Generally, our policy has been to only add new categories once they generate sufficient interest and runners, in order to prevent the leaderboard from being cluttered with miscellaneous categories containing 0-1 runs. The latest category we added was a 4-character option for Any% and A20, based on a community vote, yet there have still been relatively few submissions. I don't expect an A0 to A20 speedrun would have sufficient community interest, though we do encourage people to try out categories and rules that they find fun, even if they aren't represented here.

For a A0 to A20 speedrun, what do you think the rules should be? The last time this sort of category was specifically run, to my knowledge, was Baalorlord, who did it once with each character, with the following rules (if I remember them correctly):

• Start with a fresh save file
• (Unlock the character) and then win once on each ascension level 0 to 20 (21 wins)
• All glitches are allowed

But some additional questions might be:

• Does it need to be done in one session?
• Do you need to win with every character? (There is a way to unlock the next ascension without winning)
• Do you need to start with a fresh save file?

Hi everybody, after some discussion on the speedrunning Discord server, we have recently updated the rules for submitted runs. An overview of the changes:

1. All unseeded runs must display the random seed. The seed is primarily needed to verify that the run matches the expected rng.

2. You are now allowed to submit runs using any main branch version of the game starting with v1.0. If you own the game through Steam, you can change the version in the same way you would switch to the game's beta branch, using the betas tab in Slay the Spire's Properties dialog. In my personal opinion, the only categories which currently might benefit from a lower version are the Silent categories, due to a faster Grand Finale animation.

3. We have clarified the rules regarding beta branches, modifying the game, and the allowed save files. These were effectively already in place, but are now more explicit.

4. We added a rule explicitly banning macros and turbo buttons.

5. If the final boss is defeated using the smoke bomb glitch, we will end the timing when the proceed button is pressed.

6. We added a rule prohibiting modifying or changing the save file in the middle of a run. This is mostly only going to affect 4-character runs, probably, which will not be able to encounter optimal bosses on every character. It also severely restricts the use of a glitch that could inject arbitrary cards into any fight.

Based on a poll in the Discord server, we have also added a 4-character option to Any% and Any% 20 categories. The goal for this category is to finish the respective run with all four characters, as quickly as possible. I look forward to seeing runs!

Yes, you can lose or reset freely between wins. The only consequence to doing so is losing time.

I should mention, there's a bunch of other ways to accomplish the same thing. With this method, you are going to be playing offline, and you'll have to manually update the jar file with every weekly game update. If you want to reset your steam copy to a fresh install (and you haven't been playing since December), then just delete or move the preferences folder in your steam installation. You probably want to disable cloud backups first.

We don't directly manipulate those files. Instead, we play the game to reach a desired state, and then backup/restore the save files from that point. Step by step instructions (for Windows):

Right click Slay the Spire on Steam, choose Properties, click Local Files, and then Browse Local Files... to open the game's installation folder.

In this folder, there is a file called desktop-1.0.jar, and another folder called jre. Create a new folder somewhere else (I'll refer to it as the speedrun folder), and copy desktop-1.0.jar and jre to the speedrun folder.

If java is installed, then you can run Slay the Spire by double clicking desktop-1.0.jar. Otherwise, open the speedrun folder, hold shift, right click, and select "Open PowerShell window here" or "open command window here". When PowerShell/cmd opens, paste the following line in and press enter:

jre\bin\java.exe -jar desktop-1.0.jar

Now, you should have Slay the Spire open, with a fresh save file. Enter your desired name, change the settings as desired, and then complete the following two runs:

1. Your first run must be an Ironclad run, and it must encounter the final boss (Awakened One). Try not to go all out on score, since you only want one level of unlocks done.
2. Your second run must be a Silent run, and it must encounter the second boss (Bronze Automaton), and then die or abandon before encountering the third boss (Donu and Deca).

While you are completing these runs, make sure you encounter all of the tips (including the one for trying to spend energy you don't have and the one for skipping cards).

Now, close the game, and copy the preferences folder in your speedrun folder to a new folder in the speedrun folder. Name this new folder "donutPrefs".

Open a text editor, and paste the following 4 lines into a new file:

RD /s /q preferences RD /s /q saves XCOPY donutPrefs preferences /i jre\bin\java.exe -jar desktop-1.0.jar

Save this file in the speedrun folder, and name it runprep.cmd

Now, you're done! After each run, quit the game and execute runprep.cmd again.

Fast Mode isn't really an alternate game mode, it is just an option to increase animation speed. I don't see any reason why this is any different from menu options in other games that make the game faster, and I don't know of any other game that adds another category for, say, increasing text speed. There doesn't need to be another category for the new option; there is just a lot of free time save in everybody's PB now. Remember that this game is in early access, and things are changing quickly. If we add a new category to account for too many big gameplay changes, then we could end up with a ridiculous number of categories that nobody runs in the end.

Grand Finale one-shots most normal encounters in the game and has a super shot animation. It's a bit tricky to set up consistently, but a Grand Finale deck should be very fast when you can get it to work.

The in-game timer starts upon choosing a character and stops when you die (in a speedrun, this corresponds to clicking "[Sleep]" in the Spire Heart event on floor 51). I think this timing makes sense, since floor 51 is basically an interactive cutscene, so you are still playing the game at that point.

In version 13, the in-game timer was also changed to not increase while loading, so on my machine, the in-game timer reports a time of about 4 seconds faster than the real time between choosing the character and clicking '[Sleep]'. In version 12, my timer and the game's time lined up exactly.

What do others think?