TORCH ROOM STUDY This study examines the circular area with the torch puzzles for the Any% Rue run and seeks to find information regarding enemy placement. After noticing that Hellhound ambushes were somewhat common I figured it might be possible to map enemy placements. After collecting information from the top 5 leaderboard runs as well as 5 others that were 2:45 or better I decided that with how mobile the Hellhounds are, exact placement of enemies was going to be futile to try and map. Nevertheless here is some information that hopefully you will find useful.
The curved noodle shaped map areas that connect the torch rooms are three tiles wide. For this study I classified these three tiles as the inside, center, and outside tiles.
HOUNDS Hounds are always found on the inside. Either running toward you or waiting for you right as you enter the area (ambush).
On new map loads hound ambush probability is about 2 out of 3 times. On return trips to previously visited areas that probability flips to 1 out of 3 times.
JINNS Jinn doesn't seem to spawn in the inside position. It is either located on the outside, the center, or on the line between center and inside (Perhaps it spawns on inside but hounds push it??). For this sampling it generally spawned in the center (55%) and then favored outside (25%) over center/inside (20%).
If a Jinn was killed, it seemed to be about 50/50 that another Jinn would spawn in the same map area. There weren't enough instances of this in this study to know, but it sometimes happened and sometimes didn't.
On return trips to previously visited areas usually the Jinn positioning will not move. This was tracked in this sample as happening just ~33% of the time- meaning that ~66% of the time the Jinn will be right where you left him/saw him. If the Jinn moves it usually only moves slightly- from outside to center for example; only rarely from outside to center/inside.
However in the instances where the Jinn DID move on revisits... 66% of those times, it happened on the third+ visit to an individual map area.
Examples of this: (Routes indicated in Left and Right. Brackets are places where Jinn position changes were frequently observed.)
L L L L, L [R], R [L] L R, R L, [R] R L [L] L R,R L, [L] L R [R] L R, R L, [L] L L [L]
Now this isn't to say that the Jinn moving on you is bad. In most runs, at least one position change was observed, but obviously knowing where the enemies are can help you to get by them easier. So consider the route you are using and keep an eye out for where you last see that pesky Jinn.
SOMETHING AIN'T RIGHT There were no samples collected of a route including a full circle to the Right. There were no samples collected of a route starting by going right first. The only instances (2 times) of a runner having trouble getting through a door (to the point where they mentioned it out loud) were while travelling to the right.
So... To cross the least distance in this room:
If you are Rue, you are running around this torches area as Hellhound. In which case you would want to enter this room from the left side (going clockwise around the circle) to traverse the least distance to get to the water and fire breath torches. Then transform to Djinn and use wind attack on the third torch. Transform back to Hellhound and pickup the green ball that falls down and continue out the left (so going back to the transporter counter clockwise) rather than turning around. If you are crazy like me nd might be moving around as Shaolon for some reason, your transformation menuing is quicker to get from Shaolon to Hellhound than Shaolon to Djinn.
If you are Mint, you are entering this area probably on Red or Blue magic (from the other torch rooms) or possibly Yellow from the Arena 4 behemoths. In all three of these cases you will want to enter this room from the left side (going clockwise around the circle) to traverse the least distance to get to the fire and water torches(this also saves a magic menu at the start), then do the wind torch last, pick up the green ball, and continue out the left rather than turning around (so going back to the transporter counter clockwise).
The nice thing about the magics order in the magic menu is you can do these three torches right to left or left to right without much menuing trouble, but going right to left (wind, fire, water) ends with you further away from the green ball that drops and would mean doing 4 magic menus (because no one comes into the room on green) vs 3 if you include switching magics prior to leaving the room/area (Blue wide is used next for Psycho Master in Any% and Yellow normal is used next for CC Cloud Whale, Doll Master, & Valen 1 in NG+).
^Outside arrow, then one of the two inside depending on category.
If we prioritize the movement discussed for the Green-ball room of R R L L, that leaves us with these potential categories of routes:
R R L L, X X, X X (NOT preferred for Mint, requires an additional magic menu) R R L L, [R] [L], L R R R L L, L R, [R] [L]
X X, R R L L, X X R L, [R] R L [L], L R L R, R R L L, [R] [L]
X X, X X, R R L L (preferred for Mint for least magic menus and less awkward green-ball room) R L, L R, [R] R L [L] is less preferred for Mint starting blue or yellow. This results in red, blue, red, green, then setup for blue wide or yellow normal L R, R L, [R] R L [L] is preferred for Mint starting blue or yellow. This results in blue, red, green, blue, then setup for blue wide or yellow normal
TL;DR If you trust my science, this is the optimal route for Mint [Jinn may have moved slightly on the bracketed sections] L R, 1st room, R L, [R] R L [L]
Any of these are the optimal routes for Rue R R L L, [R] [L], L R R R L L, L R, [R] [L] R L, [R] R L [L], L R L R, R R L L, [R] [L] R L, L R, [R] R L [L] L R, R L, [R] R L [L]
