Equinox Tutorial Part 1 - Galadonia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1V16pJTqazQ

https://i.imgur.com/P51E1BD.png

Understanding the route:

The branching paths in "0E" can be done in any order. Otherwise not really much to understand here. This dungeon is as linear as it gets. You're pretty much forced to go down entrance "0E" due to the line of ghosts in both "0A" and "02".

Equinox Tutorial Part 2 - Tori

¤Video tutorial of this dungeon to come in the future when I feel like it¤

https://i.imgur.com/PHemID9.png

Understanding the route:

The only place that is heavily barred off is the hallways locking away the boss room (15). In theory, this would make for many route possibilities. Unfortunately those possibilities are somewhat limited because Tori is a very combat intensive dungeon so there is only one logical place to enter and that's "07" as it is the one closest to the weapon upgrade.

From there though the route has seen many different possible routes form but the route that I use and will demonstrate in a future tutorial is the one that I believe to be the best one and it is unlikely that a better one will be found for two reason:

1) Minimal backtracking

2) No dungeon/overworld loading times and subsequently no overworld

While not without their own merits. Past routes for this dungeon always fell short in achieving both of the above.

Equinox Tutorial Part 3 - Deeso

¤Tutorial video covering the tougher rooms in Deeso to come in the future¤

https://i.imgur.com/c2TdSaf.png

Understanding the route:

There are 5 white keys in this dungeon but only 2 of them are actually necessary to complete the dungeon as the boss room (28) is inaccessable without them. Unlike in Tori where time is saved by not travelling in the overworld, Deeso is actually done faster by doing the exact opposite.

Reasons for this being the case:
 
1) Odd placement of the white keys.

2) The heavy time sink associated with getting the majority of said white keys.

3) Orbs near entrance "02" fairly out of the way.

4) Close enough proximity of the entrances to eachother in the overworld.

Reasons 1 and 2 specifically eliminate any potential advantage in unlocking the door connecting "12" and "18" over simply just going the backtracking route in the "1B" section. It is because of these reasons that this route hasn't changed since PJ's re-routing of it.

As for the 2 keys we do need, it was a matter of "Which one takes the least longest to get?". In that regard, we opt for the ones in "0D" and "0C". 

"0D" should be a no-brainer. As for "0C", it takes the same amount of time to get the key as it would to get the ones in "09" and "0A" if timed from when I enter the rooms to when I exit them. So by taking other things into account including how much the rooms themselves deviate from the actual route, "0C" comes out on top as a small part of "0C" is still unavoidably part of the route. Not the case for "09" and "0A".

Equinox Tutorial Part 4 - Atlena

¤Direct room for room tutorial of this dungeon is still getting worked on¤

https://i.imgur.com/rVB7H8C.png

Understanding the route:

One look at the map and as you might expect, this dungeon is a mess. Every color key is spread out far enough away from other keys of the same color and it makes navigating (let alone routing) Atlena an absolute nightmare despite the color coding of the walls and the matching colored locked doors to try and make it easier on the player.

I finally settled with the route you will see in the video tutorial I have planned in the future. Normally I'd have a hard time recommending doing my route for newer runners but I've tested my route and I know for a fact my route comes out at least a minute and a half faster from other routes that have been thought up in the past. That's alot of time. Too much to ignore.

It's a complicated route to go into detail but the main reasons it is believed (for now) to be the fastest route are:

1) The sequence break in "2B". Due to the properties of the jump being changed for Atlena to make certain jumps actually possible the developers wound up overlooking the possibilty of being able to jump directly over spikes here. The room in 
question is shown in the picture below.

http://i.imgur.com/ovZIWBe.jpg

2) Skipping 3 specific keys; the white key in "29", the blue key in "2D" and the green key in "06"

If any dungeon still has a chance of being re-routed it's this one but finding a new and better route has ended in failure many times, Usually because of that silly green key in "21" and the rediculous distance of entrance "17" from the others in the overworld.

One more thing of note, I will be grabbing the twin knife weapon upgrade for the the purpose of this planned tutorial of mine as the route is easier for newer runners. It can be skipped but all of its changes are already covered in the link provided below.

https://www.speedrun.com/Equinox/guide/iyaxw

Equinox Tutorial Part 5 - Quagmire

¤Video tutorial to come in the future¤

https://i.imgur.com/S2VUYOW.png

Understanding the route:

Though it may not look like it on the map provided, Quagmire is a dungeon with a big center and 4 separate sections that branch out like arms; all locked away of course.

The idea behind the dungeon is that the player must find the keys in the center and then begin exploring these 4 separate sections to retrieve the necessary orbs. A good idea for a dungeon on paper but sadly it doesn't quite work that way as the 4 entrances ("23", "0B", "18" and "06") are all caught between 2 locked doors.

What this means in a speedrun of this dungeon is that much of the center area is unnecessary as you only technically need 4 out of 8 of the keys (one of each color). So in the route, we take advantage of this and grab our 4 necessary keys. However we grab the extra blue key as well and the reasons for grabbing that are as follows:

1) The blue keys are the only ones that aren't far from eachother.

2) Convenient placement of locked blue door connecting "3C" to "3D".

3) Backtracking from "38" to "31" takes longer than just grabbing the extra blue key and going through the blue door mentioned in reason #2. That's not even accounting for the overworld related stuff.

So aside from that section connected to "3C", we're gonna be traveling in the overworld a lot to access the other sections we won't be able to get to without the help of the other entrances.

Equinox Tutorial Part 6 - Afralona

¤Video tutorial for this dungeon is still getting worked on¤

https://i.imgur.com/t4m2YUt.png

Understanding the route:

Think of Afralona as the opposite of Quagmire. Instead of the orbs, it is the keys that are focused in certain areas this time. 

You can see how thanks to entrances "22", "2E" and "44" you don't need to unlock a single door to get all the orbs. But that being said, we still technically need all of these keys and that's because "09" is the boss room which is locked away by a huge stretch of locked rooms, one after another at the top there.

The good news though is we actually don't need all the keys. And that's thanks to the probably unintended sequence break in "1C" discovered by PJDicesare. We wind up saving ourselves a red key so we can skip the lengthy "1D". However, "1C" isn't the real reason for why the route is the way it is but rather the manner of how the orbs are spread out throughout the dungeon. 

With the route I will be demonstrate in the planned tutorial it only makes sense to skip opening the door connecting "23" and "24", saving a blue key and allowing us to skip "27" outright.

As for why we leave and immediately re-enter at "14", it is the only entrance that has access to the teleport pad leading to Ghost Ship.

Equinox Tutorial Part 7 - Ghost Ship

¤Video tutorial for this dungeon is probably not gonna happen for quite awhile but we'll see¤

https://i.imgur.com/GsK94pw.png

Understanding the route:

The design of Ghost Ship is all about branching pathways. One will continue on the path toward the end of the dungeon, and the other(s) will lead you to a dead-end with something important for you to collect (like an orb). Basically, think of it like a "pick a door/pipe" level in Mario Maker, just without the trollish BS.

Where the dungeon starts changing the format a little is everything past "31", but even in this case it's obvious where to go thanks to room "30" requiring a green key. 

To put it simply, this dungeon is actually fairly straightforward in understanding the route. Room memorization is the main thing with this dungeon.

Equinox Tutorial Part 8 - Ice Palace

¤Video Tutorial is still being worked on¤

https://i.imgur.com/q4foT3y.png

Understanding the route:

Aside from Galadonia, this is the most linear dungeon in the game so explaining the route should be easy.

The whole idea is to find all the same colored keys in the specific area they are located, bring them to the specific area they're needed and use them up to get a new set of same colored keys to be used in another section that requires that set of keys.

The only mix-up that gets thrown in is the acquisition of the Unlock spell in "34", which is required as there are not enough white keys to get all the orbs and get to "00" (the boss room).

Pincha Quick Kill Guide

So during my most recent string of route tweaking in this game I was practicing this fight with shuriken thanks to the new Shuriken-to-Mace route (probably easier described as the Twin Knife/Sword skip route) and discovered how to optimally kill this boss. In the past I admit to just spamming and praying I land as many hits as possible but now I know of a faster way to do this fight. Finally!

Pincha is an interesting boss in that he exposes his right eye far more than his left eye. This makes for a rather unusual method of quick killing him as simply spamming weapon throws at the weak spots during fast claw phases is not the fastest way since it will usually result in the right eye dying way before the left eye. Instead, timing weapon throws to balance out the damage between each eye during said fast claw phases is the key to quick killing Pincha. The goal is to kill the right eye before the left but only when there is 2 hits remaining on the left eye. Here's a video of my first official successful attempt at this quick kill during practice.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9oQZSMXvbW4

Now you know what the quick kill looks like so here's a step by step process on how to get a kill of this boss similar to the one shown in the video. Time stamps included to make this a bit easier to follow.

1. 00:00 Like every other boss, get the orbs positioned correctly to get the fight going asap. Self-explanatory.

2. 00:10 Once the flames start going and summoning begins get in a position that you feel lines you up to get hits on either the left or right eye. Finding this position is tough so feel free to use my positioning in the video as a guideline if need be.

3. 00:14 Time a weapon throw right before you feel the boss is going spawn. This is easier with shuriken as opposed to twin knife oddly enough. A successfully landed hit will register to the right eye.

4. 00:16 Now comes the tricky part. Timing the weapon throws to hit the left eye. Pincha will always start the fight with a fast claw phase. During these particular phases he will swipe with the right claw twice and then the left claw once, then repeats that pattern until he moves. As you can see, the window to land these hits on the left eye is very narrow and will require practice. 

¤One useful bit of advice I can give for this part that is also shown during the video is that I try to briefly move towards Pincha as I throw 2 shurikens then move away slightly. This increases the traveling speed of the weapon making it easier 
to land these hits (at least for me). For Twin Knife this shouldn't be necessary(?) since it's naturally a faster weapon.

5. 00:21 I'd like to advise to hold the line and NOT be tempted to move LEFT or RIGHT in preparation to dodge Pincha's feet while it scurries around counter-clockwise unless you do not like your current positioning. Having to re-adjust your positioning right before the next claw phase is likely to result in a late first hit leading to a missed 3rd hit. The video shows the proper response to this.

6. 00:25 Once Pincha has stopped, have your weapon ready to hit him registering a hit on the left eye. Let the left claw retract first while Pincha is invincible then move close in front of him and spam the shuriken to land the next 2 hits to his 
right eye. If you have twin knife you can probably be a little further away.

7. 00:32 You can breathe easy for now. This next part of the fight is very easy. Once you have a better understanding of his pattern (it's always the same), you'll have a better idea of where to position yourself in response to where he stops for the next 4 claw phases. To make matters even easier, Pincha will only attack with either the left claw or the right claw (not both) for these 4 claw phases. Again the video is there if you want an idea of where I stand for this part.

8. 00:53 After these 4 claw phases are finished Pincha is gonna move around in an odd way, stop in the middle, move to the left, then back towards the middle for one more single claw phase. This one is different though. Once you land the hit on the left eye immediately get back to the same positioning as Step 2 (all while being sure to avoid that left claw). The next claw phase is another fast one.

¤Key thing of note here: My positioning for this part could be alot better and is likely the reason why the next step is (IMO) the hardest part of the fight. Fixing this should make the fight go more smoothly.

9. 01:02 More or less the same as Step 4. Getting that quick hit on the right eye at the start of the fast claw phase is key. Then focus on landing hits on the left eye. You should have just enough time to land these 3 hits before Pincha scurries off and moves clockwise.

10. 01:10 If all of the above is done correctly, Pincha's eyes should both be down to just 2 hits each which is perfect as the next claw phase has the potential to land 4 hits instead of just 3. While Pincha is moving around clockwise move yourself down to bottom as indicated in the video. Pincha will shortly follow you down there slowly.

For the perfect kill, you must first land 2 hits to right eye and finish it off. Land these 2 hits quick enough and you will just barely land a hit to the left eye right after. Pincha will stand there dormant for a few seconds and then extend his left claw one last time allowing for the finishing blow.

And that's how you quick kill Pincha. Sounds complicated right? No worries! Here's another video of how I used to do this fight which is more consistent but slower.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=my2qC6G8a8U

This strat is a good place to start if this fight gives you trouble since the more curvy sand lines become good visual cues on where to stand. Just know that this only really works with a faster weapon you can spam like Twin Knife which is fine since spamming weapon throws is generally the strat I use here. You might also find the second claw phase in particular to be a issue in landing a 3rd hit.

Shuriken-to-Mace Route (Twin Knife/Sword skip)

Up to this point I had deemed that the Twin Knife was unavoidable until I stopped to think why exactly I came to this conclusion in the first place and drawing a blank. One thing led to another and I decided it was time to put a theory to the test.

Here is the end result:

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/160485990

I'm proud to say that a new route has been born; the Twin Knife is now able to be skipped. That's right! The Shuriken can now be carried all the way to the Mace in Ghost Ship.

The twitch VOD you see above covers the challenges I faced in the discovery of this route but I do gloss over at least one thing in it so here's a rundown in written form of what has changed in this route as well as other new strats found during this test. Keep in mind that skipping Twin Knife only really saves about 15-17 seconds in Atlena ideally. So any moment where one would have to stop due to Shuriken's low damage from then on in the route till the Mace in Ghost Ship is a loss of said 15-17 seconds advantage.


Atlena:


Because I normally acquire the Twin Knife at the end of this dungeon in my route Atlena pretty much doesn't change at all. The room with the two blue ghosts right next to the Twin Knife room is only slightly slower with Shuriken when done 
properly. 

I used to think the single green slime that holds the last orb I grab was also a small time loss but since Quagmire must be started with the damage spell anyway this room now draws even by switching back to damage prior to it since we have to wait for the slime to approach anyway to safely grab the orb.

The big adjustment that you as the player will have to make in this dungeon with this route is Pincha. A guide covering this boss has a video where I kill Pincha with Shuriken. It can be found here.

http://www.speedrun.com/Equinox/guide/7athc


Quagmire:


This is where the majority of the complications of this route change come into play. Right from the get go after getting the blue key and the white key, you need to kill the green slime to unlock the door that leads to the boss room. This is handled the same way as it would be handled if you had Twin Knife only you need to land a damage spell and two hits right after instead of just one if you had twin knife. It's possible to do this while still going fast but the timing is a lot trickier.

To make matters even worse, you have to stop and kill the blue tornado in the next room (losing you time). This is unavoidable as you need the pink potion to replenish the magic you depleted. This room is another one where you lose a little bit of time over the previous route. Thankfully the green tornado in the room after can be manipulated to move in a way that makes him easy to avoid. The rest of the beginning area and the green side is unchanged.

Yellow side is pretty much the same as the other route. The small room with the lone slime that has to be killed for the orb is slightly slower but the difference is very minor. The room with the green and blue slimes is also slightly changed on 
the return trip. Now we walk around the blue slime to save 1 full circle of magic. We lose some time doing this but it's important we do this due to a certain room in white side later on.

Blue side doesn't change at all. In fact the only thing I discovered here is a new and faster way of doing that one room with the blue ghost and the pink potion which can be done regardless of your weapon.

White side is also handled the same way from past routes with the exception being the room with the 2 blue ghosts. Describing how to go through this room fast the first time around is difficult but I do get a few solid attempts in the VOD where I do this room optimally. On the return trip this same room needs Slow spell to be activated prior to entering it. This is why we save the one circle of magic from yellow side. It's also worth noting that you should pop the Slow quite a bit before entering the room or else the room after (with the white and blue ghost) will slow you down.


Afralona:


With proper use of Zap Spell no enemies should be killed with a weapon making this dungeon 100% unchanged from the previous route.


Ghost Ship:


Like Afralona, the same holds true for this dungeon with the exception of one room. The room with 3 red knights, 3 closing gates and a whole lot of spikes. In the VOD above I save my game with the Save Spell in preparation for this room.

So here is what I do for this room. As soon as I enter I pop the Zap Spell as soon as I think I can. Then I jump to keep moving and then I move Glendaal slightly closer to the spikes. Then I continue to move towards the apple that should at this moment be up in the air from the now dead knight. When the apple gets pretty close to bouncing off the ground the first time I jump and then item jump off the apple (while it is still airborne) and over the spike. If you land the item jump successfully keep holding down and do not let go until you know you landed. It's going to take a lot of practice much like it did for me here in the VOD.

¤This strat is the fastest strat for this room whether or not you have Twin Knife/Sword. The only difference between the different routes is that with Twin Knife/Sword you have the option to do a safer and more consistent strat, but with Shuriken your only option is the item jump over the spike or you're guaranteed to lose time on the 3rd steel gate from the older route due to weapon damage being too low to kill the first knight in the room.

Name	Author
Equinox Tutorial Part 1 - Galadonia	Shadax 7 years ago
Equinox Tutorial Part 2 - Tori	Shadax 7 years ago
Equinox Tutorial Part 3 - Deeso	Shadax 7 years ago
Equinox Tutorial Part 4 - Atlena	Shadax 7 years ago
Equinox Tutorial Part 5 - Quagmire	Shadax 7 years ago
Equinox Tutorial Part 6 - Afralona	Shadax 7 years ago
Equinox Tutorial Part 7 - Ghost Ship	Shadax 7 years ago
Equinox Tutorial Part 8 - Ice Palace	Shadax 7 years ago
Pincha Quick Kill Guide	Shadax 7 years ago
Shuriken-to-Mace Route (Twin Knife/Sword skip)	Shadax 7 years ago