Elden Ring finished in 7 minutes by skipping all bosses [Update]

Written by. Ryuki Ishii based on the original Japanese article (original article’s publication date: 2022-04-11 16:31 JST)

[Update 2022/04/13 00:33 JST]
The record time is now 6 minutes and 59 seconds by Distortion2. He gave a thorough explanation of the run in the comment section of the video below:

[Original Text 2022/04/11 17:35 JST]
The record time for the Elden Ring Any% Unrestricted speedrun was 12 minutes and 32 seconds just a few days ago (related article), but speedrunner Distortion2 has managed to beat the record yet again. This time, without fighting any of the bosses.

Distortion2 has been the frontrunner of the Elden Ring speedrun scene ever since the game’s launch, so some of you might have heard of him numerous times in the past month. He successfully finished a run in just 12 minutes and 13 seconds only a few days ago, followed by this record-breaking run of 8 minutes and 56 seconds.

Please be aware that this article contains spoilers and gameplay footage of Elden Ring.

Just like his previous runs, the Zip glitch played a major role in cutting down the time. It allows players to blink through space by performing a sequence of precise, frame-perfect inputs, and speedrunners have been using this technique to skip areas and boss fights. And now, Distortion2 has managed to finish the game without fighting a single boss by fully utilizing the Zip glitch.

In previous runs, he couldn’t skip Maliketh, The Black Blade, so he had to spend extra time acquiring the items needed to defeat the boss efficiently. But the new route skips Maliketh as well, meaning, Distortion2 could also skip the process of obtaining certain items, resulting in a significant time reduction. Distortion2 commented on the video above that he will “keep grinding this for sub 7,” so we’ll likely see further developments soon.

For those who are interested in seeing other recent achievements by Distortion2, check out his butt only (Ground Slam/Golden Slam only) run and Rune level 1 run (without Spirit Summons).

As for the other Elden Ring speedrun categories, Muftaay currently holds the Any% (Zip Glitch forbidden) record with 26 minutes and 7 seconds, and a Japanese speedrunner named AltF4jp4 holds the record for the Any% No Wrong Warp category with 58 minutes and 28 seconds (Speedrun.com).