Portal shortcuts FAQ By: matrixstream757. Originally published: 09/04/09. Previously updated: 09/09/09 [version history.] 1.00. This is the original version of this FAQ. No edits have been done to it by this point. 1.10. Thanks to Ninto55, I added a new shortcut, the quick GLaDOS fight shortcut. 1.11. I changed a few inconsistencies from my original unpublished version that I did not catch before. 1.21. Thanks again to Ninto 55, I added another shortcut, the Quicker launch to elevator shortcut. [1.0. READ THIS SECTION BEFORE YOU READ MY GUIDE OR TRY TO CONTACT ME!] [Before you attempt my guide...] Some of the tricks necessary to do in this guide are very tricky, so I highly suggest you have beaten this game at least once before even attempting to try any of these techniques. [About my FAQ.] This FAQ was meant solely for the PC version of Portal. I cannot guarantee that every trick you will read in this FAQ will work for the Xbox 360 version of Portal. This FAQ also contains spoilers. [About my shortcuts.] In this FAQ, I will list every known time efficient shortcut. And by time efficient, I mean it will save you several minutes to even a half hour of gameplay each level. Like for Testchamber 14 for an example, this level normally takes about 10-20 minutes to complete, but you can reduce that to mere seconds! I will also list every non-time efficient shortcut. By non-time efficient, I mean it will not save you very much time. It will still make the overall time of the game at least 10 minutes shorter than normal, though they do not save nearly as much time as the larger shortcuts. I will group my shortcuts into 2 groups. There are the Major Shortcuts, and the Minor Shortcuts. The Major Shortcuts are the ones that save a really good amount of time. The Minor Shortcuts are the ones that only save mere seconds to 2 or 3 minutes of time. This game is 2-3 hours the normal way. It could be a mere 30 minutes with doing useful shortcuts like these! That is speedrun class time! I will update this FAQ every time I find a new shortcut. If you know about a shortcut that is not in my FAQ, contact me via the Contacting Me section below. I have not added the advanced testchambers yet. I may possibly do this in the future if I ever find any useful shortcuts in any of them. [Contacting me.] Sadly, I am rather difficult to get a hold of. If you find a useful shortcut on any of the non-advanced testchambers, contact me via GameFAQs. I very rarely check my Email, and I will be busy with school and other stuff. And two, I probably will not reply to you via Email. You may contact me through an ATTN topic. I Check the PC Portal board literally every day since I post on GameFAQ on almost every free time I get. My name is matrixstream757 and I will never reply to your suggestions through any other account or alt, so anyone claiming to be me that is not called matrixstream757 is not me. I will most likely not reply to you within the time-span of a year, but my E- mail is sledgehammersofdoom@yahoo.com. Do not contact me by my E-mail. Via an ATTN topic, you will get a reply within the day. Via E-mail, you will not get a reply. Ever. ----------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents for 2.0 and 2.l [Major Shortcuts.] (SC1) [Testchamber 11.] Shortcut #1: Fling to the Orange Gun. (MA1) [Testchamber 13.] Shortcut #2: Two buttons, one box. (MA2) [Testchamber 14.] Shortcut #3: Portal fling to elevator. (MA3) Shortcut #4: Stairwell Portal Fling. (MA4) [Testchamber 15.] Shortcut #5: No elevator across the acid. (MA5) Shortcut #6: Elevator portal jump. (MA6) [Testchamber 17.] Shortcut #7: Jumping up the ledge (MA7) Shortcut #8: Portal through the window. (MA8) [Testchamber 18.] Shortcut #9: Early fling across turret room. (MA9) [Testchamber 19.] Shortcut #10: Across the long hallway. (MA10) Shortcut #11: Quick Mega Turret Fight. (MA11) Shortcut #12: Quick GLaDOS fight. (MA12) ----------------------------------------------------------- [Minor Shortcuts.] (SC2) [testchamber 6.] Shortcut #1: Energy Ball Not Needed. (MIN1) [Testchamber 10] Shortcut #2: Quicker launch to elevator. (MIN2) [Testchamber 11] Shortcut #3: Portal gun to Exit. (MIN3) [Testchamber 12.] Shortcut #4: Skipping floor two. (MIN4) ----------------------------------------------------------- [2.0. The Major Shortcuts.] (SC1) In this section of my guide, I will tell you how do execute every Major Shortcut I know. This section is the main body of my FAQ. [Testchamber 11.] As you know, every testchamber in the game before testchamber 12 is really short. That is no exception for testchamber 11. But one thing that has always bugged me about Testchamber 11 is how long you have to wait with nothing to do. Why does the elevator have to move so slowly? Well, who said you have to use the elevator at all? [Shortcut #1: Fling to the Orange Gun.] (MA1) [Difficulty to Complete: 5/10] [Approximate time to complete: 5-20 seconds.] Using this shortcut, you can get the Orange Portal Gun right at the beginning of the level. You do not even have to get the energy ball in the energizer to get the elevator starting. As you enter the level, walk up the stairs. Once you get to the top, shoot your blue portal at the bottom of the stairs. Wait until the Orange Portal Gun shoots the portal towards the elevator that you do not have to activate. Once the orange portal is placed, jump into the blue portal from the top of the stairs and hold forward. You should launch far enough to get to the Orange Portal Gun! A Minor Cheat directly continues this. The cheat is at (MIN1) ---------------------------------------------------- [Testchamber 13.] The second time efficient shortcut in Portal is in this testchamber. This shortcut is more a speed-run method of completing this level than a shortcut, but it does involve skipping a puzzle and saves a good amount of time so I will still add it. [Shortcut #2: Two buttons, one box.] (MA2) [Difficulty: 3/10] [Approximate time to complete: 10-20 seconds.] Yup, you skip one of the boxes! In fact, the only box you need is the one at the beginning! First, take the box in the room and put it on the switch just like you are normally supposed too. But now, do not go through the door that opens. Shoot a blue portal above the higher elevated switch. Take the box off the switch and shoot an orange portal on the ground. Drop the box on the switch and then go through the portal yourself. From there, jump on to the lower elevated switch and the exit door will open. Quickly shoot a blue portal through the door and jump off. Shoot an orange portal on the ground and go through it. You have now just done this testchamber with only using 1 of the boxes. Just be careful while you are on the lower switch, there is an energy ball that can hit you from there. ---------------------------------------------------- [Testchamber 14.] The first real time efficient cheats I know about are here. You can literally skip the whole level. This level is normally really long, right? Well, you can actually beat this level in 4-20 seconds! [Shortcut #3: Portal fling to elevator.] (MA3) [Difficulty: 9/10.] [Approximate time to complete: 4-8 seconds.] Once you get out of the starting elevator, shoot a blue portal at the top of the thinnest part of the hallway. Then shoot an orange portal on the ground below that. Jump into the orange one and you will come out of the blue one. You must now shoot a blue portal right next to the elevator before you enter the orange one. You should be high enough to jump up the elevator now. There is another quick method that should take 15-30 seconds to complete. [Shortcut #4: Stairwell Portal Fling.] (MA4) [Difficulty: 2/10.] [Approximate time to complete: 15-30 seconds.] First, place a blue portal next to the exit elevator. Then run up the stairs until you are at the top, then wait for them to lower. Once they lowered, shoot an orange portal on the ground and jump into it. This should give you the momentum you need to get on top of the elevator. ---------------------------------------------------- [Testchamber 15.] There are two separate short cuts at two separate areas in this level. The first area with a shortcut in this testchamber is the elevator that gets you across that deadly acid. The second short cut is at the tall elevator right before you leave the map. These short cuts both involve skipping entire puzzles. [Shortcut #5: No elevator across the acid.] (MA5) [Difficulty: 7/10.] [Approximate time to complete: 7-14 seconds.] Basically, you shoot a portal through a portal. Here is how you do this. Let?s say you shoot a blue portal down a hallway and an orange portal in a room before the hallway. You can go halfway through the orange portal, just enough that your whole gun is through, and shoot a portal at a different wall and quickly back away. That is the basic idea. Now Ill explain it in action. So you have a hallway. The floor beneath you kills you, so you cant touch it. But in this case, you have no elevator to get you across it. But you can shoot portals on all the walls! First, as you approach the hallway, you shoot a blue portal to the end of what you can see. On the wall next to the opening, you shoot an orange portal. You go through the orange portal ever so slightly so that you portal gun is the only thing out. As you peer through the portal, you should look to your left. Shoot a blue portal to the end of that wall and quickly back away. Now you have a portal that is almost to the end of the hallway. You then peer in and look to the direction to the exit, and shoot a blue portal on the floor to the next room and quickly back away. Once you enter, you will have officially done this shortcut! Now for the second shortcut, this takes place literally right after the first one. [Shortcut #6: Elevator portal jump.] (MA6) [Difficulty: 5/10.] [Approximate time to complete: 7-12 seconds.] First, you must shoot a blue portal next to the exit elevator, the one that doesnt lower. Then you must shoot an orange portal on the ceiling or wall on the elevator next to the exit one with the switch. Shoot an orange portal on the ground from up there and you should have well enough momentum to jump up to the top and to the exit. ---------------------------------------------------- [Testchamber 17.] Oh, this one is juicy! You can literally skip the entire level! You can go directly from after the starting hallways to the part where you kill the companion cube without doing any of the puzzles! Though do not get me wrong, you still need your special companion cube for this! You just do not need it for nearly as long. [Shortcut #7: Jumping up the ledge.] (MA7) So first, go through the level as normal. Pick up your companion cube, go through those hallways with the energy balls in them and jump down to the floor. At the end, there is a ledge that is normally way too high to jump up. But there are two methods to doing it. One is really hard but fast and uses 0 portals, the other takes slightly longer, is much easier but uses 2 portals. For the second shortcut, do not jump down to the floor. [Method 1: The short hard way.] [Difficulty: 10/10] [Approximate time to complete: 5-10 seconds.] (Note: This is also how you do the no portal run. Yeah, you use absolutely no portals for this method.) This is probably one of the shortest but hardest shortcuts in the whole game. Your goal is to use the Companion Cube to jump on top of the ledge. But how is this going to be possible? The Companion Cube is not tall enough! Well, there is a way to elevate it off the ground, though as you may tell by my difficulty rating, it is very hard. First, you must jump on top of the companion cube. Then you must continually jump and grab it over and over again very fast. So if you have the PC version of this game at the automatic controls, it would be like this. (space) (E) (space) (E) (space) You must do this in that order over and over and over again until it lifts you high enough for you and your companion cube to reach the top. It is very hard, though it does work. This trick is also how you do the no portal run in this testchamber. [Method 2: The long and easy way.] [Difficulty: 6/10.] [Approximate time to complete: 1 minute-3 minutes.] First, go to the secret room behind that wall and move all of the destroyed cameras out of it and to the ledge. Also bring your beloved companion cube with you, you need it. Your goal is to stack the cameras on top of each other, and put the box on top of the cameras to give you a lift to the top. But it is slightly harder than that. I did give this a 6/10 difficulty, not a 1/10. You must make sure that the cameras are stacked to two layers. Once you stack the cameras two cameras high, you put the companion cube on top of that somewhat towards the edge. You jump on top of the open space on the cameras, and then you jump on top of the companion cube. You should now be high enough to jump on top of the ledge. Once you are on top, crouch down so you can grab your companion cube; though make sure you do not fall back down. Continue through the level as normal until the end. [Shortcut #8: Portal through the window.] (MA8) [Difficulty: 7/10.] [Approximate time to complete: 10-40 seconds.] Yes, this shortcut is as it sounds. You can actually portal through one of the glass windows in this level through the ground. Though there is only 1 window you can do this with. Once you get passed the two hallways with the energy balls, Do not jump down. There is a window showing you the button that you must put your companion cube on at the end. Your goal is to go from where you are to over there. Here is how you do this. First, shoot a blue portal on the ground with its long side to the window. Make sure that the portal is as close to the window as possible. Then, aim very closely below the thickest part of the portal until it says you can shoot your orange portal. But wait; there is nowhere near enough room for the orange portal to open! Well, shoot it anyway. The portal should actually open at the other side of the window! You then take the cube and continue with the level without dealing with any of the puzzles, or the ledge for that matter! ---------------------------------------------------- [Testchamber 18.] There is only 1 real shortcut in this level. Yet again, it involves skipping an entire puzzle. [Shortcut #9: Early fling across turret room.] (MA9) [Difficulty: 8/10.] [Approximate time to complete: 7-10 seconds.] At the switch before you open the platform/door, save your game. You will probably die several times before doing this if you have never done it before. Once you have saved your game, press the button to open up the platform/door. Quickly jump outside and shoot a blue portal on the tilted platform you moved. Then, very quickly, jump to the huge fall and jump off. Place an orange portal on the ground and go through it. It should fling you far enough to get to the other side. Continue level normally from here. ---------------------------------------------------- [Testchamber 19.] This level may be incredibly long, but there are only three shortcuts that help you that I know about. one is right at the beginning of the level, the other is the GLaDOS fight. [Shortcut #10: Across the long hallway.] (MA10) [Difficulty: 7/10] [Approximate time to complete: 30-60 seconds.] You can get across that looooong hallway way faster than the elevator does. All you have to do is use the same technique you did for testchamber 15, you just have to keep it up for much longer and it has a much harder ending. First, portal shoot your way over to the small platform with the switch on it. If you remember how to do the portal technique well from testchamber 15, you may not have to read the whole next paragraph. But just incase you do not; I will direct you through it step by step. First, press the button to lift that wall. Then you shoot a blue portal at the end of the hallway. Shoot an orange portal on a wall right next to you and move slightly into it. Shoot a blue portal past the green energy ball and quickly back away. From there, you should be able to shoot a blue portal towards the ground in the dark area at the end. The computer will now admit that she was trying to kill you. From here, you can now shoot a blue portal at the wall above the platform in the next room and go through it. You have now gotten across this long hallway much faster than the slow moving elevator would have! [Shortcut #11: Quick Mega Turret Fight.] (MA11) [Difficulty: 8/10] [Approximate time to complete: 20-50 seconds.] This shortcut starts once you first enter the lower sewer-hallway part of the massive turret fight at the end of testchamber 19. Your goal is to get through this part very quickly without fighting the turrets. When the fight will start, two walls will open up in an upwardly slanted way. The ones that open up are darker than the rest of the wall. Once you enter the lower sewer-hallway section of this room, look for the higher up wall that will open. Once you find it, shoot a blue portal at the opposite wall. Now, shoot an orange portal in front of you. Jump out of the portal and land on the ground to engage the fight, and go back to the lower sewer-hallway area and shoot an orange portal at the wall. As you look through it, there is that slanted wall in front of you. Jump through the portal and shoot a blue portal on the slanted wall, and shoot an orange portal at your feet. It will not launch you far enough to get you on top of the ledge, though it will get you high enough to shoot a portal on it. Shoot a blue portal on the ledge while you are in midair, and shoot an orange portal at your feet. You should actually be launched high enough to get onto the catwalk. If you fail to get onto the catwalk, keep the blue portal where it is and jump off from the ledge and shoot an orange portal at your feet. The fall from the top of the ledge is high enough to gain enough momentum to make it onto the catwalk. [Shortcut #12: Quick GLaDOS fight.] (MA12) [Difficulty: 9/10] [Approximate time to complete: 5-10 minutes.] I know that this shortcut may take a long time to do, though it saves you a ton of time knowing that you can kill GLaDOS in less than 1 minute. Your goal is to get a turret to shoot GLaDOS so all the spheres are already off before you start the fight. This shortcut is very long and involves a few steps. It starts at the really big turret fight in that huge room with all the walkways. You may destroy as many of the turrets as you wish, though make sure that you save one of them. You need it. Now bring that turret you did not kill with you. Make sure that you do not kill it! Walk along the long walkway until you reach the door. Open the door and carefully get your turret through it. In this hallway, place it on the floor, and place a blue portal immediately in front of it. Though make sure that it does not fall in! Leave the turret there as you go into the hallway immediately before the GLaDOS fight. Though do not enter the fight yet. Instead, as you are facing towards GLaDOS, place an orange portal on the ground slightly beyond the center of the hallway. Carefully walk your way around it until you are only slightly past it. Now, run right in front of it and duck. The Turret should try to shoot you, though hit GLaDOS instead! This is actually enough to knock off its spheres! Though be careful not to get killed by the turret! Once there is only one sphere left, enter the fight. That one sphere remaining is the purple one, which will come off all by itself. In the mean time, collect all the fallen spheres and place them next to the incinerator and incinerate them. You will have beaten the GLaDOS fight before it even started! GLaDOS will not even have time to turn on the neurotoxins! ---------------------------------------------------- Well, that is all the Major Shortcuts I know, now for the Minor Shortcuts. ---------------------------------------------------- [2.1. The Minor Shortcuts.] (SC2) In this section of my guide, I will tell you about all the Minor Shortcuts I know. These shortcuts still help you out, but do not save nearly as much time as the Major ones do. ---------------------------------------------------- [Testchamber 6.] Just incase you cannot recall which testchamber this is on the top of your head, it is the first testchamber with an energy ball in it. [Shortcut #1: Energy Ball Not Needed.] (MIN1) [Difficulty to Complete: 8/10] [Approximate time to complete: 3-10 seconds.] It always bugs me of how slow the elevator comes down once you get the energy ball in the energizer. It would be great if you did not have to wait for it. Well, you do not! Once you enter the level, shoot a portal at the far end ceiling, the one above the elevator that you do not have to wait for. Now go to the orange portal. Stand at the top thin part facing away from the start of the level. Get a good running start and jump into the portal while holding forward and you might make it on top of the elevator. It also helps to crouch once you get through the portal. This is a fairly hard trick to do so it may take quite a few tries to do. And also watch out for the energy ball as you attempt this. ---------------------------------------------------- [Testchamber 10.] This is the first testchamber with launching in it, just in case you cannot remember. [Shortcut #2: Quicker launch to elevator.] (MIN2) [Difficulty to complete: 4/10.] [Approximate time to complete: 5-10 seconds.] Before you do this shortcut, make sure that the portal funneling is off. It will massively mess up this shortcut. This cheat takes place at the last puzzle of this level. Once you enter the room, the wall will come out. Normally, you would use the wall to get to the ground just above you, and then use it again to get to the ending elevator. But with this shortcut, you only have to use it once. Once you enter the room, the wall will come out. Place your blue portal at the highest point of the wall, and jump down. But do not go into the orange portal! Miss it! You should land on the ground right next to it. Now, simply jump into it from where you are. You will launch out of the blue portal on the wall again. Make sure you make it past the ledge so you fall towards the orange portal again. Make sure you make it this time! Once you make it in again, it should launch you high and far enough to go strait to the ending elevator. [EXTRA INFORMATION] Ninto55 was the one to tell me about this shortcut. This is what he originally told me. [-When you shoot your blue portal on the wall instead of flinging to the second platform and repeating, drop to where the orange portal is and jump into it once your on the floor and double fling so you end up next to the elevator.-] ---------------------------------------------------- [Testchamber 11.] [Shortcut #3: Portal gun to Exit.] (MIN3) [Difficulty to Complete: 4/10.] [Approximate time to complete: 3-5 seconds.] This one takes place right after you get the Orange Portal Gun. It normally takes a little long to get from there to the exit elevator since you have to use that slow moving slide elevator to get to it normally. But this is a way to get strait from where the Orange Portal Gun is to the exit elevator. Once you claim the Orange Portal Gun, press the button and open the door as usual. Shoot your blue portal through the door and shoot an orange portal at the bottom of the wall to the left of the door. So the orange portal should be under the other door where the energy ball is, right above the acid. Once the portals are placed correctly, jump into the portal above the acid. You may have to hold down your Jump button to stay afloat the water if you are having difficulty getting into the portal. ---------------------------------------------------- [Testchamber 12.] [Shortcut #4: Skipping floor two.] (MIN4) [Difficulty to complete: 3/10] [Approximate time to complete: 5-10 seconds.] Now before you do this shortcut, you need an advanced knowledge of the layout of this map. You start on the first floor. Above you is the second floor. Normally you would launch there from the beginning, and then launch onto the third floor with the button, but this cheat lets you skip strait from the first floor to the third. First, you will see the strip of wall you can place the portal on. It looks like 3 consecutive squares. Place a blue portal on the left square and jump down to the pit area. Place an orange portal on the ground and look in. You should see the strip of wall that you can shoot portals on on the third floor; the one that curves once you press the button. If you do not see it, go to the other side of the portal. Once you see it, go through the orange portal and place a blue portal on that strip of wall. You then drop down to the ground next to the orange portal and go into it. You now press the button and continue the level like normal. ---------------------------------------------------- [3.0 Q&A.] In this section of my FAQ I will answer questions that I made, and questions that people have asked me. ---------------------- Q: Why did you not add the advanced testchambers? A: As it turns out, there are no short cuts at all in any of the advanced testchambers that are not in the normal ones. ---------------------- Q: I do not see Testchamber 16 in your Major Shortcuts! A: I have currently not discovered any worthwhile shortcuts in that testchamber. If I find one, I will add is immediately. ---------------------- Q: One of the shortcuts did not work for me! Take it off! A: Every shortcut in my FAQ works. I have done them all personally. You were probably doing it wrong. ---------------------- Q: I found a shortcut that was not in your FAQ! A: Read the Contacting Me section at the beginning of my FAQ. ---------------------- Q: Wow, you are so cool matrixstream757 for making this totally awesome FAQ! A: Why thank you! I have been told on several occasions how absolutely awesome I am! [3.1 Credits.] I will give credit to everyone I must. Thank you, Valve, for creating this awesome game! Thank you, Steam, for making it available for the PC! Thank you, GameFAQs, for letting me publish this FAQ on this site. Thank you, readers, for making my guide worthwhile! [3.2 Special Thanks.] I will thank anyone that helped me create or add to this FAQ. [Thanks for Ninto55.] Thank you so much Ninto55! You were very helpful in the creation of my FAQ. Not only were you supportive of it, but you told me about a few shortcuts that would not have otherwise been in this guide including the Quick GLaDOS fight! [3.3 Legal stuff.] This FAQ may not be reproduced under any circumstances except for personal, private use. This guide may not be placed on any web site other than GameFAQs, or otherwise distributed publicly without written permission from the original creator. Use of this guide on any other web site except GameFAQs or as a part of any public display is strictly prohibited, and a violation of copyright.