Whenever I start a new Kirby game, I have one question: what are the new Copy Abilities? After playing through the game, I’ve found every Copy Ability available — and longtime fans just might be upset at the initial list. Worry not, because the paltry list of Copy Abilities doesn’t tell the whole story. The Copy Abilities are weirder and wilder than ever before. Let’s talk about all the different Copy Abilities in Kirby and the Forgotten Land.
There are 12 Copy Abilities available for Kirby to absorb by swallowing different enemies. That doesn’t sound like much for Kirby’s big new adventure — and it isn’t, because you can upgrade Copy Abilities. After unlocking the Waddle Dee Village and gaining the Waddle Dee Weapon Shop, you can spend coins to get new versions of familiar Copy Abilities. These new versions are bizarro twists on Copy Abilities fans have known since the beginning. Let’s get into the full list.
More Kirby and the Forgotten Land guides:
World 1: Natural Plains All Waddle Dees | World 2: Everbay Coast All Waddle Dees | World 3: Wondaria Remains All Waddle Dees | World 4: Winter Horns All Waddle Dees | World 5: Originull Wasteland All Waddle Dees | World 6: Redgar Forbidden Lands | HAL Developer Room Easter Egg | How To Get Rare Stones | Waddle Dee-Liveries Codes For Free Items
All 12 Copy Abilities
There are 12 Copy Abilities — special forms Kirby gains after swallowing specific types of enemies. After gaining a power once, it will unlock permanently at the Waddle Dee Weapon Shop in the Village. You can return and collect a Copy Ability any time at the shop.
Each Copy Abilities has multiple different variants you can unlock through Blueprint upgrades. By finding a Blueprint — there are many ways to gain a Blueprint, but you’ll often find them hidden in levels — you can exchange coins / Rare Stones to unlock the variant. From the Weapon Shop, you can select what Variant you want as your primary Copy Ability template.
Ranger: Kirby’s new gunslinger ability gives you access to a cool star-shooting pistol. Hold down attack to aim anywhere in the 3D environment and let loose a charged attack. Allows you to flip distant target switches. Later, you’ll gain upgrades so you can wield two guns at the same time, or launch a powerful blast of sci-fi energy.
- Upgrades: Noble Ranger
Hammer: The hammer returns. The always dependable hammer is a big mallet you can slam onto enemies or perform a spinning attack. Can pound wooden stumps flat and hammer star nails. The regular attack is relatively weak, but a charged attack deals some big damage to bosses.
- Upgrades: Toy Hammer
Crash: The one-time-use power is back. Crash unleashes a massive blast of AOE energy that destroys anything near Kirby. You’ll have to charge it, but the result is a screen-clearing nuke. Later versions are even more bizarre, allowing you to temporarily stop time instead of blasting everything with noise.
- Upgrades: Time Crash
Fire: The old standby Fire shoots balls of fire like a flamethrower. Jump and attack to charge forward like a fireball. Upgrades rapidly increase your magma rock spewing — and you’ll gain the deadly long-range Dragon Fire that absolutely crushes enemies. Great for taking down bosses in record time.
- Upgrades: Volcano Fire, Dragon Fire
Cutter: The tricky cutter gains some 3D versatility in Forgotten Land. Now you can throw a chakram and hold attack to keep it spinning mid-air. Move to a new location, and it’ll come flying to you — used in solving some of the trickier puzzles. Later variants give you access to double the cutters.
- Upgrades: Chakram Cutter
Sword: Kirby’s default sword swings fast and locks enemies in powerful combos. Able to cut ropes and enemies into ribbons. A very basic and useful melee weapon. Becomes even better with the Gigant variant, where Kirby slings the great sword over his shoulder. The Meta Knight variant is even better, gaining all of Meta Knight’s signature sword combos.
- Upgrades: Gigant Sword, Meta Knight Sword
Bomb: Bombs roll freely in the 3D world, able to hit switches or enemies from long range if you’ve got a downward slope nearby. The Bomb can also be thrown by holding down attack — you can precisely measure your angle and distance to land that perfect bomb shot. Unlocks upgrades so you can string bombs together in an explosive circuit.
- Upgrades: Chain Bomb
Tornado: The Tornado Copy Abilities turns Kirby into a whirling dervish of pink destruction. Using the Tornado launches Kirby forward and keeps him floating high in the air. Sucking up enemies in the tornado turns them into projectiles. Very useful for crossing long distances, or speeding through dangerous enemies.
- Upgrades: Fleur Tornado
Drill: Burrow underground to collect buried treasure or ambush enemies from below. While digging underground, Kirby is basically invulnerable. Great for skipping enemies or getting close to enemies that are barraging Kirby with bones, snowballs, bombs and more. Encircle an area in crumbling ground from the drill to generate an explosive earthquake.
- Upgrades: Pencil Drill
Sleep: The most useless Copy Ability is back to waste all of our time. Swallowing a sleeping enemy puts Kirby to sleep. Is there a variant that actually makes Sleep useful? You’ll have to find out for yourself.
- Upgrades: ??
Needle: Turns Kirby into a ball of spikes that slowly rolls. Catching enemies in the needles gives the power extra momentum, letting you string enemies along faster. You’ll move even faster down a slope. A tricky Copy Ability to learn, and not exactly great against most bosses.
- Upgrades: Clutter Needle
Ice: Freeze enemies and put out fires. That’s all you need from Ice, and like previous iterations of the power, you’ll skate on dry land gracefully.
- Upgrades: ??
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