BTW, I recommended also trying Sabo for speedrunning...a very good character to use and fast

Welcome, Kingkiwi2013! Always happy to see a new face :) Pirate Warriors 3 is pretty straightforward as runs go, clearing missions quickly and wiping the floor with bosses as soon as you can hit them. From there it’s all about movement and character choice.

I generally prefer TS characters, although PTS Chopper is one of my favourite characters in the game. His pseudo-grappler moveset is a lot of fun to use and deals a lot of damage.

I do like Sabo, although his S string is a little unwieldy. It might just be me, though. I’ll give him a shot. Thanks :)

I’ll have to try PTS chopper then!! :D I also don’t play a lot of sanji so I’ll have to get to figuring him out :)

Sanji’s SSST deals a LOT of damage, and is by far his best spammable move. His TTSS ignores shields, so it’s useful for taking out base captains. His “can’t damage female enemies” clause can be evaded using his lv2 super (TS sanji) or a kizuna rush finisher. Just make sure the opponent isn’t invincible when you use it i.e. powering up or activating their hero power :)

Thanks for the tips Samadaharu! I’ve been meaning to ask, who is the best character in your guys opinion to limit break? It seems to be hard to achieve so I want to make it worth it when the time comes :)

My first one I got was Perona which she is fun to play but I consider Sanji, ACe and Sabo lol. That and I like to play as them as well

Once you have all golden coins in the game, every character will be limit broken. A lot of coins will need to be obtained through grinding bounties and powerful enemies in dream log/Nightmare Log. To that end, I’d suggest someone that would speed up the process. Whitebeard is the first character that springs to mind.

Ooh alrighty, btw I tried TS sanji last night and dang is he fun! I always get taken by a flashy character and sanji does just that haha, his SSST does a lot of damage like you mentioned so thanks for that! I don’t understand his sky walk though, when you use it in the middle of a combo he smashes the ground, like a finisher? But when you use it by itself he seems to just jump forward in the air where you can’t do anything until it’s over, and I’ll try collecting coins now heh.

Glad to hear you're enjoying him :)

Sky walk, when used mid combo, homes in on a nearby enemy and smashes them into the ground. It's a little naff when used on its own, since the animation takes forever and can't be cancelled out of.

Got it! What are you up to right now in the game?

trying to get a NG+ run below 4 hours. I'm getting close, but I still end up losing time to inept AI when escorting allies in later stages, and missing enemies with special attacks. Here's the splits from a run a couple of days ago: https://splits.io/2etf

There was some bad AI, and I made a few too many mistakes.

Darn, you were 1 minute off from getting that goal! Who’s your go-to speedrun character?

So close... D: https://splits.io/2f2y I'll get there next time :)

I was about a minute and a half ahead, then brainfarted in dressrosa and forgot I needed to capture the SMILE factory myself. I also gambled by trying out Ace on Punk Hazard and Thriller Bark, which in hindsight, was probably not the best idea.

Anyways, since not all characters have the same movement speed, I stick to the fastest, Sanji and Ace being the most broadly useful. I use Sanji for most stages, and Ace for levels where Sanji would be slower. Namely, a couple of levels with female enemies, romance Dawn, as his lv1 super lets him skip a set of dialogue early in the stage, saving about 10 seconds, and Baratie, which lets you skip having to chase Don Krieg around the map and just wait for Sanji to reach the target location.

Then, there's 3 stages where I use Luffy. Marineford 1, to save myself from having to escort both him and jimbei, Marineford 2, since the level ends for him once you defeat Akainu, and 2 Years later, where he oneshots pacifistas and, most importantly, Perona with his SSST

Damn you really thought this whole process out! It must be tiring to be on top awareness throughout the whole game XD

Great job! I hope to see your run soon lol. We will see if I ever post a run here cause I tend to like doing Segmented more in this game than anything. The couple of runs I did do I enjoyed and got a good time at the very least

Thanks! I’ll try and record a run today, mostly to showcase how the route has “evolved” since my last recorded one. Hopefully this time I won’t whiff the SUPER skip, and one shot perona in thriller bark this time. Oars’ attack patterns can really waste time, too.

There’s a surprising amount of downtime during stages, waiting for dialogue to clear or for allies to reach destinations, so there’s definitely time to breathe.

I take it a full segmented run would use the combined IL times?

Full RTAs can be tiring, especially when during a lot of my runs, all the splits are red until Loguetown, but i’ve been using a different mobile run timer which shows gold splits and the sum of best splits, so seeing the potential is really motivating :)

Segmented is combined IL times. I know the runs I did do for NG+ RTA I got like 3:59 or 58? I cant remember tbh lol. I use the splits on the computer but the phone can be more convenient at least

My sum of best splits is at around 3hr56mins, but I'm making so many mistakes during every run that it's going to be difficult to reach that point.

I was recording a run, and then I lost it to the pacifistas in sabaody. Almost lured them, then they decided to jump all the way back. 2 minutes went by and I decided to cut the line there. I was almost a minute behind, too, so not much lost there. Attempt 2 after some lunch.

If you are able to record an RTA, that'd be great (or at least splits). I'm interested to see what you do differently, if anything :)

Haha, Maybe one day when i get jn the mood. I messed up some spots for sure and i think I can get a 3:57 with my stubborn ass lol. Just wish i had the attention span for those kind of long runs

yeah, the run hits hard on the endurance front XD Although to me, it gets a lot more fun from Loguetown onwards. It might be the fact that out of all the stages, I've played the first 5 the most from the sheer volume of botched runs. And next to Arlong Park, anything is a step up XD.

I'm grinding out some of the later stages at the moment, and coming to the horrifying realisation that Usopp may, in fact, be the fastest character for 5-1. His SSSST flat-out pulverizes anything a mile in front of him. The only problem is Sentomaru, since with all of the pacifistas around, it's hard to get any combos in.

Also, i'm swapping out Sanji for Ace in Thriller Bark. Eliminating at least some of the Oars RNG with a lv2 super might not be faster, but it's sure as hell more consistent. And not risking missing Perona with a Kizuna finisher.

(Brief aside, it's just been confirmed that PW3 for the Switch is coming out in EU and NA in May. As if I needed any more reason to buy a switch :D)