Classic Movement

## Game Structure

In the first 5 Tomb Raider games blocks are the central gameplay aspect in terms of lining up jumps and other moves. Each bit of geometry is made out of blocks, and learning to see the world in these blocks is central to playing the game and exploiting the system. In general you can just see the "seams" where the blocks join, and, if not, then there is usually a repeating texture pattern or some other thing to help, as well as your own intuition after you get used to them.

## Basic Movement

In terms of speedrunning it's helpful to know the basic movement details before you move on to more advanced techniques.

Here are more detailed notes on each (in order of speed):

### Crawling backwards

As the slowest form of movement you should minimise this as much as possible. Although, in very short crawls, it can be quicker than having to go forward and turn around.

### Walking

Obviously, you should walk as little as possible, although there are some situations where it is almost essential that you do so, such as certain very precise jumps.

The short delay after pressing walk can be exploited to your advantage. If you run towards an edge and hold walk as you get close you can immediately stop at the edge without any walking at all.

### Crawling forwards

While this is faster than walking, the delay of ducking down means there doesn't seem to be any use for this, especially as the amount of walking should be as minimised as much as possible anyway.

If exiting a crawlspace requires you to climb out backwards, then it is faster to turn to the side as you approach the end of a crawlspace, since you then lower the amount you must turn around before dropping out (of course this does not apply to Chronicles).

There is a way to get out of many crawlspaces a movement earlier; pressing to draw your weapons makes Lara move forwards slightly, allowing you to get up earlier in many cases.

### Running

The default way of moving. As all of the first five games have faster ways to move it should be avoided as much as possible. However, there are some spots where running can set you up better than the alternatives, or the alternatives are far harder to use (such as places with low, blocky ceilings that are easy to bash on).

### Standing jumps forward

While faster than running, this movement should be avoided where possible as running jumps are always faster. The only practical places to use it are for jumping puzzles, when on a ledge too short for running jumps to work or for setting up positioning in certain instances.

### Backflips

Backflips seem a little... odd, they get you both higher and further than forward standing jumps and also give Lara a smaller collision area (you can get into gaps you might not get into with a forward jump). However, I'm not fully sure if they are faster as the actual animation may be a little slower, and of course they are more troublesome to perform.

Basically, See standing jumps.

### Running jumps

In TR1 and 2 this is the ideal method of movement where ever it can be used. Part of route planning in the first two is working out how many of these can be fit into the space available. As part of this, it is almost always better to use slight detours that keep your run-jumping consistent than to take direct routes that require you to stand-jump or run at some point.

In areas with low or uneven ceilings (or both) you should try and stick to the parts with the highest ceiling so your jumps are as long as possible, provided it only requires a minor detour.

### Sprinting

This is the ideal movement method from TR3 on, use it as much as possible. There are, however, some caveats:

On any lengthy run where your sprint bar will run out always dive (note the difference between a "dive"; and a "swan dive";) at the end as this means you will recharge your sprint bar while still continuing at sprinting pace for a short time. It also has some more obscure advantages:

Firstly a dive can get you up steps and slightly raised sections of ground (allowing you to climb them at sprinting pace).

You can also dive DOWN slopes, this is quicker than sliding and therefore can give you a small advantage if you do it right.

Sprinting in TR3 is different from the later sequels. In TR:TLR and TRC if your sprint gets "interrupted" you can restart it again without having to wait for your sprint bar to recharge. Also, from TR:TLR onwards you can press crawl after a sprint to roll into a crawlspace, which speeds up your progress through them.

It also helps to know where sprinting isn't practical; in some cases jumps can get you over bits of geometry which can be quicker than sprinting around them, also, if you are running up a series of raised blocks (like steps) then jumps will get you up quicker than sprinting.

On the PC version you may find you cannot sprint left without releasing a key for a short time first, the only way to fix this seems to be to change your movement keys (E.G. use the numpad to move instead of the arrow keys). Of course it will take some time to get used to, but being able to sprint left easily is a very good advantage. However this is only for TR3, you can set sprint to any key you want in later sequels. I recommend keys right above spacebar.

### Extended Sprint

There's an oddity in the game engine's Sprint function: during the first nine-tenths of a second while sprinting, you can release the Sprint key, and Lara maintains sprint speed, but stops losing energy. You must hold Sprint again before the .9 seconds is up, or she slows down to normal running speed. If timed correctly, the few tenths of a second you save may drop you to the next lower second when the level is displayed. This run of Thames Wharf shows it at 0:18; look at the power bar in the upper right, which stops descending for a moment when the black portion is still small. Reported by xRikux89.

### Walk-run jump

This is a simple trick that seems to have been completely overlooked. Begin a step forward; add Jump and release Walk before the step finishes. This allows the running jump to occur in as little as one step.

As well as allowing for things that wouldn't be possible otherwise (or would be ridiculously hard), this is an extremely useful general technique. Pulling off running jumps in much smaller distances can be very convenient, such as when you land half-way across a block, as this is faster than setting up a full running jump.

### Longest jump

The longest running jump possible is to perfectly align yourself with an edge (E.G. drop off and climb back up), then roll and take seven sidesteps (direction does not matter, as long as none are interrupted by a wall or other obstruction), then do a running jump. This is useful for testing, but it takes a long time. For a speedrun, you can usually find a quicker way, such as angling and then rolling or hopping back.

## Other Movements

### Buffering

Buffering is using the inventory screen to make almost pixel perfect movements. Open the inventory, then close it. Whilst the inventory is closing, hold the input you want, for example walk, forward and right and the inventory button, so lara makes a SLIGHT movement and the inventory immediately opens again. When done correctly, this will advance laras movement by two frames.

This can also be used to accurately time things like late grabs. A good example of this Is the jump at the end of Offshore rig, where you buffer "draw" four times. You draw again in the air and as she puts away her guns, the timing on the grab will be perfect.

This applies to Tomb raider 1, 2 and 3 on PC and Tomb Raider 1 on PS1.

Tomb raider 2 and 3 on PS1 is slightly different. You need to pause, then hold inventory and your input, then unpause.

### Shimmying vs Climbing (and ladders in general)

These two movements are the exact opposites of each other: Shimmying is much faster than climbing horizontally but much slower vertically, Climbing is much faster vertically but much slower horizontally. This means that good use must be made of both on some of the more "complex" ladder climbs, and using the right one in the right situation can drastically improve your speed.

Backflipping off ladders is important. It helps to know exactly what "rung" you need to be on before you can backflip off the ladder and land where you want to be (as it is faster than climbing all the way up), you also need to know whether a mid-air flip will help or not.

When you are going down a ladder, let go and grab again further down, repeating until you reach the bottom, this is much quicker than just climbing down, how close you want to cut it is up to you (obviously the less grabs on the way down the better, but it's risky on long ladders).

On very short climbs it can be better to stick to the sides so Lara climbs with just her arms and does not spend time latching on to the ladder.

### Movable blocks

Up until TR:TLR (where the speeds seem about the same), whenever you move a block you should try to push it as this seems slightly quicker.

### Mid-air turns

Mid-air turns, also called twists, are extremely helpful if used right, for instance, they can substitute for a flare cancel (detailed later) when landing in open areas if you turn in mid-air and roll after landing (as Lara will then be facing forwards again).

During a mid-air roll Lara assumes the "properties" of the jump you WOULD have done if you didn't turn, so if you do one while doing a backflip you will get advantages like the smaller collision area, but will be facing forwards, which can be extemely useful in some circumstances.

### Rolling vs Not Rolling

The roll movement is considered as the quick turn move, but it's not as quick as you might expect (in most cases). Especially underwater, rolling takes too much time to complete the animation, so manually turning is the way to go. The time saved is not much, but it adds up as you keep avoiding them.

Flare cancelling the roll is a good method to make your roll just as fast as manually turning. However, in a continuous run, flares are not always available. Plus, you can't flare cancel rolls while underwater.

Keep in mind, though, that sometimes rolling is better. The possible geometry and objects may make it hard to manually turn, thus the runner should compare and see what is the best movement for the occasion.

The video on the right showcases the time differences.

Note that twists mid-air are quicker than manually turning. The geometry of the area and your following moves are what should be taken into account here.