Tomb Raider speedrunning site
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This is a regrouping of all the speed-tricks known in the tomb raider series. Currently it covers Everything from Tomb Raider I to Chronicles. It starts with basic concepts and techniques that can be very useful even in normal playing, then moves on to tricks that are more exclusive to speedrunning.
Quick access menu
| Basic movement |
| Other movements |
| Advanced techniques |
| Cancels |
| Corner bug variations |
| Other bugs |
| Angel of Darkness |
| Legend - pending |
| Anniversary - pending |
Basic movement:
In terms of speedrunning it's helpful to know the basic movement details before you move on to more advanced techniques.
Here are more detailed notes on each (in order of speed):
Crawling backwards
As the slowest form of movement you should minimise this as much as possible. Although, in very short crawls, it can be quicker than having to go forward and turn around.
Walking
Obviously, you should walk as little as possible, although there are some situations where it is almost essential that you do so, such as certain very precise jumps.
The short delay after pressing walk can be exploited to your advantage. If you run towards an edge and hold walk as you get close you can immediately stop at the edge without any walking at all.
Crawling forwards
While this is faster than walking, the delay of ducking down means there doesn't seem to be any use for this, especially as the amount of walking should be as minimised as much as possible anyway.
If exiting a crawlspace requires you to climb out backwards, then it is faster to turn to the side as you approach the end of a crawlspace, since you then lower the amount you must turn around before dropping out (of course this does not apply to Chronicles).
Running
The default way of moving. As all of the first five games have faster ways to move it should be avoided as much as possible. However, there are some spots where running can set you up better than the alternatives, or the alternatives are far harder to use (such as places with low, blocky ceilings that are easy to bash on).
Standing jumps forward
While faster than running, this movement should be avoided where possible as running jumps are always faster. The only practical places to use it are for jumping puzzles, when on a ledge too short for running jumps to work or for setting up positioning in certain instances.
Backflips
Backflips seem a little... odd, they get you both higher and further than forward standing jumps and also give Lara a smaller collision area (you can get into gaps you might not get into with a forward jump). However, I'm not fully sure if they are faster as the actual animation may be a little slower, and of course they are more troublesome to perform.
Basically, See standing jumps
Running jumps
In TR1 and 2 this is the ideal method of movement where ever it can be used. Part of route planning in the first two is working out how many of these can be fit into the space available. As part of this, it is almost always better to use slight detours that keep your run-jumping consistent than to take direct routes that require you to stand-jump or run at some point.
In areas with low or uneven ceilings (or both) you should try and stick to the parts with the highest ceiling so your jumps are as long as possible, provided it only requires a minor detour.
Sprinting
This is the ideal movement method from TR3 on, use it as much as possible. There are, however, some caveats:
On any lengthy run where your sprint bar will run out always dive (note the difference between a "dive"; and a "swan dive";) at the end as this means you will recharge your sprint bar while still continuing at sprinting pace for a short time. It also has some more obscure advantages:
Firstly a dive can get you up steps and slightly raised sections of ground (allowing you to climb them at sprinting pace).
You can also dive DOWN slopes, this is quicker than sliding and therefore can give you a small advantage if you do it right.
Sprinting in TR3 is different from the later sequels. In TR:TLR and TRC if your sprint gets "interrupted" you can restart it again without having to wait for your sprint bar to recharge. Also, from TR:TLR onwards you can press crawl after a sprint to roll into a crawlspace, which speeds up your progress through them.
It also helps to know where sprinting isn't practical; in some cases jumps can get you over bits of geometry which can be quicker than sprinting around them, also, if you are running up a series of raised blocks (like steps) then jumps will get you up quicker than sprinting.
On the PC version you may find you cannot sprint left without releasing a key for a short time first, the only way to fix this seems to be to change your movement keys (E.G. use the numpad to move instead of the arrow keys). Of course it will take some time to get used to, but being able to sprint left easily is a very good advantage. However this is only for TR3, you can set sprint to any key you want in later sequels. I recommend keys right above spacebar.
Blocks
In the first 5 Tomb Raider games blocks are the central gameplay aspect in terms of lining up jumps and other moves. Each bit of geometry is made out of blocks, and learning to see the world in these blocks is central to playing the game and exploiting the system. In general you can just see the "seams" where the blocks join, and, if not, then there is usually a repeating texture pattern or some other thing to help, as well as your own intuition after you get used to them.
Walk-run jump
This is a simple trick that seems to have been completely overlooked. If you walk one step forward from standing, a running jump is immediately "charged". This allows it to be done over about half the space a normal running jump requires.
As well as allowing for things that wouldn't be possible (or would be ridiculously hard) otherwise, this is an extremely useful general technique. Pulling off running jumps in much smaller areas can be very convenient, such as when you land half-way across a block, as this is faster than setting up a full running jump.
Longest jump
The longest running jump possible is to perfectly align yourself with an edge (E.G. drop off and climb back up), then roll and take seven sidesteps (direction does not matter, as long as none are interrupted by a wall or other obstruction), then do a running jump. This is useful for testing, but it takes a long time. For a speedrun, you can usually find a quicker way, such as angling and then rolling or hopping back.
Other Movements
Shimmying VS Climbing (and ladders in general)
These two movements are the exact opposites of each other: Shimmying is much faster than climbing horizontally but much slower vertically, Climbing is much faster vertically but much slower horizontally. This means that good use must be made of both on some of the more !complex" ladder climbs, and using the right one in the right situation can drastically improve your speed.
Backflipping off ladders is important. It helps to know exactly what "rung" you need to be on before you can backflip off the ladder and land where you want to be (as it is faster than climbing all the way up), you also need to know whether a mid-air flip will help or not.
When you are going down a ladder, let go and grab again further down, repeating until you reach the bottom, this is much quicker than just climbing down, how close you want to cut it is up to you (obviously the less grabs on the way down the better, but it's risky on long ladders).
On very short climbs it can be better to stick to the sides so Lara climbs with just her arms and does not spend time latching on to the ladder.
Moveable blocks
Up until TR:TLR (where the speeds seem about the same), whenever you move a block you should try and push it as this seems slightly quicker.
Mid-air turns
Mid-air turns are extremely helpful if used right, for instance, they can substitute for a flare cancel (detailed later) when landing in open areas if you turn in mid-air and roll after landing (as Lara will then be facing forwards again). During a mid-air roll Lara assumes the "properties" of the jump you WOULD have done if you didn't turn, so if you do one while doing a backflip you will get advantages like the smaller collision area, but will be facing forwards, which can be extemely useful in some circumstances.
Advanced Techniques
Pendulum jump or Swing Jump
Sometimes when you jump you land part way into a block and need to immediately do a running jump from there. If you just run forward you will fall off, however, if you "swing" slightly to the side (so you cover a little more ground) before turning forward again then you can usually cover enough distance to start a running jump. The discovery of the walk-run jump has mostly obsoleted this technique, but they can be combined for the shortest distance running jump setup possible
Avoiding bashes
If you hit a wall in the middle of a jump then you bash against it and get knocked back, however, if you do a grab in mid-air you do not. This has all manner of uses.
Safety Drop - Grab/Bug
If you fall backwards off a ledge and press grab WITHOUT holding it you can land on ledges below you (if you hold it you will just grab the ledge again). In some cases this can save a lot of time. This is sometimes labeled a "bug" due to it apparently not being intended by the designers, but I consider it an unintentional extension of the controls like curve jumps are.
Curve jump
Possibly the most useful advanced technique of all. Core seemed to have not taken into account the curve jump possibilities that various levels have, allowing you to break huge sections of them. Curve jumps come in several forms; some are almost effortless, while others are incredibly hard.
Cancels
Cancels are some of the main optimisation techniques for runs, in some situations they save a lot of time, in others only a matter of seconds.
Swan Dive Cancel
If you swan dive into a wall Lara gets knocked back slightly and reverts to the normal falling animation. I have not found any practical use for it in Tomb Raider 2 and 3, but it can thoretically be used to knock you onto a ledge behind and below you.
"Trip"
If you roll right on the edge of a ledge Lara "twitches" then falls off, the main use of this is if you stumble on the edge of a ledge (as you can roll out of the stumble and keep moving). It also makes sure you move forwards as you fall (at least on TR3 there can be some weird bugs where you fall "flat" off a ledge if you don't do this).
Stumble Cancelling
This is where the "meat" of cancelling comes in. There are two kinds of stumble, a small one (from hops) and large ones (from falls longer than hops).
Small stumbles like this can be cancelled with a forward jump or by just holding run as you fall.
Large stumbles like this can only be cancelled by rolls or a flare cancel (detailed later). However, in quite a few cases a roll will either take the same amount of time as waiting for the stumble to finish, or be slower (because you will have to turn around again), in these cases you can flare cancel, or do this:
If you plan for a large stumble by flipping in the air beforehand you can roll as soon as you hit the ground and be facing forwards again. This is slower than a flare cancel but a good alternative when you need to save flares.
Grab Cancel
This seems to be a technique exclusive to Tomb Raider 1. If you are making a jump where you land in a large stumble but DO NOT take damage from it, then grab just before Lara puts her arms in the air (the point where grabbing becomes impossible), and you will land in a small stumble instead. This technique is very specific so far, but it has only been discovered recently, so it may have further depths (and uses in the later games).
Flare Cancel
This is a special technique that only works in Tomb Raider games where flares are available. If you hit the ground while in the animation where Lara throws away a flare and hold forwards you cancel out of the large stumble completely.
While it allows for various small tweaks. The best thing about this technique is that it allows you to pull off "impossible" moves at times, for instance you can fall in the path of a boulder (where you would normally stumble and die), but cancel out of the stumble and instantly evade it (rather than get around it in a alternative, slower, way), the same kind of thing can also apply to collapsing tiles.
Action Cancel
If you are in a fall where you would normally stumble, if you hold action while landing on a switch, item, or keyhole you cancel out of the stumble and perform the action, unfortunately this only works in TR1 and TR2. The picture is of TR3, where it doesn't work, but visually it looks the same.
Corner Bug Variations
The corner Bug is a really awesome technique that is very useful and a lot of fun. If it's not for exploring the game then it will be for sequence breaking. It works in any of the first five games.
Normal Corner Bug
The short version: stand with outer foot at the corner, turn 45 degrees toward the corner, and perform vertical jumps.
In more detail: you will be testing or speedrunning. For testing, it's inconvenient if you turn too far, because you move off the corner and must set up again. So turn a little short of 45 degrees, test, and then increase the angle by a small amount if needed.
For demonstration, Lara is set up a couple of inches from the corner.
Turn almost 45 degrees. Use Look to check the angle.
When Lara is at the correct angle, if she is too far from the corner, each jump will move her along the wall by a small amount.
When she reaches the corner, Lara may appear to move a little past it, but don't give up.
Keep jumping and she may move sideways toward the corner as well as forward, and begin to imbed in the corner. Note Lara's left leg is partly in the wall.
Another jump or two will activate the bug.
Or, as here, the ground may be flat enough to activate the bug after imbedding by walking into the corner (running works too, but Lara immediately runs off the other side and falls to her death). If the corner requires many jumps, this may be faster, or easier while being attacked.
A few corners allow the bug only if certain offsets are set to begin the process.
During speed running, of course you want the process to work as quickly as possible. Learn the best offset and angle to make the bug work. Sometimes the game helps you find the angle - if the other side of a corridor or other object is behind Lara, and you first use Look to get a side view, the camera will suddenly shift to another angle just at the point where the bug works. Other actions besides jumping may help to start imbedding. In TR3+, a crawl corner bug sometimes does not work on its own, but imbeds enough for jumping to work.
Pressing Forward while off the ground may reduce the number of jumps needed. Sometimes you can even bug from a square of spikes, because the bug may work during the first jump.
This video shows both a normal corner bug, and one with Forward pressed while in the air.
If the wall has a sloping top, hold Action while jumping and Lara will catch the bottom edge of the slope and hang. This only works on the face below the bottom edge.
Arch (Corner) Bug
The arch bug may exist at corners where the other face of the corner is covered by a surface, such as a wall with a flat top that has a doorway in it.
Here's an example in Bartoli's Hideout of TR2.
Turn and imbed in the corner by jumping.
Run forward. Lara runs onto the upper surface.
Or, after 5 more jumps, she bugs to the top but falls off the edge.
Quickly press Roll to prevent the fall.
Here's a video of both successful outcomes.
Turning Corner Bug
At many corners, trying to imbed by jumping appears to be working, but Lara just hops out the other side of the corner. In such cases, stop near the halfway point. Then turn continuously toward the corner, about 90 degrees, and press Forward, WITHOUT STOPPING THE TURN. Lara will run onto the high surface; it's like an arch bug with a twist.
This example is near the hedge corner of the racetrack in TR3. Use this offset from the corner.
When you turn to the 45-degree angle, a vertical jump moves Lara a little toward the corner.
More jumps begin imbedding her in the wall.
When Lara imbeds this far you are ready for the continuous turn.
During the turn, while holding the Right key.
Add Forward while keeping the turn going. Lara runs onto the roof.
The normal corner bug does not work here.
At first, players usually stop the turn momentarily, and Lara just pops out of the wall. But this form of the corner bug works more places than any other, so it's wise to practice it until you can do it reliably.
Here's a video from TR2.
Crawl Corner Bug
Works in TR3+. The bug may raise her to the upper surface immediately, or only after you allow her to stand.
Set Lara a foot or so from the corner:
Turn a little MORE than 45 degrees from the wall. Here's a view using Look to make the angles easy to see:
Release Look, and hold the Duck key:
Still holding Duck, press Forward for a moment. Lara should imbed her head into the wall:
Press Forward for a moment again. Lara should shift to the right slightly, and imbed a little more:
Now just release the Duck key, and Lara should pop up to the balcony and then stand:
If you started a little farther from the corner, when you release Duck Lara may only stand, without the bug working. That's OK - just hold Duck and press Forward again. Lara will move closer to the corner.
This bug can be a problem if you don't turn enough. In that case, when you press Forward Lara shuffles in place, but doesn't enter the wall. If you're too near the corner and the angle isn't quite right, Lara pops sideways AWAY from the corner.
The crawl corner bug can also work if you start at the corner and turn to exactly 45 degrees, but the other way is much easier to perform quickly.
The crawl bug works at most corners, but with a serious limitation: if the ground levels next to the two faces of the corner are more than a few inches different in height, the bug fails. Even then, sometimes you can imbed by crawling and perform a normal or turning corner bug.
Swim Corner Bug
The most useful type occurs at most corners surrounded by water. But sometimes the corner can be above Lara, completely out of the water!
For testing, set up Lara against the wall so that one hand reaches approximately to the corner when she makes a stroke in the vertical floating position, and turn about 45 degrees toward the corner. Many different values of offset and angle may work.
Press Swim (Jump) by itself; it may help to press Back after she ducks her head underwater. Several outcomes are possible; Lara may bug to the surface above the corner, she may bug to a surface offset by a square, or she may bug over the corner to the other side and fall back into the water again.
The method below is usually faster:
1. Swim underwater about at the center of the wall square next to the corner, or an inch or two from the center toward the corner. Surface when you hit the wall. This is important to put Lara at the proper distance from the wall.
2. Turn so Lara has the edge of her head in line with the corner, or up to a little more than the head's width from the corner.
These pictures are at the Raptor Pool's waterfall in TR3's Crash Site. The corner points southwest (from Position Editor) and the working angle is closer to the first pic rather than the second.
3. Press and hold Jump (Swim) and Forward. As Lara begins the dive, release Forward. She should move into the wall and bug up. If she swims all the way to the bottom, press Back to raise her head. The bug dumps her on the other side of the corner; if there's no ground there, she just falls. If there is ground (like an arch bug situation), she lands on it.
Sometimes Lara will imbed in the corner without the bug working; turning her toward the corner while still swimming may trigger the bug.
The result may depend on how deep a "bite" of the corner you take. For instance, at the (TR2) Venice corner to the left of the boathouse door, the bug works if Lara's head is near the corner, but she misses the awning during her fall. Aiming somewhat farther left lets her drop onto the awning.
The bug works most easily at northeast-pointing corners and least easily at southwest corners. The other two directions are middling hard. The easier corners seem to allow her to be more distant from the corner; the best angle to the corner is then rather shallow.
This video illustrates the swim bug in TR3, with additional commands to start flicker motion.
A second form of the bug occasionally works where the first doesn't, or in addition to the first. This works only at northeast corners.
Face Lara against the wall. When her arms extend, her hand should be right at the corner, or no farther than this:
Turn a little short of 45 degrees. Use Look to see the waterline hit the bottom edge about here:
Dive and bring Lara horizontal. Her head should be pointing at the corner. Press Forward for a moment. If her head begins to enter the corner, inch her in until the bug works. Otherwise turn a bit further from the wall and press Forward again; be sure not to hold it.
Here's a video of four examples around the Sacred Lake.
The second example shows the result of pressing Action (fall and re-bug) and Roll (fall away from the wall). The fourth example illustrates the full setup.
The swim bug also works when the corner is completely underwater; but Lara just bugs up to the ceiling:
Turn-in Corner Bug
This works only in TR2. At some corners, you can make the corner bug work by turning into the wall while holding Forward, and then pressing Roll starts flicker motion back across the square. Another Roll makes her fall from the stopping point.
More precisely, it works at those few faces of corners where Lara doesn't run off the corner if you turn past 45 degrees, as she normally does. Instead, Forward causes her to move slightly forward and sideways into the wall. It's as if she's hooked on the corner. When you release Forward she moves back to her starting position, like she's spring-loaded. This all happens even if you turn her well past 45 degrees, to look almost straight along the wall.
Here's a "useful" example near the top of the zip line in the Great Wall. Despite apperances, the knee-high straight section makes this a corner.
Turn to less than 45 degrees at the corner. Hold Forward and turn slowly until Lara imbeds in the wall like this:
If you turn too far, Lara will run through the corner (because of the triangular portion beyond the corner, here she may slide through the corner).
Her right leg should almost completely disappear, as shown.
Then turn right slowly until she is about 45 degrees to the wall. If you turn too far or she isn't deep enough in, she will pop out of the wall entirely, but it's easy to just turn the other way and start imbedding again. If it works, you will see a quivering closeup of wall texture.
Press the Roll key. Now you can release Forward. Hold Look and use the arrow keys to see Lara moving along the top of the wall. She'll stop when she reaches the other corner of the square:
Press Roll again. Lara is ejected forward and sideways, so she lands atop the wall, which is too high for jump-and-catch.
The ladder to the cavern below is a few paces ahead. Possibly this is a few seconds faster than the normal way (drop from the cliff to a square, traverse right).
Incidentally,a normal corner bug does not work at this type of corner.
This corner bug variation was found on the tombbugok site.
Side to side Corner Bug
There are also some slight variations from that, like this one.
Although this seems to be the only place you can do it (I didn't search all the tomb raider games though) It's a crawl corner bug that works the same way that the crawl one does except that you don't have to release the crawl key.
Roll Corner Bug. Only known to work in Tomb Raider 2 and Tomb Raider 3 so far.
Set Lara up like so by either performing a corner bug, and pressing action to make her drop, then turn into position. Or by not completing the corner bug. Her knee needs to be in the wall.
Ceiling Wall Imbed Bug (or a similar name). Only known in Tomb Raider 3 so far.
Grab the ceiling like below, and continue going forwards into the corner where you are going to 'corner bug.'
Once imbedded into the corner, drop and face almost at the corner.
Simply press roll, and you will appear above.
Flicker Motion
So far corner bugs have been discussed only in terms of lifting Lara to a higher surface such as a roof. But some corners go to the top of the "room" (which may be an outdoor area). Bugs at such corners may lift her to the top and drop her right back down, but usually she appears stuck at the top of the corner in a flickering state. Since her braid points straight up, she is falling and bugging back up in a rapid cycle. In TR2 you must hold Look to see this.
For TR2, if you press Roll, Lara switches directions by 180 degrees and moves along the top of the wall, making a machine gun-like noise! She stops at the other side of the square, but then pressing Roll again ejects her forward and away from the wall a few feet (this also occurs while still moving).
Occasionally this lands her on a ledge for a shortcut.
TR3 is different: imbed in the corner somehow; if Lara is flickering at the top of the corner, press Action to drop her down, which may cause some damage. Then press Roll and Lara will bug up and begin moving along the top of the wall immediately. But in TR3, she moves as long as the wall continues! Roll is also different: Lara falls BACKWARDS, and will restart flicker motion if she is high enough; the depth of imbedding may change, altering the rate of flickering and the speed of motion.
Turning the corner can be complicated. When Lara reaches the corner, she stops flickering and becomes silent. Turn so she faces along the next wall (hold Forward to turn faster). If the next wall is to the right, use the Right key, and vice versa. Stop turning when she begins flickering noisily again. Press Roll; in rare cases she will restart flicker motion, but usually she faces toward the corner. If you hear a single footstep sound, you’re almost done, but often she’s silent. Roll again to face forward (and restart the noise), turn a few degrees and repeat the test. After the single footsep sound, rolling forward is silent. Slowly turn more away from the wall, stopping when the noise starts. Then press Roll, and she should take off along the next wall; sometimes it takes two separate presses of Roll. If that doesn’t work, turn a little more and try Roll again.
If all this fails, start over at the corner before any turning. Drop with Action; if she is till imbedded in the wall, try wall hopping (vertical jumps) or a wall slide (press Forward) to move away from the corner. If she is stuck, try turning a few degrees. When she is several inches from the corner, do a continuous turn (toward the wall) until Lara is almost facing the other way, but still about 10 degrees into the wall. Press Roll, and flicker motion should re-start.
Wall hopping and wall slides also work in TR2. In both games, they can be used to cause flicker motion toward the starting corner.
This video shows all of the moves for both games.
Trigger Bug
Pending.
Flying Corner Bug
Pending.
Effect of Movable blocks
Pending.
Compass Directions and Corner Bugs
Pending.
Other Bugs
Fence Bug
Pending.
Block or Crack Bug
Pending.
Dive Bug
Pending.
Wall-Slope Bug
Pending.
Petrified Guardian Bug
Pending.
Laser Sight Bug
Pending.
Angel of Darkness
This entire section is dedicated to Angel of Darkness only, because the engine is completely different from TR1-5.
Standing jumps
This kind of movement is only recommended for getting over some gaps or obstacles, because Lara always stumble upon landing.
Running jumps
Running jumps are basically same as in TR1-5, it's also faster, but there is a difference in speed depending on how many leg upgrades you take.
Stair-jumping
Going up the stairs is really slow in AOD, that's why you should use this nice trick. Simply jump onto the stairs, then jump again right before you land and Lara will continue jumping without stumble. It requires some practice, but it's not hard. You can do this several times in a row, but it's usually hard to make more than 3 or 4 jumps.
Curve jump
Same technique as in TR1-5, but you can't fully control desired angle. You can only press either of the sidekey and she'll turn to maximum angle automatically. You have to deal with it.
Sprint
You get to sprint in Galleries Under Siege and it's the fastest way of moving, although be careful about bumping to objects, you will significantly stumble.
Ladders
It's best to do a standing jump without Forward key to force Lara catch the highest point of a ladder. Also a very known trick in old TRs. AOD has a feature that will automatically force Lara to climb the ladder if you get too close, so remember that.
Fighting
Avoid fighting everytime you can. It's very annoying, because the camera and Lara automatically follows enemy. If you still have to fight, use tranquilizer ammo as you will only need one shot to deal with them.