Speedrunning Techniques from a Pro

This guide is to help those just starting to speedrun levels, or even just for that one player who can't get 3 stars on a time trial. I will show you the basics, then get into the more complicated techniques that can save you minutes if done right. What I will NOT do is tell you the routes I take to get these times. That's part of the fun! If it really just annoys the heck out of you to find these routes, just ask and I can get you a route description for that level or time trial.

But before you ask 'Who the heck does this guy think he is?' I have a few qualifiers. I've completed every time trial at 3 stars, and am consistently high in ranking. While many are better than me, I know all the tips and tricks that are currently known of.

The Basics

These are going to be the first few basic tips to follow ALL the time. No glitches, just straight up techniques.

1. DON'T SLIDE!
I know it looks and feels awesome, but it's the slowest thing to do in the game. Come across a pipe? Jump over it, even if it's a bit high. It's always faster to jump over something than slide under it. There are only 3 exceptions to this which are the slide-kick, which can be used in Chapter 8 and to take down doors faster, but for doors it's still not the fastest option, sliding into air ducts, and the button glitch in the next section.

2. Jump up inclines
Running up a flight of stairs slows you down. Jumping up them makes it even faster. At top speed you run at 16mph, when you jump you go to 18mph. So always jump up stairs and ramps. Never walk. This is a good thing to use on long straight ways as well. Jump them instead of just simply running them.

3. Don't do normal door slams
When you're running toward a door, don't push it upen normally. Kick it open with either a slide -kick or a jump-kick. Jump kicking is faster, but it's harder to master.

4. AVOID ENEMIES
This is a must in getting good times. The ENTIRE game can be finished without punching or disarming a single enemy. (With the exception of the situation in Chapter 8, and one brief section in Chapter 9) Just find that fast route and you'll make it through, sometimes without taking any damage at all.

5. When you can, coil
It's faster to coil up to that high ledge than to speedvault up to it. So if you can make it up there without vaulting up, do so.

6. If it makes sense, don't springboard
Springboards are nice, they're fun and get you to high places fast. But they're not always the fastest things. You can often get to those high places without springboarding and save time. If you jump right you can even coil, and jump off the springboard without doing the animation and still make it to the other side.

7. On pipes and ladders, Don't climb over the top
This might not make sense when you first look at it but hear me out. There is an animation that plays when you climb over the top of a ladder or pipe and onto the platform or roof above. DON'T DO THAT IF YOU CAN! Look to the side and up towards the ledge and jump up. Faith will grab the ledge and you'll lift yourself up. A MUCH shorter animation, and if speedvaulted, you'll come out of it faster.

Now that's the basics. Nothing too hard, but it'll help you get better times by simply doing these few things.

The Glitches

If you think glitching is cheating, don't bother with this section. Some of these aren't technically glitches, but I don't think DICE meant for them to be used this way.

1. Side-jump boost
Walk sideways, and press "jump". While in the air, turn 90 degrees in the direction you jumped. You'll be at top speed instantly. I use this all the time in my runs.

2. Wall boost
During a wallrun, look at the wall you're running on and jump. That's it. It'll propell you at an excess of 20mph. Great little trick to gain speed on long straight sections, or to get farther on that wallrun.

3. Wallclimb side jump
During a wallclimb, do a side jump. (defaults: A or D + Space) Then look back at the wall you are climbing on and you can get to higher ledges that are nomally impossible to reach. You can also just simply side jump off the top of your wallclimb and clear barbed wire fences. This can save a lot of time in skipping parts of levels. It takes a bit of practice. Also, after you side jump, you can look back at the wall and get an oh-so-short wallrun. BUT you can jump off that wallrun, enabling you to get even higher. Try using this to get up to high ledges along the wall.

4. Pressing buttons without pressing the buttons.
This can only be done on PC. I would suggest assigning your secondary "use" key (default e) to the mousewheel. (I use down, for reasons that are explained later.) It can be done without, but you just make it oh so harder on yourself. When you come to a button or switch (elevators are the main villian) normally you use it and this whole really slow animation plays of Faith punching it with her fist. (who DOES that?) Instead of doing that, slide into it. Slide into the button and use it at the same time. The button will be pushed, but no animation will be played, saving you time. This is why the mousewheel comes in handy, it makes the timing so simple. This can also be done by jumping and coiling, it seems to have something to do with the "shift" key. Not only can it be done while jumping, but you can also activate buttons on the other side of a wall by completing this glitch sucessfully.

5. Fence edge glitch
Some of those pesky fences that try to tell you to go a specific way can be gltiched around. If the fence ends on the edge of a building you can run off the building at an angle, then look back at the building and Faith with climb up on it. I recommend using reaction time to begin with as it's hard to master, but it allows to save time by skipping more parts of levels.

6. Jumping off Pipes glitch
Those pipes that you have to balance-walk across are really slow and annoying. But they can be fast when glitched over. If you press jump RIGHT as you land (easier with mousewheel assigned to jump) you'll jump off the pipe. You can do this for as long as you have enough speed and are aligned with the pipe. ALL the balance pipes in the game can be jumped across completely.

7. Springboard glitch
Everybody loves springboards. You're gonna love 'em even more when you find out that you can look around as you do the springboard animation. As your doing the springboard, look wherever you want and Faith will jump in that direction when she finishes the animation. Even backwards. This can allow for some really neat shortcuts!

8. The infamous kickglitch
You will either hate this, or love it. First you have to know how to wall-kick. Just attack off a wallrun. Simple right? However, when you kick off a wallrun and off into oblivion (as in you won't land on anything after you kick) you'll fly out, then bounce off an invisible platform for a split second. This can be used to get down from high places without having to roll, or in some cases get down to places that it's impossible to get to without dying. Now here's the tricky part, if timed correctly, you can jump off that invisible platform, sending you flying forward and enabling you to cross deep chasms that you can't cross otherwise. This timing is INSANELY hard. Which is why I assigned my secondary jump button to mousewheel up. It's still not consistent with my mouse, but it's oh so much more EASY. Get good at this and you're time can drop by full minutes. You can even get kickglitches off poles, allowing you more options.
EDIT: Since you can jump, you can do a side-jump off the kickglitch. This is good if your jump is sending you just a little too far.

So that ends the guide for now, if there is a technique I've left out I'll add it in later. Go speedrun to your heart's content!

The Edits

This section is for glitches or techniques I forgot to put in to begin with or for newfound ones!

Techniques:

1. Use guns to open doors
This really only works once on Chapter 3. If you have to pick up anything other than a pistol to shoot open that door, don't bother because it'll slow you down. But shooting open a door is much faster than kicking it down so when you can, do it.

Glitches:

1. Fall kick-glitch
This is in no way the same as the kickglitch. When falling straight down (like out of a pipe) attack right before hitting the floor. Faith will kick upwards and the screen will flash red as you get a heavy landing, but the animation for a heavy landing won't play, and you won't have to roll. This saves time on many a level. But this will only work if you have NO FORWARD MOMENTUM. This kick only works when you are fall straight down, so if you jumped forward, you'll do a dropkick which will be useless. A technique to be able to do this more often is to side-jump into a wall, which negates your forward momentum, then do the fall kick-glitch as normal.

2. Roll bounce
When you jump towards the side of a builing, roll off the VERY EDGE of it. You'll bounce off an invisible platform just like in the kickglitch and you can get to out of the map areas. I'm not sure if you can jump off this one though. (or why you'd want to)

3. Jumping off Ledges
When you are hanging off a ledge with objects above it, you can't normally jump up. However, if you look to the side and up (just like the climbing pipes and ladders technique) and then coil while in the air, you will land ON TOP of that ledge, which then allows you to jump off of that. Can come in quite handy for getting to high places.

4. Sliding on fall pads
You know those pads you fall on from great hieghts? They're fun right? Well the animation of landing on one takes awhile. (Yes this is another animation skip) When you jump to one of these pads turn around in mid air (default: Q) and then spam the attack button. When you land on the pad, you'll slide along it. Use this time of sliding to turn yourself where you want to go and the whole animation will be skipped. Saves a lot of time and momentum.
Check out Nicklepiefy's guide for more detail on what jumping, spinning, and attacking does and how to do it!

5. Float and run really fast. (without hacks)
First you need to be able to go to third person viewing mode. (link posted below) Once your are able to, go into third person DURING a disarm. You'll then be able to float walk anywhere, and run forward extremely fast. So far I haven't been able to find any real use for speedrunning though. WARNING: if you run UP something while using this glitch (like stairs or a pole or something) you will continue to rise up with no way to stop or get back down. Kinda cool to fly above the map like that though!

The link to play in third person:
http://kotaku.com/5140789/play-mirrors-edge-in-third+person

edited on 9/5
6. Barbed Wire Fence Glitch
Similar to the roll glitch and the kickglich, just run into the barbed wire on a fence, you'll bounce off that invisible platform again, allowing you to jump off it. This invisible platform comes around when an animation finishes (like kicking on a wallrun, or a roll) over nothing. If the animation plays and when it's finished you are floating in midair, you'll have the platform to jump off of.

If you've found any new glitches, or want to share a technique leave a comment and I'll add it to the guide!

The video below is just an introductory example of what you can do with some of these glitches and techniques. I kickglitch once, side-step several times, and wallboost off of the billboard. It's not everything but it's a good starting point.

Visual Guide

Here's a visual commentated guide to most of the techniques and glitches mentioned above.

[󠀡󠀡]

i gotta be honest, mirrors edge is a revolutionizing game. but the horrible controls and the unforgiving bugs there are EVERYWHERE, i dont know if this game is worth playing anymore

[Roshambo]

This guide doesn't even tell you where the bags are in the game.

[PKC_Maxxy]

Visual guide no longer available btw, other than that great guide!

[hyprland]

Side jump boost more like bunny hopping

[Ante]

Nice guide, haven't tried any speedrunning strats since way back in the day when the game released on 360 :) Needed a little refresher

[4vul]

If you turn around (default is Q) right before landing on something that will break your fall, well, i dunno what does it exactly, but sometimes a glitch will ocur where you can move around during the landing animation.

[ian.w]

I can't believe how hard it is to do a double wall kick, I started playing 8 years ago and never managed to

[Sir Rivet]

The wallrun sidestep can be used in chapter 4 to skip the electric fence at the beginning

[SuperSaiyanLink]

Bro how long did it take you to write this?? lol

[lessfullless]

tqs for the guide