This guide will go over a general idea of Qian Sui build path in speedruns, along with general tips for the character in speedruns. This guide is intended for solo categories alongside normal difficulty, although Qian Sui is strong enough that his gameplan shouldn't adjust much from normal, elite, nightmare, and R8. Coop has a slight ascension adjustment that will be mentioned later. Some things in this guide are covered in a lengthy explanation, so for that reason there are TLDR sections if you want a quick glance at certain things.

I highly suggest reading a few of the sections, understanding things in detail helps this character a decent amount in regards to speedruns.

General Gameplan

Qian Sui differs from most of the cast, where his best build goes nowhere near involving any guns at all, and opts to wield a sword solely for the movement speed. Yes, even for bossing in his ideal scenarios. Weapons aren’t bad with him, but his kit is so self sufficient that you'll want to build around using his punch skill while remaining in the Aspis state. Due to that, the weapon section of this guide will be strictly fallback options, as they shouldn't be a primary focus for the most part. Due to that, the gameplan is simple. You punch things.

General Ascension Priority - Striking Punch

Qian Sui's ideal build for speedruns is a punch oriented build around Striking Punch, to no surprise. The 2 Key ascensions are Irrepressible Surge & Wave-Breaking Blow. For one point each, these 2 ascensions give insane value across a run for speed and damage alike. Ascension tier list is below.

TLDR: In an ideal order, Take Irrepressible Surge first, then Wave Breaking Blow. Follow it with Clenched Fist and Rogue Wave. Dark Tide to level 1, 2 if necessary. Unbearable Hurtle is amazing for bosses, Stormy Riptide is good with Wave Breaking Blow in mind if you're newer, otherwise stack more Unbearable Hurtle. Wave Rider/Tidal Rhythm/Battle Adrenaline are all okay.

Since Irrepressible Surge and Wave-Breaking Blow are such high priority, take them whenever available. Surge gives a ton of mobility after getting a kill and actual control of aspis uptime, resulting in huge value for a single point. Wave-Breaking Blow offers a huge damage increase, as long as you can maintain the punch cost that it will inevitably take. Both of these ascensions also have quite the nuance to them, so more advanced mechanics will be explained in the advanced tips section. Surge is incredible for clearing, so taking it first is usually the safest bet. There are cases that will call for Wave-Breaking Blow to be taken first however, such as having any points in Stormy Riptide, but again this is more advanced and when you get experienced with the character, then you can start thinking about how you feel for this route.

The ideal pickups after those 2 are Clenched Fist and Rogue Wave. Assuming you get any movement scrolls into the run at all, Rogue Wave goes up in priority and, in some cases, can even be considered over Clenched Fist, but these moments are few and far between. Safe option is always Clenched Fist into Rogue Wave. I would personally recommend 2 Clenched fist to 1 Rogue Wave ratio, but if punch 3 shows up you kind of have to take it.

Unbearable Hurtle is also really great, and very useful against bosses and paired with the ascensions up above, but only feels great if backed up with some damage increases. Take this when you feel your single target is lacking, or take over the general skill/weapon damage ascensions. This ascension also shines quite a lot in Coop, pairing with your coop teammates and making them do 30/60/100% more damage so... it rises a bit up on priority there. You still need Clenched Fist and Rogue Wave though, so keep that in mind.

Dark Tide is in an interesting spot where it isn't technically necessary... if you highroll. Qian Sui, in normal, is actually capable of mobbing and defeating most bosses without this ascension, but if you don't have the damage and you use all your punches... you're going to be sad. For this reason, at least one point is appreciated, while 2 points is ideal. I still wouldn't suggest it at level 3, as level 2 is usually good enough to keep you punching for awhile and that point can be put towards more damage somewhere else. With Double Exhilaration, you should try to stick to level 1, and aim for more damage. Ignore this segment if you get capacity overdrive, Dark Tide is then basically a waste of points.

Stormy Riptide is a standout utility ascension, but only when combined with Wave-Breaking Blow. Any extra punches with Wave-Breaking will also give you more aspis time or more cooldown reduction. Additionally, there is an interaction with these 2 ascensions that allow you to use your skill, and as long as you hit nothing, you receive the effect of stormy riptide while also using no punches to do so. At level one + Wave Breaking, you have access to a ridiculous amount of cooldown reduction to your main ability, and as such when starting out with turtle this is a no brainer pick. When you get adjusted however, it’s not doing much for aiding damage needs, so it becomes less necessary as you manage to properly Aspis reset on enemies with Irrepressible Surge, you won't really see much benefit out of taking this. 2 points and up are just funny overkill.

Wave Rider, Tidal Rhythm and Battle Adrenaline are all fairly linear skill/weapon damage increases, with the order being Wave Rider --> Tidal Rhythm --> Battle Adrenaline. Wave Rider offers even more synergy with movement scrolls (Abnormal Speed, Strategic Advantage, etc etc) that will directly relate to more damage through this ascension, both weapon and skill damage. Tidal Rhythm is nice, but not a high priority as it's a fairly linear ascension. Battle Adrenaline double dips for weapon damage and movement, and can be okay but is meaningless for bosses as you can't trigger the effect, winding up to be a decent waste of ascension investment.

Hostile Gift and Formidable Aspis are both very much gimmick setups, both being particularly strong on paper, but just not on turtle in his ideal ascension path. Hostile Gift is really funny as it allows the worst feeling Demonlore setup in the game, so if you like pain, this is an option. Formidable Aspis shines with a few weapons, even at level 1, so it's not completely terrible. This will be elaborated more on in the weapons section below.

Defensive ascensions are just not really worth it. Even disregarding the fact that it’s a speedrun and damage is king, this character allows you a lot of leeway in the defense department. As long as you're facing towards or... well, killing high priority targets, you’ll be fine.

Weapons + Bossing Gimmick Setups

TLDR: Swords are your only concern for the movement speed buff. Otherwise the normal good guns apply here. Now here’s the explanations.

Swords (Poisonous Ghost, Flowing Light, Fire Tower) - It really is this easy. Qian Sui benefits from being self reliant on his own kit and a small amount of scroll support for skill damage. So he doesn't really care about guns. Most times. Due to that, you're only using this for the movement speed it offers, directly increasing your punch damage due to the Fist Sensation mechanic. Any sword will do, but a friendly reminder that the Flowing Light and Poisonous Ghost offer a bigger move bonus than the Fire Tower, so prioritize both of those over any Fire Tower.

Concealed Ammo - The right click on this makes it really easy to gain a secondary, if all else fails bank on the right click throw to feed you back one punch in a pinch. A decent Concealed Ammo also does pretty okay damage, but should never be relied on for massive damage.

*Things can go wrong, however, due to Qians Sui’s reliance on ascensions. At boss 1, sometimes you might lack punch damage, so for that reason you might have to resort to backup plans using weapons due to your ascensions going wrong. Here's some gimmick options, but *note these are "gimmick" bossing options, because Qian Sui rarely ever struggles to clear properly if played correctly. Do not FORCE these setups to happen, let them happen naturally. Only consider them an option if you aren’t offered your other ascensions.

Pupil + Formidable Aspis - Pupil in general is a good option, and with the pairing of Formidable Aspis, this gun actually shines the most out of any if you really need to use a weapon on a boss as Qian Sui. With a similar setup to Qing Yan, you can activate and retract aspis to trigger Formidable Aspis, giving your next 3 charged shots 100% damage at level one, which can hit really hard if you find a good pupil. Make sure to charge the shots in this setup to get the most out of it, however.

Wild Hunt + Formidable Aspis - It's always a gun that can have a ton of DPS on the table, with reload speed inscriptions or advanced depot showing incredible DPS, or the gemini to combine it with a high magazine weapon. Formidable Aspis has synergy to strengthen the next 3-5 shots, depending on ascension, useful for a decent amount of burst damage on a boss. The Pupil feels a bit better with this synergy in mind, however, due to the accuracy of the charge shot basically guaranteeing the shot will hit the target.

Demonlore + Hostile Gift - Recognized as a staple in speedruns, it's still something you can opt for here, if necessary. Normal enablers are Against the Flow, Skateboarder and Advanced Depot. On paper, Hostile Gift allows for a setup to keep a bit of magazine where you activate and deactivate Aspis to get ammo back but... in reality, unless you fully send into hostile gift, it just ends up feeling odd and not worthwhile. Don't go out of your way to make this work unless the Demonlore is perfectly rolled, it's not practical.

Crimson Firescale - Never sleep on this weapon. Capable of a nice amount of damage on the table with the right click barrage, it's a good gun to use on nearly every character for bosses.

Illusion - I don’t really think much needs to be said, it’s just ol’ reliable. Consistent damage with a high damage potential, useful for boss 1 almost always.

** Standout Scrolls**

***TLDR: Propulsion Device, Advanced Joggers, Surprise Bonus and Untold Effort are incredible standouts.. All skills damage and movement scrolls are excellent. Now onto explanations. ***

Propulsion Device- Potentially Qian Sui’s best scroll, a match made in heaven. More dashes allows you to predash in bossfights for Fist Sensation stacks, giving you TONS of potential damage. Just this scroll alone allows Clenched Fist 1 + Rogue Wave 1 to be enough for bosses, it is an INCREDIBLE SCROLL on Qian Sui.

Advanced Joggers - Codename “budget surge”. It’s not going to see incredible use in mobbing scenarios if you have Surge but can boost your damage noticeably when used during bosses. Also directly translates to more movement in general floors, so if you don’t have Surge, budget surge can have your back.

Any Skill Damage Scrolls- Fairly big list, but anything offering more skill damage would be appreciated. Enduring Caster, Brutal Gloves, Sucker Punch, Rich’s Privilege and the almighty Spirit Bible, to name a few as an example.

Untold Effort - This scroll is incredible on Turtle. The downside with wave-breaking can somewhat hurt, but Dark Tide at level 1 or 2 can mitigate the downside, making it a perfect pairing with Qian Sui’s kit. This also applies to his retraction punch. Not only does it not cost a secondary use to retract, you also get INCREDIBLE damage if you win the 50% chance. Very worthwhile.

Surprise Bonus - A chance for double damage. It’s great. Not much else to say..

Any Movement Speed Scrolls - Again, big list here but turtle will benefit from all of them. Abnormal Speed, Strategic Advantage, even Improved Clip can give you speed since you won’t really need to reload anything. You might think there’s one that is slightly anti-synergy and yes I’m talking about that one as well….

Ostrich Rider - This one is a double edged sword in certain contexts, but don’t immediately write it off. There’s a decent amount of ways to get around it, 2 of which Turtle has in his ascension list. Wave-Breaking + Stormy Riptide just lets you charge aspis and every time you activate aspis, dash cooldown disappears. Also Irrepressible Surge just nullifies the downside in mobbing scenarios, so yeah. Use that to your advantage if the time comes.

Energy Storage - while not damage increasing, it can save you from dropping aspis in case something goes wrong. 2 charges feels pretty nice.

Tips for Surge

Irrepressible Surge is really the core of Turtle in Normal difficulty (honestly good in all difficulties including Rein 8, but different discussion) and especially for speedruns, it’s quite valuable at one point as previously stated. Irrepressible Surge is simple to explain in 2 parts.

When in the Aspis state, after killing an enemy you can repeatedly dash with no cooldowns for the next 2 seconds. Good for speed, good for Fist Sensation stacks, good for everything. Additionally, 2 seconds after retracting your aspis, killing an enemy in those 2 seconds will immediately charge your Aspis and allow you to reuse it again. Fairly simple right?

This can be taken a step further with the fact that these 2 seconds start immediately, including the retraction punch. This is the core of the Aspis reset, as shown in the video below.

This allows you quite an incredible amount of Aspis Uptime, excellent for bigger floors on stage 4, for example. In addition, every time you reset your aspis, you gain a secondary use due to the additional character talent Qian Sui gets. Pretty nice for the earlier floors.

On top of the previously shown Aspis reset, you can also re-enter, dash and exit the aspis state during this 2 second time period, causing your aspis to never enter a cooldown state. This can be considered both a safety net and applied to movement with clearing rooms with some practice. Note that if you miss the time window, you’ll put your aspis on cooldown, resulting in a bit of uptime loss on Aspis. Try to be careful.

Extra Notes

Anything written here is subject to change as we learn and discover more about the game over time. If you have questions that aren't answered in this guide you can find a lot of runners in the Speedrun-Discussion channel of the official Gunfire discord. The discord is linked at the very top of the leaderboards or at https://discord.com/invite/gunfire-reborn

Please check out the category and game rules before doing any runs, and enjoy Qian Sui!