Here is my personal list of tips and tricks that I wrote up after last years SRL (Thought they would be useful before now but I digress) if anyone has suggestions for things to be added on to this list or theories for me to test go right ahead and I will update as needed. How To Prepare (Quick Guide): 1. Gather bounties to turn in and rank up your armor once you gather some. 2. Make sure any armor from last year has its perks unlocked (DISMANTLE ANY WITH FAST ENTER). 3. Run PoE to gather Chroma for the new class items (do this ASAP) 4. Make sure you have space in Emotes, Shaders, Emblems, Sparrows, and Armor slots for rewards. 5. Sparrow horns are going to only be legendary now. Note that any from last year that you had legendary will still work so gather those up (I would like to hear something other than the Gjallar Horn) ================================================================================== 1. All stunts give the same amount of boost, use only the "Up on the D-Pad" emote as it takes the least amount of time and will allow you to get boost where you normally wouldn't be able to. 2. Only ever use a Stunt Sparrow, overcharge sparrows cannot regain boost easily and provide too much risk. 3. Either wear your armor from last year or save up bounties right now, the extra evade charges and Air Control perks are insanely useful. 4. Anyone who played F-Zero knows this by now but I will recap: DO NOT ANGLE UPWARDS, Usually you want to hit the ground as soon as possible but be warned, the cannon on Campus Martius will kill you if you angle down too hard while not at max speed, play it safe. Try different methods to land out of cannon launches to find the fastest way to hit the ground. Angling upwards slightly as you get on a ramp will help out with the Infinite Descent shortcut and is generally pretty helpful to keep the nose from jamming into the ramp. 5. If your helmet has "Fast Enter" dismantle it, the perk is useless during races and its counterpart "Air Control" lets you pitch your sparrow which can take seconds off of your time when utilized correctly. 6.Shortcuts are everywhere, the "Infinite Descent" course from last year has a major shortcut that you can reach if you angle left before the vex structures. This will be extremely useful for taking the lead but can be high risk if you aren't at max speed. 7. Hit all the gates, this should seem obvious but missing gates will lower your max speed, some shortcuts use this to balance out their effectiveness so especially when going off a shortcut hit any gates you can. 8. The Record Book REQUIRES you to play Strike Scoring mode to unlock all the rewards from it. Just a head's up. ================================================================================== Anecdotal and miscellaneous tips: [spoiler] -Make your own music playlist to run through Groove Music (Use the dropbox feature)/Pandora on Xbone or Spotify on PS4 (I don't know exactly what you guys have, correct me if i'm wrong) this will keep you from getting tired of the game music. Find something high-intensity (personally, I have the F-Zero GX OST) -If the matchmaking is the same as last year just go in with a team of 6, it won't matchmake any more players and you will get full rewards (this was basically the OG custom games for Destiny) this way you can grind out races with friends which is way more fun. -Collect ALL THE THINGS (I can't believe I just said that) but yeah, most everything from SRL is limited-time and we may never see shaders from last year again. I am sure everyone remembers the Midnight Lumos crucible we saw just after the event (If you don't know of the shader it is bright neon pink, lots of people used it right after the end and it was hilarious) -Glowhoo and Ascendant Plane look incredible with SRL armor (which is what I wear during crucible) -The Class items can now take Chroma in this year's SRL. Run PoE to grab yourself some extra if you are short. -UPDATE: We now have confirmation that there will be a specific "SRL" Kiosk that will allow you to reclaim gear, if any more information surfaces I will include it here. -Last year there was a glitch with the boost meter where if the amount you have exactly fills a square it will stop charging (no matter how much capacity you have left) and prevent you from evading. If this glitch is still present the solution was to drive through a gate which will add a fixed amount to the meter which corrects the problem. [/spoiler] Air Control and how to use it Effectively: [spoiler] Controls: -Push forward on the control stick to aim the nose of the sparrow downwards which will increase speed and cause you descend faster. -Pulling back on the control stick will aim the nose upward which will decrease speed but slow descent. Normal Racing/Small bumps: -Hold forward on the control stick at all times to make the impact of hitting small obstacles (enemies, rocks, etc.) much less of a problem. If you find yourself beginning to flip over from this then A. That is not a Small Bump and B. Pull back on the stick and failing that pray to RNGsus or maybe Deej. Ramps: -You will want to hold forward and angle downwards for the majority of the time to gain speed and hit the ground fast. The Sparrow will auto stabilize slightly but if you start to slip to far downwards then pull back. As you begin to near the ground pull back slightly to attempt to make the impact less dramatic. If a jump is too far over a pit you might want to avoid angling down until there is solid ground beneath your sparrow. Falling it to pits is bad. Cannons: -For the most part you will want to follow the same rules as for ramps but in some scenarios angling to far down will cause you to hit a wall or fall into oblivion. Be cautious and if you and another racer enter the cannon at the same time (which is very, very dangerous for both of you) sometimes disaster can strike and neither of you will make it to the other side, this is fairly uncommon however and unless one of the new maps has this issue often it is usually safe to gamble on it. Overcharge sparrows are especially wonky and usually more prone to flipping. [/spoiler] The Outliers [spoiler] Alright I have had several discussions throughout the comments about two sparrows specifically: The Swiftriver and The Tumbler. I also will keep this updated when needed. The SR-1 Swiftriver: This sparrow is from a quest you can get from Amanda Holiday (formerly only obtainable from a Red Bull promotion) it is a Stunt Sparrow with a boost stat of 40 which is actually higher than the norm for SRL sparrows of 35 which makes it quite unique. More tests need to be run but the Swiftriver seems to have an advantage. But for now the TL:DR is "It has 5 more in the Boost Stat and we don't know what that means for sure". The EV-30 Tumbler: Well here is the other end of the spectrum a boost of 35 and a Speed stat of 150 which is actually lower than the standard. This has been confusing as we have no viable info on how the Speed and Boost stats actually affect your performance in SRL. The Tumbler does however have a tighter turning radius and that is about all we can say for sure. TL:DR is Tumbler can turn tighter but has 150 Speed instead of 160 which we don't know what that means for sure. [/spoiler] Day One: What to do first [spoiler] Alright, now I know everyone wants to jump right in to racing but there are things to do first. 1. Make sure you have the racing book, this will likely be automatically added to your inventory. Check your objectives and keep them in mind while you race. 2. Go to the tower and grab any quests as well as the first gift. 3. After you have checked any notifications go to Amanda Holiday (as someone is going to point you to her most likely). Grab any quests as well as your SRL bounties. 4. Do another quick check on your inventory, try to keep at least 6 slots open in your Shaders and Emblems and at least 2 for armor and Sparrows. 5. Queue into a race and kick some ass. Turn in the bounties when you complete them. Last year, bounties were on a daily reset so check them often. Once you have had your fill, feel free to come back and share any new stories or tips you might have. I will keep the thread updated periodically during the event. [/spoiler] Edit 1: Changed the title and added a Quick Start Guide. Edit 2: Updated #4 Edit 3: Added "Air Control and how to use it effectively" Edit 4: Updated the Air Control section with some more notes and added a blurb about the SRL Kiosk. Edit 5: Added "The Outliers" section to sum up the discussions about a few specific sparrows. Edit 6: 12/12/2016 This is the final update before the launch of SRL. Added the "Day One: What to do first" guide and some other small updates. See you on the track! -Jtoomer 42, Momentum Master