Dram Strat

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 high enough in order for cappy to Be able to reach the bullet bill that just shot from the launcher;
Hold X or Y until you grab the Alcove in the Ruins moon;
Shake your controller before grabbing the moon to engage the cappy homing on the bullet bill.

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

Usage in Runs

This trick is used in Any% and World Peace.

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.

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.)