This is a speedrun guide meant for runners who are looking to improve to a higher level. If you are new and looking for something to help you learn the run, check out DECosmic's tutorial. Everything you need to know to learn the run is there in an easy to understand explanation. Plus there's video. Come back once you fully understand the run and are ready to improve. This is a guide of a collection of tips and minor strategies to optimize missions passed the initial basic understanding. Hopefully this guide helps the quality of the entire board improve. There is still SO much time left to squeeze out of this game, and so many runners that are capable of getting great times. If anything is unclear, I will come back to edit and improve the clarity. Don't hesitate to message me to clear anything up or ask any questions. Now let's get started.

• I do not recommend any new runner get into the habit of quickshooting. I think you will only hinder your own speed and skill growth. This doesn't mean it can't be used effectively at high levels, because it can.
• A full jump will refer to jumping in a direction while holding the jump button. A half jump will refer to jumping in a direction while tapping the jump button.
• Dante shoots E&I fastest in the air. Second fastest standing still. Slowest while walking.
• Use the d-pad to swim and fly. The control stick is inverted, but the d-pad is not.
• Most doors, not all, can be opened by simply holding the "interact" button. Hold circle or B while going up to the door and it will open. This normally will not apply to doors that end missions. There are some exceptions, such as the spiral room in M15 and the mirror-world courtyard in M19 where you need to hit "interact" at the door and holding will do nothing.

MOVEMENT

From fastest to slowest, the means of movement are ranked as follows:

1. Vortex 2
2. Vortex 1
3. Stinger 2
4. DT running
5. Rolling
6. Walk jumping
7. Walking

ORB ROUTE

It is best to buy in bulk for items and abilities. It is faster to condence your buy list into fewer shop visits. I will list my personal buy list first, but in the walkthrough I will only list what is needed for that mission so you can make your own. You must also be able to modify your buy list on the fly. This is my ideal buy list, not the one I use every time because runs won't always go your way.

M3 - Stinger 2 M4 - 3 Holy Water, Air Raid M8 - 1 PO, Air Hike M9 - Nothing (Pick up 2 Devil Stars) M10 - 4 Holy Water M12 - 3 Holy Water (Pick up Untouchable, pick up Devil Star) M14 - Vortex 2 (Pick up Holy Water) M15 - Max Holy Water M17 - PO, Max Holy Water M18 - 1 Holy Water M19 - 5 Holy Water M21 - Nothing (Pick up Holy Water) M22 - PO, 3 DS

THE MISSIONS

Mission 1

• On start up, full jumping up the staircases can save some easy time before you even enter the Castle.
• The horse jump is a half jump, full jump onto the horse's neck. Then turn towards the spear and full jump. Turn towards the door and full jump again and you should get the orb cache mid-jump. "Half jump, full jump, turn jump, turn jump."
• The cutscene after getting the Rusty Key will end when the bottom of the Bloody Mary's right fist lines up with the top of the brick.
• In the basement, try to prioritize the purple marionette. Light blue and greens will die in six hits. The purple will take ten.
• As soon as the pile in the middle are dead, get whatever orbs you can quickly on your way to one of the side doors. While the doors are opening, make sure to look and see what's spawning at the door in the back of the room. Quickly kill the 2 side door puppets. Once they're dead, jump and mash shoot in the direction of one of the other doors. When you land, keep walking towards the puppets you're shooting at and continue to mash shoot. Never jump more than once towards a door or puppets or you'll lose time. You'll make up for walk-shooting by closing the distance to the enemy. Once one dies, immediately let go off lock-on and then re-lock-on to your new target. Try to be waiting close to the elevator if possible.
• Upstairs in the plane room, you should try to group the marionettes up as best you can. One good was to do this is to 1, 2, high time, helmbreaker the first two green marionettes together. This will push them back, allowing you to mop up with easy slash cancels. Try to group up enemies with the bloody mary. Taking multiple enemies out at the same time is the key here.

Mission 2

• Jump walk up the stairs towards Alastor
• Get the orb cache in the courtyard now if you want, or you can get it on Mission 4.
• In the hallway to the casket, stick to your right or Dante's left. Sticking to the outside of the hallway will make sure the kunai never hit you. You can jump walk over the puppets to the corner for the casket.
• Sin scissors. Everyone's favorite. You want them to attack when they do a horizontal snip. That allows easy crits and easy kills. If you get a vertical snip, you must wait until after the snip to get the crit. If you do it too soon you'll get parried.
• I have yet to find anything really consistent here, but I just reset if I get a time greater than 2:00. M2 is probably my biggest weakness at the moment. I'll be looking into ways to improve it and look for consistency and hopefully I'll be back soon to update this part.
• Shotgun has recently been found to be viable at a high level. If you would like, pick it up here. The timeloss from equipping it can be earned back later.

Mission 3 (Stinger 2)

• After the lightning strike, Stinger to the center of the underwater dome. Activate DT upon spawn and Stinger to take out 3 skulls, then quickly deactivate it. You should have 3 more skulls to kill and those six Stingers should refill your DT guage.
• If you're going with the shotgun route, stand evenly between two skulls to cause them to attack you. When they do, jump and shotgun. This is the fastest way to clear this room.

Mission 4 (1 Holy Water)

• I prefer to grab the courtyard orb cache here
• Cat despawn is a difficult trick but can be done here. When the Shadow spawns, get up close to it and attack it with either E&I or the Shotgun. The idea here is to cause the Shadow to flee left into the wall, clip through, and die. Luck and the proper feel for this trick is needed.
• While waiting for the shadow to die, jump up to the door to the next area and wait. If the red shadow tries to eat you, let it. A B rank doesn't matter here and it'll be faster than letting him spasm all over the room to die who knows when.
• Alternatively you can stand above the hole where the shadow despawns for an easy jump down to the orbs. When standing above this hole, the Shadow rarely follows you and quickly dies. If the shadow starts a lunging animation before this and crosses over, the shadow may not die because it thinks it is farther away.
• Don't let Dante be attracted to any enemies and stinger up the staircase

Mission 5

• Wall hiking up the broken bridge seems to be faster to exit the coutyard after killing Shadow. This jump is tricky. You want to angle Dante towards the pillar, let the left stick go back to neutral in the air, then angle left towards the ledge and full jump again. Dante should mantle and save you a few seconds if you get it first try.
• Use your DT to run to the cache after killing the Shadow. Make sure your DT is off by the time the door cutscene happens so you get DT regen from the Shadow death.
• Be careful about jumping for the orb cache at an inopportune time during the door cutscene. Half the orb cache can become unrecoverable. This will lose you the Special Bonus.
• When entering the spiral staircase room, helmbreaker to the bottom and make sure you hit both sin scythes on the way down. If you do not, you will not have enough DT for Mission 6.

Mission 6 (2 Holy Water)

• When picking up the rusty key, it seems to be faster to jump towards the door before using your first Holy Water and 3 well placed stingers will put you right at the door with full DT.

Mission 7 (Air Raid)

• When Phantom shows up, take two steps, then two jump walks, then go through the door. You'll never get hit again.
• Stinger 45 degrees into the middle of the hallway. Then four more stingers straight down the hallway. Then jump, Air Raid, shoot six times.
• Grab the orbs. Full jump into the third Sin Scythe's orbs towards the door. Stinger. You should be at the door before the cutscene and you'll have collected the orbs.
• Full jump to the light wheel and try not to get hit for your S rank. Stinger, 1, stinger on the light wheel. If you get grabbed in the right spot by the large bug, it is faster if your slash to escape hits the light wheel. You will fill it up in one go and a grab does not count as damage taken.

Mission 8 (Purple Orb, Air Hike)

• Phantom 2 can be annoying. The same basic strategy as Phantom 1 is used here. Crit him with helmbreaker. But you don't start behind him this time. Phantom can be manipulated to be consistent though. If you stun Phantom, he will charge straight forward. So as soon as the fight starts, get against the wall so Phantom is facing the wall. Then stun him (2 DT, Air Hike Helmbreakers works great and is very accurate, but a DT stinger should do the trick as well but remember he starts the fight jumping straight at you). Once Phantom has been stunned, he will charge into the wall. Get behind him and get your free crits.
• After activating the trident and exiting into the staircase room, walk down the staircase until the camera shifts and you're following Dante down the steps. On Dante's 2nd or 3rd step, active DT and run down the rest of the steps into the next room.
• In the next room, check to make sure you have enough DT to activate as you Stinger to the door.

Mission 9

• Stinger down the bridge to the spiral staircase. There's an optional Devil Star behind the obelisk at the top of the stairs. DT, then jump over the railing onto the spiral stairs and run down to the bottom.
• Grenade roll to build DT. Waiting about half a second after getting control of Dante following the Blade cutscene will normally put the first two blades together, giving you a GL shot that builds more DT than usual. Once your DT is full, then jump walk to Ifrit. Don't waste time shooting more GL shots after you've already got DT.
• Stinger to the Devil Star side (left) instead of the yellow orb side (right), pick up the Devil Star if you want, and perform the Quick Ifrit jump.
• For the forest of puppets, just try to be on top of their spawns, prioritize Fetishes, and don't be afraid to use your DT. This is a huge room where time saves come from just playing well. I never feel that this room is fast enough. 15 Marionettes total, including 3 Fetishes spawn here. Keep count and be close to the door when the 15th kill comes.
• Do not spam your GL here. Wait until the enemy lands, then shoot. Missed shots are lost time. Slow is smooth, smooth is fast.
• Stinger or DT run down the stairs to the end

Mission 10 (2 Holy Waters)

• Make sure to jump through any screen transitions to save time. You can stinger through the first two screen transitions, but a stinger will not save time on the third and final screen.
• Stay close to the purple in the first screen during your Stingers so you don't accidentally kill him. The more range on a stinger, the more damage.
• As soon as you get control of Dante in the second creen, grenade roll, jump, Air Raid, kill the two other sin scythes. Then DT run or Stinger to the end. I get the orb cache at the obelisk here.
• If you're about to inevitably be clipped on the third screen by a blade, pause and HW immediately. If not, full jump forward and then HW. With the extra distance, you should be able to stinger right to the end before new blades spawn.
• Safety HW with the Kyclops if you need it

Mission 11 (2 Holy Waters)

• After returning from the blade tunnel and on your way to fight Nelo, DT run to your right and you can cut directly through the stone wall around the tree on your way to the boss room. If you go to the left you have to go too far around.
• This is maybe the most execution heavy mission. Not much information, just skill is what you need to get through this one quickly.

Mission 12 (3 Holy Waters)

• Stinger to the puppets, then DT run to the water. Stinger into the water.
• Grab the Untouchable if you want it. No use in coming back for it now that we don't go by IGT. You're already here and in no danger of getting hit unlike in Mission 13.
• Grab the Devil Star next to the Needlegun if you need it.
• If you don't get the double on the Death Scythe, be ready to jump as soon as the HW iFrames end because he will almost always be just about to hit you. Get that quick DT helmbreaker.
• Remember to grab the Death Scythe's orbs for the S rank.

Mission 13

• Get sub 0:40 S rank. You can hold lock-on to move Dante better to line him up for shoots. If you need to turn quickly, use the melee button.

Mission 14 (Vortex 2)

• Make sure to get the Holy Water in the interlude
• Stick towards the inside of the wall when stingering to the skeleton switch and vortexing to the elevator, but watch for spike holes too. If you need to change your Vortex direction, try to do it when you're over a spot on the floor that has no spike holes.
• Hit the jump at the top of the elevator and make sure to stinger again while transitioning to the next stage. You want to be mid-stinger when you go through the door. Stinger to the left as soon as possible in the next room. No matter what enemy spawns you will still stinger launch to the bottom of the cliffs. No more RNG.
• Stinger the first marionette, then GL to fill DT between the 2 red orb doors and finish with full DT.
• If done correctly and there are no living enemies Dante is currently engaged with, you will be able to Stinger in the round red orb room next to the end-mission door.

Mission 15 (3 Holy Waters, Untouchable)

• Safety Holy Water on top of the beginning of the mission.
• THE ZETTA. This is such a big time saver. We're going to do Zetta's Untouchable strat for the spiral spike room, which means using our Untouchable for the run here in the spiral spike room instead of Mundus 2. Use the extended Untouchable DT length to Vortex in and Vortex right back out. Make sure you're quick, because if you keep a full DT bar if you exit back to the stairs while the Untouchable is still active. This will get you a C rank for Mission 15 though, so make sure you factor this into your orb routing.
• Ignore the side room and go straight to Griff.

Mission 16 (1 Holy Water)

• After leaving the stadium, Vortex to the exit and refill DT with grenade rolls quickly.
• DT run up the stairs and Vortex to the bridge.
• Know when the Plasma will die, normally from a grenade, so you can get as close as possible to the door before the cutscene. Helmbreaker, High time, grenade, hightime, grenade is a kill.
• Vortex down the hallway to Nightmare. Don't stop for more DT on the way, just take tight corners and angles.
• Just before the door to Nightmare there is a 100 orb cache in the ceiling. Wall hike on the left wall while looking for the door. If you get this cache, you can leave 3 orbs at the end of the mission to be picked up later in M19 for an S rank there as well.
• By switching to Ifrit immediately before activating the Nightmare fight, you will have plenty of time to always grenade roll your DT bar full before Nightmare exposes his core.

Mission 17 (Purple Orb, 5 Holy Waters)

• The frosts that jump on you after the cutscene seems to hit much less often with a half jump to the left as soon as Dante becomes controllable again. Jump as soon as possible after the cutscene being skipped. Rolls work great too.
• Manage DT levels so you can Vortex to and from the dinosaur room easily. When leaving the dinosaur room, you should be able to recharge DT quickly on the first spawning puppet, then Vortex to Nelo 3.

Mission 18 (1 Holy Water)

• When swimming to the sin scissor room, hug the left wall and angle yourself to the left when you make the room transition. This will put you in front of the sin scissor who will no longer have a chance to run away behind you. No more RNG.
• After getting the egg at the top of the flooded staircase, do one half jump perpendicular to the railing and let yourself drop. When you land, stinger to the door.
• During Nightmare 2, stay away from the light wheels. They can attract Dante's attacks instead of hitting Nightmare's core like you want.

Mission 19 (2 Holy Waters)

• This one is pretty straight forward. I use a Devil Star right before jumping into the underworld to make sure I start Mission 20 with full DT.
• Depending on how you did M16 you may want to pick up all 3 orb caches. If you do not use an item, you will get an S rank here. That's 1,000 more orbs than an A at this stage.

Mission 20 (2 Holy Waters, Optional Purple Orb)

• Start with an immediate Vortex down the hall way to the Nightmare door, drop to your feet and enter. This should easily give you a sub :50 time considering nothing goes wrong with the Nightmare fight itself.

Mission 21

• Grenade shoot across the 2nd room to break the switch.
• Air raid and stinger, grenade the Nobodies. Most of the time the Air Raid will knock them into small mode, but not always. Works best to Air Raid them from behind.
• ALWAYS COSMO CLIMB. It will become consistent. Don't be scared. You can do it.

Mission 22 (Purple Orb, 4 Devil Stars)

• Starting with a full six bar DT will ensure you only need four DT Dragon hits to end Mundus 1. Mundus 1 requires 21 total runes of Devil Trigger to defeat.
• Starting with a full seven bars of DT will allow you to 3 cycle Mundus 1. Make sure you use 2 devil stars each cycle to properly fill your DT to seven runes each time. This is faster.
• When 1, 2, hightime-ing Mundus to death, watch your health. Refill DT with a DS when you're down to one rune left. If you have been hit up to this point, then after you use a DS, also use your Vital Star. If you have no been hit, you should be good to only use the DS. The lava can only hurt you and cannot kill you, and you have enough leeway with your health to survive one attack. I only use Vital Star if I have been hit or if Mundus does his needle rain move. Either way, just keep an eye on your health and DT, and do not stop attacking. When you open your menu for items, make sure you do it in between combos. 1, 2, hightime then menu. Don't interupt the combo.

Mission 23 (2 Holy Waters, 1 Devil Star)

• Use the Maxylaunch in the first Frost room to save a good handful of seconds. If you hit an invisible wall it means you're slightly too far up.
• DT grenade roll to hit one, grenade roll to hit the other, HW for Nobodies
• Vortex back to the entrance to the human world in the second Frost room
• HW the blades and get as close to the door as possible before the door cutscene
• When Vortexing Mundus, try to go as straight forward as possible. The less you have to turn and adjust your angle, the more damage you do, and the quicker Mundus dies.
• For the airplane escape, hold DOWN on the RIGHT control stick to increase speed. Do NOT hold UP. If you hold up, you will die. Hold DOWN to increase speed. It's a plane. Try to not get hit and escape as quickly as you can.

I will try to update this somewhat frequently as more information is discovered or remembered. If any runner--even a new runner who hasn't done his first run yet--has any questions, please don't hesitate to message me and ask. Even if your question is really minor, I'm always willing to help someone out and answer any questions.