Water Breathing has a reputation in Slayers 2 (Project Slayers 2) as the safe first pick, the style people recommend when you don’t know what you want yet. A recent boss-farming showcase makes a bolder claim for it. Across five back-to-back fights against 3,000 HP world bosses, a level 225 slayer keeps every target stunned or juggled from the first hit to the last. The player in the footage tested every breathing style and now ranks Water first for boss farming, ahead of Serpent Breathing.
Quick answer: The route alternates sword M1 attacks, Water Breathing techniques, shotgun fire and Tanto actions to keep every 3,000 HP boss stunned. Each defeat awards 1,500 EXP, 450 Wen, 120 Reputation and a World Events Chest.
The five Slayers 2 bosses in the Water Breathing run
Every boss in the showcase has the same 3,000 HP health pool, so the run works as a fair side-by-side test. Each one also carries its own 0.5% drop table of cosmetics and weapons.
| Boss | Title | Area shown | 0.5% drops |
|---|---|---|---|
| Saneri | The Wind Hashira | Windy Path | Saneri’s Haori, Wind Katana, Wind Katana V2, Wind Slayer Uniform v2 |
| Yahari | The Arrow Demon | Not labeled | Yahari Necklace |
| Sumari | The Temari Demon | Not labeled | Sumari’s Outfit |
| Dutai | The Obi Demon | Bamboo Grove | Dutai’s Haori, Dutai’s Outfit, Golden Katana, Golden Katana V2 |
| Obari | The Serpent King | Not labeled | Serpent Haori, Serpent Katana, Serpent Katana V2, Serpent Mask |
Saneri, The Wind Hashira
The opening fight at Windy Path sets the pattern for the rest of the run. The Water Breathing forms go out one after another, with basic sword strikes filling the gaps between cooldowns, and the Hashira never gets a clean window to respond.
Yahari, The Arrow Demon
Yahari spends most of the fight trapped in combo strings and cinematic attacks. That matters because the Arrow Demon is a ranged threat. Keeping it stunned up close takes away the space it would need to shoot back.
Sumari, The Temari Demon
Against Sumari, the rotation leans on explosive moves layered between Water Breathing arts and sword hits. The secondary weapons do real work here. They keep the stun going while the breathing forms are on cooldown.
Dutai, The Obi Demon
The Bamboo Grove fight against Dutai shows the shotgun most clearly. Water slashes start each string, and shotgun skills keep the pressure on until her health bar is empty.
Obari, The Serpent King
The last fight uses the terrain. Obari gets pinned against a wall, so knockback from each skill has nowhere to send him. Several skills land in a row before he drops.
Why Water Breathing keeps bosses stunned
Water Breathing has five forms. Most of them have a tap version and a hold version, and the gap between the two is what makes the style good at long combos. Tap versions come out fast. Hold versions trade startup time for more hits, heavier stuns or invincibility frames. The cooldowns are short enough that something is almost always ready.
| Key | Form | Cooldown | Unlock cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Z | Water Surface Slash | 10s | 3 Skill Points |
| X | Whirlpool | 12s | 6 Skill Points, 14 Mastery |
| C | Water Wheel | 16s | 9 Skill Points, 27 Mastery |
| V | Constant Flux | 18s | 12 Skill Points, 40 Mastery |
| B | Dead Calm | 51s | 15 Skill Points, 53 Mastery |
Water Surface Slash covers distance. A tap sends the slayer into a dashing horizontal slash. A hold starts a sprint that ends in the slash when the key is released. Whirlpool’s tap version gives instant invincibility frames and ragdolls nearby enemies in a spinning vortex. The hold version fires two water pillars forward.
Water Wheel does most of the stun work. Held, it lands three horizontal and three vertical slashes with a heavy stun, then rolls into the wheel and slams the blade down. Tapped, the slayer simply becomes a rolling wheel. Constant Flux is a charged hold move. It summons a water dragon, spins twice and slams down for four hits, with stun, ragdoll and full invincibility frames during the animation.
Dead Calm ends the rotation. It is unblockable and catches everything in a circle around the user. Targets get pulled into an 8-second cutscene with 11 hits, and a wave crashes down at the end. The user is invincible for the whole animation. Against a boss, that is eight seconds of free damage with no risk.
Dead Calm needs more than mastery and skill points. The player also has to defeat Giyen (Giyu) before the form unlocks.
The rest of the loadout matters just as much. The player in the showcase runs Sword Mastery Lv. 129, Water Mastery Lv. 117, Shotgun Mastery Lv. 102 and Tanto Mastery Lv. 60. The sword M1s, shotgun blasts and Tanto moves fill the downtime between breathing cooldowns, so the stun never drops.
Boss rewards for each kill
All five bosses pay out the same base rewards. That is a big reason fast clears matter for farming, since kill speed sets how much you earn per hour.
- +1,500 EXP and +450 Wen
- +120 Reputation
- +140 mastery for each combat style used, such as “+140 Tanto, Sword, Water and Shotgun Mastery”
- A World Events Chest, which rolls the boss’s 0.5% gear and cosmetic drops
- Materials seen in the run, including Refinement Ore, Metal Scraps, Moonlight Weaver’s Silk, Reaper Orb, Coin Pouch and Silk Thread
Mastery goes to whatever styles were part of the kill. A fight that uses the shotgun raises four masteries at once. A fight without it raises only Tanto, Sword and Water. A mixed-weapon rotation therefore levels several styles at the same time.
Water vs. Serpent and Flame Breathing for boss farming
Not everyone agrees on where Water ranks. Some tier lists put it at A, arguing that specialist styles beat it in their own area. Flame is usually named for boss damage, and Thunder for duels. Others give Water S-tier for its balance of boss DPS, mob clearing and invincibility frames, and because the trainer path doesn’t depend on lucky drops. The 0.182 Balance Update buffed Water, which is part of why it has climbed.
The showcase explains the difference in practice. Flame Breathing hits harder on paper, but its heavy knockback launches bosses out of range and breaks combos. It does better in dungeons, where its V and Z moves stand out. Serpent was the previous top pick in the same series of tests. Water’s stuns, ragdolls and pulls keep a boss in one spot, and over a full 3,000 HP that adds up to faster clears than raw damage alone.
Water Breathing unlock requirements in Slayers 2
Water Breathing is only available on the Slayer path. Demons can’t learn any breathing style. The trainer is Urokodaki, at Bamboo Grove Sanctuary, and the hideout is reached by swimming through a hole hidden behind a bush.
- Level 25 on the Slayer path
- 5,000 Wen
- 30 Demon Horns
- Training: Parkour Dungeon, Push Ups, Boulder Push, Aim Training and five Underwater Rocks
- A final fight against the Water Trainee
Changing styles later is possible but costs money. The in-game Shop sells Reset Breathing Style for 150 Robux. Mastery doesn’t carry over to a new style, so switching away from Water means losing that progress. The five-boss showcase is a reminder of what Water offers once that mastery is built: the style doesn’t out-damage everything, but it rarely gives a boss a chance to hit back.
