I have been looking to get back into running this game but for every 10 attempts I do for the Any% category 9 of them are killed by the scarab in the drawer upstairs. Is there a way to make sure it doesn't trigger or is it purely RNG?
Are there any other scarab locations that kill runs like this?
You can avoid it if you press space instead of up to interact. Holding up triggers Laura to open drawer 1.
This is not accurate, at least for the GOG edition. Laura either does the animation of opening the drawer or folding her arms when you approach the dresser. Pressing space when you are still one step away from the dresser does not make her approach and open it, and holding space while walking towards it does not prevent the scarab animation from happening either. I think that this might be one of the only (if not the only) RNG moments in the game. I may end up switching to attempting the all scarabs category only because this happens the majority of the time for me too
Ok, so the steps are a bit more specific. You need to hit up to go towards the dresser, but mashing space at the same time as hitting up makes the arm folding animation play and skips the scarab drawer.
The easiest answer is that it's nearly the same route/run either way. If you get a drawer scarab? Congrats, you're in optimal All Scarabs. If not, you're in Any%.
Entryway scarab is ~5s slower than drawer scarab when you account for turning animation times. And drawer scarab is on either route. I can't imagine why anyone would knowingly reset for basically no reason 2 minutes into the run unless you're really dead set on either category.
If anything, worse is the third scarab which may just RNG its way into the knight pit. That's a run killer that you don't know until post-fountain in All Scarabs.
