What’s this guide all about? This guide is about different jumping techniques like the double jump and the Hook jump. Their main application lies in both speedrunning and sequence breaking.
Controls
Before we start off, we should mention a few important things. First, we highly recommend using a controller instead of a keyboard + mouse. In this guide, we’ll assume that you’re, in fact, using a controller.
Secondly, this guide contains a series of tricks and techniques related to jumping and wall jumping. None of these techniques are necessary to get a 100% in-game. Their main application lies in both speedrunning and sequence breaking, and should drastically increase the replay value of Steamworld Dig 2. On a separate note, you can find the Steamworld DIg 2 speedrunning leaderboards here[www.speedrun.com].
Finally we’ll need to talk about controls and button mapping. Double Jumping, one of the most versatile (and broken) techniques explained in this guide, requires you to press the jump button twice on consecutive frames*; something that is exceedingly impractical to perform using standard controls.
thankfully, Steamworld Dig 2 allows you to change your own controls, allowing you to map any action to a maximum of two different buttons. As you’ll see in the later parts of this guide, this will allow you to get around the practical issues of Double Jumping. We recommend configuring the jump action to the A and Right Shoulder buttons, but feel free to experiment with your own configurations.
Jumping: a recap
Let’s start with a very short recap on the standard jump.
Steamworld Dig 2 operates on a rather simple principle, where your horizontal running speed determines the amount of vertical height you get from a jump. Jumping from standstill gives you about 1 tile of height, jumping from full sprinting speed gives you about 3.1 tiles of height.
With 3.1 tiles of height, you can barely reach the sides of tiles 4 tiles above you. This allows you to wall jump off these sides, which you can use to gain even greater heights. Note that this would not be if you would only have 3 tiles of height. Later on, you’ll be able to use Sprinting Double Jumps to reach heights up to 4.1 tiles of height.
Wall jumping
Yes, we do need a separate section for wall jumping and yes, there are multiple kinds of wall jumps. We’ll need to make a distinction between two different kinds of wall jumps.
The first is your standard, run-of-the-mill wall jump you’ve been using the entire game. There’s nothing wrong with it, but there’s nothing special about it either.
The second is a special, momentum-conserving wall jump. This is a special kind of wall jump that conserves all your current horizontals. This allows for a wall jump with a slightly higher reach, along with a few other tricks that we’ll elaborate on in the next section.
To perform a momentum-conserving wall jump, run toward a wall and jump on it. immediately after touching the wall, press A and reverse the direction of the analog stick at the same time.
This allows you to perform a momentum-conserving wall jump, giving you a higher vertical and horizontal distance. After landing, you can continue running at the same speed you started with. You can even chain multiple momentum-conserving wall jumps.
Please note that you can only chain multiple momentum-conserving wall jumps by jumping between two different walls. You cannot chain multiple jumps while jumping up a single wall.
Wall jumping: advanced tricks
Corner jumping (WJ)
Remember those times when you’re wall jumping up a single wall, when you suddenly see a single tile blocking your way up?
As ot turns out, you can use a very precise wall jump to climb that single tile. This technique is known as a “Corner Jump” or “WJ”.
The timing on a corner jump is fairly strict and tricky to pull off. We assure you that it gets easier with practice and patience. When performing a corner jump, you should always keep two things in mind.
1. You should start a wall jump about 1 tile underneath the ledge. If you start too high, you’ll bonk your head against the wall and fail the corner jump.
2. When you start a wall jump, immediately push the analog stick in the direction facing away from the wall. This is necessary to clear enough horizontal distance to clear the corner jump.
Corner jumping (WJ): advanced tricks
Let’s take this newfound knowledge to the test with an example.
To the upper left from where you start the game, you’ll find a secret that gives you the Deathplosions blueprint and 1 x Ametrine, worth 50 gold. We can actually reach his area in the first minute of the game using 1 double jump and 2 corner jumps. This place also doubles as a nice place to train corner jumps, since the game gives you invincibility at the very start of the game.
While attempting these corner jumps, keep in mind the two guidelines from the previous section. Start your corner jump at about 1 tile below the ledge and, after starting your corner jump, immediately push the analog stick in the direction facing away from the wall.
(Sprinting) Double Jump
Double Jumps and Sprinting Double Jumps (hereafter referred to as “DJ” and “SDJ” respectively) are two techniques that rely on the same principle. By pressing the jump button twice in a very short amount of time, you can drastically increase your maximum jump height.
Pressing the A button twice in a short amount of time is technically possible, but highly impractical. The timing is frustratingly hard to get and, since you’re so focused on the jump button, doesn’t allow room for finesse. Luckily, we can work around the practical issues by remapping the jump button to two different buttons.
To perform a DJ or SDJ, tap and release the first jump button, followed by pushing and holding the second jump button IMMEDIATELY thereafter (but not at the same time).
Performing a DJ requires you to sprint at maximum speed. While sprinting, tap and release the first jump button, push and hold the second jump button immediately after that. You should be able to reach a maximum jump height of 4 tiles.
To perform an SDJ, you have to sprint at a speed right below maximum sprinting speed. This seems paradoxical, but this will allow you to reach even greater heights than a normal DJ. While sprinting at this speed, tap the first jump button, push and hold the second jump button immediately after that. You should be able to reach a maximum jump height of 4,1 tiles. This may seem like an insignificant increase compared to a normal DJ, but the extra height allows you to wall jump off ledges 5 tiles above you.
Though far less common, it’s also possible to double jump at pretty much any horizontal speed. It’s even possible to use a variant of the Double Jump without the sprint boots.
(Sprinting) Double Jump: advanced tricks
To show the versatility of DJs and SDGs, let’s examine one of the most useful sequence breaks of the game, which allows you to enter the lower part of Yallow early.
The Yellow area can be divided in upper and lower Yellow. Normally, entering Yellow requires either the jetpack or the grenade launcher. Let’s take a look at the entrance to lower Yellow.
Note that the opening at the top lies at a height of 5 tiles. As we’ve discussed in the earlier section, we could use an SDJ to get to a height of 4,1 tiles, high enough to perform a wall jump on the side of the opening.
Hook Jumping
One of the more amusing techniques to see in action, a hook jump allows you to jump to downright ludicrous heights by abusing hook shot mechanics.
OPTIONAL – GIF SHOWING A HOOK JUMP
Using a hook jump is fairly simple once you’re used to the double jump. Hold the sprint button and use the hookshot to get pulled sideways towards a wall. Release the hook shot button and use a DJ immediately afterwards. This will propel you a disproportional amount of distance into the air.
Note that you will always hit the same maximum height when using a hook jump, regardless of your horizontal speed.
GIF WITH HOOK JUMP + BUTTON LAYOUT
The hook jump is possible because the game puts you in a special state while getting pulled sideways with the hook shot. This can be abused in several ways and limits the hook jump in other ways.
One of the immediate consequences is the following example. Use the hook shot while in mid-air and fall down after you release the hook shot. Use a DJ IMMEDIATELY after landing and you’ll still be able to pull off a hook jump.
GIF SHOWING MID AIR HOOK JUMP
Another thing to note is that you don’t actually lose this special state after hook jumping.This means that you can “chain” hook jumps. After a hook jump, simply use a DJ at the exact same moment you land to perform a second hook jump!
GIF SHOWING HOOK JUMP CHAINING
A while back, we mentioned that hook jumping relies on abusing a specific movement state the game puts you in. We can chain hook jumps because a hook jump doesn’t actually remove this special state, but it turns out that we can also use normal jumps to keep this special state.
This allows the following movement: Use the hook shot, get pulled sideways, use a normal jump, use a DJ at the exact point when you land. You can use this to conserve a “hook jump” state through corridors with low ceilings.
GIF SHOWING LOWER TEMPLE OF THE DESTROYER HOOK JUMP?
Combining techniques: skipping the first boss
We’ll finish up this guide with one final exploit that will allow you to enter the Temple of Guidance right after obtaining the sprint boots at the start of the game. This effectively allows you to skip the first boss and a fair bit of early game digging in Archaea.This exploit consists of two parts. The first part consists of using a WJ to access the Temple Access tube early, the second part consists of using a SDJ to enter the access tunnel to the right of the tube.
The route to the Temple Access tube is blocked by a series of walls that usually require the jackhammer to get through. A bit higher up, towards the ceiling, you’ll find a secondary tunnel that isn’t blocked off, but requires a WJ to get to. Climb the wall and perform the WJ, as shown on the following demonstration.
Now, the complicated part. Somehow, you need to perform a SDJ underneath the rightmost access tunnel towards the temple of guidance. Unfortunately, you only have an area about 2 tiles wide, not enough space to get enough horizontal speed to perform a SDJ. this means that you’ll need to get your horizontal speed from another source.
For this, you’ll need help from a rather obscure movement mechanic involving water. If you press the jump button at the exact moment where you’ll touch the surface of the water, you’ll jump away from the water while conserving all your horizontal speed. We can use this technique in order to get to the ledge on the right side with the right amount of horizontal speed.
Let’s combine these together. Start from the left side of the room and run towards the right. Let yourself fall towards the water and bounce off the surface. After landing, perform a SDJ and finish by wall jumping off the left side of the access tunnel. This should take you directly towards the Temple of Guidance.
