Fancy Flying

This is our gateway article to all the advanced flying techniques that the community found out.

What is Fancy Flying?
Fancy Flying is when you control your camera in addition to your character, in order to do a wide variety of crazy flying tricks.

Some are simple, and don't require much practice ; others require immense precision and do take a lot of practice. They all involve methods to gain height, distance and/or speed (boosts) in ways you might not have imagined, and can help you explore all sorts of new areas!

A player who is skilled in fancy flying is often called a Fancy Flyer.

Fancy flying is mostly used as a white robe for its abily to recharge upon touching the ground, but red robes can also perform many fancy flying tricks (not all of them, or only for a short amount of time depending on the scarf length). It's recommended to start learning them as a white robe.

About using a Controller, Keyboard, Mouse...
The mastery-boosts often require precise positioning of both the camera and the Wayfarer (with a left stick only pressed forward up to a certain point on a controller, and so on). For all explanations / descriptions and assumed difficulties, the standard settings are assumed. On the PS versions both shoulder buttons are default for fly, not on PC when playing with a controller though. Mentioned below are some controller button remapping tips to make it easier.

External programs:

Not everyone is comfy with installing extra programs to play a game. The hints below about button remapping are not even a recommendation. We just want to offer possibilities to enjoy Journey the way you like, many players just learned how to adjust their fingers on the controller to achieve the same things, etc.

Fancy Flying and interraction with other players
There are some points of view on Fancy Flying:

A newcomer discovering a Fancy Flyer (while training maybe), thus also a Fancy Flyer meets the newcomer, or two Fancy Flyers meet each other. Journey is about respect and empathy:


 * One needs to be able to identify what the Companion is able to and willing to do.
 * Respect other players when "only training" / not wanting a newcomer Companion.

Hints for training fancy flying in BB:

Go offline or go through the vision before starting to train. On Steam you can launch Steam in offline mode for this. On Epic Games you can disable the internet connection of Journey with your firewall, but be sure to re-activate it upon going to another level or the game will likely crash. Activating one or all bridge banners prevents you at least to meet people who just happen to enter the level (also those that want to connect with a specific friend, not you). Activate one or all bridge banners. Upon meeting, try to figure out quickly if you would like to travel with them (sometimes two Fancy Flyers meet and just enjoy flying around too). Even a Red Robe can do many Fancy Flying things, some people enjoy the extra difficulty. If you feel like you cannot "handle" the player: either disconnect, open menu and "chapter select", or enter the vision without them to cause a disconnect. Please keep in mind: most often people will play Journey to meet other players and travel/interact with them. Do not activate bridge banners, do not go through the vision. Any player entering the level will most likely connect to you.
 * You do not want to meet anyone:
 * You might be up for coop:
 * You are actually just passing time until getting a player:

Considering that people all use different kind of settings (Example: for PlayStation version, Fancy Flying with a sixaxis controller can make a big difference and greatly enhance the difficulty), it's hard to explain every details on a Wiki.

Always keep in mind that the range of things to do in Journey is very wide, not everyone digs into Fancy Flying, or they just learn the most basic boosts. Its also depending on curiosity, since if one does not research about Journey or get help from a Companion met, they might never get to know about FF.

How do you Fancy Fly?
As many things in Expert Mode, FF knowledge also builds up over time.

The first thing to understand is how the angle of the camera affects the angle of your flight, as well as learning to not use the fly button when attempting to boost up.

Assuming you had the chance to Tandem Fly with Companions or even Coasting, the next recommended steps are:

Dive Boost: this is a normal in-game mechanic, but with experience it could be seen as exploit (dive boost is considered "glitch" for speedruns). Once you get a feeling for this and how walls or the ground affects it, the path is open for Dropshoot and Charge Boost.

If you ask a Fancy Flyer player for hints, they often will say "It's best if I observe your training, to see where the problems lie". Tutorial videos can help to get the idea, but trying the thing over and over again and eventually getting in-game help from a player might be needed to learn the harder boosts.

Angling the camera less toward the ground during a dive, or less toward the sky during a boost can help you gain more distance over height, depending on the fancy fly technique used. However, the primary key to fancy flying, is that flying downward will create a dive.

It's this mechanic that players use - and often abuse - in order to fancy fly.

We try to provide video instructions WITH a visible controller (or representation thereof) to better help aid in learning.

Terminology
A  "Dive" 

is when you aim your camera to the ground in the air and move forward in order to move fast towards it, much like a bird of prey. Allows one to build up momentum and is the base of every Fancy Flying techniques. Even doing so on the ground (see charge boost or dropshoot) is still considered a dive because you trick the game into thinking you actually dive on the ground itself.

A  "Boost" 

is when you are able to rise up very high in the air, without pressing the fly button. To get a boost some kind of "charging up / building up momentum" is needed beforehand.

 "Slow" 

Most boosts have some variations. Slow boosts are variants of the standard techniques they are named after, characterized by their slow pace and the increased momentum they provide upon diving. They are usually performed with a light left stick pressure on a controller, and some require immense precision. Not suitable for keyboard / keyboard and mouse.

 "Reverse" 

Reversed Fancy Flying techniques are performed with a camera facing the sky instead of the ground during a dive. They often give very powerful boosts but tend to be harder to perform than the regular ones, and it gets hard to know where you are headed to during the reverse diving part. Slow reversed fancy flying techniques don't really exist because it seems very hard to keep on diving in reverse with a light left stick pressure (on a controller).

A "Flap"

is when your robe spreads like the wings of a bird, often when applying only very little or no pressure on the left/movement stick in the air, and jumping in this position. This is especially used for Flap Boost (a rather advanced FF technique). See also Charge Boosting, where you fly against a wall and can count the times your robe moves that way, to keep track of the charge: this word can often be a little abused into describing how often you press on the fly button, or how long you keep on pressing it. It could be used to describe distances, etc.

A " Twirl" 

is when your character spins in the air during a dive, usually when applying a medium or full pressure on the movement stick and jumping (or simply pressing the forward key from a keyboard + jump). It can happen while charge boosting too sometimes.

 "Pumping" 

is when you press the fly button at regular intervals, instead of holding it down. Both can be used depending on the circumstances, FF technique, and your preference.

Notes About Controls
Basic information about controls: How to play guide for Journey, Controls.

 Use a controller 

Highly recommended.


 * Some fancy flying techniques can only be done with a controller . Those, where you have to control precisely the left stick pressure. You can not only "half" press a button on your keyboard.


 * It's generally recommended to use the shoulder buttons for flying (and possibly chirping) with a controller. For some techniques you need to:
 * control the wayfarer
 * fly (Jump button)
 * chirp
 * and control the camera at the same time. All use the thumbs on default button mapping. By using the shoulder buttons instead, you can dedicate the right thumb to controlling the camera and chirp, or camera only. However, depending on your situation (controller, hand size, etc.), you might find it easier to use the ‘claw method’ (shown to the right), or something similar.

versions do not naturally support sixaxis. It might be possible to emulate it somehow, but it not working has an advantage.
 * Remapping buttons: Click the link to see how to remap your controller or keyboard configuration on PS4 or PC. Many experienced longterm players on PS4 remapped their buttons, to avoid using the claw for certain tricks. For example putting the chirp button on a shoulder button, could make things easier. The boosts are still doable by just using the claw.
 * PC-SMALL-75x43.gif The PC versions allows you to remap your controls within the game. WARNING: Take  care about using the RT button  on xbox controller (or possibly R2 for PS controllers). It had been reported by multiple users to make the game crash when collecting symbols, flying into banners, approaching glyphs,...
 * Sixaxis: In some cases (playing on any PS platform, for instance), you can move your camera with just moving your controller . This can make fancy flying very hard, because you need to hold your controller perfectly still while charging in order to not mess up the camera angle. If playing on PlayStation, you might consider getting a controller without sixaxis or disabling it somehow. Some very advanced players though, said they can make good use out of sixxaxis.
 * The camera controls can be adjusted/inverted in the game preferences, and the left and right sticks can be swapped, too. However, explanations on the wiki or most youtube videos assume you’re using the default controls on a standard controller.
 * "right-stick up" / look up means "camera to the sky,"
 * "right-stick down" / look down means "camera to the ground",
 * same for the left stick / movement forward or backwards (towards the camera).
 * Be sure to adjust for whatever control scheme you use, as much as you can, but remember that the Wiki will call things differently than your settings.
 * It also helps to use the same model of controller throughout your practice . If you use a different controller, which has different sensitivity, then it can really mess with your muscle memory and you may need a time to readjust again. While this is usually not very important, it can make a big difference when doing more complicated boosts that require precise control.

General Fancy Flying advices
See the notes above, about why a controller is recommended.

It’s worth repeating that many guides assume you’re using the default, controller-based camera controls. Be sure to know what the guide is asking you to do (right-stick up / = camera to the sky; right-stick down = camera to the ground), and try to adjust accordingly, if needed, and as much as possible.

Important basic knowledge
Though this doesn't mean having a camera aiming fully to the ground is always the best solution depending on the fancy flying technique and what you want to achieve (especially considering having a camera fully to the ground also makes you fall faster when in the air, and therefore loose more altitude before boosting). So be sure to have the left stick fully forward as much as possible at any moment during a dive (On PC without a controller: press only the w key when diving on a qwerty keyboard). The opposite is also very much true for reverse techniques. You should take the habit of turning with the camera only most of the time during a dive. Some more advanced Fancy Flyers may choose to dive with a camera placed sideways to the character and a left stick pushing a bit in the opposite direction however, slightly left or right (especially for Infinite Boosting or circle dropshoot techniques).
 * A basic rule that applies to most Fancy Flying techniques is that the more your camera aims to the ground during a dive, the faster you will build up momentum and the more you will be able to store it for a better boost.
 * For Fancy Flying techniques performed in the air, such as Dive Boost, always try to fall off a platform to initiate the dive rather than jumping off it, and waste a jump that won't contribute to building up a stronger boost later. Not always possible (ex: top of a dune of sand).
 * If you play with a controller, think about pushing your left stick fully forward at the start to initiate a strong dive, for any fancy flying technique. Eventually release the pressure on this left stick for "slow" boost variations shortly after. The same thing goes for the right stick, when willing to dive with a leveled camera angle: it is common to start the dive with a camera fully to the ground and as soon as you start diving, adjusting it more horizontally. This helps initiating a dive fast and with choosing the best camera angle later. This advice is probably also relevant for keyboard or keyboard and mouse players.
 * When diving, if the left stick on your controller isn't completely forward but a bit sideways it can also be hard to charge properly.
 * During a dive in the air, in most cases rather than holding the jump button down you may want to pump it about every second, for a longer dive and better boost efficiency (with the possible exception of when flyers are involved: see Flyer Boosting, or if you are in a hurry to boost !).
 * There are two main ways of boosting (Camera to the sky while moving forward, or camera to the ground while moving towards it). See the Dive Boosting article for a video example with controller shown. Both ways are important to use depending on the situation. Boosting with a camera to the sky helps aiming better at your destination, while boosting with a camera to the ground allows a quicker boost start and helps retrieving a diving position faster later (the camera gets very slow when not boosting and playing with a controller. A mouse on PC is always fast on the other hand). It's also a matter of preference.

Slightly more advanced knowledge
You can try to boost before this happens, or modify your trajectory and avoid them. However, as explained in the video linked just above, a way to help preventing camera troubles in these situations is not giving any up or down input to the camera when close to these objects, and instead leave the camera stick position neutral (or stop moving with your mouse/keyboard on pc). It's also possible to give stricly right or left camera inputs when close to such objects or the ground and even flicking the camera stick if needed (See the Dropshoot page for info on the flicking technique and how to keep a camera to the ground with a controller).
 * Because the camera angle is important when diving, anything that causes your camera to level out could potentially reduce - or even completely negate - your boost. See the Video tutorials section of this page for a video on common boosting mistakes when diving in the air (and how to avoid them).
 * Most of these common mistakes are: getting too close to the floor / pillars / platforms / walls, as it can change the camera angle.
 * Note nearby platforms (or a companion standing behind you !) can also prevent aiming a camera fully to the sky, when boosting this way rather than facing the ground.
 * It is possible to dive the normal way or in reverse for reversed fancy flying techniques. Reverse dives are hard to achieve, because simply putting the camera to the sky and moving towards it won't make you dive (you will only walk or fall slowly). A reverse dive needs to firsthand build up some momentum with any fancy flying technique and use it to force the reverse dive afterward. See the Reverse Dive Boost article for a technique that provides better boosts than the regular Dive Boost and see how to do it.


 * When lifting off the ground or from just over it with a camera aiming down, it is better to not touch the camera at all at the start of the boost. Maybe flick it left and right if needed, but only push it down after about two seconds to avoid having the camera flatten during the start of the boost and therefore loose a little bit of height in the end. This camera flattening phenomenon is very commonly observed upon lifting off a Charge Boost or Dry Boost point, or after a Dropshoot. It doesn't matter much if you hold it to the ground anyway but it can be something to keep in mind for better control and boosting abilities.

List of Boosts
For more information about the icons and how difficulty is applied to articles.

So Many Boosts!
The following list of boosts might be a bit overwhelming.

Some boosts do look almost the same, but the outcome is different and use a different technique to achieve it. The difference between them might be a precision thing (example: Flap Boost, Slow Boost and Ainshent Boost which are related in many ways).

It's about what you want to achieve with the boost, choose the right one based on experience, situation, environment, Companion, what you like.

Some boosts are


 * used to quickly travel long distances
 * used to boost in narrow places (if pillars or walls inhibit other boosts), lets say to boost high, not far
 * used to be able to "charge" in a small circle on the ground, when there is only one little place to charge...
 * can be combined to achieve a better boost, but some combination of boosts might just give a small boost only

This article is more to present ALL the techniques there are, even though you might not recognize the differences at first.

You will feel it, once you master these boosts (the most basic boosts - dive boost, dropshoot, charge boost - will bring you far).

Boost comparison with images and tables
Here is a graphic displaying most of the Fancy Flying techniques (but the "reverse" ones), depending on their associated diving camera angle. This may help you better picture the overall existing fancy flying techniques.

If you play without a controller you can most likely forget the idea of learning the Fancy Flying techniques in red on this graphic, as they require the ability to move slightly forward only.

There is another way of representing almost every fancy flying techniques based on the maximum height they can provide once mastered ! (no coop techniques, nor Goo Boost which don't provide any boost): The difference of possible height gained between two rows on this chart can be minimal or rather big.

This is why a "Boost Power" column was added, to better sort them together.

The "weaker boosts" category can still be very useful and provide decent height when done under the right situations and with a good execution, so don't forget about them ! (especially the Level Boost, which combines really well with Dropshooting upon travelling long distances fast)

Here is another chart that compares the left stick pressure (movements) with the associated camera angle for "air" boosts.





Note it doesn't show a Slow Boost can also be performed with a leveled camera angle, while being different to Infinite boosting (no scarf usage).

Companion Needed



 * Easy-SMALL-75x43.gif Tandem Flying - Keeping each other in the air by charging each others Scarves through Chirps or touching. Sometimes it just goes over into the 2 following:
 * Medium-SMALL-75x43.gif Coasting - Levitating forward. Achievable when both companions glide forward without pressing the fly button and glow from each other. Sometimes coasting  without chirps is called Silent coasting.
 * Medium-SMALL-75x43.gif Beaming Down - Levitating down with a companion very slowly while glowing from each other.
 * PS4-SMALL-75x43.gif Infinite Flight (IF)  PC-SMALL-75x43.gif Infinite Flight (IF) - Technically a glitch and not a technique, which allows a player to connect with Nick. It appears under certain circumstances, see articles. Allows one to fly without spending any scarf and with infinite Coasting or Beaming Down abilities.

Solo Possible
Note: Even a Red Robe can perform most of these boosts as long as they got some scarf power (it helps having a Companion or cloth to recharge).

Dive Boost and variations



 * Easy-SMALL-75x43.gif Dive Boost (DB) - A technique in which one gathers height after diving down with the following boost. As far as known, the non exploit way of doing this is naturally in the game (= not jumping during the dive).
 * Medium-SMALL-75x43.gif Level/Speed Boost - A technique where one doesn't put the camera all the way to the ground, but levels it to a certain degree during the dive. Different camera angles possible and useful to reach distant places more precisely/faster.
 * Easy-SMALL-75x43.gif to Hard-SMALL-75x43.gif Flyer Boost - Dive boosting where one maintains their scarf power by chirping at flyers as they dive, to improve their boost capacity or travel further. Using Flyers to fly further or higher is also "in the game". Just the combination with diving might not have been intended. Works well with Slow Boost and RDB as well.
 * Hard-SMALL-75x43.gif Reverse Dive Boost (RDB) - Dive boost with reversed controls; looking on the sky instead of the ground. Provides a better boost.
 * Hard-SMALL-75x43.gif Slow Boost - A variation of dive boosting. Characterizes by less pressure on the left-stick, which makes a wayfarer go slower during the dive and boost higher.
 * Pro-SMALL-75x43.gif Flap Boost - A variation of slow boosting. Characterizes by very slight pressure on the left-stick: makes the wayfarer go extremely slow during the "dive". Useful with little space environment to dive in and a rather short scarf.
 * Pro-SMALL-75x43.gif Infinite Boost (IB) (and Ainshent Boost) - A technique that allows one to gain height without using their scarf power. Can be repeated endlessly to gain lots of height.
 * Medium-SMALL-75x43.gif Goo Boost - A technique in which one recharges their scarf in the goo before boosting, after a diving in the air-based technique.

Dropshoot Boost and variations
For now, some videos of these boosts are presented on the main Dropshoot page with potential short video clips. Pages will be created later with more info.




 * Medium-SMALL-75x43.gif to Hard-SMALL-75x43.gif Dropshoot (DS) - Is often enjoyed in Pink Desert, where the terrain makes it easy to stick to the ground and run quickly. It's also used to gain some height after the fast running on the ground with experience.
 * Medium-SMALL-75x43.gif to Pro-SMALL-75x43.gif Super Boost - Dropshooting with a stuck close-up and vertical camera angle for incredible boosts. Only possible at certain places.
 * Hard-SMALL-75x43.gif Reverse Dropshoot (RDS) - Dropshooting with reverse controls. looking on the sky instead of the ground. This one gives a very strong boost, if you can do it. It's often recommended to learn, after having studied the basic boosts.
 * Hard-SMALL-75x43.gif Circle Dropshoot (CDS) - To use when you want to charge in circles on the ground with limited space.
 * Hard-SMALL-75x43.gif to Pro-SMALL-75x43.gif Slow Dropshoot (SDS) - A variation of DS that should provide better height, but is mostly useful to make narrow turns upon dropshooting on some platforms.
 * Pro-SMALL-75x43.gif Slow Circle Dropshoot (SCDS) - A combination of "all the above". Gives a very powerful boost and takes very little space to do. Also looks rather impressive.
 * Pro-SMALL-75x43.gif Cave Boost and Cutscene Boost - Two unique kind of very powerful boosting techniques which leverages forced camera angles from the glyph cave in BB or any camera that gets stuck after a cinematic. Makes one dropshoot head right in the sand rather slowly with messed up controls (the camera still works but with a delay).

Charge Boost and variations



 * Medium-SMALL-75x43.gif Charge Boost (CB) - Boosting after running into a "charge boost point" ; a (wind)wall / vertical surface for some time. A rather easy way to gain quite a lot of height.
 * Medium-SMALL-75x43.gif Dry Boost - Charge boosting without pressing fly. Possible at certain dry-boost-points while hovering in the air.
 * Medium-SMALL-75x43.gif to Pro-SMALL-75x43.gif Super Boost - CBing with a stuck close-up and vertical camera angle for incredible boosts. Only possible at certain places.
 * Hard-SMALL-75x43.gif Reverse Charge Boost (RCB) - CB with reverse controls. Looking at the sky instead of the ground. Provides a very strong boost.

Video Tutorials
While many tutorials are specific to certain kinds of tricks, here are some that cover boosting in general, or a variety of basic techniques.

If not explicitly mentioned, the video covers on both PS3 and PS4 consoles (and possibly PC). The video description just says where, in the game, the video was recorded.

YouTube channel recommendations
Often you will find some additional hints or links to other videos in the video description.

Some YouTubers cover different topics about Journey, but also flying (list to be expanded):


 * aravshetikolava
 * domes2072
 * seki albatross
 * Tara's Sky Journey

With a Controller Shown
''This video explains the three basic boost methods. CAPTIONS REQUIRED (EN + JP + auto translate).''

How to fancy fly, a tutorial with controller that shows several different flying techniques:

0:36 Dropshoot

Without a Controller Shown
Boosting mistakes and how to avoid them (English and Russian subtitles). This video concentrates especially on "aerial" boosts such as Flap Boost, Slow Boost and Ainshent Boost, but some tips in it are helpful even for dive boost, level boost and so on.


 * 00:30 hint to slow or flap boosting (the two are often mixed in this video, and flap boost is often called slow boost in it)
 * Camera movements
 * 03:28 Jumping before the dive boost (better)
 * About combining boost techniques (leads sometimes to less boost...)
 * 06:25 flap boost and then "ainshent boost" gives amazing height

Quotes
"*while trying to do fancy flying tricks* You fuck up my camera by staying down ! (...) I never had a companion mess up my camera so much as you before! Each time i want to check something you drag the camera with you XD"

- nathanj, complaining about Ravingmadness beeing a little too friendly, on Discord 2020-06-02

"I learned most of my fancy flying techniques while waiting for companions to connect in Broken Bridge, on PC"

- nathanj