Hello everyone, I've recently decided to tackle on the challenge of getting the WR in this category, and I've learnt a couple of things that can help you out to understand where most of the time is saved :

First, we have game language. The current best time is done using French as the language and from what i've seen, this actually saves around 20 seconds over English, so this is definitly a must.

Second, for the specific strategies, i'll split up the run in a couple segments, Run, Target Practice, Bot Practice, Push and Defuse.

RUN :

This is where your run starts, you get behind the door and start running before it opens, when you grab the Classic, the fastest way to destroy the drone is to left click and right click right after. You can start reloading almost instantly. This saves very little time but is an overall smoother method of doing the run. Once you pickup the Vandal, you need to align your crosshair with whatever helps you out, personally, if you look at my current PB, you'll see me align with 2 rocks and it works pretty well. Shooting the 2nd bot will start the Sova dialogue which is what saves time, so chaining both kills as fast as possible is key

TARGET PRACTICE :

Arguably the place you'll reset the most at first, the first instruction is to full spray the target, this is pretty hard to choke, considering you have a lot of space. The reset point however comes right after. Sova will ask you to continually spray for 15 bullets in a smaller target. You have to shoot precisely 15 bullets if you want to aim for the top spot, as the next thing you need to do is to shoot 10 bullets in ADS. Practicing the timing and the spray control will save you a lot of time on this part.

BOT PRACTICE :

This is by far the hardest segment of the run. You need to jump on the little broken pillar close to the barrier in order to be able to shoot all 3 corridor bots without moving. Aligning yourself properly is key, I would advise getting your own setup that works everytime or looking at the current WR. Afterwards, you have to shoot 4 bots that are strafing in random directions, you can save some time by learning the timing at which they spawn and pre-firing there, however working on your flicks will do the most. This is where your run time will be decided once you're sub 5:10.

PUSH :

The sequence here is pretty easy to do, all you have to do is listen to Brimstone, buy Heavy Armor as fast as possible, then buy Vandal, and then the Curve Ball. You should position yourself in front of Brimstone so you grab the spike instantly when he drops it to you (start running once phoenix finishes talking). Then you head towards garage, spam open your map as soon as you get in the blue zone, and wait some more. When you have to push garage, you can run for half a second before pressing shift. Once your at the door, just get your flash out and wait for the barrier to drop, then kill Jett however your prefer (1 tap, cut) and go plant. Jumping in cubby as soon as possible is important as it triggers Brimstone's script to move towards you earlier. Then, ult as soon as possible and go at the top of C long, pre aiming where Sova arrives and killing both him and Brimstone as fast as possible to get the spike to explode faster.

DEFUSE : [This part I would actually need some help for]

You have to buy armor as fast as possible, as it is blocking sage's speech, then the wall and right click to request a Vandal. You have to wait for the ping to appear before throwing your molly, however sometimes launching it slightly beforehand actually works. I didn't figure out what makes it work or not, so if you want to be safe, just wait for the ping. Once you've thrown it, you can start heading to the next blue area which is on the entry point of A site. There, wait for Jett to say that they are C before moving or the game will fade to black and rollback you. Once you've done this, just run towards C and wait for Sova to dart with your wall ready. You don't actually have to wait for the wall to be fully up to start pushing.

The defuse itself can be cancelled by the ennemies whether they are 4, 3, 2 or 1 depending on luck. On my current PB I shoot 3 of them because I had lost a run to Sage and Phoenix killing me right before. I genuinely don't know if it's purely luck based or not but generally having only Phoenix shooting at you is safe.

That's it for what I learnt and what I can share, I strongly advise looking at the WR to understand each and every details and learning about positioning and such.

I wish you to have fun (or try to) speedrunning Valorant's tutorial :D