There shouldn't be added any arbitrary restrictions so that the category feels more "fun" or "fair". Using the artifact of Death would just add another unnecessary layer of difficulty, it's kind of a part of this game coop mode's spirit that if one dies the other "saves" the run.

In the current optimal route for coop any%, one of the loaders take all the items except for a couple of whites, so artifact of death wouldn't quite solve the problem you state.

Anyways, it's slower to kill the partner for a couple of reasons, so choosing to do that is choosing to cripple your run:

• In stage 1 one can go for the newt altar and the other for the tp making most runs a sub 15 seconds tp.
• In the other stages both players can search for the TP which can also be taken as a "test" of their individual abilities.
• The Excentric Vase strat needs that a loader other than the one that grabs everything to stay alive to grab that thing.

The only thing it could help with is that if 1 of them has a crowdfunder, killing the other would make the transition between stages faster.

So in summary, adding that restriction would be trying to solve something that isn't actually a problem. If people choose to kill their partner it's their loss.

A guide is on the making right now, but i'll try to answer your questions to the best of my knowledge (everything I say here applies to most categories but it is intended for any% runs):

• Might be a bit obvious but it is highly encouraged that you use artifact of command and sacrifice (and thus artifact of swarms and Kin). You need to use artifact of glass in order to one-shot Mithrix. There isn't a consensus in the community whether artifact of Dissonance should be used or not, the argument being that dissonance prevents hermit crabs from spawning in stage 4 but it also makes stage 2 of Mithrix last a little bit longer, I personally don't run it.

• Use alternative secondary (does damage) and default utility (faster and stronger than thunder punch).

• It can be very tiring to restart for the "best stage 1", which is the alternative Distant Roost when the TP spawns in the middle of the stage and when the newt altar spawns near it. I wouldn't recommend doing that even if you are going for a sub 9 time, but you do you.

• Regarding items, at least we can all agree that the Razorwire+Hellfire tincture is the best way to go since not only it trivializes the teleporter events, it also lets you quickly destroy Mithrix second phase.

• A run usually looks like this

  • Restart until you get a decent teleporter spawn/newt altar spawn or a natural blue orb and go to the store. If you have the blue orb and get to the teleporter in less than 20 seconds, that's a decent spawn, but don't sweat it, most of the timesave comes later in the run.

  • In the store you want to get 3 non equipment lunar items and 1 equipment lunar item, the first three being focused convergence and the lunar equipment being hellfire tincture (if you are lucky enough to get only 1 equipment and 4 non-equipment, you might want to get a purity since it helps with early game loader movement, you won't want to use it later since it takes about 2 seconds to grab).

  • Regarding greens, grab 8-10 razorwires and the rest is personal preference (I like grabbing red whip, some people like grabbing wax quail or runald bands, up to you) It is usually a bad idea to grab more than 10 razorwires since killing phase 2 of mithrix too quickly will counterintuitively be slower, since your razorwires will attack mithrix and for some reason that prevents you from one-shoting him. Regarding whites, if you want you can pick 1 topaz brooch (it is definitely not necessary but grab it if you want to feel extra safe) so you don't accidentally die to a bison or something like that, it is recommended to get at least 5 back-up magazines (3 if you are using purity) in order to get the YEET in the moon (if you watch a run you'll know what I'm talking about) and after that there are 2 options: (a) Keep stacking magazines. (b) Grab 1 energy drink and as many goat hooves as you can. IMO option (b) is better.

  • You'll have to memorize the TP locations and the newt altar location spawns, they are only a handful of them so you'll get it with practice. TPs tend to appear on the opposite side of the map so there's that (except on scorched acres, it might as well just appear behind you, good luck with that).

  • One good thing to do with loader as soon as you appear on any stage is getting some altitude in order to pinpoint the teleporter location and zoom to it. In order to do this you need to throw your pylon a little bit upwards and let it raise you while you are charging the punch, then you want to punch in the direction the TP is.

  • The Mithrix fight is very straightforward: Stage 1: Punch him really hard Stage 2: Activate your Hellfire tincture and zoom around the stage until everything dies Stage 3: Punch him really hard again. Stage 4: If you are in the current patch (1.0.1.1), punch him as soon as he stops absorbing all your items and yeet yourself to the ship. If you downpatch (1.0.0.6) punch him as soon as he starts absorbing all your items and yeet yourself to the ship.

Try watching some runs and practice moon movement as it is the "hardest" part of the run, also you can join the discord, we are very active and eager to help new runners. If you have any follow-up questions don't hesitate asking either here or in the discord.