Shovel Knight

CptBrian

Edit history:

CptBrian: 2014-07-25 04:08:48 am

2014-07-25 04:08:07 am

Relax

Nothing, that's why it's low%.
RNG is the toughest part, really. (once you get everything else down)

Timo

2014-07-25 05:01:10 am

.

Quote from Ivanthemoderate:

Just started practicing low% today and man its super tough but fun! What is all included in it?

I don't think the stages are all that hard in Low%, I have some hard time with the bosses tho

CptBrian

Edit history:

CptBrian: 2014-07-25 03:23:29 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-25 03:20:03 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-25 03:03:31 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-25 03:03:21 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-25 02:52:44 pm

2014-07-25 02:51:57 pm

Relax

Other way around for me. Lots of stupid ways to die in the stages, especially with all the RNG enemies or if you somehow don't grab a ladder in Stranded Ship. I don't find the bosses nearly as difficult, unless they get some ridiculous hits on you. Like Treasure Knight can do 2 damage with multiple attacks and he can throw the chest very early.

Let's see.. Plains: you can lose up to 4 seconds if the slime RNG is bad enough, BK1 is not RNG, but the stunlock is very easy to get wrong.
Pridemoor: Flying Rat RNG can slow you down a lot in the beginning or even kill you if you get really bad RNG over a pit and don't hit them.
Map: Bad RNG after this can make you lose a minimum of 5 seconds if rerolled by entering/exiting Troupple Pond.
Lich Yard: Frog RNG is ridiculous here. The first jumping frog has at least a 50% chance of making you lose 1-2 seconds. The 2nd giant skeleton also has a very RNG activation timing, can lose 1-3 seconds depending on if he gets a hit on you or just activates really late. Frogs over the pits can easily kill you. There's a chance the frog to the right of the moving platform can hit you with its electricity, losing a second. Specter Knight's teleport RNG means he can either teleport to the left or right of the screen. You can get bad RNG multiple times on this fight, losing 10-30 seconds alone on this fight.
Map: Bad RNG here can make you lose quite a bit of time since you won't have access to Troupple Pond, especially if blocked more than once.
Explodatorium: I have very consistent strats in this stage that make for almost zero RNG, Plague Knight has some RNG, but I also consistently kill him in 10-20 seconds. The slime RNG on the breakable platforms can ruin everything, so there's that.
Map: You'll always either be able to go for Lost City or Iron Whale regardless of the RNG here, but for the sake of splits, bad RNG here can waste a lot of time if you don't want to change up the stage order. Do not enter the Armor Outpost to reroll map RNG. It will make Baz spawn.
Iron Whale: The anchors aren't RNG but they can easily get you killed, as well as the giant fish chase. As I said above, Treasure Knight has a decent chance of killing you as multiple of his attacks do 2 damage and there isn't much cooldown, and his attack hitboxes are huge. You also really don't want him to throw the chest early. The one guy that throws the anchor before the anchor room has very threatening RNG. He can knock you into the pit with his anchor throw or straight up kill you if you enter with low health or manage to get hit a lot by him.
Map: Shouldn't get blocked at all here.
Lost City: Slime RNG everywhere, can get you killed in multiple places without much effort. Other than that the stage is easy and Mole Knight is very easy.
Map: RNG hell begins now. Chance for the previous encounter to block your path, a high chance for the next encounter to block your path, and the BK2 encounter also has a chance of blocking your path.
Stranded Ship: Not much actual RNG here, all I can think of is the dragon whelps, but this stage is extremely dangerous even without it. Tons of pits, easy ways to get knocked down into them, a lot of ladders you may not grab, spikes, hammer guys and wizards. There's a lot that can go wrong here. Polar Knight isn't a threat via damage taken, but the spikes in this fight have a decent chance of killing you. This stage overall is very tech-heavy.
Map: RNG hell continues. Another encounter spawns.
Clockwork Tower: The torpedoes. Oh my god. They alone can destroy a run. Their spawn positions and quantity are RNG. All the knights in this stage have some RNG that can slow you down or kill you(red knight, white knight). Tinker phase 1 has RNG too, but he's fairly easy.
Map: RNG hell continues.
Flying Machine: Green wind ninjas. That's what I call them. They are the absolute worst. There's a high chance they'll knock you into a pit at some point in the stage. Other than that, no RNG I can think of right now, not even the boss.
Propeller Knight has thrust delays you may see as RNG right now, but he has 3 or 4 sets of delays that are set each time you enter the fight. Luckily it always starts on the same set and cycles through the next sets in the same order on respawn. So they're not RNG.
Map: RNG hell continues, can get really bad to the point you get blocked 6+ times in a row while heading for Tower of Fate, even with title screen trick.
Tower of Fate Entrance: Flying Rat RNG can kill you here, in a couple rooms. Green Wind Ninja RNG right before the final checkpoint has about a 50% chance of blowing you into a pit.
Map: No map RNG from this point on, I think the furthest an encounter can land is on ToF:Entrance. Overall you could have lost 2+ minutes to map RNG.
Tower of Fate Ascent: Slime RNG in the room with about 15 slimes. White Knight has a low chance of messing you up with his RNG. Slimes on sideways crushing platforms in beginning of autoscroller, but almost never a problem. Can't forget the boss refights.
Tower of Fate Top: E1 and E2 fights both have RNG. Shield Knight may even get you killed.
This is stuff you have to deal with in every run. Low% at least.

(I said "RNG" 38 times in this post)

Other way around for me. Lots of stupid ways to die in the stages, especially with all the RNG enemies or if you somehow don't grab a ladder in Stranded Ship. I don't find the bosses nearly as difficult, unless they get some ridiculous hits on you. Like Treasure Knight can do 2 damage with multiple attacks and he can throw the chest very early.

Let's see.. [u]Plains:[/u] you can lose up to 4 seconds if the slime RNG is bad enough, BK1 is not RNG, but the stunlock is very easy to get wrong.
[u]Pridemoor:[/u] Flying Rat RNG can slow you down a lot in the beginning or even kill you if you get really bad RNG over a pit and don't hit them.
[b]Map:[/b] Bad RNG after this can make you lose a minimum of 5 seconds if rerolled by entering/exiting Troupple Pond.
[u]Lich Yard:[/u] Frog RNG is ridiculous here. The first jumping frog has at least a 50% chance of making you lose 1-2 seconds. The 2nd giant skeleton also has a very RNG activation timing, can lose 1-3 seconds depending on if he gets a hit on you or just activates really late. Frogs over the pits can easily kill you. There's a chance the frog to the right of the moving platform can hit you with its electricity, losing a second. Specter Knight's teleport RNG means he can either teleport to the left or right of the screen. You can get bad RNG multiple times on this fight, losing 10-30 seconds alone on this fight.
[b]Map:[/b] Bad RNG here can make you lose quite a bit of time since you won't have access to Troupple Pond, especially if blocked more than once.
[u]Explodatorium:[/u] I have very consistent strats in this stage that make for almost zero RNG, Plague Knight has some RNG, but I also consistently kill him in 10-20 seconds. The slime RNG on the breakable platforms can ruin everything, so there's that.
[b]Map:[/b] You'll always either be able to go for Lost City or Iron Whale regardless of the RNG here, but for the sake of splits, bad RNG here can waste a lot of time if you don't want to change up the stage order. Do not enter the Armor Outpost to reroll map RNG. It will make Baz spawn.
[u]Iron Whale:[/u] The anchors aren't RNG but they can easily get you killed, as well as the giant fish chase. As I said above, Treasure Knight has a decent chance of killing you as multiple of his attacks do 2 damage and there isn't much cooldown, and his attack hitboxes are huge. You also really don't want him to throw the chest early. The one guy that throws the anchor [i]before[/i] the anchor room has very threatening RNG. He can knock you into the pit with his anchor throw or straight up kill you if you enter with low health or manage to get hit a lot by him.
[b]Map:[/b] Shouldn't get blocked at all here.
[u]Lost City:[/u] Slime RNG everywhere, can get you killed in multiple places without much effort. Other than that the stage is easy and Mole Knight is very easy.
[b]Map:[/b] RNG hell begins now. Chance for the previous encounter to block your path, a high chance for the next encounter to block your path, and the BK2 encounter also has a chance of blocking your path.
[u]Stranded Ship:[/u] Not much actual RNG here, all I can think of is the dragon whelps, but this stage is extremely dangerous even without it. Tons of pits, easy ways to get knocked down into them, a lot of ladders you may not grab, spikes, hammer guys and wizards. There's a lot that can go wrong here. Polar Knight isn't a threat via damage taken, but the spikes in this fight have a decent chance of killing you. This stage overall is very tech-heavy.
[b]Map:[/b] RNG hell continues. Another encounter spawns.
[u]Clockwork Tower:[/u] The torpedoes. Oh my god. They alone can destroy a run. Their spawn positions and quantity are RNG. All the knights in this stage have some RNG that can slow you down or kill you(red knight, white knight). Tinker phase 1 has RNG too, but he's fairly easy.
[b]Map:[/b] RNG hell continues.
[u]Flying Machine:[/u] Green wind ninjas. That's what I call them. They are the absolute worst. There's a high chance they'll knock you into a pit at some point in the stage. Other than that, no RNG I can think of right now, not even the boss.
Propeller Knight has thrust delays you may see as RNG right now, but he has 3 or 4 sets of delays that are set each time you enter the fight. Luckily it always starts on the same set and cycles through the next sets in the same order on respawn. So they're not RNG.
[b]Map:[/b] RNG hell continues, can get [i]really[/i] bad to the point you get blocked 6+ times in a row while heading for Tower of Fate, even with title screen trick.
[u]Tower of Fate Entrance:[/u] Flying Rat RNG can kill you here, in a couple rooms. Green Wind Ninja RNG right before the final checkpoint has about a 50% chance of blowing you into a pit.
[b]Map:[/b] No map RNG from this point on, I think the furthest an encounter can land is on ToF:Entrance. Overall you could have lost 2+ minutes to map RNG.
[u]Tower of Fate Ascent:[/u] Slime RNG in the room with about 15 slimes. White Knight has a low chance of messing you up with his RNG. Slimes on sideways crushing platforms in beginning of autoscroller, but almost never a problem. Can't forget the boss refights.
[u]Tower of Fate Top:[/u] E1 and E2 fights both have RNG. Shield Knight may even get you killed.
This is stuff you have to deal with in every run. Low% at least.

[i](I said "RNG" 38 times in this post)[/i]

HalfSpaffed

2014-07-25 11:46:12 pm

@CptBrian Maybe I just have really good luck, but so far with the first three stages I've had very consistent runs- you can lose maybe a second here and there but it's not horrible

CptBrian

Edit history:

CptBrian: 2014-07-27 03:37:44 am

CptBrian: 2014-07-26 12:42:56 am

CptBrian: 2014-07-26 12:15:41 am

CptBrian: 2014-07-26 12:14:37 am

2014-07-26 12:13:13 am

Relax

57:24 Low% http://www.twitch.tv/cptbrian/c/4747228

The worst part of this run is dropping over 9000 frames.
See the twitch highlight description for more info.
I shouldn't have much of a problem getting sub-57 at this rate, or sub-56 if I get really good RNG.
After the new gold splits, my sum of best is sitting at 54:19.
YT link if you want it:
The sound desynced somewhere in the YT vid, but it's fine on Twitch VoD.

Copilot

2014-07-26 10:15:22 am

Ruling the cosmos!

Yo, I love those emotes, that's amazing. But yeah, I'm really impressed, Brian, your work on low% is really amazing.

CptBrian

Edit history:

CptBrian: 2016-04-29 07:46:37 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-07 12:49:48 am

CptBrian: 2014-08-06 11:44:59 pm

2014-07-26 02:16:23 pm

Relax

Edit: Anyone can use these emotes. I don't care what you do with them. I don't want anything to do with SK anymore.
---
Thanks. I made a whole bunch I submitted to FFZ, so they can be used on my channel as long as FFZ is installed.

Forgot to submit a slime one, but whatever. I don't plan on getting partnered or anything, so I just use FFZ, as a lot of channels do.

About my previous Plains vid, I can improve 0.5-1 sec at most, and I messed up the beginning of the room with a bunch of sand blocks. @Alx, I have a bunch of other small optimizations in Plains to save frames. Grats on 1:00:52 low%!
Edit: new Plains pb http://www.hitbox.tv/video/191303 (alt:

HalfSpaffed

2014-07-26 07:28:01 pm

Has there been any discussion on getting the Phase Locket in any%? I just don't feel it is necessary (maybe I'm missing a trick somewhere?), can't anything it skips be damage boosted-through anyway? It would save a lot of gold and probably a good 20 seconds. I dunno, I'm still learning each level at this point.

Also, Copilot, your tutorials for any% are awesome! Very handy, is anything super out of date in them?

Kambing

2014-07-26 08:19:17 pm

In addition to being a strong safety net, it has a bit of use, e.g., brute forcing down polar knight. Also, it's relatively quick to get (along with the useful fire wand) if you intend on going back to town at all after the first set of levels.

Copilot

2014-07-26 11:04:14 pm

Ruling the cosmos!

Basically what Kambing said. I'm honestly not sure myself of if it's worth it to get, but there are a couple skips that I can think of where it's definitely really worth. As far as my tutorial goes, nothing's too out of date yet, though I'm starting to lean more towards Drake's current route, so most of the first two levels (not counting plains) will be really different, and I'll try and update that sometime soon. It's like Kambing said, Drake's current route skips the items in the levels, but then gets them in the village, and besides that the only big difference is an extra chest in Mole Knight's stage to accommodate the massive loss of gold.

And thank you, I appreciate the recognition.

CptBrian

Edit history:

CptBrian: 2015-07-29 02:07:45 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-27 05:15:53 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-27 05:15:12 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-27 05:12:42 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-27 04:44:38 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-27 04:44:12 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-27 04:41:57 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-27 04:13:47 pm

2014-07-27 04:12:48 pm

Relax

-snip-

Timo

2014-07-27 06:34:09 pm

.

Here is my take on the unholy gaystrat. Doesn't save as much time and is a lot easier to do (it can still be ass to get the bird in the right position tho). Shame I missed the jump on the video haha, I'll take a new one someday

CptBrian

Edit history:

CptBrian: 2014-07-27 08:50:03 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-27 08:49:47 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-27 08:06:12 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-27 08:05:46 pm

2014-07-27 07:58:46 pm

Relax

56:44 Low% http://www.twitch.tv/cptbrian/c/4761205 (55FPS) I didn't drop frames this time.
YT link (30FPS)
1 death, to E1. Made me lose 1:20... I'll try for sub-56 soon.

Btw, is capping to 60 going to be required? I think it should be since there are differences with higher framerates. It's the only way to keep an even playing field.

Also, here's my Pridemoor Keep: http://www.twitch.tv/cptbrian/c/4761547
I think that 55FPS lowered my quality a little bit... going to go back to 45.

Timo

Edit history:

Timo: 2014-07-28 04:13:22 am

Timo: 2014-07-28 04:13:06 am

2014-07-28 04:12:35 am

.

-snip-

Capndrake

Edit history:

Capndrake: 2014-07-28 09:16:08 am

2014-07-28 09:15:09 am

Quote from Copilot:

and besides that the only big difference is an extra chest in Mole Knight's stage to accommodate the massive loss of gold.

Well, there's actually three different ways to deal with this, depending on what happens before Mole Knight:

1) Kill both knights in the first dream, which is pretty tricky and somewhat RNG dependent (If Shield Knight is already falling but you think you can still kill the second one, do it)
2) Get everything during the first Mole Knight autoscroller including the chest in the wall at the end
3) Run into the first knight on the overworld and get both pink gems, which wastes the most time, but might as well be done if he's in your way

CptBrian

Edit history:

CptBrian: 2014-07-28 07:43:53 pm

2014-07-28 06:43:58 pm

Relax

55:28 Low% http://www.twitch.tv/cptbrian/c/4768752
YT link: (30 FPS on here messes up invincibility)
Deathless! Some bad map RNG and bad Specter RNG.
Sub 55:30

HalfSpaffed

2014-07-29 01:53:44 pm

@CptBrian Holy shit you're tearing this game up man, good work.

Anyway, so this is the first game I've been trying to speed run, right? HOW THE HELL do you guys deal with the anger? Haha, like I can get levels down for IL runs and they're consistent, I can get some decent relatively-granny-strat runs in several times in a row, but as soon as I start an actual run, everything goes out the window, and I'll undoubtedly fall in a pit at some point or lose to a boss I've never lost to before.

Which, in any% where every checkpoint is broken, realllllly sucks (run is absolutely over with a death).

CptBrian

Edit history:

CptBrian: 2014-07-29 08:47:52 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-29 06:41:17 pm

CptBrian: 2014-07-29 06:38:49 pm

2014-07-29 06:28:28 pm

Relax

Here's a 100% consistent strat for what I believe is the fastest way to kill E2 in low%
http://www.twitch.tv/cptbrian/c/4776704
I posted before about the opening strat, but didn't have consistent strats for the rest of the fight. Now, all you need to do is rely on Shield Knight once, in the beginning, where she doesn't have RNG. So this is good.

Also you can stunlock BK3 the same way as BK1 in low%, for the entire fight. He dies in about 10 seconds, but it's hard as hell to do. The one time I did it I wasn't recording, and then I tried for an hour on stream and couldn't get it. Each hit may have to be frame perfect, and it saves a lot of time, but I can't see myself ever doing it in a run.
Edit: Got it. http://www.twitch.tv/cptbrian/c/4777686
The rain destroys quality.

BustahWuff

2014-08-01 12:48:19 am

R U OK

Hi all, new to the game but I've been practicing hard in any%. Here is what I think is the optimal way of killing King Knight with no relics. It can definitely be done at least .5 secs faster because of a missed attack at the end, but can it be optimized further than that?

CptBrian

2014-08-01 05:50:55 pm

Relax

Nice King Knight. I figured it would be faster to mix in normal attacks with pogos, but I was too lazy to deal with the chaos of making that consistent. It's about 3-5 seconds faster than just pogoing.

Timo

Edit history:

Timo: 2014-08-01 07:56:58 pm

2014-08-01 07:53:55 pm

.

Thats pretty much perfect, maybe just optimization with the excecution. I added it to the Trick Document. If you find more things please update them there so we have a neat place to find everything from, I've been adding the videos there mostly so far lmao

CptBrian

Edit history:

CptBrian: 2016-04-29 07:48:26 pm

CptBrian: 2015-07-29 02:12:37 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:59:28 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:56:59 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:56:33 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:55:37 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:52:40 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:43:51 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:43:20 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:42:42 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:42:31 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:40:44 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:36:03 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:35:23 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:34:36 pm

CptBrian: 2014-08-01 08:34:25 pm

2014-08-01 08:32:41 pm

Relax

-removed-

BustahWuff

2014-08-02 12:08:15 am

R U OK

First hop is normal all others are short hops. It took me a whole day to figure that out and record it but now I can do it 2/5 tries on pc and 3ds ver so I promise you can do it consistently with practice its just got a lot of subtle tricks to it.

Copilot

Edit history:

Copilot: 2014-08-02 03:26:04 pm

2014-08-02 09:47:46 am

Ruling the cosmos!

Hey, so to anyone who watched my tutorial, I put up a new video on that last night that I would highly recommend you watch, it's important, and here's the link

Kambing

2014-08-02 03:20:19 pm

Copilot, the link seems to be broken. Is this the video that you were linking to?