If you haven't seen this strat, watch the video below to catch up on recent events. WARNING: Twitch muted it...

http://www.twitch.tv/kyledoesit/c/5256408

Routes and times have been updated a total of [ 3 ] times:

The following are only assumptions as I haven't actually tested this to the fullest extent. Also, I believe I could have shot it out of the sky with a SMG (not micro SMG) instead of an AK. It'd be quicker to get an SMG, maybe 30 seconds faster than getting an AK.

I got the heli, saved it, and went on my way to complete the first mission. At the end of "It's your Call", I was around +5:00. Assuming 30 seconds faster with an SMG, and hopefully not having to screw around at the apartment with a saved game, I could hope to be around +4:30 instead, maybe a bit less.

I feel using the heli during Jamaican Heat is worthless. I know using it during Bull in a China Shop is worthless as I actually lost time on my splits when trying this mission out with a heli (around 10 seconds). I believe the heli should come into play AFTER Do You Have Protection.

After DYHP, go get the heli, fly to Final Destination, land the heli next to the stairs you'll come down after the kill.

Time save from end of Do You Have Protection to the beginning of Concrete Jungle: ~ -1:00

After FD, fly to Concrete Jungle. Land near the first mission marker. Get in a car while avoiding a wanted level. Drive over to the mission marker. Drive to the next marker (which triggers the three guys fleeing in the back alley). Kill them as always. Drive to the heli and wait for Jacob to get in. Fly to the next mission marker. Land on top of it. Do what you need to do in the apartment. Exit and get back into the heli. Fly to the mission end marker.

Time save from the beginning of Concrete Jungle to the beginning of Shadow: ~-10 to -20

After CJ, fly over to Shadow. Fly to the save spot in Bohan. Leave the heli there. Proceed as usual. Get back into the heli at the end of the mission.

After Shadow, fly to Roman's apartment to save the heli. Find a car and drive to the depot for Logging On.

Time save from the beginning of Shadow to the beginning of Logging On: ~ -1:00

Now, you're not going to want to use the heli until arriving back at the apartment with Roman during Roman's Sorrow. Here's another moment where I'm not quite sure how this will work as you usually teleport to the vehicle save spot, when approaching the burning apartment, and a vehicle in the way usually despawns. I'll have to find a way to avoid this. Anyway, get in the heli and fly to Bohan to complete Roman's Sorrow.

Time save from flying to Bohan: ~ -1:00

Leave the heli at the Bohan apartment save spot until the end of Luck of the Irish. At this point, go get the heli and start Blow Your Cover. Fly to the building, trigger the yellow marker, fly to the roof, land the heli to the left of the doorway on the roof, trigger Johnny, kill the police up to and including the SWAT member in the doorway leading down into the other building (the one you go down through and exit out of). Once this SWAT member is dead, Playboy X will now follow you. Run back to the heli on the roof. Fly to X's apartment. (I have tested this strat for this mission and it worked)

Time save from throughout Blow Your Cover: ~ -1:30

Fly to Brucie for Out of the Closet, once this mission begins, fly back to Playboy X's apartment and use the computer in the lobby to complete OotC.

Time save from not needing to drive to the heli tours after Blow Your Cover: ~ -1:00

At this point, you may or may not have the next Playboy X mission. If you waited for the text during the flight to Brucie, you'll have the mission available outside of his apartment. If you haven't gotten the text, you can either wait for it or fly over to Manny for Puerto Rican Connection (it pops up after completing Out of the Closet).

This is the end of opportunities due to having an early helicopter.

Total time save from using the heli: ~ -6:00

Around +5:00 at the beginning leading to -6:00 by the end of Out of the Closet. I have high hopes for this strategy. At the moment, I feel I would need to have near flawless execution in order to save time using this strat. More to come as I continue to test this out.

Oh, and the heli is REALLY EASY to get in the first place. I managed to get it five times in a row the other day. Just do as I do in the video.

I was looking around to find a solution for the heli lifting off at the safehouse after exiting and I found this on GTA wikia:

"There is a glitch involving the Police Maverick in Grand Theft Auto IV where once Niko gets out, the helicopter will start flying away and fall once it is realized that there is no pilot. This is because the game still reads the helicopter as AI-Controlled. Holding Y (Xbox 360) or Triangle (PS3) to shut off the engine will prevent this." Source: http://gta.wikia.com/Police_Maverick#HD_Universe

I couldn't really test myself because I suck at shooting the heli pilot but worth a try at least.

Omega, thanks for that. I'll try it out next time.

UPDATE:

I managed to get the heli after Crime and Punishment, instead of at the very beginning. I then flew to Do You Have Protection and did this mission with the heli. When I split at the end of this mission, I was +2:26. At the end of Crime and Punishment, I was +56, so had I been neutral on my splits at this point or even ahead, I would have had a split of around +1:30 at the end of DYHP. Getting the heli at the beginning of the run puts me back +4:00 to +5:00 at the end of It's Your Call.

It's now completely clear that getting the heli after Crime and Punishment is the best way to do it.

I expect to be -4:00 to -5:00 by the time I split at the end of Out of the Closet pt. 1. Heli strats are a go!

On the PS3 version after completing Uncle Vlad, an Annihilator will spawn at the airport for 1-2 ingame days, not sure yet if it works on PC. I pick it up after Concrete Jungle, then do DYHP, FD and Shadow. It's faster than a Maverick but also takes up more space, so parking it at a sefehouse is a bit more difficult.

I'm going to first complete a run which at least reaches the heist mission with an early Maverick before I attempt a run with the Annihilator. There's promise for the Annihilator strat, though.

Leaving the heli at the Bohan safehouse after Final Destination will never be a good idea, regardless of which heli you have. Either you fly back and leave it at the Broker safehouse and come back for it after Master & the Molotov, or you pick it up after Rigged to Blow and eventually have to take it back to the Broker safehouse, so there's really no difference in the end. Also, there's time loss taking it to the Bohan safehouse before or after Final Destination.

Like I mentioned, splits with one heli being compared against with the other heli will truly show which one is faster, I just haven't gotten those splits yet. I'll also practice entering and exiting the Broker safehouse with an Annihilator and determine if there's an easy way to get in and out, which doesn't involve pushing with a car.

UPDATED TIMES & ADDED INFO:

Ways to get helicopter ~2 minutes from end of Crime and Punishment to getting in the POLICE MAVERICK 50 secs - 1 minute driving w/ Turismo from end of Concrete Jungle to airport 1:10-1:20 from end of Crime and Punishment (w/ typical vehicle in that area) to airport

From C&P to DYHP w/ typical area vehicle = ~1:10 (from airport) w/ Annihilator = ~40sec - 45sec

DYHP? ~1:50 w/ Annihilator ~2:25-2:30 w/ Turismo

From DYHP to CJ Drive w/ Turismo = ~50 sec Fly w/ Annihilator = ~35

Concrete Jungle ~1:50-2:00 w/ Turismo ~2:15-2:30 W/ Annihilator

From entering vehicle at end of M&tM to getting out of Annihilator at warehouse for RR (w/ Annihilator accounts for time taken to push the Annihilator out of harms way) w/ Annihilator = ~1:15 w/ typical car for the area = ~45

Annihilator before DYHP Drive to heli = 1:15 Fly to DYHP = :45 DYHP = 1:50 Fly to CJ = :35 CJ = 2:25 Fly over to Shadow = :15 Shadow beginning to apartment save spot = :40 End of Shadow to beginning of FD = :50 Final Destination (from club to where you'd get out of the heli) = :50 (at the end of Final Destination, you'd fly it back to the Hove Beach apartment) End of M&tM, retrieve heli, fly to warehouse = 1:15 Total = 10:40

Annihilator after CJ Drive from C&P to DYHP = 1:10 DYHP = 2:25 Drive to CJ = :50 CJ to airport = 2:20 Flight back to Shadow = :25 Shadow (beginning to apartment save spot) = :40 End of Shadow to beginning of FD = :50 Final Destination (from club to where you'd get out of the heli) = :50 (at the end of Final Destination, you'd fly it back to the Hove Beach apartment) End of M&tM, retrieve heli, fly to warehouse = 1:15 Total = 10:45

Annihilator after CJ (2nd option) (w/ Feltzer which is about the equiv. of a Blista) From end of C&P, to CJ, to end of CJ, to airport = 3:10 Fly to DYHP = :45 DYHP = 1:50 Fly to Final Destination = :30 Final Destination (from club to exit spot) = :50 Leaving FD to Shadow beginning = :40 Shadow beginning to Bohan apartment save spot = :40 (at the end of Shadow, you'd fly it back to the Hove Beach apartment) End of M&tM, retrieve heli, fly to warehouse = 1:15 Total = 9:40

Heli timing comparison: Final Destination (from club to apartment save spot) Annihilator = ~:50 Police Mav. = ~:50

(w/ Feltzer which is about the equiv. of a Blista) From end of C&P, to CJ, to end of CJ, to airport = ~3:10 (w/ Turismo) From end of DYHP, to CJ, to end of CJ, to airport = ~3:10

See the "Heli timing comparison" near the bottom of the above post:

I'm not kidding, it took almost exactly the same amount of time between the two helicopter types..., I even had great control over the Annihilator meaning the landing was about as quick, yet safe, as I could ever imagine I could pull off.

Consider this: ~2 minutes from end of Crime and Punishment to getting in the POLICE MAVERICK (include getting the AK and the drive to the water)

(from airport) w/ Annihilator to beginning of DYHP = ~40sec - 45sec

So, the flight from the water with the police Maverick will likely be about 30 seconds given the time it takes frome the airport. A total time of about 2:30.

---compared against---

1:10-1:20 from end of Crime and Punishment (w/ typical vehicle in that area) to airport (from airport) w/ Annihilator = ~40sec - 45sec A total time of about 2:00 - 2:10.

So, it looks like during these parts of the run, getting the Annihilator will be faster, BUT consider the time lost situating the Annihilator at the Broker apartment and pushing it out later.

Using the Maverick during these moments will definitely save at least 15 seconds. Could it even reach 30 seconds??? It likely will end up on average somewhere in between.

Also, consider the small time saves, which add up, from being extra careful with the Annihilator during missions. Concrete Jungle for sure.

The last thing to consider is what are the time saves from using the miniguns on the Annihilator during a mission such as Deconstruction for Beginners, (shooting the guys). This will save some time, I'm sure of it, probably around 15-20 seconds.

At this point, I'm unsure. My gut is telling me the Maverick is better overall, but Annihilator is so very close.

I believe using the Annihilator like this will be faster than the Police Maverick, so please hear me out.

After Ivan The Not So Terrible get the Ruiner to manipulate the car RNG, with a bit of luck you can get a Ruiner or Blista after Crime And Punishment. After C&P drive to Concrete Jungle and do that mission with a car (faster than with the Anni). After CJ drive to the airport, pick up the Anni, fly to DYHP and do that mission with a heli (faster than with a car). After completing DYHP, do FD first and then Shadow. During Shadow you park the heli in the Bohan safehouse anyway, no need to waste time doing it again after FD.

Here's what I meant with leaving the heli in Bohan.

After Shadow, instead of flying, drive back and do Logging On, No Love Lost and Rigged To Blow. Usually after RTB you drive back, instead of that pick up the heli and fly back (this should make up for the time loss of driving back after Shadow). Now you just fly straight to M&tM, DON'T park the Anni at the first safehouse and do M&tM, RR and Roman's Sorrow with the heli.

This way you don't have to mess around with the Anni at the first safehouse and you don't lose any time. All that's left now is doing Brucie's missions somewhere later in the game. I hope this helps.

I compared the time it takes to ... leave M&TM, get the heli from the apt, use during RR and use during RS ... to ... same as above, just no heli being used. W/O the heli was faster.

My new plan is to get the Annihilator after C&P -> DYHP -> FD -> N.L.L. -> LO -> S(hadow) -> leave heli at Bohan apt. spot -> drive to RTB -> and never touch the heli again until after Luck of the Irish. I timed and compared lots of things last night, both before and after Roman's Sorrow.