This beginners guide provides actionable tips to increase your speed, improve your flow and maximize your running efficiency in Haste.
How to Enhance Performance in Haste
Achieving mastery in Haste requires understanding movement mechanics, optimizing landings, and strategically using your board.
Landings and Their Impact on Speed
Each landing type influences your speed and trajectory, which can determine the success of your run. Here’s how they work:
Landing Categories:
- Perfect: Increases speed significantly.
- Good: Maintains speed with slight variations based on terrain.
- OK: Typically reduces speed but may preserve it depending on slope conditions.
- Bad: Causes a major speed drop and forces a poor trajectory—avoid whenever possible.
Strategic Considerations:
- Sometimes, taking an imperfect landing is necessary for better positioning in upcoming jumps.
- Always think ahead to determine whether speed retention or acceleration benefits your next landing more.
Optimizing Movement
Instead of just moving forward, adjust your trajectory dynamically:
- Angle slightly downward toward the next slope to convert a “Good” or “OK” landing into a “Perfect” one.
- Plan your landing spots in advance to maintain momentum and avoid unnecessary slowdowns.
General Guidelines for Speed and Flow:
- Low, flat arcs: Best for maintaining speed and fluid motion.
- High, slow arcs: Useful for precision but come with drawbacks:
- Extended air time reduces speed.
- Steeper landing angles restrict optimal slopes, leading to additional slowdowns.
- While low arcs may limit landing choices, a well-timed dive can mitigate this.
Set Pieces and Terrain
Learn to identify terrain patterns (shard set pieces) and anticipate their impact:
- Look ahead and position yourself early.
- Analyze loss conditions and plan alternative routes or strategies.
- Adjust movement to mitigate speed loss caused by tricky landings.
Mastering your Board
Your board is a critical tool for managing speed and trajectory.
Board Activation Mechanics:
- Upon activation, the board:
- Slightly accelerates upward.
- Reduces landing steepness.
- Provides a major speed boost.
Best Times to Use Your Board:
- Right after a Perfect/Good landing to maximize speed.
- Mid-jump to reach the next slope effectively.
- Just before landing to maintain momentum through difficult terrain.
- To counteract a bad landing and prevent excessive speed loss.
- Experiment with different timings to uncover niche uses.
How Stats Affect Your Running
Key Player Stats:
- Boost: Likely impacts max speed and acceleration.
- Energy: Fuels board activation and abilities.
- Health: Depleting it results in lost lives.
- Life: Running out forces a full restart.
- Spark Pickup Range: Determines how far away sparks can be collected.
- Luck: May influence item rarity (not confirmed).
Essential Itemization Tips
Item selection varies by run, but a well-balanced loadout is crucial.
Must-Have Items for Success:
- Boost items: Essential for improving early-game speed.
- Healing items: Critical for sustaining longer runs.
- Energy/Boost on Fragment Entry: Helps mitigate early-game vulnerability.
- Health-increasing items: Provides a buffer against mistakes and difficult segments.
- Invulnerability (situational): Some, like “On Perfect Landing” invulnerability, can be game-changers in tough slopes.
Best Ways to Spend Antisparks
Upgrading stats via the Captain is one of the best long-term investments.
Suggested Purchase Order:
- Max Lives – Get at least one upgrade.
- Max Energy or Max Health – Prioritize based on playstyle.
- Sparks in Fragments or Starting Sparks – Pick what fits your needs.
- Item Rarity – Improves shop selection, but pricier items may reduce efficiency.
What NOT to Buy: Daros, Niadas, and Wraith’s Items – These swap your main ability (e.g., replacing your board with a height boost). They are often overpriced and situationally useful at best.
Tips for Optimizing Your Play
- Rebind Hotkeys: Adjust item hotkeys for quick access (e.g., assign Item 2 to ‘Q’ and Item 3 to ‘E’).
- Modify Mouse Sensitivity: Higher DPI (e.g., 2000) can improve quick maneuvering.
- Experiment with Different Strategies: Some boss fights require unconventional tactics like slowing down or circling enemies.
- Expect to Fail: Each mistake is a learning opportunity. Take breaks when needed, and keep refining your strategy.
