ofzenandyoyos (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} ofzenandyoyos) wrote,@ 2006-04-16 21:48:00 |
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Nen Essay Of Doom
Okay, the following is a giant but hopefully concise essay on 'Nen', the 'magic' or 'ki' ability used in Hunter x Hunter.
The REASON an essay is needed is that, quite simply, Nen is never explained very well in the manga. While it is explained in detail and is more-or-less easy to understand, explanations come in great jumps after many chapters, and it's hard to remember everything that was said previously. A lot of it is also learned via context. However. As both Gon and Killua are played after the Greed Island arc, they are quite powerful and reasonably competent with Nen, which they will often use without thinking.
So first, the terms as they introduced in canon, and an explanation of each.
Nen is the ability to freely manipulate the body's energy, or the 'aura'.
Ten is the part of Nen that is used to regulate the aura. Basically, the body produces an aura and it slowly leaks out of them into the nether. By using Ten no leak will occur, thus saving more power to be used.
Maintaining Ten surrounds the body with the aura and will protect it from damage and aging.
Shouko are the openings in the body which contain the aura to within the body. It is from these that most people gradually leak the aura. The Shouko are opened in order to release the aura, and then Ten is used to maintain it around the body.
Zetsu is the technique used to separate one's self from their aura, thus making it impossible to detect someone from their aura, or to allow their body to recover from exhaustion. Zetsu occurs when the shouko are all completely shut. Think of a computer being in 'sleep' mode. On but using minimal power.
Ren is used to make the power of the aura rise in special situations. It is the Will of the person who uses the aura, aka powering up.
Being told to "show your Ren" is also a term used to say "show your strength in Nen" which does not mean simply 'powering up' but also using that power with the next stage, Hatsu.
Hatsu is the actual act of manipulating the aura. This can cover everything from projecting the aura in the form of an energy ball, to changing the aura itself into an object or another form of energy. Using Hatsu means using a 'special technique'.
Gyo is a technique which involves first using Ren to increase the spirit, and then gathering the affected aura around a specific point of the body. Through most of the manga saying 'use gyou' means to concentrate the aura around the eyes. Doing this allows someone to see another's Nen even in it's most latent state.
*****
The above terms are Nen at it's most basic form. Regardless of what KIND of Nen each person possesses, this is how they tap into that nen, and the basic ways in which they use it.
The following terms are the six Nen Types. Basically every nen technique falls into one of six categories, and which category a person identifies with decides what abilities they will be able to best use their Nen for.
Note that Nen users cannot choose what their Nen Type is. There is a test, which involves placing a leaf on water and charging the water with your Ren, to determine what Type everyone is. Nen Types can only be changed in very special cases.
You can see a diagram of the Types here.
Note the Hatsu in the middle of the diagram. This is because, as previously mentioned, Hatsu is the act of manipulating one's Nen. It is manipulating the Nen that the different Types come into play. Thus each Nen Type equals what a person will be most capable with when using Hatsu.
Reinforcement just as it sounds, is used to reinforce. The way this most readily comes to mind is that a fist could be reinforced with Nen to make a punch much stronger. Or the stomach could be reinforced with Nen to make someone not even feel a kick to their gut.
However it goes much beyond that. With reinforcement Nen can be applied also to physical objects. It can be used to make paper razor sharp when thrown, or make a sword nearly unbreakable. A reinforced shovel will dig through stone like it is butter.
While Reinforcement can be used for various tricks, it is also the most basic fighting ability. Anyone who gets in physical combat with a Nen user had better be able to use Reinforcement for at least defense or they will be literally ripped to shreds.
Similarly, Reinforcement is known for having "Perfect Defense and Attack". Because Reinforcement can block against very nearly any attack. Even Emission attacks can be blocked by a Reinforcement's defensive abilities.
Gon is Reinforcement Type.
Emission the "kamehameha" part of Nen. 'Emitting' Nen by gathering it up and releasing it. There are very few Emission users in HxH, but one is Killua's grandfather, who gathers and releases giant blasts of energy which he can give form and direction even while they are in mid-air.
Gon's Emission abilities are currently weak, but the 'paper' part of his Jan Ken Pon attack is to release a blast of energy out of his hand.
Manipulation is again, pretty descriptive. However, we don't see much use of Manipulation in HxH that I know of. One Manipulation Type is a boy who can control people by use of a cellphone. He plays the cellphone as one might play a videogame, and whoever the cell phone's antenna is pointing out must act out his commands. Another man uses Manipulation Nen to control a number of dogs he keeps as pets.
I imagine Manipulation Nen could also be used to control non-living objects, allowing them a sentient like ability to follow orders, but I can't recall if this has been shown in HxH or not.
Specialization Type is basically any ability that doesn't fit into the other categories. A character named Pakunoda, for example, has the ability to read people's memories with physical contact. She can then place these memories into Nen Bullets (created with Materialization) and fire the bullets into the brain of another person to share the memory.
There is also a girl who can use Specialization Nen to read someone's future and write it down in the form of a poem.
There are also Nen users known as "Erasers" they are rare but can remove Nen Effects from people. So if, say, someone had planted a Nen bomb on someone else, the Eraser could remove this. Erasers are almost surely Specialization.
Because Specialization is rare, and can cover any number of possibilities, it's rare to find those with duplicate techniques. Where as any Reinforcement User can use the same techniques.
Materialization is the ability to give one's Nen a physical form with it's own unique abilities. The best example of this is a girl who Materializes a vacuum cleaner which can suck up any amount of non-living objects (including dead bodies). It can even so something do specific as removing poison from the blood stream.
However, Materialization users do NOT just go around materializing anything they need. First of all it takes weeks of constant effort to be able to materialize an object, because the person must become very familiar with the object they want to make. Secondly because it's often not practical. Why would a Materialization user waste their Nen creating a "sword which cannot break" when they could, with much less effort, create a sword and then use Nen to reinforce it and make it NEARLY impossible to break?
Materialization is one of the most fun abilities, as the objects made can have very specific abilities. One man created two gorillas, one white and one black. When he says a certain phrase, he can call the black gorilla to where he is, or switch places with the white gorilla instantaneously.
Kurapica, one of the main characters of HxH, uses Materialization to produce multiple chains which hang from his fingers. Depending on what chain he uses, he can detect if someone is lying, bind someone to a promise, and has a specific chain which is unbreakable to specific people.
Transformation is the final Nen Type. Transformation allows the Nen user to change what shape their Nen is, or what it is made up of. Hisoka is a Transformation user, and uses it to turn his Nen into a sticky substance which he refers to as "Bungee Gum". He can attach this Nen to anything or anyone, allowing him neat tricks such as attaching one end to his own fist and the other end to someone's face, thus making it impossible for the person to dodge the ensuing attack.
Another girl turns her Nen into wire, which she can then use for whatever one might use string for. We see her both cut off people's heads and sew limbs back on using her Nen.
Much like Materialization, Transformation is a case where the Nen User must've made themselves extremely familiar with the effects and feelings of whatever they are forming their Nen into. We know this because several people note after seeing Killua turn his aura into eletricity that he must've had a horrible childhood, since no child should inherently know enough about the feeling of electricity to be able to reproduce it so easily.
*****
Now that I've explained the Types of Nen, here is how use of it works.
See this diagram.
The diagram there applies to a Materialization user, and basically says what percent of their ability can go into each category.
This DOES mean that, while a Nen User is not restricted to using Nen Techniques of only their Type, they will NEVER be better in another area than they are in their given Type.
The diagram applies the same to all abilities, so basically.
Reinforcement Users are:
100% in Reinforcement
80% in Emission
60% in Manipulation
0% in Specialization
60% in Materialization
80% in Transformation
Emission Users are:
100% in Emission
80% in Manipulation
0% in Specialization
40% in Materialization
60% in Transformation
80% in Reinforcement
Manipulation Users are:
100% in Manipulation
0% in Specialization
60% in Materialization
40% in Transformation
60% in Reinforcement
80% in Emission
*Specialization Users are:
100% in Specialization
80% in Materialization
60% in Transformation
40% in Reinforcement
60% in Emission
80% in Manipulation
Materialization Users are:
100% in Materialization
80% in Transformation
60% in Reinforcement
40% in Emission
60% in Manipulation
0% in Specialization
Transformation Users are:
100% in Transformation
80% in Reinforcement
60% in Emission
40% in Manipulation
0% in Specialization
80% in Materialization
Note how in all categories except Specialization itself, Specialization is at 0%. This is because Specialization cannot be learned like the others, and has to be, presumably, provoked by the lifestyle someone grew up in. Those who do not have Specialization Nen will likely never acquire it, however, the abilities nearest it -- Manipulation and Materialization -- are those most likely to be able to acquire the ability.
*Also note that I am guessing with Specialization. That IS the pattern, but as far as I know, Specialization have drastically lower or higher abilities in other areas, or perhaps it is different for each of them.
Anyway, a simplified version of the above percents is to say that if a Transformation Type were to use 100% of his abilities in physical combat with Reinforcement User of equal ability, the Transformation User would still ALWAYS take 20% damage from a full attack by the Reinforcement user, because the Transformation Type's defense would still only be 80% of the Reinforcement Type's attack.
*****
Next I'll talk about specific but basic techniques used in Nen combat, and explain which category they fall into and how they accomplished and used.
The first is what the manga calls 'Inflaming the Spirit'
Inflaming the Spirit is actually just activating one's Ren, and thus does not fall into any specific category, because it's just that basic.
But you know all those times when a dangerous person just LOOKS at someone and stops them in their tracks? This is actually the most basic Ren technique, and the reason why Killua won't even bother to fight someone that can't use Nen. Killua, who is a trained killer, was sent running for his life in an instant by an utterly non-threatening geeky little guy who was using this technique. Even if you're ready for it, it's not something that can be countered unless you can use Nen yourself. Yet if you CAN use Nen it can very easily brushed off.
The technique can be attributed with any emotion. And instead of 'inflaming the spirit' with the thought 'I will kill you' it can be 'I won't lose' or 'You won't move' or 'I won't be hit'. And whatever that emotion is, it will give them a severe advantage over someone who does not use this ability. So even Killua, who was physically much stronger than a small boy using this technique, couldn't outright defeat the boy because he used his Will to keep getting back up.
Hisoka uses this ability at one point to stop Gon and Killua from moving forward even a step, forcing them to learn about Nen before they are allowed to enter a certain place.
Shu is a Hatsu or Special Technique of the Reinforcement Type. This is when one Reinforces an object that is in connection with the body, such as a weapon being held. The Reinforced object will be much stronger and have a great deal more endurance than a regular object.
Kou is the combination of all of the abilities I mentioned at the beginning of this essay, and translates basically to "attacking with Nen" as far as usage. Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Hatsu and Gyou are used all at once to create Kou.
Kou literally is the act of concentrating all of the aura of the body in a single point.
Ten retains the aura. Zetsu closes the Shouko in all other places of the body, Ren heightens the power of the aura, Hatsu molds the aura and Gyou moves the aura to a specific point. Kou is effectively the 'ultimate' Reinforcement attack/defense, because it involves gathering all of one's strength into a single point making it at the same time very powerful and impenetrable.
Ken is the defensive equivalent of Kou. While Kou technically can be used for denfense, it's not a good idea because only one part of the body is protected. Ken is the act of using Ten and Ren at once, enclosing the entire body with a very powerful aura.
Ken is, however, a difficult ability to maintain, because it means doing Ren constantly for quite a while.
When combined with Gyou, Ken makes up the basic fighting technique. On average a fighter will put, say, 70% of their aura into a fist and leave 30% to guard the rest of their body. That way if they attack someone else doing the same thing fast enough, they inflict 40% damage (70% attack - 30% defense = 40% damage). But in basic combat one is expected to use gyou to constantly shift where they put the most attack and defense to inflict higher damage on the other and receive less themselves. Thus being able to judge how much aura an opponent is putting into their attack, and being able to rapidly defend or counter against it by moving their own aura into the part of their body that is going to be hit, all done in precise percents and instantaneous movement, is a vital ability and difficult to master. Killua is quite talented at it.
En is a defensive technique that is effectively a dispersed Ten. Basically, Ren and Ten are used at once but spread out from the body in a sphere, in this way the Nen User can 'feel' anything that enters the area of their En. En is an Emission technique, and very difficult in it's own right.
Killua's grandfather, who is crazily powerful (of course) and an Emission user can extend his En to 300 meters. Another very powerful character who's Type I'm not certain of (I suspect Transformation, given his personality) can only extend his En a meager 4 meters.
Shape Transformation is just what it sounds like. A transformation ability that changes the shape of one's Nen. This is really only seen in training exercises. The Nen is changed into the shape of a number or image floating above a finger, mostly to teach one to use Gyou quickly (the shape can only be seen with Gyou).
*****
As far as specific and defined techniques go that's all I know. HxH has literally hundreds more, but they are usually specific to each person and thus don't bear listing. I can sum them all up by explaining
The Condition and the Pledge. The Condition and the Pledge is basically a pact made with one's own soul. The best way to explain is an example.
Kurapica uses the Condition and the Pledge to it's fullest extent. What he wants is a chain which certain people will be unable to break free of. So the Pledge is that if he can have an unbreakable chain, he will limit himself to only using it on 10 people in the entire human race. He calls this the 'pre-condition' though, because additionally if he uses his chain on anyone but the 10 people specified, he will die. However it does work, even the most powerful reinforcement user among those he is after cannot break the chain.
The Condition and the Pledge vaguely sums up all unique abilities of all the characters. The Transformation user who turns her aura into wire specifies that she can make a wire that will stretch around the world, but it would be as weak as a cotton thread. Where as shorter wire is stronger than steel.
Hisoka has an ability called the "Deceitful Texture" which does not, in fact, have a texture. But it allows him to stretch his aura over a piece of paper or a cloth and make it look like anything he wants. He uses the texture to fake a tattoo on his back, turning a piece of cloth to make look like skin and ink. But if someone actually touched the cloth they would know it for being fake.
Kuroro who is, I believe, Materialization Type, has a book which relies very heavily on the Pledge and Condition. Basically he can copy down anyone's abilities no matter what type in this book. However, to do that he needs to get the person to explain the ability in full. Once the ability has been copied into his book, the person cannot use that ability for as long as it is in the book (Kuroro could rip out the page to give it back to them). When Kuroro wants to use an ability in the book, he must keep the book open at all times, closing it will make the ability cease.
These are just some examples. Pretty much every accomplished Nen User uses the Condition and the Pledge to make their abilities more powerful and unique. However, Gon and Killua are not at that point themselves. Which is why Killua really only uses his electricity as a short range taser and otherwise relies on intelligence and Reinforcement to fight.
*****
And as a side note, let's talk
Personalities. What Nen Type one is has roughly to do with one's personality. Killua notes that Reinforcement types are honest and straight forward, where as Transformation types are untrustworthy (talking about himself and Hisoka there). Hisoka provides a list of what he believes these these types to be.
*****
And that's finally all I have to say about Nen! There IS more, I assure you. But this everything we are told up through the Greed Island arc. Following the Greed Island arc the art becomes really ugly and I don't want to revisit that crap just to detail this essay more.
Hopefully this is concise and easy to follow. Any questions will be answered to the best of my ability.
Okay, the following is a giant but hopefully concise essay on 'Nen', the 'magic' or 'ki' ability used in Hunter x Hunter.
The REASON an essay is needed is that, quite simply, Nen is never explained very well in the manga. While it is explained in detail and is more-or-less easy to understand, explanations come in great jumps after many chapters, and it's hard to remember everything that was said previously. A lot of it is also learned via context. However. As both Gon and Killua are played after the Greed Island arc, they are quite powerful and reasonably competent with Nen, which they will often use without thinking.
So first, the terms as they introduced in canon, and an explanation of each.
Nen is the ability to freely manipulate the body's energy, or the 'aura'.
Ten is the part of Nen that is used to regulate the aura. Basically, the body produces an aura and it slowly leaks out of them into the nether. By using Ten no leak will occur, thus saving more power to be used.
Maintaining Ten surrounds the body with the aura and will protect it from damage and aging.
Shouko are the openings in the body which contain the aura to within the body. It is from these that most people gradually leak the aura. The Shouko are opened in order to release the aura, and then Ten is used to maintain it around the body.
Zetsu is the technique used to separate one's self from their aura, thus making it impossible to detect someone from their aura, or to allow their body to recover from exhaustion. Zetsu occurs when the shouko are all completely shut. Think of a computer being in 'sleep' mode. On but using minimal power.
Ren is used to make the power of the aura rise in special situations. It is the Will of the person who uses the aura, aka powering up.
Being told to "show your Ren" is also a term used to say "show your strength in Nen" which does not mean simply 'powering up' but also using that power with the next stage, Hatsu.
Hatsu is the actual act of manipulating the aura. This can cover everything from projecting the aura in the form of an energy ball, to changing the aura itself into an object or another form of energy. Using Hatsu means using a 'special technique'.
Gyo is a technique which involves first using Ren to increase the spirit, and then gathering the affected aura around a specific point of the body. Through most of the manga saying 'use gyou' means to concentrate the aura around the eyes. Doing this allows someone to see another's Nen even in it's most latent state.
The above terms are Nen at it's most basic form. Regardless of what KIND of Nen each person possesses, this is how they tap into that nen, and the basic ways in which they use it.
The following terms are the six Nen Types. Basically every nen technique falls into one of six categories, and which category a person identifies with decides what abilities they will be able to best use their Nen for.
Note that Nen users cannot choose what their Nen Type is. There is a test, which involves placing a leaf on water and charging the water with your Ren, to determine what Type everyone is. Nen Types can only be changed in very special cases.
You can see a diagram of the Types here.
Note the Hatsu in the middle of the diagram. This is because, as previously mentioned, Hatsu is the act of manipulating one's Nen. It is manipulating the Nen that the different Types come into play. Thus each Nen Type equals what a person will be most capable with when using Hatsu.
Reinforcement just as it sounds, is used to reinforce. The way this most readily comes to mind is that a fist could be reinforced with Nen to make a punch much stronger. Or the stomach could be reinforced with Nen to make someone not even feel a kick to their gut.
However it goes much beyond that. With reinforcement Nen can be applied also to physical objects. It can be used to make paper razor sharp when thrown, or make a sword nearly unbreakable. A reinforced shovel will dig through stone like it is butter.
While Reinforcement can be used for various tricks, it is also the most basic fighting ability. Anyone who gets in physical combat with a Nen user had better be able to use Reinforcement for at least defense or they will be literally ripped to shreds.
Similarly, Reinforcement is known for having "Perfect Defense and Attack". Because Reinforcement can block against very nearly any attack. Even Emission attacks can be blocked by a Reinforcement's defensive abilities.
Gon is Reinforcement Type.
Emission the "kamehameha" part of Nen. 'Emitting' Nen by gathering it up and releasing it. There are very few Emission users in HxH, but one is Killua's grandfather, who gathers and releases giant blasts of energy which he can give form and direction even while they are in mid-air.
Gon's Emission abilities are currently weak, but the 'paper' part of his Jan Ken Pon attack is to release a blast of energy out of his hand.
Manipulation is again, pretty descriptive. However, we don't see much use of Manipulation in HxH that I know of. One Manipulation Type is a boy who can control people by use of a cellphone. He plays the cellphone as one might play a videogame, and whoever the cell phone's antenna is pointing out must act out his commands. Another man uses Manipulation Nen to control a number of dogs he keeps as pets.
I imagine Manipulation Nen could also be used to control non-living objects, allowing them a sentient like ability to follow orders, but I can't recall if this has been shown in HxH or not.
Specialization Type is basically any ability that doesn't fit into the other categories. A character named Pakunoda, for example, has the ability to read people's memories with physical contact. She can then place these memories into Nen Bullets (created with Materialization) and fire the bullets into the brain of another person to share the memory.
There is also a girl who can use Specialization Nen to read someone's future and write it down in the form of a poem.
There are also Nen users known as "Erasers" they are rare but can remove Nen Effects from people. So if, say, someone had planted a Nen bomb on someone else, the Eraser could remove this. Erasers are almost surely Specialization.
Because Specialization is rare, and can cover any number of possibilities, it's rare to find those with duplicate techniques. Where as any Reinforcement User can use the same techniques.
Materialization is the ability to give one's Nen a physical form with it's own unique abilities. The best example of this is a girl who Materializes a vacuum cleaner which can suck up any amount of non-living objects (including dead bodies). It can even so something do specific as removing poison from the blood stream.
However, Materialization users do NOT just go around materializing anything they need. First of all it takes weeks of constant effort to be able to materialize an object, because the person must become very familiar with the object they want to make. Secondly because it's often not practical. Why would a Materialization user waste their Nen creating a "sword which cannot break" when they could, with much less effort, create a sword and then use Nen to reinforce it and make it NEARLY impossible to break?
Materialization is one of the most fun abilities, as the objects made can have very specific abilities. One man created two gorillas, one white and one black. When he says a certain phrase, he can call the black gorilla to where he is, or switch places with the white gorilla instantaneously.
Kurapica, one of the main characters of HxH, uses Materialization to produce multiple chains which hang from his fingers. Depending on what chain he uses, he can detect if someone is lying, bind someone to a promise, and has a specific chain which is unbreakable to specific people.
Transformation is the final Nen Type. Transformation allows the Nen user to change what shape their Nen is, or what it is made up of. Hisoka is a Transformation user, and uses it to turn his Nen into a sticky substance which he refers to as "Bungee Gum". He can attach this Nen to anything or anyone, allowing him neat tricks such as attaching one end to his own fist and the other end to someone's face, thus making it impossible for the person to dodge the ensuing attack.
Another girl turns her Nen into wire, which she can then use for whatever one might use string for. We see her both cut off people's heads and sew limbs back on using her Nen.
Much like Materialization, Transformation is a case where the Nen User must've made themselves extremely familiar with the effects and feelings of whatever they are forming their Nen into. We know this because several people note after seeing Killua turn his aura into eletricity that he must've had a horrible childhood, since no child should inherently know enough about the feeling of electricity to be able to reproduce it so easily.
Now that I've explained the Types of Nen, here is how use of it works.
See this diagram.
The diagram there applies to a Materialization user, and basically says what percent of their ability can go into each category.
This DOES mean that, while a Nen User is not restricted to using Nen Techniques of only their Type, they will NEVER be better in another area than they are in their given Type.
The diagram applies the same to all abilities, so basically.
Reinforcement Users are:
100% in Reinforcement
80% in Emission
60% in Manipulation
0% in Specialization
60% in Materialization
80% in Transformation
Emission Users are:
100% in Emission
80% in Manipulation
0% in Specialization
40% in Materialization
60% in Transformation
80% in Reinforcement
Manipulation Users are:
100% in Manipulation
0% in Specialization
60% in Materialization
40% in Transformation
60% in Reinforcement
80% in Emission
*Specialization Users are:
100% in Specialization
80% in Materialization
60% in Transformation
40% in Reinforcement
60% in Emission
80% in Manipulation
Materialization Users are:
100% in Materialization
80% in Transformation
60% in Reinforcement
40% in Emission
60% in Manipulation
0% in Specialization
Transformation Users are:
100% in Transformation
80% in Reinforcement
60% in Emission
40% in Manipulation
0% in Specialization
80% in Materialization
Note how in all categories except Specialization itself, Specialization is at 0%. This is because Specialization cannot be learned like the others, and has to be, presumably, provoked by the lifestyle someone grew up in. Those who do not have Specialization Nen will likely never acquire it, however, the abilities nearest it -- Manipulation and Materialization -- are those most likely to be able to acquire the ability.
*Also note that I am guessing with Specialization. That IS the pattern, but as far as I know, Specialization have drastically lower or higher abilities in other areas, or perhaps it is different for each of them.
Anyway, a simplified version of the above percents is to say that if a Transformation Type were to use 100% of his abilities in physical combat with Reinforcement User of equal ability, the Transformation User would still ALWAYS take 20% damage from a full attack by the Reinforcement user, because the Transformation Type's defense would still only be 80% of the Reinforcement Type's attack.
Next I'll talk about specific but basic techniques used in Nen combat, and explain which category they fall into and how they accomplished and used.
The first is what the manga calls 'Inflaming the Spirit'
Inflaming the Spirit is actually just activating one's Ren, and thus does not fall into any specific category, because it's just that basic.
But you know all those times when a dangerous person just LOOKS at someone and stops them in their tracks? This is actually the most basic Ren technique, and the reason why Killua won't even bother to fight someone that can't use Nen. Killua, who is a trained killer, was sent running for his life in an instant by an utterly non-threatening geeky little guy who was using this technique. Even if you're ready for it, it's not something that can be countered unless you can use Nen yourself. Yet if you CAN use Nen it can very easily brushed off.
The technique can be attributed with any emotion. And instead of 'inflaming the spirit' with the thought 'I will kill you' it can be 'I won't lose' or 'You won't move' or 'I won't be hit'. And whatever that emotion is, it will give them a severe advantage over someone who does not use this ability. So even Killua, who was physically much stronger than a small boy using this technique, couldn't outright defeat the boy because he used his Will to keep getting back up.
Hisoka uses this ability at one point to stop Gon and Killua from moving forward even a step, forcing them to learn about Nen before they are allowed to enter a certain place.
Shu is a Hatsu or Special Technique of the Reinforcement Type. This is when one Reinforces an object that is in connection with the body, such as a weapon being held. The Reinforced object will be much stronger and have a great deal more endurance than a regular object.
Kou is the combination of all of the abilities I mentioned at the beginning of this essay, and translates basically to "attacking with Nen" as far as usage. Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Hatsu and Gyou are used all at once to create Kou.
Kou literally is the act of concentrating all of the aura of the body in a single point.
Ten retains the aura. Zetsu closes the Shouko in all other places of the body, Ren heightens the power of the aura, Hatsu molds the aura and Gyou moves the aura to a specific point. Kou is effectively the 'ultimate' Reinforcement attack/defense, because it involves gathering all of one's strength into a single point making it at the same time very powerful and impenetrable.
Ken is the defensive equivalent of Kou. While Kou technically can be used for denfense, it's not a good idea because only one part of the body is protected. Ken is the act of using Ten and Ren at once, enclosing the entire body with a very powerful aura.
Ken is, however, a difficult ability to maintain, because it means doing Ren constantly for quite a while.
When combined with Gyou, Ken makes up the basic fighting technique. On average a fighter will put, say, 70% of their aura into a fist and leave 30% to guard the rest of their body. That way if they attack someone else doing the same thing fast enough, they inflict 40% damage (70% attack - 30% defense = 40% damage). But in basic combat one is expected to use gyou to constantly shift where they put the most attack and defense to inflict higher damage on the other and receive less themselves. Thus being able to judge how much aura an opponent is putting into their attack, and being able to rapidly defend or counter against it by moving their own aura into the part of their body that is going to be hit, all done in precise percents and instantaneous movement, is a vital ability and difficult to master. Killua is quite talented at it.
En is a defensive technique that is effectively a dispersed Ten. Basically, Ren and Ten are used at once but spread out from the body in a sphere, in this way the Nen User can 'feel' anything that enters the area of their En. En is an Emission technique, and very difficult in it's own right.
Killua's grandfather, who is crazily powerful (of course) and an Emission user can extend his En to 300 meters. Another very powerful character who's Type I'm not certain of (I suspect Transformation, given his personality) can only extend his En a meager 4 meters.
Shape Transformation is just what it sounds like. A transformation ability that changes the shape of one's Nen. This is really only seen in training exercises. The Nen is changed into the shape of a number or image floating above a finger, mostly to teach one to use Gyou quickly (the shape can only be seen with Gyou).
As far as specific and defined techniques go that's all I know. HxH has literally hundreds more, but they are usually specific to each person and thus don't bear listing. I can sum them all up by explaining
The Condition and the Pledge. The Condition and the Pledge is basically a pact made with one's own soul. The best way to explain is an example.
Kurapica uses the Condition and the Pledge to it's fullest extent. What he wants is a chain which certain people will be unable to break free of. So the Pledge is that if he can have an unbreakable chain, he will limit himself to only using it on 10 people in the entire human race. He calls this the 'pre-condition' though, because additionally if he uses his chain on anyone but the 10 people specified, he will die. However it does work, even the most powerful reinforcement user among those he is after cannot break the chain.
The Condition and the Pledge vaguely sums up all unique abilities of all the characters. The Transformation user who turns her aura into wire specifies that she can make a wire that will stretch around the world, but it would be as weak as a cotton thread. Where as shorter wire is stronger than steel.
Hisoka has an ability called the "Deceitful Texture" which does not, in fact, have a texture. But it allows him to stretch his aura over a piece of paper or a cloth and make it look like anything he wants. He uses the texture to fake a tattoo on his back, turning a piece of cloth to make look like skin and ink. But if someone actually touched the cloth they would know it for being fake.
Kuroro who is, I believe, Materialization Type, has a book which relies very heavily on the Pledge and Condition. Basically he can copy down anyone's abilities no matter what type in this book. However, to do that he needs to get the person to explain the ability in full. Once the ability has been copied into his book, the person cannot use that ability for as long as it is in the book (Kuroro could rip out the page to give it back to them). When Kuroro wants to use an ability in the book, he must keep the book open at all times, closing it will make the ability cease.
These are just some examples. Pretty much every accomplished Nen User uses the Condition and the Pledge to make their abilities more powerful and unique. However, Gon and Killua are not at that point themselves. Which is why Killua really only uses his electricity as a short range taser and otherwise relies on intelligence and Reinforcement to fight.
And as a side note, let's talk
Personalities. What Nen Type one is has roughly to do with one's personality. Killua notes that Reinforcement types are honest and straight forward, where as Transformation types are untrustworthy (talking about himself and Hisoka there). Hisoka provides a list of what he believes these these types to be.
And that's finally all I have to say about Nen! There IS more, I assure you. But this everything we are told up through the Greed Island arc. Following the Greed Island arc the art becomes really ugly and I don't want to revisit that crap just to detail this essay more.
Hopefully this is concise and easy to follow. Any questions will be answered to the best of my ability.
