FranceA small improvement for the interior of Howe's mansion. We go to OoB without Sten and we don't need to disguise anymore.
I have a hypothesis. First, I remember that when we want to go to OoB with Sten, sometimes we trigger an event. (Denerim gate skip, 1st floor drakan, in "all treaties" in the temple of the sacred urn, ...) The game teleports us a little further in the level instead of putting us in OoB. So, my hypothesis is that by mashing right and left here, we have a chance to climb on the small wall and be briefly in OoB. And according to my first point, we are teleported further into the level.
Here two new improvements.
The first is about Denerim, when we are going to save the elves. It enables you to go to OoB without using Sten. Between 5 and 10 seconds to win I think.
The second is in Ostagar and can trigger the Mabari quest, what teleports us rather than walking. That said, it's weird, not accurate at all and I do not definitely know how it works ... but it works! The saving of time varies according to whether we manage to make the glitch quickly or not. After a few tests, if you do not succeed in less than 25 seconds (from the moment you start walking) then it is not profitable. With all the tests, at best I win 18 seconds. At worst, I lose a dozen. On average it's 10 seconds to win.
Here the first video of a new tutorial (EN / FR) with the new rules and new glitchs. There are 10 videos in total. It comes in parallel with a new guide that is in the "guides" section (captain obvious ...)
Enjoy!
After the any%, I'll focus on the All Treaties. Thanks for the info, I'll see that.
Ok, I tested a new routing for the spells we take. It's viable but I don't know if it really saves time. It consists of taking Fireball late, just after the landsmeet to be precise. At the beginning of the game, we still take Flame Blast but instead of Flaming Weapons, we take either Walking Bomb or Vulnerability Hex. The two are worth against the fire demon at the end of Harrowing and whatever one takes, we take the other just after the attribute-glitch. At the xp-glitch, we only have to climb to level 12 to have Flying Swarm, Haste and Anti-Magic Warp. We also put all our points in willpower since we no longer take Death Syphon. Not having Fireball forces us to slightly revisit the strategies of the fights but they don't change that much. Ishal in particular is perhaps slower. After the landsmeet, we take Fireball because it's still very useful for Redcliff, Denerim gate Skip and especially Drakon. And just before Drakon, we take Winter's Grasp for the dragons. Another advantage of being that level 12 is that the enemies are less strong ...
This routing is really for the Any%. I doubt we can do without Fireball early in the game in All Treaties or Max Quests. Perhaps the Romance% but without Flying Swarm of course?
Other small improvements :
I'm also working on a new routing that would only need to be level 12 during the xp-glitch instead of 14.
This can be a problem for the outside of Drakan, which requires a lot of mana. This often results in a loss of Haste. That said, it is not very important since we can recast it just after entering inside or just after passing the other side of the door during the OoB. Even without Death Syphon, Drakan is done without too much trouble. Flying swarm does most of the work. The spells really serve at the beginning for the dragon (s) as well as the two magi and the central archer.
You can start entering an in-put from the moment the IGT starts again. So I look at the IGT and as soon as it starts again, I press once very quickly on my space bar. Even though we still see the loading screen at this time, the game is already paused. It works on every loading screen. I also do it to change character, sometimes we do not see that I changed because I did at the time this screen disappeared.
If you can not do it, it's not very serious. You can put all your team back near the back doors, come back with the Warden to kill the enemies close to the doors and back to your team. With a little luck you will not be in combat and you can do the Sten-glitch.
Okay, I did tests. It's faster by at least 30 seconds. 45 with luck and good performance.
That said, there is faster than what the segmented% does. Taking only the Warden, kill the wolves and then go West. There's an enemy camp to clean up. Generally the three that come in melee are those who have the vials.
For the second part, to retrieve the treaties, just rush and kill the group of five just before the chest. Go into contact with the first one on the left and the time Flying Warm makes the kill, kill the others with a Fireball.
Oh, I didn't know the others follow and past the door. It's not the case everywhere. Actually, I take Sten because he doesn't have the haste state so it's better for him to stay at the door.
Ok, let's recap the advantages and disadvantages of this new glitch.
Advantages :
- Allows to be very fast with the Warden and to replace Morrigan by him during OOB.
- Allows to use spells with the Flying Warm state.
- The state of Flying Warm is not removed during conversations.
- Mana takes damage in place of life.
- The enemies close to the Warden take damage.
Disadvantages:
- We must climb more levels during the xp glitch. (Or use the dupeglitch)
- Some OOBs have to be reviewed (we can not change shape with the Warden.)
- If we take more level, the enemies too. We need to increase our magic a little more to OS mobs.
According to this, here is the new routing that I tested and of course I run with the Warden as much as possible :
Harrowing : unchanged
Mage origin: I take 600 points distributed like this : 30 in constitution, 25 in cunning, 120 in will, the rest in magic.
So little in constitution because we need life only for the lands of Korcari. After that, we have the state of Flying Warm so life is useless. In contrast, a lot of will for a lot of mana. It loses about 5 seconds to take 100 more points
Korcari: XP glitch up to level 14 (12 points)
I take the following spells: Flying Warm (3), Haste (4), Anti-Magic Ward (3), Walking Bomb (1), Vulnerability Hex (1). We lose about 30 seconds to take 4 more levels.
The spells I leave for the entire run: Inferno: Since Flying Warm does damage to nearby enemies, Inferno becomes a little useless. Simply slightly adjust the combat strategies and be more in touch with the enemy. Drain Life: Since we no longer need life, we no longer need to take care of ourselves. In addition to the damage of Flying Warm, another offensive spell is not compulsory. Virulent Walking Bomb: With this new routing, we use this spell just for the archidemon. It's not worth it.
Tower: Unchanged
After the tower, we recovered the lost time and we start to save time.
Lothering: We no longer use Morrigan.
Arl Howe: OOB with the Warden. There is a way to get back into the game without the help of Morrigan. For the outside but also for the interior. I show this in a video:
Alienage: Unchanged
Landsmeet : No inferno, I launch Vulnerability Hex and Fireball then I go in contact so that Flying Warm will do damage. For the duel: Flame Blast and Arcane Bolt while remaining in contact. After the Landsmeet, I take the spells Winter's Grasp and Death Syphon (which I activate).
Redcliffe: A Fireball to kill a lot of mobs. I kill both wizards to the right and left. Then I kill the rest in the stairs then turn and I run near the enemies to kill them with Flying Warm. For the ogre, Vulnerability Hex then offensive spells while staying close.
Denerim Gate Skip: Unchanged. Morrigan transformation is needed for OOB
Drakan: Outside fight: (perhaps the most controversial point of this routing). We send the army of Redcliffe. Focus on the Dragon with Vulnerability Hex, Winter's Grasp and Arcane Bolt. Then we go forward and launch a Fireball to touch the two wizards (left and middle). Then we go on to the right one. Once near, Winter's Grasp on him then Arcane Bolt on the middle mage (the Fireball is not enough for him). Once all the mages have died, we go to the door to intercept and kill all mobs with Flying Warm. Those left behind will be killed by our allies. For the strongest mobs, we throw Arcane Bolt or Winter's Grasp.
Inside: Leave Sten at the door and send the others away. Put Sten in front of the door then turn it so that it is back to the door. Then remind the others. The Warden should be on the other side of the door. I take Sten, because he's the opposite of the Warden when they're in formation. This is the same principle as with Jory for the third floor of the tower.
Archdemon: Unchanged except that you have fewer spells than usual but this is not very serious.
Voilà !
I did some tests in Any% and it could be that this new glitch will win us a few tens of seconds. I still have to plow the routing but I think we can do something with it. On the assumption that we are allowed to use DLC items and specializations of course but I am completely for. This is already the case for Dragon Age 2 and 3 for items. Why not for Origins? And the metamorphic specialization is very easy to have, especially following the romance% routing.
