Comments of chapter undefined of The Rise of the Black Plain

So based on this less phases = less powerful does that mean what is learned at later stages will always be a less powerful technique? Or are there techniques that can only be learned at later stages because they are more powerful? e.g. a technique that could be learned at stage 1 but only has 3 phases vs a technique that could only be learned at stage 6 but also only has 3 phases