As I'm tracking the run with WSplit, my cursor disappears at the end of each book's preparation phase and at the end of each book's final section to record a split.

Book 1

Character Creation – 0:22.81

FFtD End – 1:15.13

The run starts on clicking "Accept" under "Choose Gameplay Rules". In "The Game Rules" I randomly roll for Combat Skill (CS) and Endurance Points (EP) with results ranging from 0 to 9. Combat in Lone Wolf is based on the ratio of your CS relative to your opponent’s CS with an added randomizer. The higher the ratio in your favor, the more damage you deal and the less you take. Since the opposite is true, runs with a starting CS roll of 0-3 are thrown out. Runs with starting CS rolls of 4 are only considered if the EP roll is 5+, but otherwise starting EP does not matter. Pretty happy about the 9 roll.

For starting Kai Disciplines I pick Camouflage, Hunting, Healing, and Mindblast unconditionally. Camouflage gives multiple chances to avoid combat, and as combat takes anywhere from 10 – 20s apiece, it’s appreciated. Hunting lowers my requirements to route and use Meals, which is good as starvation damage from lack of Meals isn’t something that Healing can cover. Healing is god-tier goodness that recovers one EP per section and thus allows more risk without sacrificing time while Mindblast grants +2 CS against enemies that don’t resist it... the majority of enemies in the game.

Since I can only take five Disciplines, I take Weaponskill. Weaponskill rolls on a 0-9 to determine what weapon I gain +2 CS with while using in combat. Ideally, Weaponskill rolls 3, 5, 7, or 9 (Short Sword, Sword, Sword, Broadsword respectively). Near the end of Book 2 I acquire a weapon called the Sommerswerd that gives +8 CS and counts as a Short Sword, Sword, and Broadsword for Weaponskill purposes. If I don’t roll 3, 5, 7, or 9, I deselect the Kai Discipline and pick Animal Kinship to try again next book.

I don’t take Sixth Sense or Tracking because they spend extra sections explaining a route I’ve already mapped and typically force suboptimal decisions.

For Equipment, take everything. If I had rolled a 9 for the starting currency (Gold Crowns or GC) or rolled a 9 for random equipment I could have avoided combat and saved around twenty seconds. As that’s only a 10% chance, it’s not bad RNG to get otherwise.

85 – 99 – 222 – 140 – 14 – 43 is necessary to get to the Black Bear. While inefficient, I need 24 Gold Crowns to avoid dying instantly at many parts of Book 2. The minimum possible by the start of Book 2 is 10 GC, so I need +14 and fortunately the Black Bear is guarding a box that has 15 GC in it. 195 – 59 – 124 gets the money and 106 – 263 – 157 – 167 – 264 – 6 – 200 is the fastest way through the book from this point. Having Camouflage on 200 saves one needless section of introduction, then 64 – 188 (results don’t matter) – 303 – 237 and hope for a low roll. Having Camouflage here gives a 50% chance to avoid a likely 3-round combat and 18 wasted seconds; fortunately, RNG came through.

267 – 142 – 58 – 251 – 10 - 83. Taking Graveyard of the Ancients without the Mind Over Matter Kai Discipline requires combat to avoid a large chance to die, and the sheer number of sections involved makes that untenable. Going by the river is reasonably equal in odds as the highway, but without the chance to get lucky and skip even more. 232 – 22 is one Section slower than 83 – 205, but 232 – 22 doesn’t give up the Gold Crowns I got earlier. Strangely, you WANT a high number so you can be hit by the arrow as it’s a couple sections faster than travelling to the end yourself… didn’t get lucky this time. 181 – 288 – 129 – 3 – 196 – 332 – 350 and that’s Book 1 done.

Should be done with Book 1 around 1:15 if you didn’t roll maximum starting Gold Crowns or roll into the 12 Gold Crowns inventory start. Easily done sub 1:00 otherwise.

 

Book 2

Seal of Hammerballs – 1:30.78

FotW End – 4:23.92

Under Kai Disciplines, I took Weaponskill and successfully rolled the 40% chance to hit 3, 5, 7, or 9. Under Equipment I only took the Shield (+2 CS) and required goodies before starting the adventure. The observant may have noticed the Chainmail Waistcoat that grants +4 EP, but there’s no risk of dying in combat this book with my stats. I’ll have to give it away when the “Green Sceptre” I’m riding on sinks anyways.

160 – 348 avoids any padding sections. Some of the consequences of having really high CS start showing up here as I hit a 10% chance to instantly kill this enemy. Combat on average takes 4-5 seconds to set up comparisons and bonuses and then another 5 seconds per round of combat itself; with their 25 EP it’s unlikely to even three-shot these guys. Nice time save there. 333 – 300 – RNG into no combat is 80+% likely, 240 – 236 – 222 – 175 is the fastest way through. At 175 the Captain lands a 50% chance to waste two Sections, so 53 – anything – 197.

Now to talk about getting “masted” or “bridged”. There are sections in Lone Wolf books where anybody, regardless of route or skill or Disciplines or choices, has a 10% chance to get instantly killed. Rolling a 0 on 197 is the first of those chances in this run, but I dodge it. 78 – 337 – 139 – 27 – 312 – 117 – 148 is fast, safe, and in part mandatory due to Hunting. 257 – 181 allows a chance to buy a Weapon. I check my Gold Crowns, realize I’m safe, and buy towards my Weaponskill: Short Sword. If my Weaponskill were Sword, I would have purchased that instead. If I didn’t have Weaponskill or had Weaponskill: Broadsword, I would have purchased a Dagger… having a Weapon greatly improves the odds in 1-shotting the next combat.

186 – 136 – 10 – RNG – 249 – 346 - 280 – RNG – 168 – 314 – 290 – 200 is an uneventful slew of money and Sections and the end of a murder mystery subplot in which we turn to Section 60 and crush the weakest possible combatant. Almost every runnable LW has an 11+ Combat Ratio against Halvorc, which with his 11 EP gives an 80% chance to 1-shot. So I miss the one shot. 76 – 33 – 88 – 179 – 150 – 261 – 198 – 138 – 232 – 223 – 265 – 191 – 318 – 62 – 263 is another stretch of avoiding combat that is both tedious and the fastest way through this portion of the book. After picking up the Red Pass, 246 – 202 – 31 gets us to meaningful RNG.

Section 31 has two options, both with 50% chances to occur. Since I rolled a low number, I will be choosing to avoid combat as much as possible. Had I rolled a larger number, I would be choosing to engage in combat as trying to avoid it would provide a 10% chance of instant death. Not a large fan of that. 176 – 277 – 311 – 299 – 118 – 279 – 23 – 144 and I take the Meals provided because it eases food problems in Books 4 and 5 that Hunting alone can’t cover. 144 – 349 – 284 – 9 – 196 – 123 – 40 – 242 – 152 – RNG. The RNG here is meaningless, all it does is provide flavor text for the large battle to come in which I avoid being helpful. After RNG, 100 – 267 – 309 – 26 – 66. The battle against the Zombie Captain is an 11+ Combat Ratio with any runnable Lone Wolf, and I deal double damage. Minimum damage on a roll is 18, which is a one-shot. 218 – 105 – RNG, got the worse end of RNG and waste two Sections in going 286 – 109 – 120 – 225 – 350

All in all, an average run through Fire on the Water at 3:08 start-to-finish. While I did miss the 80% 1-shot on Halvorc and got extremely unlucky in all other RNGs this book, 1-shotting the Harbor Thugs saved so much time that it evened out in the end.

 

Book 3

Cavern Prep – 4:34.72

Vonotar I End – 5:58.69

At this point I take the Kai Disciplines of “Not Sixth Sense” and “Not Tracking” until we’re forced to choose Tracking later on in Book 5. At no point do I take Sixth Sense. The Equipment here is fairly lackluster and I’ll have a chance to pick up Meals later, so I grab the Padded Leather Waistcoat for insurance along with the mandatory items and start the adventure.

160 – 204 – 134 – RNG is the fastest way through the early sections, and 188 – 232 – 85 – 212 – 238 – 117 – 223 is a difficult series of two RNGs that simply have to be practiced. There are too many permutations to go over in brief fashion here. I grab a Meal and go to 327, which has a 10% chance of death but saves one Section. 105 – 321 and grab the Blue Stone Triangle, 235 – 52 – 169.

Evading the Crystal Frostwyrm (Section 169) makes it impossible to get the Silver Helmet (+2 CS), but it’s worth it. Starting combat now takes a full 5 seconds due to the number of bonuses, and despite a guaranteed 11+ Combat Ratio the Crystal Frostwyrm has 30 EP, making it a bit too tanky to guarantee a 2-shot. Picking up the key it drops and then using the Sections to find the Silver Helmet takes an additional 6 Sections (~5s), making the total investment 20 – 25s. Since the Silver Helmet doesn’t average saving 4-5 rounds of combat throughout the run, it’s not valuable enough to chase.

41 – 221 – 237 – 297 – 126 – 323 completes dodging the Silver Helmet and I hit the 20% RNG that costs one Section: 76 – 51 – 261 – 290. From I grab the Effigy that one-shots the boss of this book and avoid combat for a while: 264 – 60 – 150 – 120 – 274 – 227 – 102 Grab the Effin’ Effigy – 306 – 6 – 166 – 111 – 254 – 56 – 192 – 44 – 270. The 5 EP gap between the Frostywyrm and this Ice Barbarian drastically improves the 2-shot potential in general, though it didn’t mater in this specific case.

340 – 301 – 122 – 173 – 34 – 350 is the end of the Book. Grabbing the Effigy takes 6 sections and the Akraa’Neonor boss battle is a reasonable 2-shot with Base 19 CS and a reasonable 3-shot otherwise. Even with Base 19 CS, 6 Sections is far faster than a 20s combat average combat. 1:24 from Section 1 to done is a vast improvement, as even 1-shotting the Crystal Frostwyrm, getting the Helmet, AND 1-shotting the Ice Barbarian is about 10s slower… I wouldn’t bet on those odds either.

 

Book 4

Chainmail Waistfloat – 6:11.19

Barraka End – 8:09.01

It’s very, very important to not forget Mind Over Matter before the start of Book 5. The Chainmail Waistcoat provides safety as I rolled fairly low on EP.

273 – 126 – RNG, this is the ideal time to pray for good RNG. The low roll lets me pick up the Flask of Holy Water, which one-shots Barraka, the boss of this book. It’s not as major a save as in Book 3 since getting the Flask of Holy water trades final boss combat for a significantly easier combat earlier in the book. 25 – 290 – 78 – 233. It’s reasonable to 2-shot the Bandit Warrior, so seeing the instant kill was good RNG. 312 – 120 – 92 – 301 – 106 – 236 – 123, grab a Tinderbox and Torch, 315 – 145 – 322 – 54 – 4 – 40 – 55 – 286 – 200 – 45 – 307 – 225 – RNG. Randomizing into a 0 would get me masted, but on a 90% roll I succeed. 20 – 341 – 116 – 318 – 57 – 289 – 255 – 186. While I could engage the combat, a 2-shot against EP 25 is only likely, not definite. A 2-shot spends an extra 5s while 3-shot spends an extra 10s, so maneuvering around by evading is the most efficient route.

124. While I could disengage the combat here, avoiding combat now means taking two additional full combats that cannot be evaded. As those enemies have more than 18 EP apiece, there’s a range of 10 – 25s that would be lost here alone by engaging them. 333, any runnable LW will at this point have a minimum of +6 and guarantees going to 220, 163 – 249 – RNG – RNG – 137. The RNG sections can only lead to one section after another until becoming Section 137. The lower the roll, the more Sections are spent getting there.

From 137, 12 – 140 – 70 – 49 – 204 – 142 – 183. Section 183 has a 70% chance to avoid combat with the boost from Camouflage, so 338 – 235 – 100 – 215. Having the Flask of Holy Water spends one extra Section to save a likely 3+ round combat worth around 20 – 25s by going 119 – 73 – 283 – 350. While hinging 25s on an unmodified 50% roll feel awful, I don’t know if there’s an alternative. Glad to Flask Barraka and be done with it.

 

Book 5

I grab Tracking as the only alternative worthless, take the minimum mandatory equipment and ready the adventure. Due to losing most of my stuff through intentional routing and the peculiarities of the final boss, Book 5 pays multiple dividends for having higher starting CS.

Surrendering ourselves early is far faster and less luck-dependent than any other options. 176 – 69 – 138 – 4. Fighting this first Gaoler with a Sword is less dangerous and ultimately time-consuming than fighting his counterpart unarmed. With nothing on except Mindshield, I was pretty fortunate to get the three-shot. 165 – 78 – 102 (pick up Gaoler’s Keys) – 150 – 122 – 136 – 186 – 140 – 181 – 14. If my base CS were a little lower, I would have search the chest and fought the Yas inside of it. It’s a likely 3-round combat, but I’d receive a Jewelled Mace that grants +5 against the final boss. With 19 CS that’s not needed. I RESTORE the Sommerswerd, Shield, Padded Waistcoat, Chainmail Waistcoat, Backpack, and one Meal. Unfortunately I missed selecting the Short Sword, which will come into play later.

58, the secret code is 67. I’ve tried entering other values to sequence-break to no avail. 200 – 201 – 285 – 317 – 372 – 269 – 352 – 313 – 282 – 295 – 224 – 308 – 343 – 264. Here I re-equip the Sommerswerd as while I do POSSESS it once again, reclaiming it wasn’t the same as equipping it. 315 – 221 – 275. Section 275 represents my last chance to get masted, but I dodge the 9. Any other result is fine as it isn’t instant death. RNG – 361, even with an 11+ Combat Ratio there’s only a 30% chance to instantly kill so that’s nice, 288 – 294 – 323 – RNG.

A 70% chance to hit 312 happens, so 312 – 210 – 377 – 339 – 302 – 283 – 359 – 300 – 247. 247 provides two results, but the proper response to both is simply to ignore the interesting thing. 383 – 272 – 376 – 202 – 309 – 206 – 331. The puzzle answer is 373 and entering other values to sequence-break does nothing. 320 – 286 – 214 – 395 – 298 – 289 – 311 – 350 – 253. Fighting with the Sommerswerd is infinitely worse than fighting without it; the Sommerswerd draws two combats instead of one and I’d have to fight through 70 EP. Even with max stats there’s only a 10% chance to OHKO Darklord Haakon, so I chase after the Dhorgaan instead.

Had I kept the Short Sword, I would have had +5 Combat Ratio against the Dhorgaan (Weaponskill, Mindblast, Shield, not unarmed = 19 + 6 = 25 CS). With the same combat rolls, it would have died 2 rounds (10s) faster v_v. 335 – 268 – 400 and the clock stop at Section 400.

Book 5 is a monstrously long book, even longer than Book 2. Three minutes is staggering.

 

Overall

Glad to have spent the time routing and running this. RNG was above average. Even though I missed some easy combats and rolls, the ludicrous starting stats and some insane OHKOs covered the losses and made time up as well.