R&A Speed Optimization Guide

Your handy guide about gaining speed, maintaining said speed, and utilising boost. Please don't use this guide for any kind of gatekeeping or definitive source of how to play the game, thank you!

This guide will likely be updated with any suggestions and comments left below or any new discoveries are made. If you think you know some tech that's not listed below, let me know and I'll add it!

Introduction

So you wanna go fast, eh? I can help you out with that. Keep in mind that the only use case of being 'fast' in this game is the Trials, and being fast isn't the only way to play the game.

I am also not a speedrunner, this is just what I've picked up from time experimenting and messing around and watching other people play.

If you like my guide, feel free to leave me a tip!

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Boost

Your main focuses should be finding consistency in how you move aswell as how fast you can gain and utilise Boost. More boost more often means there'll be less time where you aren't boosting.

Boost/Line

Boost (also known as Line) is both a scoring system for your combo without messing up aswell as a gauge for how long you can Boost. Boosting will consume the gauge and increase your ground top speed, allowing you to run faster for roughly 3.5 seconds with a full gauge. You can Boost no matter how full the gauge is, aslong as there is some in it, however it cannot be refilled while you are actively using it.

Unaffected Moves

Boost will not affect the following actions:

• Ground Tricks
  
• Strides
  
• Wallruns
  
• Wallclimbs & Ledge Grabs
  
• Ziplines
  
• Sliding
  
• Vaulting
  
• Air Speed

Infact, Boosting won't speed up numerous actions, including anything you do midair, but it will boost your running speed, which is important.

Boost Usage

Because of their limited use in most actions, the best spots to use boost is during downtime on the ground, such as flat surfaces with little to no obstacles. You could also perform Boosts as often as possible whilst trying to gain more from doing tricks and rolls, as your Boost gauge only fills when not boosting.

Boost Jump

The speed you gain from Boosting on the ground can be preserved in the air by jumping, you may want to do this either to get a little extra mileage from your depleting boost. This also allows you to pull off air tricks to keep building Boost.

Ideally, you should be trying to use boost while on the ground, whilst refilling your empty gauge with airtricks.

Vault Boost

Avoid this at all costs! Trying to perform a vault whilst boosting will set your speed back to regular sprint speed during its duration, eating up your Boost without speeding you up! Avoid vaults while you are actively boosting by jumping over obstacles instead of Vaulting.

Vaults

Vaulting will gain you boost, so they are important to do. There are currently 4 different vaults in the game with a few variations. It's important to note that Vaults set your speed back to sprinting levels if you are Boosting.

• Speed Vault
  Ironically the slowest, losing you 0.1 seconds compared to fastest vault.
  
  
• Cat Pass
  Second slowest, losing about 0.06 seconds compared to fastest vault.
  
  
• Reverse Vault 360
  Lags slightly behind fastest method by 0.02 seconds, also follows into a roll.
  
  
• Dash Vault
  Fastest vault, will get you over in the least amount of time.
  
  
• Jumping
  Contrary to popular belief, jumping over instead of vaulting is about 0.03 seconds slower, you should only do this if you are actively mid-boost.
  
  
• Vault Roll
  Rolls can be performed after any vault, and give you Boost, without any cost of speed.
  

Rolls

Rolls are tremendously useful for keeping not only your momentum going, but also for gaining slight bits of Boost, which may help out for achieving better times

Stagger Cancel

After falling from a height or performing certain moves, you will stagger on the floor slightly, catching yourself with your hands, before pushing yourself up and moving again.

This can be entirely counteracted by performing a Roll right before you hit the ground, nullifying the entire stagger.

Vault Roll

As mentioned before, you can roll after a Vault to gain a little bit of extra Boost without any deficit to speed.

Roll Cue

Rolls can always be performed if the action you land with ends with a puff of smoke kicking up from your shoes.

Tricks

Tricks build up your Boost, making them very useful. The trick you may want to use will depend on the situation, as some are better suited for situations than others.

Cartwheels

Cartwheels do not take away from any of your speed (unless you are boosting), making them very ideal moves for flat stretches when you have no Boost. Careful not to follow these up into Handsprings.

Spin 360

The Spin 360 is the fastest trick to complete a full rotation of in midair, allowing you to chain at least 2 of them in a row with a Charged Jump, making them the most optimal trick for Boost gain. They can be ideal in situations where you either don't have much time for other tricks or need that small gain in Boost. They also work better than Cartwheels as you can utilise Boost Jumping to keep up Boost speed mid-trick.

Advanced Tech

There are a few moves that you'll only find by either watching speedruns or scouring the R&A discord. Some of those tricks include:

Fast Climb

Climbing is slow, so make it faster! While sprinting, run into a wall, start a wallclimb, and perform an Illusion Twist. You'll be teleported to the top of the wall mid-trick. Timing is needed, as if done too early, you can get a weak version that sends you no-where, and done too late, you may miss the input entirely. You can also perform this tech with a Handspring, though you wont be launched forwards.

Trick Cancels

Very niche, but in fringe cases can save seconds for trials. Jump into a wall to initiate an Arm Grab, and then climb it to finish with a Ledge Grab. After this, you'll be in a state where any grounded trick can be cancelled with an air trick. You will lose this state after leaving the ground, whether through jumping or falling off a ledge. As seen here, I can cancel my Illusion Twist into a Sideflip!


Combining the two techniques, you can scale some pretty high walls, such as the one leading towards the end on Construction 3 (an example is Nixon's world record, found in Conclusion)

Conclusion

This isn't a set-in-stone way on how to play the game, there's probably plenty of techniques that haven't been discovered yet! Experiment, learn, and enjoy the game! Freerunning is suppost to be an expression of ones self, so don't let this guide limit you!

Here's a few handy speedrun WRs from 3 different runners on different levels, maybe you could learn a thing or two from them?

Vowll:

World Record on School 2:

TyT00s:

World Record on Steelyard 1:

Nixon:

World Record on Construction 3:

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In the meantime, have a good day!

[Tyt00s]

I'm back but this time to praise the work you put into this guide instead of making a fool out of myself, since I clearly don't know what I'm talking about. It really is a good guide. If you plan on continuing it you could mention Superjump and Illusion twist chains.

[autumn/sun]

Got it, i'll make sure to edit and rephrase those parts to be better suited. Thanks for clarifying!

[Tyt00s]

I don't feel the need to help out with this and it's your guide, not mine but since I might have come off as rude... What you sometimes write is not as much wrong as it is unclear. Boost running is the fastest way of moving in a straight like if there arent any obstacles. I believe that you can cancel tricks at any time if you do it within a couple of the initial frames off of the ground into an air trick. "most tricks should be avoided if you're trying to optimize speed" - I'd rephrase this to picking the right trick for the job, since you don't always want to do frontflips/360s. Boosting during airtime doesn't provide additional speed if youre already off the ground and carry the speed you got from boost jumping. You can only "keep building boost" after boost jumping only if you run out of the boost mid air. Sometimes activating the boost early to deplete it quicker can prove to be better if you want to start building it up in the next part of your run.

[autumn/sun]

I am quite the fan of this game, I would say :D

I'm well aware the height you gain is from how long you hold the jump button, as it's stated in the tutorial. As for height/airtime gained from each trick, I was only aware of it for the Sideflip, Spin 360 and Air Dive.

I'll make sure to reassess things and update accordingly.

Though I do ask, can you tell me what specific things aren't true? I don't wanna misinform nor mislead people. Again, I don't speedrun this game, I just like going fast, and this is the stuff I find effective for my trials.

[Tyt00s]

My comment was an ironic remark since it would require testing that's hard to compare whether doing a low front flip or a 360 is faster when boosted on a flat surface, not to mention other scenarios. The height you get from jumping is tied to how long you hold the button but also each trick puts you at a different height influencing your airtime. I wouldn't be so hasty with making statements that one thing is faster than the other. Perhaps don't give definitive answers if you aren't sure about something. Some facts you mention in the guide just aren't true. Nevertheless I share your excitement about R&A and I think it's great, overthinking game mechanics for the sake of fun.

[autumn/sun]

Updated the guide to fix some typos, added a new section for 'Advanced Tech', and added some speedrun videos of world record holders (currently) in Conclusion :p

[autumn/sun]

@Tyt00s
Looking at recorded footage closely, all the different air tricks perform exactly the same, with and without boost, from different heights, maybe with an exception for Air Dive, hard to tell. Spin 360 still seems to reign supreme due to its fast completion time.

[autumn/sun]

@Tyt00s
Sure thing! Seen your speedruns, very impressive stuff!

[Tyt00s]

Ok, now do a speed comparison of all tricks while boosting with deviation in the jump's duration.

[autumn/sun]

@zTrippy
I'm in the discord, just for any updates/news