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Quick tips and trick shots

The short version: ten tips that make the biggest difference, every trick shot, and how the Shop, Stats, badges and the daily gift work. For longer plans, see the guides.

Ten tips to go further

1. Draw across the red dots, not at the archer. The dots are the arrow's exact path. A short line across the middle of them always works.
2. Tilt your blocks. A line tilted toward the shooter sends the arrow home, which removes the archer and all his later shots.
3. Block close to him. Blocks near the ninja count as Perfect: slow motion and double points.
4. Don't hoard ink. Drops refill on their own. An extra line never breaks your combo.
5. Bridges beat ramps for small gaps. A ramp sends him flying, and you then have to deal with where he lands.
6. Use slow time. While your pen is down, the whole world slows. Press, think, then drag.
7. Turn your phone sideways. You see further ahead in landscape, and more warning means calmer lines.
8. Watch the left edge. From 350 metres, some archers shoot at his back. A red arrow on the left edge warns you.
9. Pick the right ink. Fire removes archers for good; steel handles rock storms; rubber jumps long hazards. See the inks guide.
10. Watch the replay. The score card replays your best moment and your last seconds. Switch to Last seconds to see exactly what got you.

Trick shots

Some moves earn a name, bonus points and a badge:

When a sent-back arrow closes in on its target, the game drops into a short slow-motion kill cam.

The Shop

Everything you buy with coins is in the Shop, in three tabs: Run, Fight and Build. Run has four parts:

• Trick: one button during a run that comes back after a cooldown. Shield now puts a shield on, Slow time slows the world, Clear sky sweeps away every arrow, rock and bomb on screen, and Ink refill gives every ink drop back at once. Buy the ones you like and pick which one you carry; mid-run, hold the button and slide onto another.
• Inks: rubber, steel, fire and ice, plus Longer ink (longer lines), More ink drops (more lines ready at the start) and Lasting ink (lines last longer before fading).
• Skills, bought once and on for every run: Lucky charm (every run starts with a shield already on), Ink saver (a line that blocks an arrow gives its ink drop straight back), Arrow bounty (every archer you knock down drops a coin), Boss bounty (every boss leaves a trail of coins) and Second chance (keep going after a fall costs half the coins).
• Upgrades you level up over time:

• Deeper focus: more time to draw, up to nearly five times as much.
• Coin magnet: pulls nearby coins to him.
• Combo keeper: your combo lasts longer before it runs out, up to 9 seconds.
• Coin purse: some coins count double, up to one in three.
• Longer slow time: the slow-time power-up lasts longer.

Fight holds everything for Fight and Duel: the ultimates, from the Tornado kick to Shuriken Rain and Shadow Clone, the moves to learn, skills you buy once and upgrades you level up. Build shows your ninja at the top wearing whatever you tap, so you can try things on before you buy. It has three parts: Ninja (headbands, hats and outfits), Pen (your pen colour and brush: calligraphy, chalk, crayon, glow) and Effects (your trail, hit ink, finisher and knockout, each played on your ninja when you tap it). Headbands come in styles (plain, long tails, stripes, chequered, edged), and under the headbands and the pen colours you can dye them any colour: tap one of twelve, or slide for any other. Some outfits can't be bought and are only earned through badges.

Stats

Tap Stats on the home screen for your rank and the stars to the next one, and your records: your runs, best scores, the bosses you've beaten, what got you most often, and your badges. More on the Fight page.

Fight, Duel and Relaxed pace

The home screen has three ways to play: Run, Fight and Duel. Pick one, then start. Runs from the start and fights from wave 1 can go on the leaderboards, Today and All time. Under the modes, a slider picks where you start: the beginning, or a checkpoint you've reached. Only a start from the beginning goes on the leaderboard, and it shows a gold Ranked tag. The button next to the slider opens the leaderboard.

• Duel is one on one against another player online, best of three, or against a bot. More on the Duel page.
• Fight is a fighting mode. The ninja stands his ground and enemies come at him in waves: fighters, shield bearers, archers, mages, shadows and brutes, with a warlord every fifth wave. Tap an enemy to strike, and where you tap picks the blow: the head for a high kick, the body for punches and knees, the legs for a sweep. Keep tapping on the beat to chain a combo, tap an enemy the moment their ! turns gold to counter, draw a line to dash through a crowd (each dash uses a drop of ink), and when the gauge is full, press the ultimate for a tornado kick, a ground slam or a spinning blade. Coins buy new moves, new ultimates like Shuriken Rain or Shadow Clone, and your fighter's skills and upgrades in the Shop's Fight tab.
• Relaxed pace is a switch in Settings for a calmer run: a slower pace, more room between hazards and longer lines. Coins and missions count; best scores don't.

Daily gift

Open the game once a day for a gift of coins that grows over seven days, from 30 to 200. Day seven adds a free item for your ninja. Miss a day and it starts again from day one. One item in the Shop is also half price each day.

Continue

Once per run, after a fall, you can tap Continue and spend coins to carry on from where you fell: 100, plus 20 for every 100 m you ran. Anything already in the air is cleared and he gets a moment of protection.

Badges

There are 31 badges, from blocking your first arrow to running 3,000 metres or beating every boss. Each pays coins, and several unlock items for your ninja you can't buy. You'll find them all on the Stats screen, along with your lifetime distance, arrows blocked and what gets you most often.

The hardest ones, and what they unlock:

• Gauntlet: beat the first five bosses in one run. Unlocks the Gold trim outfit.
• Boss hunter: defeat all nine bosses. Unlocks the Oni fire trail. Duelist: win 5 duels. Unlocks the Blood moon outfit.
• World master: run through all eight worlds. Unlocks the Lightning trail.
• Street fighter and Last one standing: reach wave 5, then wave 10, in Fight.
• Legend: reach the Legend rank. Unlocks the Golden crest helmet.
• Podium: reach the top 3 of a leaderboard. Unlocks the Gold leaf brush.
• Devoted: play 30 days in a row. Unlocks the Rainbow pen.

Highlight clips

During a run, the game keeps your best moment: a trick shot, a boss kill, or failing that, your last seconds. On the score card, tap Make clip and it turns that moment into a short upright video with your score, ready to share.