at whatever stands there then.
Second Art	Rewind Leap	A falling cut that drags the foes in front in time (slowed hard for two seconds), then time snaps you back to where you leapt from, if you may still stand there and it’s no more than ten blocks.
Third Art	Stopped Moment	The counter: whoever struck is held still in time for two and a half seconds (a player only briefly), then flung back and struck again by the moment’s snap as time starts once more. The foes beside you are dragged a moment.
Fourth Art	Blur	Straight after your step, a rush seven blocks on faster than any other, the foes in the way cut. For three seconds time drags round you: foes near are slowed, projectiles crossing into it slow to a third, and you’re quickened.
Final Art	Thousand Moments	Time stops round you: every foe within seven blocks is held still for two and a half seconds (a player only briefly) while your cuts gather on it, and when time moves again they all land at once, with half of every blow you struck it meanwhile.

Crimson Breath

Blood

Breathe to the beat of the blood, and the blood answers.

Crimson: a coated blow drinks a little of what it takes, for a little more aura.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Bloodletting	A deep cut that opens a wound in up to three foes in front. It bleeds for three seconds, harder while they run, and you drink a quarter of what it bleeds back as health. (A wind spell on a bleeding foe sets off Rupture.)
Second Art	Red Rain	A falling cut that bursts where it lands, striking everything near, and a red rain falls there for two seconds: every foe under it bleeds, and you drink back a share of all of it as health.
Third Art	Sanguine Parry	The counter: the blow your guard caught becomes a wound in whoever struck it, cutting it and bleeding the blow’s worth back out of it over three seconds, and you drink half of all of it back as health.
Fourth Art	Frenzy	Straight after your step, a second rush seven blocks on through the foes in the way. Each one cut, and each blow of yours that lands after, quickens your blade, up to a fifth faster, until five seconds from the rush.
Final Art	Crimson Moon	A gamble: it takes a quarter of your health (never leaving you under a heart, so it can never kill you), then a great arc of blood-light strikes every foe before you hard, opens wounds in them, and drinks back half of everything it deals, up to ten health.

Tide Breath

Brine

Breathe as the sea breathes: in with the ebb, out with the flood, and never against the current.

Tide: a coated blow pushes its foe back and soaks it (its fire out, a moment slowed), a little more at each stage.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Riptide Cut	Swing, swing, then a low swing: a wide cut of water that soaks the foes in front (fire out, a moment slowed) and the current drags them in toward you.
Second Art	Breaker	A leaping swing (in the air), then a low swing: a wave rolls seven blocks out ahead, cutting and throwing back everything in it, and leaves the ground behind it wet for four seconds: foes in it are slowed, and fire goes out.
Third Art	Whirlpool	The counter (swing straight after a perfect Aura Guard): a whirlpool opens on the ground ahead for three seconds, drawing every foe near to its heart and cutting them each second.
Fourth Art	Surge	Straight after your step, a wave carries you eight blocks on, cutting every foe in the way and carrying them along with you, soaked.
Final Art	Maelstrom	With your aura full, after three full swings and a low swing: the sea rises round you, five waves rolling over every foe near, and then it crashes down and throws them all away.

Iron Breath

Metal

Breathe as the forge’s bellows breathe: deep, steady, and every breath feeding the fire in the steel.

Iron: a coated blow cracks its foe’s armour for three seconds, more at each stage.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Sunder Cut	Swing, swing, then a low swing: one heavy cut through the plates that cracks the armour of the foes in front (four points, for five seconds).
Second Art	Anvil Fall	A leaping swing, then a low swing: you rise and come down like a hammer on an anvil, striking everything near where you land, holding it still a moment and cracking its armour.
Third Art	Bulwark	The counter: your guard sets like iron for three seconds. Blows land weaker and don’t move you, and foes that come near are shoved back. Foes round you as it’s raised are cut and thrown back.
Fourth Art	Forge Charge	Straight after your step, a shoulder-first charge seven blocks on through the line, cutting every foe in the way and cracking its armour.
Final Art	Worldforge	With your aura full, after three full swings and a low swing: a hammer of the world falls where you stand. The foe you face is struck hardest, every foe near is cut, thrown back and its armour cracked wide for eight seconds, and your guard sets like iron.

Dune Breath

Sand

Breathe as the desert wind breathes: dry, patient, and carrying the sand wherever it goes.

Dune: a coated blow may throw grit in its foe’s eyes, blinding it a moment (a creature loses you), a better chance at each stage.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Grit Flick	Swing, swing, then a low swing: a flick of the blade throws sand in the eyes of the foes in front, blinding them a moment (a creature loses you) and slowing them.
Second Art	Quicksand	A leaping swing, then a low swing: the ground ahead turns to quicksand for four seconds, swallowing the feet of every foe in it (slowed hard, drawn to its heart) and grinding at them.
Third Art	Sandveil	The counter: a burst of sand round you blinds every foe near, and for a moment you move quickly and nothing quite finds you.
Fourth Art	Dune Runner	Straight after your step, a run seven blocks on across shifting sand: every foe in the way is cut, its footing gives way (slowed, sinking) and it’s turned aside.
Final Art	Sea of Sand	With your aura full, after three full swings and a low swing: the desert rises round you. Gusts of sand blind and sink every foe near, and then the dunes close over them.

Echo Breath

Wind

Breathe as a struck bell breathes: once, and then again, softer.

Echo: a coated blow may ring again a moment later, and from Edge its foe reels.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Ringing Cut	Swing, swing, then a low swing (crouching): an arc of sound in front. A moment later its ring strikes the same foes again.
Second Art	Resonant Chord	A leaping swing (in the air), then a low swing: a cone of sound ahead. Foes in it are struck, reel and slow.
Third Art	Counterpoint	A counter (swing straight after a perfect Aura Guard): a ring of sound all round throws foes back reeling, then rings again.
Fourth Art	Reverb Step	A step cut (swing straight after an Aura Step): a dash that cuts the foes in the way, then its echo cuts them again.
Final Art	Grand Resonance	Three full swings, then a low swing, with your aura full: a great toll round you, and three echoes after it, each further out.

Dawn Breath

Arcane

Breathe in the first light, and give it back brighter.

Dawn: a coated blow lights its foe up and burns the undead. From Flow it mends you a little.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	First Light	Swing, swing, then a low swing (crouching): a bright cut in front. Its foes are lit up, and the undead burn harder.
Second Art	Sunrise Arc	A leaping swing (in the air), then a low swing: a rising arc of light ahead. Its foes are blinded a moment and lit up.
Third Art	Halo Guard	A counter (swing straight after a perfect Aura Guard): a halo round you. You mend, and the foes near are blinded and thrown back.
Fourth Art	Dawnbreak Rush	A step cut (swing straight after an Aura Step): a dash down a line of light, cutting and lighting the foes in the way.
Final Art	Noon Zenith	Three full swings, then a low swing, with your aura full: a sun overhead, then its noon falls on every foe near, blinding them.

Venom Breath

Life

Breathe as the serpent does: slow, cold, and ready.

Venom: a coated blow may leave a toxin that stacks. From Edge every blow does, and weakens.

Art	Name	What it does
First Art	Fang Strike	Swing, swing, then a low swing (crouching): a quick bite in front. Its toxin stacks with the next bite.
Second Art	Spitting Cobra	A leaping swing (in the air), then a low swing: a spray of venom ahead, poisoning and weakening all it wets.
Third Art	Shed Skin	A counter (swing straight after a perfect Aura Guard): a cut and a slither back. The husk left behind poisons whoever stands in it.
Fourth Art	Serpent Slither	A step cut (swing straight after an Aura Step): a weaving dash. Every foe in the way is bitten and weakened.
Final Art	Hydra Coil	Three full swings, then a low swing, with your aura full: five heads strike all round in turn, each bite stacking the toxin higher.