Hey everyone!

I wanted to make an updated list of strategies that can be used to maximize speed for new game + runs as well as the bonus maps. Hopefully this helps assist new runners with getting started as well as helps veteran runners identify new strategies for maximizing speed as well:

Items:

The single most important way to increase speed is via the use of items as these are universal across all characters and directly increase speed/can reduce run times by literal minutes. Here are some of the items to watch for while grinding/optimizing your character:

-The most important speed item is wrappings, which can add up to 15% speed to your character. Prefixes that can produce maximum speed on wrappings include "horseman's," "boatman's," and "worn," while suffixes include "of Umbar" and "of Osgiliath"

-"Snowbird's" and "River's" prefixes can increase speed by 10% for weapons

-"of Umbar" suffixes can increase speed by 10% for certain items such as shields

-The suffix "of the Eldar" increases speed by 7% for certain items

-Prefixes such as "green copper," "worn," and "boatman's" can increase speed by 5%

-Suffixes such as "of Osgiliath," "of Rangers," "of the Fox," "of the Hound," "of the Eorlings," "of Dimholt," and "of the Sky" increase the speed of items by 5%

-The blue item "Blue Chainmail of Zephyrmaster" increases speed by 5%

Attributes:

The next most important strategy for maximizing speed is attributes as these are also universal across all characters. I would recommend prioritizing them as follows:

-Accuracy: This can increase the odds of landing a hit by 150% - This can be the difference between standing around mashing B presses and killing enemies with a single hit, which is critical for boss fights or any other times you must engage with an enemy to progress to the next stage.

-Defense: This is equally important as it can decrease the odds of enemies landing a hit by 150% - this allows you to slip past enemies without hits or knockbacks.

-Strength: Though not as important as accuracy for landing hits, increasing strength will allow you to kill high point level villains like Ringwraiths, cave trolls, or bosses with minimal B presses.

-Health: Not super important as long as you have increased defense; however, it is a good idea to at least grind your health high enough that you don't accidentally die from stray hits or high damage bosses.

-Courage: Also not super important unless your character requires a skill (ex. Gandalf's "Lightstrike" to kill the final Ringwraith boss) to progress through a stage.

Runes:

The next most important strategy to maximize speed is runes as these are also universal - though none directly increase speed, I would recommend equipping "Elf Rune II - Nimblefoot" on your weapon and shield/staff as this can increase dodge by 10-20% and decrease the odds of enemies landing blows or knockbacks.

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Skills:

We have now hit the point of character-specific skills that can increase speed. Some skills directly increase speed while others increase it indirectly. Here are some of the strategies I have found for each character that can help with maximizing speed:

-Eowyn: "Nimble" can increase dodge by 20% when maxed out; "Fleet of Foot" increases speed by 25%; and "Wraithslayer" can increase damage to Ringwraiths by 20% which helps on the bonus map "Amon Sul" as well as the final Witch King battle. While "Rohan Sprint" can be helpful in new game runs, I have found that the constant stops for A press animation tend to cost more time than simply using items and "soft abilities" such as "Fleet of Foot" and as such I do not recommend using it for runs.

-Aragorn: Unfortunately, Aragorn does not have any hard or soft skills that directly influence speed. "Arrow Parry" can help reduce hits or knockbacks from arrows. I am still experimenting with hard skills that can be used to remove clusters of enemies in narrow passages or to break through the shields to get to the Mouth of Sauron at the Black Gate and will update this guide as I found out more info.

-Gandalf: Unfortunately, Gandalf also does not have any skills that directly influence speed. However, his "Lightstrike" is critical for killing both Saruman and the final Ringwraith boss in 1-2 hits.

-Frodo: "Nimble" increases dodge by 20% when maxed out. I have not experimented much with using "The One Ring" yet but feel like this ability could be used to slip past high traffic areas such as Shelob's Lair that otherwise lose a lot of time due to enemies clogging up narrow passages.

-Legolas: "Fleet of Foot" increases speed by 25%, while "Arrow Parry" can increase projectile dodge by 30%. I also have not experimented much with hard skills that can be used to clear high traffic areas/shields to get to the Mouth of Sauron at the Black Gate, but will update this guide if I do find anything.

-Gimli: "Earthshatter" is a super helpful skill for clearing high traffic areas as it has a knockback/high kill rate for enemies - this is especially critical to knock back the shields and kill the Mouth of Sauron in a few hits at the final Black Gate stage.

Routing:

Obviously, it is very important to make sure your routing is optimized for runs as well. Though I have optimized quite a few stages and would view my runs as a good starting place, I would also encourage other runners to re-evaluate routing and see if they can come up with faster routes as I cannot guarantee that there are not faster or more efficient routes than what I have found so far. There are quite a few levels that have multiple paths one can take, and I have found that good versus poor routing can shave off a good 15-30 seconds on a single stage!

Glitches:

I have not found a ton of glitches so far that can be used in-game to maximize speed; however, this does not mean they do not exist, just that we haven't found them yet! A good example would be Eowyn's Oliphant boss fight - the second wave asks you to kill two Oliphants, yet, if you skip the first boss and only kill the second, the game thinks you have beaten the stage and lets you exit without killing the first. Another good example would be the second stage of the Helm's Deep bonus map - if your speed has been increased fast enough, you can run down the stairs and skip the dialogue where Aragorn states the wall has been breached, which is a major time save. A final glitch I use is to skip past NPC dialogue to avoid unnecessary A presses such as the old lady by the health well in Rohan, Elrond talking about items/forges in the White Mountains, and the Rohan villager talking about horses in Eowyn's first level.

Conclusion:

This is all the strategies I have found so far for maximizing speed in the new game + and bonus map categories. Though this list is not comprehensive and we are still working on identifying new strategies for maximizing speed, I hope this is at least informative and helpful for new runners wanting to start running the game as well as for veteran runners who are looking for ways to further maximize speed in their runs as well. If anyone has any further strategies to share please feel free to add them here in a comment, as I would love to see the community help each other find new ways to get these runs closer and closer to being fully optimized!

~Nick

Thank you to have started this guide.

I will put some information here, you will be free to edit your post to include them (or not)

I will only talk about farm in first and items in second, because you have done a pretty good job about the rest (except you forgot the invisibility spell of Legolas)

So for new comers (and old folks that want to learn some topics):

To speedrun this game in NG+ you will need at least 75% increase speed, i have made experimentation and tested different speed% and it seems the speed is capped at +70% (so go for 75% to be sure)

That said, it means that you need 50% speed on items for Legolas and Eowyn (25% can be gained from their passive) and 75% for the rest of the character.

Ist-->So you will need to farm item a lot, i will try to give you some topics.

1-the level of your character doesnt have an influence on the loots. It has impact on item you buy in the forge but, oh god, it's bad % because % Extra Treasure is not take in account in forge. So yeah you can try to test your luck on forge if you want but not the good process i think, so go farm some item to have more % treasure increase

2- Of course with difficulty increase (hard, and grueling) you have access to better loot but you need to keep in mind that it's better to farm quickly a lot of item than fewer (and not necessarly better, hey it's still based on luck). So pass the difficulty upper when you can clean the ennemies quickly

3- Gimli is the best to do a Magic FInder build (build know in many RPG or Hack&Slash for looting better items)

He has 75% Extra Treasure in his passive tree, which means he can just by leveling already find better items. Maximum % Extra Treasure via item on gimli is +660%

It will take a lot of time, mine is only +400% and i played for years (not everyday but since 2005 it begins to represent big time). But i also didn't had all the information i have now (that would have help...)

4- go for elite and treasure chest if you farm an area with low number of ennemies. Standard ennemies are worth in big numbers, kill those on your way but dont clean 100% the area each time if it takes you more time for almost nothing

5-why did i say farm "an area" because item's modifier are linked with areas so if you search for specific modifier (which you do for "% Extra Treasure" and then "% speed") you need to go to specifics areas. When you have cleaned an area but still need some item from it, then save and reload to do it again, and again, and again, and again...

2nd-->So about items: they can have 1 prefixe and/or 1 suffixe

Base item's name is in color yellow (let's call them Normal)

Item's name (with prefixe) is in color green (let's call them Magic item)

Item's name (with suffixe) is in color red (let's call them Rare item)

Item's name (with prefixe+suffixe) is also in color red (let's call them Legendary)

Suffixes can be on all type of item, but each type of item have their own prefixes (if a prefixe is on 2 different type of item it will not do the same bonus)

For exemple: prefixe "pirate's" on gloves gives +1 Accuracy, +35% Extra Treasure but on armor it gives +1 Strength, +1 Accuracy, +3 Health

There are 6 type of item: Armor,headgear,shield/ Weapons/ Staffs & Bows/ Accessories/ Gloves & Shoes / Coat

I have noted that prefixe are more common than suffixe, so when grinding your % treasure increase, you will first loot more and more of Magic item. And at one stage, Rare item will too be more consistent in loot.

And then Legendary will also become more accessible but, oh god they are so frustrating. Because they have their suffixe and prefixe at random (still depending of the area you loot them) but, damned, they almost always not good together.

I mean to reach the 75% speed if you want to have good times in speedrun you will need some Legendaries with both prefixe and suffixe to be +%speed modifier (at the moment i only got 2 item like that and it seems i'm good with the 75%)

Let's begin with % Extra Treasure (in put the maximum bonus value between "" ""):

Prefixe it's quick, only accessories and Gloves&Shoes can have prefixe with this bonus:

For gloves you have also easy access to "pirate's" (+35%) and at higher difficulties "bloody pirate's"(""+45%"") in anduin area (with the corsairs) but also find some of them in bonus map Moria [other prefixes are quite low compare to those so go rush them instead]

For accessories there is: "Dark Sapphire"(""+90%"") areas unknown at the moment (let me know where you loot it if you have one) [other prefixes are quite low compare to this one so go rush it instead]

Suffixe there is a lot of them, they goes from +15% to +60%. I just farm two of them "of luck" (+30%) [aera Moria] and "of the Fates"(""+60%"") [Moria and Helm's Deep]

note i found "of the Fates" only in grueling difficulty

-->Item explication continue next post

The %speed now (in put the maximum bonus value between "" ""):

Prefixe:

• Armor,headgear&shield "Brush Lord's" (""+10%"") Area Edoras, Helm's Deep (bonus map), // Anduin (not sure 100% but i think i have found some here)

• Weapons "River's"(""+10%"") Area Anduin and "Snow Bird's" (""+10%"") White Mountains (just before Anduin)

• Staff & Bow "Gollum's"(""+15%) area unkown

• Accessories "Sharded" and "Green Copper" both at (""+5%"") [area unknown]

• Gloves&Shoes "worn", "Boatman's","Horseman's" all at (""+5%"") those 3 prefixe almost cover all the game in term of area, but "Boatman's","Horseman's" can be both found in Anduin (+Helm's Deep for "horseman's")

Suffixe there is a lot i put only those i know:

"of the fox" (+5%) can be found at Isengard and Edoras (2 first level)

"of the hound" (+5%) can be found at Moria and Anduin

"of Umbar" (""+10%"") Helm's Deep //[Anduin no item found yet but Umbar is a port and there is one in Anduin area]

Note that for shoes, the item "wrapping" have already +10% speed at base so hope the god of luck will put the prefixe and suffixe on some of them

As conclusion at best we can have for speed:

Gollum's (Bow or Staff) of Umbar (+25%) area unknow, not even sure if an area can have both prefixe and suffixe

Brush's Lord (Armor ) of Umbar (+20%) (can be found at Helm's Deep //to confirm at Anduin)

Brush's Lord (Headgear) of Umbar (+20%) (can be found at Helm's Deep //to confirm at Anduin)

Brush's Lord (Shield) of Umbar (+20%) (can be found at Helm's Deep //to confirm at Anduin)

River's (Weapon) of Umbar (+20%) (to confirm at Anduin) if not River's (Weapon) of the Hound (+15%) at Anduin

XXXXX (Coat) of Umbar (+10%)(can be found at Helm's Deep //to confirm at Anduin)

XXXXX (Accessory) of Umbar (+10%)(can be found at Helm's Deep //to confirm at Anduin) if "sharded" or "Green Copper" have an area in common with "of Umbar" maximum will become +15%

Horseman's (Shoes:Wrapping) of Umbar (+25%) can be found at Helm's Deep //[to confirm Boatman's (Shoes:Wrapping) of Umbar (+25%) can be found at Anduin]

Horseman's (Gloves) of Umbar (+15%) can be found at Helm's Deep //[to confirm Boatman's (GLoves) of Umbar (+15%) can be found at Anduin]

Again, speed seems capped at +70%, reaching all these maximum would be amazing but may not improve your speed at some point. And also the items character can wear can vary, mainly weapon.

So if you have to optimize speed between character go for accessory,coat,gloves which are common and go for easy prefixe for the rest, it should be enough for all characters.

To finish i will share what i have as speed items:

(Coat) of the fox (+5%) [All characters]

Brush Lord's (Headgear) of the hound (+15%) [All characters]

Green Copper (Accessory) of Osgiliath (+10%) [All characters/wearable 2 times by Frodo]

Horsman's (Gloves) (+5%) [All characters]

Brush Lord's (Armor) (+10%) [All characters because it's not a big armor so still wearable by gandalf]

Horseman's (Shoes:Wrapping) (+15%) [All characters except Frodo]

(Bow) of Dimholt (+5%) [Legolas]

Snowbird (Weapon) (+10%) [I'm used to farm white mountain with gimli to loot a weapon for the Character i try to do a speedrun in NG+, so i can say: All characters except Legolas]

Brush Lord's (Shield) (+10%) [All characters except Legolas and Gandalf]

(Staff) of the sky (+5%) [Gandalf]

So for each character i currently have these speed bonus with items:

Aragorn (+80%),Gimli(+80%),Eowyn(+80%),Gandalf(75%),Frodo(75%),Legolas(+65%) [Legolas passive skill make him at 90% so it's ok)

I'm technically able to speedrun every character. But in fact i'm still looking for better speed item to maybe go to other modifiers like dodge to avoid being hit, or damage to 1shot bosses

Ok thanks for reading, i have a last tip (useful for people like me with only 1 exemplar of the game and only 4 save slots):

there is a glitch for levelling, go to the paths of the dead and find a Ethereal (accessory) which gives -10% xp. It sounds awful but the game seems to have problem to calculate it!

Be sure to equip your new best friend for levelling and do not have any bonus positif in xp (item or passve skill), goes to moria bonus map and kill ONLY the yellow/brown gobelin, each kill will make you pass level by 2-3 until 52 (the max), you will receive the good amont of skill point and caracteristic points by the way.

BUT IF YOU KILL AN ELITE (green), you will glitch your character and he will pass level 101, skill point and caracteristic point awarded will also glitch and will not be given correctly. No stress if it happens just don't save and try not kill them.

I didn't see any advantage being lvl 101, i mean you will still have skill point but nowhere to spent them, and caracteristic points gain will not help you to max out all the caracteristic so you still need to farm kills.

And even impact on forge item buyable seems very low/inexistant. And even if it permit better item, those item could have been looted in normal ways with some luck (and still you need luck by buying them in forge)

Most of the information i put here for helping to speedrun NG+ are information i read (and use) on the reddit about this game, thanks to all of them

Thank you so much for taking the time to write this up and share it with us, the information you have shared is so valuable to both the current community as well as for new players looking to run the game!

I had figured there was a speed cap around the 70% mark just from my own experimentation so it's nice to get some confirmation of its existence. I also knew about the "pirate" prefix and other prefixes to get better items but didn't realize some of them were specific to locations. I'm particularly thrilled to hear about the "Gollum" prefix on bows as I currently haven't had any luck with finding any "River's" or "Snowbird's" bows so my Legolas' bow is currently stuck at 5% speed.

Thanks again for taking the time to share all this information with us - I really appreciate it!

There is no river or snowbird prefixe for bows or staffs, you can search it forever^^

In fact, i read that item have "prefered" location but can be find with less probability on area next to their prefered area. Bonus maps have bigger pool of modifier than story area, from what i read.

If i got time, i will maybe do an xcell to list modifier by area depending of what i drop