Baldur’s Gate 3 speedrunner sets new record by stuffing Shadowheart’s corpse in a box

❘ Published: 2023-09-04T03:03:09

Larian Studios

Baldur’s Gate 3’s any% speedrun record has dropped well under five minutes thanks to a handy new trick. Dubbed “Shadowboxing” by speedrunners, the technique involves packing Shadowheart’s remains in a box.

Baldur’s Gate 3 has quite the storied speedrunning history for such a fresh release. Players have been finding whatever game-breaking methods they can to whittle the timer down and roll credits.

Some Baldur’s Gate 3 speedrunners don’t even have to do that. One popular category to see who can get the speediest smash is now officially recognized on speedrun.com as ‘sex%’.

Certain methods are so busted that Larian has even patched them out of the game and we think that this one may follow suit. Here’s how famous Baldur’s Gate 3 speedrunner Mae managed to finish the game in four minutes and 15 seconds by desecrating the corpse of our favorite Cleric.

Baldur’s Gate 3 ‘Shadowboxing’ speedrun

Mae’s start seems relatively simple, pick Gale as the player character and take Enhance Leap and Feather Fall as first level spells. This allows her to bound past any combat encounters from the first act and book it to the Mountain Pass.

At this point, Shadowheart auto-joins the party thanks to spoilery story reasons and Mae proceeds to leap past any further encounters and into Act 2. This is where the infamous ‘Shadowboxing’ comes into play.

For whatever reason, murdering Shadowheart and placing her corpse in a suitable receptacle makes Baldur’s Gate 3 fall apart and skip the second act entirely. Mae crams Shadowheart’s carcass into a crate, sets it ablaze, and shakes it until she’s suddenly transported to the final boss of Act 2.

From here Mae opts for the ending in which Gale detonates his chest nuke in the Cult of the Absolute’s hideout turning everyone of note into a Mindflayer. Credits roll and there you have it, a sub-five-minute run with plenty to unpack in therapy.

A screenshot of Cleric in Baldur's Gate 3

RIP Shadowheart. We hardly knew ye.

Mae is prolific in the Baldur’s Gate 3 speedrunning community and has set multiple records in the any% and sex% categories. This latest effort puts her a full 11 seconds against the next quickest run and she has a habit of coming back if someone takes her spot.

We probably can’t help you beat a sub-five-minute run in Baldur’s Gate 3 but we do have a bunch of guides to assist you in your adventure. Check them out to help you make the most of the game.