Thief 2/any % normal ILs
From SDA Knowledge Base
Any% Normal Individual Level Runs Guide
By JakePlissken et al.
Contents
Introduction
This guide seeks to provide up-to-date routes and tactics to help players learn and compete for IL records. We will outline the strategy for each run by discussing necessary or recommended purchases, providing a step-by-step guide for the fastest strategies, and finally providing a synopsis of the run and a summary on which aspects to practice to achieve record times.
There are two predominant paradigms for IL records: money runs, and "single-segment safe" IL's. The latter uses money carried over from the previous mission, usually the maximum loot available, to purchase extra supplies to make the route faster and more consistent or safe. "Single-segment safe" IL runs use only the money that you would normally have after completing the previous mission in a single-segment any% full game run, which is often 0, as only 5 of 15 missions have loot requirements on normal difficulty. "Single-segment safe" runs are more beneficial as practice than for achieving record times, so for the purposes of this guide we will only focus on money runs. There is a third, much more rare playstyle known as Low%, where no purchases are made at all and players collect the minimum amount of loot required to complete the mission. This is an older challenge run that is no longer commonly seen.
If you are new to Thief speedrunning, it would be beneficial for you to review the SDA Game Mechanics and Glitches page to learn about general movement and how to perform the various glitches that will be referenced in this guide.
TIMING: Thief 2 IL's are timed by in-game time, which is measured in full seconds. The timer rounds down; for example, a 2:05.97 will be displayed as a 2:05. The timer is exceptionally accurate, demonstrated by frame-counting many runs, and the timer has always proven to be accurate. There exist several rumors of circumstances in which the timer is inaccurate, but most of these can be traced to save/load indiscretions, and so far no definitive proof has been put forward. Likewise, saving and loading invalidates the in-game timer, because on loading the timer reverts to the time of the original save, meaning the additional game time is not added to the final game time. Hence, all IL runs must be completed in a single segment, with no saves or loads of any kind. There is some debate regarding how Sabotage at Soulforge should be timed, since it is significantly faster in real time with one save/load than with a single segment, but currently single-segment runs are standardized.
Running Interference
As the level loads, spam your strafe keys to make sure you get moving as soon as the level loads. This is not as critical in other levels, as most levels place Garrett slightly above the ground and allow him to fall into place; on Running Interference however, Garrett begins in contact with the ground and thus getting a fast start by spamming is possible.
Do not blow the birdcall at this point. Head inside the mansion to the Butler's Quarters. If you play with item auto-equip enabled, you want to grab the key that is resting on the wall near the door and immediately open the locked door on the left. If you do not use auto-equip, grab the key on the table with the coins instead to give yourself time to equip it and open the door.
The tricky part about optimizing this run is developing a pattern of AI manipulation that works for you, in such a way that Jenivere is less likely to get blocked by the guards as she runs through the narrow hallways. My method of choice is relatively uncommon; grab both keys in the Butler's Quarters, and drop one of them by the first door on your right. The guards hear the noise and open that door; then tap the torch with my blackjack, and continue onwards. It seems to work most of the time. Knock out the obvious guard in your way. You also want to throw a box here to first alert the guard who is standing in the alcove. If he is alerted by the box, he's actually less likely to third alert and start chasing you when you run by than if he were unalerted, and he will second alert instead. This also gives him a favorable position for Jenivere to get past.
Next is alerting Jenivere and you can do this in one of two ways: either with a key which is faster but takes some practice, or with the blackjack, which is slower but simpler. To use the key, approach Jenivere's door while straferunning and when you get close, drop the key. It will inherit some of your momentum and hopefully hit the door. If it doesn't, it can still alert her if it hits the ground right in front of the door. This takes practice to get the angle and the timing right, but since you travel less distance it is the best way to get a fast time.
A newer, faster, and more ersatz method is to retain both keys in your inventory, and drop them both in quick succession while moving your mouse downward so that the keys impact each other, thus making the noise necessary to alert Jenivere. This takes a significant amount of practice and binding the "drop item" command to your mousewheel can allow you to drop the keys quicker. With this method, you do not need to get close to the door; you can drop the keys half way through the hallway and turn back immediately. This method saves up to two seconds and is the current world record method.
I would recommend you use the blackjack instead if you are just starting out running Thief 2. There are two ways to do this consistently. One is to hit the top-left corner of the door either with a swing or with a block-tap (performed by blocking when close enough to the door). The other is to stand with your back to the door, look straight down, and swing. You will hear a more distant, quieter "clang". This is actually the sound of your blackjack hitting the opposite side of the door due to the blackjack's unusual hitbox. Both methods are fairly consistent ways of freeing Jenivere. You can also try leaning forward to squeeze out just a little bit more time.
A quick note on why these methods open Jenivere's door. Jenivere has a very simple AI script which only knows how to idle, read a scripted line to Basso, and escape. Since Basso's "rescue" flag hasn't been activated yet, she doesn't read her line, and proceeds to just escape because her AI is no longer idling. She has the ability to unlock the door mainly to prevent buggy interactions with the player when doing the intended route.
You should exit the mansion ahead of Jenivere. Proceed to knock out anyone who presents such an opportunity to do so, as it will limit the number of guards Jenivere can get stuck on. You do not need to leave as fast as possible; taking the time to crouch and KO a guard or two will usually save time as Jenivere will have less obstacles on her way out. Some players open the side doors on their way out, thinking the AI's might wander into them. This may be true, but it is poorly understood and need to be tested. Run towards Basso's building and blow the birdcall. Then run back towards the stairs and stand near them. When Jenivere escapes, the mission will end.
That is really all you need to know to achieve a 1:04, which is the fastest known time on the NewDark engine. However, for those interested there is some deeper theory about the timing of this mission. Using the slower blackjack method, CatharticGaming was able to achieve a 1:05on the original "OldDark" engine in 2013. In the OldDark engine, if all objectives are completed and Jenivere is knocked out, the mission ends almost immediately, whereas in the NewDark engine this glitch and other objective priority bugs were fixed, forcing the player to sit through the fade-out. On 1.07 or 1.18 OldDark it is not unreasonable to assume that a 1:03 or even 1:02 is possible using the new methods.
Shipping and Receiving
There are no items for sale that are particularly necessary to get the fastest times here, so a money run is not especially helpful. If you are having trouble with guards, you might wish to buy extra invisibility potions or health potions for the purposes of practice, but they will not help you achieve a faster time.
The first jump over the large gap is very hard if you are not straferunning. Use the ladders to climb to the roof. It is slightly faster to mantle to the top of ladders rather than climbing up and over the top. Note that sometimes you can get a "floaty" ladder grab where you are not totally on the ladder. This is hard to identify visually unless you are quite experienced with this section, but if it happens to you, it can be remedied by jumping twice to mantle. Once on the roof, try to drop down into the office in such a way that you land close to the vase. Then jump onto the table and over the wall. Take a brief moment to align yourself for the jump onto the table as it is smaller than it looks. If you jump too far to the left, you'll slide off; too far to the right, and you won't be able to jump, instead only able to mantle onto the bench by the wall.
Grab the loot from the small box on top of the mail slots and proceed to the front office where you will grab the Building A Key. Go outside and across the catwalk to the opposite wing of the building. You will need to perform a glitch known as key transmigration. Essentially, when a key is equipped and readied to unlock a door, its area of interaction is actually significantly in front of Garrett. This means you can activate the lockboxes through the wall. You will need to practice and find visual cues to help you locate the lockbox as everyone approaches the doors in a slightly different way. There's nothing I can tell you to help you line it up, although on Normal you will see different red tutorial text when you highlight the lockbox, so use that to aid you.
Grab everything on the shelves to your right (note that one bowl is just a clutter object) and drop down the elevator shaft. It is slower to hit the button and drop onto the rising elevator, but you take less damage. Normally you should just drop down (remember that you do have one healing potion). Head up into the office and grab the gem in the wall behind the banner (utilizing a glitch known as banner transmigration). You now want to exit this bay by operating the lever and heading to the right out into the courtyard. Use your invis potion here to avoid complications with the guards.
The patrolling sword guard who walks around the corner of the boxes outside of this bay is your benchmark; if he hasn't appeared around the corner yet when you approach the corner, you are on a good pace. If he has or has already rounded the corner, your run has some imperfections and you will not be on record pace. Continue to the open bay. Use the Building A Key on the lockbox to open the door, letting you exit this bay slightly faster. Grab the 3 statues on the shelves and the two loot pieces under the desk, then exit out of the door. If you didn't manage to open the door, just exit out the bay door rather than fiddling with the lock as it's not worth the time. Head around the building back towards the beginning of the level.
Grab the statue inside of the open-able crate by the crawlspace, then crouch to go under the boxes. You have one more key transmigration left, on the door to the inventor's workshop closest to you. This one is slightly harder and again you will need to establish your own visual cues. Grab the two loot pieces on the shelves and return to the inside of the box pile to end the mission. There are several ways to climb the boxes, but the best is to mantle up first, then jump to the low box without mantling, then moving inwards to finish the stage.
This level is all about execution and the difference between a 1:47 and a 1:54 or 1:55 can come down to something as simple as having fast key transmigrations and optimal movement. It's tricky and one of the most optimized stages in the game, so expect to practice quite a bit before you start cracking the 1:50 barrier.
Framed
Since you have at least 500 gold from the previous stage, you can afford a Slowfall potion. Buy it, as it enables several skips at the beginning of the stage. If you are doing the rooftop route, you will need to buy an extra Scouting Orb as well. Nothing else is really required, as you are given a very generous 2 Invisibility potions to start.
There are 3 approaches to the beginning of this mission.
Primary route: Run towards the front gates (you will see the Watchers and turrets). As soon as the Watcher sees you, pop an Invisibility potion. You will need to mantle on top of one of the lights on the front gate which have very small hitboxes. The only way to reach them is with a Slowfall jump. I like to stand on the elevated section on the side of the bridge right in the middle on the crest and slightly to the right (you can see a seam where the crest is, stand on that). Then you must begin running diagonally for a split second, pop the slowfall potion and jump, in that precise order. Center the light on the middle of your screen. If you are lucky, you will grab it and mantle on top of the gate, and can continue the mission. This is extremely tricky to learn, and heavily dependent on developing good muscle memory, but once you master it you will be able to do it fairly consistently.
Rooftop "Expert" route: This is a very old method which is still the best solution for an Expert speedrun, since you do not start with an invisibility potion. It's only a few seconds slower than the primary route. Buy an extra Scouting Orb and Slowfall as described, then run over to the wall-fence. Elevator up onto the top of the wall using the Scouting Orb (as described in the Game Mechanics and Glitches link above) and then jump onto the series of roofs until you reach the one closest to the police station walls. Slowfall jump (drink the potion and immediately jump while straferunning) to reach the outer wall. If you land just short, you're screwed because you will be stuck on an invisible ledge and have to reset. Proceed to the front of the police station.
Ancient "Intended" route: This route is barely worth mentioning but for completeness, here it is. Pick the lock into the pump room, enter the sewers, and swim to the circular room. Look up and you will see the exit of the well. Rope arrow up into the courtyard and go through the double doors. You will find yourself behind the gate. This route is about a minute slower than the others.
Assuming you did one of the faster routes, you will need to trip the lever through the gate to enter the police station, which is as simple as clicking on it. You can optionally do a gate boost glitch here, also in the guide. Head through the double doors to the left. Open the door at the end of the hallway, you will be going through it on your way out. Head up the stairs and pop your invisibility potion. Turn right. You need to grab 3 items in this hallway. You need to grab the handkerchief in the first room on the right, then pickpocket the yellow key off the belt of the guard, then grab the vault key in the first door on the left. The patrolling guard is another benchmark; a fast run will be able to get the handkerchief and pickpocket and enter the left room before he blocks you from entering. Then continue down the hallway and use the yellow key to open the door to the spiral staircase.
At the top, you can jump over the desk to the metal door which you must also open with the yellow key. Enter 4026 into the keypad and equip the vault key; use this to open the vault door. Drop the handkerchief and grab the strongbox. Continue back down, jumping over the desk again. Return the strongbox to the room where you found the handkerchief and return back downstairs to the door you opened earlier, and sprint out to the front door. You need not open the door, simply pressing up against it is enough to trigger the end of the level.
Ambush
This level relies heavily on memorizing the correct path through the city, and the easiest way to do that is to watch any of the myriad videos of runs available online. Ambush, along with Running Interference, has one of the longest histories as a time trial level in Thief 2 and besides a minor find in 2017 the route has not changed since 2006. The route is very optimized, and is identical for all three difficulties.
From where Garrett starts, you can turn right 90 degrees and immediately mantle onto the street. Continue forward to the two female NPC's and mantle on top of the elevated garden. On New Dark you can mantle straight onto the garden from the ground level; on Old Dark it may help to jump on top of one of the boxes first, although it is still possible to mantle straight from the street.
On Hard or Expert difficulty, where health management is more vital, you can either enter the door on top of the garden and exit out the window of that building for less of a fall, or you can jump from the garden onto one of the guards' heads, which will break your fall and result in no damage. This guard is not present on Normal.
The fastest way to traverse the market is to jump across the fountain. If your timing is perfect you can jump straight onto the fountain without needing to mantle. It's also possible to take it safe and jump early, intending to mantle; this method is slower but the timing is far less demanding. Naturally, this method is much more reliable in New Dark. If you are unlucky, you will land precisely on the edge of the fountain where you can neither mantle nor make it onto the fountain itself. Decide which method works for you to avoid this situation.
At the next forking path you can run around the building to the right or climb the ladder to the left; climbing the ladder is faster. Unfortunately there is no consistent way to prevent fall damage here.
When making your way across the water ways, using jumps to straighten your path through the level is faster than running along the bridges. You can pickpocket a guard patrol here for an extra health potion if you need it. The precise patrol path of these guards is pseudorandom. On an optimal run, you will have to pass them right as they enter an alleyway at a left turn. Sometimes you can get by them on the left, which is ideal; if their patrol path strays too close to the left corner, you'll have to pass them on the right.
As you approach Garrett's apartment you will want to enter the building across the street and jump to Garrett's apartment window. The door to this building opens towards you so activate it as soon as possible. Head all the way up the spiral staircase and through the door at the top. You do not need to be strafe-running to make the jump to Garrett's windowsill, but it helps. While in mid-air, try to open the windows so you don't waste time fiddling with them on the windowsill.
Garrett's apartment has very intrusive geometry and the only way to become fast at moving through it is to practice. Upon entering, head to his closet and frob the left-most coat hanger to open the stash. The secret door does not need to be fully open to grab the items behind it, so you will want to memorize the location of each item so you don't have to wait for the door to open. You need to grab the Shalebridge key for the objective (even though you will not use it), and the speed potion.
Exiting Garrett's apartment can be tricky due to the very large bed hitbox; just try and find a movement pattern that is fast and feels natural. Now you have two options to reach the end level trigger, both involving out-of-bounds tricks.
The classic method is to drop down from Garret's window and head east until you get to the waterway. Turn around, and on your right there should be a window texture on a building next to some stone battlements. The frame of this window is wood; use a rope arrow to climb up to this window, then jump to and mantle upon the battlements. You are now out of bounds.
The newer method involves retrieving the slowfall potion from the stash as well, and jumping back onto the windowsill of the adjacent apartment building, instead of dropping down. Run to the edge of the windowsill, then use the slowfall potion to jump across the street to the roof of the building and then walking over to the battlements. Slowfall jumping is an art in and of itself and requires separate treatment elsewhere.
Both methods get you to the same place - out of bounds on top of the battlements. Drop down and continue heading east. You will eventually reach a wooden section of wall next to a building with a red sloped roof. Use another rope arrow to get on top of the wooden pillar, then mantle on top of the red sloped roof. While standing on this roof, you will slowly slip off. Thus, you need to drink your speed potion to help counteract the slide, and continue along the roofs. You will eventually drop into the Shalebridge area from completely the opposite of the intended direction, completing the mission.
A note of caution: If you are able to end the mission while still out of bounds, it is because you have installed the Complete Resource Fix Pack 1.1e, included as an optional install in most Tafferpatcher versions. Complete Resource Fix Pack 1.1e is explicitly BANNED because of its demonstrated illicit changes to the levels, and thus runs including this exit are not considered valid.
Eavesdropping
First City Bank and Trust
There are no necessary purchases for this mission, but one option which is single-segment safe is to buy two health potions and an extra flash bomb. For money runs, extra mines are a good buy.
First mine+fire arrow to blast the door to your left open. Continue straight ahead and through the marble room. You can try and knock out the purple guard but it doesn't always work. Drop mines in an attempt to disable the mechbeast. Continue down into the basement. If you watch a few IL's you can see what we call "box strats", pioneered by SocratesJohnson. The tall boxes are hard to traverse in general, but there are ways to make them more convenient. Press up against them to mantle; straferun to cross the gap between them whilst throwing the box. If you cross the gap running straight you will almost surely fall.
Follow the side passages to the left to exit near the end of the tunnels. Continue forward until you reach the puzzle machine with a Watcher out front. Hit the lever and stand under the Watcher. Wait until there is only one vertical bar visible on the gate, then enter and open up the puzzle. The fastest combination is middle-left, middle-right, bottom right. If you are ever in doubt, just remember the "four corners" solution - just hit all four corners and the puzzle will complete. Backtrack all the way back to the marble room. You can take the side passages again if you are fast; if your run is slow up to this point, you may get blocked by one of the small mechbeasts. If you somehow get blocked on the entrance to the side passages, don't take them, as there will be another mechbeast who will also block your exit. Just take the wider route out.
Now enter the vault. Hug the right side of the room, or else the vault door will push you out of the way. Trigger the elevator and climb on top of the elevator button box. When the elevator is low enough, press the up button and jump onto the elevator; you may get stuck in the elevator if you press and jump too early and may even take damage. Jump across the corners of the second floor and climb up to the top floor. Head over to vault 11; you can grab the recording through the door, no need to use the key. Drop all the way down to the first floor, using health potions as necessary.
You will see a stairway to your right; take it and go through the first door you see. Flashbomb the mechbeast if he is there, and rope arrow to the roof of the dome. Climb the rope to end the mission. Since the "dome" section is technically above the roof of the bank, the game reads you as being outside and trips the end level trigger. If this fails or if you get blocked, just run out the ground level floor where you came in.
Blackmail
Trace the Courier
Buy two speed potions and an invisibility potion for money runs; for any%, just buy the two speed potions.
Lieutenant Mosely follows a predetermined path through the level and only strays from that path when alerted. However, her AI will also skip over certain actions when alerted, and this can be used to your advantage to speed up her stroll.
First a quick recap: If an NPC is "first alerted," they will continue whatever they were doing and make a comment, before returning to their base alert level. When they are "second alerted," they will actively search for the player and taunt them, before returning to their base alert level. When NPC's are "third alerted," they have seen the player and will chase them down attempting to kill them; when they lose sight of the player, they will enter second alert status, before returning to their base alert level.
Mosely will occasionally stop and do a "searching animation," and this can be prevented by first alerting Mosely such that her time spent in first alert status overlaps with her AI's search trigger. The easiest way to do this is to shoot her with a water arrow, or land a water arrow near her. Broadheads often make a loud enough noise to second alert her and are not reliable. Noisemakers have a special effect on AI and are also not useful as they pull Mosely from her route.
On normal difficulty, Mosely only stops to search once, right before she makes a left turn at the beginning of the level. First alert her and she'll pass right through. Mosely is not the most alert NPC ever, but you want to give her a wide berth. It isn't necessary to collect any loot even in any% as there is not enough for useful purchases in Life of the Party.
As Mosely enters the marketplace she will drop the letter near a streetlight. If you are following her closely, you have one frame to grab the letter from her hand without waiting for it to reach the ground. This is because items in Thief can only be grabbed if they are not moving. When Mosely drops the letter, it is momentarily immobile before accelerating towards the ground. Having mousewheel grab helps here. Once you have the letter, being seen by Mosely is no longer a failure condition. Read the letter, drink a speed potion and across the market by way of the fountain. If you are running any%, there is an invisibility potion that can be grabbed in one of the covered market stalls near Mosely's dead drop. You do not need to drop the letter again, since you will have ended the mission well before the Pagan reaches the market.
Drink your second speed potion when the first runs out, and head to the cemetery. Since you arrived so fast, the Pagan will not have left the cemetery yet, much less reached the market, so the scripted sequence with the Mechanists will not play. However, being seen by the Pagan fails the mission. So use your invisibility potion and head to the back wall of the cemetery. Using the grave stones, mantle over the wall and head into the catacomb, and through the portal.
The original, now obsolete strategy involves shooting a noisemaker into the cemetery to distract the Pagan in lieu of an invisibility potion. The ideal location is into one of the fake catacombs in the first cemetery courtyard. Because noisemakers significantly reduce the senses of NPC's, you can sometimes slip by. The unreliability of this method caused it to be nicknamed "The Colt .45 Shot" by SocratesJohnson: "It gets them every time, but only if you put it in the right place."
