When you start playing Shindo Life, you do not have any attacks, skills, or abilities besides attacking with your fist by clicking the mouse (m1 attack) and the attack on the ‘Q’ key (Q-spec).
It can be a bit confusing when you’re a new player as to how you can obtain any abilities, as most of them actually can’t be obtained before you’ve done a specific thing in the main menu.
Recommended Read: How to Get Weapons in Shindo Life
You can get abilities in Shindo Life by obtaining bloodlines and elements and unlocking their abilities, unlocking sub-abilities, finding special weapons, and obtaining specific modes.
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How to obtain moves in Shindo Life
At the beginning of the game, you do not have any abilities, also known as skills or moves, in Shindo Life and can only fight using your fists.
To become a powerful ninja, you need to unlock skills and abilities, which can be done in various ways.
Here are the different things that can give you abilities and skills in Shindo Life:
- Bloodlines
- Elements
- Sub-abilities
- Weapons
- Modes
- Kenjutsu
- Combat Arts
The first three in the list above can give you skills that you can put in your toolbar, while the last two can give you new m1 attacks, q-spec, and c-spec attacks, which some people will also consider as abilities and skills, even though you technically have both of those from the start, just very weak versions.
Bloodlines
Bloodlines give you access to the skills and abilities of the specific bloodline that you have obtained. Some bloodlines also give you access to one or more modes.
After you’ve obtained a bloodline, you need to level up the bloodline before you can unlock its abilities. You can level it up by damaging enemies or training logs, or completing quests. Bloodlines are obtained from the “Edit” tab of the main menu and cost spins to roll.
Once you’ve leveled up a bloodline to the level requirement of an ability in that bloodline, you can unlock it by opening the menu by pressing ‘M’ on your keyboard, going to “Bloodline”, clicking the ability you wish to unlock, and clicking [UNLOCK].
Unlocking an ability costs RYO and has both a bloodline level and CHI stat requirement as well. In the Bloodline menu, you can see the requirements to you need to meet before you can unlock an ability.
After unlocking a bloodline ability, you can equip it by pressing it again and clicking one of the “Equip [X]” buttons.
You can have up to 2 bloodlines at a time by default, but it is possible to purchase an additional 2 bloodline slots with Robux. Some bloodlines are much stronger than others – learn more in our Shindo Life bloodlines tier list.
Elements
Elements work in a similar way as bloodlines. You obtain them by spinning them in the ‘Edit’ tab of the main menu.
Once you’ve obtained an element, you need to level it up by damaging enemies or training logs, or completing quests, and then you can unlock each of its abilities under “Element” in the menu.
After unlocking an ability of an element, you can equip it by pressing it again and clicking one of the “Equip [X]” buttons.
Abilities from elements are quicker to obtain as they require a lower element level, stat, and RYO requirement than bloodline abilities. Elements do not have any modes.
Like bloodlines, you can have 2 elements at a time by default, but you can purchase an additional two slots with Robux.
You can see how good each element in the game is in our Shindo Life elements tier list.
Sub-abilities
Unlike abilities from bloodlines and elements, sub-abilities are not a set of abilities you can unlock, but rather just one individual ability.
You can see all the different sub-abilities in the game in the “Sub-Ability” tab in the menu, which can be accessed by clicking ‘M’ on your keyboard.
Most of the best sub-abilities in Shindo Life are Hidden Techniques, which are located at the bottom of the “Sub-Ability” page.
You can obtain sub-abilities in Shindo Life by finding the scroll for a specific sub-ability. Once you’ve obtained the scroll for one, you can unlock it when you meet its level, stat, and RYO requirement.
Almost all sub-ability scrolls can only be obtained by finding them spawn. Each spawnable sub-ability has a specific spawn location and a time when they have a chance to spawn. You can find all spawn times here with a live countdown.
As sub-abilities are not guaranteed to spawn in their location at their spawn time, you can visit several private servers for the same location right after its spawn time to give yourself the most chances of finding it.
Some sub-abilities can be purchased outright without you needing to find a scroll first, and some can be obtained by defeating certain bosses.
After unlocking a sub-ability, you can equip it like a bloodline or element ability by pressing it and selecting which hotkey you wish to have it linked to.
Weapons
Though weapons do not grant any abilities that you can have in your toolbar like bloodlines, elements, and sub-abilities do, weapons do replace your current m1 attack and q-spec attack.
Some weapons provide so powerful m1 attacks and q-spec attacks that they feel like new abilities, even though you technically do have m1 attack and q-spec attack, even when you only have your fists at the beginning of the game.
Nevertheless, to obtain new m1 attacks and q-spec attacks from weapons, you simply need to equip a weapon.
Weapons can also be obtained by finding them spawn and some by defeating specific bosses. A few weapons can be purchased outright without needing to find a scroll first.
Modes
Just like weapons, some modes also give you new m1 attacks and q-spec attacks, but they do not give abilities you can put in your toolbar, like bloodlines, elements, and sub-abilities. Some modes do, however, also give you a new c-spec attack, which is used by blocking and clicking C when in mode (or “Z” if it’s a Z mode).
You can both obtain a mode by unlocking one of the mode sub-abilities and equipping it or by obtaining a bloodline that gives a mode. Not all bloodlines have a mode, though.
If a bloodline has a mode you can use, you can equip it by clicking the “[EQUIP]” button below its skills in the “Bloodline” tab of the menu. If a bloodline has several levels of its mode and you have unlocked them and equipped the mode, you can use each one by clicking ‘C+1’, ‘C+2’, etc., on your keyboard.
Kenjutsu
Kenjutsu is another trait you can unlock for your character through the in-game menu.
When you unlock a Kenjtusu, you can start leveling it up to unlock its abilities.
Kenjutsus have some of the highest-level requirements for unlocking their abilities, so it’s not the easiest way to get moves as a new player.
However, later on in the game, when you can level them up faster, they can provide some truly unique moves.
Combat Arts
The last way to get new “abilities” is by getting a combat art. Combat arts are just like modes and weapons – they do not give new abilities to put in your toolbar. They only give new m1 and q-spec attacks.
You can unlock a combat art by clicking “[Martial]” at the top of the menu, clicking “[EQUIP]” on a combat art you wish to unlock, and then clicking “[UNLOCK]”.
Unlocking a combat art costs RELL Coins.
That’s how to obtain skills and abilities in Shindo Life!
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