Dram Strat: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 00:21, 28 September 2019

Dram Strat is a speedrun technique used in the ruins portion of the Sand Kingdom and is named after dram55, the speedrunner who popularized the trick. It involves throwing Cappy upward near a Bullet Bill, collecting the Power Moon in an alcove as Mario, and then homing in with Cappy to warp back up to the Bullet Bill. The name "Dram Strat" was originally used as a joke, since dram55 claimed that he disliked when speedrun techniques were named after specific people.

Because of the satirical name, the term "dram" has been applied to various other tricks. This page will address the original technique in the Sand Kingdom that was popularized by dram55.

Reproduction steps

To execute this trick you need to:

Throw Cappy upward so that he stalls just below where the Bullet Bill is circling;
Hold X or Y as Mario falls and moves toward the Alcove in the Ruins moon;
Shake the controller just before grabbing the moon to initiate Cappy's homing action;
Automatically warp up to the Bullet Bill after collecting the moon.

One also needs to pay attention to the moving platform near the launcher, to make sure that it won't be in the way of Cappy's homing ability. Since Cappy can only stall for a limited amount of time, the Power Moon must be collected quickly.

Usage in runs

This trick is used in the Any% and World Peace speedrun categories.

Any%

In the case of Any%, Alcove in the Ruins is collected regardless of which route is used. Therefore, opting not to do this trick (or failing it) will require the player to climb back up to the top afterward. Because of this, Dram Strat saves a fair amount of time in this category.

World Peace

In the case of World Peace, this trick has encouraged a complete reroute of the Sand Kingdom. Opting against or failing the trick with this updated route is as slow as or slower than the original route. Therefore, if one is not comfortable with Dram Strat, they should opt for the original route. (Even without the use of Dram Strat, the updated route is still harder than the original one.)

@@ Line 5: / Line 5: @@
 == Reproduction steps ==
-To execute this trick you need to :
+To execute this trick you need to:
-* Throw cappy high enough in order for cappy to Be able to reach the bullet bill that just shot from the launcher;
+* Throw Cappy upward so that he stalls just below where the Bullet Bill is circling;
-* Hold X or Y until you grab the ''Alcove in the Ruins'' moon;
+* Hold X or Y as Mario falls and moves toward the ''Alcove in the Ruins'' moon;
-* Shake your controller before grabbing the moon to engage the cappy homing on the bullet bill.
+* Shake the controller just before grabbing the moon to initiate Cappy's homing action;
-You also need to pay attention to the moving platform near the launcher to make sure it won't be in the way of the cappy homing. Since cappy can only be left behind for so long you will need to grab the alcove moon decently fast
+* Automatically warp up to the Bullet Bill after collecting the moon.
+One also needs to pay attention to the moving platform near the launcher, to make sure that it won't be in the way of Cappy's homing ability. Since Cappy can only stall for a limited amount of time, the Power Moon must be collected quickly.
-== Usage in Runs ==
+== Usage in runs ==
-This trick is used in Any% and World Peace.
+This trick is used in the Any% and World Peace speedrun categories.
 === Any% ===
-In the case of Any%, ''Alcove in the Ruins'' is required no matter what. So not doing this trick (or failing it) will require you to climb either on the ice pillar on the stairs to make your way to the crate which is next to the Bullet Bill launcher. So this trick saves a considerable amount of time.
+In the case of Any%, ''Alcove in the Ruins'' is collected regardless of which route is used. Therefore, opting not to do this trick (or failing it) will require the player to climb back up to the top afterward. Because of this, Dram Strat saves a fair amount of time in this category.
 === World Peace ===
-In the case of World Peace, this trick has encouraged a complete re-route of Sand Kingdom. Failing the trick with this updated route will bring you back to even with the old route. (The updated route is still harder after this point compared to the old one.)
+In the case of World Peace, this trick has encouraged a complete reroute of the Sand Kingdom. Opting against or failing the trick with this updated route is as slow as or slower than the original route. Therefore, if one is not comfortable with Dram Strat, they should opt for the original route. (Even without the use of Dram Strat, the updated route is still harder than the original one.)
 [[Category:Tricks]]