Hanging Gardens is a fairly straightforward level with a core that is infamous for its irregularly forming ground which is a huge danger in a speedrun. The important thing to keep in mind is that the ground in many, seemingly random spots of this level forms very slowly. It takes practice and experience to understand how to make your way through it quickly and without falls.

Videos

Hanging Gardens, New Game

Route

NG Any%/ASL and All Weapons

Move through the level until you see Zulf across the way. The camera will lock onto Zulf, but you need to keep moving to the northeast to trigger a turret to spawn offscreen. Killing this turret will open a gate to the next area.

• Any% - Roll offscreen to where the turret is and activate a Whirlwind to destroy the turret.
• ASL - Roll offscreen to where the turret is and throw a targeted Hand Grenade to destroy the turret.
• All Weapons - Fire a power shot at the turret with the Breaker's Bow as it spawns and finish it off with the War Machete.

After the gate opens, you will find yourself in a small enclosed space with a bunch of turrets spawning, and another gate. By positioning yourself in the left corner of this gate and rolling right/down-right, you will be able to clip through this gate without having to kill any more turrets.

Keep moving through the level. After the stairs down to the wood floor, there is a patch of invisible ground with a caravan just slightly north of it. You can roll across this ground to skip a couple seconds.

Eventually you will reach the Core surrounded by a circle of petrified corpses and some Windbags. You don't have to kill or destroy any of these - simply roll in between the statues from the right side (that's the only way you can do it), and pick up the core. Now roll out up to the gate and wait for it to open. After it does, roll into it, directly towards Zulf. Avoid walking through the gate or rolling too early - when you get through it, you will lose the ability to roll, so your last roll must take you as close to him as possible. If you do this wrong, and get to Zulf late, you will hear Rucks say the line "We have to go. Please." right before the loading screen, which wastes time.

Interact with Zulf to complete the level.

NG+ Any%/ASL

Move through the level until you see Zulf across the way. Use the pike to destroy the rocks in the way, then Pike Vault to the platform Zulf is standing on. Move to the gate, then perform a second Pike Vault to get around the gate and on the platform with the core. After you land, shoot the statues and enemies with the Scrap Musket. Pick up the core, then roll out up to the gate and wait for it to open. After it does, roll into it, directly towards Zulf. Avoid walking through the gate or rolling too early - when you get through it, you will lose the ability to roll, so your last roll must take you as close to him as possible. If you do this wrong, and get to Zulf late, you will hear Rucks say the line "We have to go. Please." right before the loading screen, which wastes time.

Interact with Zulf to complete the level.

Ancient Knowledge

The reason we pick up the Core from its right side is not that you can only reach it this way - in fact, you can pick it up from literally any direction... As long as it's there. Turns out that at the start of the level, the Core is not "loaded" yet - you can see it, but you can't actually interact with it, until you meet one of the triggers that makes it possible to pick it up. The "intended" trigger is killing all the enemies and destroying at least one of the statues - but as it turns out, for whatever reason, there is another trigger that you only have to walk into, placed on the the right side of the core. Because of this, the best way to pick it up is to approach it from the right side.