Special Attacks in Claymore

Claymore use few named attacks compared to fighters in other shonen manga, although those they do possess are normally unique, and often very powerful. Claymore do not normally seem to pass their techniques to younger recruits, with several notable exceptions, meaning that most techniques are developed by training and/or release of yoma. Unusual techniques without a name are named after their user here, but those which are simply notable qualities like Deneve's fast regeneration and Sophia's exceptional strength are not noted.

Double sword attack

 * User(s) Undine,Deneve
 * Nature Offensive
 * First seen Chapter 53 (manga)

Simply the use of two Claymores simultaneously, nomally accompanied by muscle enhancement to ensure effective strikes. This technique originates with Undine, whose friend was kiled protecting her; blaming her own weakness, Undine took her fiend's claymore and continuously released her yoma to accquire huge muscles. Apparently, The Organisation only accepted her two-blade style after Undine had made her name as the strongest Claymore. After Undine's death in the Northern campaign, Deneve, who had befriended her, takes Undine's original sword, leaving her second sword to mark her grave. She also uses occasional muscle enhancement to wield both swords at once (Galatea uses muscle enhancement on a couple of occasions, making it a general rather than special technique).

Drill Sword

 * User(s) Jean, Helen
 * Nature Offensive
 * First seen Chapter 47 (manga)

Jean's unique attack, whereby she first releases yoki to alter her shape, then twists her arm on itself like a screw. As she leaps towards the enemy, her arm unwinds, rotating the blade to form a drill that can penetrate any defense. Galatea describes Jean as having the most powerful thrst of all Claymore's. Her attack was able to pierce Dauf's armour, and remove the insectoid Pieta Awakened's limbs in a varient where the unwinding arm whirls the sword in a circle. Jean is able to wind her arm with 19 to 21 turns, and can use the attack at least twice in a fight, although she states that she cannot use it indefinately. Although Helen and Jean were not shown to be accquainted (Jean did save Helen from having to finish off Clare, and challenged her notions of ranking), Helen uses the Drill sword after the seven-year timeskip. Perhaps due to her extendable arms, or reckless personality, she uses it without restraint.

Phantom Move

 * User(s) Miria
 * Nature Offensive/Defensive
 * First Seen Chapter 28 (manga)

Miria's iconic signature move involves the release of an exceptionally brief and intense burst of Yoki, letting her move at unparallelled speed, so that afterimages remain in her path. It is the origin of her 'Phantom' nickname, and has been used by her to rescue injured comrades and innocent humans, as well as attacking or dodging yoma. Developed over her whole career, the move can only be used 20-30 times in a fight, due to its intense strain on Miria's mind and body. After the Northern campaign, Miria displays a new version of the Phantom move which requires no yoma release, and thus has no limit, although her movement is slightly slowed. Rigardo also displays the ability to continually move at the pace of a Phantom move during his fight with Miria, defeating Miria when she runs out of energy. Whilst rescuing Rachel and Audrey from Riful, Clare, Deneve and Helen display comparable speed to Miria, though it has not been confirmed that they can use her technique in any form.

Quicksword (Flash Sword)

 * User(s) Irene, Clare
 * Nature Offensive
 * First seen Chapter 36 (manga)

One of the most powerful attacks used by Claymores, the Quicksword is a barrage of strikes too fast to follow, which can take down the most skilled opponent. Although it failed to penetrate Dauf's hide, and Teresa followed Irene's quicksword easily, Ophelia, Raphelela, Rigaldo and two other Pieta Awakened have all fallen victim to this attack. As seen against Ophelia, it also provides a nearly impentrable defence. Irene, the originator of this technique, who teaches it to Clare, explains that she releases all her yoma power within her swordarm, while preventing it from taking over the rest of her body by willpower. Naturally, the Quicksword takes great strength and a calm mind, as Irene possesses. To compensate for the physical factors holding Clare back from using the quicksword, she severs her own arm, for Clare to reattatch to her own body. After this, the Quicksword becomes Clare's strongest attack, as she develops it from a wild and indescriminate technique to one were her strikes are under her control.

Ripplesword

 * User(s) Ophelia
 * Nature Offensive
 * First seen Chapter 35 (manga)

Ophelia claimed to have developed this technique just to accquire a unique and well-known monicker. However, as she herself comments, the low survival rate of anyone associated with her means that her fame has not spread quickly. Ophelia uses the flexible quaity of her body, similar to Jean and Helen, to undulate her sword rapidly, resembling a snake. This makes her blows almost impossible to anticipate or block, although Irene could stop them easily with the quicksword.

Shadow Hunter
A special technique in which Nina's blade will track down its target by its yoma energy and continue to move, and slash, until the targeted yoki is extinguished. The full power of this move is not seen, however, as Nina was directly attacked at the time, interfering the technique and preventing her from killing her target.
 * User(s) Nina
 * Nature Offensive
 * First seen Chapter 65 (manga)

Soul Link
A technique between two Claymores, who align their energies so that one can contain the other's "soul," allowing the other to fight as an Awakened Being without losing her humanity (i.e. she can revert to being human after the battle when the "soul" is released back into her body.) Also, it should be noted that holding and releasing a soul puts considerable strain on the non-awakened Claymore.
 * User(s) Alicia/Beth, Luciela/Raphaela (failed attempt)
 * Nature Offensive
 * First seen Chapter 62 (manga)

So far, this technique has only been only successful with identical twin Claymores, as the Organization had tried (and failed) to use non-identical sisters Luciela and Raphaela for this process, inadvertently leading to the former fully awakening and becoming an Abyssal One.

Strong Sword

 * User(s) Rachel
 * Nature Offensive
 * First seen Chapter 69 (Manga)

This style of attack involves Rachel digging her sword into the ground, building up potential energy, and releasing with greater power than a normal strike. She uses this attack to cut through Riful. For added versitility, she can use Audrey's sword to brace against. Riful criticises this technique as being too obvious and long to set up.

Windcutter
A lightning-fast attack first demonstrated by Flora, allowing her to draw, slash and re-sheath her sword in an instant. While slower than Irene/Clare's Quicksword, it is more accurate and doesn't require any yoki, allowing the user to perform this technique continuously without tiring. Following the Northern Campaign and deserting the Organization, Clare adapted this technique to avoid detection by other Claymores.
 * User(s) Flora, Clare
 * Nature Offensive
 * First seen Chapter 51 (Manga)

Yoki Manipulation
Several Claymores have demonstrated an ability to align their energies with their targets, allowing them to manipulate them in various manners, such as altering trajectories of attacks (Galatea), assist in healing and regeneration (Cynthia) and prevent/reverse a Claymore's awakening (Galatea, Clare, Jean.)
 * User(s) Galatea, Clare, Cynthia, Jean
 * Nature Defensive
 * First seen Chapter 44 (manga)

Yoki Sensing

 * User(s) Clare, Teresa
 * Nature Defensive
 * First seen Chapter 28 (Manga)

A self-developed technique Clare practised at length in order to battle an Awakened Being, and eventually Priscilla. Having almost entirely supressed her own yoki, she uses her remaining energy to read the intentions shown by her opponents yoki, letting her evade their attack before they make it. This technique suits Clare well, since her yoki is lower than a normal Claymore's, and is particularly useful against Awakened Beings, and Claymores such as Ophelia, who let off massive amounts of yoma energy with each attack. It's main drawback is that Clare's attack is weakened when she surpresses her yoki, and she has not shown enough skill to switch from defense to attack quickly. By chapter 31, Clare could use this technique to kill any number of normal yoma. Teresa is also adept at sensing and reading yoki to predict movements during battle.