[section=Welcome!] welcome to quantum break speedrunning! this guide is a broad overview of the any% route. if we don't have a specific strat to save time in a fight, it won't be mentioned. all skips and strats are credited to the person who found it. experiment! I'd love to add cleaner routes for each individual fight in the future.

if you have questions, comments, concerns, feel free to tweet at me. or, even better, join the discord! we're happy to help new runners.

(note: references to chapters in other parts will be represented like so: 2-1, J4. I include the actual chapter titles only to make this guide easier to reference. also, the names of inputs were written assuming the reader is using mouse and keyboard.)

strats last updated 7/16/18. revised guide coming soon

[section=Act 1: The Number One Killer Is Time]

chloe’s pro tip: act 1 is boring to replay. don’t get complacent!

[big]Part 1: Riverport University Experiment[/big] [small](aka 1-1)[/small]

Use the intended route. Ideal movement helps, but it only saves a few seconds.

Say hi to Liam, if you like. You won’t be seeing him again until 5-1.

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• science building door
• “...set the machine to 5 minutes in the future.”
• unfreezing Will
• trying to save Paul
• shimmying between the railing and the cherry-picker

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[big]Part 2: Campus Escape[/big] [small](aka 1-2)[/small]

In the laboratory fight, headshot the first enemy. Stay back, so that the next two enemies are more likely to both come through the door, and then shoot the fire extinguisher to the left. [small]credits to iChun for the fire extinguisher strat.[/small]

Kill the enemies in the lobby from right to left.

Spam V to trigger time vision as soon as possible as you exit the lecture hall.

Kill the first wave of parking lot enemies from right to left.

So far, we haven’t found a way to skip the cutscene for the first time echo. The rewind prompt is finicky, so find a place you can consistently stand.

Spam MB3 after you try to open the car door to trigger the Time Stop as soon as possible.

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• the door at the end of the second parking lot fight

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[big]Part 3: Library Chase[/big] [small](aka 1-3)[/small]

Immediately run up the stairs. it’s less critical to spam Shift, but spam it anyway to use Time Dodge as soon as possible.

When you’ve killed all three enemies in the reading room, aim at the door. You should be able to take the skybridge enemies down with a couple shots of your primary weapon (SMG, Assault Rifle).

Clear the first floor of the cafeteria, then jump over the balcony to the lower floor.

It’s technically possible to jump off the cherry picker without Time Stopping it, but it’s a very precise trick. Usually it’s worth the ~2 second time loss to make sure you have it.

The Heavy Pistol is not worth it. At least in Any%, since we use the Easy difficulty. The kickback makes it useless. Stick with the other two pistols.

When you enter the library, you guessed it, spam Ctrl to use Time Shield as soon as possible.

iChun’s explosive strats: come out from the pillar, shoot the propane tanks under the right pillar, then under the left pillar, then shoot the remaining enemies.

Get to Will, and talk to him. You can grab ammo from the backpack on the way back down the stairs from Will, but you probably won’t need it.

wolfsnake’s explosive strats: from where you’re standing next to Will, come down the right staircase, dodging twice. Approach the first pillar you took cover behind (on the right) and shoot the propane tanks. Shoot any remaining enemies.

If you go down the right staircase and then run between the last two pillars while you’re heading for the door, Will will often kick the wheelbarrow. This isn’t useful, it’s just funny.

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• “...before more of them show up.”

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[big]Junction 1: Hardline/PR[/big] [small](aka J1)[/small]

Intended route. Stand slightly behind Liam and parallel to Hatch in order to get the Q prompt first try.

We’re still unclear on which choice is faster. Nick (Hardline) is more laconic on the whole, but his tangent about “un nuovo scandalo Watergate” wastes time when you’re waiting for fan skip autosave. The under-bridge fight in 4-1 with the chronon dampener heavy is potentially slower because kill strats are inconsistent. Amy (PR) talks more, but the under-bridge fight in 4-1 is potentially faster because it’s against strikers.

(also imo amy’s a much better-written character)

Either way, hold A/D for the choice you want, then spam Space to skip it. Do the same with Q/E for the actual choice. Be careful: if you skip certain cutscenes too quickly—including junction decision cutscenes—you may get the same cutscene twice.

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• honestly I don’t remember. there’s a whole bunch of them right at the end. spam Space indiscriminately until you’re in 2-1.

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[section=Act 2: Perfect Place to Hide Something]

chloe’s pro tip: this act has a lot of skips and sequence breaks. don’t be discouraged if you miss one!

[big]Part 1: Industrial Area[/big] [small](aka 2-1)[/small]

You can start moving before the camera move ends.

Turning off tutorials is useful for most of the run, but it does create a weird camera bug here where you can’t initially aim up high enough to shoot the hook. Keep this in mind.

rewind tutorial skip (???s): when you shoot down the metal sheeting, ignore the game’s instructions and run diagonally to the right. Jump onto the concrete block, then turn around and jump onto the corner between the platform and the metal sheet propped up against the wall, angled towards the metal sheet. Jump again, angling yourself towards the platform, and you should climb up onto it. [small]credits to iChun for finding this.[/small]

Do the second warehouse fight as normal. You can shoot the jumping guys before they jump. Use time vision to spot the last two coming out of the door.

fan skip skip (???s. this skips a lot. still testing.): in the left-hand corner of the warehouse, near the elevator, there's an explosive barrel. Once the fight's done, roll that barrel into the nearby corner and shoot it. Once the barrel explodes, run it into the wall at that corner. If done correctly, the barrel will disappear and most props and scenery in the warehouse will despawn.

Turn on the generator as normal, ride the elevator as normal, and run towards the door that's no longer there. Fall, don't jump, down to ground level, and run through the gatehouse. Run straight towards the door to the next warehouse by holding down W and D and facing the camera towards the other side of the warehouse. (Dynamic loading, far as we can tell, is based on what the camera can see.) Once inside, hang a left and run straight down the hallway until you get to a dark spot on the wall at the other end. Turn, still running straight, and run across this room to the opposite corner, dashing twice. Once you get to the raised spot of land, stop running and turn the camera around so it's facing the warehouse you came from. If performed correctly, the entire final warehouse should spawn (albeit with most props and scenery deloaded). Run up the stairs to the second floor, hang a right to the exit door, wait at the threshold for the 2-2 room to spawn, walk inside, and as soon as you see the checkpoint save icon, reload from checkpoint immediately.

Or you can just watch this video.

WARNING: This trick is incredibly finicky. It's very easy to get yourself stuck in the previous room of the first warehouse, or fail to load the final warehouse. Unless you're comfortable with a reset-heavy run—including the entire 1-1 autoscroller—I'd recommend using fan skip and trying to make up the time somewhere else. [small]I found this.[/small]

I know it’s tempting, but spamming jump in the elevator can trigger the infinite freefall glitch, which you can only get out of once you learn Time Blast. Please don’t kill your run through anxious button spam.

If you do it right, you only need one dodge to get past the closing gate. Run directly past Nick/Amy towards the skybridge. There are two crates you can use to climb up onto the train.

Once you get through the open window, do NOT jump down into the room below.

fan skip (~2m30s): for safety, wait until Amy/Nick and Jack are done talking and the autosave icon appears in the lower left. there’s a fan in the corner of the room, to your left as you enter. run at it and mash Jack’s face into the lefthand blade at about a 70 degree angle to the wall. if you fail, just reload checkpoint and try again. you have a 2m30s window where this skip is faster than intended route.

If you succeed, Jack will run through the wall and into the next room, where props and enemies have not loaded. Drop down, run straight to the door and turn right to the alley. Instead of going through the next door, jump onto the dumpster, then onto the awning, then up onto the windowsill. The window has no collision, so you can just walk through it and land on the (invisible) catwalk. Run from there to the door to 2-2, but don’t go through the door yet, or you’ll fall into the abyss. Wait a few seconds, and eventually 2-2 will spawn. Walk into the room, wait for the autosave icon to show up again, and then immediately reload from checkpoint. If done correctly, the Ground Zero loading screen will start. [small]I found this, and iChun found a mostly consistent strat for it.[/small]

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• the door in the first warehouse with the rewindable metal sheeting
• activating the generator to turn the elevator back on

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[big]Part 2: Ground Zero[/big] [small](aka 2-2)[/small]

Spam E and run towards the bookshelf to gravitationally pull Jack to the QTE. Run to the door.

Make sure to blast the unwitting enemies below the platform you’re on, and then drop down and run towards the destructible object in order to perform the

metal sheeting skip (~45s-1m): there’s a plus painted on the ground next to the table, conveniently marking the space you need to stand in front of to consistently do this trick. Shoot the hook holding the metal sheeting, then immediately run and spam jump. If performed incorrectly, you just have to complete the fight as normal, and the next section will not apply.

If performed correctly, the bouncing metal will give you the height necessary to grab onto the ledge. Continue around the upper floor to the exit door, jumping onto the stairs to bypass the two enemies in your way. Drop down and dodge to the car door, turning on the power. Dodge up the stairs of the trailer, but be careful not to fall into the seam between it and its stairs. Watch the unskippable briefcase cutscene, then continue down the stairs on the other side. Run alongside the boat and into the warehouse. You’ll hear a zzzzzip! and a man screaming as the wall in front of you disappears. Climb up the ladder and drop down into the next fight. [small]I found this one. iChun and I figured out that killing a certain number of enemies was required to despawn the wall.[/small]

Once you’ve killed the first enemies, the side gates will open. Ignore everyone and focus on getting to the next set of gates. When you get there, the truck cutscene will play, and a stutter will hit. Climb up the truck and jump over the fence.

The striker fight is, similarly, completely optional. Just run into the temporary building.

You can’t save much time in Ground Zero, but once you’ve triggered the cutscene of Will at the blackboard, head back a bit until you’re centered with the stairs. The tables there disappear slightly faster than the ones further on.

catwalk skip (~20s): when you leave Ground Zero, there’s another temporary structure, a tent with automatic doors. Ignore it. Instead, jump onto the yellow catwalk support beam from the control panel at the top of the stairs, being careful not to hit the invisible wall of the cherry picker. Then jump to the second, smaller support beam and position Jack on the right side of it. Face forward, parallel with the catwalk, and jump, then spam jump. If done correctly, you’ll jump off the top of an invisible wall and land on the other side of the wall. Continue as normal. [small]I found this one.[/small]

After dodging past the falling scaffolding in the stuttered ship and jumping onto the (unrelated) scaffolding with the yellow metal in front of it, run diagonally to your right to a fallen piece of debris. Jump onto it and onto the metal container, skipping the spindle crash timing puzzle entirely. [small]credits to Drem for finding this.[/small]

Note: you can jump back onto the spindle container to try to get up to the platform slightly faster (ideally Jack will bounce up), but if you do it wrong you’ll die.

tarp skip (~25s): platform as normal through the broken ship, until you reach a platform with a frozen blue tarp. Jump on the low side of it, run up it, and jump again once you pass the part of it with metal sticking out. Spam jump and you should climb up an invisible wall. Run straight forward to the edge of the invisible platform and jump onto the scaffolding. Try to land on the topmost one, then jump onto the wall. Look right, and run all the way down the wall to the ladders. Jump onto the platform with the top ladder, then jump onto the highest part of the scaffolding and run to the very edge of the top of the bottom ladder.

safe strats: turn around so you have your back to the edge of the platform, aim, and walk off, spamming left in order to periodically land on parts of the scaffolding that are jutting out. If performed correctly, you’ll land at the bottom of the ladder unharmed.

risky strats: jump directly onto that left corner without aiming, spamming left as you fall.

Press E, climb up the ladder, and you’re finally done with the chapter! [small]credits to youtube channel Exploit Theory for finding the OoB. I figured out the way to get to the level end trigger and the safe strats. iChun figured out the risky strats, and that you could just jump straight onto the scaffolding from the invisible wall.[/small]

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• the end of Jack and Paul’s phone call, when you hit the shipyard
• the level end trigger

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[big]Part 3: Bradbury Swimming Pool[/big] [small](aka 2-3)[/small]

Intended route. Doing the whole rewind at the start and running to the left onto the scaffolding is faster than running to the right.

Once you get to the door, the video Beth watches is about ~1:15 in Italian. This is a perfect place a little less than halfway through the run to stretch, get some water, or go for an extremely quick bathroom break.

A WARNING: if you use the final computer in a few-frame window of when it becomes active (end of “Fuck, let’s just hope it still works.”), and then you spam Space incredibly rapidly to cutscene skip, you can pretty consistently encounter a bug where you’ll be stuck in 2-3. To avoid this, either wait a tick before activating the computer, or skip that first cutscene more slowly.

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• opening the door to the pool
• activating the final computer

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[big]Junction 2: Personal/Business[/big] [small](aka J2)[/small]

Intended route. Do NOT stand next to Hatch, stand close to Jack near the edge of the wooden walkway.

The choice here has no effect on the run.

[section=Act 3: The Wine and Cheese Crowd]

chloe’s pro tip: don’t forget about the big fight in 3-2!

[big]Part 1: Research Facility[/big] [small](aka 3-1)[/small]

For the outside sections, it’s pretty much intended route.

In the first proper multiple-enemy fight, it’s easy to miss an enemy or two in the two alleyways up the hill. Consider a winding path to catch them all. Regardless, you want to end the fight as near to the gate as you can. This is your first chance to grab a carbine rifle.

You don’t need to fight the enemies that ambush you in the elevator. Kill them for bragging rights/target practice, or just take a short break and hum your favorite elevator music.

Once you get out of the elevator, hang a right, time stop the door, and then immediately hang another right towards the chronon dampener. Once you’ve turned it off, run backwards and right through the door, and then head towards the unstable gray door. Time stop it as well, kill the two enemies, and get to the half-open white door.

killing the rocket heavy: since you have to rush or dodge to get behind him, your best bet for hurting him is a weapon with a rapid rate of fire. The carbine rifle is powerful, but you can only get one shot off before time speeds back up and he turns around. If you still have the LMG, use that; otherwise, fire your primary at his weak spot. Generally speaking, if a rocket heavy is the last enemy alive, he will not have a cutscene, and in fact will die in slow motion. Pay attention to the audio cues.

Rewind the elevator. Walk onto it or climb on top of one of the sides.

Platform as intended until you hit a set of red rails. If you’re feeling lucky, aim to center yourself and then run across one of the rails to save a few seconds of platforming. [small]credits to iChun for finding this.[/small]

Run through the next unstable door, into the office. Ignore Jack's prodding and go directly to the exit door on the lower floor. He’ll complain that he has to check Amaral’s office. Actually, you just need to walk past the threshold of the exit door room, and then it’ll become openable. [small]I found this.[/small]

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• half-open white door leading to the rocket heavy

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[big]Part 2: Monarch Gala[/big] [small](aka 3-2)[/small]

Run up the stairs to your left, through the glass rooms, and down the stairs to the garage.

Shoot as many frozen enemies in the head as you can before time unfreezes.

The garage fights are a mess that can trip up anyone. Focus on systematically clearing out enemies in blocks so that you don’t end up with a straggler behind you that you have to go back for. After the first wave, open the door. Kill the heavy with one blast. Open the door again. Once you’re back out, it’s the same as before. Kill some enemies in your immediate vicinity if you can, but focus on killing in blocks, starting furthest from the door you have to go through.

Careful with the platforming.

In the next area, I’d recommend killing an enemy or two on the way to the chronon dampener, but focus mainly on disabling it as soon as possible. If you’re far away enough from the chronon dampener heavy, his shield doesn’t affect a time blast. This is also one of a few fights where the last enemy rarely (never?) has a death cutscene, so focus on trying to figure out if the truck is rewindable now.

We’re unclear on how to do it consistently, but if you dodge as you’re getting off the other side of the truck there’s a chance you can keep your powers past the point you’re supposed to. It saves a lot of time.

Waiting at the door for Beth might feel like the end of the level, but it’s not. Rush down the boardwalk, kill the enemies in front of you, kill an enemy near the turret, and then run up the stairs to the heavy and the sniper. Blast between them to kill them all, then kill the enemies near the turret, and finish off with the straggler in the overlook so you can immediately press the button to trigger the second wave.

This is your last chance to grab a carbine rifle before 4-3. Pick it up if you don’t already have it, and use it to shoot the sniper and some of the enemies on their way to you. Run through, kill the rest of the normal enemies and snipe the other sniper wherever it’s convenient. Blast one heavy and snipe the other in the face. (If you’re very lucky, they’ll be standing next to each other and you can blast both simultaneously.) Open the door, grab the keys, end the level.

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• saying hi to Beth
• saving Amaral
• grabbing keys (level-end)

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[big]Junction 3: Amaral/Hatch[/big] [small](aka J3)[/small]

Intended route. Stand near Hatch, directly in front of the computer.

The choice here has no effect on the run.

[section=Act 4: The Secret History of Time Travel]

chloe’s pro tip: practice the bridge. it can make or break a run!

[big]Part 1: Port Donnelly Bridge[/big] [small](aka 4-1)[/small]

Careful with the initial platforming, it’s less forgiving to shortcuts than most of the game.

Once you drop down, time blast the initial group of enemies in front of you.

Hardline: you’ll then encounter several normal enemies and a chronon dampener heavy. Since there aren’t any hazmat suit enemies throwing dampener grenades, you can mostly ignore him and focus on the other enemies. A few carbine shots should take him down, one if you’re lucky. Once you’re done and you go up the ladder to the train car, the door will be closed. Opening it triggers a cutscene that puts you near the top of the bridge.

PR: you’ll then encounter several strikers. Kill them. Go up the ladder, through the train car, and up the stairs to the bridge.

chloe’s suggested fight strats: blast the enemies behind the car, kill any stragglers, and then you’re free to focus on the rocket heavy. Remember that his death does not trigger a death cutscene, and make your way to the door/ladder. Go up.

Drop down the ladder rather than climbing down it. Occasionally you can regain your powers here, but we don’t know what causes this one either.

And now, the infamous platforming section! My suggestion is that you try not to die here, because you can go too fast in this level for the autosave system to keep up...so if you do die here, you might get kicked back to the beginning of the under-bridge fight.

Jump up onto the yellow platform, and then time stop the unstable platform. You can get it on the run if you get the timing right—in general, if an unstable platform is even mildly close to the proper place, it’ll jump to it once you freeze it. Jump across the gap, and skip the cutscene.

Rush past the car immediately after it hits the other car. Continue normally until you reach the overturned truck. Far as I can tell, you have to rush in order to get past it. Dodging and/or stopping it don’t seem to work. Jump down the platforms after the in-engine cutscene, and then stop the falling Monarch truck. As long as it’s not completely blocking your way, any stop works.

Once you’re past the truck, you’re at the end of the level.

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• jumping down from the balcony
• opening the train car door (HARDLINE ONLY)
• walking past the scene on the bridge
• going up the ladder
• going across the bridge catwalk
• waking up from blacking out (directly after bridge catwalk)
• jumping the first non-timestopped gap between yellow platforms
• jumping onto the angled platform shortly after Jack’s End of Time monologue

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[big]Part 2: Preparing the Time Machine[/big] [small](aka 4-2)[/small]

This one’s mostly about ideal movement, but the one time-save in it was actually partially anticipated by the devs!

Once you get downstairs, say hi to Amaral and then immediately head for the door that’s ajar on the other side of the pool. Walk through, and you’ll hit a second door. Once you open it and skip through the cutscenes, follow Beth to the bathroom. (Make sure she gets in there before you, or you won’t be able to climb onto the stall.) Platform up to the high dive, and jump across to the time machine. Press the flashing button. Amaral will make a confused comment about how she’s “not sure how you knew to do that.” Ignore her, and make the risky jump from the button platform onto the top of the time machine. Run around to the front of the time machine, and climb up to the other flashing button.

Once you’ve turned both buttons off, drop onto the platform at the top of the ladder. Make sure to activate the device up here, and after the cutscene plays, jump down. Activate the computer, walk towards Beth, and you’re done with this level.

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• opening the second door, a few Beth backstory cutscenes in a row
• after you activate the time machine, when you’re walking towards Beth

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[big]Part 3: Swimming Pool 2010[/big] [small](aka 4-3)[/small]

Intended route. This is a great place to pick up and refill your preferred weapons. For example: I personally like the Advanced SMG for Act 5, but iChun prefers to stick to the Assault Rifle. It’s up to you.

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• opening the formerly ajar door, a few cutscenes in a row
• after Beth tells you to let her know when you're ready to go

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[big]Part 4: Will’s Workshop 2010[/big] [small](aka 4-4)[/small]

Try to cut the corner to get past Beth. Otherwise, use intended route for basically all the chapter.

Keeping track of enemies is key in the three-wave fight outside of the workshop. The first wave is all normal enemies, the second wave has one sniper, and the third wave has two. If you avoid killing the last enemy for waves 1 and 2, you can theoretically save time by potentially not seeing the death cutscene, but it’s inconsistent and risky. Take advantage of exploding barrels and cars to cue up deaths so you can focus on other enemies. Try to end wave 3 as close to the workshop as you can.

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• Beth opening the safe
• Beth and Paul confrontation (end-level)

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[big]Junction 4: Control/Surrender[/big] [small](aka J4)[/small]

Intended route. Hug the corner so that the magnetic pull of Paul’s clutching the doorframe will pull you as far as it can. Don’t forget that this is the only junction with a cutscene before the choice.

Pick Surrender, unless you just really, really want to do the Liam boss fight for some reason.

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• directly after holding Q on the treatment

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[section=Act 5: I’ll Come Back For You]

chloe’s pro tip: good luck!

[big]Part 1: Monarch HQ[/big] [small](aka 5-1)[/small]

Stay away from the train. Its debris can kill you. If you’re lucky, it’ll kill one of the strikers instead. Don’t use a blast until the heavy in the second wave.

(If for some ungodly reason you want to use an LMG in 5-1, you can find one propped up against a statue in the lobby.)

Once you’re through the door, rush to the elevator doors and get two headshots in focus time. Ride the elevator up. Dodge to the next door panel.

Rush to the “scared and angry meatheads” and do a blast in the middle of the group. This kills all the enemies, triggering the striker fight. Kill them and the rocket heavies will spawn. Remember to use a rapid-fire weapon to hit the weak point. If you’re lucky, you may be able to get one of them to hit the other’s weak point with rockets.

When you kill them and get back to the door, make sure to rush out first instead of dodging. The game still thinks the striker is an enemy, and you’ll dodge to him instead of a full dodge like you want.

Continue as intended until you get to the backpack outside the CFR antechamber. Make sure to refill your ammo, then kill the enemies harassing Charlie. Often the game will decide to switch your weapon for no reason here, so be aware of that.

Make sure to examine the CFR in its chamber, otherwise you can’t move forward. Check in on Liam Burke’s bodybag, if you like. It’s kind of an unspoken tradition. Once Charlie’s done talking, take the elevator upstairs.

the HQ time machine fight: start by taking out the snipers, then kill as many regular enemies as you can through the stutters. Remember that you can stack bullets on frozen enemies. Also remember, however, that it’s pointless to do this on the last stutter, when the strikers come out. The game will not remember that far.

Kill the strikers, and then the stutter will end and the heavies will spawn. Focus on the chronon dampener heavy on the left side first, but be aware of your surroundings. Getting hit by a dampener grenade here can be a death sentence. So don’t do that.

Once you’ve killed him and his goons, make your way over to the other side of the room. Blast or snipe the regular heavy, and then kill any stragglers. The time machine computer will speed up its countdown to compensate if you finish the fight quickly.

Use the time machine panel again to open the door. Be careful with time rushing here, as it makes the door come down slower. Jump through the opening door to end the level.

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Skippable Cutscenes:

• opening the door into the shifter hallway (after "brought the core here”)
• entering Paul’s office
• entering the time machine (level-end)

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[big]Part 2: Return to the University[/big] [small](aka 5-2)[/small]

Kill the two enemies in the time machine chamber. Dodge/rush to the elevator with the blue railing behind them.

Shoot the barrel behind the hazmat suit enemies. Their death will trigger a stutter. Dodge/rush up the ramp and try to get as many enemies (including one of the heavies) in a time blast, then kill the other heavy with the carbine (or whatever other heavy weapon you may have).

Time stop the unstable door, then dodge/rush up to the parking lot on your left. Kill the strikers. Rewind the truck to get inside the garage. Make sure to rewind it fully, or it’ll reset too quickly to get inside.

The garage is a two-part fight. After a few runs, you’ll learn which enemies are frozen and which are just not aggro’d yet. Again, don’t bother shooting frozen enemies this early, because the game won’t remember by the time they’re unfrozen.

First take out the chronon dampener heavy, then his hazmat goons, then the strikers. Like last time, getting hit by a dampener grenade is pretty much a death sentence.

So don’t do that.

The game will flash in and out of stutter mode a few times, which is a good opportunity to stack bullets. Kill the heavy near the door with a carbine rifle and the one on the elevated part with a blast.

You have to activate the time echo here, but you don’t have to actually follow it. Run around the path it takes and wait at the end. (If you go up the back stairs, it’ll reset.) Once you hear “665”, jump over the railing and run to the control room. Refill ammo here if you like.

Dodge/rush to the top of the escalator, but there’s no need to run into the chronon dampener field if you don’t want to. You can kill the 3 enemies first with the benefit of your powers, and then go kill the lights.

Try to get a heavy and some of the regular enemies with a time blast, and then kill the rest of the enemies in the rotunda as normal. Liberal use of time vision helps, as always. Don’t run into the benches in a circle around the room when you're trying to leave, it'll waste time and you'll feel foolish.

Open the door, dodge/rush up the stairs, jump onto the port-a-potty, across the two platforms, to the ladder. Climb up it. (Note that you can move in the skippable cutscene on top of the ladder.)

Run to the crane, climb up the ladders, dodge twice across the crane and then rush and jump to the center of the rooftop area. Time blast that big group of enemies, then kill the sniper and the stragglers. Spam E as you’re approaching the door and you’ll skip the “Jack walking backwards” wind-up to him kicking down the door. Shoot the barrel to kill the two enemies on the roof, then make sure to walk over the top of the roof so that the other enemies spawn, so you don’t get an unnecessary fight-ending death cutscene.

Snipe the snipers, kill the one regular enemy, and then blast both heavies simultaneously.

Repeatedly dodge/rush down the stairs, around the second floor of the library, to the temporary door.

Run with Will to the top of the cafeteria steps, and when he tells you to get down, blast the two enemies instead. Dodge/rush to the next door.

Follow/lead Will through the rooms you went through in 1-3, to the door to the parking lot and Will’s car. Using this door ends the level.

[center]...[/center]

Skippable Cutscenes:

• the top of the ladder after the blackout/rotunda fight
• the temporary door at the end of the library second floor.
• the lecture hall/parking lot door (level-end)

[center]...[/center]

[big]Part 3: Final Moments[/big] [small](aka 5-3)[/small]

Stay behind Will as you walk through the entrance areas to the swimming pool, because he opens all the doors. (Except for the second one, which you help him break down.)

When you leave the time machine, try not to stray too far from the frozen Will, so you can get back to him more quickly. Kill the hazmat suit enemies as usual.

After you get back to Will, the fight with Paul begins. Paul will occasionally put orange balls on the ground that will explode and instakill you (and any enemies in their vicinity) if you don't get away from them.

Take out the strikers. Paul will start rambling about how he could've been your friend. Run far away from the orange ball on the ground, and once you're a safe distance away from the expanding killzone, aim at Paul. Once he dismisses the killzone, you can hit him with a bullet, starting the next phase of the fight.

The doors will then open, and a chronon dampener heavy with hazmat suit friends will come out. Now this is important, so I’ll repeat it:

Getting hit by a dampener grenade here is pretty much a death sentence.

Don’t.

do.

that.

Kill the heavy, kill the hazmat suit enemies. Once you've done that, go to the other door and kill the other hazmat suit enemies. (If you're having trouble doing that, go to the other door anyway; there's a chance the heavy will get killed by one of Paul's hazards while you're over there, if you're lucky.)

Kill any stragglers, and more strikers will spawn. These strikers like to hide for some reason, so pay attention to time vision and audio cues.

Once you've killed them, the killzone will happen again, this time 3 times in a row. Shoot Paul once he's vulnerable. That's the end of the last fight.

Now jump down off the ramp to the deep end of the pool, and make your way to the CFR holder. Time is when you press E on it.

Congratulations! You've just done a speedrun.

[center]...[/center]

Skippable Cutscenes:

• Will opening the door to the swimming pool
• Jack trying to help Will
• Serene dying

[center]...[/center]

[section=General Tips]

[big]headshots.[/big]

• use headshots. if you can always hit headshots, great, but my advice for non-special enemies if you’re using an SMG is to start from slightly above center of mass and move up to the head.
• (the carbine makes this strategy incredibly OP, as it can one-shot most enemies.) [big]notes about cutscenes[/big]
• I haven’t specifically called them out as Skippable Cutscenes, but spam Space between every chapter. there are always a few cutscenes.
• as mentioned above, if you skip certain cutscenes too fast you may have to skip them multiple times. this seems to mostly affect the junctions and the end of 2-3, but it shows up in 4-1 and 4-3 as well. [big]use Time Dodge and Time Rush constantly[/big]
• Time Dodging a distance shorter than the move puts you is generally inadvisable, because of the stumble animation.
• if you stop Time Rush a few steps before a use trigger (like a door), the use animation will cancel the stumble animation.
• you can start buffering Time Dodge during a last enemy slow-mo cutscene.
• while you should use these in fights as well, try to limit the focus time as much as you can. it’ll slow down your run unless you can use it to chain headshots. [big]death cutscenes[/big]
• sometimes you can avoid the end-fight death cutscene, especially in multi-wave fights where the next wave is on a timer.
• this is still unreliable, though. [big]languages[/big]
• we’re still unclear on which language saves the most time, but from experimenting I’ve done every language is faster than English. currently we use Italian.
• conveniently, subtitle language is separate from spoken language, so you can still use dialogue cues as long as you can kinda parse which sentence a character is on.

[section=Known Glitches/Bugs]

[big]randomly keeping/gaining powers[/big]

• this is a big one. sometimes you can get back your powers in areas you shouldn't have them, and it's inconsistent.
• most frequently happens in 3-2 and 4-1. [big]5-2 OoB[/big]
• per this video, if you jump into this corner in the right way, you’ll end up safely out of bounds, where you can explore later parts of the level.
• promising, but fruitless so far

[big]corner jumping in general[/big]

• jumping repeatedly in a corner, especially one that’s at an acute angle, bugs out the animation system and can give you height

[big]5-3 Paul Loop[/big]

• sometimes Paul will get confused and keep putting the killzone in the same spot, which makes the final sequence much less stressful.
• unclear how to trigger it, but it seems to happen if you're a certain distance from two spawn locations.

[big]infinite freefall[/big]

• sometimes if you fall off something the wrong way, you'll end up "falling" on the ground, never colliding with the ground.
• it's bad
• a run-killer before 2-2, because you need Time Blast to reset ground collision.

[big]cutscene replay[/big]

• if you skip certain cutscenes too quickly, the game will mistakenly try to play them again
• this is the presumed reason why the 2-3 end trigger bug happens

[big]2-3 end trigger bug[/big]

• as mentioned above, if you use the last computer as soon as it becomes active and then skip the cutscene very quickly, you will end up back in a bugged version of 2-3, unable to progress.