Some neat features that could help you out

[Varia Z]

Just been noticing that there seems to be a lot of neat little weapon features that dont seem to be common knowledge, so I figured that one could just share all that here.


* Weapon Shortcuts: You are able to equip more than one weapon at the same time if you select a weapon using the trigger/shortcut buttons. This can come in handy since in practce it would allow you to use up to 3 weapons (4 if you count the sub) at the same time without needing to switch every time. It also allows you to pretty much maximize the DPS spammage, although you gotta be careful when you do it with Sophia as you may run out of energy a lot quicker.




*Lethal Recharge: On top of being able to automatical recharge your weapon gauge completely when you have consumed the entirety of the orange bar, there is also a moment where you will be able to shoot a powerful beam if you fire your cannon just as Sophia flashes green. There is also a similar effect with the blue bar, tho instead of a green beam that can deal a big chunk of damage to any enemy, you only get a blue explosion that really is only effective against minor enemies (like those anoying caterpillar mutants).




*Rushing Attacker: This close range counter is not only great for clearing an entire screen of weaker enemies if you keep pressing the counter button after killing an enemy with it, but if you hit the counter button moments after an enemy touched you, you also will be able to nullify any damage taken.. Which is to say, you wont take any damage at all from bad touches, so long as you make sure to give them a teleporting cut right after. It also can be combined with the sub weapon IX Shredder for maximum damage.



*Spinning Reflector: If you press the dash button without pressening any directional inputs, then you will be able to use the reflector while standing still. So you dont have to dash all around just to defend yourself from projectiles. The Spin Dash in general also has this neat little feature that it will stop your momentum from slippery floors, and will also give you a second to move away from pits if you dash into them. Just make sure to stop walking towards the pits before Jason finishines spinning or else you will fall.




*Ignition Spark: This shocking barrier of electricity is able to grow bigger if you launch it moments before landing from a height. It is also able to explode with energy if the electric orbs it shoots out manages to circle all the way back to it (only really works in rooms with closed walls). It is also capable of turning your harmless Aqua Shift into something closer to the classic Spark Tackle when they are used alongside each other (the shortcut buttons could help in comboing them together).



*Aqua Shift: As mentioned earlier, it can turn into a sparky dash attack much like the ones used in the previous games when combined with Ignition Spark. Tho this one also has the additional feature that it will destroy boxes bellow it when used in its electric state. So if you are ever in a situation where there are multible destructible boxes under you but no way to aim downwards, then just use Aqua Shift + Ignition Spark to be able to grind past them. Aqua Shift also will turn into its electric state when used against certain electric attacks like the orbs fired by Cerbebos and that centipede boss.



*Blast Launcher: It's the first sub weapon you will get for the top down dungeon, but it is also your hardest hitting attack. It's especially effective in the SF dungeons since it can break the walls in a single shot, stun all of the anoying bots, and kill almost everything in just a few hits.


*Gun Levels: You can check what each additional gun level does of your selected gun, if you press the information button (which would be the X button for default Xbox controller or the square button for PS) at the weapons screen, twice.

And that's all the cool features I have found so far, can add more info like this in the comments.

[TouyaShiro]

Some of these are mentioned in-game, and some of them aren't. Here's one that is only mentioned on the website: Spinning Reflector has the ability to restore your sub weapon stock - one stock for each projectile recovered to all your obtained sub weapons! So if you use your sub weapons a lot, like if you're a huge fan of the Graviton Eraser (which has a naturally low stock count) or have begun to use the Unchained Effector more liberally, find some enemies whose projectiles are easily reflected back and you'll be able to abuse them a bit more!

Here's one related to an endgame boss weakness: Bloodstained Planade-G's biggest weakness in Side View is actually the tiny shot you get from Main System Shutdown! If you manage to find a way to drain your main SP reserves before the fight (hint: a required item you pick up in the 6th Area puts you on the edge of shutdown!) and land all your shots, Planade-G's Side View phase will go down even faster than it would if you simply used the G-Crusher Shot+.

Edit: Some more for you. On the note of IX Shredder, here's a secret that I only know thanks to director Satoru Nishizawa demonstrating it during Blaster Master Zero Channel: At any time after you have a Gun Level high enough to perform a 3-attack combo (as is tradition with many Inti Creates characters to have a melee weapon with a three-attack string), you can use the IX Shredder during the third attack and it will turn into a projectile that slowly moves forward, attacking enemies in its pathway. Any enemy hit by it becomes a target for Rushing Attacker, allowing you to do a 5-hit combo on enemies.

And perhaps one that is hard to take advantage of well, but could be useful if explored more: If you fire the RG-Blaster right after performing a Reflex Striker, you will immediately fire a charge shot. Depending on how fast you are on the button, you can potentially fire up to 3 instant charge shots in a single volley of 4 shots after a Reflex Striker.