LEARNING KUNG FU

1. Speak with a trainer to Learn the basics of a technique.
2. Join a Clan and spend Contribution to access most techniques.
3. Train the new technique at the Kung Fu Training Grounds or Chi Kung Training Grounds to learn enough to use it on combat.
4. Add the technique to your Hotbar.
5. Select an appropriate target and press the hotbar key to Perform the technique.
6. Keep using techniques to train them to higher Cheng, increasing their power.

Kung fu is the core of the Nine Dragons experience. Each individual kung fu maneuver is known as a Technique. As they grow in power and prestige, characters will learn new techniques, and improve the ones they already know. Some techniques are so simple that anyone can learn them. Others are lost to time and only contained within rare tomes or artifacts.

In general, kung fu refers to physical maneuvers which deal damage with the body, or with weapons. Someone can reach levels of prowess with kung fu which are, frankly, super-human, but kung fu is basically still rooted in the physical world.

Kung fu is sometimes used only in reference to physical combat maneuvers. But it sometimes also refers to the entire collection of techniques, both kung fu and chi kung.

Chi kung refers to techniques which directly harness chi, the intangible energy of life itself. Chi kung techniques are very obviously supernatural, and can do much more than inflict damage. Chi kung can heal wounds, enhance or diminish combat ability, confuse opponents, or even bring back the recently slain.

All chi kung techniques are closely-guarded secrets, and can only be learned from the clans.

You must find a trainer in order to learn any kung fu at all. Thankfully, representatives from all six active clans have been dispatched to Bamboo Village, and are willing to teach anyone the basics of their clan's respective kung fu styles in the hopes of winning new recruits. These basic weapon techniques, as well as the basic Lightfoot and Meditation techniques, are known as Vagabond skills, since even clanless vagabonds can learn them.

To learn a technique, speak to a trainer, and select the Learn Kung Fu button. You will need to spend a bit of gold to learn techniques from the recruiters, but there's otherwise no limit to the number of techniques you can learn.

Note that daggers and flying wheels techniques can only be learned from the Sacred Flower clan recruiter, who only teaches women. Polearm techniques can be learned only from the Shaolin recruiter, who will only share them with men.

Each weapon type has two vagabond techniques, Active and Smashing. Smashing techniques can be used as soon as they are taught, but active techniques must be Trained first.

Later, once you join a clan, you will see that most techniques offered by your trainers can't be learned yet, because you have not reached the required stage, or another technique has not reached the required cheng. Come back once you're stronger or when you've trained more, and you'll be able to pick up these techniques.

To train the basics of an active kung fu technique, you must use a Training Dummy. Each clan has its own training grounds, but you can also find training dummies in the Eastern part of Bamboo Village.

You must have an appropriate weapon equipped in order to train a technique. You'll receive a complementary weapon early on, depending on which clan you express interest in, but you can obtain basic weapons for each type from a Blacksmith NPC for relatively cheap.

You can use Hands and Feet techniques even without weapons, but your damage will be increased by equipping Gloves. You can't use Hands and Feet techniques while wearing Bracers, however.

Make sure you are in Combat Mode (press Tab to toggle), and click on the training dummy to begin training. Icons of your known active kung fu techniques will be displayed when you begin. If the icon is colored, you've already trained the basics of the technique, and can use it in combat. If the icon is greyed out, you need to train the basics first.

Once you've selected the kung fu technique you'll be training, the training mini-game will begin. You must click the left mouse button when the blue orb moves to within the red area of the bar. Every six successful clicks advances you by one round. Once you've completed three rounds of training, that training session is complete, and you can use that kung fu technique in actual combat.

Chi kung techniques function the same as kung fu, but they must be trained in chi kung training grounds. You won't learn any chi kung until you join a clan after leaving Bamboo Village, as all chi kung training grounds are located in clan bases. Chi kung “dummies” are actually just meditation mats, but function as dummies do.

When you train a chi kung technique, you'll see the same blue orb and red highlighted bar section, but you must use the left and right mouse buttons to keep the orb balanced within the red area, and the orb's position is checked every few seconds. Six successful checks advances you to the next round. Complete three rounds, and training will be complete.

Once you've learned and trained a technique, you must add it to your Hotbar to use it. Open the Kung Fu Window with hotkey S to see a list of your known techniques. Techniques are sorted either by clan (those specific to your clan, and vagabond techniques) and function (techniques with similar functions are grouped).

Find the technique you want to use, click on it, and then click on the hotbar slot you want to use it in. You can now use that technique by pressing the corresponding number key (or Ctrl plus the number key for the top bar), or by left-clicking the technique icon on the hotbar itself.

If you are running out of space on your hotbar, or want to set up multiple skill configurations for different situations, you can swap between three different hotbar setups with ` (Tilde).

TIP: Put commonly-used techniques in easily-reachable hotbar locations, like 1-4. Techniques which only need to be refreshed every few minutes can go on the far side.

Most techniques require a viable Target. To target a creature, left-click on it once. You will use an activated technique if you have a viable target. Otherwise, nothing will happen.

If the target isn't within the minimum range of a technique, you'll move towards them and use the technique once you're close enough.

Most techniques are used on opponents, specifically techniques which inflict damage. Other techniques can be used on other players, if they are in your party. If you want to use a technique on yourself, you can target yourself by pressing U.

Some techniques can only be used on yourself, but these will affect you when used, no matter who your target is.

Techniques cost Vital Energy, which is a measure of your character's chi - their spiritual strength. You can't use most technique if you don't have enough Vital Energy. Some techniques will expend Vital Energy when they are performed, others consume it at a steady rate while they remain active. Active techniques are still used when your Vital Energy is depleted, but will only strike at their minimum possible level of power.

Most techniques have a Recast Time. Once you've performed the technique, you can't use it again until the indicated time has passed. Recast times vary from a couple of seconds, to ten minutes or more.

A few techniques require Consumables to be active before you can use them. Consumable can be purchased from various merchants in the Land. Using a consumable grants you a buff which, while having no effect on its own, allows you to use these techniques. You can purchase multiple versions of each consumable, with more expensive consumables remaining effective for longer. Each clan has its own type of consumable and resulting effect:

• Shaolin - Wood Block (Calmness)
• League of Beggars - Liquor (Sloshed)
• Wu Tang - Incense (Incense Meditation)
• Brotherhood of Thieves - Liquor (Torqued)
• Sacred Flower - Talisman (Possessed)
• Heavenly Demon - Sphere (Sacred Fire)

Techniques get stronger with repeated use. You will see a progress bar below your technique's icon, representing your progress through its current Cheng. Keep using the technique until the bar fills up, and the technique will reach a new cheng, becoming stronger.

Some techniques can only reach a particular cheng if your level is high enough, so there's no point in training these techniques until your level increases.

You can train techniques in combat, but only against foes who would grant you experience. Buff chi kung techniques can be used over and over to train them. You'll also gain training progress in training grounds, even after you know the basics of a technique.

Most techniques can reach a maximum of cheng 10, but you will eventually find ways to transcend this maximum.

TIP: A newly-learned technique might not be as strong as your existing techniques until you've trained with it for a while. Start training early, and you'll be stronger later.

TIP: Many techniques actually INCREASE their Vital Energy cost as your skill with them improve. If you discover that an improved cheng for a particular technique isn't working out so well, you can decrease the cheng it is used at by clicking the tiny white arrows to the left and right of its current cheng display on the technique's hotkey. You can always change it again later.

There are multiple types of techniques, each performed differently.

Kung fu techniques are always either Active, Smashing, or Finishing, and only active techniques require training in order to perform once learned.

• Active techniques remain enabled once activated, and cause you to repeatedly inflict damaging weapon/unarmed strikes against the target. Each strike consumes a small amount of Vital Energy. These techniques are similar to “auto-attack” from most other MMORPG's, but you can learn multiple active techniques, and swap between them as needed. Increasing the cheng of an active technique will increase the number of moves it cycles through, inflicting more damage. Using another technique will reset the cycle, resulting in less damage.
• Smashing techniques deliver a single weapon/unarmed strike, sometimes with additional effects. They generally deal much more damage than active technique strikes, but costing additional Vital Energy.
• Finishing techniques are similar to smashing, but they can only be used when you are beyond a certain distance from an enemy. Finishing techniques are meant for pursuing weakened foes, and usually propel you towards them, letting you finish them off.

Chi kung techniques fall under several categories.

• Passive techniques remain active once activated, and consume the indicated amount of Vital Energy every three seconds. Be careful with these techniques, as they consume Vital Energy even outside combat.
• Casting techniques require a brief period after activation to gather your chi before they are unleashed, but of half a second or less. Some are Instant Cast, but there will still be a slight delay while your character gathers and directs their chi.
• Rounding techniques work like casting techniques, but it takes longer to gather the needed chi. Some have casting times of two seconds or more, which can leave a character vulnerable to interruption.
• Charging techniques work like casting, but you can actually control how much chi is gathered, with higher degrees of charge possible as the technique reaches higher cheng. By holding down the hotkey, you can keep gathering chi, but taking more time and leaving you vulnerable. Release the hotkey to unleash the technique.
• Channeling techniques remain in effect as long as you hold down the ability hotkey, and steadily consuming Vital Energy while they remain active.

Once you've joined a clan, you'll be able to learn their proprietary techniques. Each clan has unique Meditation and Lightfoot techniques which can be learned from all of its trainers, who also teach basic active and striking techniques. But more specialized techniques can only be learned from the trainer specific to your Role.

You can't spend gold to learn techniques from your clan's trainers. Instead, you'll need to increase your Clan Contribution level, by donating items to your clan. Each clan has a specific NPC, usually located near the clan's current leader, who accepts donations. Click the Clan Contribution button on their dialogue window, and then drag and drop items from your inventory into the donation window. You'll be told how much Contribution an item is worth before confirming your donation. Contribution value generally trends towards the sale value of an item to a vendor, but not always.

Next: Leveling Up