Table of Contents

{A} Foreword

{B} Speed Briefing - {B1} What is speedrunning? - {B2} How WoW speedruns differ from other games

{C} Character Choices - {C1} Race - {C2} Class - {C3} Gear - {C4} Professions - {C5} Items

{D} Leaderboards - {D1} Full-game Leaderboard - {D2} Level Leaderboard

{E} Recommended Software - {E1} OBS/recording software - {E2} Livesplit/timer

{F} Resources available

[center]{A} Foreword[/center] This guide is written for seasoned WoW players who are looking for something fun and interesting to with their game time. It's not recommended for a brand new WoW player to do speedruns unless they have run other games in the past and are looking for something different. WoW speedruns are geared towards players who have extensive knowledge of the game and lots of gear/gold. While you do not need to be an expert on WoW to attempt speedrunning, having a decent amount of knowledge and capital is highly advantageous. For the purpose of this guide, I will assume you know WoW fairly well but are new to speedrunning.

[center]{B} Speed Briefing[/center] {B1} What is speedrunning

A speedrun is the act of completing a game/objective as fast as possible. There are many different types of speedruns with different rules and conditions for completion. The two most common variants are "Any%" and "100%". Any% means complete the game as fast as possible utilizing all available glitches, bugs, warps, etc. 100% means complete the game by collecting all available collectables, rare items and other things listed under the game's ruleset, sometimes this also utilizes glitches and what not.

Different variants of speedrunning branch out almost into infinity, any condition could be set as a speedrun objective. That would be dependant on the moderators and community of that game. Rules can differ between runs so always make sure to read them before the attempt to avoid frustration later. This is very important; nothing is more disappointing than completing a run and realizing you forgot something or used that thing you shouldn't have.

Timing is the most important thing in speedruns. Having accurate and proper timing is imperative to every single one. For almost all speedruns, the software timer Livesplit is used and recorded along side the run. You can also render the video and add a timer widget after but it must be accurate and work correctly. Different runs can have different start/stop times so make sure you know when to start and stop the timer. There are links to the recommended software in Section E.

{B2} How WoW speedruns differ from other games

In most other games everyone is able to start at the exact same spot with the exact same potential. You power on the whatever, load up the game and and play. WoW Speedruns are very gear, item, and gold intensive. Sometimes requiring ungodly hours of farming to procure. While at an entry level you can have little to no gear and still do well, at the competitive level it can get quite lucrative. Other than that, speedruns here follow the similar format of completing an objective as fast as possible with some ruleset. There are also multiple categories for most runs to spice things up and change how the run is completed.

[center]{C} Character Choices[/center] If you are looking to go as fast as possible, it may be necessary to reroll a character specifically for speedruns. Certain choices have advantages and disadvantages over other ones. New speedrunners are encouraged to do their runs on a class they know the best, regardless on how well suited the race/class combo are for speedruns until they get a feel for everything.

{C1} Race

There is much debate as to what is the "best" choice is and even that changes all the time. The following are not in any particular order of usefulness nor are these the only suitable races. They are most used races currently in speedrunning. [center] Blood Elf​ - http://www.wowhead.com/blood-elf

Gnome​ - http://www.wowhead.com/gnome

Goblin​ - http://www.wowhead.com/goblin

Night Elf ​- http://www.wowhead.com/night-elf

Tauren​ - http://www.wowhead.com/tauren

Worgen​ - http://www.wowhead.com/worgen	

[/center] {C2} Class

As with the race choice there is much debate on which class is the best. This is a list of commonly used classes in speedruns. Some classes were omitted because we haven't seen anyone do a run on them yet, and I don't know how all the classes work like I do my main few. Once again, anything could be amazing in the right hands. Play what you know best. [center] Death Knight - http://www.wowhead.com/classes#deathknight

Demon Hunter - http://www.wowhead.com/classes#demonhunter

Druid - http://www.wowhead.com/classes#druid

Hunter - http://www.wowhead.com/classes#hunter

Mage - http://www.wowhead.com/classes#mage

Warlock - http://www.wowhead.com/classes#warlock

Warrior - http://www.wowhead.com/classes#warrior

Rogue - http://www.wowhead.com/classes#rogue	

[/center] {C3} Gear

In general, you will want to hold onto any gear that has +speed/sockets on it. Other than that gear will depend on many different factors. If you're looking for suggestions, ask a speedrunner who plays the class you're interested in. We are always happy to answer any questions :D

{C4} Professions

Right now, one of the best professions for speedrunning would be engineering. It gives access to Rocket Boots Xtreme which increase your run speed by tons, a slowfall cape that preserves speed unlike a glider, and many more cool things that are good for going fast. Other professions are useful as well like alchemy for making potions and what not. But engineering stands way above the rest. Pick whatever you like as the 2nd profession as it doesn't matter that much.

{C5} Items & Consumables

Many different items and buffs are used for speedruns, but these are the main few that almost all speedrunners have in their inventories: [center] Bear Tartare - http://www.wowhead.com/item=133576/bear-tartare

Skystep Potion - http://www.wowhead.com/item=127841/skystep-potion

Gunshoes - http://www.wowhead.com/item=132516/gunshoes

Cracked Radinax Control Gem - http://www.wowhead.com/item=153123/cracked-radinax-control-gem

[/center]

[center]{D} Leaderboards[/center] We have two different leaderboards for speedruns; Full-game and Level. The Full-game leaderboard contains levelling (everything from 1-10 to 1-110) and collections of raids/dungeons (eg. All Vanilla Raids, All Lich King Dungeons, etc). The Level leaderboard has all the individual raids that are currently soloable (up to and including HFC). There are new categories being added all the time when something arises. If you think it should be a run, suggest it in discord/forums and it might make it on the boards.

{D1} Full-game Leaderboard

https://www.speedrun.com/wow/full_game

{D2} Level Leaderboard

https://www.speedrun.com/wow/individual_levels

[center]{E} Recommended Software[/center] {E1} OBS/recording software

There are so many different choices when it comes to recording software. Feel free to use any one you are comfortable with. If you don't know much about them and/or don't have dosh to spend on software, look no further than Open Broadcaster Software (OBS). It's a free recording studio that can handle streams as well as recordings and is fully loaded with tonnes of features. [center] Download OBS: https://obsproject.com/

Wiki/Setup instructions: https://obsproject.com/wiki/

[/center]

{E2} Livesplit/timer

This one comes down to personal preference. There are two valid ways to time a run; Add a timer in video rendering software and making it frame accurate, or record a timer overlayed with the video during the run. This is what Livesplit does. It's a functional timer that has hotkeys and customizability out the wazoo. Combining this with recording software like OBS is how most speedruns are captured and saved. Getting into the more advanced features of Livesplit can be daunting but there are plenty of great guides out there on the subject. [center] Download Livesplit: http://www.livesplit.org/

Livesplit Introduction: http://www.livesplit.org/introduction/

[/center]

I've made a quick setup guide with lots of screenshots for obs/livesplit recently. That can be found here: https://www.speedrun.com/wow/guide/spj0q

[center]{F} Resources available[/center] There are many good resources available if you are thinking about speedrunning or want to contribute to the speedrun community. All players are welcome! It's a fun, friendly environment where we help one another and push each other to surpass our limits.

I have plans to add some more guides to the speedrun site with more in-depth information on speedrunning. It's kind of barren now and I'm looking to fix that.

The main hangout where we discuss strategies and have general banter is the discord channel. Feel free to join up and say hey!

[center] https://www.speedrun.com/wow/thread/k8ywx [/center]

One of the best ways to learn how to speedrun is to watch other speedruners videos. Look up the run that interests you and have a look at what the current world record holder does. Then try to do what they did. If you get a bad time don't be discouraged, these records are often contested and optimized over periods of time to be as efficient as possible. Often utilizing glitches, difficult strategies, funny items and much more. Practice makes perfect, the more runs you do the faster your time gets.

Asking questions is another great way to learn some information. The forums and discord are your best bets at reaching other players. You may also be able to catch someone streaming on twitch or youtube and ask them directly. We're happy to help because inquiring minds just gotta know!