*START HERE IF YOU'RE A BEGINNER*

Plush's tutorial is a great way to start going fast: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMNicdyz3es

Additionally, take a look at the Terminology Guide to understand what some of the more obscure terms mean: https://www.speedrun.com/sotc_2018/guide/9g1uh

Some advanced strats don't yet have a tutorial, furthermore you might have doubts or just want to talk about the game (speedrun or not), join the discord server to know more: https://discord.gg/sUt7CMB

Edit: TikTak now made some additional tutorials for various strats, check them out in the "guides" section!

Specifically for Cenobia, the 14th colossus, check out Tiktak's guide: https://youtu.be/n8a-iUTwokM

Basics tutorial for beginners

Covers movement, stabbing, plants and reset/cycle stabbing

https://youtu.be/auhOywoFW3M

Cenobia IL tutorial: Superjump, Wacky Jump

This guide basically covers all of the important parts about running the Cenobia IL. It covers the proper execution of the Superjump and the Wacky Jump.

https://youtu.be/n8a-iUTwokM



(Older versions of the tutorial. They are slightly outdated.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bg9tYN6qIeM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ahS-Udf1yk

HTA Full-Game Guide

Using Plush's tutorial as a base, this tutorial explains HTA specific skips and details. HTA needs more love!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xD0qTPlBRkU

Malus IL skip

Malus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HIQ-tC6vjGw
- So the general idea is that you have to follow the path you see in the video (you don't have to whistle/change weapon, unless stated, it's something I do for getting a little more speed), I'll point out a few things you have to keep in mind while doing this:
0:07 make sure malus' magic-ball hits the pillar;
0:13 that jump is NOT a long jump, you can figure out how much you have to hold the jump button on your own (it's very short, sometimes even just a hop depending on your timing); after the jump whistle/change weapon so you're not slowed down;
0:17 I make that jump when I get to that patch of green grass, it more or less coincides with the magic-ball hitting the ground, and it's a SHORT jump, just tap the jump button; 
0:18 When you land immediately change weapon, tap the jump button and fall pressing R1 or R2 (the grab button). If you do it with the right timing Wander will hold onto the ground exactly when Malus' magic hits, and you will come out unscathed.
After that it's pretty clear what to do  :D

NTA Full-Game Guide

A guide that should get you through the fundamentals of running the game; also known as: an old man rambles for way too long in a way that may or may not be helpful. Timestamps for each colossus in the YouTube comment section.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VMNicdyz3es

Random Quality of Life Tips - Any% Barba, IL Basaran Run-up, IL Shakeless Phaedra

Any% Barba-
There's a cutscene "warp" for for Barba in Any% that allows you to basically load in on his face:
https://youtu.be/T5hb7cQNtb4

NTA Pheadra (30fps)-
I've found a way to be consistent at getting a shakless Phaedra on 30fps (read: normal PS4, or PS4 in Cinematic mode). Done correctly, you should get a sub1 min time. Still not as fast as the IL leg jump, but that's a very difficult strat on 30fps, so this is a decent alternative.
https://youtu.be/tlmgnmML3VQ

NTA Basaran Run-up-
If you have trouble with Agro being consistent in your runs to Basaran's leg, then try this. Simply wait to jump on Agro until at least 2.5s in the IL timer, that will skip Basaran from firing bullets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iS5i3zaS_EI

Shadow of the Colossus any% general tips video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EodvV00aHI

Shadow of the Colossus Colossus Skips

I've made 7 vids showing how to skip Gaius, Phaedra, Argus, Basaran, Celosia, Barba, and Pelagia in detail. These should help newcomers get an understanding on how to do these skips rather than just have them watch vids and try to figure it out (like I mostly did) If you have any questions feel free to message me =) Stay Awes9me https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLPWqhdQvgiOu-tptNxQmgJoebLp8V-jbh

Shadow Of The Colossus PS4 Celosia Pillar Skip Tutorial

Immediately run and do a short jump into the pit while turning the camera left slightly and make sure Wander lands facing forwards when you land in the pit/ledge

Wait one second before jumping straight out of the pit, make a sharp left and run and jump to straight to the the left of the pillar/tower and drag Wander across the pillar left to right. Make sure Wander makes contact with the pillar. 

If all that works then say a prayer to Dormin so you don't get head butted!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTkQdor1jOM&lc=z23zvrpwvzypcvlaz04t1aokglyjw4pw21uve0i3hy32bk0h00410

Shadow of the Colossus Terminology Guide

Hey, so there are some strategy names and terminology that we use that might be confusing to new players and I figured I would make a guide explaining what they mean and their practical uses. This guide will be broken up into three separate sections; stabbing terminology, movement terminology, and random terminology.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PART 1 - STABBING TERMINOLOGY

Plant - The act of grabbing the colossus in a certain spot in which you will not get shaken to the point of moving. This means you can stab freely while the colossus shakes. You will notice when you get a plant by the animation Wander does when grabbing. The animation is Wander slowly getting into place instead of snapping down and being ready to stab immediately. The colossi in which this strategy is used are Valus, Quadratus (head), Gaius (head), Phaedra, Barba (head), Basaran, Celosia, Cenobia, Argus, Malus.

Ricochet Stabs - This is when you stab a certain area on some sigils and Wander shakes a little bit, omitting the animation of pulling his sword out. Needed to do cycle/reset stabs.

Cycle/Reset Stabbing - A series of ricochet stabs with re-positioning in between each stab. Usually you will be running up a slope after each stab to re-position and you can see examples on Quadratus and Kuromori although you might find uses for it on colossi where you would usually plant. Advanced players know how to cycle stab safely on areas where newer/average players would usually opt for a plant. 

Precision Stabbing - On certain colossi, in order to one cycle, you have to execute a stab that has a very specific amount of charge. The colossi and the amount of charge you need are:
	- Dirge // On one of the two sigils you must do 2 full stabs and roughly a 30-35% charged stab. If you strike Dirge's eye with a fully charged arrow, you have more of a window on the lower side of the percentages.
	- Pelagia // One cycle = upper sigil placement + full charge stab -> 90-95% charge stab -> two full stabs
	- Phalanx // On the first two sigils you must do a full stab and one stab from 70-95%.

Fast Stabbing - When you hold the sword attack button while charging a stab, you charge much faster than if you just tap the sword attack button to initiate the charge. It's important to note that on Dirge, not using a fast stab for the precision stab on the first sigil is much easier and more reliable. 

Stab Rolling/Rolling out of Stabs - After stabbing, you can avoid the animation of Wander pulling his sword out by rolling. Can only be done with classic controls.

Lining/Sheathing the Sword - The act of putting your sword away and switching to the hand icon. When you start a stab with a sheathed sword, the charging of the stab is much faster. This, in conjunction with fast stabbing makes a first stab incredibly fast. It isn't worth doing it in between consecutive stabs, but you should sheath your sword in between sigils/before attacking a colossus.

Jump Stab - Performing instant damage to a sigil, by jumping and holding square (modern controls) or holding R1 and square (classic controls). It's slower than normal stabs in most cases, but is very helpful as a finishing move, since it triggers an Instant Death Cutscene.

(Sexy) Slash - Performing a slash on a sigil as a finishing move, when the Colossus has Pixel Health. Very useful since it triggers an Instant Death Cutscene, just like a Jump Stab would. Discovered by FoxyCleopatra.

Instant Death Cutscene - By jump stabbing or slashing to finish off the health bar of a colossus, the death cutscene starts instantly instead of the regular stabs where the cutscene starts about a second after the stab.

Reset Jump stab/Shirapon Stab - Executing a jump stab after letting go of a colossus when getting shaken. It's a really difficult strategy that is only utilized in ILs.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PART 2 - MOVEMENT TERMINOLOGY

Whistle/Weapon Switch Hopping - This is when you either whistle or weapon switch upon landing from tapping the jump button and it is an easy form of faster movement, although it isn't the fastest. Whistling/switching weapons will put wander up to max speed from most ground animations, such as landing from most jumps or rolling. Since hopping travels more distance over time than running, whistle/weapon switch hopping is faster than just running since it cancels the landing animation from jumping/hopping. 

Bunny Hopping - The fastest form of movement if done properly. It's done by tapping the jump button while holding the direction you want to go, then resetting the stick to a neutral position, and repeating the process. It's important to note that in order to be faster than the previous movement method, you have to do it perfectly so it's incredibly risky.

Double Rolling - A fast alternative to the other movement options. It can only be executed on modern controls by rolling, pressing R1/R2 depending on the exact control scheme and instantly rolling again. This basically allows to chain two rolls at a time together and is about as fast as Whistle/Weapon Switch Hopping.

Super Jumping - By clipping into certain terrain and mashing the jump button while moving into said terrain, it is possible to gain a very high vertical distance. So far the only applicable use is for Cenobia on the final pillar. 

Fast Swimming - By holding the grab button Wander will swim underwater. This method of swimming is faster than the typical paddling Wander does. The lineup for Hydrus uses the typical paddling.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

PART 3 - RANDOM TERMINOLOGY

Minor Sigil - A spot on a colossus not meant to do major damage, but to advance to the next section of the fight. Examples of ones we use include Valus' leg and Phaedra's neck. Most are skipped like Hydrus horns and Argus' elbow.

IL - Stands for Individual Level and is a universal speedrun term. As far as Shadow of the Colossus goes, it means defeating a single colossus by praying at it's statue. 

NTA - Normal Time Attack. Also known as Boss Rush done on normal mode.

HTA - Hard Time Attack. Also known as Boss Rush done on hard mode.

Kaze Jump - A strategy discovered by BobbyKaze in Cenobia's lair where you can jump from the stairs by the last pillar to the arch-like structure, essentially skipping the entire intended strategy. 

Jarrod Jump - The Malus IL strat involving getting launched from Malus' hand directly to his head sigil. Discovered by Jarrod Mitchell. 

Ump Jump - A fast IL and Boss Rush  strategy, which allows you to get on top of Quadratus faster by grabbing a ledge with a specific jump and timing. Discovered by Aidan Umpherson.

Wacky Jump - A strategy discovered by wackywolfao, which allows the player to jump to the Cenobia plateau directly during the first pillar cutscene, saving about 5 seconds compared to the old strategy. The trick is performed by jumping on specific spots on the back wall, which allow a jump to the ledge of the plateau.

7 Arrow Strat - Hitting Dirge's sigil with 7 arrows eliminates the need for a precision stab. Very beginner friendly strategy and loses maybe 20 seconds.

Rock Boost - After reaching Phaedra's domain there is a section leading down to Phaedra where Agro is capped at a certain speed. By taking Agro over a specific rock, you can bypass this limit for a few seconds if done correctly.

IMG - Item Menu Glitch. This glitch breaks the game in NG+ by using the Item Menu while praying on statues. First ever major gamebreaking glitch used in the NG+ category to skip fighting half the Colossi. The glitch was discovered by Eguchi.

getting tiktak'd - TikTak is runner who is known to lose very good runs on Malus (over and over again). So if someone gets tiktak'd they just lost a good run by failing on Malus. Here is an example: 
youtu.be/S-XT9J5BRhw?t=4950

Stab Guide and Plat% Notes

Link below is to a Google Doc describing all stabs needed for Normal and Hard mode. Below that information is a set of things to consider when running Plat% with some quick notes that I've jotted down. Feel free to DM me, Church (now gooperman), or Hammerklav on the discord for any updates or questions.

https://docs.google.com/document/d/19Q2zrMC1R1BLYVIBVAOSsWNFdLko-1-UkQDtQQow5Tc/edit?usp=sharing

Various tutorials: Any% Hydrus setup; Phaedra IL; Phalanx IL; Ump Jump (Quadratus IL skip), Avion Jumpstab, Hand First Argus, Gaius Launch, Barba HTA, Dirge IL

https://youtu.be/-iLiLOkyUnk

https://youtu.be/k-O5gubox8g

https://youtu.be/z1bz94YYcKA

https://youtu.be/6JxqQhqTpgE

https://youtu.be/SZkzFUmtUkA

https://youtu.be/lUihkH0DiRM

https://youtu.be/ya9JgvdMsM4

https://youtu.be/72Mw4hYkMEs

https://youtu.be/9kUts_kz75Y

gooperman

ninetailorochimaru

FoxyJira

Hammerklav

TikTak

AidanRU

Shadow of the Colossus (2018)

4 Phaedra

16 Malus

PlayStation 4 Pro

PlayStation 5

BGAMESBrasil

Yuandes4sages

bitrot

USA / NTSC

EUR / PAL

Easy

Normal

Hard

NO IMG

Any%

All Glints

Difficulty

Difficulty/Mode

Item Menu Glitch

Sub-category

https://www.speedrun.com/team_ico_games

Not quite "NEWS", but people asked for better visibility for them and since we currently have no way of actually adding a TAB, here is another way to find them :)

Namn	Författare
START HERE IF YOU'RE A BEGINNER	Hammerklav 5 years ago
Basics tutorial for beginners	TikTak 5 years ago
Cenobia IL tutorial: Superjump, Wacky Jump	TikTak 5 years ago
HTA Full-Game Guide	TikTak 6 years ago
Malus IL skip	Hammerklav 5 years ago
NTA Full-Game Guide	Raderad 6 years ago
Random Quality of Life Tips - Any% Barba, IL Basaran Run-up, IL Shakeless Phaedra	FoxyJira 5 years ago
Shadow of the Colossus any% general tips video	gooperman 6 years ago
Shadow of the Colossus Colossus Skips	ninetailorochimaru 7 years ago
Shadow Of The Colossus PS4 Celosia Pillar Skip Tutorial	AidanRU 6 years ago
Shadow of the Colossus Terminology Guide	gooperman 4 years ago
Stab Guide and Plat% Notes	FoxyJira 5 years ago
Various tutorials: Any% Hydrus setup; Phaedra IL; Phalanx IL; Ump Jump (Quadratus IL skip), Avion Jumpstab, Hand First Argus, Gaius Launch, Barba HTA, Dirge IL	TikTak 5 years ago