speed run glitch?

[Blahhh]

I am unable to "speed runs", but not sure if this is a glitch or I am doing something wrong or an update has negated this strategy from what has been discussed on the forum or what I have seen in videos.

When I run to the end as fast as possible, and kill any enemies near/at the end (or kill any who happen to be directly in my path), the portal does not open and the chests always give the "not while in combat" warning. This happens every time, and I have tried many variations of waiting for the portal to open for as much as a minute or more and nothing changes.

The only way I have been able to get the portal to open is backtracking and killing some varying quantity or percentage of enemies until the blue arrows pop up and I can go to the portal. Sometimes there are enemies still following me far back on the path even for long periods of time, so when I notice them following it kinda makes sense that I need to kill them to move on. I thought the game had something like a 20 second enemy lack-of-engagement reset, but I have proven that wrong many times already.

I have also experimented many times running all the way back to the beginning and carefully looking for any enemies potentially still following or engaged and not found any, and in those situations I generally have to kill some number of random un-engaged enemies before the end of level portal opens. This would imply that the game is set up to require you to kill some percentage of a level's enemies in order to complete the level (?).

Obviously I can open a town portal but then I either lose all the loot or have to go collect the entire map's loot which take time.

The game is updated and I have both restarted the game and my device multiple times and it keeps happening.

[Nhat]

Make sure to remove your companions, since they can engage mobs along the way. Easiest method is to use Smoke Screen with Bounty Hunter, for other classes, it's a matter of luck whether you end up with stranglers or not...

[Blahhh]

I should have included some more information. I have not been running these experiments with companions.

With regards to smoke screen, it definitely helps, but not completely or more importantly inconsistently. Sometimes smokescreen works well and other times I can right right by one group of enemies close and they ignore me but then another group right next to them but same distance from me will start coming after me.

That all being said, based on your response it almost sounds like what I am experiencing may be...common? Did not see it discussed anywhere and in all the videos I have watched, did not see anyone having to go back and round up stragglers or kill more enemies...

[Nhat]

From what I remember reading, you just run to the end and then trigger Smoke Screen to disengage all the mobs...

[Blahhh]

Yeah smoke screen at the end works most of the time, but at a rough estimate I would say 20% of the time I either have to use 2 or more smokescreens or go back and kill stragglers or some percentage of enemies before the final portal opens up....but when trying to do farming, those percentages really add up....

[Mxtof]

There are two places in the Descent you need to pay extra-attention for the speed run: The Lavaduns in the middle, which split in small ones; and the ambush railroad near the end. Both can keep you on combat mode if you leave those behind. Lavaduns must be either all killed, or all left aside (depending on the class). The ambush on the railroad is easy to avoid: just stick to the north side, and don't run on the rails.

[Blahhh]

Interesting....for me I have found the issue I described above seems to happen on any map...but now I am curious about what you described as well...

[Mxtof]

It happens to me rarely on other maps. When it does, it's because of ambush triggered after my passage, or summoned creatures persisting for some reasons.