Charge Boost (CB)

Charge Boost is an advanced movement technique which involves gaining momentum by running into a wall or another vertical surface for some time.

How to Charge Boost
Difficulty: Especially if you already learned the most basic boost, Dive Boost (DB). The CB is fairly simple, but difficulty varies by Charge Boost point.

As the name suggests, CB consists of two actions:


 * "charging" for some time against a wall (sometimes a wind wall).
 * boosting up in the air (boost means flying without pressing the fly button)

Not every place is a Charge Boost point.

You can find them by just testing out if you can get attached to the wall or lookup the (work in progress) list below. There are many CB-points and the Wiki might not be able to cover them all. Companions often like to show and share those points though.

Tutorial Videos
This video explains the three basic boost methods, including the charge boost, which starts at 2:15.

Why Does it Work?
When you charge for your boost, the game thinks you're diving, even though you're on the ground.

When playing as a White Cloak, it also allows you to recharge your scarf while diving. This means that, if you can keep yourself steady against the wall, then you can "dive" indefinitely and you can also fly as high as you want (with the possible exception of the ceiling - even the Broken Bridge seems to have an invisible ceiling).

It seems that chargeboosting has its limits. After a certain point you will not gain more boost out of longer charging. Maybe after 25-30 seconds it's not useful to charge more. A Reverse Charge Boost (RCB) though, will give much higher boost in general, like "a stronger kind of boost".

Suggested Training
You need to find a spot that allows for you to fly into the wall while still staying on the ground. It might take several attempts until you get a feeling for getting stuck in the wall, as well for the boosting after.

Just keep on trying, watch and read tutorials, but best is a Companion that can analyse mistakes in game (see Guide to meet a certain person).

Charge Boost points list below.

Recommended for first attempts is this point, you can rather easily hold your position in it.: There are slightly different methods to get the head stuck in the wall. One is this:

Fly a bit up and away from the platform and then let yourself "drop down" to that corner. Starting with flying against the wall without a sort of dive will only make you only climb up the wall.

How to "drop down" to get some speed while falling:

After flying up and a bit away from the platform, quickly:


 * press forward
 * hold camera down / point camera down
 * no fly until you hit or are close enough to the ground/corner

Aim for the junction between the wall and the floor. You need to react quick and start pressing the fly button and keep on it, once you are close to the corner. To get the right timing will take some attempts. Vary your attempts a bit, for different results. The goal is: your character flaps without jumping upward.

Once you achieve this, keep at it. Against the wall, holding fly, forward and camera down.

If your scarf doesn't empty, you made it, '''you are charging. If it empties or you start raising up the wall its better to either just try the boost or restart the attempt.'''

How to see if you are charging by these two signs:


 * 1) Your journeyer's cloak will flap roughly once a second, which helps with counting out how long you're charging.
 * 2) The end of your scarf is sparkling. If you stop charging, it stops sparkling and you will likely quickly see loss of charge at the end.

The whole wall here works as CB point, even if it happens you slip a bit to the left while charging, as long as your scarf keeps being charged.

If you just try to get a feeling for boosting, about 10-15 flaps will be enough. For a good boost, 30 and more is a good amount. When you're ready:

How to boost:

The transition between flying against the wall and moving away from the wall needs to be quick and fluent.

Release the jump/fly button and move backwards at the same time, while keeping your camera position to the ground. If you don't lift immediately, sometimes one last jump can "start" the boost. It's all experience...

Once you are in the air, you can do small adjustments either to the camera direction and/or to your movements, but every movement can take away a bit from the boost.

Try to adjust so you look at yourself (face to you). This can take some time until you find out how to pull away from the wall in a good way, so you don't have to adjust too much.

Do not press the fly button when boosting (you can test it and see how it takes away from the boost or destroys it totally).

Try to avoid hitting walls or banners, they will stop the boost, so does being pushed back by wind, etc. It is possible to "grind up" at suitable vertical walls though, while boosting (see the UG video at the start of this article). Just point the camera up and your character will fly up against the wall. See the short video on top of this article. You might want to start lifting the camera to the sky while still flapping to not loose the boost, and then release the jump button only when the camera is more or less horizontal.

You can also get your head stuck in the wall by dropshooting towards the CB point sometimes.

Remember that there are easier and harder CB-points, some are hard to get stuck in, others will make you slip to the side and lose grip.

Common Mistakes
Problem: I charge for a long time but don't get the expected height!


 * If your traveller jumps when charging, it means your charge has been lost. If you see this happen, you will need to start over.
 * Once you get the position right, it is best to try to stay there until you've got the charge you need. Also, some CB points can make you believe you are charging a lot while in reality it's not really working (example: CB point in Sunken City, on top of the Dry Boost point can be a little tricky at times)
 * As you get into the boost, release the "fly" button you were holding while preparing the boost. You'll get a much stronger boost, and you'll keep the scarf charged which can be used to reach even further.
 * Be sure to have at least 1 scarf segment left before entering the charge boost point ! Or you will never manage to get stuck in the CB point, the same way it can mess the contact with the floor while Dropshooting.

Further Tips

 * Try to go more "directly" into the wall (90°, perpendicular, face right in), and not sideways (unless the ground is very steep: see first CB spot of UG)
 * Make sure your camera is high above you (inclined towards the ground) before any serious attempt at chargeboosting. Maybe start by diving from a higher spot, or boost a little so you can adjust your camera before landing.


 * If you are playing as a White Cloak, keep an eye out on your scarf. It starts to recharge while it's still sparking. This means that you've hit the sweet spot. If the scarf starts to empty again, you've lost your charge.
 * Things that might destabilize you include Sixaxis controls, moving around while charging (especially if you hit another wall), chirping, etc.
 * Controllers with sixaxis: Because every movement and change of view disturbs the boost, we recommend to really stabilise your arms and keep your ankles straight. You might want to raise your controller instinctively to help flying up, but this will have the opposite effect. For easier boosting you might consider getting a non-sixaxis controller


 * You get a better boost through moving the camera left and right a little while charging. This is also described in some tutorial videos at the main Fancy Flying article. "The point of flicking the camera is to prevent it from leveling. When you are charge boosting, the lower the camera is (pointing down) or the closer it is to your Wayfarer, the better your boost will be and the faster you will establish momentum." So even when you're charge boosting, its recommend flicking the camera left and right instead of holding it down, once its position is optimal. It can also help to force the camera down if your wayfarer is on the edge of slipping up on the wall and starting to fly.


 * Learning camera movement and improving boost: You can adjust the camera after the moment you start lifting with slight movements. Do several boosts and experiment with the camera and the movements of your character so you get a feeling what works and what doesn't. Only move the camera a little to the left or to the right when aiming for somewhere. Check that you always see your own face while trying to boost up.
 * When you lift off if you press the camera to the ground you will see it flatten for about one or two seconds before aiming again fully to the ground. This is probably caused by the ground or nearby walls, and in the end it can prevent you from reaching the maximum height possible with charge boost. If you want to boost as vertically as you can from the start, consider leaving the camera neutral at the start of the boost (this is a very minor improvement).

Once you got a feeling on how CB works, there are many ways to improve!

With practice, even the wall itself will become optional in some spots.

Stage 1 boost point
The first easily accessible Charge Boost point is to the back of the meditation platform (where you'd go to select Broken Bridge chapter), on the left-hand side where the wind blows in between the walls of that section and the Underground chapter section, as shown on the screenshot. It is exploitable in a variety of ways, the easiest is to drop from either of the nearby platforms heading towards the base of the grey column. See attached video.

Stage 2 boost point (roof ledge)
The second, and perhaps the most famous Charge Boost point is located on the side of the broken roof on the east side ruins (above the last two chapter select portals). It can be reached using the CB point described above, or with a number of other methods. The images below illustrate how to access and use this CB point.

Broken Bridge
At the level entrance hall

It is possible to Charge Boost at (some) walls on the inside in the hall. There is also a CB point outside the hall on the West side:

(video shows how to enter OOB via CB)

The famous "training spot"
For many travelers this is the first CB spot they learn, as it's very easy to access as well as to get into "charge mode". It is located on the northern side of the map, to the east from the main bridge and above the mural cave.

Sandfall
This point can be accessed with help of the "training spot". There is almost no room to stand on this point so it is recommended to dive into the CB point to start the boost.

The "igloo" spot on the south wall
Another (much harder) CB spot is located on the southern wall near an igloo-shaped rock formation which is about two thirds of the way towards the east boundary (to the left if facing the start of the level).

Other spots
As the Broken Bridge level is surrounded by rocks and wind walls it offers many different points which are CB-friendly. Although not all points are practical to use they can be a challenge to find and offer more technical understanding on how some Charge Boost points can differ on accessibility as well as the boosting power they offer.

First Symbol area
When reaching near top of dune use walk instead of jump to get closer to the boost point or the winds may push the wayfarer back. The area to charge boost is small but can accommodate both players, try not to go too far right or left once the charging has started.

At the end of the level
This Charge Boost point in Pink Desert is near the end of the level, where one of the broken bridges meets the sunken city wall as shown on the screenshot below.



Wall tower ruins CB
This is a well-known Charge Boost point in the staging area (after the first sand slide). The images below show how to get there.

Easy CB on the west side
Another Charge Boost spot is on the west side rocks in the staging area, further up and to the left from the shrine. It's very easy to reach and use. A series of small ledges lead to the "launch pad", and you can simply fly/walk up there. The CB spot itself is a corner (much like the famous Broken Bridge training spot) so it's very easy to charge. The screenshot below show the path and the spot. Here is a short video showing how to access and use this spot:

At the end of the level
Another spot can be found in the pit at the end of the level.

Underground
Many Charge Boost spots exist on this level.

Two-stage boost near the start
These two CB spots are often used to get out of bounds and the second stage is not easily accessible otherwise.

Charge Boost points in the Kelp room
There are multiple CB points in the Kelp room (or Algae room), the one before the Jellyfish room. The screenshots below explain these CB spots.

At the end of the level
There are multiple Charge Boost spots at the end of the Underground level. The video below shows the most popular spot at the end of the slide (you can get back there after the WM chase is over). This spot can be used to access the secondary CB location at the top of the tower (as well as out-of-bounds area).

At the top of the tower (WM tricks and OOB entry)
This spot can be used for WM capture tricks to climb up oob before getting back in-bounds later. The easiest way to get here is by using the CB spot described above (on the sandy slope to your right/east when you slide down being chased by the WMs), or the CB spot even more to the east of the shrine tower, over the hill of yellow sand.

((Charge boost point for WM capture))

Underground CB points (video guide)
The video below shows various Charge Boost points in the Underground level.

Tower
There is at least one CB point near the entrance of the tower level (last pillar on left before falling down the stairs).

In the whale room
There are multiple CB spots near the entrance to the Whale room as seen on the screenshots below.

Other Out-of-bounds CB points?
There is a CB point on the northern wall outside the tower. It is only accessible when going out of bounds with no goo. There is also a CB spot on the east wall (on top of some invisible elements protruding from the wall) that can be used to reach the roof of the tower.

Snow
There are three CB spots near the start of the Snow level. (Plus one dry boost point on top of the entrance gate)

CB spot on the rock near the entrance
This is probably the easiest and the most well-known CB spot on this level. It's located at the top of the rock formation to the left from the entry gallery as you walk into the snow. Make sure to unfreeze your scarf in the entrance, otherwise you will not be able to jump high enough. Fly up to the marked spot to recharge your scarf, then up again to the boosting spot. Easiest to get into, just walk and fly forward at the same time. Note that you can also perform a charge boost at the interim location (marked with the cross on the picture below) but it might be harder to get into it.

CB spot on the top of the entry gallery (plus Dry-boost point)
This is the CB spot mentioned above, halfway to the main CB spot.

Inside the entry passage
This CB point is located at the entrance of the snow level (last left wall when facing outside). It can be a bit hard to manage as it isn't very easy to get into it, and if you use it like a normal CB point when flying off, you can hit your head inside. 2 options here for boosting:


 * After charging (it is better ending on the left side of the wall) you should consider putting the camera to the left (facing outside), then quickly run/fly outside while keeping the camera down and still holding jump/fly. Once outside, release jump and move backwards to boost towards the camera.


 * Finish charging on the right side of the wall, then move backwards (release jump), and while making your way out of the gate without hitting your head, start aiming towards the sky with the camera. Once out, put the camera all the way to the sky and move forward to boost.Capture d’écran (1227).jpg

Near the bridge
This point is in the first area of the level. Easy location to charge boost from.

Near the big waterfall
Another known CB location in Paradise. It is explained on the screenshot below.

Variations

 * Reverse Charge Boost (RCB)
 * Dry Boost
 * Super Boost

Trivia
It is possible to Charge Boost as a reddie (=red robe wayfarer) as long as you have a companion doing quick little chirps at you continuously. It is therefore also possible to chargeboost as a red robe when scarfless, though it requires more skills and a great companion.