Blog:Ranking All 13 Technical Skills in the Dark Witch Series

I love the Technical Skills in the Legend of Dark Witch series. Just like the weapons in Mega Man or the relics in Shovel Knight, I find it so fun to use a weapon received from a stage, and figure out how to best utilize it in segments in other stages. However, not all weapons are designed equally, and of course some weapons are going to be more effective than others. This is especially true for the Dark Witch series, so I'm going to personally rank all of the Technical Skills in the first two Dark Witch games (since 3 doesn't have Technical Skills). Before we start, however, let's lay down some ground rules.

Ground Rules

 * I will not be ranking the default shots you get in the games such as Liner, Comet, Punish, CobaltFire, etc.
 * I will be ranking these weapons based on when you first get them, meaning I will not be thinking about how these weapons are when they are upgraded, ie. DIA Missile getting more projectiles.

This is my opinion, and since it’s coming from me, take it with less than a grain of salt. These are just based on how much I like these weapons and the uses I found for them. If you think a weapon is better or worse let me know. With that out of the way, let's get this unnecessarily long blog started! Prepare yourself for a lot of Mega Man comparisons.

13. Ground Impact
You know your weapon is bad when the weapon that takes up your entire capacity gauge is above it in the ranking. There is definitely an argument for why Ground Impact is better, but it’s my list, and I dislike Ground Impact more, so it’s here. Ground Impact is a skill you get from beating Papelne, and it’s a lot like Mega Man 10’s Thunder Wool in the sense that it’s such a cool idea but it has such an extreme amount of flaws that it borders on unusable. Like, a grounded weapon, especially one that sends claws out of the ground to slash up at your opponents, sounds really good for this game, right? Well, let’s ruin that.

First off, it does, like, one damage to the opposing guys. Why even bother using it then when you have other BETTER weapons IN THE SAME GAME that also deal the same amount or more? But it gets worse. This thing is super hard to hit, because there’s giant fucking spaces between each claw, and it’s hard to judge the distance, so your best bet is getting right up close to the enemy. If you want a close range weapon, DIA Missile is more powerful, and weapons with better range like Bound Ring are easier to land. But the worst part about this weapon is that there are so few spots you can even USE the damn thing. You can’t use it while jumping, which is great considering this is a platforming game. But also, if Ground Impact reaches a crevice of any kind, going up or down, it just stops going. You know, in a game with tons of them?! Where the hell are you even supposed to use this damn thing?! The payoff isn’t even remotely worth it!!!! You know what, this weapon is garbage. I don’t even want to look at it anymore, next weapon, please.

12. Overhelm
Unlike the previous weapon, Overhelm is a lot easier for me to explain my feelings on. Overhelm is a skill you receive from defeating Herbert, and for the most part, it performs pretty well. It spawns a shield around your character, and when the shield hits any enemies, it will deplete until it eventually breaks. It’s a really cool idea, and unlike Ground Impact, where I really tried to find efficient uses for it throughout the game but really couldn’t, Overwhelm theoretically could be used quite efficiently. So why’s it so low? It’s because of one major flaw- it depletes your entire capacity gauge.

I understand that if it didn’t delete much of it Overhelm would be too overpowered, but depleting all of it just takes away from other weapons you could be using, and the shield simply drains too fast for the loss of an entire capacity gauge to be worth it. It’s a shame, because if it used about half of the capacity meter or something like that, it would be really good and also balance the weapon. But for now, it remains the weapon in The Legend of Dark Witch 2 that I rarely, if ever, end up using.

11. Circlecron
From here, the Technical Skills in this list should improve much more from here on out. However, Circlecron isn’t personally what I would call good. This is a skill received from beating Sola. When the fire button is pressed, two orbs will spin around you, and disappear when an enemy collides with them. They can also be fired straight towards any enemies. In a sense, it’s a lot like the Water Shield from Mega Man 10, but nowhere near as good. For starters, it doesn’t block projectiles. But screw that, it barely blocks anything! There are only two orbs circling around you slowly anyway, meaning there’s plenty of space for an enemy to just come up and attack you anyway! The circles don’t even do that much damage to enemies coming close, so they just come close and deal damage to you! So much for being a shield weapon, but it does have one use that prevents it from ranking near Ground Impact. You can fire these orbs, and the way these orbs spin actually make firing it quite useful for when your line or comet shots can just barely reach a target. It doesn’t do much damage, but hey, it’s a use in the game, and that works for me.

10. Divide Ice
Divide Ice is a weapon you get from beating Al. It’s a weapon that arcs upward and after a while, slowly falls down. Pressing the attack button causes the weapon to break into three shards that fly in three random directions. Unfortunately, Divide Ice deals, like, zero damage. I can understand for the small pieces that fly out of the orb, but the random nature of their flight direction makes them hard to hit with anyway. But why does the big orb do the same amount as the shards? It also uses up way too much Capacity in Renovation for the amount of damage it does. It’s disappointing, because there are so many ways that they could have fixed this weapon to make it better. In a way, it’s a lot like Circlecron in terms of its uses and flaws, and it was somewhat tricky deciding which of the two was better. But Divide Ice wins for two reasons. The first is that I think the arcing motion is quite helpful, even with the pitiful damage. It actually helped me get past the first part in Verri’s stage as Riva with the changing blocks, so I can respect it for that. The second reason is that, well, I just really like the idea of Divide Ice. It has so much potential and I hope it gets improved if it ever comes back.

9. Upper Tornado
This was a tricky weapon to rank, especially since when I thought I was finished ranking these weapons, I realized I forgot Upper Tornado existed. This is the skill received when beating Stoj, and at first glance, is a considerably disappointing weapon. When the button is pressed, it will summon a small tornado that lingers for a few seconds, dealing damage to enemies before disappearing. It’s meant to be sort of a trap weapon, but not that many enemies in the game really, well, move? Its vertical range is also pathetic, but compared to some of the other garbage in DW1 that we’ve seen, this is one of the better weapons. It’s pretty useful in Sola’s stage against the parakeets and it at least does more damage than the other weapons in DW1, plus I’ve actually used it more than two times! I’m also kind of biased with this ranking, Stoj’s stage in Renovation was the first Dark Witch stage I chose, and the disappointment I felt after seeing Upper Tornado’s pathetic range compared to when Stoj uses it will never be topped for me. So yeah, this weapon sucks, but it's a good kind of sucky.

8. Lord Attack
This is a weapon you get from beating Rudy, which is weird because I don’t think she ever uses Lord Attack? But anyways, Lord Attack is a pretty interesting weapon, my best comparison of how it functions would be like if the Charge Kick from Mega Man 5 were in DW2, but you could use it in the air. It’s weird because sometimes when dashing through enemies you’ll get damaged, but maybe that’s because I’m not great with the weapon. Oftentimes you’ll just want to defeat an enemy instead as opposed to dashing through them, but for that purpose, I’d say this weapon does its job well and I’ve actually used it on occasion to dash through or above enemies, mainly in Litty’s stage. Speaking of which, who the hell thought it was a good idea to lock one of the Syega in her stage behind upgrading Lord Attack or Dark Matter?! Without the internet you’d have no idea how to get it otherwise because the shop doesn’t tell you the upgrades break blocks! Ugh, but anyway, Lord Attack is a decent weapon.

7. DIA Missile
DIA Missile is the skill you get when beating Klinsy, and it’s another one of those weapons that disappointed me when I first played DWR. When I saw that little reticle appear over an enemy, I thought it’d be a weapon that would target any enemy on screen like the homing sniper in Mega Man 8. Instead, you have to get close to enemies to use it. I think if you’d told me where to rank DIA Missile when I first played DW1, I would’ve put it much lower, but it’s actually not too bad in the game. It’s more powerful than half of the weapons in the game, and replaying the game, I’ve found a decent amount of uses for the weapon. One that stuck out to me was hitting a fairy that you couldn’t reach in Blad’s stage. For what it’s worth, in DW1, I’d say DIA Missile is a weapon worth experimenting with.

The Legend of Dark Witch 2’s DIA Missile is a different story. It’s not that it’s bad, in fact, it’s still quite decent, but DIA Missile was good in the first game because half the weapons in the game were garbage. In Dark Witch 2, you have a lot more options for getting by and dealing damage to enemies. There are also more enemies that move in the game, making it harder to hit the weapon. Don’t get me wrong, DIA Missile still has its uses, but what it can do in DW2, weapons like Boing Boing and High Power Beam can do better.

6. Dark Matter
Dark Matter is a black hole weapon you get from beating Mari. It’s not AS effective of a black hole weapon as the Black Hole Bomb in Mega Man 9, but it’s still fun in its own right. Like Black Hole Bomb, when you fire it, it’ll show a little dot flying by to indicate where Dark Matter will be when you press it again. Then it unleashes a black hole that does damage over time to enemies before disappearing for a few seconds. The damage of the weapon is really good and I think it makes up for not being able to aim it. It’s useful in Herbert’s stage versus the teacup mermaids and in Klinsy’s stage against some enemies blocked by books, among other places. It’s overall a really solid weapon, though if it sucked in enemies like Black Hole Bomb I think it would probably take first place.

5. Boing Boing
This is a weapon you get from defeating Kuito, and look, I’ll be the first to admit that Boing Boing isn’t the most effective skill to use in most situations. It’s a weapon that bounces up and down and off surfaces, but it’s slow and doesn’t do that much damage. Doesn’t seem too spectacular, so why is it so high up?

It’s just really fun to use.

The fun factor is very high on this one for me. Watching Boing Boing bounce up and down as it makes its way to hit its target is so fun for me. Playing around with Boing Boing and experimenting with it is what makes Technical Skills so fun in the first place. Sure, you could just use Illusion Shot or even the Liner Shot, but having a fun weapon and testing out where it works well is what makes these weapons so special in the first place. Speaking of experimenting, I’ve found a lot of uses for the weapon as I was using it. It’s an arcing weapon, a much better one than Divide Ice at that since it doesn’t use a third of the capacity gauge. It’s useful against several enemies in the air, like in Urken’s stage, getting the Syega in Icke’s stage, the monkey enemies in Klinsy’s stage, I could go on but this article is too long already. Is it the most effective way to deal with these enemies? Probably not, but watching Boing Boing bounce to perfectly hit an enemy every time fills my husk of a body with joy. The only reason it isn’t higher on the list is because it’s kind of useless if you’re playing as Sola, since you already have an arcing weapon from the getgo with Drop and that’s one of your best attacks. But with Zizou, Boing Boing is a blessing.

4. Bound Ring
This is the weapon you get when beating Blad, and to me, this is hands down the best weapon in the first Dark Witch game. I love any weapon that bounces around the screen to eventually hit its enemies (Gemini Laser, Rebound Striker, etc.), so having one in this game is a wonderful change of pace. It’s pretty good too, probably the best way to deal with enemies above you since you can fire it diagonally upwards. It’s basically all of the appeal of Boing Boing for me but combined with weapons like Rebound Striker, so it’s perfect! Well, almost. A weird thing with this weapon is that you can’t fire it forward? I don’t know why but it’s either diagonally up or down with this weapon, no exceptions. But yeah this weapon is awesome and I’ve used it so much during my playthroughs of the first Dark Witch game.

3. Time Division
First off, may I mention that Time Division might be the coolest name for a special weapon ever? Like, just take a second to say it to yourself. TIME DIVISION. But anyways, this is a weapon you get from beating Urken, and it feels like another weapon specifically catered to me because Time Slow is one of my favorite Mega Man weapons, and Time Division is practically identical. As I mentioned, there are a lot more enemies that move in this game compared to the first game, so slowing them down to maneuver around them and their projectiles much quicker is so much freaking fun. Sure, you could just shoot them, but you can also shoot them while Time Division is active. I don’t have too much to say about this weapon, other than it’s a great addition to the solid weapon roster of Dark Witch 2.

2. Illusion Shot
Illusion Shot is the weapon you get from defeating Litty, one of my personal favorite Dark Witch characters. It’s a weapon that starts out going straight forward, disappears, and reappears in front of the closest enemy to hit them. Tl;dr it’s a homing weapon, and it’s actually really good. Being a homing weapon, it’s really effective at hitting enemies that are out of reach from your basic shots. You’d think there wouldn’t be that many uses for this weapon, but there are a surprising amount of enemies just out of your reach for your basic shots. Seriously, give it a shot, you’ll find a lot more uses for it than you’d think. Sure, it doesn’t do that much damage, but if it did, it would be too overpowered, and you can fire it multiple times anyway. Overall, Illusion Shot is a fantastically designed weapon in my opinion, and is a great showcase on how to design a game around your weapons. My only issue with the weapon is that if an enemy is too close to you it won’t home in on them, but you’ll usually be able to hit them when you first launch the weapon anyways. Illusion Shot is a great weapon, but not number one. No, that spot would go to…

1. High Power Beam
I love High Power Beam so freaking much. Whenever I play Dark Witch 2 I always start on Kuito’s stage to get Boing Boing, then immediately head over to Icke’s stage to get High Power Beam and destroy everything in the stages from there. It’s the same joy I get from using other high damage weapons like Specter of Torment’s Dread Talon (yeah, a Shovel Knight comparison instead of a Mega Man one, daring today aren’t we?). Basically, to summarize this weapon, it’s a giant beam you fire in front of yourself that lingers for a few seconds before disappearing. Like I mentioned earlier, this is meant to be the powerful weapon that does a lot of damage, and it really lives up to that title because this weapon’s damage is no joke. It one shots nearly every enemy you come across. Its range is also really good, and you can move and jump while using it. This allows you to easily take out hordes of enemies in front of you, as well as being able to take out enemies before they even appear on screen, both of which are *chef’s kiss* so satisfying to do. And it has so many uses in the stages too, I don’t think it’s useless in any of the stages in Dark Witch 2, which is really impressive and more than I can say about some other weapons. So it’s a weapon that’s powerful, with good range, AND sees use in basically every stage!

And the thing is, too, with a weapon like this, they could’ve easily made this weapon too overpowered. But it uses JUST the right amount of Capacity gauge; not too little to make sure you can’t spam it, but also not too much so it isn’t useless like Overhelm. So, not only is it really good, they also balanced it damn near flawlessly. But I think my favorite part of the weapon is the fact that it’s just so fun and satisfying to use, which is what I think makes a Technical Skill or weapon go from good to great. Of course, you could just use the best weapon, but I think what makes it special is how fun it is to go into the stages and test the weapon out. And isn’t that what you play a game for? To have fun? So yeah, High Power Beam is everything you’d want in a Technical Skill. Powerful yet balanced, satisfying to use, tons of uses and most importantly, fun. That’s why I personally think High Power Beam is the best Technical Skill in the Dark Witch series.

So yeah, that was fun. Sorry it ended up so long, I had a lot more to talk about than I thought. Let me know your opinions on some of these weapons in the comments!