Sanguine Art

How to get it

From Shafi, hidden in a base connected by a tunnel near the Island Boys, at Tiki Outpost (Third Sea). No Mastery is required on another style: you can learn it even while still on Combat.

1. Bring a Leviathan Heart to Shafi. You get it by defeating the Leviathan, hooking it with the Beast Hunter ship's harpoon, then bringing it back to Tiki Outpost so it enters your inventory. Without this heart, Shafi tells you "You lack a cold heart..." and nothing happens. It is consumed at purchase.
2. Provide the materials: 20 Demonic Wisps, 20 Vampire Fangs, 2 Dark Fragments.
3. Pay 5,000,000 Beli and 5,000 Fragments.

Moveset

Key	Move	Preview	Description
M1	Normal Attack	▶	You summon dark red energy: a slash to the left with your right hand, a slash to the right with your left hand, a double slash with both hands, then a barrage of darkness forward. Moderate range, a bit longer on the fourth hit, and especially M1s that reach at distance, which is rare for a fighting style. The click rate is very fast, at the level of Water Kung Fu. Combined with Buddha, the range increases enormously.
Z	Bloodbane Drain Mas. 125	▶	You propel yourself toward your cursor over a short to medium distance. If an enemy is in the way, you grab them almost instantly by the throat and release bat-like creatures that heal you by devouring them, before ejecting them. The move heals you 20% of your total HP even if the target dodges at Instinct, and the healed amount doesn't decrease when damage is lower. If the enemy is further along the trajectory, you travel about 1.6 times the normal distance to reach them. The principle is similar to Shadow's [C]. On the downside: single-target, it freezes you in place during animation, and it's hard to land with Buddha where you need to aim from above.
X	Scarlet Tear Mas. 250	▶	You launch six claw-shaped slashes toward your cursor (comparable to Dragon's [X] West version and its third default M1), which leave claw marks on the ground and walls in front of you. The slashes explode in a scarlet burst at the end of their path if they hit a solid surface. Damage is higher if the target takes both the trail and the explosion, which requires hitting them at a certain distance. Aimed at the ground when the enemy is far, the blast pushes them toward you or to the sides depending on your angle; aimed straight ahead when they're close to you, the claws push them away instead.
C	Devourer of Worlds Mas. 350	▶	You fire a dark red leech projectile toward your cursor, with two very different behaviors. If it hits: you grab the opponent and pull them toward you, five energy orbs appear around them and pummel them, and the move divides into more leeches depending on the number of enemies hit. The target can no longer dash, use Flash Step, or cast a move for about 1.2 seconds, with a small extension if they were in the air at the moment of the stun. If it misses: a sphere of darkness floats in the air then explodes, inflicting minor damage around it, and a leech goes to track the enemy in a wider radius, wounding them on contact. If there's no one in the area, the orb dissipates. It's the most powerful [C] of all fighting styles, but its end-lag is significant and the orb is easily dodged at distance.

Reload and Energy cost

M1s have no reload or cost.

Against Instinct

All Sanguine Art moves can break Instinct. Move by move details:

• [Z] Bloodbane Drain breaks Instinct on a direct hit. It can be dodged by moving to the sides, and the opponent can also trick you during the grab.
• [X] Scarlet Tear: the scarlet explosion can be dodged if the opponent is on the edge of the zone.
• [C] Devourer of Worlds breaks Instinct if well aimed, but projectiles like the part that pulls the opponent toward you can be dodged separately. Even when it misses, both the small explosion and the big projectile can break Instinct.

Maximizing life steal

The [Z] heals 20% of your total HP by default. By stacking everything the game offers, the source reports life steal that goes up to about 47 to 50% per [Z]:

• the [X] of the Skull Guitar
• the Ghoul Mask
• Ghoul V4, Blood Siphon at tier 2
• playing at night (Nychthemeron)

Two limits to know: healing does not work on Sea Beasts (the bats do inflict damage on them, but without grab or heal), and the healed amount stays the same even when the move does less damage.

Tips and particularities

• The only style with a move that steals life, and it has neither an upgraded nor downgraded version, unlike all others.
• With Water Kung Fu, it has the fastest M1 speed in the game, and its M1s are ranged, which is rare for a fighting style.
• It has the most powerful [C] of all fighting styles in raw damage.
• The [Z] has targeting aid: it grabs an opponent directly in front of you, which extends the grab range to about 1.6 times the normal straight-line distance.
• The [C] is an AoE multi-target: it can grab multiple opponents at once, and even when it misses, it continues to track multiple enemies.
• The [Z] can put you on the ground in ragdoll, which boosts the Skull Guitar.
• Purchase trap: if you have a Leviathan Heart and interact with Shafi, your materials are consumed automatically, even if you didn't want to buy yet.
• Known bug: after a [C] Devourer of Worlds, you can get stuck in the move's stance. Re-casting [C] unlocks the situation.

• Buddha's dead zone: unlike most styles and swords, Sanguine Art has a dead zone with Buddha. It doesn't hit enemies stuck under your feet or too close to the center of your character, and it has no 360-degree hitbox, so nothing behind you.
• The only NPCs using this style are the Haunted Crew Member, the Red Commander, and the [V] Ghost Busters of the Ghosts (only when you yourself have Sanguine Art equipped).
• The name comes from Latin "sanguis", blood, which also designates blood-red color in heraldry.

What changed

Update 29.2 (nerf): the range of [C] Devourer of Worlds was reduced by 15% and its hitbox size by 10%.

Strengths and weaknesses

Our take

Update history

Fighting Style : Sanguine Art·Released : Update 20

1. Update 20 21 octobre 2023 Release ▾

   • Addition of Sanguine Art to the game.

   See update 20