The Most Insane Hollow Knight Race of All Time

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Grand Finals of the Hollow Knight Any% No Major Glitches 2019 Tournament hosted by SpeedGaming. Shoutouts to our commentators Paum, ins0mnia, and our tournament organizer Homothety, and SpeedGaming staff for helping out.
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[@fireb0rn]

Race starts at 2:00 -- enjoy!

[@dathkakashi1034]

Congrats. The 2nd race was really insane!

[@olgatsurkan2969]

fireb0rn Oh my god you fucking wizard!!!

[@gusevgp1417]

I’ve just finished watching race 1, that was a very close match. Good work on winning man!

[@newagederpderp]

You guys are dicks to Elderbug.

[@newagederpderp]

Also the only reason you won by 0.05s is because you have a good pc

[@yeethittter1285]

We need to start Elderbug speedruns, where we try to get all of Elderbug's dialogue, give him the flower and generally make him happy as fast as possible.

[@verdantstarz]

i agree with this

[@khajiitimanus7432]

*nods sagely*

[@OctoGrammr]

I agree

[@jamesburks2796]

That's impossible. I beleive that due to a glitch, Elderbug never suggests going to Greenpath.

[@matthewstracke7573]

@@jamesburks2796 What do you mean?

[@NotIMPOSSABLANK]

3:45 it looks like vysuals is walking into fireb0rn's screen

[@rayshai]

That was the coolest thing I've seen today

[@serraramayfield9230]

Higher Beings, these words are for you alone: "excuse me what the fuck"

[@GoodKnightNintendo]

If you can’t beat ‘em join ‘em.

[@ace__112]

it's almost pixel perfect wtf

[@mina_mozna]

that is epic

[@jeowjshjsj3918]

“fireb0rn actually blinking, losing around 0.000001 frames. Oh but hold up, vysuals actually makes a huge mistake by not being a TAS for a split second, they’re around even”

[@powerguidao6249]

3:45 1:15:54 Perfect as all things should be

[@Pedro-vl7yr]

wow

[@typo691]

Another one at 1:16:48

[@timchanux]

Kreygasm

[@nadirwoodson9321]

holy shit how do they get it frame perfect

[@CrashBandicam]

The correct quote is: "Perfectly balanced, as all things should be".

[@karmalthelazy5275]

As someone who rarely even looks at the speed running community for anything this is fascinating.

[@firebal6129]

Karmal the lazy yeah, same!

[@hollowcube8724]

Same for me, this is absolutely insane

[@shpostmile1510]

Same, same! I clicked on accident but now I'm just watching this whole

[@Choinkus]

This is a really good introduction. Like, I'm no sports fan, but I do enjoy watching an unbelievable, once-in-a-lifetime play. Also, this commentary is much more interesting and less awkward than you'd see somewhere like GDQ.

[@jordangeer8964]

If you can, absolutely watch Games Done Quick. It's lovely.

[@cryolitegem]

Speed runners: beat the game in under an hour Me: (three hours in) “how tf to I get the mantis claw”

[@luesagothegunboot8615]

Me 24 hours in how do I exit dirtmouth

[@cdmjgaming8375]

Me 85 hours in how do I beat nkg

[@raymints9583]

Me, insane time in a game: I hate this fucking last room in the Path of Pain. Let me through!

[@HarrisonBuck720]

Me an hour in: whys this corridor so long? And black?

[@cookie123.]

unrelated buy _what even is your pfp?_

[@Choinkus]

I love how the commentators actually know what they're talking about and give insight that makes the race more interesting to watch.

[@TupDigital]

Yep its like the total opposite of the X Games back in the day

[@lucasbarboza2187]

The comment that I was looking for. Without the commentators, half of the insane shit these guys pulled out would go unnoticed by me, like the scream skip and the pause dash b4 THK

[@Pundae]

you do still have to have game knowledge to understand them though, like knowing why they need the amount of geo they get and such. I wouldn't know a lot of what they were saying if I didn't watch the speedruns already

[@TupDigital]

@@Pundae for sure- if I wasn't an HK head already I would have been lost

[@lthereader5670]

Imagine going to your job but your boss says ur 5 miliseconds late. Would feel like a joke but its real.

[@clashcrafter]

50. mili is thousands.

[@solesey2292]

NoFlayNoPlay no, kilo is thousands, mega is millions, milli is 1/1000, thousandths

[@enderallygolem]

(it's 50 milliseconds)

[@TDeane]

Solesey kilo is a thousand times bigger, mili is a thousand times smaller. It’s 5 centiseconds or 50 milliseconds

[@Hlebuw3k]

its 50 miliseconds, not 5

[@memelord6070]

Watcher Knights with less than 84 deaths?!?! Impossible!

[@mokkvas9989]

Meme Lord agreed

[@imafurryreddit6899]

I only died once to watch night

[@asgerrbergkristensen7410]

Did you fight Them Without Any nail upgrades like a dumbass? Because i sure did

[@Solefirefly]

@@asgerrbergkristensen7410 I had nail upgrades and it took me so long. I thought I would never get past it

[@dragoonman1478]

@@Solefirefly they took me a long time as well, with like the second or third upgrade on the nail. Just took a long time to learn

[@youvebeanbad3210]

Watches 1st run: wow that was close Watches 2nd run: holy shit......

[@thornels]

"We have to go fast?" "Yeah, that's part of the run" "Damn" Best commentary ever 1:05:27

[@mr.happy1232]

timestamp?

[@pietrocolombo1318]

@@mr.happy1232 1:05:27

[@mr.happy1232]

@@pietrocolombo1318 ty bro

[@Kuino]

imagine being a vessel sealed off for like a thousand years for two nerds to beat you in minutes and make a competition out of it

[@scado5679]

Two bored gods race each other

[@AutumnForHire]

Could've gotten 0.06 seconds faster if vys used wayward compass

[@glados5065]

Im suprised they didn't use it . Its so op when it comes to speed runs.

[@varia2354]

@@robbiealbanesi5536 Shhhhhhhh, it's a joke.

[@elfinseacerca2990]

@@varia2354 whoosh

[@varia2354]

@@elfinseacerca2990 Looking back, I don't know what my probably 2 am brain was thinking.

[@elfinseacerca2990]

@@varia2354 haha no problem

[@carpedm9846]

2 anime characters fighting and then theres a pause at the end. You wonder who wins... And then one of them stumbles. The other one falls down. "Point... zero... five..."

[@steve_exp]

epic

[@Pundae]

@Sacha Lasser that's gotta be a thing somewhere

[@natemorin1416]

*Immediately after the final race* Fire: It‘s okay, we both played bad

[@jordangeer8964]

Vys, whose second race was a PB: *cries*

[@JupiterImpact_]

This was still the most insane thing I've ever seen fjkskddjks congrats on the wins Fire!

[@gabrielpoupou1479]

My bad for lookin at comments now the run is spoiled lol

[@Amongusbaka73927]

Lol

[@omnitroph1501]

@@gabrielpoupou1479 Same

[@Drozos]

they both made elderbug sad. redo the race, there are no real winners here.

[@cancermancer692]

then that means they have to get the delicate flower through the infected crossways... holy fuck no.

[@GuestsAreResilient]

Cancermancer69 Dream nail instantly

[@GabrielGomes-lc1ef]

@@cancermancer692 i chose that path when doing the quest. It's pretty easy if you take it slow and be cautious, but obviously they can't take it slow on a speedrun.a

[@aspa3318]

They would also have to rescue, sly and bretta and summon the grimm troupe since elderbug has special dialogue for those

[@aaandag9688]

i found you, nerd

[@lynn759]

what if vys wanted to go to heaven but fire said 5 MILLISECONDS

[@avitaltagar]

Sorry to be a maths Nazi but it was actually a 50 millisecond win

[@glasses6524]

or 5 hundredth of a sec, but I’ll accept millisecond.

[@avitaltagar]

@@glasses6524 milliseconds just sound nicer, it rolls off the tongue far better than hundredth

[@whatanice7304]

@@avitaltagar Just call it zero point zero five seconds 4HEad

[@lred1383]

@@avitaltagar You could call it centiseconds, although that sounds wrong and i don't condone it

[@Dittachu]

It came right down to the parries. This was great to watch - congrats!

[@maxamillion6042]

It came down to every movement they did throughout the speed run

[@cameronschiralli3569]

@@maxamillion6042 I honestly can't imagine looking back on a race like that Behind by 20 seconds? You could probably pinpoint a moment or two that brought you down. Behind by 3 frames? You could find so many tiny optimizations and pattern differences

[@memento_mori7108]

In the second race it came down to saving the beasts den grub. If fire had saved that grub they would have tied.

[@gigacat9761]

@@memento_mori7108 fire never saves grubs

[@memento_mori7108]

@@gigacat9761 I know that

[@wmeowlissa]

For most of this I thought the title was an over-exaggeration, like I was thinking "sure this is all pretty close but idk if it's the most insane race of all time" but that last THK fight was actually unbelievable

[@riley4767]

Is this why people watch sports?? I'm on the edge of my SEAT I u n d e r s t a n d

[@josephdavison4189]

No I don’t think real sports is like this this is Esports

[@hugolertier8687]

Sports can create that kind of feeling yes, differently but it can

[@CaptainPIanet]

@@josephdavison4189 It is like this though

[@silkavenger]

That feeling is pretty much exactly why why people get hype about “real” sports. Furthermore, following player statistics gives a lot of the same enjoyment we get from min maxing stats in rpgs. It’s cool that you noticed the similarity! I wish more sports fans could notice as well.

[@aether388]

@@josephdavison4189 spoken like someone who doesn't watch sports lol. It's the same types of situations, feelings, and appeal

[@fre9205]

Yeah, but- Elderbug is sad, all runs invalid

[@reverieWithRupam]

I'm a noob so... Why is he sad?

[@thegamemaster9430]

Ah, a fellow noob who knows little to nothing about this glorious game Greetings XD

[@lowfn]

@@reverieWithRupam Because they ran past him without talking to him and he lives in a decrepit village all by himself

[@reverieWithRupam]

@@lowfn noob to pro in two days...

[@reverieWithRupam]

Watched too many hk vids... I now know everything

[@rednassie1101]

Okay massive props to the guys explaining this, it was really easy to follow and well timed. Good job. Also good job to the runners ofcourse, you are great players

[@lemonlordminecraft]

to me, fireb0rn's whole personality will be "smacks stalactite into 2 flies and is my hero".

[@academicninja8532]

Half the comment section is just standing in awe, the other half is arguing about the metric system xD

[@VallornDeathblade]

Perfectly balanced

[@Apotheosister]

as all things should be.

[@shapshapshapshap2829]

And the section talking about elder bug being sad

[@T4coTV]

A year later and this is still the most epic speedrun race ever!

[@silentstormxd5530]

Didnt think Fire could recover from that 0.01 at the start, he had to have played really well after that, gg

[@jademonass2954]

1:21:01 that sync tho

[@lilliesupreme9767]

3:45 as well

[@bintavi7034]

Man... 5 centiseconds

[@SomeoneYouKnow2671]

Finally, somebody who knows basic math! ;D

[@thatoneguy9582]

imagine actually saying centiseconds

[@franciscodoumic1071]

Ikr

[@zachrobinson8357]

1/20th second sounds so much better

[@madlad255]

@@SomeoneYouKnow2671 It's literally in the name, 'mille' is French for a thousand. I'm pretty sure I was wrongly taught that a millisecond is 0.01 seconds because I only realised it less than 2 years ago.

[@awwastor]

I can’t wait for silk song speedruns. It’s gonna be so different with e.g. healing (which is much faster), no spells (?) and tools which don’t use silk or produce silk while using it up.

[@magikaxolotl894]

Take a shot every time the narrorators complains about Fire’s geo

[@tyleranderson3178]

That ending is absolutely nuts Congrats on the great run!!!!!!!

[@aspidacctvods]

Tyler Anderson 0:00.05

[@Brawlatron]

"If Vys had a better PC he wins this" Aww, must've been all that Hornet Void he's clinging onto slowing down his CPU! Still an insane race

[@puffyhowler615]

Oh my god I have no interest in speedrunning but I was so invested in this that I didn't notice me getting to the end of the video, which I think is a testament to these announcer's talent

[@alborjat2657]

The fact that Vysuals PB’d and still lost by 3 frames is kinda insane

[@eldritchhollow7692]

Fireborns hornet fights are a clear example of character development

[@kobimitchell7807]

Why did he struggle with hornet before?

[@rc-fannl7364]

Congrats on the win, that was super close. Btw, did you ever play Turok 2 in the past? Since Fireborn is one of the characters in that game.

[@fireb0rn]

I made the name up on my own when I was 10 for my neopets account actually. :)

[@kobimitchell7807]

@@fireb0rn that is possibly the best origin story ive heard so far

[@ashmoleproductions5407]

@@fireb0rn Oh my god you too!?

[@__grimmkind__]

43:53 "wow vys is so slow" im not sure if beat the game in less than 50 minutes is slow but ok

[@zachrobinson8357]

I beat the game in 40 hours! I mean, I’m not a speedrunner, but c’mon. How.

[@its-yaboi-mr1429]

I'm at 60 and I still dont have shade cloak

[@Fedico7000]

@@its-yaboi-mr1429 Oof

[@oldbird4601]

Lmao I did 22 hours 56 mins on my first playthrough. But then again I took the most boring, shit route to win ever... I couldn’t find hornet in kingdoms edge so I just wandered around, found the dreamers and beat hollow knight. I never even went to the abyss 😭. I’m actually sad that I’m too fucking stupid to search kingdoms edge properly

[@Mori_712]

@@oldbird4601 u could start a new run

[@rashkavar]

Man, I remember catching the tail of this live and being so hype even though I had no idea what was going on. Watching it now, though, is insane. I've played the game, I'm at 109%, I'm at a point where I feel reasonably good....good enough to appreciate just how insane the speedrun strats are. Amazing gameplay, fireb0rn and Vysuals, well done!

[@strictlyworse_mk7108]

Incredible back-to-back runs on both ends. I was surprised to see that the timers ended showing fireb0rn as the winner when visually (no pun intended) it looked like vysuals was going to be the winner.

[@7kS3]

Damn... I had to watch Elder Bug get sad FOUR TIMES. Dude screw the race, Elder Bug deserves the win for being an absolute champ.

[@lucientobias6599]

Vys gives me faith in the gaming community, mans tookcthat loss like an absolute champion. Even said he would have proffered it, no crying or calling bullshit, just big thanks all around for good runs

[@arti2074]

fireborn when he won so he had to do it again: *Suffering from success*

[@xxx1x47x41x3]

The commentators are quite good!!

[@wolfieolfie]

*I SHOULDNTVE WATCHED AN HOUR OF STRESS OH MY GOD*

[@VanBradford]

When everybody talks and jokes about a 5 millisecond difference in case of a 50 millisecond difference...

[@matteohu4613]

Him just start playing Bosses: why do i already hear boss music?

[@Offline219]

Only a 50 millisecond difference sweet Jesus. Amazing job to the both of you!

[@Paerux]

What an ending!

[@zachmarcus107]

*I think I've seen the face of god.*

[@thanhnhatran9972]

No one's gonna talk about how the smash the chain at the same time???? Bro that's incredible! (1:21:20)

[@Pennaflumen]

That.... was an absolutely nuts comp guys. I don't even watch speed runs, but I was on the edge of my seat towards the end.

[@voinburg916]

holy shit... congrats to everybody -- this was unbelievably entertaining to watch.

[@khajiitimanus7432]

Man, I'm gobsmacked. Amazing job, fireb0rn! That Beast Den navigation on the first one was rad. (Still watching - haven't yet seen the second match) Edit: That is an insane second win. Holy hells....

[@sammyham7]

This was just amazing! I've never liked watching speedruns, but Hollow Knight is the exception! Congrats!

[@The_Jayman]

I love how fireborn is just so chill about it all & just shamelessly plugs his YT channel at the end

[@ima_n_ova]

The absolute sportsmanship with Fire and Vys is amazing. Love to see that

[@EE-oh7kg]

At 1:15:54 it looks like fireborn is walking into vysuals screen

[@sandoval9276]

underrated comment

[@cereiul]

At 3:45 it looks like vysuals is walking into fireborns screen

[@midnightblossom2149]

They traded screens at 3:45, he was only returning to his original one

[@proredfly9410]

@@midnightblossom2149 wait, so vys won the first one AND the second one?

[@seanharvey7092]

This was the best speed run competition I’ve ever seen! Both guys played so well and the ending was incredibly close

[@pclouds]

fireb0rn sings MIcheal Learns to Rock "Though you travelled so far ... boy I'm sorry you are ... 5 centiseconds too late"

Imagine if someone punishes you for being 0.05 seconds late, this is not a joke

[@joshroach4941]

Probably one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever seen in my goddamn life

[@tzisorey]

They need to create ElderBug% - its like Any%, but you say hi to ElderBug so he doesn't sound so disappointed when you run past like he's just an invisible ghost that doesn't know he's dead.

[@IschmarVI]

It is any% but you have to deliver a delicate flower to Elderbug and also talk to him at the beginning on the run.

[@NightmareQueenJune]

Hooly hell that was a wild ride. Congrats to you for winning and to Vys for beating his pb (at the time)!

[@queendasher4482]

people saying 5 milliseconds smh the education system really has failed us

[@quantum6637]

Lol imagine if we said centiseconds

[@TDeane]

Not Telling You My Name or just 50 milliseconds

[@jlb6070]

no one says centiseconds

[@NATONIOZ]

Raphael Schumach NANOSECONDS

[@maqma_2118]

Decimal places start at tenths, so milliseconds is right.

[@syIvy]

it's been 4 years, but i still love watching this

[@captainsnake8515]

watching them absolutely wail on bosses is so satisfying

[@PhuongLe-sy9ip]

I know it's really late now, but wowwww, you did an amazing good optimization damaging boss in the last game, what a great show I've ever seen, hope to see you winning this tournament again with silk song

[@MrSterence]

Is this what the younger twin feels like?

[@fandy9765]

"after a while you stop looking at the minutes and start looking at the seconds" me who started speedrunning a week ago and still looks at the hours: *rolls eyes*

[@tsirakura1684]

Was told I had to watch this after watching this years gdq. Did not disappoint. You did amazing

[@fireb0rn]

Thank you very much!

[@tsirakura1684]

fireb0rn definitely the best speedrun I have ever seen. Your times were so close!

[@Joker-ym8sk]

Omg fire .05 win gg man Jesus that was stupid close I've watched alot of Speedrun tournaments and never have I seen one that close you brought that back from the brink

[@gxstfr]

damn. that's the most excited I've ever been with hollow knight

[@ozzzy77]

I stumbled across your videos with the one about the Chinese hollow knight hitless runs, and now I’m seriously thinking about getting this game. Haven’t been much for games like this before, but after watching your community hunter vs speed runner videos I’m really enjoying it!

[@ilia6089]

Scary race

[@majakurkiewicz1315]

absolutely riveting tournament! It was amazing to watch, on the edge of my seat the entire time. Congrats to both Fire and Vys!

[@MeboDotExe]

While you were shopping in Dirtpath, I was studying the *craft*

[@phobiaphobe]

You know Fire popped off,he kept the cutscene playing after

[@_Enigmatic_]

These dudes doing it in 30 minutes while it took me 42 hours to get around to fighting the hollow knight and 17 ish tries to beat him Cheers, to the true Mad Lads

[@pineapple7024]

If it brings you any solace, their first playthroughs were probably almost as bad

[@otaku-chan4888]

Well, at least you got to the Hollow Knight. I'm here in the crossroads farming ONE aspid near the hot spring just to try (and fail) to jump and attack properly :)

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

17 tries for Hollow knight? Did you still had like five mask or what? I came to Hollow Knight with 107% and it was an easy first try.

[@MrBii03]

@@legrandliseurtri7495 I mean you probably had your charm setup figured out by then if you already beat at least 1 grim fight

[@legrandliseurtri7495]

@@MrBii03 I had both Grimm done, and I don't have one charm set, I change constantly. The only charm I almost always have is grubsong.

[@Crepetomaniac]

To quote The Incredibles: "THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!"

[@thestonemason7413]

When you realize that almost every speed run makes elderbug sad

[@OpalSpring]

My favorite part of this entire thing is Fire's angry slashes.

[@BluMorpho86]

You won by 1/20 of a second holy hell xD

[@kitsukoki2883]

What an amazing race! Thank you for uploading!

[@arti2074]

A 3 frame difference at the end. kinda insane ngl

[@dialog_box]

god i will never get bored of this that's literally a 3-frame difference!!! aaaaa!!!

[@passionatemelon6627]

Vys should've used wayward compass smh

[@Blair5414]

I still love watching this 2 years later. So epic

[@yaourmahm2208]

This is how I imagine The Knight would actually beat the game

[@memento_mori7108]

In the first race: Fire: gets two cycle uumuu Commentators: I don’t know how he got that? Me: because he is the GOD GAMER!!

[@Zictive]

As someone who took 60 hours to finish his first run. Looking at someone finishing the game in an hour is pretty interesting

[@elysebonds3526]

I know I'm late to this, but that was insane! Congrats!

[@Pundae]

Insomnia is really well named, he sounds like he would rather be sleeping everytime he speaks.

[@nasaki4348]

I ate an entire box of pizza while watching only the first race. That was amazing, and I’m very excited to watch this next one!

[@GoodKnightNintendo]

That’s! My! Dawg! Great job!!!

[@postomnis6134]

Chat is so unbelievably salty that fire won at the end there

[@akasakasvault7597]

Damn ggs my man

[@fireb0rn]

Thanks Jules!

[@kingtorra6955]

I don’t watch speed runs or speed run races or anything related but holy creo this was so fun to watch, I was on edge the entire time!