DS3 All Bosses Speedruns FAQ

DARK SOULS 3
ALL BOSSES SPEEDRUNS
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
:V
--------------------------

Run related questions:

1. WHY ARE YOU STARTING WITH AN ASSASSIN?
2. WHAT DOES 'SPOOK' DO?
3. WHICH WEAPONS ARE YOU USING?
4. WHY DO YOU USE THOSE WEAPONS?
5. WHY ASTORA WITH THE RAW INFUSION?
6. WHY ARE YOU LEVELING UP LUCK?
7. WHY BLEED?
8. WHY ARE YOU EQUIPPING AND UNEQUIPPING YOUR SWORD?
09. HOW DO YOU MOVE THE CAMERA AND RUN AT THE SAME TIME?
10. HOW DO YOU RUN AND USE THE MENU AT THE SAME TIME?
11. WHY ARE YOU RUNNING WITH THE QUITOUT MENU UP?

Speedrun related questions:

12. WHERE ARE ALL THE OTHER BOSSES? THEY ARE NOT SHOWING ON THE SCREEN!
13. WHY IS THE TIMER STOPPING ON LOADING SCREENS?
14. WHY ARE YOU QUITTING OUT?
15. ISN'T THAT, LIKE, YOU KNOW, SUPER CHEAP, AND STUFF?
16. WHY ARE YOU JUMPING TO YOUR DEATH AND QUITTING OUT?
17. DID YOU FORGET TO SPLIT ON THAT BOSS?
18. HOW DO YOU MOVE THE CAMERA AND RUN AT THE SAME TIME?
19. HOW DO YOU RUN AND USE THE MENU AT THE SAME TIME?
20. WHY DON'T YOU DO <SOMETHING> OR USE <SOME WEAPON>?


--------------------------------------------

01. WHY ARE YOU STARTING WITH AN ASSASSIN?
- Assassin starts with the 'Spook' spell, which is used for skips and shortcuts throughout the run. Also has ASS in the name he he he he.

02. WHAT DOES 'SPOOK' DO?
- It prevents fall damage on non-lethal falls and muffles the sound of your footsteps. It also allows do you a 'Spook quitout', which is quitting out when you die from fall damage. Once you load back into the game your character will be alive and positioned where you died, this allows for special skips and shortcuts.

03. WHICH WEAPONS ARE YOU USING?
- The Assassin class starts with an Estoc, then you get the Astora Straight Sword (which will go up to +3 Raw and is used up to Wolnir) and finally switch into Anri's Straight Sword (+5, upgrades with Twinkling Titanite and it's used first for Dancer).

04. WHY DO YOU USE THOSE WEAPONS?
- Because they do the higher damage you can get with the minimum time invested. 'Fastest' weapons, basically.

05. WHY ASTORA WITH THE RAW INFUSION?
- Astora Straight Sword has poor scaling but it has a good boost in damage on with the Raw infusion, that allows you to not depend on stat scaling to do damage early, also it's only used early into the run, until Anri's damage outclasses it.

06. WHY ARE YOU LEVELING UP LUCK?
- Anri's Straight Sword scales with Luck. Also Luck increases the bleed build up rate, making it so bleeding triggers with less hits.

07. WHY BLEED?
- Over half of the bosses in the game bleed, paired with a high Luck stat means they also bleed fast.

08. WHY ARE YOU EQUIPPING AND UNEQUIPPING YOUR SWORD?
- Anri's Straight Sword heals you for 2 HP every few seconds, when you equip the sword it instantly heals you for 2 HP so unequipping and equipping it again triggers a 2 HP heal. Being at full health is important since it triggers Lloyd's Sword Ring damage 10% damage buff.

09. HOW DO YOU MOVE THE CAMERA AND RUN AT THE SAME TIME?
- It's called the "claw grip" and involves a weird way to hold the controller. See http://i.imgur.com/zVvLJ.png

10. HOW DO YOU RUN AND USE THE MENU AT THE SAME TIME?
- If you are already running when you open the menu your character will keep running as long as you keep pressing the button.

11. WHY ARE YOU RUNNING WITH THE QUITOUT MENU UP?
- You can skip NPC invasions by keeping up the quitout menu up when they pop up and quitting to main menu before they spawn. This is done so you can homeward bone or quitout, allowing for faster sections. Currently the run only does it for Haysel on Crucifixion Woods and Alva on Irithyll Dungeon.


--------------------------------------------

12. WHERE ARE ALL THE OTHER BOSSES? THEY ARE NOT SHOWING ON THE SCREEN!
- Splits scroll, if a boss is not on screen at the moment it will show up when the run reaches that point.

13. WHY IS THE TIMER STOPPING ON LOADING SCREENS?
- Games on the 'Soul' series are usually measured on IGT (In Game Time) so the timer 'reads' time from the game itself, the game simply has no timer running on loading screens and no, the runner is not stopping the timer manually.

14. WHY ARE YOU QUITTING OUT?
- Quitting out resets aggro so it can save you from a death when surrounded by enemies and also skips some long animations, typically door openings (you start opening them, quitout, when you load back the door will be already open).

15. ISN'T THAT, LIKE, YOU KNOW, SUPER CHEAP, AND STUFF?
- Speedruns are about going fast, that means using anything and everything you can without resorting to third party tools to go fast. Difficulty on a speedrun goes beyond the difficulty in the game itself since it's a race against time. If the game had a difficulty setting, then you usually see speedrunners playing the game at the easiest one because the objective is to go fast.

16. WHY ARE YOU JUMPING TO YOUR DEATH AND QUITTING OUT?
- Using the 'Spook' spell allows you to fall and quitout on death but not registering that death, that way you can skip sections and improvise shortcuts.

17. DID YOU FORGET TO SPLIT ON THAT BOSS?
- Splits and split sections are personal to each runner, so not all people split on the same place or have the same splits at all. They don't matter at all except for the runner, since it's their own personal method to keep track of their progress.

18. HOW DO YOU MOVE THE CAMERA AND RUN AT THE SAME TIME?
- It's called the "claw grip" and involves a weird way to hold the controller. See http://i.imgur.com/zVvLJ.png

19. HOW DO YOU RUN AND USE THE MENU AT THE SAME TIME?
- If you are already running when you open the menu your character will keep running as long as you keep pressing the button.

20. WHY DON'T YOU DO <SOMETHING> OR USE <SOME WEAPON>?
- Chances are the item or method you are suggesting are either not fast to acquire or not optimal to do on a speedrun, due time constraints or some sequence needed to do it. Basically, because it's slow.