I have created this thread seeking answers for a dilemma I keep encountering during my practices for a <20min Any % Glitchless run. Less selfishly, I hope this thread will also provide a space for others to discuss and develop tactics of their own.

My dilemma: I can consistently get down to -50m within 10-15minutes, but at that point I keep running into the problem of having my progress absolutely brick walled by the spawning of magma rock. It's seemingly everywhere I turn within a 5m radius and to start a new tunnel, or dig horizontally to get around it, would take too much time to achieve my goal of sub 20min. What are suggestions to counter this problem?

If you havent already you could always look at the top runs to see what they do but here is my advice.

If youre at below 50m you definitely need dynamite. You can either get them from the mines or you need to buy them. The mines are at ~29m and ~53m. You should also have the 300$ shovel and everything else at 100$ at that point.

If it takes you 10-15 minutes to get to -50m you can also do alot better in the early parts of the run. Try to get the first shovel asap. When you get to the money case you should have everything else and use that money to buy 30$ shovel. Try to get to the first cave asap after that and use that money for better shovel and everything else depending on your money situation. After that its mostly going down and getting lucky.

And at last I can only suggest you to join the discord. I think more people are willing to help you on there.

Personally, as soon as I come across a rock that blocks me for too long I start a game again. In this run I think we don't have time to stay more than 30 seconds on a rock. But during these 30 seconds I dig around to try to find a way out otherwise I start again

I suggest taking a look with the freecam to see just how many rocks spawn. Not during a run you want to submit of course, but do it once to notice how screwed you will be without dynamite. Often times you cannot, even with all the time in the world, dig around the deeper stones. Press ; to use freecam btw.

Did not know about that

I've been having fun chasing 20 mins honestly. To me it seems to be just luck mostly as far as close to 20 without quite having learned everything yet.