This run is done on version 1.2.2, using Artifacts. 1.2 fixed the previously used wall-dashing glitch, but it comes with some useful features of its own. Most obviously, the resolution is scaled, giving significantly greater view over the map, which makes finding teleporters a lot easier.

The new Any% speedrun still uses the same three artifacts:

Command: Items spawn as crates, instead of randomly, allowing you to pick your own upgrades. More on this later.

Glass: Increases your damage by 500%, at the cost of 90% of your health.

Spirit: All characters gain increased movement speed as they take damage.

Since wall-dashing was fixed, the Mercenary is no longer the fastest. Instead, the Bandit has become the most useful, thanks to a glitch that I start activating in the first level. As before, a Dried Lake start is required for the quickest portal, but now it's also mandatory to get an orange item drop as quickly as possible. The Gigantic Amethyst, a new item in patch 1.2, gets the fun started.

The Amethyst resets the cooldown on all skills. For the Bandit, this gets some interesting results. Using Smokescreen, which turns him invisible and gives bonus movement speed, then resetting cooldowns and using it again, will stack the movement speed permanently. Infinitely. This we call the Bandit Sprint. It doesn't take long to zoom across the map at insane speeds.

I keep stacking the Bandit Sprint until my character becomes nigh uncontrolably fast. There is such a thing as going too fast, as it can become really difficult to do proper platforming.

Once the Bandit Sprint is set up, most of the run is basically as usual. Finding portals as fast as possible, killing enemies fast, and gathering the required items. The item list has changed quite a bit as well, for reasons that'll become clear on the final level. For now, the feathers are used to help platforming, while the rest of the items are just about optimal DPS.

The Carrara Marble helps speed things along by allowing me to pick optimal locations for enemy spawns. Due to the increased resolution, enemies can also spawn a lot further away from you. If they're able to spawn above or below you, you can potentially waste a lot of time chasing after them. So I tend to pick an area where that won't happen, then use the Marble to teleport straight to the portal once it's open.

You'll probably notice that the portal spawns in every level were exceptionally lucky. Both Hidden Valley and Magma Barracks can waste loads of time with suboptimal spawns, and these locations were just amazing. Then, the Temple map not only gives me a decent spawn, but also two sacrifice shrines for an immense speed boost that also both drop items. Not only is my time insane now, my stack of items is also much bigger than usual.

But it could all be meaningless when the final level, Risk of Rain, starts. Before anything else, the game has a 50% chance to kill my run instantly. See, all those double-jump feathers I picked up give me just enough jump height to reach the top of this level, and to just fly around the first 30-second door timer. But only two of the four spawn points have an opening. I spawned in the slower of the two, but that's not really much to complain about.

After flying over the entire map, it's time to skip the other 30-second doors. Creditto Penguinguy for finding this glitch: Activating the Marble while holding Up causes me to grab on to any ladders in between me and the marker. This teleports me straight into Providence's room, saving a minute.

Then, I manage to spawn Providence with 8:59 on the in-game clock. This is significant because at 9:00 the game increments its difficulty (shown on the bar in the top-right), which would give him a higher HP pool. Had I been a second slower at any part of the game, I would've lost a good 10-15 second in killing him slower.

Finally, in patch 1.2.2, Providence forgot how to use his damage shielding. Normally, at 66% and 33% remaining health, he reduces all incoming damage to 1 for a while. Without this limitation, I can gear my item layout to the highest DPS possible: massive attack speed, some crit chance, and loads of rockets.

Because I never pick up an Infusion or any other health buffer, Providence can actually one-shot me. This makes the fight extremely hectic and dangerous, as a single mistake will kill the entire run. Especially during the third phase I try to balance safety and speed as best I can. Suffice to say, I didn't die, so I'm fine with it.

End timer: 9:31

RTA time: 9:36