Darksiders

General Tricks and Glitches:

Listed in order of appearance, covering what is required on the any% route.

Sword-Dashing:

This is the main form of movement for the first third of the run, it chains the sword uppercut with War’s dash to move much faster than normal. It’s performed by holding Z-target (Shift), then dashing (Alt) with A|S|D to go backwards or sideways, then holding LMB to interrupt the end of the animation with the sword uppercut. Continue to hold Shift, a direction, and LMB while tapping Alt to cancel the sword uppercut into as many dashes as you want.

The main limit to this skill, one you’ll see repeatedly anytime Z-target is involved, is that you can only move sideways or backwards. Forward uses a different dash that can’t be chained, so it’s important to practice your movements and learn how to use the minimap effectively. The other hindrance is that, since Z-targeting locks on the closest enemy, there are some sections where backdashing isn’t a viable option.

Rebinding dash to your mouse’s scroll wheel is highly recommended, since you’ll be able to spam dash much faster. This guide will assume dash is on Alt and Down Scroll. A free-scroll mouse makes this trick even more effective.

AirBlock:

In the prologue, War is able to gain some additional height in the air by Blocking (Alt). In order to block in the air, you have to let go of all movement keys, most easily done by rocking your hand from W to Alt and back. If you start a sword swing just before, you can get a little additional height, as well.

Carglitch:

A physics glitch that causes thrown cars to get stuck partway into the wall, making a platform for War. It’s done by tossing a car at a wall from a short distance and while airborne so that it gets damaged before War’s throw animation completes, forcing the car model to load in with the door on the other side of the wall as the main body. After the throw is complete and as long as your framerate is high enough, it will stay stable due to however the game does physics. There are two instances of this glitch, each with their own setup.

Sword Canceling:

While attacking (LMB), if you tap Block (Alt) and follow with LMB as soon as you release block, War will cancel the first swing and be able to immediately start a second swing. Repeat this Alt-LMB combo as soon as your sword hits the enemy to deal way more damage than the game intended. The maneuver is awkward at first, it helps to start slow and work on consistency before spamming, the key is reducing the block time as much as you can. One trap people get caught in is to alternate between each, which means you either won't have your sword hit or your block time will be much too long. It's best to confirm the hit, then tap Alt and hit LMB as you release it. If you get stuck in the block animation, it's from not releasing Alt fast enough.

Savewarping:

A common speedrun exploit usable in a few areas of Darksiders. Making manual saves and reloading them is first done to move you across a room, but expands to load back in-bounds or skip to the destination when going through warp paths. Autosaves serve similar purposes and are used much more commonly than manual saves.

Fast Bomb:

Hitting a tossable sticky bomb with War’s sword before throwing it, so that it explodes almost instantly. Done by canceling out of sword swing with the Action (E) button, entering Q-mode, then throwing the bomb as soon as possible.

Infinite Jump:

The main method of breaking the game, the refinement of this trick over the years has completely transformed the run. While in mid-air, using a Gear/Sub-Weapon with E (also recommended to bind to Up Scroll), then swapping Gears and jumping on the same frame will make War do a fresh ground jump. This requires 2 Gears and some rebinding to perform. The action “Next Gear” can be pressed at the same time as jump to easily perform the IJ on keyboard. Some runners have used F for Next Gear and Space for jump, two of us use 4 and 5 for Next Gear and the second Jump binding, respectively.

However you bind it, the instructions are pretty simple: Start on your first Gear (Horn or Gun), Double Jump in the air, use the Gear with Scroll Up, then press Jump and Next Gear 3 times and you should see War double jump again. The subweapon will get canceled with Jump and Next Gear, giving you the IJ, the next 2 presses of those keys rotate the Gear selection back to the first slot, letting you repeat the whole process. With the recommended bindings, the inputs are Space, Space, Up Scroll, F + Space, F + Space, F + Space, which you then repeat with Up Scroll, F + Space, F + Space, F + Space as much as you need.

From there, adding movement and midair dashing are the next steps. The skips in this guide will first teach the game forward, once you get a feel for the geometry of each area and can do the technique consistently, it’s not too difficult to transition to more advanced infinite jump movement.

Note: To gain the maximum height it is not helpful to spam the buttons. If you use the weapon when War begins his flip you should get the optimal height bonus. A lot of time in the run depends on how efficient one can Infinite Jump. Learning how to correct screw ups and how to be consistent are key to a good run!