Hyper Light Drifter Wiki
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In Hyper Light Drifter, the player can purchase abilities and upgrades with Gearbits that allow the Drifter to perform advanced combat and movement techniques, as well as the ability to throw Special Grenades, carry more Med Kits ammunition for the Drifter's guns, and more.

Each ability expends a determined amount of stamina, indicated by a gray bar gauge that will appear on-screen especially if an ability is used. It should be noted that it is not possible to use the Sword Deflection ability without stamina, nor perform a Chain Dash. Therefore, players are cautioned to not rely overlong on these abilities, or use outfits to mitigate expenditure.

Canonically, the different abilities and upgrades the Drifter utilizes are accomplished through a technology called "holobytes", a term that does not actually appear anywhere in Hyper Light Drifter but which has been confirmed for Hyper Light Breaker, where many of the abilities utilized by the Drifter will reappear. This makes sense, since Alx Preston have said before that different abilities and powers seen in Drifter, including ones displayed by enemies, are all based on scientific principles and technology, including the ones that seem more magical or mystical, and that none of them are magical or supernatural, with the exception of perhaps the powers of the Jackal. The holobytes that the Drifter uses for his abilities are built into his very outfit/gear/suit. The special buffs offered by different outfits that the player can find are likewise canonically using holobytes built into them.[1]

Sword Abilities

These upgrades can be learned from the Swordmaster in his dojo.

ChargeSword
  • This ability can be learned for 3 Gears.
It allows you to hold the sword button in order to unleash an attack with wide range that deals 5 DMG to any creature.
Not counting The Drifter's close-range shotgun blast, this is their most powerful move, with the ability to attack any surrounding creatures, and in most cases killing them in a single strike.

SwordDeflection
  • This ability can be learned for 3 Gears.
Nearly any projectile can be reflected using the sword button after purchasing this upgrade.
It is especially useful for dealing with multiple out-of-range enemies.

SlashDash
  • This ability can be learned for 3 Gears.
After pressing the sword button and then immediately the dash button, the Drifter will perform a dash-through technique that deals 2 DMG in the range between the starting point and the end point of the movement.

Movement Abilities

These upgrades can be purchased from the Dash Master at the Dash Arena.

  • The player starts with this ability.
The Drifter, as well as the Alternate Drifter and any other playable drifter character, can dash from the beginning of the game, though only with one dash at a time until their dash ability is upgraded at the Dash Master.
Beware, for dashing out over a ledge and over a hole may result in falling into the hole and taking damage, or dying.

ChainDash
  • This ability can be learned for 3 Gears.
Within certain frames, the Drifter can dash multiple times in quick succession when pressing the dash button after purchasing this upgrade. It is highly recommended for some Achievements, and can make exploring much quicker.
Beware, however, of chaining together three dashes, as the Drifter will slide along the ground as a result of such quick movement, occasionally resulting in slamming against obstacles or falling down pitfalls. The slide will increase in distance with the more dashes that are chained.
Some challenges require a long series of chain dashes. If you have a gaming mouse or macro software, you can cheat. Switch to keyboard + mouse and write a macro that mashes the dash button with a 270ms period (e.g. 50ms pressed, 220ms released). As the Drifter gains speed while dashing, the interval to activate another chain dash becomes narrow; with 250ms the Drifter cannot start a chain, while with 300ms consequent dashes become very unreliable.

DashShield
  • This ability can be learned for 3 Gears.
When purchasing this ability, the Drifter can activate unknown technology that generates an energy-type, diamond-shaped shield which dissolves any projectiles at the beginning of a dash.
The shield is automatically activated when dashing towards projectiles.

DashStrike
  • This ability can be learned for 3 Gears.
A Dash Attack can be performed when the player presses the dash button and immediately the attack button. It is a powerful move that deals above 2 points of DMG or more.
After impaling any enemy, they receive knockback that can deal extra DMG upon contact with any obstacle. It can also be used to knock away grouped enemies off of platforms or cliffs, causing them to fall and perish.

Special Grenade

This weapon is a wide-radius grenade that can kill many enemies at a moderate distance from The Drifter. They're purchased from The Techie at The Tech Shop. They can be used infinitely, but each requires 70 seconds to recharge between uses. The first purchase unlocks the Special Grenade, and the second allows you to carry a second grenade.

  • Purchase: 2 Gears.
  • Carry 2: 3 Gears.

Gun Upgrades

Each firearm in Hyper Light Drifter can gain more ammo by purchasing upgrades from the Gunsmith at the Weapons Shop. The ammunition upgrade depends on the weapon.

Health Upgrades

By default, the Drifter can carry up to 3 Med Kits. With these upgrades, purchased from the Apothecary at their Pharmacy, the player may carry up to 5 Med Kits.

  • 1st upgrade: 4 Med Kits for 2 Gears.
  • 2nd upgrade: 5 Med Kits for 3 Gears.

Trivia

  • Alx Preston, the founder, CEO and creative director at Heart Machine, and the creator of Hyper Light Drifter, has said before that there is no magic in the game's world and that all special abilities that seem fantastical are accomplished by the characters by advanced technology and science. We can infer from this that the more special abilities used by the Drifter, like dashing and chain-dashing and the projectile-absorbing shield are all utilizing technology, with the shield ability already having been confirmed to do so in the game's official manual. Furthermore, in Heart Machine's upcoming game, Hyper Light Breaker, pieces of technology known as "holobytes" can be obtained and equipped that grant the players, or "Breakers", special abilities or stat buffs. One of these abilities is the same projectile-absorbing shield that the Drifter has. Based on this information, it can be assumed that the holobytes that will feature in Breaker is the technology used by the Drifter and other people in the game. It can further be assumed that the stat buffs the Drifter is granted when wearing the different outfits that the player can obtain in the game have holobytes built into them. With this information, it is safe to consider at the very least the Drifter's abilities as using technology known as "holobytes" and that these will be the same holobytes that will feature in Breaker. It is likely that the Drifter has holobytes built into his own original outfit, too, and that when upgrading at the various shops he could be purchasing holobytes, or upgrading existing ones, though it is not necessarily true for all kinds of upgrades. For instance, the gunsmith may very well be working directly on the guns themselves when applying uprades such as an increase to ammunition storage capacity. On August 27, 2024 it was confirmed on Heart Machine's official Discord server that the abilities displayed by the Drifter indeed utilizes "holobytes" for his abilities, making the term canon.[1]
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