How To Bird

The patterns and general characteristics of the bird that frequently gets flipped the bird. Also contains tips on how to exploit their pattern. Contains minor spoilers for The Wall of Sorrow.

Why?

In all the early reviews and comments for The End is Nigh, the most persistent negative thing I've read was about the skull birds populating The Wall of Sorrow. Some people think they're completely random, others hate that some collectibles require you to jump on the birds to get (including one mega tumor whose secret area requires you jump on a bird in a specific spot to access, then ascend up a level by jumping on two birds swooping around you, and then cross an entire level by riding a bird with only two pillars for checkpoints, and that doesn't begin to cover what you have to also go through to talk to the NPC in the same area), and nobody ever says anything positive about the birds and actually means it.

In fairness to those people, the birds do have perhaps the least-predictable pattern in the game, and are a huge menace to your usual casual completionist. While their pattern isn't terribly complex, the details of it aren't easy to spot via casual observation. Therefore, this guide exists. Hopefully this will provide some insight into the bird-brained birds that have survived the death of the world.

NOTE: The following observations are made by one person spending a few hours fully completing and mucking around The Wall of Sorrow. These theses will change if counterevidence is provided or there is word from the developers to the contrary.

What?

Birds are a group of endothermic vertebrates, characterised by feathers, toothless beaked jaws, the laying of hard-shelled eggs, a high metabolic rate, a four-chambered heart, and a strong yet lightweight skeleton. With that out of the way...

Birds, at the start of a level, will flap idly across the screen. When they are first encountered, the bird triggers when it's flying toward and approximately 10 tiles away (along the horizontal axis) from the player. If the player is above or behind them, they will not trigger. They can also be bounced on while idle without triggering them.

At that point, it will attempt to divebomb said player at a roughly 45 degree angle, stopping once they reach a line that was approximately level with where the player was when they started to dive. They will then swoop horizontally for a moment. If at that point they are at least 2 blocks above the player, they will dive in the player's direction as above. Otherwise, they will fly diagonally and upwards, ascending about 7 blocks and moving in the horizontal direction of the player (and potentially overshooting them), then perform the check again.

They ignore all terrain and can fly off screen. Like any other enemy with a skull for a head, they can be hit from above and bounced off of, but this itself does not change their movement (however, the direction of their ascenct can spuriously change if the player starts being on the wrong side of the bird). Their horizontal movement speed, once triggered, is identical to the player's.

How?

If you're just passing through The Wall of Sorrow without going for secrets or worrying too much about collectibles, there isn't much need to jump on them. In that case, the best way to avoid getting hit is to keep moving upward (which is the direction you generally need to go on most bird levels) or downward (floating downward on a cloud is enough to make them swoop harmlessly overhead). Don't move too much side to side when going downward, because in that case the bird will dive, swoop, and immediately dive again, making you much more likely to get hit.

If you are backtracking at all and don't need the birds for anything, you can wait for them to flap off screen. In that case, they will never be triggered no matter what you do. Note that going forward through the levels, the developers do not make it possible to avoid triggering at least one bird.

If you do find yourself in a position where you need to jump on birds, then your best strategy is to get one doing figure eights around and above you. If you can get the bird to go underneath you while you're on the ground, that is preferable but trickier. When the bird starts nearing the end of its dive, jump up. Once it's underneath you, move in the direction the bird is moving. Remember, the bird has the same horizontal movement speed you do, so don't slow down. If you miss the opportunity to get on the bird, don't chase after it. You won't catch it and might change its movements.

If you need to do a high jump, remember to hold down the jump button. Otherwise, if you're looking to "ride" the bird, don't hold down the jump button and instead gently bounce on it. Ideally you'll be slightly in front of the bird, or it might change directions on you. With quick reflexes, you should be able to stay on it anyway and even correct its direction.

Note that if all you need to do is jump once on the bird, you can jump on it while it's diving, though it won't be easy as your window to hit the bird without it being too high or low will be fairly narrow.

Be patient, practice, don't be afraid to restart if their patterns get unmanagable, and eventually you too may achieve something like this:

[ggm91]

tbh except from the precision requires on the key mega tumor I found the wall of sorrow collectables to be quite easy to obtain. The birds only gave me hardly any trouble

[Snakes with chinese traits]

tyler glaiel confirmed that the birds aren't random, but have a randomly generated seed for each level

[aub]

@Master of Practice there are no achievements or any sort of in-game recognition for talking to NPCs.

[Flamy]

Fucking skull-birds.

[Lars]

they are still shit

[<:)]

Is talking to the ghosts required for any achievements? It's bad enough to have to ride consecutive birds with no safe grround betwee them, but to also end up back a few screens if you fall off the bottom of the screen is just pure evil.

[Dullsonic3]

Thanks for this guide! So the brids aren't as totally RNG as i thought they would.

[Achi]

i fucking hate birds