Elden Ring Speedrun Guide: Any% to All Remembrances

So I’ve been doing elden ring speedrun stuff since before people figured out what a “zip” was, and yes, I still have calluses from spam-rolling through dogs in Caelid. In my experience, the fun sits in the mess: Any%, glitchless, all remembrances, PB hunting, WR drama, routing scribbles on sticky notes, botched splits, and that one frame-perfect input that works once and then ghosts you like a bad Tinder match. I’ll break it down like I would to a friend who asked, “How do you do this without losing your mind?” Short answer: you do lose your mind. Longer answer below.

Who Am I And Why Should You Listen To Me?

I’m the sort of person who keeps a notebook labeled “Morgott options” and then still forgets to equip the right Ash of War. I’ve been in the speedrun scene for more than a decade, mostly Soulslike games. I learned from the old guard, I taught a few newbies, and I’ve choked away more PBs than I care to count. I like clean routes, honest talk, and coffee that tastes like it’s judging me. If you want a resume: I’ve run marathons, coached small groups, and written long rambles on boss AI and pathing. The receipts are scattered across VODs and forum posts, and I drop thoughts here on my blog because I kind of live for this stuff.

What Are We Even Doing Here?

Speedrunning, stripped to the bones, is beating a game fast in a defined category with rules. That’s it. People complicate it—because we’re nerds—but the heart is simple. If you want to be technical about terms, the idea of a speedrun isn’t new. It’s just our flavor of self-inflicted chaos. With Elden Ring (you’ve heard of it, right? the one from FromSoftware), the map is huge, the boss roster is silly, and the movement tech is a playground. Some days it feels like chess. Other days it feels like wrestling a washing machine.

Basics: Categories That Won’t Make You Cry (Much)

I’ve always found that picking the right category early helps. People rush into Any% because it sounds sexy. Then they collide with routing and tilt. Here’s how I explain the staple categories to new runners at my kitchen table while I force them to drink water:

Common Categories

• Any%: Get to credits fast. Usually wild, often glitch-heavy. Expect zips, boss skips, funky quits.
• Any% No Major Glitches (NMG): Clean-ish runs. Uses smart routing but avoids big break-the-game stuff.
• Glitchless: Play the game. Still breaks your soul, but in a wholesome, “my dodge timing is trash” way.
• All Remembrances: Beat all the big boys. Route planning paradise. Also, pain.
• No Hit / No Damage (not speedfocused, but overlaps): Flex category. Requires Zen-level focus.

Why Categories Matter

Category rules shape your decisions. Are wrong warps allowed? Are load warps okay? Save-quits? How about ultra-specific zip tech? If you don’t learn the rules, you’ll get a PB that doesn’t count and you’ll sulk like I did that one time I used an outdated patch. Don’t be me. Read patch notes. Ask in Discords. Watch recent runs—not just the WR.

Quick Context For Folks Who’ve Been Living Under a Giant Pot

If you want a primer on what this game even is, the Elden Ring page is fine. It’ll tell you it’s a Soulslike with an open world and bosses that punish hesitation like a strict piano teacher. Big world. Many dungeons. A horse that can yeet off cliffs and somehow live. That sort of thing.

My Early Route, My Mistakes, My Coffee Stains

My first serious run was Any% NMG. I mapped out a line that hit key items fast, used Torrent to thread around enemy clusters, and cut fights unless they were hard gates. It worked until I forgot to rest at a grace and the whole timing alignment for a skip went sideways. I wish I could tell you I didn’t swear. I did. A lot. But I got a tight mid-game anyway by learning what spawns I could manipulate with camera control and sprint lines. That’s the part people underestimate: camera control is a weapon.

Movement Tech You Actually Need

• Stamina rhythm: Don’t sprint till empty. Burst, release, burst. Keep regen high.
• Jump timing: Jumps aren’t just jumps; they’re pace resets and stamina tools.
• Camera drifts: Look down to reduce spawn aggro in some spots. Sounds silly. Works.
• Menu speed: If your menuing is slow, your run is slow. Practice in isolation.
• Quit-outs: Learn clean quit-outs. Saves runs. Saves sanity.

Combat Notes I Keep On A Sticky

• Get one reliable opener per boss. Don’t freestyle unless you must.
• Know poise break points. They’re free damage windows if you prep right.
• Buffer rolls, but don’t mash. Mashing gets you chained by multi-hit bosses.
• Use Ashes of War you can handle under stress. Fancy isn’t better.

Glitches, Zips, And That “I Swear I Hit It” Feeling

I’m not going to spoon-feed zip setups here. Not because I’m gatekeeping. Because they change. A lot. The frame windows shift with patches and your hardware’s timing can mess with consistency. The summary: a zip is a positioning and timing trick that catapults you or breaks pathing so you bypass terrain or bosses. Wrong warps had their season too, but stability changed across versions. Update cycles matter. That’s why you’ll see runners listing their patch in their VOD description. If you copy an old route on a new patch, you’ll think the game is trolling you. It’s not. You are.

My Rules For Learning Any Tech

• Isolate it: I practice the tech in 30-minute blocks, no timer, only reps.
• Record everything: If I can’t see my inputs, I can’t fix them.
• Write it down: Steps you think you’ll remember—spoiler—you won’t.
• Decide cutoffs: If it fails 3 times in a run, I swap to the safe strat. Pride is expensive.

Routing: The Art Of Not Getting Lost

Routing is where I live. I’ll spend a Saturday testing grace locations for travel alignment and enemy leashes, just to shave five seconds later. It adds up. You can be average mechanically and still get good times with a smart route. Watch WR runs, yes, but also watch the top ten. The small differences are where you learn. I once got a PB just because I moved one crafting stop earlier to pair it with a quick quit-out. Silly change. Free time.

Simple Route Principles

• Fewer fights, fewer mistakes. Only fight what blocks progress or adds big value.
• Stack tasks: If you must open a menu, do two things there, not one.
• Use map transitions to breathe. Reset your hands, check splits fast, go.
• Put risky stuff early if possible. Resetting at minute 7 beats resetting at minute 47.

Patch Talk: Boring, But It Saves You Tears

Check your version. Check the patch notes. Test your route after updates. I once did practice on one machine and runs on another; the timing felt off because of a background process chewing frames. Not kidding. If you’re chasing a leaderboard, ask mods about allowed versions. Some events, like Games Done Quick, have their own preferences for consistency and safety.

Gear And Setup (No, You Don’t Need A NASA Rig)

I’ve run on potato PCs, midrange laptops, and a decent desktop. You want stable frame pacing more than insane FPS. A basic capture setup is fine if you stream; if not, don’t worry. What matters:

• Comfortable controller or keyboard/mouse. Seriously, comfort first.
• Timer you trust. Livesplit is the standard. Label splits clearly.
• Good chair and desk height. Your wrists matter.
• Stable power and no surprise Windows updates. Don’t laugh. It happens.

Sample Category Snapshot

Here’s a tiny snapshot from my notes. Not gospel. Just a sense of how categories line up and what they feel like.

Splits: The Love-Hate Spreadsheet

Splits are the diary of your run. I name mine in plain language so I don’t stare at “Split 7” and forget what it means mid-run. This is a sample of how I structure early-game splits for a clean, no-major-glitches path. Keep it simple. Your brain will thank you.

Practice That Doesn’t Fry Your Brain

I cap practice blocks. Forty-five minutes on one boss. Ten on menu drills. A break. I keep water on the desk and a banana nearby so I don’t tilt from low blood sugar. That sounds preachy. It’s not. It’s self-defense. The fastest way to get worse is to practice exhausted.

Tiny Drills I Swear By

• Grace interaction: In and out of menus fast, no misclicks.
• Lock-on swaps: On the move, not standing still like a statue.
• Inventory hotkeys: Muscle memory until it’s boring.
• Boss openers: 10 clean starts in a row or reset the drill.

The Mental Game (Yes, You Need One)

I’ve seen great players throw runs because they hate being on pace. The heart rate spikes. Hands get clumsy. The fix is boring: you put yourself on pace in practice. You simulate it. You feel the nerves and learn to breathe through them. I do two “fake PB” runs per week where I start with a time advantage baked into splits, just to get used to seeing green. Sounds dumb. Works.

My “Don’t Tilt” Checklist

• One mistake is not a run. Two mistakes are not a run. Keep going.
• Focus on the next micro-task, not the timer.
• Talk out loud. It grounds you. “Menu. Flask. Run. Jump.”
• When angry, finish the segment, then break. Not mid-fight.

Community: The Part That Actually Keeps Me Here

Speedrunning can be solitary, but the community is the warm glue. I learned tricks from runners half my age and taught stuff to folks twice my age. We swap notes, we roast bad RNG together, we cheer when someone nails a PB. If you want to see the culture on display, watch a Games Done Quick marathon. Charity, good vibes, occasional couch gremlins. The usual.

Where To Learn More

• Recent VODs from top runners. Focus on the last month. Routes evolve fast.
• Discords and route docs. Ask dumb questions. We all did.
• Write-ups from folks like James Carter who love nerding out about pathing and boss AI behavior.

On Ethics, Patches, And “Did You Really Do That?”

Every community sets its lines. We allow some exploits, ban others. It looks arbitrary from the outside. It isn’t. We care about skill expression, fairness, and repeatability. If you want to be a good citizen, read the rules, ask moderators, and don’t fudge your times. The only person who loses when you cheat is you—and also the mod who has to waste a Sunday investigating frame counts. Don’t make them do that.

My Personal Pre-Run Ritual

Alright, here’s the routine I use on a good day:

• 15-minute warmup: movement lines, one boss opener.
• Menu drill: inventory + flask check. Twice.
• Timer test: start/stop twice so I don’t fat-finger it later.
• One sanity quit-out practice. Just because.
• Sip water. Sit up. Go.

On a bad day, I ignore all that, jump into a run cold, and spend the next hour wondering why my hands feel like noodles. So, yeah. Routine helps.

Why I Still Love This, Even When It’s Dumb

I’ve watched “impossible” strats become standard a month later. I’ve watched someone’s scrappy mid-placer route upend the board because they moved two graces and a menu. Speedrunning rewards curiosity and a little stubbornness. There’s no perfect run. There are only better ones. And sometimes, you get a weird, quiet night where the inputs land, the bosses behave, and you look up and realize you’re going to gold a split you’ve hated for six months. That feeling carries you through ten bad sessions.

A Few More Plain Tips

• Label your save files clearly. I once overwrote a practice save and stared at the wall for a full minute.
• Keep patch notes in your route doc. Date them.
• Don’t copy a WR unless you can explain every decision in it.
• Celebrate small golds. Tiny wins keep you going.

Common Mistakes That Will Eat Your Time

• Over-routing. You are not building a Swiss watch. Simpler is safer.
• Under-practicing menuing. It’s free time. Free. Time.
• Ignoring stamina. Sprint management is speed.
• Forgetting backup strats. Always have a plan B for each boss.

Random Notes From My Journal

• Camera down near big enemy packs seems to reduce random aggro for me. Not magic. Just helps.
• Timer starts and ends: double-check category rules. Mods differ.
• RTA vs IGT: Know what your board uses. If you don’t, you can’t compare runs cleanly.
• Split names: verbs help. “Grab Key” beats “Segment 3.”

Events And Nerves

Doing a live marathon run is different. You’ll feel every eye, even if it’s just chat scrolling too fast. Practice with noise. Put on a podcast while running. Simulate the chaos. And build a commentary plan in your head: one sentence per segment about what you’re doing. It keeps you steady and it’s nice for viewers who aren’t living in your skull.

If You’re Starting Today

My advice is boring. Pick a category with rules you like. Watch two recent runs. Write a route that uses 80% of what they do, then tweak 20% to match your comfort. Practice three bosses and your menu. Set a tiny goal time—something laughable—and beat it. Then chase a real time. That’s how I’ve done every game since Dark Souls 1 punched me in the face and told me I liked it.

Wrapping Up (Kind Of)

I could keep going—talk about how to pick weapons for stagger thresholds, how to bait AI loops, how to align quit-outs with in-game light cycles. But you don’t need all that right now. You need a timer, a route, and a stubborn mood. And maybe a playlist that doesn’t distract you right before a boss. If you want me to deep-dive a specific section, say so. I’ll put on more coffee and ramble properly next time.

Odds and Ends You Might Actually Use

• Keep a “panic strat” for every major fight. It’s slower but won’t kill the run.
• Run on days you feel average. Chasing only “perfect day” runs slows learning.
• Write your own notes. Copy-paste brains fail under pressure.
• If you somehow read this far, you’re stubborn enough for this hobby.

Oh, and if you care about history, look up FromSoft’s evolution; the FromSoftware page gives context on design choices that make routing fun and annoying in equal measure. The lineage explains why hitboxes feel fair but still make you yell. And yes, I’m still chasing a cleaner mid-game in my elden ring speedrun notes. I’ll get it. Probably. Eventually.

FAQs

• Do I need to learn zips to get a good time? No. Start with NMG or glitchless. Build fundamentals. Tech comes later if you want it.
• What’s the best starter weapon? Whatever lines up with your route and comfort. Straight swords are easy. Don’t overthink it.
• How long until my first PB? If you set a small target, a weekend. A real time? Give it a couple weeks of steady practice.
• Should I stream my early runs? If it helps you stay accountable, yes. If it stresses you out, record locally and post later.
• Is this healthy? In doses. Take breaks, stretch, drink water. Your wrists and brain will thank you.

James Carter

James Carter: Your competitive edge. I cover Patch Notes, Speedruns, Battle Royale Strategy, Multiplayer Trends, and Game Dev Insights. Let’s get into it!