Sword of the Sea Skills Guide: Unlocks and 20x Combos

How to Unlock Skills in Sword of the Sea

Your Hoversword becomes more versatile as you unlock tricks, improve your jumps, and gain new ways to cross the ruins. This Sword of the Sea skills guide covers the upgrades that expand your movement and help you keep combos alive. Collect Tetra for the mysterious vendors, search for secret shells, and finish the story to work through the skill menu.

Golden triangles called Tetra pay for abilities and open paths. Exploration feeds that progression: hidden chests, elevated routes, and optional challenges give you reasons to leave the main route before moving on.

The skill menu includes these unlocks:

Skill or feature	How to unlock it
Tricks	Progress and pay Tetra to the vendor
Spin Tricks	Progress and pay Tetra to the vendor
Drop	Progress and pay Tetra to the vendor
Super Jump	Progress and pay Tetra to the vendor
Wisp cloak	Progress and pay Tetra to the vendor
Ancient Armor	Collect all secret shells
Speedometer	Finish your first playthrough
Trick Display	Finish your first playthrough

Ancient Armor and water rails

Ancient Armor creates water rails, giving you a way to grind through the air. Collecting all secret shells unlocks it; completing the story alone does not.

Keep shell hunting separate from gathering Tetra. Paying vendors covers several skill entries, while the full shell collection handles Ancient Armor. If that slot remains empty after the credits, check your collectible progress.

Official page: Sword of the Sea (swordoftheseagame.com)

Find More Tetra and Track Missing Shells

Explore the edges of each area before heading through the next major doorway. Side paths, rooftops, and ledges can lead to chests or additional traversal challenges. Watch for bubbles around hidden treasure, and check routes that sit above your normal surfing line.

Image: swordoftheseagame.com

Restoring water also changes what you can reach. Ocean Seeds bring back water and marine life, creating faster routes and new opportunities to climb or bounce higher.

Use those changes to revisit nearby secrets:

• Follow restored water toward ramps and elevated routes.
• Use buoyant jellyfish as jump pads.
• Look for climbable kelp leading upward.
• Recheck previously explored spaces after the environment transforms.
• Explore around halfpipes instead of treating them only as trick arenas.

The September 19, 2025 update added a collectible tracker to chapter select and another to the pause screen in New Game Plus. Use chapter select to identify unfinished areas before searching them again. That update also made Tetra around certain halfpipes easier to collect.

Build Speed Before Attempting Bigger Jumps

Jump height depends on your approach as well as your abilities. Water makes the Wraith significantly faster, and that extra speed supports bigger jumps and longer windows for aerial tricks.

When a ledge looks difficult to reach, try a faster approach before repeating the same jump. Look for a water route, a wave crest, or a nearby halfpipe that gives you more momentum.

Use halfpipes to gain height

Moving back and forth through a halfpipe builds speed and lets you catch more air. These structures can lead to upper floors, hidden treasures, and vendors tucked away from the main route.

Keep the camera aligned with your direction of travel as you cross the halfpipe. Once you have enough height, aim your exit toward the platform you want to reach.

For smaller landing targets, reduce forward movement as soon as you touch down. Carrying your full approach speed onto a narrow tower or roof can send you straight past the reward.

Read the terrain

Glowing lines act as launch pads, while moving sand can provide a conveyor-like boost. Watch for these features when plotting a route toward a high platform.

Separate your practice into two tasks: reach the landing reliably, then add tricks during the flight. That gives you a clear way to judge whether a missed jump came from your approach or from losing track of the destination.

Perform Tricks and Keep Your Combo Alive

After unlocking Tricks, hold the left bumper while airborne and press A, X, B, or Y when using Xbox-style button prompts.

For the PlayStation combo technique, hold L1 during jumps and repeatedly press the trick buttons to perform aerial spins. Unlock Spin Tricks through vendor progression as you expand your moves.

Start practicing on a halfpipe with room to turn around. Build momentum, launch, and try the available inputs during each jump. Once those inputs feel comfortable, move into a Trick Attack arena.

Wall riding keeps a combo active; touching the ground ends it. Plan a route that connects wall rides, aerial tricks, and jellyfish bounces.

Glowing boosts on ridable walls add speed, air, and multipliers through a quick kickflip. Approach them carefully near wall edges, where the boost can carry you away from your intended route. Before leaving a wall, look for the next surface or jellyfish you can reach.

Land a 20x Combo for Awesome Combo!

The Awesome Combo! trophy requires you to land a 20x combo trick. The second area of Lost Grotto provides an arena with walls and white shells that help increase your multiplier.

After finishing the story, return through chapter select and follow this sequence:

1. Start the Trick Attack timer. Head toward the arena’s surrounding walls.
2. Ride across the white shells on the walls. These increase your multiplier.
3. Jump away from the wall and perform aerial tricks. On PlayStation, hold L1 and repeatedly press the trick buttons.
4. Return to the wall to continue the chain. Repeat the wall-to-air sequence while keeping your next connection in sight.
5. Use a jellyfish bounce when you are dropping too low. Aim for it before touching the ground.
6. Land the combo after reaching at least 20x. The trophy requires a completed combo.

If the Lost Grotto route feels awkward, try the Shadow Tundra arena. Its many jellyfish bounces give you another way to connect jumps and build the multiplier.

Practice a short, repeatable route through whichever arena feels easier to navigate. Add aerial tricks between reliable wall rides or bounces rather than stretching every jump toward a distant connection.

The August 29, 2025 update fixed cases where the combo display appeared incorrectly. Install current updates before troubleshooting a multiplier display that behaves unexpectedly.