Any tips on Speed Climber Achievement?

[Sintonir]

So i'm trying to do it, but nothing seems to work. Already turned on Fast Mod, but actual problem is that because don't have time to plan my moves carefully most of my runs end on Act 2. And i'm not sure if i'm actually fast enough to finish Act 3 in time.
So... any tips? Maybe there are some card that make it easier? I 'm trying as Ironclad, i think other characters are even more tactical, but maybe there is "fast" tactics for them?

[Spawnling]

Whirlwind Offering is a nice combo.

[LHGreen]

Well, I do have one tip: try to go real fast.

Honestly, the time requirement for that achievement is ridiculous, it's less than half the maximum score bonus you get at the end of a run for completing the game quickly. If you beat the game in under 45 minutes, that's a bonus to your score, but it's less than ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 20 for an achievement? The time should be doubled, or close to doubled, at least. If it was 30-35 minutes, that would at least seem reasonable.

Anyway, I guess one good piece of advice would be only trying to do it on A0, after getting a lot of experience beating the game somewhat quickly in the higher ascensions.

[Nessville]

It's just a matter of making quick decisions without thinking too much. Obviously it helps if you are somewhat experienced to know which cards to pick. I avoided as many enemy encounters as I could, especially elites, since they eat a lot of time. I tried many times with watcher without success and then switched to ironclad and got it on my second try. As with any run, you need some luck to get good cards and relics.

[Spawnling]

To give more useful advice:
- Use hotkeys, you can end turn (e) right after you play your last card and while the animation still plays.
- Think of your upgrades before you enter a fire place, while you battle easy enemies
- Front loaded damage for act 1 & 2 to burst through hallways
- When I got the achievement I spend something around 1/2 or 1/3 of my time in act 1 & 2 combined. Act 3 takes up more time than you think.
- Take damage, Especially in act 1 with Iron clad. Don't overthink, prioritize damage over health.
- Don't avoid elites in act 1. The relics might carry you. (play on a1)
- Take your 60 seconds to choose a path. A good path saves way more time than just going in blind

[mldb88]

Also stick to characters like ironclad that can do good damage without playing too many cards. The more cards you have to play to kill, the longer your turns, the slower your time.

[Tripitaka (HUN)]

Grind. Grind a ton. Pick ironclad, enable all speed-ups, and numerical card selection. You need mouse and keyboard to do it, on controller it is VERY difficult. The left card you have is 1, and it goes all the way to 9 and the 10th card is 0. if you play the card with the key 4 for example, then the 5 will become 4 next time, and the 3 2 1 stay the same. Try to get this into muscle memory, so you can play cards one after another very fast. Point with mouse, press the number key to select, then click to play. Practice this until you can finish a turn from the first card to the last within seconds.

Play an aggressive strategy, such as whirlwind limit break. Keep your deck small, and pick the important common block cards, maybe get a synergy you see. Don't think on the turns for more than 2 seconds, you see a play, you do it. It's wrong? Huh, who tf cares lets move on. Be reckless and don't mind your decisions. Don't spend too much time in shops. Don't spend too much time on card revard screens. Take all the risks if a decision takes too much time. Use a timer so you can see how much you can think. If you can't make macro decisions fast, exit the game and use the main menu to your advantage. Avoid elites like the freaking plague, and prioritize rests, hard. Your runs will only last a few minutes, you can have many tries in one hour, and you only need one victory.

It's like a speedrun except you have no decision making muscle memory and your speed is actually recklessness and not knowledge. Remember, you only need one blessed run. It will take time.

I actually almost got a sub 16 on my victory run, so yeah. Reverse the entire point of slay the spire. You need a ton of muscle memory, speed, very good instincts, perfect ordering, and a very, very good run.

[LHGreen]

Wait, something just occurred to me. What's the fast mod? Like, doesn't playing with mods disable trophies?

[Xiander]

Fast mode is something you can enable in settings, not a mod.

[LHGreen]

Originally posted by Xiander:

Fast mode is something you can enable in settings, not a mod.

Ah, okay. Huh, been so long since I actually looked at the settings, I forgot that was even a thing.

[Spawnling]

Maybe my run helps
https://spirelogs.com/viewrun.php?run=926849

Fiend Fire from Meow
Lots of card draw + Limit Break (fast scaling)
Near the end I got a 2nd limit break and Headbutt.

I reached act 3 around the 11 min. mark. (won at 18.45) and in my experience I always need ~8 min for act 3.

[Sintonir]

Damn, had 2 near-wins.
On one run, i got to Act 3 boss in under 17 minutes, but made some mistakes and couldn't defeat Time Eater.
On another, i had a solid damage deck but met Nemesis, and without good defence lost too much HP to get to the boss...

[Edible]

I used this guide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxm9xNTcR0s&ab_channel=Baalorlord
And it took me a few tries.

My deck was similar to his, if i recall correctly i had:
2 Flex+
2 LImit Break+
Whirwind+
Cleaves
starter cards.

Some tips:
- Fast mode obviously.
- Its luck dependent, so you can get a deck that can win any normal/elite fight in 2-3 turns
and bosses in 5-6 turns.
- Try restarting until you get the "enemies in next 3 combats have 1 hp".
- after you get the core of your deck and feel strong enough, try to avoid fights as much as possible, going to ? and shops even if you have no money.
- Use your brain's "auto-pilot" to take split second decisions in order to minimize turn length.
- Set timings, something like:
Finish Act 1 - until 5 min
Finish Act 2 - until 11 min
Get to act 3 boss on ~16min

And you might want to restart if you are behind on time.
BUUUT, keep in mind that this very luck dependent on the deck / draw / match, as
you might struggle on time on the first 2 acts, then get just the card you were
missing or an extraordinary relic and manage to finish act 3 sub 20 min.
Thats just a suggestion for the numbers, as you play you will set them for yourself.

- This might be controversial, but this worked for me:
I recommend trying for it AND ONLY IT, until you get it, and not switching to "normal" spire until you get it. That's because this achievement required a "mentality switch" for the way you play the game: "IM FAST AS ♥♥♥♥ BOIII"
- As a counter to the previous point, you may want to try to do it once in a while, or something like a try on the start of each playing session.
That depends on you and your preference, as you may get angry / salty / discouraged from few failed attempts in a row, and a break will refresh and recharge you to play better.

Btw i also managed to get the "The Transient" achievement (kill the 999 hp enemy in act 3) in this run as i did TONS of damage.
I got frustrated as encountered him, i thought to myself "well he's gonna take a while to kill so here goes my good speed climber run" but i got lucky and managed to get to ~150 strength in that fight and kill him in 4 turns.

[Sintonir]

Originally posted by Edible:

I used this guide:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bxm9xNTcR0s&ab_channel=Baalorlord
And it took me a few tries.

Oh, thank you! I finally got this one with the help of guide. Tried different strategies before, but somehow didn't think Strength build would be that powerful!
Not on the first try, but when i filally got it i think relics were almost perfect: boss relics were actually the same, but i got Chemical X and Brimstone. Shame I didn't find any Limit Breaks, but I had enough Strength from Flex, Find Weakness and Inflame to breeze through act 3 without real difficulty. Killed Time Eater in 2 turns with massive Pummel and Whirlwind damage... Final time was 16:43.
P.S. I also found "Minimalist", "Common Sense" and "Who needs relics" much easier to get... More luck-dependent, but require little to no skills. Slightly surprised less people did it than Speed Climber.