Before we get started, I just want to establish that the best voting option for an EggWars speedrun is overpowered half heath. This is because in overpowered blocks and pickaxes are cheap, which means that you can quickly get enough iron to build to different islands and efficiently break other teams' eggs. The half-health vote is quite self-explanatory, you can kill the other players more quickly, which means the length of the fights won't drag out the run.

In my opinion, the following maps are the best for each speedrun category in Java EggWars:

Solos: Any%/Perfect% - Tentacles; there are only 8 players, and the islands in two sets of four, within this being very close together. You can usually break the other three eggs in your section with the first 1-1.5 mins, and get across to the other half of the map in 15-20 seconds. If most of the players on the other side have already been eliminated, you can quite easily achieve a sub-three minute game.

5kills% - Technology; there are 12 players on this map, which means it is unlikely for you to be unable to get 5 eliminations before the game ends. The islands are all in one big loop, which means it is very easy to bounce from one island to the next after you have eliminated a player. The islands are very close together as well, which means you can quickly bridge from one island to another. This allows you to get 1 elimination every 30-45 seconds if the player you bridge to is still at their base.

Duos: Any%/Perfect%: Forest; this map only has 6 teams, and all islands are easily accessible. My preferred team for this map is red, as it is the middle of three closely packed islands. When the game starts, you should gear up as quickly as possible into leather with a wooden sword, pickaxe, food and enough blocks to get to the neighbouring island. You should split up, one member of the team going to one adjacent island, and the other member of team going to the other. With this strategy you can easily get to these islands before the defenders are even geared up, and break both of the eggs. The eliminations come very quickly after this. Then, you should pick up the island left on the gens and buy more blocks. With this you can both build to mid and meet up to rush the remaining three teams. By this point, the remaining teams most likely will have a bridge to mid. You have two choices, a safe option which is slightly slower, where you both rush each island individually, or a more risky, but rewarding option, where you split up, and each go to an island, and then go back to the last island together from mid. The later option could easily save you 30 seconds, however requires much more skill as you both need to be able to take on a 2v1. Using the safer option, it is very possible to get a run in the 3-4 minute range, and with the more risky option, you open the door to a sub-three minute run.

5kills%: Storm; this map is very fast paced, as the islands are extremely closely packed, however the reason that this run is not viable for an Any%/Perfect% run is due to the magnitude of the map; there are 11 other teams to compete against. Personally, I have managed to get 5 final kills on this map in 1:39, using the safer option of running to each island along with your teammate, and this time is definitely beatable using this method as the run wasn't even particularly well optimised. The beauty of the close islands is that you can easily rush to the next island or maybe even the one after that before the teams are geared up. If you and your teammate split up and reach the island next to you before the team is geared up, you can easily get your first 4 eliminations in less than 40 seconds. If one of you manages to quickly build to one more island and break the egg while one of the players on that team are still unarmoured, I believe that a sub 1 minute may be possible, although this might require some very high-skillcap techniques including flat-breezily or godbridging.

Teams of 4: Any%/Perfect% - Space; this is the smallest teams of 4 map in terms of players and size. In the pregame lobby, look at the tablist to see who the player with the highest ranks are, as these people are likely to have spent the most time on the server and therefore are more skilled. If you get a relatively low skill lobby, the following strategy will work very effectively. One of your players should rush mid with their iron from the money bags kit, whilst the other three players buy full leather, a stone pickaxe, a little bit of food, a sufficient number of blocks and a wooden sword. Then these three players can run in after the builder and each target one specific island from mid. They can then go and break the egg, and eliminate as many of the players as possible, whilst they are still unprepared. In this time, the builder can gear up and follow the player who went to the island with the most skilled players, as identified in the lobby, and back them up. If all players are successfully eliminated in the first rush, a sub-three minute run may be achieved.

5kills% - Food; this map has the most players out of any teams of 4 map on the server - 32. This means you have 7 other teams to attack. As there are so many islands on this map, it means that they are all quite close together. If 2 members of your team head in one direction, and two in the other, all they have to do is each break an egg and get 2 or 3 eliminations. This means if this is optimised, and you get lucky in the fact that the teams on either side of you aren't particularly skilled, and because of that 5/8 total players are still unarmoured, it is very possible to get a time well under the 1 minute mark.

If you have anymore questions, feel free to contact me on discord @Georgesatchy#3420