ULTRAKILL: Beginner-to-Advanced Guide

Everything you need to go from dying in the Prelude to P-ranking levels: movement, healing, every weapon and variant, key tech like coin ricochets and parries, difficulty choices, and what Layer 8: Fraud and its follow-up patches changed in 2026.

Researched September 2026 — current as of Patch 17d4 (April 25, 2026), after Layer 8: Fraud (February 25, 2026). ULTRAKILL is still in Early Access. Live games change; check the linked sources if something differs.

Quick Start

You heal by getting close and bloody. Enemies spray blood when hit up close; standing in it restores HP. Retreating to "play safe" actually starves you of health.
Never stop moving. Dash (3 stamina charges), slide, slam and wall-jump constantly; standing still is how you die.
Punch projectiles back. The Feedbacker arm parries most projectiles and even some melee attacks - a successful parry heals you and deals big damage.
Swap weapons constantly. Style rewards variety, and most weapons have short cooldowns you can dodge by swapping.
Pick Standard difficulty for the "intended" experience. Lenient and Harmless are genuinely easier, not shameful; Violent and Brutal are for returning players.
Earn P (points) to buy weapon variants at the Terminal shop between levels. Blue variants are found in levels, green and red are purchased.
Don't chase ranks on a first run. Just finish levels; come back for S and P ranks once you know the layouts.
Look around for secrets. Every normal level has hidden Soul Orbs and many have secret exits to hidden levels.

Movement

Action	Default key	Notes
Move	WASD	Very fast base speed
Jump	Space	Up to 3 wall jumps before touching the ground
Dash	Shift	Costs one of 3 stamina bars; grants brief invulnerability
Slide	Ctrl (ground)	Keeps momentum; jump out of a slide for distance
Ground slam	Ctrl (air)	Slams down fast; slam-jump for height (slam bounce)
Punch	F	Uses your current arm
Swap arm	G	Cycle Feedbacker / Knuckleblaster
Whiplash	R	Grapple enemies, items or hookpoints
Weapon variant	Press the weapon number again (or E)	Cycles variants of the current weapon

Core movement tricks:

Slide-jump: jump out of a slide for long horizontal distance.
Dash-jump: jump while dashing to carry the dash's speed into a long, fast jump.
Slam bounce: jump right after a slam lands to launch higher.
Wind state (Fraud Hotfix #2): a new tech that grants greater air control, triggered by a non-damaging rocket jump, a walljump while diving, a dash extension, or dashing into an enemy step.
Rocket riding: with the Rocket Launcher, shoot a rocket and jump on it; since Fraud Hotfix #2 you can also mount rockets by holding jump while pulling one with the Whiplash.

Health and Hard Damage

Your HP is 100 on most difficulties (200 on Harmless; on Lenient, restarting from the same checkpoint 3+ times raises it to 200). Close-range blood heals you.
On Standard and above, taking damage also causes Hard Damage (35% of normal damage on Standard), which temporarily lowers your maximum HP. On Violent and Brutal each hit also delays its recovery. Avoid taking many hits in a row.
Parries heal you - learn to parry the most common projectiles.

Style and Ranks

The Style meter fills with varied, creative kills (headshots, parries, multikills, ricochets, weapon swapping).
Style points (P) from levels are your currency for weapon variants in the shop.
Level ranks are graded on Time, Kills and Style. A P-rank requires the top rank in all categories with no restarts - the game's big completion goal.
Challenges: each level has an optional challenge (e.g., don't use a certain weapon) for completion.

Weapons

ULTRAKILL has five weapon slots with three variants each (blue, green, red), plus secret alternate forms found through exploration. Prices are from the Terminal shop.

Slot	Weapon	Variants	Highlights
1	Revolver	Piercer, Marksman, Sharpshooter	Marksman throws coins you can shoot for auto-targeting ricochets; Sharpshooter's charge ricochets off walls; Piercer's charge beam goes through enemies
2	Shotgun	Core Eject, Pump Charge, Sawed-On	Core Eject launches a grenade core; Pump Charge overpumps into an explosion; Sawed-On uses a chainsaw
3	Nailgun	Attractor, Overheat, Jumpstart	Attractor fires magnets that pull nails; Overheat uses a heat sink; nail/saw alternate forms exist
4	Railcannon	Electric, Screwdriver, Malicious	Electric pierces and chains; Screwdriver drills an enemy; Malicious fires an explosive beam
5	Rocket Launcher	Freezeframe, S.R.S. Cannon, Firestarter	Freezeframe freezes rockets in the air; S.R.S. fires a cannonball; Firestarter sprays gasoline

Shop prices (per wiki): revolver variants 7,500-25,000 P, shotguns 12,500-25,000 P, nailguns 25,000-35,000 P, rocket launchers 75,000 P each, railcannons 100,000 P each. A custom color scheme costs 1,000,000 P.

Arms

Arm	Where you get it	What it does
Feedbacker	Default	Fast punch, parries projectiles, punches coins and Core Eject grenades
Knuckleblaster	1-4: Clair de Lune	Heavy punch with a shockwave that knocks enemies and projectiles away
Whiplash	4-4: Clair de Soleil	Grappling hook: pull light enemies to you, pull yourself to heavy ones

Key Tech to Learn

Coin ricochet (Marksman): throw a coin, shoot it. The bullet auto-targets an enemy's weak point with bonus damage. Chaining coins multiplies damage. Railcannon shots and Piercer charges can be bounced too.
Parry: punch a projectile just before it hits you. Parrying heals you and sends the projectile back hard.
Shotgun parry: fire the shotgun at point-blank and punch immediately - it deals massive damage.
Core Eject punching: fire a core, then punch it toward enemies to make it fly straight and explode on contact.
Quick-swap: swap weapons between shots to skip reload animations.
Nailgun + Electric Railcannon: conduct electricity through nails and magnets for crowd damage (and since patch 17d4, conduction works reliably with Max Gore Per Room set to 0).
Whiplash tricks: pull Stray/Schism projectiles or heavy enemies to create openings.

Structure and Progress (as of Patch 17d4)

Act	Layers
Prelude: Overture - The Mouth of Hell	0-1 to 0-5 + secret 0-S
Act I: Infinite Hyperdeath	Layer 1 Limbo, Layer 2 Lust, Layer 3 Gluttony
Act II: Imperfect Hatred	Layer 4 Greed, Layer 5 Wrath, Layer 6 Heresy
Act III: Godfist Suicide	Layer 7 Violence, Layer 8 Fraud (Feb 2026), Layer 9 Treachery (unreleased)

Per the ULTRAKILL wiki, the game currently has 33 main levels, 6 secret levels, 2 Encore levels and 2 Prime Sanctums (P-1 and P-2) out of a planned 55 levels total. A third Prime Sanctum, more Encores, Layer 9 and the ULTRAKILL MUST DIE difficulty are still to come.

Extras

The Cyber Grind: endless wave arena with a leaderboard. Patch 17d made Deathcatcher cage requirements more lenient and reserved 10% of each wave's points for common enemies.
Sandbox: spawn enemies and objects with the Spawner arm to practice tech.
Prime Sanctums: unlock by meeting rank/secret requirements in the right layer; they are the hardest bosses in the game.
Fishing and many small secrets hidden in levels.

Difficulty

Difficulty	Key changes
Harmless	Enemies 50% slower, 200 HP, no Hard Damage
Lenient	Enemies 25% slower, no Hard Damage
Standard	The baseline; Hard Damage enabled
Violent	Enemies 25% faster; each hit adds a second to Hard Damage's regen cooldown
Brutal	Enemies 50% faster, most enemies with 50% more health
ULTRAKILL MUST DIE	Unreleased

Enemy Priorities

Kill ranged support enemies first (Stray, Schism, Mindflayer, Virtues). They make any arena overwhelming.
Idols protect other enemies with a blessing - kill the Idol first.
Heavy enemies (Cerberus, Hideous Mass, Swordsmachine) can be handled with parries and big damage like shotgun parries and rockets.
Newer enemies you'll see referenced in 2026 patch notes include Deathcatchers, Providences and Mirror Reapers. Kill Deathcatchers quickly (they can puppet other enemies), and note that since patch 17d4 Providences share a separate cooldown so they take turns attacking rather than swamping you alongside Virtues.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Backing away from enemies. You lose your only real healing source.
Saving stamina "for later". Dash to dodge, not only to travel.
Using one weapon. Low style, slow kills, poor ranks.
Ignoring the Feedbacker. Parry practice pays back more than any purchase.
Buying only one weapon line. Pick up a variety of variants early - the Marksman revolver is a strong first buy.
Playing Brutal first. It's designed as an extra challenge for players who've finished the game.

Advanced Tips

Coin + Railcannon: hit a coin with a railcannon shot for enormous damage; this combo is key for bosses.
Slam storage and slide tech carry speedrunning; the April 2026 patches made the "duckboost" and "SSJ" techs more consistent and restored "Dash Extension".
Rocket Launcher's Freezeframe: freeze rockets in the air to stack them, then release.
Weapon swapping mid-combo keeps the Style meter high and damage constant.
P-rank routing: watch speedruns, learn the kill order per arena, and move straight between rooms.
Reduce HUD motion (added in Fraud Hotfix #2) if the weapon sway distracts you.
Level time leaderboards now default to your own time and are scrollable - handy for tracking PBs.

FAQ

Is ULTRAKILL finished? No. It's in Early Access with Layer 9 (Treachery), the final Prime Sanctum, more Encores and ULTRAKILL MUST DIE still to come.

What changed with Layer 8: Fraud? It released on February 25, 2026 with four new levels (8-1 Hurtbreak Wonderland, 8-2 Through the Mirror, 8-3 Disintegration Loop, 8-4 Final Flight), plus new enemies and arenas. The wiki still counts 6 released secret levels, so 8-S is listed but not yet playable. Hotfixes through April 2026 (latest 17d4) added Wind state tech, rocket-riding improvements and many fixes.

Is it too hard for new players? Harmless and Lenient are designed for players who want the story and action without the punishing difficulty. Start there if you're struggling.

What should I buy first in the shop? The Marksman revolver (coins) is widely recommended because it teaches ricochet tech. Then pick a shotgun and rocket variant that suits your style.

How do I get P-ranks? Finish the level with top ranks in time, kills and style with no restarts. Learn the layout first.

Can I use mods? Yes, the community has mods, but the game's own Sandbox and the Cyber Grind already cover most practice needs.