Choosing the right innate technique in Sorcerer Ascent shapes your entire playstyle. Techniques vary widely in damage output, crowd control, and survivability, and some excel in PvP duels while others dominate PvE grinding. This tier list ranks all available innate techniques based on their performance in both modes, helping you decide which to keep and which to reroll.
Quick answer: Disaster Plants, Cursed Speech, and Straw Doll lead in PvP thanks to stun combos and control. Blood Manipulation, Disaster Flames, and Disaster Plants top PvE for sustained damage and area-of-effect power.
S-Tier Innate Techniques
S-tier techniques deliver exceptional performance across both PvP and PvE. They offer high damage, strong utility, or unmatched combo potential.
Disaster Plants (Special)
Disaster Plants excels in PvP through stun-heavy moves like Flower Field that lock opponents in place. You cannot combo break or vent out of these stuns, giving you reliable damage windows every time the stun cooldown resets. The technique also packs substantial area-of-effect damage for raids, and its domain expansion grants cursed energy regeneration for near-infinite ability spam.
PvP: S-tier. Stun combos dominate duels.
PvE: S-tier. High area damage and energy sustain.
Cursed Speech (Glorious)
Every Cursed Speech move deals consistent high damage, and most attacks ignore blocks. The technique scales heavily with Cursed Energy Output, making it easy to unlock all moves by investing in a single stat. Don't Move paralyzes enemies, which can turn boss fights in your favor. Lower cooldowns than most techniques allow frequent ability chains.
PvP: S-tier. Skill-dependent but devastating when aimed well.
PvE: S-tier. Reliable damage and boss control.
Disaster Flames (Special)
Disaster Flames scales incredibly well with cursed technique damage stats, enabling one-shot combos in PvP once you invest heavily. Every move hits hard, but the technique demands significant stat commitment and a clan that boosts cursed energy damage. It starts weak early but becomes a powerhouse in late-game content.
PvP: S-tier. Massive burst damage with proper investment.
PvE: A-tier. Strong late-game but not beginner-friendly.
Straw Doll (Glorious)
Straw Doll thrives on setup. Land Hair Steal, then use Resonance to deal indirect damage from a safe distance. The Hair Steal and Resonance combo works in both PvP and PvE, making you oppressive in duels and effective in boss encounters. Other moves feel underwhelming as standalone attacks.
PvP: S-tier. Annoying and oppressive once setup lands.
PvE: A-tier. Good sustained damage, but less versatile.
A-Tier Innate Techniques
A-tier techniques perform well in most situations but require more skill or specific builds to shine.
Blood Manipulation (Special)
Blood Manipulation mixes ranged, melee, and area attacks for consistent damage. Piercing Blood into Blood Spikes creates strong combos, and ranged moves like Bloody Disc let you kite melee bosses safely. Slow wind-ups leave openings in PvP, so experienced players can dodge and punish. The Choso clan's Stack upgrade adds excellent mobility.
PvP: A-tier. Strong but requires timing and kiting.
PvE: S-tier. High damage and safe ranged options.
Ratio (Glorious)
Ratio offers incredible speed and mobility through repeated dash-based slashes. The technique excels in hit-and-run playstyles with excellent chip damage. Rocksolid Counter ranks among the best defensive moves in the game. You must obtain a weapon to use Ratio moves—defeat Nanami Kento at Jujutsu High (level 45+) to get the Ratio Cleaver.
PvP: A-tier. Fast and flexible for aggressive play.
PvE: A-tier. Solid but not as dominant as S-tier options.
Disaster Flame (Special)
Disaster Flame delivers the best scaling for cursed energy damage builds. It requires high stat investment to feel powerful, making it less beginner-friendly. Once built correctly, it deals massive damage to enemies and bosses.
PvP: S-tier when fully invested.
PvE: A-tier. Needs late-game stats to excel.
B-Tier Innate Techniques
B-tier techniques work well in specific scenarios but lack the consistency or power of higher tiers.
Explosive Flesh (Epic)
Explosive Flesh hits hard if you land combos, but most moves have noticeable start-up lag. Skilled PvP opponents can dodge and counter. In PvE, catching enemies in combos is easier, making this one of the most beginner-friendly techniques for its rarity. Stat requirements are high for an Epic-tier technique.
PvP: B-tier. Powerful but inconsistent.
PvE: A-tier. High damage for its rarity.
Blazing Courage (Epic)
Blazing Courage offers a balanced mix of fire attacks and mobility. Flame Roar performs well in PvP if you land it, but other moves are harder to combo into. Decent damage output makes it viable for early to mid-game content, though it falls off later.
PvP: B-tier. Situational but usable.
PvE: B-tier. Outclassed by higher-tier techniques.
C-Tier Innate Techniques
C-tier techniques struggle in both PvP and PvE. Consider rerolling if you draw one of these.
Crystal Formation (Rare)
Crystal Formation provides decent tankiness and area damage, making it beginner-friendly. The counter move helps in PvP, but the main damage moves have slow start-ups. It gets overpowered by other techniques in PvP and struggles against stronger NPCs and bosses.
PvP: C-tier. Usable but not competitive.
PvE: B-tier. Good for early progression.
Earth Manipulation (Rare)
Earth Manipulation offers basic offensive and defensive tools but lacks mobility and damage scaling. Slow moves are easily dodged in both PvP and PvE. The domain expansion does not provide meaningful boosts. It works for early progression but gets outclassed quickly.
PvP: C-tier. Weak overall.
PvE: B-tier. Better than nothing, but reroll when possible.
Best Clans for Innate Techniques
Clans provide stat bonuses that amplify your innate technique. Choose a clan that matches your build focus.
Choso (Special)
Choso is the best clan for cursed energy damage builds. It grants +20% CE Damage, +10% Health, and +25% Cursed Energy. The unique perk replaces Flowing Red Scale with Flowing Red Scale: Stack if you use Blood Manipulation, adding strong mobility.
Itadori (Special)
Itadori leads for melee and weapon builds. It provides +30% Black Flash Damage, +15% Health, and +18% Physical Damage. After landing four Black Flashes in a row, you unlock a special Black Flash. To use Black Flash, equip it and perform M1 attacks until the skill icon lights up red, then press the assigned button. Press again when the flame fills to execute the Black Flash.
Kamo (Glorious)
Kamo ranks second for cursed energy damage builds with +20% CE Damage and +15% Cursed Energy. It also increases your chance to roll Blood Manipulation as your innate technique.
Tsukumo (Glorious)
Tsukumo offers +15% CE Damage and +5% Cursed Energy, making it a solid third choice for cursed energy builds.
Nanami (Glorious)
Nanami provides +5% Physical Damage, +10% Health, and +5% Cursed Energy. It ranks third for melee and weapon builds.
Inumaki (Glorious)
Inumaki grants +10% CE Damage, +5% Health, and +20% Cursed Energy. It also increases your chance to roll Cursed Speech, an S-tier innate technique.
Todo (Epic)
Todo gives +10% Health and +7% Physical Damage, making it the second-best clan for melee and weapon builds.
Common clans (Amai, Muwa, Muta, Nishimiya) provide no bonuses and should be rerolled.
How to Unlock Domain Expansion
Reach level 105 and talk to Kusakabe to start the Domain Expansion quest. You need maximum mastery of your innate technique plus two items:
- Soul Swap Stone: Drops from Luck 1/2/3 boxes, the Travel Merchant, and World Events including Soldier Group, Skitterface Group, and Flies Group.
- Domain Expansion Essence: Drops from Luck boxes and World Events such as Gloomhorn Curse (level 105+) and Grasshopper Curse boss (level 85+).
How to Get Soul Points for Rerolls
Soul Points let you reroll your innate technique or clan. The best source is raids. You can also earn Soul Points from Luck boxes and active codes.
How to Get Weapons
The most accessible weapons come from the Hotagurawa boss and dungeons. You can also obtain the Nanami weapon by defeating the Nanami boss.
Innate techniques define your combat effectiveness in Sorcerer Ascent. S-tier techniques like Disaster Plants and Cursed Speech dominate both PvP and PvE, while A-tier options like Blood Manipulation and Ratio require more skill but still perform well. Pair your technique with the right clan—Choso for cursed energy builds, Itadori for melee builds—to maximize your stats. Reroll lower-tier techniques when you have Soul Points, and focus on unlocking domain expansion once you reach level 105.
