Hey, so there are some strategy names and terminology that we use that might be confusing to new players and I figured I would make a guide explaining what they mean and their practical uses. This guide will be broken up into three separate sections; stabbing terminology, movement terminology, and random terminology.

PART 1 - STABBING TERMINOLOGY

Plant - The act of grabbing the colossus in a certain spot in which you will not get shaken to the point of moving. This means you can stab freely while the colossus shakes. You will notice when you get a plant by the animation Wander does when grabbing. The animation is Wander slowly getting into place instead of snapping down and being ready to stab immediately. The colossi in which this strategy is used are Valus, Quadratus (head), Gaius (head), Phaedra, Barba (head), Basaran, Celosia, Cenobia, Argus, Malus.

Ricochet Stabs - This is when you stab a certain area on some sigils and Wander shakes a little bit, omitting the animation of pulling his sword out. Needed to do cycle/reset stabs.

Cycle/Reset Stabbing - A series of ricochet stabs with re-positioning in between each stab. Usually you will be running up a slope after each stab to re-position and you can see examples on Quadratus and Kuromori although you might find uses for it on colossi where you would usually plant. Advanced players know how to cycle stab safely on areas where newer/average players would usually opt for a plant.

Precision Stabbing - On certain colossi, in order to one cycle, you have to execute a stab that has a very specific amount of charge. The colossi and the amount of charge you need are: - Dirge // On one of the two sigils you must do 2 full stabs and roughly a 30-35% charged stab. If you strike Dirge's eye with a fully charged arrow, you have more of a window on the lower side of the percentages. - Pelagia // One cycle = upper sigil placement + full charge stab -> 90-95% charge stab -> two full stabs - Phalanx // On the first two sigils you must do a full stab and one stab from 70-95%.

Fast Stabbing - When you hold the sword attack button while charging a stab, you charge much faster than if you just tap the sword attack button to initiate the charge. It's important to note that on Dirge, not using a fast stab for the precision stab on the first sigil is much easier and more reliable.

Stab Rolling/Rolling out of Stabs - After stabbing, you can avoid the animation of Wander pulling his sword out by rolling. Can only be done with classic controls.

Lining/Sheathing the Sword - The act of putting your sword away and switching to the hand icon. When you start a stab with a sheathed sword, the charging of the stab is much faster. This, in conjunction with fast stabbing makes a first stab incredibly fast. It isn't worth doing it in between consecutive stabs, but you should sheath your sword in between sigils/before attacking a colossus.

Jump Stab - Performing instant damage to a sigil, by jumping and holding square (modern controls) or holding R1 and square (classic controls). It's slower than normal stabs in most cases, but is very helpful as a finishing move, since it triggers an Instant Death Cutscene.

(Sexy) Slash - Performing a slash on a sigil as a finishing move, when the Colossus has Pixel Health. Very useful since it triggers an Instant Death Cutscene, just like a Jump Stab would. Discovered by FoxyCleopatra.

Instant Death Cutscene - By jump stabbing or slashing to finish off the health bar of a colossus, the death cutscene starts instantly instead of the regular stabs where the cutscene starts about a second after the stab.

Reset Jump stab/Shirapon Stab - Executing a jump stab after letting go of a colossus when getting shaken. It's a really difficult strategy that is only utilized in ILs.

PART 2 - MOVEMENT TERMINOLOGY

Whistle/Weapon Switch Hopping - This is when you either whistle or weapon switch upon landing from tapping the jump button and it is an easy form of faster movement, although it isn't the fastest. Whistling/switching weapons will put wander up to max speed from most ground animations, such as landing from most jumps or rolling. Since hopping travels more distance over time than running, whistle/weapon switch hopping is faster than just running since it cancels the landing animation from jumping/hopping.

Bunny Hopping - The fastest form of movement if done properly. It's done by tapping the jump button while holding the direction you want to go, then resetting the stick to a neutral position, and repeating the process. It's important to note that in order to be faster than the previous movement method, you have to do it perfectly so it's incredibly risky.

Double Rolling - A fast alternative to the other movement options. It can only be executed on modern controls by rolling, pressing R1/R2 depending on the exact control scheme and instantly rolling again. This basically allows to chain two rolls at a time together and is about as fast as Whistle/Weapon Switch Hopping.

Super Jumping - By clipping into certain terrain and mashing the jump button while moving into said terrain, it is possible to gain a very high vertical distance. So far the only applicable use is for Cenobia on the final pillar.

Fast Swimming - By holding the grab button Wander will swim underwater. This method of swimming is faster than the typical paddling Wander does. The lineup for Hydrus uses the typical paddling.

PART 3 - RANDOM TERMINOLOGY

Minor Sigil - A spot on a colossus not meant to do major damage, but to advance to the next section of the fight. Examples of ones we use include Valus' leg and Phaedra's neck. Most are skipped like Hydrus horns and Argus' elbow.

IL - Stands for Individual Level and is a universal speedrun term. As far as Shadow of the Colossus goes, it means defeating a single colossus by praying at it's statue.

NTA - Normal Time Attack. Also known as Boss Rush done on normal mode.

HTA - Hard Time Attack. Also known as Boss Rush done on hard mode.

Kaze Jump - A strategy discovered by BobbyKaze in Cenobia's lair where you can jump from the stairs by the last pillar to the arch-like structure, essentially skipping the entire intended strategy.

Jarrod Jump - The Malus IL strat involving getting launched from Malus' hand directly to his head sigil. Discovered by Jarrod Mitchell.

Ump Jump - A fast IL and Boss Rush strategy, which allows you to get on top of Quadratus faster by grabbing a ledge with a specific jump and timing. Discovered by Aidan Umpherson.

Wacky Jump - A strategy discovered by wackywolfao, which allows the player to jump to the Cenobia plateau directly during the first pillar cutscene, saving about 5 seconds compared to the old strategy. The trick is performed by jumping on specific spots on the back wall, which allow a jump to the ledge of the plateau.

7 Arrow Strat - Hitting Dirge's sigil with 7 arrows eliminates the need for a precision stab. Very beginner friendly strategy and loses maybe 20 seconds.

Rock Boost - After reaching Phaedra's domain there is a section leading down to Phaedra where Agro is capped at a certain speed. By taking Agro over a specific rock, you can bypass this limit for a few seconds if done correctly.

IMG - Item Menu Glitch. This glitch breaks the game in NG+ by using the Item Menu while praying on statues. First ever major gamebreaking glitch used in the NG+ category to skip fighting half the Colossi. The glitch was discovered by Eguchi.

getting tiktak'd - TikTak is runner who is known to lose very good runs on Malus (over and over again). So if someone gets tiktak'd they just lost a good run by failing on Malus. Here is an example: youtu.be/S-XT9J5BRhw?t=4950