MC Speedrunning 101
Dk Seo (ISB G12) + Evelyn Lau (ISB G12)
Minecraft, the origin story of many a legendary competitive esports player, has in recent years once again returned its former glory at the apex of the YouTube algorithm. With YouTubers such as Dream, DanTDM, TommyInnit, and Technoblade dominating the internet’s favorite streaming platforms, the sheer force and momentum of the 2019 Minecraft renaissance is undeniable (read more here: LINK TO DEEGAY’s old article).
Minecraft in itself is a game of endless opportunity. As a sandbox game, the player is given total freedom over what they do and how they interact with the world. Almost seemingly existentialist in its lack of objective, Minecraft seems to raise the question, “So... What now? WHY, GOD, HAVE WE BEEN LEFT TO WANDER THIS BLOCK PURGATORY FOR ALL OF ETERNITY?”. Luckily, Mojang was quick to swoop and save their customers from the excruciating search for meaning with the 1.0 update, where the End was added and slaying the Ender Dragon became the ultimate ‘objective’ of Minecraft. This soon gave way to many enthusiastic players attempting to speedrun the game.
Speedrunning is not a concept unique to Minecraft, familiar to players of Super Mario World and The Legend of Zelda. To reduce it to its bare bones, speedrunning is, very simply, beating the game as fast as possible. There are a plethora of distinct categories of speedrunning Minecraft ranging from SS, SSG, RS, and RSG to special categories such as the Icarus, where the player starts out with an elytra, an end-game item that grants the player flight with assistance from firework rockets. With a game such a Minecraft, most commonly associated with, well, 9-year-olds, speedrunning creates a sense of competition and an almost mature flair that elevates it above the ‘cringe’ label slapped onto the game. See, Mom, I’m an esports player, not a failure.
For this particular article, mostly due to our otherwise very limited experience, we’ll be looking at RSG runs (Random Seed Glitchless). Essentially, RSG means that the world seed for the game must be randomly generated and that glitches within the game are not allowed either. RSG, arguably, tests the player’s response to unfamiliar situations as opposed to SS (Set Seed) runs, which tests the fluidity of the player’s movement more than anything.
Speedrunning is definitely an interesting take on the game. For older players, perhaps building massive castles and ransacking woodland mansions have become stale, and you feel a deep, burning desire for something more than simply sitting on the top of the food chain and depleting the world of its resources. The solution? SPEEDRUN. For
newer players, maybe you haven’t seen the game at all and are completely unaware of these other dimensions Minecraft has to offer. The solution? SPEEDRUN. But in all seriousness, speedrunning is a great way to experience a good chunk of what makes up Minecraft as you’re forced into a perilous journey through all of the different dimensions of the game, interacting with different mobs, and finally greeted with a nonsensical essay at the end of the game as some sort of compensation for all the time you’ve lost crying over RNG factors you can’t control.
CO-OP RUNS VS SOLO RUNS
Within the different runs, there are even more specific categories. Minecraft speedrunning allows for co-op runs as well as solo runs, meaning that you may submit official runs with up to four players on a team. Obviously, there are some significant differences and, as your hand-holding sensei’s of speedrunning, we feel is it only sensible that we share some of our takes on co-op versus solo runs.
SOLO RUNS
For solo runs, the obvious advantage is that, in a single-player run, you’re in full control. You are responsible for you, and there’s no need for the frantic screeching over call in poor attempts to
communicate with your teammate(s). Arguably, solo runs could almost be more time-efficient for runners with clear routing planned out and quick responses to when things take tOf course, this means that you have to be fully equipped with all the necessary items and skills to beat the game by yourself, and it is this demand for a whole training arc and a half that we suggest solo runs are attempted by more experienced players.
Of course, that doesn’t mean solo runs shouldn’t be attempted by newer players shooting for PBs (Personal Best) or even a WR (World Record). Solo runs are a great opportunity to polish game skills even if you should choose not to time the run, and it is much easier to improve a solo run time than a co-op time.
CO-OP RUNS
Ah, co-op runs. We ourselves have attempted several variations of the co-op run, with up to four players screaming over each other as the timer ticks away, and we have come to the following conclusion: co-op runs require near-perfect coordination between teammates.
Some players make the mistake of assuming that, within a larger team, the overall time can be reduced through distributing tasks to maximize efficiency. WRONG. Unless the four of you share the same set of brain cells, this is rarely the case solely because communication is quite difficult among so many people. More time is spent trying to locate teammates than actually being productive. Furthermore, it is often hard to find four individuals with balanced skill levels.
From our own experiences, we conclude that two is the golden number. Two is a good number as, with a partner, you can split up tasks to be efficient, but you also don’t have to worry about trying to regroup as locating each other is much easier and quicker. Furthermore, it is much easier to get used to each other’s playing styles and skill levels, making teamwork much smoother and harmonious. Pick a friend and pray you don’t get sick of them after hours of practice runs.
SPEEDRUNNING GUIDE
So, onto the real question. How does one actually begin a speedrun? For your convenience, we’ve boiled the process down as much as possible with a time-stamp guide for a sub-30 run (which isn’t WR, but we all have to start somewhere, right?).
PRE-GAME SET UP
Before you even open a world, our advice is to first take some steps to maximize your chances of breaking the sound barrier. Our first tip is to install OptiFine. OF, for those who don’t know, is a mod that can help your game run smoother and look a bit better. That ugly Nether fog? Kiss it goodbye, for you’ll never have to look at it ever again with OptiFine. Also, the zoom feature is a perk that can save much travel time. Of course, other mods are allowed but be sure to do your research first to avoid having your run disqualified and being accused of cheating (*cough*).
We also advise having a basic strategy down — whether you go for ocean strats and look for sunken ships or place all your bets on a village, be sure to have a rough idea of routing that you could take just so you don’t end up spinning around in circles for the first precious 5 minutes of game time.
Other than that, grab your Mountain Dew and Doritos — we ’bout to go fast.
OVERWORLD RESOURCE GATHERING
Begin with logs. Always. As with any Minecraft world, the first thing you should do is punch a tree to gather logs. That is unless you’ve been blessed with a village, then in which case punching trees is for peasants, and you are now far too wealthy for such despicable and dirty work.
Generated structures are a blessing from RNGesus and should be taken full advantage of. Generated structures include but are not limited to villages, broken Nether portals, shipwrecks, temples, dungeons, mine-shafts, etc... You’re very likely to find some goodies inside, such as gold or iron or even just spare blocks in the event that you’re trapped somewhere you need to tower out of.
All pray to RNGesus
Once you’ve gathered basic wooden tools (pickaxe, axe, maybe a shovel if you’re feeling particularly confident), aim to upgrade to stone. Fun fact, a stone axe does the same amount of attack damage that an iron axe does, so try not to waste your iron on tools.
But while we’re talking about starting a run, the most important bit of advice we can offer is — IF YOU TAKE ANYTHING AWAY FROM THIS ARTICLE — to not grow too attached to your world. Be ready to reset. If we look at world-record speedrunners like Il- luminaHD, he will not hesitate to yeet that world out of existence if the spawn isn’t good. A good spawn can mean the difference between a grueling, sanity-wearing 3 hour run and a sub-13 WR. Once again, we stress that Minecraft is just a bock game, so there’s no need to be too sentimental. Reset if needed. Reset if needed. Reset if needed.
Now, back to resource gathering. After you have basic tools, the next step should be to somehow obtain iron. There are many ways to do this, but the most effective method, in our humble opinion, is to raid a village. A village offers many resources that are useful for later on, so be sure to stop by if you happen to run into one. Within villages, there are iron golems. Now, depending on your luck and how many lambs you’ve sacrificed to RNGesus, the iron golem may drop 3-5 iron ingots when they are killed. If you have 5 ingots, you’re basically set. To craft a bucket, you’ll only need 3 ingots, and a flint and steel will cost you 1 more. You’ve even got an extra ingot for a shield! However, luck may not always be in your favor, so it is still a good idea to send a player to collect a bit of extra iron just in case.
The village’s most valuable resource is food. Haystacks are most quickly obtained with the use of a hoe and can both be used to reduce fall damage when placed below the player as well as turned into wheat and, hence, bread. Food is such an essential part of speedrunning as holding down your sprint key will eat away at your saturation at the speed of light, so it is important to keep yourself fed.
Beds are also a huge advantage if you should come across a village. We’ll elaborate more on this later on but beds, when right-clicked in dimensions other than the Overworld (the Nether and the End), will explode. This can be used to very quickly slay the Ender Dragon during your epic boss battle, so be sure to pick up around 8 of these if you can.
Your next move is to get into the Nether. To do this, you need to build a 2 x 3 block portal out of obsidian. If you’ve picked up obsidian from a village or manage to salvage a broken Nether portal, you’re all set. If not, you’re like the rest of us, and you’ll have to search for a lava pool. There are plenty of tutorials on YouTube that’ll show you how to build a portal using a water bucket — learn this and memorize it. Also, be sure to have something to light that portal with, whether it be a fire charge or a flint and steel, or else you won’t be able to enter the Nether even if you’ve managed to put together the obsidian frame.
And, yet again, we remind you that RESETTING IS AN OPTION. If you can’t find a lava pool, it may be time to reset. We feel your pain, but it is also good to know when to admit defeat. But, once you’ve conquered the Overworld, you are met with your second challenge: The Nether.
THE NETHER AND ALL THAT (Otherwise known as hell)
Put your hands together, now, and pray. Nether spawns are incredibly RNG-based, so there’s a good chance that you may have to reset... Again... But, we also suggest changing versions of Minecraft if you’re really that sweaty. The current 1.16.5 version makes structures a little harder to find and ender pearl trades? Don’t get me started on that. Once you’ve made it into the depths of the Minecraft version of HELL, quickly switch into a third-person camera using your F5 key to quickly look around and locate any nearby structures. Your priority is always the Nether fortress. Built with dark purple brick blocks, in the fortress lies bountiful treasures and luxuries such as gold and diamonds, but also one of the two most important items in Minecraft speedrunning— blaze rods. In Minecraft speedrunning, the most crucial item is arguably the ender eyes. Ender eyes not only guide you to the stronghold, which leads you to the End dimension but also to open the portal; you need enough ender eyes.
Other Quick Tips!
•Nether spawns so RNG-based (may want to set version to 1.16.1 as 1.16.3-4 kinda suck)
• collect lots of netherrack (cheap + quick blocks)
• once in the nether u have several choices: look for fortress, mine gold for piglin trade, kill endermen)
• speedbridging is useful, lol
• ALWAYS MARK UR COORDS
• might need shield but if ur a gamer no need! But practice killing blazes, when they fire up, they’re going to shoot you
• when you look for fortress, look for gold, mine it and throw it at the piglin when you find the fortress, THE NEW 1.16 UPDATES STINK so they only give you up to 4 ender pearls, and is rarer. (Killing endermen in warped forest might be better alternative, GET IN THE BOAT)
• AROUND 12-13 pearls IS GOED but also less is fine bc sometimes pearls spawn in chests in the strongholds
• LEARN TO TRIANGULATE or YOU LOSE
• NETHER TRAVEL is efficient but also a little risky
• Kapow you find stronghold! GOO
• pls put down ur bed before ur end fight jesus not me wtf stop this false accu- sation ur mean no its u, u always forget to /tp DKDecayed evelynisangry
• probably have bow n arrows from piglin trading u will need this to take down towers
• practice taking down end crystals
• bed killing the dragon, avoid her stanky breath lol she didn’t brush her teeth
TIME STAMPS FOR SUB 30 RUN:
• find lava pool by 5 mins? • into nether by 10 mins
• out of nether by 20 mins • in the end by 23-25 mins • win by 30 :D
TIP N TRICKS:
• learn to speedbridge
• learn how to kill blazes WITHOUT DYING • MLG BOAT/WATER/HORSE