Hey there, just got bored so I opted to look at Emre's(n3baktin) pretty awesome no intro Inferno record(43:55) and then comment on some theoretical timesaves(Minimal as they'll be).
This does not deal with Mistakes that happen(Such as RNG not giving him a tentacle swipe when he wants it, or him running into a wall).
What I will be discussing are not normal strategies, and some of them are extremely difficult if not nigh impossible outside of TAS.
So without further ado let's get silly~ In Emre's attempt on the very first alleyway overflowing with zombies he opts for a Single Dodge at the corner and then he does a two dodge chain to slip by the Gate Zombie. With proper timing you can do a Double Dodge(with dodge rolls) on both the first corner AND the Gate zombie to save something like .2 to .5 of a second This works in Inferno and Nightmare
Fast forward along, Emre does a pretty good job and while I have a few thoughts on some things I can't confirm them with the current SRT.
However when Emre hits the Power Plant entry area he does a double dodge to get to the stairs, and then a single dodge. You can actually utilize two double dodges for maximum speed through this area. Again, Nightmare and Inferno viable.
We're going to skip on past the Deimos because that's always a cluster of RNG and attempted manipulations. The exit out of power station with the alleyway escape from Nemesis has multiple potential strategies with some possible time saves, but I'm uncertain which is the fastest.
Yes you can triple dodge into the Woman at the bottom of the stairs, and then magnum the door guard, but whether or not that's faster(or better) is up in the air.
We'll fastforward some more and as we hit Kite Bros we're interested in his exit plan. There is an alternate strategy here that is Faster and Saves A Shotgun Shell, but it requires precision timing/angling. It's viable in both Nightmare and Inferno, but it's also extremely difficult. Saves .2 to .5 of a second.
Now let's fast forward some more, he does what we'd expect where we expect and everything is going fine for the most part. Gets through Sewers and we're now at the Construction Zone.
He does a single dodge chain for the Zombie outside, and I believe it can be done faster with a double chain followed up with another dodge into the Cutscene.
He then goes inside and ascends to the second floor and here is where we have another even crazier time save nobody uses(For good reason). This Strategy can be used in Standard, Hardcore, Nightmare, and Inferno. It saves upwards of half a second, possibly more, and will require a lot of experimenting to find the most optimal setup for each difficulty. Meet the second floor construction zone chain dodge:
Now we fastforward through the rest of that area, we watch him kick some Nemesis butt, go to the gunshop(That whole area is a cluster of RNG)...
Now we're hitting the DA/Time Save question. When you've unlocked the Gate and are heading toward the fallen Parasite you can actually triple chain dodge to save time, marginally, and it's absurdly unreliable. It also adds DA. This is in my opinion never worth it.
But then we hit the Rocket conundrum. In Assisted/Standard/Hardcore Nemesis has awful Rocket aim, but in Nightmare/Inferno his rocket aim is much more on point, and much more consistent in timing. With enough experience and a good dash of luck(It's still not 100% reliable) you can chain dodge his rockets. Here's an example from Nightmare where I did a little of it before I got killed, and this was still not the fastest possible through that area
Combined you can save over a second using risky, absurd chain dodge strategies through this section.
Is it worth the run ending due to some bad RNG? I don't know. Is it worth the added DA from dodging the rocket? I don't know. Is it fun? Hell yeah.
Let's just fastforward to the RPD and Carlos and I'll talk about what is a huge time save(4-10 seconds), and also 90% chance of ending your run if you try it. This is something I talked to Cassolzao about and he was experimenting with on Nightmare, before he finally stopped doing it because the time save wasn't worth the runs constantly ending there. Gouki has also confirmed it does work in Inferno, but it is absurdly dangerous and difficult with over an 80% fail rate for him.
You don't kill the zombies on the first floor in the hallway. You then utilize the "Brad walkby/slip" manipulation at the locker room. You then pray to god that the flash is still in effect and that the game doesn't randomly murder you with an awful placement of a zombie.
This is an attempt by Cassolzao where he got through without dying.
Now let's move on from there and can anyone guess what next silly strategy I'll throw at them? When we get out of RPD and get past Nemesis 2 we hit the hospital. First, he picks up the Flashbang from the ID Card locker room. In a perfect world in a perfect place you can get through the glass hallway without it, saving time on picking it up and throwing it. You're not going to get this lucky with the RNG.
Second, when you leave the ID Card room Emre had already stopped to shoot one of the zombies. You can actually get out of the ID Card and to the Hunter cutscene without shooting or shouldering or punching any zombies.
I'd like to take a moment to warn people that if you're doing the Hospital Cabin zombie invasion event pausing multiple times can actually result in an increased time in the event, even if you clear the zombies as fast as possible. It is one of the more peculiar bugs in the game.
Another odd thing about the Hospital Cabin event is if you Pause the game AFTER the exploding pillar cutscene but BEFORE Carlos answers the radio call you can save .1 to .3 of a second. This is similar to the Deimos pause glitch, where you're letting the game catch up so that it triggers the radio call sooner by a fraction of a second.
After Jill wakes up and you head toward the Basement Elevator there's the Palehead Hallway. Emre opted for a double, but you can do a triple here(He knows this). The reason he doesn't do it is because it's less reliable, though it does save fractions of a second versus doing the double.
When you ride the Elevator Down you can actually set up for a Triple Dodge into the Lift Switch at the bottom of the hospital. Pulling off the Triple can be done in multiple ways, but all of them are faster than the current "Run forward and then double dodge" by a few fractions of a second.
I don't have a video available showing this, and I'm sorry.
Now here is where we get into a Theoretical Insane Absurd TAS quality time save. When you go into the warehouse and trip the breaker, the current strategy is to run over to the Switch, get bit by the palehead, and then get on the lift.
You can THEORETICALLY save over a second by utilizing a planted Mine prior(Or after) throwing the fuse. If you don't fight the Palehead off of Jill the exploding Mine will knock him off, and this not only instantly knocks him off but leaves Jill in Caution. This means you don't have to also open your inventory and use a Herb, which also means you can skip grabbing an Herb.
This is NOT possible on a consistent basis. The Mine has too much RNG on its spread, the Palehead has too much RNG on its behavior. Only a TAS could pull this strategy off "Reliably". This strategy is ridiculous and I will never ever ever recommend anyone ever try it.
That's basically all I have in terms of odd strategies I don't think most people know or think about.
And as you can see a lot of them are really not reliable, dangerous, and don't help a lot. The only meaty large time save is the crazy dangerous RPD one.
Emre's run was pretty awesome, and I'm happy to see so many runners pushing the limits of the categories even now.
