Infinite Boost (IB)

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Main articles: Fancy Flying, Dive Boost (DB)

Infinite Boost

Not to be confused with Infinite Flight on PS4 or on PC.

Infinite Boost is a variation of the Dive Boost where you fall at an extra-shallow angle and a super-slow speed for a few seconds. If done correctly, it allows you to gain height without using your scarf, after boosting.

How to do an Infinite Boost

Difficulty: A pinnacle of flying difficulty. (Somewhat easier in Paradise, because of the sort of low gravity there.)

Can't be performed without a controller ! (stick sensitivity required)

Introduction

This boost is sometimes called Ainshent Boost, after the user TheAinshentMariner, who helped make it more popular. However, sometimes people might differentiate the Infinite Boost and the Ainshent Boost, with the latter being a variation that includes scarf usage (= an optimal slow boost).

It's recommended to learn Slow Boost and Level Boost first, and to perform them well before attempting to learn the Infinite Boost ; IB being a perfect mix of precision between both.

Legend says Sir Isaac Newton lost all his hairs upon playing Journey and discovering how Infinite Boosting escaped the law of gravitation and Earth's physics...

Theory

The concept behind infinite boosting is to lose as little altitude as possible during the dive, by falling as slowly as you possibly can, and building up enough boost power to regain the altitude lost, plus a little bit more !

For this, what matters most is the ratio altitude lost versus time spent on diving:

How powerful a boost is only depends on how long you dived and whether your camera was also aiming enough down to build more boost. You fall more slowly on the vertical axis with a more horizontally placed camera angle during the dive, but also have a lower max boost power limit the flatter it gets.
With IB it means diving with a leveled camera angle to lose height more slowly, while still maintaining it enough down over time to keep on building a stronger boost, and boosting before having to place it too vertically.
- The optimal duration of a dive has been estimated at around 9 seconds by nathanj for IB (from the exact moment you push the left stick forward to initiate the dive, to the moment you pull it back for the boost). It has also been shown by him that it is counter productive to dive for more than 10-11 seconds (see image gallery below).
- This is only an indication, and depending on how precise you are with both sticks, the optimal diving duration may vary a little for you. Keep in mind shorter dives usually bring out better results though.

The graphs below shows the results nathanj got out of every successful dives from an infinite boost session, in order to study the optimal diving duration. This was performed with tools to precisely monitor the altitude gained over time, and also a visualiser to adjust the camera angle as precisely as possible as the dives went, for more relevant results. The video shows the best results from this IB session.

The perfect position of a wayfarer for Infinite Boost
Height gained depending on dive duration in seconds
Max height gained per minute

Video by nathanj on PC. Length: 2 minutes.

For any other aerial Fancy Flying technique than IB, we would jump regularly to slow down the falling speed, but with IB it isn't needed anymore with enough precision ! By repeating it over and over it is possible to reach unlimited height (as much as your hands can handle at least: give them a rest sometimes !)

Instructions

Give IB a try in Paradise first since it allows for a rather big margin of imprecision on both sticks. It doesn't take very long to get out of the skybox there for example, with the stronger boosts this level gives and a bit of training ! (It maybe takes about 2h of infinite boosting performed to near perfection in regular levels to start getting out of it...)

Start from a ledge or another high point, maybe in the air after a RDS, CB, RCB, Super Boost, or Slow Boost/Dive Boost with flyers.
- In the Broken Bridge level It's recommended to start from one of the pillars close to the Shrine (it's easy to compare your progress over time there rather than a place without any visual cues to estimate your height gain or loss)
  - Walk or jump off the ledge. Note some players may find it hard to perform the first IB well after walking off a ledge because of how it affects the camera differently than in the air, upon starting the dive.
To initiate the dive, for a split-second push your camera stick fully toward the ground (make sure the camera also aims below the horizon in a possible diving position), and push the movement stick all the way forward as well.
- Like with the Flap Boost, you need to start with a strong, but short input on both sticks in order for the game to register that you're diving/charging.
Once you've started diving, quickly change the camera angle and level it to a more horizontal position (different angles can work)
Around the same time ease up on the left stick, using about as much pressure as you would for a Slow Boost. Different camera angles require slightly different left stick pressures.
- If you got the right angle with the left stick, you should be able to see the "root" of your scarf from underneath, with the traveler's legs hanging down just slightly, and wiggling up and down one after the other.
- The less pressure is applied onto the left stick the better it is for slow speed, but avoid a Flap Boost pressure (when the wayfarer's head is way above their feet during the dive) which would make you fall too fast and also prevent from charging lots of energy for the boost.
After about 2 or a few more seconds of dive (depending on how flat the camera angle was when starting the dive), point the camera slowly more and more to the ground, in order to keep on charging up more boost power. Also adjust the left stick pressure accordingly by pushing it ever so slightly more forward to keep on diving if needed. Note this step might not be relevant at all if your camera wasn't too flat when starting the dive ! (and if the total duration of the dive is rather short)
Before getting too close to the ground, or after about 5 to 10 sec of total dive, aim the camera all the way down while moving it sideways to the wayfarer, and then point the traveler toward the camera to boost.
- If you did this properly, you should fly up higher than where you started diving.
- Placing the camera sideways before boosting isn't required but can help with the boost kicking in sooner when moving toward the camera (very slightly less boost loss)
- You can boost with a camera facing the sky but you will lose some boost during the camera transition and won't be able to gain any height over time.
Repeat steps 2-3-4-(5)-6 as often as you would like to !

Demonstration

This video demonstrates how to perform the Infinite Boost efficiently, with a controller shown and a boost power visualiser for a better understanding of camera angles effect ! (inverted camera stick axis on the video)

The blue bar shows how much boost could theoretically be built up with the associated camera angle (if diving long enough to reach it)
The magenta bar shows how much boost power has been gathered

The goal would be to never make the magenta bar reach the blue one and boost before that happens, or adjust the camera angle more to the ground a little. You cannot normally see these hidden boost power stats in-game, which is why it takes lots of practice to predict them the best you can while playing through trial and error.

Video by nathanj on PC. Length: 3 minutes.

The following video shows 2 Ainshent boosts. Observe how they adjust the camera angle progressively during the first dive to make sure to keep on charging up more boost. This wasn't needed for the second dive since the camera angle was more vertical to begin with.

Video by TheAinshentMariner on PS4? or PS3. Length: 1:05 minutes.

Note it seems they do press the left stick a little more forward the moment they jump everytime (we can hear more wind noise), which isn't needed and can make one lose altitude faster instead.

Common Mistakes

Make sure to be diving ! It is very easy to find out you built up no boost at all after the "dive" because you didn't press the left stick fully forward to initiate it properly. Same goes for the camera which you should always push down at the same time as the left stick, not simply aim to the ground. (Only when having remaining boost power you can dive again without pushing the camera stick down again)

Applying too much pressure on the left stick. You really want to reach the minimum amount of left stick pressure required for a slow boost in order to fall slowly. Only in paradise will it still work well with a bit too much pressure. Make sure to keep the left stick steady, much like for slow boosting, as much as possible. Remember you may have to adjust the left stick pressure a little if you change the camera angle during the dive though.

Diving for too long in general: if you dive for more than 10 seconds you will have to push the camera fully down or almost, in order to keep on charging up more boost power. If you do this you will lose altitude fast and won't regain it all after the boost, even with a perfect left stick pressure ! Shorter dives often gives better results.

Diving for too long with a flat camera angle: you can reach the max boost power value of a more horizontal camera angle very soon, and will have to aim the camera more down slowly and regularly during the dive to avoid it (step 5 above in "instructions"). Maybe avoid choosing very flat camera angles at first since it takes lots of practice (and fails) to know when to dive a little more and how much. It can be slightly more efficient to infinite boost with this appoach, but it is a lot harder to manage well, and IB can already work greatly with a more intermediate camera angle value for the whole dive duration anyway (if short enough).

Getting close to a pillar (in BB for example) or the ground before boosting: since you will have to push the camera fully down just before boosting, its placement can be altered by the close-by environment and force you to boost a bit horizontally for about 2 seconds (altitude loss).

Further Tips

The trick for IB is to work your way onto an equilibrium of both sticks, where they complement each other's movements in perfect harmony. Both of those sticks are on the edge of failed boosting when IB is performed perfectly. If the camera is too vertical you will lose altitude too quickly, if it is risen a millimeter too high, there will be a weaker boost. Same problems if the left stick is a millimeter too slow or fast... It's important to find this edge through repetition and practice until it become muscle memory, without overthinking it.

When it comes to infinite boosting everyone really has their own style. Even though it is a very precise technique, different fancy flyers can have different looking executions of it ! Some prefer to dive with a camera placed sideways to the wayfarer for example and others don't.

A successful Infinite Boost is also about how quickly and smoothly you can make the transitions between dive/boost and boost/dive

If you have troubles getting the right traveler angle according to the camera position, try using the ideal body pose as a confirmation that you have a correct stick pressure, instead of making the body pose your goal.

Looking at the wayfarer from behind as they approach too close to the ground makes the camera gravitate towards it, as mentionned earlier in "common mistakes", and it can spoil the start of the boost. However looking at the wayfarer as much from the side as possible while infinite boosting close to the ground allows to boost without encountering a camera flattening effect for the first 2 seconds of boost ! (camera stick fully left or right just before boosting)

You can try going into a faster dive just before boosting: since you aim the camera fully down there, the corresponding left stick pressure to apply should be a little bit stronger.

Tutorial videos

This tutorial by aravshetikolava gives nice advices and a practice exercise to see how well you perform starting from a ledge !

Video by Авалоки Тешвара/aravshetikolava on PS3/PS4. Length: 3.5 minutes.

Another nice tutorial about how to do Infinite Boost (mistakenly also called a "SlowBoost" in the video title)

Video by seki gokurakuin/seki albatross on PS4. Length: 2.3 minutes.

Gallery

Here is a clip of Apno in PD. After more than 1h of infinite boosting. He went even higher than that later... (notice the skypainting effect due to being outside the skybox on PS4)

Pd oob east high above — IB in the PD OOB East side, after a RDS

Trivia

Even though this boost is named after TheAinshentMariner, Ainshent gives credit to Ryuichi-san (AKA Amen_Ra-13) and Bradjel (AKA wlopi) for teaching him this technique, and discovering scarfless boosting, respectively.

Infinite boosting can be very useful as a reddie when you can't recharge your scarf, if you want to move faster/higher.

Quotes

“	tgc team: let's make the room like super large! -but the playable part wouldn't even be 1/10 of the size of the whole room? - exactly! - you sure? - don't worry, no one will notice. journey alien players: challenge accepted~ tgc: wait! there's absolutely no way you could explore the whole room??? jap: hold our beers~ tgc: but where's the point in doing that??? jap: because we caaaaaaan~	„
	~ Kirango Rouge, on Discord. 2021-05-28. Reply to Yupa Miralda, who did a 4 hours long IB in Paradise.

“	"Things you CAN'T do [while practicing]: [...]give up!"	„
	~ seki gokurakuin/seki albatross

References

Journey Wiki