What are the routes with the speedrun bonus doors?

[kalirion]

I know exploration is the key for powering up, but if I just want to make cells runs, what are the routes which have "under x minutes" doors instead of just "x kills without damage taken" doors?

[Fel]

Sadly this guide is no longer updated but it's still very much relevant (it lacks the DLC's areas for example but the rest is still valid).
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=1214490016

The progression map has this info so it should be all you need unless you wanted to include the DLC as well (there are versions of that map where people added the DLC areas but I never remember where).

[kalirion]

Great, thanks!

[kalirion]

Oh, another question about that guide. I finally managed to beat the Throne Room boss, and unlocked the Hard difficulty. But am I right reading the guide that in order to proceed past the Throne Room to the next level (Astrolab) I need to Play on the 5th difficulty (Hard++++ or whatever)?

[kermat_]

Yes, 5BC is the highest difficulty which allows you to access the spoiler biomes.
For now you can only exit through the fountain and play on the next difficulty of the game (1BC) to unlock 2BC. And then beat 2BC to get to 3BC etc.

[kalirion]

Thanks! Man, it took me quite a few attempts to beat that Throne Room boss, I dunno if I can do it on High Difficulty. In games like Binding of Isaac you can get lucky with a whole lot of stacked bonuses, but this game, with the ability to only have a couple weapons and a couple cooldown activatables, doesn't seem to go for that.

[Fel]

Most of the weapons and powers have damage modifiers in the random traits for various status effects so making combos is a way to seriously increase your damage.
Sometimes it means keeping a weak trap even if your stats make it nearly useless in terms of damage but it inflicts poison or bleed and your main weapon happens to have a pretty big damage boost if enemies are inflicted with these.

When you don't know what to use as your second weapon because you mostly use your main weapon, get a shield, even if you don't end up using it to parry.
A portion of the shields have a damage reduction just from being equipped (like how most weapons and powers have a damage increase) and every time you get hit there is a shield around you for a short time, meaning you can't get damaged by another hit right after the first hit, it will save your life when you are into a pack of enemies.