v3.0: Female Jedi Guardian Route (Light Side)

Route created by Sanjan, updated by Ninko.

I want to credit 30cents for his initial route for KOTOR 2 Glitchless. This would not have been done without his initial work on the route! I also want to credit ChaosDrifter for helping me with much of the calculations and theory crafting into the category improvements.

This route defeats Darth Traya on Malachor V as fast as possible without the use of glitches. Timing begins upon clicking “PLAY” after character creation and ends on the last hit on Traya. A load-removal tool is available for LiveSplit thanks to glasnonck; times are sorted based on load-removed times, since load times vary significantly in this game, and saving is frequent. This guide will cover the character build for the run, as well as a detailed route.

If you have additional questions, you can check out the KotOR Speedrunning Discord which is linked on the game’s sidebar on speedrun.com. There’s a bunch of friendly folks there willing to answer questions!

Table of Contents:

Glitchless Ruleset

All glitches are banned, with the exception of the following:

In addition, exploits that give infinite experience, credits, or alignment points are also banned.

Due to its glitchy nature, QUICKSAVE is banned as well. Manual and autosaves, however, are allowed.

No mods are allowed to be used (Yes, this also includes the restoration mod!)

General Tips

Character Build

Character Creation

We begin the game as a Jedi Guardian mainly to make use of the Force Jump ability, and its Strength for combat. A female character is chosen because instead of Handmaiden, which you attain as a male character, we get the Disciple. Having Handmaiden incurs extra cutscenes with Atris at the end of the game, thus resulting in a slower run.

Our main character only needs skill investment in Treat Injury (TI), as ‘Affect Mind’/’Dominate Mind’ are used for anything requiring persuasion.

Initial Attributes

Initial Skills

Initial Feat - Weapon Focus: Melee

We will be focussing on melee attacks with a sword/lightsaber in this run, so we max out ‘Strength’ immediately, and get enough ‘Dexterity’ and ‘Constitution’ to help us survive. The final two points are put into ‘Wisdom’ for a slightly better chance at resisting Force Powers at the end of the game, as well as it gives us slightly more Force Points (FP).

Treat Injury (TI) will be our main skill, since there are no strict skill requirements we have to meet. Each level up we can select ‘Recommended’ in skills for ease and speed.

We choose ‘Weapon Focus: Melee’ for the attack boost before getting our lightsaber; we pick it over ‘Two-Weapon Fighting’ since this feat takes longer to select and character creation isn’t timed. This will in turn result in our first level up being faster than if we chose ‘Two-Weapon Fighting’ now.

Leveling Plan


Level Feats Powers
1 Weapon Focus: Melee
2 Two-Weapon Fighting Burst of Speed
3 Weapon-Focus: Lightsaber Affect Mind
4 Force Valor
5 Improved Two-Weapon Fighting Energy Resistance
6 Force Deflection
7 Improved Critical Strike Dominate Mind
8 Battle Meditation
9 Master Two-Weapon Fighting Knight Speed
10 Knight Valor
11 Master Critical Strike Improved Energy Resistance
12 Force Redirection


You will notice attributes and skills aren’t listed here. This is because when we level up, all skills/attribute points will use the ‘Recommended’ option (Strength/Treat Injury respectively).

Our main combat plan is lots of Strength, ‘Master Two-Weapon Fighting’, ‘Master Critical Strike’, and ‘Knight Speed’ using dual lightsabers. This gives us attacks that will deal as much damage as possible; we want to hit as hard as possible, since enemies in the later parts of the game will have higher HP. Once we get the lightsaber form ‘Shien’ from Master Zez-Kai-Ell, we will switch to this form for the rest of the run.

Other notes:

Skill notes:

Feat notes:

Force Power notes:

Equipment Plan

One of the many special differences KOTOR 2 has compared to KOTOR 1 is that many of the drops/containers you loot are randomized. The base items listed below are all guaranteed items, but it is possible you may obtain items in your run that are more optimal to equip before getting the guaranteed items (or could possibly be better!).

Implant: Power Implant

Headgear: Targeting Visor

Gloves: Sith Power Gauntlets

Body 1: Jal Shey Neophyte Armor

Body 2: Ossus Keeper Robes

Main Hand: Single Lightsaber

Crystal 1: Nextor

Crystal 2: Opila

Crystal 3: Pontite

Off-Hand: Freedon Nadd’s Short Lightsaber

Belt: None. Or the best belt you looted

Shield Slots: Energy Shield, (or any other shield you choose to use)

The majority of our equipment is attained in Nar Shaddaa. For the early game, we will make use of a pair of Vibroswords, though some exceptions can be made depending on the randomization the shops have.

Item Prioritization:

  1. +Strength: Strength gives us more damage AND more accuracy, and therefore is much more beneficial to us overall than any other stat.
  2. +Damage (any type): More damage is great. Generally this will be in the form of +physical damage (e.g Gamorrean Gloves).
  3. +Attack: Gives us more chance of hitting, which is crucial early game since our weapons are weaker.
  4. +Wisdom: Gives us better saving throws for the endgame, where Nihilus, Sion, and Traya have the chance to use force powers against us.
  5. +Defense: Makes others less likely to hit us. A good stat to look out for since we tend to run through areas with large amounts of enemies.

Credit Route

We do anywhere from 6-8 shopping trips during the run; the credit route branches depending on if you find better weapons to buy early game on Telos Station. Our shopping is as follows:

  1. Samhan Dobo; Telos Station
    The first shopping trip of the run will start with Samhan where we will firstly sell:
    • 1x Parts (+55 credits)
    • 2x Vibroblades (+208 credits)
    • Droid Self-Sustaining Parts (+3300 credits) This will bring our credit total somewhere between 4000 and 4300 credits. We are allocating 1900 credits for the bare essentials, although we will usually spend a bit less than that here. Next is to buy some essential items that will get us to Dantooine, credits are scarce with the tightness of this route so only buy what you need. We are only buying enough items here to end at the total amount given below: (e.g. If you have 2 Strength stims and you need 7, only buy 5. This is true for non-Hyper Stims and Medpacs.)
    • 2x Ion Grenades (-260 credits)
    • 3x Frag Grenades (-240 credits)
    • 1x Hyper Alacrity (-100 credits)
    • 2x Hyper Stamina (-200 credits)
    • 11x Alacrity (-550 credits)
    • 8x Stamina (-300 credits)
    • 7x Strength (-250 credits)
      This will leave us at a credit total between 2250 and 2750.
  2. Dendis Dobo; Telos Station
    From Dendis we only buy enough Medpacs to end with the total of: - 30-35 Medpacs

  3. Adum Larp; Dantooine
    For the second shopping trip of the run, we are going to stock up on Battle stims that will last us the rest of the run.
    Firstly sell:
    • Exchange Negotiator (+467 credits)
    • Benok’s Blaster (+660 credits)
      And buy:
    • 11x Battle Stim (-1200 credits)
  4. 1B-8D; Onderon
    During Onderon 1 we will come across 1B-8D in part of the quest ‘A Doctor’s Alibi’, we talk to this droid merchant for the quest and then once again in order to enter the shop screen with it. We sell the Mandalorian Assault Rifle here as it will give us roughly 1000 more credits than any other merchant along the way in the rest of the run:
    • Mandalorian Assault Rifle (+5472 credits)
  5. Kex; Dxun
    After we are finished with Onderon 1 we will be back at the Mandalorian Ruins, it is here we can shop with Kex and buy some crucial items for the rest of the run. We will only need to purchase enough of these items to end at the total given below:
    • 30-35 Advanced Medpacs (~ -2400 to -2800 credits)
    • 1x Hyper Battle (-200 credits)
    • 2x Hyper Strength (-200 credits)
    • 10x Alacrity (~ -500 credits)
    • 8x Stamina (~ -400 credits)
    • 8x Strength (~ -400 credits)
    • 10x Average Frag Mines (-2500 credits)
  6. Oondar; Nar Shaddaa
    During our talks with Geeda and Oondar for the quest ‘Trade War: Bonus Mission’ we will buy the Nextor Crystal from Oondar for our lightsaber:
    • Nextor Crystal (-3582 credits)
  7. Geeda; Nar Shaddaa
    Our last shopping trip! And our last talk with Geeda during the quest ‘Trade War: Bonus Mission’ and also partly completing ‘New Trade Routes: Bonus Mission’ Geedas shop will have an upgrade and give us the opportunity to buy the following items:
    • Jal Shey Neophyte Armor (-570 credits)
    • Opila Crystal (-2831 credits)
    • Power Implant (-1615 credits)
      Where we will also sell:
    • Anything that we don’t currently need that can help us end this shopping trip at >2000 credits.
      At this point in the run, we should have almost all of our endgame items, the last two items will be looted during the Tomb of Freedon Nadd.

Most of our credits come from quests that we do on the way, and a select few guaranteed items. The credits route is a little tight, as we need a lot of money for crystals, medpacks, stims, and mines.

The quests we do to get credits are as follows:

  1. We get the Atmospheric Sensors for Saedie, for 3000 credits since we can do this on the way to rescue Vrook from the mercenaries.
  2. We allow Azkul to bribe us for an extra 1000 credits. We can skip the battle here that normally gives us 4000 credits, so allowing Azkul to bribe us along with completing Saedie’s quest makes up the credit loss.
  3. We take the 1000 credit reward from Zuka, since we need all the extra money we can get.
  4. We give our spare starport visa to Sakarie, who gives us 5000 credits in exchange.

The guaranteed items we sell are as follows:

  1. 1x Parts. Left over from Peragus, helps to fund our first shopping trip
  2. 2x Vibroblades. Obtained on Peragus, sold to help fund our stim needs.
  3. Droid Self-Sustaining Unit. Obtained from HK-50 on Peragus, this is a big chunk of credits for our shopping trip on Telos.
  4. Exchange Negotiator. Obtained from Luxa and is used to help fund our stim needs.
  5. Benok’s Blaster. Obtained at the same time as the Exchange Negotiator from Luxa and is also used to help fund our stim needs.
  6. Mandalorian Blaster Rifle. Obtained from Mandalore the second time we talk to him on Dxun.
  7. Lightsaber (or double-sided lightsaber). Sells for ~680 and is used to help bribe Kaalah-Nah.

Alignment Route

Alignment in KotOR is a sliding scale from 0 to 100, initialized at 50; higher numbers are Light, lower numbers are dark. Shifts in alignment are determined by a matrix; every alignment-shifting action is classified as Light or Dark, and then assigned a level (either Low, Mid, or High). The player character (Exile/MC) can either be aligned as Very Dark, Dark, Neutral, Light, or Very Light. The more opposed your alignment and the action’s classification, the more drastic your shift in alignment; for example, a Light-aligned character performing a High Dark action will have a large shift, while a Dark character performing a High Dark action will have a smaller shift. Most of the alignment shifts we get in the run are hardcoded, meaning that we would get those points regardless of our alignment.
Here is the alignment route used in the run:

Aligned Action Type LS/DS Delta New
Neutral Game Start 50
Neutral Initial talk with Kreia Hardcoded 1/0 1 51
Neutral Agree to let Atton out of Force Cage Hardcoded 1/0 1 52
Neutral Talk with Atton, post T3-M4 solo Hardcoded 1/0 1 53
Neutral Tell HK-50 you want to save the miners Low Light 2/0 2 55
Neutral Not shooting the Asteroids during escape Hardcoded 2/0 2 57
Light Talk with Kreia on Ebon Hawk Hardcoded 8/0 8 65
Light Talking to Atton before Telos Hardcoded 1/0 1 66
Light Help free the Sullustan from Mercenaries Hardcoded 3/0 3 69
Light Refuse Chodo Habat’s reward Hardcoded 3/0 3 72
Light First Encounter with Handmaiden Hardcoded 1/0 1 73
Light Show concern for Bao-Dur Hardcoded 1/0 1 74
Light Show concern for T3-M4 Hardcoded 1/0 1 75

Alignment is important in this run, as we need to reach 75 to trigger Visas. We also stay on Light Side/Neutral in order to obtain Mira at Nar Shaddaa, as she is used for Goto’s ship segment to pass by the many deadly mines quickly without blowing them up, and to obtain deadly mines for Hanharr 2 later on at Malachor V.

Other than obtaining Mira, most of our decisions are done with the intention of getting the fastest result, while getting early game LS points to trigger Visas

Getting Visas to spawn requires either 25/75 alignment (dark/light, respectively), or 50 total alignment points, whether LS or DS. We go for the 75(Light) Alignment Points, since this is the fastest and most effective way for us to trigger Visas. After attaining Visas, our alignment doesn’t matter anymore.

Route Overview

The order in which we visit planets is as follows:

Peragus -> Telos -> Korriban -> Dantooine -> Dxun/Onderon 1 -> Nar Shaddaa -> Onderon 2 -> Ravager -> Malachor V

The reasoning for the middle planets:

Detailed Route

This section will describe all the actions you’ll need to take for the Glitchless Any% run.

Notation:

Prologue

Character Creation

Ebon Hawk

Peragus

Administration Level

Fuel Depot - T3 Section

Mining Tunnels

Dormitory

Harbinger

Fuel Depot (pt 2)

Ebon Hawk to Telos

Telos

Citadel Station

Sell:
- 1x Parts
- 2x Vibroblades
- Droid Self-Sustaining Unit
Buy:
- 2x Ion Grenades
- 3x Frag Grenades
- 1x Hyper Alacrity
- 2x Hyper Stamina
- 11x Alacrity
- 8x Stamina
- 7x Strength

From here on, the places where you level will vary. It is generally recommended to level up MC as soon as possible.

Afterwards, swap to MC: } Equip Vibroswords in Main and Off-hand, Plasma Torch as secondary weapon

> Level to 4 on MC:

Telos Surface

Military Base

Polar Academy

Korriban

Ebon Hawk

Sith Academy Route Map

  1. Make your way to the crossroads, then take the path to your right.
  2. Take the second left path all the way to the end (the purple path) and loot the footlocker there.
    • You may get trapped by various monsters, bop them a few times and keep trying to move so they will get out of your way.
  3. Head to the console at #2: 1,2,3,1,4,4,4,2,1,2,2
  4. Now run to the Training Room at #5 and activate the console twice: 1 | 1,3x-
  5. Run to the other end at #6, mouse spam through dialog and loot Vash’s body.
  6. Now use the console to unlock the entrance door: 2,1,1,2
  7. Swap to and exit the academy with Atton.

Visas

Dantooine

Sell:
- Exchange Negotiator
- Benoks Blaster
Buy:
- 11x Battle Stim

Dxun

Dxun Jungle Route Map

Sith Ambush

Onderon 1

Buy:
- 30-35 Advanced Medpacs
- 1x Hyper Battle
- 2x Hyper Strength
- 13x Alacrity
- 8x Stamina
- 8x Strength
- 10x Average Frag Mines

Nar Shaddaa

Then shop at Oondar:

Buy:
-Crystal, Nextor
Buy:
-Jal Shey Neophyte Armor
-Crystal, Opila
-Power Implant

Sell:
Any other items as needed to get 2000 credits EXCEPT:
- Lightsaber (unless 2 handed)
- Plasma Torch
- Stims
- Mines
- Medpacs

Memory Reset

Atton Section

Mira Section

T3 Section

Goto’s Yacht

Goto's Yacht route map

  1. + \ Manual Level Visas (do this for all levels she can get): > Skills - Recommended > Attributes - Strength > Feats - Stealth Run, Improved Two-Weapon Fighting > Force Powers - Knight Speed, Force Valor
    • Auto Level Up if there are any more levels.
  2. Cast Knight Speed then interact with the terminal: 1,4,2,2
  3. Speak to the Utility Droid: 1
  4. Activate 1x Alacrity, then turn on Stealth (Default Hotkey: ‘G’).
  5. Follow the Blue line to the first Red X
  6. Activate Psuedo-Stim Set and Force Valor, open the door in front of you.
  7. Destroy the Maintenance Droid, followed by all 6 Turrets.
  8. Open the door to free MC
  9. Cast Knight Speed when in control of MC, run backwards to the console to get ‘Access Code - Power Distribution’: 1,3
  10. \ Activate 1x Alacrity stim, activate Shield. Run Mira along the Orange line to #14.
  11. Once you bash the door to the Bridge, bash the Plasteel Cylinder in the right corner for ‘Access Code - Droid Controller’.
  12. Access the Bridge Command Console at #15: 3,1,1,1,2,2,4,1,4,3,5
    • Sometimes the previous selections don’t work, in that case it will likely be: 3,1,1,1,2,2,5,1,4,3,5.
  13. Head back to #14 and recover all 5 Deadly Frag Mines, which we will be using for a later fight.
  14. While Mira recovers mines, run MC to #1 (Green line).
    • We will need to cast Knight Speed as MC.
    • It takes between 4 and 5 seconds to recover 1 Mine.
  15. } Unequip Mira’s Plasma Torch.
  16. Access Primary Power System: 1,2,2,2
  17. Access Bridge Command Console: 1,5,3,5
  18. \ \ Exit Goto’s Yacht.

Onderon 2

Tomb of Freedon Nadd

Freedon Nadd Route Map

  1. Run Visas through the area to #5
    • If you get caught here, just ignore them and heal as needed.
  2. Spam 1 on the console at #5.
  3. Run to #7. Use Psuedo-stims on your way there, saving using Knight Speed before the end.
    • You may want to safety save just before the fight.

YOU MUST UNEQUIP VISAS BEFORE TALKING TO XARGA AGAIN OR ELSE YOUR RUN ENDS HERE

Onderon Palace

Jedi Masters

Ravager

  1. Run / Force Jump to #4: 1 -> 1
  2. Cast Knight Speed, run / Force Jump to #9: 1 -> 1
  3. Cast Knight Speed, run to #10 to enter the Bridge.

Nihilus

Ravager Final Run

    • Cast Knight Speed, run to #5: 1 -> 1 -> Mouse spam
  1. Cast Knight Speed, run / Force Jump to #6
  2. Access Missile Bay Control: 1,1,1,1
  3. Access Missile Bay: 1
  4. Cast Knight Speed, run to #2: 1 -> 1
  5. Cast Knight Speed, run to #11 to leave the Ravager: 1
    • It is recommended to make a safety save before leaving as the game tends to crash here.

Malachor V

MC:


Malachor MC section, route map 1
Malachor MC section, route map 2

Hanharr 2

Remote

Malachor Remote section, route map 1
Malachor Remote section, route map 2

Trayus Academy

Trayus Academy route map 1
Trayus Academy route map 2

Sion

Traya

Traya: 4,4

Version History

v3.0 (October 2024)

v2.1.5 (November 2023)

v2.1 (October 2023)

v2.0 (February 2021)

v1.0

The rest is, as they say, history…