Much like the Castlevania games, the spiritual successor, known as Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, is chock-full of gear, skills, augmentations, and other goodies to tinker with. As such, it can be tough to pinpoint just which items and assets should be sought after and focused on. And with a sprawling, often-grueling Metroidvania such as this, it's crucial to have Miriam be as powerful and resourceful as possible. One of the biggest ways to achieve this is to seek out potent Shards and Enhance them. These items alone come in a number of forms, segmented by a handful of categories.
One of the underappreciated subgroups is the Passive Shards. These offer temporary boosts that can become permanent and turn to Skill Shards once Enhanced enough. This list will highlight 10 of the best, most useful Skill Shards, and touch on how to obtain them. Keep in mind, most of these are actually Passive Shards that the become Skill Shards upon reaching rank 9.
10 Augment LCK
This is a very useful skill for a number of reasons. Of course, an increase in LCK means rarer items from crafting or farming Shards. Not only this - it will increase the drop rate by 4% upon ranking up and unlocks the ability to craft the similarly-handy Augment Gold.
The Augment LCK Shard is dropped by Deathtrap in the Inferno Cave and Oriental Sorcery Lab. It can be enhanced with: 1 Ectoplasm (rank 2-4), 1 Ectoplasm and 1 Holy Water (5-7), and 1 Ectoplasm and 1 Dragon's Wrath (8-9)
9 Augment STR
As is the case with most combat-heavy games, having ample strength is crucial, and opportunities to bolster this stat in a grueling romp like Bloodstained should be taken advantage of. This passive shard is definitely worth ranking up, as it not only grants a permanent STR boost, but it also increases attack speed.
This can be found by taking out Gaaps in the Oriental Sorcery Lab. Enhance ingredients include: 1 Ectoplasm (1-3), 1 Ectoplasm and 1 Holy Water (4-6), and 1 Ectoplasm and 1 Fiend Fang (7-9).
8 Augment MND
Just like STR, MND proves to be another vital stat players will generally want to raise. After all, there are a number of spells Miriam will be unleashing on foes with the Conjure, Familiar, and ever-impactful Directional Shards. Essentially, the more of these you can bust out in a short period of time, the better. Thus, it's a good idea to have ample MP, and this is achieved by driving up the MND Stat.
These are dropped by the faerie creature Titania in Livre Ex Machina and the Hall of Termination. Enhance ingredients include: 1 Ectoplasm (1-3), 1 Ectoplasm and 1 Holy Water (4-6), and 1 Ectoplasm and 1 Fiend Pelt (7-9).
7 Pickpocket
As players delving deep into Bloodstained will find, you can never accumulate too much wealth or goodies. Even if a player is well-equipped and powerful, there will almost always be an opportunity to augment certain attributes, and a need to earn more Gold.
The Pickpocket passive/skill will aid in this - as it allows players to sometimes steal items from enemies every time Miriam strikes an enemy. It can even potentially cause the target to yield multiple items. Then there's the rank bonus, which adds a chance for Gold to be dropped. Pickpocket drops from the creatures known as Gusions. Enhance ingredients are: 1 Lili Tail (2-4), 1 Lili Tail and 1 Witch's Tears (5-7), and 1 Lili Tail and 1 Queen's Tears (8-9).
6 Deep Sinker
It's good to be able to access as many areas as possible for most of the duration of Bloodstained. And though it doesn't come into play much until late in the game, this is the case when it comes to underwater diving. This is where the one-off Deep Sinker comes into play. Areas like the Forbidden Underground Waterway will be inaccessible until it's obtained.
It can be found to the right of the elevator in the Hidden Desert. Miriam will first need to defeat Alfred in the top room.
5 Double Jump
This handy skill manages to be even more useful than the previous entry in terms of getting around, as basic travel becomes a much easier feat when getting it. Being able to jump again in mid-air makes a huge difference in terms of convenience, speed, and safety. Many hard-to-reach platforms can be traversed without taking the longer routes often required to reach them.
This is obtained after defeating the boss of Livre Ex Machina, Andrealphus.
4 Money Is Power
The above title isn't just words of wisdom - it's also the tag for one of the more useful Skill Shards in Bloodstained. There's something of a catch here, as you'll need to have obtained a decent amount of wealth for its usefulness to really kick in. But assuming you do, this can be massively effective. What it does is increase all your stats proportionate to your wealth. So assuming a player has a ton of Gold, they can really be a wrecking machine.
In addition to this, enhancing it increases the amount of gold gained when selling items. These are dropped by Mimics - an enemy that may be pesky but is certainly worth the trouble. It can be enhanced with 1 Gold (1-3), 1 Crimsonite (4-6), 1 Orichalcum (7-9).
3 Words Of Wisdom
Speaking of wise words, this Skill Shard is highly useful, especially to those who favor using spells. This is because it reduces the consumption of MP - affecting Shards as well as Techniques. This reduction is percentage-based which increases with higher ranks, so it's worthwhile to level up this Passive and turn it into a Skill Shard.
These drop from Archdemons, which are found in Dian Cecht Cathedral, Hall of Termination, and Forbidden Underground Waterway. Enhancement ingredients are as follows: 1 Sinister Heart (2-4), 1 Demon Heart (5-7), 1 Fiend Heart (8-9).
2 Regenerate
As it increasingly becomes clear when playing, Bloodstained is generally pretty relentless, and HP can be tough to maintain. Sure there are potions and save points, though depending on one's finances and location - they're not always viable options. Thus, the Regenerate Skill, which periodically restores HP, works wonders in keeping Miriam alive. Those moments of retreat or exploration can now be spent in recovery.
This is a tricky one to obtain, as the player first must have the Manipulative Shard Healing (which drops from Sidhe in Underground Sorcery Lab). It then requires a High Potion, a Demon Tail, a Faerie Wing to craft.
1 Red Remembrance
Players will certainly remember this one, on account of its universally potent nature. It boosts all stats as Miriam's HP decreases. This is actually quite handy - as you'll typically need these boosts most when being assaulted by foes and your HP is dwindling. And it exponentially boosts according to HP, so players can be a force to be reckoned with when health is at a critical level.
Fans have even claimed that this is so good it's basically "broken." These are dropped by Blood Bugs in the Inferno Cave, and are Enhanced with: 1 Inhuman Carapace (1-3), 1 Inhuman Carapace, and 1 Monster Blood (4-6), and 1 Inhuman Carapace and 1 Demon Horn (7-9).