Hello everyone,

I would like to run this game as I've played it for a long time. It will be a first time running a game for me, so I'd like to do things the right way.

First of all, I'm wondering why there is none run with the bad ending.

I'm looking to implement new strats that I've found :

• Stool + portcullis (Fortress of Tell Halaf): I've found that you can get through some portcullis using a stool in front of it and jumping on it. I'm wondering if this is allowed as there is a used shortcut in Shalatuwar Fortress but without a stool. For now, I've managed to use it in the Fortress of Tell Halaf, but it may be useful elsewhere.
• Island of Karum: I've discover that you can get into the building where you get the tower key (by passing through a "window") without performing the long jump.

I'll try to upload some videos soon to show what I'm talking about. I'm planning to run the game during the Christmas period, still practicing now.

Hello. I'll look forward to seeing your videos, it sounds interesting. Most runners wanted to give the game a proper showcase, so the ran the good ending to see the true final boss. Although there's also a run by Radge where he goes for bad ending because it's faster. The way the leaderboard works you just have to write wether you did lv13 or lv14

Hello,

Thanks for your quick answer. For now, I only practice for the bad ending but it could be interessant to do both as the overall route does not change so much between both endings.

I've managed to record both skips yesterday but it was my first time using OBS so not very smooth recording (probably due to the chosen settings).

First video concerns the stool + portcullis skip taking place in the Fortress of Tell Halaf:

The second one is about the other skip in the Island of Karum level:

Yeah that's great ! so Tel Halaf is completely skipped and it's also good to get rid of the perilous long jump in Karum. I did not even see you could enter the castle this way when I tried to route this level...

Concerning the stool+porticulis trick, I know it works for some grates in Shalatuwar and Marakamda, I wonder if it can be used elsewhere.

It's not so consistent as it seems because you can not see the stool underwater ... Concerning the skip in the Island of Karum level, it sometimes behaves differently, after jumping from the top of the building, you are "on" the window and you have to roll to get through.

For now, I only managed to use it on other portcullis in Tell Halaf (close to the beginning of the level) but it did not work on both sides. We can already pass through a portcullis in Shalatuwar due to the stair step behind it (I guess), but for the other ones, I did not succeed with the stool.

Hi !

A new thing I recently discovered about stools is you can take it from a level to the next in some case. I managed to do this in the Fortress of Tell Halaf and in the Gorges of Orlok. But I guess it cannot be done in some levels for which you'll have a cinematic at the end (Karum for example)

I try to find some skips with these stools in the Mines of Kelbegen and in the Fortress of Nemrut but nothing yet. There is already stools in Nemrut but not from the beginning of the level.

For now, the route through levels is: Marakamda --> Tell Halaf --> Kelbegen --> Ephyra --> Karum --> Shalatuwar --> Orlok --> Nemrut --> Nejeb --> Al Farum --> Xshathra --> Ianna --> Dal Gurak --> Abyss. But I know you can take some alternative route, so I'm wondering if these stools could be used in other levels. Swapping for example Kelbegen with Tell Halaf would result in bringing a stool in Ephyra which is not the very useful (in this case) but could be for other swaps.

This is funny. You can use a stool on Ephyra to reach the cemetery early, but I guess you also have to pickup the poleaxe before, and it's just nearby a stool. So not really useful unless we take the poleaxe elsewhere

Supergussman, great findings with Tel Halaf and with Karum. Now Karum's long jump could be finally avoided (how many times I've tried to learn this jump)

Hi! I checked in the Steam version but the Tell Halaf skip does not work for me. Maybe it could come from some graphics options. I tried to change some but without success.

Concerning the use of stools, they could probably be used somewhere else. my IL run of the Oasis of Nejeb uses a stool but you have to interchange the Gorges of Orlok and Fortress of Nemrut so it does not help to gain time overall.

Supergussaman, yeah, the same, I've tested today the whole run and stool in Tell Halaf didn't worked for me as well. I'll try it a bit more with other video settings maybe... What about all the rest skips - they're work fine.

Could you please share a link to the stool usage in Oasis of Nejeb? I can't imagine where it could be used there.

What about interchanging Gorges of Orlok and Fortress of Nemrut - I have an additional concern here that Gorges of Orlok location contains Crush Bo, and it will be very helpful against skeletons in Fortress of Nemrut. Without Crush Bo you could waste additional time by scratching sceletons by Axe Spear that is not efficient against skeletons.

I've found a glitch to be able to skip 2nd phase of Dal Gurak - it could be performed at about 5.8k - 7.0k boss' health by dealing down smash attack with Demon's Spear special (1 down smash + 3 special attacks). As a result, encounter will be treated as finished, without boss' 2nd phase. Here is example of usage:

Also I wanted to ask could I use the following skips during 'Allowable Glitches' run:

1. Airclimbing in Temple of Ianna This skip allows to skip 3rd puzzle:

By the way, this skip could be performed by ledge jumping, but it is very unstable to perform (at least I've faced with such difficulties):

2. Zipping up in Mines (previously mentioned by ISlide in https://www.speedrun.com/severance_blade_of_darkness/thread/uywq2 thread) This skip will not safe much time (taking into account that it is unsafe and unstable), but it looks pretty good:

About airclimbing in the temple of Ianna, I think we should stick to the rules, this glitch is imba, it is only allowed in "any glitches" Zipping is allowed.

For the use of stool in Nejeb :

The actual route through levels is Orlok --> Nemrut --> Nejeb. In this case, you have to interchange the Nemrut and Orlok levels to get the stool from Orlok. But as you mentionned it, if you gain some time in Nejeb, it's not as much as you loose during Nemrut without the Crush Bo.

Great discovery for the final boss ! I agree with DeH4uK, airclimibing corresponds to the "Any Glitches" category.

you don't need the stool to do this

I mean, it's exacly the same time (22sec) to get there, so I don't think it's worth getting the stool to do this

You don't but it's a bit faster (if we'll executed I think) than this strategy. However, it does not allow to gain much time, so it's not worthy to interchange Orlok and Nemrut to get the stool.

Hi all! Found a new way to get through the portcullis. And in the same way, a new skip in Al Farum.

Is it a steam or non-steam version?

Steam (I also checked on non-steam - it works)

I've checked Tell Halaf skip and found a bit another way to clip through this door. For some reasons, the game freezes if the character repeats 4 times (in my case) the same run/walk animation while staying at the same place (running/walking into a wall/door). If during this freeze change moving direction using a mouse, then character will clip the door (doesn't work with stone/wooden doors due to its greater depth/thickness I suspect, but it's not for sure).

I believe that this could work and in some another places (I'm still investigating).

For example, Tell Halaf could be completed in 0:37 (no rune) and 1:26 (with rune) (not the best times):

very impressive. I don't recall seeing this in my game before... (I checked and it works on the gog version I have now)