Speedrunners are always pushing the limits of their chosen game andBaldur’s Gate 3is no exception.
Baldur’s Gate 3 has two main categories; Any% and Any% All Acts. The former constitutes completing the game as fast as possible without restrictions. This is achieved by triggering the game’s alternate ending in the second act, the one where Gale explodes himself, destroying the Netherbrain and everyone else.
The second stipulates that you must progress through all acts, meaning you’ll have to finish the game traditionally. This route is the more interesting of the two as Act 3 contains some of the run’s cooler tricks.
Theworld record holderof Any% All Acts is Chronos, who has been further challenging himself by performing these runs in Honor Mode. Most recently, Chronos completed Baldur’s Gate 3 Honor Mode in 22 minutes and 54 seconds. He accomplished this feat with an arsenal of interesting strategies and glitches.
The crux of a Baldur’s Gate 3 speedrun is Enhance Leap, a spell that allows the caster to significantly extend their jump range. The run mostly involves hopping across maps, sometimes in combination with Feather Fall for the more daring jumps. The run begins with the usual sequence break of jumping into the boss fight aboard the Nautiloid. Afterwards, Chronos employs what is probably the best-known Baldur’s Gate 3 speedrunning technique, Shadowboxing.
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This technique involves moving a container to an invalid part of the map; this creates a ‘node’ that is used later. God’s favourite princess Shadowheart is then killed and stuffed into a crate. The crate is set ablaze and launched towards the new node, catapulting Shadowheart into a new area and breaking upon impact. Chronos then leaps through the Mountain Pass and allows himself to be imprisoned in Moonrise Towers. When the time comes to face down Ketheric, the recently revived Shadowheart will become the run’s hero once more.
A multiclass Shadowheart transforms into a bear and is enlarged. She then defeats Ketheric and his transformed state by simply jumping on him over and over again. Who would’ve thought the god of death could be brought so low? The death of the other two chosen is no less ignoble. Through the use of ‘Improvised Melee Weapon’ and a clever avoidance of triggers, you can pluck Gortash straight from his throne room and throw him off a bridge to his demise.
That only leaves Orin, the most deranged of the three. By dodging a cutscene trigger in the sewers using the Filigreed Feywild Bell, Orin will be stuck in the guise of whoever she kidnapped from the player’s camp. In Chronos’ case, it was Yenna. You can then enter the Temple of Bhaal by Misty Stepping to an area past the door that is erroneously available to click. From here, you can simply walk up to Yenna (Orin) and one-shot her to quickly end the boss fight.
After defeating the three Chosen, one need only visit the Morphic Pools to engage the Netherbrain. With some clever leaping and the use of the Invisibility spell, you can skip most of the enemies in the final area.
The Netherbrain is then defeated by a massive fireworks explosion courtesy of Felogry, ending Baldur’s Gate 3 and saving the city. It was an incredible run from Chronos, and we’re sure he’s going to optimise it even further in the coming weeks.
Baldur’s Gate 3
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23 years on from the release of the seminal RPG, Baldur’s Gate 2, the third game in the series has been developed by Larian Studios (of Divinity: Original Sin fame). Set over 120 years after the events of the last game, Baldur’s Gate 3 tasks you and your party of heroes to fight off a mind flayer invasion of Faerun, while seeking a way to remove the tadpole in your brain that’s slowly turning you into the enemy…
