Best characters for runs

The number of choices in this game when it comes to characters and builds are quite immense. However, just like in any game, it is not perfectly balanced, and some characters will shine out more than others. There are many categories in this game and, therefore, there is not one definitive best character, but there are some tendencies:

**Traditional speedruns: Peddler**
Peddler is an incredible character. He is noted for having the best one-shot skill in the game, 1000Kg Swing, which can vaporize bosses in one hit with the right item build. However, this is not his strongest attack for speedrunning: since most of a runner's time is spent going through regular rooms, 3/2-1 as a build will generally serve as a far better option, since the low cooldown of this swinging kitty variant combined with its enemy-pulling vortex will wipe out rooms very quickly. Its lowered damage can be remedied by using skill 1 as a secondary, and although this combined with the armor loss makes for a very risky set, combining it with an HP regen item (namely Dracula's Dentures) will make it safer to use.

As a final point, Peddler also has a fast movement speed, making him good in Any%, where the Optical Camouflage will be used and running through rooms quickly will be an advantage.

**NWRs: Hannah**
Hannah is a character that has a good deal of useful attributes for a NWR, namely range, overall pretty high damage and good crowd control potential with 2/3, and lots of mobility, which allows for a conservative playstyle that is perfect for NWRs. You can also compensate her somewhat slow attack speed by using a boss skill to aid you in that sense, Tiger Jump being one of the best due to its low cooldown and incredibly high safety. Other good picks are characters with safe skills that involve very little commitment, like Peddler (again) with his Whirling Blow, or Katherine with her Glacial Tempest. The most important part in a NWR is being able to avoid taking too much damage so that finishing a run in the first place is possible; killing enemies quickly is just an add-on.

Important tips for runs

Some runs have some pieces of information that are pretty much essential to complete them successfully. Others simply have a lot of space for optimization. Here are a few tips that can be incredibly important to runs:

**Trial%**
It is *essential* to understand that waiting is required for this challenge. In a speedrun setting, most players will exit rooms as quickly as possible, the second the doors are open, but this is an incredibly bad idea in Trial%. You see, the chest will take a while to fall down even after the room is over, and the check that sees if a room has been completed does exactly this. Leaving the room before the room counter is decreased will mean the room does not count. This can ruin whole runs very easily.

**Gold-related**
Whenever items get involved in Otherworld Legends games, which is most of the time, they are some of the most powerful tools in the game, and trying to get a good set will make up most of the early/mid game phase. In speedruns, one of the better strategies is to take two On the Beach drinks to get all the items very early in the game, allowing you to skip through the entire item searching phase and saving tons of time. However, what this means is that it also removes the need to every pick up any gold from chests, since you won't need said gold for anything. As such, try to remove the habit of going out of your way to get this gold, it will only lose you time.

**Merge%**
In this bonus category, it's essential to strategize properly what item you aim to merge. For starters, the obvious pick is a two-item merge as it'll be easier to find, but picking a specific item can be a lot harder. The most recommended picks are those where both items can be gotten from the same Item Astrology scroll to increase the chances of getting the right items. The items that fit these conditions are Fire Support and Burning Glove under Abnormal Status, Mighty Armor under Defense, Burning Glove and Soul Snare Gloves under On-hit Effect and Crowned Engine, Frenzy Heart and Valiant Armor under Stats.

**Item Astrology-related**
Despite it can be essential in the RNG-reliant category that Merge% is, and it can largely help in forging up builds, the time the animation takes to unfold can make it ineficient in tight speedruns. Relying on natural RNG can be better if you really want to squeeze out all the possible seconds.

Name	Author
Best characters for runs	AllStarSILVER 4 years ago
Important tips for runs	AllStarSILVER 3 years ago