This is the optimized version of the Hook Warp (aka: "Tabs" skip) at the end of "Kitchen":

part 1 : the new optimzed version of the strat; part 2 : the problem that can occur when going for the new strat; part 3 : how to fix the problem; part 4 : the side by side comparison of a normal, optimized and fixed version of the strat.

Here's how you do it:

• when you get the hook grab and you pass through the wall, hold "grab" and nothing else, and pay attention to the textures and the camera
• when the textures disappear you immediately press and hold "down" (towards the foreground) direction, while still holding "grab"
• when the camera starts to fly to the right (when the warp occurs) you press and hold "jump" while releasing the "grab", but still holding "down" towards the foreground
• as the camera stabilizes, you should already be on top of the crates, and now you can jump to the right and reach the hooks a bit faster

NOTE: the trigger for the last hook line to start moving is at the left side of the crates you land on top of. In case you land too much on the right, you can still trigger the hooks by taking a step left before you jump all the way down ...

When you call the elevator down, in the freezer room, and the chef is already inside the elevator, you can trick him using the slide, and get inside the elevator fast ... but ... the chef doesn't always start the chase right away. Here's a way to get the Instant chase immediately after the elevator opens:

• position yourself at the left side of the door (of the elevator) facing the foreground;
• make sure you have full stamina, stand still and hold the sprint button;
• go towards the foreground (down) a couple of steps when the elevator door is about to open;
• change direction towards the right as the chef exits the elevator;
• slide towards the upper-right under his arms, when the chef is about to grab you;
• quickly jump inside the elevator before the chef has a chance to reenter the elevator.

NOTE: this STRAT works on the similar elevator-chef chase in the Guests chapter too .. the differences are: you have to position yourself more on the left of the door frame, so the chef doesn't instantly grab you .. AND you don't start to run right way, wait for the chef to look at you stunned, then start running towards the foreground (doing a similar movement as explained above)

Hi :P

Since there's very few things posted on the SRC LN forum, I decided to make a few threds with some of my findings. Here are a couple of versions of Grinder skip that I found, with a few explanations:

1 - Going around the table and climbing on the left side:

2 - Climbing on the right side of the table:

• go inside the vent, and place the charcter with the back barely visible on the right of the wall;
• hold 'crouch' and 'sprint', and start to walk left when the chef takes his first step forward;
• release 'crouch', and run by the chef when he's about to push the button;
• jump on the right side of the table, and jump towards the key (without picking it up);
• stay on the left of the key (so the chef can't reach you);
• pick up the key after the chef failed to grab you, and walk off the table on the left side;
• sprint around the table on the opposite side where the chef starts to chase you;
• go under the side table and continue to run to the elevator when the chef stops to reach under.

NOTE: the safest way to approach this is to sneak behind the chef and have the chase only at the end, but this proves to be too slow compared to the ones above, that's why I only posted strats with instant chase - when the chef opens the door. (In one of the videos you can see how the sneak version of the skip is much slower - in the comaprion part).

NEW optimization

here's a video comparison for elevator movement to reach egg4: Left side - the normal fast version Right side - the new faster version (1 sec time save)

Here's a side by side comparison of 2 strats during the second flood: 1 - normal strat used in runs, continuously pushing right on the pipe; 2 - new strat, stopping on the pipe and using the tilt to boost up (time save of ~1.5 seconds)

Here's a side by side comparison of 3 strats during the first flood:

Going for the slope boost seems to be the faster strat to get the worm turn a bit faster.

Case study : I know this one might seem hard to follow, but it's a very interesting case ... some of the things in this route are surprisingly fast (for ex: taking the monastery exit through the backdoor to reach the town snipe) small things like that can optimize the route so much ... but in the end it's the time of the Jungle laser itself that makes this route slower, otherwise it would have been faster than the current route. Take a look:

Jungle end (v2) cw: +6sec Town-Beige panel to Town multiplanel entrance +11sec Jungle Dots wall (solve position) to Low Monastery steps (corner towards town) +5sec Monastery Laser -going through backdoor- to first corner of monastery walls next to town +6sec Town tower base door to Bridge towards shadows/keep +14sec Keep entrance to Swamp entrance +8sec Swamp Laser to Swamp Laser shortcut door -8sec Town-Beige panel to Bridge towards shadows/keep -14sec Keep entrance to first corner of monastery walls next to town -6sec Swamp entrance to Swamp Laser shortcut door -10sec Monastery laser to Low Monastery steps (corner towards town) -3sec Town multiplanel entrance to Town tower entrance -12sec Jungle Dots wall (solve position) to Jungle laser (through jungle maze, to backdoor) +61sec Jungle laser full activation (because walk from Jungle laser to mountain top is only +37s) -53sec Swamp laser full activation (the normal route last laser time activation)

+5sec TIME DIFFERENCE :(

Case study Shadows last (v1) ccw -20sec Town-Beige panel to Shadows laser -19sec Keep entrance to Town-Snipe spot +9sec Town-Beige panel to Town-Snipe +27sec Swamp Laser to Keep entrance +56sec Walk from Shadow laser to mountain top ... (^ because Shadows laser full activation is only +53sec) -53sec Swamp laser full activation ... (normal route last laser time activation) 0 TOTAL TIME DIFFERENCE \o/

ROUTING Here's a list of the routes I set out to test:

Current main Any% route: (<town)-Shadows-Keep-Town-Monastery-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Jungle-Bunker-Swamp

Right town first (v1), ccw: [+20sec] (town>)-(monastery)-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Jungle-Bunker-Swamp-Keep-Shadows-Town-Monastery

Right town first (v2), ccw: [+14sec] (town>>)-(monastery)-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Jungle-Bunker-Swamp-Keep-Shadows-Town-Monastery

Desert 1st (v1), (no Bunker), cw: [+16sec] Desert-Shadows-Keep-Town-Monastery-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Jungle-Swamp

Desert 1st (v2), (no Bunker), cw: [+39sec] Desert-Shadows-Keep-Swamp-Town-(monastery)-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Jungle-Monastery

Desert 1st, Bunker last (no Town, only redirect panel): [??sec] Desert-Shadows-Keep-Swamp-Monastery-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Jungle-Bunker-(town.redir)

Desert middle (no Bunker), ccw: [+32sec] (town>>)-(monastery)-(s1)-(s2)-(wall)-Jungle-Swamp-Keep-Shadows-Desert-Town-Monastery

Main cw (v1): [+19sec] (<town>)-(monastery)-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Town-Shadows-Keep-Swamp-Bunker-Jungle^-Monastery (^snipe through its backdoor)

Main cw (v2): [+33sec] (<town>)-(monastery)-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-Town-Shadows-Keep-Swamp-Bunker-(wall)-Jungle-Monastery

Main cw (v3): [+40sec] (<town>)-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-Town-Shadows-Keep-Swamp-Bunker-(^)-(wall)-Jungle-Monastery (^snipe monastery backdoor from jungle shortcut)

Jungle end (v1), cw: [+13sec] (<town>)-Monastery-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Town-Shadows-Keep-Swamp-Bunker-Jungle^ (^snipe through backdoor)

Jungle end (v2), cw: [+3sec] O_o pretty close (<town>)-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Monastery^-Town-Shadows-Keep-Swamp-Bunker-Jungle^^ (^exit through backdoor)(^^snipe through backdoor)

Jungle end (v3), cw: [+16sec] (<town>)-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-Monastery*-Town-Shadows-Keep-Swamp-Bunker-(wall)-Jungle (*exit through backdoor)

Shadows last (v1), ccw: [0sec] \o/ :O :O :O BEST Town-Monastery-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Jungle-Bunker-Swamp-Keep-Shadows

Shadows last (v2), ccw: [+10sec] hmmm Town-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-Monastery^-(wall)-Jungle-Bunker-Swamp-Keep-Shadows (^exit through backdoor)

Shadows last (v3), ccw: [+6sec] -,- good try (<town>)-Monastery^-Town-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Jungle-Bunker-Swamp-Keep-Shadows (^exit through backdoor)

Shadows last (v4), ccw: [+3sec] o_O pretty close (town>)-Monastery^-Town-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Jungle-Bunker-Swamp-Keep-Shadows (^exit through backdoor)

Shadows last, criss-cross: [+18sec] Town-Monastery-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Jungle-Swamp-Bunker-Keep-Shadows

Bunker last, cw: [??sec] (<town>)-(s1)-(bunker)-(s2)-(wall)-Monastery^-Town-Shadows-Keep-Jungle^^-Swamp-Bunker (^exit through backdoor)(^^snipe through backdoor)

The notations used:

• anything in paranthesis means solving panels in that area but not triggering the laser yet
• anything capitalized means triggering the area laser
• (<town) = solve only the left side of the town as you approach from tutorial
• (town>) = solve only the right side of town as you approch from tutorial, but no town snipe
• (<town>) = solve left and right of the town tower, but not the town snipe
• (s1) and (s2) are the upper and lower rows of sound panels in Jungle
• (wall) = the skip over the raising wall that suports the sound dots panels in Jungle
• cw = clockwise ; ccw = counter clockwise

The main focus of this thread is for the Any% walking/running route betwen lasers (everything before mountain)

I tested ~20 different routes, and even though some of them were definitely longer than the current Any% route, it did lead me to a few unexpected ideas that might be helpful further ... I want to post here everything I researched and found, in hopes that it might be helpful later on...

RESEARCH I'll start off with the research I did before testing alternative routes. Here are all the laser trigger times and the walking distance (time) from each of them:

Jungle LASER laser trigger: 61sec walk to mountain top: 37sec (walk from jungle laser > desert-redirect-panel in town > to mountain top: 97sec)

Bunker LASER elevator from buttom level to surface: 69sec walk from buttom level to elevator surface: 25sec laser trigger: 66sec walk to mountain top: 28sec

Swamp LASER: laser trigger: 53sec walk to mountain top: 40sec

Keep LASER laser trigger: 47sec walk to mountain top: 72sec

Shadows LASER laser trigger: 53sec walk to mountain top: 56sec

Town LASER laser trigger: 51sec walk to mountain top:70sec

Monastery LASER laser trigger: 53sec walk to mountain top:53sec

Desert LASER (needs redirect panel in town) laser trigger: 58sec exit elevevator at surface: 14s walk to mountain top: 14+82=96sec redirect panel in town rotation: 21sec Desert laser > Town panel redirection > mountain top: 14+94=108sec

Here's a comparison of a normal chain grab strat VS a chain skip +big boost to lever (before the fake sister / box factory section).

NOTE 1: reaching the lever much sooner doesn't seem to skip the rotation of the level, thus making the skip much less significant (only ~1sec time save).

NOTE 2: pls ignore the mishap at the end ... got distracted having to stop the timer at the ledge grab after the box push :(

Here's a comparison of a normal jumping strat and an optimized boost using the slopes - before grabbing the mosquito leg.

NOTE: even if you don't get the big boost (like the one shown in the video), landing a bit on the left and having to do an extra hop /push right is still faster than the normal jumping strat.

NOTE: this strat applies only for XBox360 version of Limbo

When doing a 20 or 21 eggs run (XBox360 exclusive) and missing the worm turn skip (before Egg04), it is faster to push the box much farther left, before climbing it to get the worm out ... this is to avoing having to come back and go on the right of the box (as done in the usual strat) ... and it's a 3-4 seconds time save (see both starts in the video bellow).

afaik, swimming has only 1 speed even on the water surface compared with underwater, they're the same speed

but there are sudden bursts / boosts you can do, by changing direction or after stopping ... I've done tests with all sorts of techniques, by stopping or changing direction briefly, but it's not a faster overall movement in a straight line

the only thing helpful is the superboost (as you can see in the video above) ... and so far we only managed to get the superboost downwards (so it's useful in only a handful of situations in the game) ... the way it works is building 2 or more smaller boosts into one, which is kinda tricky and hard to get ... but even if you don't get the superboost, it's okay to go for a small boost down anyway, because just holding down when you enter the water is kinda slow (when you have to do directly down)

This is a video comparions of 3 different strats for the boxes & button (in the Tire Factory). Using my NEW strat, you can save up to 1.5 seconds over the old strat. See the full breakdown at the end of the video.

Test 1 : Box Push (old strat) Test 2 : Box Climb (current strat) Test 3 : NEW STRAT (by yours trully ^^)

Not sure how many of you are aware of this, but there is a way to skip ~1sec at the start of the run, before even taking the first jump ... more surprisingly, it's within the rules :O Let me explain :D Depending on where you start the timer (which, for me, is also the first input that takes me ingame) it's possible to reach the ingame much sooner by pressing a key just as the loading is over, but NOT after the title screen is fully visible. Having as little of the title screen visible will make the game fade-out faster, because the title scren wasn't fully faded-in yet, therefor you reach the ingame right away - and, since the title screen comes right after the loading screen, this is still (kinda) within the rules ("Start the timer when press a Button on the title screen")

But, I don't mean to say we should definitely allow this ... mainly because it's kinda hard to tell what's going on in that load-to-title transition

A - a possible solution would be to start the timer when starting to load the first chapter (it's much more clearer when the red little square from the menu starts the blink) ... and you can spam any key to skip the title screen after loading, whcih would take you ingame right after the loading screen ... I timed this and it's very similar with the normal way ppl have been starting the timer (the difference is ~0.1sec, which means all times from the LB can stay the same, only the rules have to be tweaked a little);

B - another (much simpler) solution is to simply adjust the rules to say that the title screen has to be fully visible before starting the timer / the run;

C - but, on the other hand, anything can reamain the same, and the title-skip could be allowed ... the ~1sec skip at the start would be pretty sweet imo.

@all mods, let me know what you think.

video proof : A time comparison between 3 ways to start the run (3 attemtps for each of the 3 strats): 1 - start the timer when loading the chapter. and spam any key to skip the title screen. 2 - start the timer when pressing any key while the title screen is fully visible. 3 - start the timer right after the loading is over, before the title screen is fully vissible.

With the recent discoveries, we now can gain at least 6 seconds in the Mine - and, by doing so, we can skip 1 shockwave cycle. Here's the video to prove it \o/

the skips and tricks used in the optimized segment are:

• side bounce from door hit + quick recovery
• beach landing the submersible
• 1 breath swim
• minimal swings on ropes
• facing the freaks #1
• top ladder early jump
• minimal crank turns
• facing the freaks #2
• mounting the jetbox
• stumble glitch
• instant recovery from door stun

I'm not fully convinced the stumble glitch is absolutely necessary. you can see the fully optimized run reaching the block a bit sooner, even pausing for ~1sec before the blast hits.

(check the video playlist for the full list of Inside skips : https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLpJA1uAgx2cXg4fjHGK9yBQfKfdMWJmUz )

Finally I managed to show that this skip is possible \o/

In the video you can see my Trials and Tribulations to get the Double Button Door SKIP using the SUPERBOOST. I hope the video does justice to the risks involved and how difficult the skip is. Each successful superboost had countless fails and resets, but it was all worth it.

See for yourself at the end of the video \o/

(these strats apply only for XBox360 version of Limbo)

To get the Egg15 you have to switch the boxes, to get the correct box at the guns ... in these 2 videos you can see how to optimize the box switch - to get faster to the guns

Note 1: check the video descriptions for explanations about the movement and precise steps

Note 2: the gun cycle lasts ~13seconds . therefor reaching it sooner is a big time save

Note 3 : it is possible to reach an earlier gun cycle, using the "gap" strat (above) and getting carried up the slope by the box - thus not needing the second gravity switch, since you can already push the box to the gun ... but it's risky and hard to pull off

(this strat applies only for XBox360 version of Limbo)

Doing a death warp at the Egg4 (XBox360 version) saves 3 seconds compared to the normal route ... you can see a time comparison in this video :