Act 3 Start (Pawnee ctOS)
After you’ve teleported using the CR created before Act 1 Cemetery, try to get a bike in the parking lot. If you can't find one there, spawn the Sayanora.
Boats have fixed spawns around the entire map, so we use one here. Once you reached the place, drive around the guardrail and into the water to take a convenient boat spawn to go to Pawnee ctOS.
At the Pawnee ctOS control center, park the boat by backing in. It doesn’t waste any time because you have to wait for the chief security guy to walk into view anyway. Then hack the cameras to reach the security chief. You can hack the explosion box or the regulator to make the guard easier to hack. There is also a system key in the area, but it wastes time to get.
Route improvement after Pawnee ctOS: Reloading autosave (as shown in the video) is a few seconds faster than docking the boat and jumping off. If you're not quick enough, you can also reload the autosave after the map cutscene. However, if you time it just right, you can skip the map cutscene by pausing at the right time. Please note that it does matter where you reload autosave at, so try to do it around these general locations. Create a teleport point for going to A3M3 (as shown in the video).
A3M1 (Hope is a Sad Thing)
Restart mission. Hack the computer while jumping over the fence. It is a couple of seconds faster here to reload autosave after hacking the computer if you're on PC/have fast loading. Get the system key next to the computer. After hacking the two marina employees, get on a bike. You can blow up the pole/fences with the GL to make the computer easier to hack.
At the abandoned ctOS station, park the bike near the rocks. You can skip the cameras by climbing on the bike to get over the rocks. You can skip the puzzle entirely by running along the fence. It seems easier to run along the fence, so I suggest not to walk. Bring out the grenade launcher and shoot the door open down there. This should be faster than hacking the explosion on the other side. Get the system key on your way out.
After you access the ctOS tower, reload the autosave. This saves about 50 seconds of waiting time (this removes the hideout you would normally get as a reward) and spawns you outside near a bike. You can also skip the map cutscene by getting into the pause menu at the same time as the autosave, but it is frame perfect. Drive to Jed’s bar.
At the scrapyard, collect all the items (system key, electronic parts, proximity IEDs). Also pick up the AC-AR if you don't have a sniper rifle. Some of T-Bone's dialogue can be skipped by staying out of range from his voice. Watch my run to see how to do it because you have to drive close to T-bone sometimes. The wooden bridge is a good reference point. Don’t skip the dialogue that includes the "art", "I think I like you", "If you blow your arm off" lines. Also don’t skip the dialogue after the second objective for “Follow T-bone” comes up. This should allow you to leave without failing the mission when T-bone tells you to swing by the gas station. You can’t skip all of his lines, or else the mission zone timer will fail you.
You can also do a slightly risky strat during this mission to skip the news broadcast after this mission. If you investigate the missing persons location for Michelle Strauss, you can skip the news broadcast about her & the serial killer. You can do this skip without losing any time. But you have to make sure that you don't skip too much dialogue at the junkyard (by leaving too quickly), or else you will have to wait until T-bone finishes all of his lines first before leaving the area. For example, if you manage to skip the "If you blow your arm off", "Well hell", lines and lines after, you will need to wait until T-bone finishes talking (and maybe a couple of seconds after to be safe) to not fail the mission when you reach T-bone's truck. You also don't need to get off the bike to investigate the body (as shown in the video).
After you’ve taken T-bone’s truck to the trap, use the grenade launcher to take out all of the enemies in the vehicles.
When driving to the next mission, you want to create a cash run to use to teleport to For the Portfolio (A3M5) later. See the top left route. https://youtube.com/clip/UgkxflEGZEFakAx-BXpmRxC5q0LtxNgoKrW-
A3M2 (A Pit of Paranoia)
Before starting this mission, you can jump off the bike to skip Aiden’s dialogue (only if you didn't do the news broadcast skip). Only jump off around when Clara says “good”. Otherwise, see the Act 3 M1(Hope is a Sad Thing) & M2(Pit of Paranoia) - News Broadcast skip video above to see the driving route to this mission.
Also, instead of doing the cash run route, you want to drive the whole way to create a cash run for A3M4 (The Future is in Blume) start.
Restart the mission.
Once you’ve reached the trailer park, don’t drive your bike past the helicopter (you’ll get detected). Profile both security chiefs with cameras and the helicopter. Also get the system key. Use one grenade shot to destroy the fence and another to kill the security chief behind it. Find your own reference point to shoot the grenades. Or use the sniper rifle to kill the security chief because it's easier.
We take advantage of the fact that the first security chief never has the security clearance. Only the second security chief does. So the second one is killed using the exploding junction box when he walks past it. Hack his Blume ID.
You can also do a faster strat here: Instead of waiting for the second security chief to walk past the explosive box, you can manipulate him to go there or kill him using the grenade launcher. You can climb up on the closest trailer to kill both security chiefs from there with the GL. You can also hack the car alarm to distract the first chief. This strat is not easy though because you do need to have a good drive and aim well with the GL.
Go to A3M3 via the teleport point you created earlier. After you teleport to the place, take a bike to the next mission.
A3M3 (Unstoppable Force)
Restart mission. Take the muscle car (or the bike behind it) and park in the front of the path of the convoy. Also hack the traffic lights to make the cars come faster towards you (if needed). Throw an IED on the windshield of the armored truck. Shoot the grenade launcher at the left part of the windshield. That’s two explosions, so the enforcer in the truck should die from that. Destroy the other vehicles with the grenade launcher.
A3M4 (The Future is in Blume)
If you created the cash run earlier because of the news broadcast skip, you want to use it to teleport to this mission (after the previous mission is completed - wait for the mission complete text to pass first).
Non-Reload Autosave Strats
Restart mission. Take the fastest car on the road. Switch to a bike when you reach the parking lot. Drive the bike inside. Use the grenade launcher to shoot the two guards in the middle. The grenade launcher does not fail the mission for some reason. It also makes all the other guards in the area go check out the body. So you don’t have to kill the other ones. Park your bike. Then activate the ctOS boxes. On the way back from the second box, be careful not to alert the guards on the other side of the wall. After the cutscene finishes, take the bike outside. The riskier strats for this mission are:
Reload Autosave Strats
If you have fast loading, use these autosave strats instead. They save a few seconds more than the other strats:
You can also reload autosave instead at about the red line:
You can also skip killing the two guards near the display terminal if you throw a grenade over the walls at the entrance. But you might need to wait longer for the guard at the end to start moving before hacking his camera.
The new strat has you use cameras to hack the ctos box. Hack the attract to force the guard inside the room and then use his camera to hack the ctOS box. This is faster than running to the ctOS box on foot and reloading autosave by 2 secs (more if you have slow loading).
If you created a cash run earlier, you can teleport to For the Portfolio. Open up the cash run menu before you reach the bike and access it quickly (otherwise it will force you back to the start of the bike trail). If you're not able to use the cash run in time, you have to restart mission/reload autosave and drive to the next mission instead.
A3M5 (For the Portfolio)
When you reach the scrapyard, use the giant electric trap to kill the first guy. But don’t activate the trap until you’re halfway up the stairs. Bring the bike up there if you intend to do the T-bone dialogue skips. Kill everyone else in the same order as I do. Make sure to go to T-bone immediately after you kill everyone. Be sure to have 4-6 proximity IEDs ready. Throw down one and a regular IED in the appropriate spot.
The second set of guys do not spawn in the same place every time. Activate the electric trap to the left in case someone spawns there. Shoot everyone else in the same order as I do. Place down the second proximity IED after you kill the second set of guys. Also get the unstable chemical component (make a proximity IED if you are maxed out). Then throw a proxmity IED down next to where you picked up the unstable component.
Use the grenade launcher (and a proximity IED) to destroy the incoming cars. Activate the giant electric trap after. Then activate the smaller electric trap behind and the regular IED (if there are enemies still there). Only the electric traps are worth it to use here because they’re the only ones that are instant kill. Kill anyone that’s left by using the U100/AK-47 or grenade launcher (But be careful because you want to save ammo if doing the T-bone dialogue skips later).
For the next set of enemies, throw two proximity IEDs in the appropriate spots. Also make sure to move the bike if you intend to use it for the T-bone dialogue skips. When the truck is under the giant trap, activate it. Shoot and kill anyone that’s left.
Make sure to bring your bike down to the last area with enemies if doing the T-bone dialogue skips. For the last group of enemies, you can follow the same order as I do. Otherwise find your own fast way to kill the guys there.
Aiden Dialogue Skips
If you have fast loading and don't want to do the T-bone dialogue skips, reload the autosave to teleport closer to the boat. However, it is faster to drive to the boat with the bike if you still have it. Then open up the phone menu prior to entering the boat. After you get inside the boat, drive to the other side on the right, then exit and find a fixed bike up there to do some dialogue skips.
T-bone Dialogue Skips
Otherwise you can do the T-bone dialogue skips with the bike that you drove here with. The T-bone dialogue skips can only be done with a controller on this mission because it allows you to aim from the phone menu. First, you have to block T-bone's path with a bike to prevent him from entering the boat; you must do this correctly though so that he doesn't warp to the boat also. Make sure the front tire of the bike is to the outside of the building next to the wall. You must then use the grenade launcher to knock T-bone to the ground to skip his dialogue like you normally would if Aiden was to do a dialogue skip. To prevent T-bone from ragdolling and staying on the ground for a long period of time, you should blow up T-bone when he's not on top of the bike or when he's not on the ground; that should allow for faster dialogue skips.
Be ready to teleport to A3M6 after A3M5 is complete. You can use focus to help you get the cash run before the dialogue and save a few seconds. If you don’t get it before Aiden starts talking, do the teleport after.
A3M6 (By Any Means Necessary)
Restart mission.
Getting a vehicle at the start of By Any Means Necessary is faster than running all the way. You just need to trigger the dialogue first before getting in the vehicle. However, there won't always be a vehicle. I use a blackout here to run a straighter line towards Rossi-Fremont on foot. You don’t actually need to use one to run past everyone, but you need one for driving past everyone with a vehicle.
You can use grenades/explosives to get a couple of small dialogue skips at the entrance, but they are very short. Instead of doing that, you can kill/take down the enforcer near the entrance and obtain the ATSG shotgun from him while waiting for dialogue.
Right before you enter the building, open up the phone menu and keep it up to run past the first checkpoint inside and skip the freeze there. For the first two enemies in the building, just shoot them. You can pick up an unstable chemical component while waiting for the elevator. Use a grenade launcher to kill the guys in the elevator. After the elevator, do this. The helmet guy might sometimes be in your way, so kill him if he is.
Use a blackout in the room with the first enforcer. Grab the electronic parts near the first ladder.
Ignore the guys up the ladder. You might want to wait a little bit for the enforcer in the hallway. Wait till he gets close enough to be caught by the other explosion. Then shoot him with the grenade launcher. If another guy gets close in the hallway, you can kill him with the shotgun to be safe. Run past everyone else in the hallway. Also try to pick up the U100 from the dead enforcer if you were able to kill him and don't have the weapon yet. You can also shoot at the wall behind where the enforcer appears to knock him down to the ground in order to skip the waiting.
After the second set of ladders, you want to have your grenade launcher/U100 ready. Shoot the grenade launcher down in the floor for the guys in front. Then climb over the broken wall. Switch to the rifle and shoot everyone else. Be warned that you can’t switch weapons while climbing something. Hack the explosive panel if someone is there. Or use the U100 to kill everyone instead. The riskier strats here would be to kill fewer people and just run past them.
If the two guys behind the blinds are static, you can just climb over and shoot them both. Alternatively, explode the terminal run past them both, but take the doorway.
On the top floor, if you hold w + a (forward and left) or w + d (forward and right) instead of just w (forward) (basically going in the direction where Aiden is opening the doorknob) when going through the 3 doors leading up to the server room, it will skip Aiden's little stumbling against the door animation.
On the roof, you can do dialogue skips with grenades/IEDs. I would not use IEDs because you can save them for later, but you could use the grenade launcher/grenades for it. This is also where Japanese saves about 25 secs due to the dialogue being much faster:
Watch how I kill the enemies. You might figure your own way to kill them. Set things up before they spawn. Collect the IEDs that are around.
For the super enforcer and Iraq, place down multiple IEDs with proximity IEDs in spots that you would expect them to spawn. The multiple explosions should damage them more. To kill Iraq with just IEDs, you want to place down 4 IEDs (one proxy and 3 normal IED) at each location. If you picked up the ATSG-12 shotgun from earlier, use that to shoot the enforcer and Iraq. You can also use a grenade launcher to keep knocking the super enforcer down, but that's the slowest strat.
Try to pick up the ATSG-12 and the U100 from the dead bodies if you didn't get them earlier. You can also do a dialogue skip with Aiden here to skip his lines as shown in this video, but you won't be able to pick up any weapons unless the bodies are close.
After completing the mission, teleport back to the bunker for Act 4.
Runs on the leaderboard are now timed with loads removed. The autosplitter is recommended to be used if you are running on PC to obtain the time with loads removed. Console runs will also be split from PC now because of this.
