Are the paratroopers drop positions/timings manipulable? The ones that drop in Area 1 cause a lot of resets (either from death or massive time loss avoiding them) and the ones in Area 5 during the last climb are my most common cause of massive time loss for that area. They'll just spawn above me right after i initiate a swing and knock me down. Am I just praying to the RNG gods I get good spawns, or can i do something about it?

Ok, thanks! Yeah, that seems to fit with what's happening. If I mess up my route too much the pattern gets too different from what I can normally do optimally and then either die from unexpected spawns or lose time to dodging and avoidance. Just gotta get more consistent!