Elden Ring and its speedrunning community are as active and competitive as ever. There are runners coming from all over to try their hand at completing this new FromSoftware title as fast as humanly possible. Runners are developing new strategies and shaving off mere seconds all in the hopes of claiming that lustrous world record achievement. One category, in particular, is gaining a lot of traction due to the sheer speed at which runners are completing the game.
The any-percent unrestricted category for Elden Ring is incredibly competitive. In the past month, runners and the community have discovered run-defining glitches and skips that have consistently cut times down to under 30 minutes. Possibly even more impressive is that with practice, these runners have been able to get their times under nine minutes.
Distortion2 is a longtime speedrunner known for running the various FromSoftware titles with great success. He is back at it again with Elden Ring and making sure to stay ahead of the pack. With glitches like the “zip glitch” in his back pocket, he’s been able to reclaim the world record once again from runners like Ginz, who previously had the world’s first sub-10-minute run, and Mitchriz, a previous world record holder who’s not far behind. These runners are all using the same routes and strategies, allowing fans to see the practice and near-perfection come out.
The current any-percent unrestricted strategy involves two different glitches. With these two tools available, runners do not have to damage bosses to defeat them. This saves a lot of time from having to get and upgrade the Icerind Hatchet, which was used in previous routes. The two major glitches or skips are the more recently found zip glitch and a previously known wrong-warp that skips the majority of the game.
The zip glitch got its name because it quite literally “zips” the character through the air at ridiculous speed. Where the character ends up is sort of random, but it’s an educated guess since the general area is known but the specific spot is not. This glitch is used to skip a lot of the game and helps get to the wrong warp quickly from the start. It’s also involved in skipping bosses like Maliketh and the Elden Beast and works by sending the character so far out of the map that the boss they’re fighting falls to its death.
The wrong warp has been around for a while and is responsible for skipping the vast majority of the game. Once runners get to the Belfry in Liurnia, they can take a portal to the Crumbling Farum Azula using an Imbued Sword Key. With a bit of speedrunning magic, and quitting out, the character ends up at the start of the Crumbling Farum Azula as if they’d just lit the Giant Forge.
Elden Ring speedrunning is at peak competition. Many runners are vying for world records in any category. Right now, the any-percent unrestricted category is the fastest with future times possibly coming in under eight minutes. Fans of the game are likely excited to watch the masterclass of gameplay and competition unfold in the coming days.
