Fastest Spoken Languages

The fastest language for any% is Italian.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ydqdicb4FdjIvyptavJTgQDQmmC2j_qMWOt7XrJwY_Q/edit?usp=sharing

Map Fast Travel

This is an intended mechanic in the game. By accessing the map, you can teleport to hideouts throughout Chicago.

You can also teleport to train stations around Chicago by accessing the maps at each train station.

Using Sprint to Reload Your Gun Instantly

When pressing the sprint button, press the reload button. This works with shotguns, assault rifles, and snipers.

For sniper rifles, you first press sprint and wait maybe half a second and then press reload.

Cover Mechanics on Foot

You can use the cover mechanics in this game to move faster in places where you cannot run. Pressing the cover button can make your character slide. There are only a couple of places this is used.

Examples: A1M1 (T-Bwned) - After T-bone wakes up from the bed

Hacking Puzzles

Doing these fast requires practice. When you do them enough times, you can figure out a pattern to memorize and complete them quickly. The puzzles can be simplified to memorizing how many times you press the button at each node. The nodes normally rotate in a clockwise motion. Go here if you want a detailed tutorial on how to do these.

Restart Mission

You can skip the opening cutscene of every mission in the game that has one. When you start a mission, simply go into the menu, and restart the mission to skip the opening cutscene.

Examples:

• Side Missions - Street Sweep
• A1M2 – Fading Signal
• A1M3 – Needs of the Few
• A2M1 – Bait
• A2M2 – Illusions: does not skip the cutscene entirely but makes it shorter
• A2M3 – Bad Medicine
• A2M4 – Connections
• A3M1 – Ghosts
• A3M2 – Hold the Line
• A3M3 – The Verdict

Reload Autosave

This is like the restart mission strat, but you use this one in the middle of a mission instead. Reloading autosaves can teleport you and/or skip things in the run. Be sure to wait for the save icon to pop up before reloading the autosave.

Examples:

• A1M1 (T-Bwned) - If you do the strat to kill all enemies outside the ctOS center, you can reload autosave to teleport closer to the silo and get a more consistent bike spawn.
• A1M2 (Fading Signal) – After triggering the first autosave after mission start, you can teleport closer to the objective.
• A1M3 (Needs of the Few) – A short teleport from elevator to outside.
• Before A2M2 Start (Illusions) – This is only used for the WKZ skip because it resets the phone dialogue and allows you to reach the mission before the conversation finishes.
• A2M2 (Illusions) – There are two of them here:

1. Teleports from lift to sniper perch.
2. Teleports from container to ship. • A3M3 (The Verdict) – After Tobias opens door, use this to teleport closer to the maze. It is faster because you are locked to slow walking.

Items Obtained

You start game with 2 meds, 2 electronic parts, 2 unstable chemical components, 2 chemical components, 1 frag grenade, silenced pistol, 1 lure, and M1014 shotgun.

• A1M1 (T-Bwned) – Goblin (pick up from guard), ctOS Scan (optional)
• A1M2 (Fading Signals) – Random items can be obtained from bags during this mission (system keys, electronic parts, chemical components, etc.) (optional)
• A1M3 (Needs of the Few) – Electronic Part (Hideout), Unstable Chemical Component (Hideout), System Key (Laser Room)
• A2M1 (Bait) – System Keys (randomly from NPCs)
• A2M2 (Illusions) – System Key (1st time in room with hacking puzzle), M107 sniper rifle, System Key (Ship), System Key (2nd time after reloading autosave), System Key (on roof), Chemical Component in container (optional)
• A2M3 (Bad Medicine) – U100, grenades/IEDs from enforcer
• A3M1 (Ghosts) – ATSG-12 (optional), System Key, 4 grenades (outside after exiting building)
• A3M2 (Hold the Line) – Grenades (optional) and other items (optional)

Optimal Skills Unlocked in Any%

• A1M3 (Needs of the Few) - Bullet and Explosion Resistance while in the elevator: useful for the bomb jump in this mission and dialogue skips later.
• A2M2 (Illusions) – Bullet and Explosion Resistance while on the lift: useful for dialogue skips later. This is for if you don't obtain them in A1M3 (Needs of the Few).
• A3M2 (Hold the Line) - Obtain IED skill before the mission for dialogue skip in elevator/killing enemies faster during the mission.

Dialogue Skips (Jumping out of Vehicles/Blowing Yourself Up)

You can skip dialogue of your character (Aiden/T-bone) by jumping out of vehicles or blowing yourself up (requires explosion resistance) so that your character is on the ground. Your character must be talking to another character for this to work (on phone or in person). This strat is not extremely easy to get consistently and does require some timing.

Examples:

• Before A1M2 (Fading Signal) – Call with Sheila.
• A2M1 (Bait) – Call with Tobias when he talks about the first 3 guys.
• A2M2 (Illusions) – Call with Tobias after you eliminate all enemies for him to get to the crane controls.
• A2M2 (Illusions) – Call with Tobias at end of mission.
• A2M4 (Connections) – Call with Tobias and call with Defalt (it's best to skip the WKZ line with Defalt).
• A3M2 (Hold the Line) – Call with Tobias.
• A3M2 (Hold the Line) – Talk with Tobias after you kill all enemies. Only the first T-bone line can be skipped by using a grenade.
• A3M2 (Hold the Line) - Talk with Tobias after taking elevator back up. Can only skip one line (preferably the first one) with an IED that you place on the elevator.

Quick Taser Kill (Using RC Car)

It's a quick motion of: aim at the enemy -> G (to deploy RC) -> Left Click (to stun) -> R (to recall RC) (Thanks to CharloCharlie)

Blackout

Needs to be unlocked in the crafted items skill tree. Requires two system keys and one electronic part to craft. This tool is one of the most powerful in the game. It allows you to run past enemies without detection and makes escaping enemies (cops/fixers) easier/faster, but these only work at nighttime. Do not use it at the same time as when the enemies spawn because that can cause a softlock.

Examples

• A2M3 (Bad Medicine) - Use it to run past the enemies on this mission and escape from police when leaving the area. Might need to be used twice on this mission.
• A2M4 (Connections) - Use it to escape the fixers at the end of the mission. It may not work if you use it too early because the mission can cause the lights to turn on.

Bomb Jump Strats

• A1M3 (Needs of the Few) - Bomb jump to skip the first hacking puzzle and R/C car section.
• A3M1 (Ghosts) - Bomb jump to get to the next checkpoint faster.

Smartphone Menu Strat (Breaking the Game)

The smartphone menu in this game allows you to normally do things that you normally wouldn't be able to if you have it up. It basically prevents some triggers/things from happening if you have it up.

Examples

• A1M3 (Needs of the Few) - Use it to run closer to the guard and spawn Eugene close to him:
• A3M1 (Ghosts) - Use it after hacking elevator to skip pause.

Power Turning

You can use the focus while in vehicles to make turns at speeds that you normally wouldn't be able to without. Power turning can save time at wide turns by allowing you to take a better line through them. At turns that require you to slow down a lot, you can use power turns to go through them at much higher speeds than by braking. Power turns can be substituted for braking at turns if you know how to use them properly.

Power turns work better with certain cars when wanting to do a 90 degree turn. The cars with 4.5 or 5 handling, and some cars with a 4.5 or 5 handling work weirdly like that and do a U-turn. For the bikes, they all work the same because they have good handling. It's worth trying the power turns with bikes than cars. But if you know how every car reacts to power turns, you can decide to do it or not. But for a majority of cars, they do a nice 90 degree turn.

You just tap on the focus button when you want to turn into whichever direction you want.

Handbrake Boost

There is a way to use handbraking to speed up your vehicle. It works bests with vehicles that rotate their wheels a lot when accelerating and it can basically "skip" the rotation of the wheels. This works with every vehicle in the game, but it is difficult to do with bikes and you lose time if you handbrake for too long.

Potential Strats Not Used in Run

• Bait Snipe Strat:
• A1M2 (Fading Signal) RNG/Pattern The pattern of enemies for this mission doesn't seem to change unless you restart the game. You can restart the game until you get the pattern that you want. Using save files for this mission will allow you to practice that specific pattern.
• A2M1 (Bait) Fixer Car Chase Manipulation How you make the car turn around for the chase: wait 3 seconds in the car before accelerating, and then try to stay in the right oncoming lane after the turn (this is if you get in the fixer car parked on the opposite side) (Thanks to CharloCharlie). You can wait less than 3 seconds if you get in a different car at a different spot (I wait only 1 second in my PB)
• A2M2 (Illusions) Enemy Spawn Manipulation This is for the enemies that spawn when you're on the sniper perch. You will get easier spawns if you make sure that Tobias does not get spotted. After killing the first 3 guys: Killing the first two guys that spawn in one shot will allow you to skip one wave of enemies, saving several seconds.
• Pre-A2M3 (Bad Medicine) WKZ Skip Here is my explanation of how I think the WKZ skip works. The WKZ announcement will trigger after Bait and the Tobias phone call before Illusions. If you start Illusions before the Tobias phone call finishes, the WKZ announcement won't happen before Bad Medicine. This is achieved either by reloading the autosave or by getting the cops called on you before Illusions. I reload the autosave because it is more consistent (and saves a system key for a jam com) and spawns me next to a vehicle. It saves at least 30 seconds in the run (skips announcement, T-bone lines, and pop-up).
• A3M2 (Hold the Line) - Enemies Eliminated without Killing After Tobias says, "They sent backup! They're coming in!", there is a chance that the enemies can be eliminated without you killing all of them. It is not known what causes this, but the top 3 runners have experienced this in some capacity.