Just Cause 3 Speedrun Guide

Just Cause 3 Speedrun Guide – How to Liberate Medici at Breakneck Speed.

The Just Cause series is famous for taking the “open world” game formula and stuffing it full of the craziest mobility and destruction in the genre. The series protagonist, Rico Rodriguez, is known for his death-defying stunts, and it should come as no surprise that this fusion makes a perfect platform for speedrunning.

Whether you want to speedrun a single level or the entire campaign, the region of Medici is a speedrunning paradise. If you’re ready to liberate the region from its greedy dictator, let’s begin our Just Cause 3 Speedrun Guide!

Just Cause 3 Speedrun intro
Image by Anthony Yates

Bottom Line Up Front

Just Cause 3 is rough around the edges and has its fair share of bugs. These bugs can ruin speed runs and are something you must prepare for. That being said, like with a standard playthrough, Just Cause 3 offers nearly unlimited ways to approach every situation.

This level of freedom makes for an incredibly unique and rewarding Speedrunning experience you won’t find anywhere else.

Before You Begin

Just Cause 3 Speedrun rico
Image by Anthony Yates

Compared to many other Speedruns, Just Cause 3 is light on prerequisites, but there are a couple to keep in mind.

Pick a Category

I recommend the Any% run for Just Cause 3 because it feels like a standard playthrough with some extra flair for good measure. This guide covers a route through Any%, but you can also pick:

  • Single Level
  • 100%
  • Sky Fortress DLC
  • All Provinces

100% is a grueling but phenomenal Speedrun, but as the World Record is almost 12 hours, it’s not for the faint-hearted!

Purchase the Sky Fortress DLC

This is optional, but doing so gives access to the Bavarium Wing Suit, AKA the Jet Pack. The Jet Pack offers a speedy travel method with a built-in machine gun and rockets.

Core Mechanics

Just Cause 3 Speedrun skydiving
Image by Anthony Yates

Avoid Driving

There are dozens of unique cars in Just Cause 3, and we ignore all of them in the Speedrun. Cars are the slowest way to get around, as Rico can reach a much faster speed with the wingsuit.

Parachute State

Whenever you have your parachute out, you’re immune to getting splatted on the scenery. The state is immediate and completely negates collision damage no matter how fast you’re going. You can use this to abruptly stop while using your Wing Suit.

Fast Traveling

You unlock the ability to Fast Travel very early on. This will become your fastest method of getting around Medici, although Helicopters are always a good idea thanks to their unlimited rockets.

Weapon Racks

Most weapon racks have a random assortment of guns, and once you’ve got your loadout of choice, you can keep it for the rest of the run. These racks will replenish your ammo no matter what you’re using.

Tools of the Trade

Just Cause 3 Speedrun deep skydiving
Image by Anthony Yates

Grapple Gliding

This type of movement doesn’t have an official name, but if you repeatedly pull yourself forward with the grapple hook while using the Wing Suit or Jet Pack, you can move very quickly, regardless of the terrain. This technique is so effective it renders every land vehicle useless.

Helicopter Manipulation

The fastest way to travel in helicopters is to fly to the side and slightly descend as you travel instead of heading in a straight line. You can tell if you’re doing this right by watching the Speedometer. The top speed of each Helicopter is different, and flying this way is roughly 20% faster.

Loading Bugs

This is less of a tool and more something to avoid. Speedrunners love mashing buttons through load screens and idle sections. You can break the game if you mindlessly press buttons during load screens in Just Cause 3. As tempting as it is, maybe drum your fingers on the table instead of the keyboard for this game!

Quick Gates

There are gates in many settlements that you need to open using a control panel. If you tether the gate to the crossbar above, the gate will spring open. This saves a lot of time as you don’t need to be near the door to complete the objective.

Despawning Zones

Having a Helicopter around is always helpful, but if you park it near a cutscene trigger (like the start/end of a mission), your Helicopter will despawn. You can prevent this by parking further away, but even then, sometimes the gods of Just Cause 3 will decide that you’ve had enough fun with your air support.

Jet Pack Route

The Jet Pack (Bavarium Wing Suit) is part of the Sky Fortress DLC and can be used in Any%. It’s optional but offers a swift and powerful way to traverse the map. I’ll cover where you squeeze this into your Speedrun in the following section, but it’s optional.

The Speedrun

Just Cause 3 Speedrun ready for skydive
Image by Anthony Yates

Just Cause 3 Any% has plenty of room for optimizations, but a great route to follow is by pmcTRILOGY. He used this route during the ESA17To beat the game event, and it remains a superb entry point for speedrunning the title. Multiple areas need to be liberated in each province, and you can approach many of these the same way.

To keep the guide easy to follow, I’ve listed every area and the order you should tackle them. Unless there’s a strategy of note, I’ve saved in-depth instructions for the story missions.

Intro Tutorial

Just Cause 3 Speedrun tank mission 1
Image by Anthony Yates

The opening scene on top of the Armored Plane is scripted. Grapple Glide through the ravine when you have control, make the getaway with Mario, and use the tank to take out the incoming cars. Once you’ve cleared the area, fly to the marker with the Helicopter and shoot any incoming enemies with the mounted gun turret.

Intro Tutorial 2

Your introduction to Just Cause 3 concludes with a crash course on Wing Suit usage. Once you’ve hacked the Sam Sites at the end of the mission, Attack Helicopters will appear to the right. You can use your Wing Suit to hijack one, and If you do this, you can destroy the remaining Helicopters and fly to the end of the mission, saving a ton of time.

Liberation – Vis Electra
Type: Power Station
Province: Baia

Liberation – Manaea
Type: Town
Province: Baia

Mario’s Rebel Drops

Doing this mission the intended way is incredibly slow. Fortunately, there’s a faster method. You need to grab a scooter for Mario at the mission marker, and a Helicopter Frenzy side mission is on the way. Take the Helicopter (don’t start the side quest), and tether both vehicles together. Fly back to the dock and carefully place the scooter in the allocated zone.

Sadly, the Beacon Tutorial after is mandatory, but once that’s done, hop back in your Helicopter and make your way across the sea towards Sirocco Nord.

A Terrible Reaction

Your first objective is to take out the three tanks. The fastest way to do it is with your remote explosives. Instead of defending Mario’s truck on foot, you can tether it to a Helicopter as you did with the scooter in the previous mission.

This is much faster than the intended way, and the only caveat is you need to activate an invisible trigger on the way. This trigger is on the large bridge that explodes when you play normally. For this part, dangle the truck near the ground and trace the bridge with your Helicopter. This will test your piloting skills, so feel free to do the closing section of this mission as usual while you’re learning.

Just Cause 3 Speedrun shooting
Image by Anthony Yates

Friends like These…

This mission serves as a tutorial for Fast Travelling and can be completed normally. You can use your tether from the dock to quickly free the grounded boat.

Falco Maxime: Centcom (Jet Pack Route)

Take a quick diversion to Falco Maxime and secure one of the armored Helicopters. You can do this from the tower’s roof. The Helicopter is helpful for the Suit Up mission we’re going to next, but it’s not essential.

Suit Up (Jet Pack Route)

Suit Up is the Jet Pack Tutorial stage. This mission is fast with the Jet Pack but is even faster with the Helicopter. Suit Up isn’t required for Any%, but the Jet Pack saves so much time it’s worth doing.

Liberation – Falco Maxime: Centcom
Type: Central Command
Province: Falco

Liberation: Guardia Montana II
Type: Military Outpost
Province: Montana

Liberation – Cava Montana
Type: Mine
Province: Montana

Liberation – Guardia Montana I
Type: Military Outpost
Province: Montana

Liberation – Guardia Litore Torto I
Type: Military Outpost
Province: Litore Torto

Liberation – Platteforma Litore Torto I
Type: Oil Rig
Province: Litore Torto

This is an Oil Rig out at sea, but you liberate it the same as anywhere else. There’s a guaranteed Helicopter spawn at the location, should you need it.

Liberation – Guardia Litore Torto II
Type: Military Outpost
Province: Litore Torto

Liberation – Guardia Litore Torto III
Type: Military Outpost
Province: Litore Torto

Just Cause 3 Speedrun wingsuiting
Image by Anthony Yates

Liberation – Platteforme Litore Torto II
Type: Oil Rig
Province: Litore Torto

Once the platform has been liberated, grab the Flare and Fast Travel to Cima Leon: Centcom back in Lacos.

Liberation – Cima Leon: Centcom
Type: Central Command
Province: Aspera

This route may seem a little counterintuitive, but the last handful of settlements we’ve liberated are all locales that we wouldn’t usually visit until later in the story. Doing them now means we don’t have to deal with them later.

Conflicting Interests

Your first objective in Conflicting Interests is to find a Scanner. Fortunately, the Scanner always spawns in the shipping container on the high ground next to the gate. Once you’ve retrieved it, use your Jet Pack to travel to the next objective. After you’ve skipped the cutscene, make your way over to Sheldon at the marker.

The only issue with this mission is you can’t end if you have any Heat. On the way back, if you keep off the main road, you should be fine, but you may have to briefly lay low before you finish the mission.

Liberation – Porto Le Gratia
Type: Military Outpost
Province: Lavanda

Liberation – Latuina
Type: Town
Province: Lavanda

Liberation – Guardia Lavanda I
Type: Military Outpost
Province: Lavanda

Liberation – Rondella
Type: Town
Province: Lavanda

Turncoat

Turncoat is a sluggish escort mission with a very stylish Speedrun optimization. You will need the Jet Pack for the exploit. The start of Turncoat can be completed as normal, but once you clear out the enemies at the villa, you can do this trick instead.

Usually, you need to babysit Mario, but if you fly up the road with your Jet Pack, you can destroy the targets well in advance. The timing is strict, and an on-screen prompt will demand you return to the vehicle, but once you memorize the route, this is an easy way to save 3-5 minutes. Once you’re done, fast-travel back to Vis Electra.

The Secret of Vis Electra

This is the first of 3 pipeline missions and can be completed as intended. The Jet Pack is excellent for this task, as you can quickly boost through the underwater sections, and the built-in weapons don’t consume ammo.

Just Cause 3 Speedrun rico rodriguez

Missile Cowboy

This mission is in three parts, and whereas we do the first and last as intended, we can speed up the middle. The Jet Pack is perfect for quickly reaching the first warring town; once you’re there, use your remote explosives on the tanks.

A gas station at the front of the first town has a Flare in a box outside. Grab this if you can for later. Once the vehicles are destroyed, follow the marker to the next area. You can use your explosives here again, but when you’ve reached the quota in the 2nd village, ignore the next marker and continue to destroy enemy vehicles here. There’s usually enough to trigger the final section of the mission without needing to leave.

Of Cows and Wine

Of Cows and Wine tasks you with transporting a truck full of wine barrels to a neighboring town. The mission immediately fails if you lose too many barrels on the way. There’s no way to speed this up without risking the barrels, so it’s best to do the task the intended way.

Follow the road and slow down if you’re about to collide with any traffic. Fortunately, you don’t have to drive too far, and once you’re done, you can head to the next story mission.

Connect the Dots

This mission has many moving parts, but it’s easy if you’re a confident pilot. Take the Helicopter provided and take out the three target boats. Once the ships are sunk, fly over to Mario and destroy the units attacking him.

The small cluster of buildings right next to Mario is actually a settlement. Since you’re in a Helicopter anyway, it’s worth firing a few rocket volleys at it to liberate the area. After that, deal with the air support, a few Helicopters will always spawn from the direction you came from, so you can preempt this and meet them in the air.

At the end of this mission, there are three short sections where you’re tasked with taking a boat to various locations. This is usually very slow, but we can do it much faster with the Jet Pack. You still need to start driving the boat to begin each section, but once you’ve done that, jump off the ship and fly there instead.

The timing here is rather strict, but you can make it to the first two areas with a few seconds to spare. The final boat section is a little too far to fly the entire way, but you can drive the boat until you’re roughly 500m away from the objective, then Jet Pack the rest.

To finish the mission, you must defeat waves of enemies storming a port. A Helicopter is suitable for this, but as you’re fighting units on land, air, and sea, the Jet Pack is usually faster overall.

An Act of Piracy

This mission is completed as intended. As we’re provided with a plane, we have to use it even if the Jet Pack would be faster. When you hijack the tank, follow the road all the way to the dock. As the dropoff location on the boat is only slightly larger than the tank, make sure you approach slowly so the tank doesn’t fall into the water.

Just Cause 3 Speedrun harbor
Image by Anthony Yates

Three’s Company

Once you’re in the town, waves of ground and air units will spawn, save your rockets for the vehicles and take them out as fast as possible. After defeating the last wave of enemies, use your Jet Pack to travel to the next marker.

It’s heavily implied that you should use the rifle provided for this section. However, it’s much faster if you go into the base yourself and shoot the enemies with automatic weapons. Aiming for their wheels is the easiest and fastest way to destroy cars and trucks in Just Cause 3. If you burst a tire, the vehicle will usually flip and kill everyone inside.

The final part of this mission can be done as intended, as it’s an escort mission where you don’t even control the vehicle. The mission will end when you’re above the town of Cinta, and since we’re here already, this is the next town to liberate.

Liberation – Cinta
Type: Town
Province: Massos

Liberation – Guardia Massos I
Type: Military Outpost
Province: Massos

Liberation – Guardia Massos III
Type: Military Outpost
Province: Massos

Corda Dracon: Centcom
Type: Central Command
Province: Corda Dragon

Liberation – Guardia Massos V
Type: Military Outpost
Province: Massos

Liberation – Soliana
Type: Town
Province: Massos

Liberation – Guardia Capite III
Type: Military Outpost
Province: Capite Est

Liberation – Vico Spigola
Type: Village
Province: Capite Est

Liberation – Espia Alta
Type: Military Outpost
Province: Capite Est

Liberation – Vinialetta
Type: Town
Province: Capite Est

Liberation – Vicco Thunno
Type: Village
Province: Capite Est

A Long and Dangerous Road

Just Cause 3 loves escort missions, and this is another one! This time, you need to escort a small convoy of vehicles. As usual, the Jet Pack is great, and the distance you can travel ahead of the convoy is quite lenient. Since the convoy is AI controlled, we don’t have many ways to speed this mission up but make sure you take out any tanks the moment you see them, as they are the biggest threat.

Abandon Ship

Abandon Ship is a long defense mission. The Jet Pack is an excellent tool for quickly dispatching enemies but hijacking a Helicopter works well if you don’t have it. A couple of Cargo Planes will spawn during this mission, which is a pain as they drop squads of soldiers. If you spot the Planes and can destroy them fast enough, they won’t drop anything, which saves a lot of time.

Electromagnetic Pulse

This mission is functionally identical to ‘The Secret of Vis Electra.’ As with that mission, follow the pipeline, dispatch any enemies you come across, and remember you can boost underwater with the Jet Pack.

Just Cause 3 Speedrun rico and dimah

Tangled Up in the Blue

This is another ‘War’ mission that ferries us to a few locations, but if we cause enough damage on the airfield where we start, we won’t have to go anywhere else. There are just enough targets to make this doable, so use the Helicopter provided and fire rockets at every enemy you see. The plane we’re defending here is extremely fragile, so ensure you don’t take it out yourself.

Once the plane leaves the airfield, pause the game and press ‘Restart Last Checkpoint.’ This will take you all the way to the entrance of the final base to destroy, which can be completed as usual.

Rico and the Rose

This air escort mission is one of the more frustrating if you do it the intended way. Thankfully, there’s a hilarious glitch we can exploit.

Just Cause 3 only allows a certain amount of missiles to be on screen at anytime. If you spam missiles until the mid-mission checkpoint appears, the enemy planes will never fire a shot, and Rosa’s plane will be perfectly safe! When you reach the checkpoint, pause and ‘Restart Last Checkpoint.’ This despawns all the enemy planes, and you can land in peace.

Derailed Extraction

You can do most of this mission as intended. Waves of helicopters will attack the train you’re on, and the easiest way to defeat them is to tether them to the ground. Whenever you see a train catching up behind you, you can shoot the coupling of the last carriage to remove it and cause a crash.

To beat the mission a little faster, you can fly the jet on the train down the tracks when it leaves the tunnel. This allows you to reach the target before you should, and the jet’s missiles will take it down very quickly.

The Great Escape

This is another mission you can do as intended. This is a prison break, and there are several panels you need to hack in each room. The problem is, if you get shot, it interrupts the hack. AI aim is unpredictable in Just Cause 3; sometimes you get stormtroopers, and sometimes you get soldiers with aimbot. If you get shot when you’re hacking, either re-position and hack another panel or remove the enemies. If you’re near death, you can run to the ramps by the doors to break the line of sight.

Bavarium on a Plane

At the start of the mission, ignore the road and turn 90 degrees left and straight down the hill. This is much faster than following the intended path. Once you hit the airfield, drive toward the Cargo Plane, make a 180-degree turn, and drive inside before takeoff. When you’re inside, head to the roof.

This mission takes a while as we have no control over the Cargo Plane, but we do have an easy strategy to deal with the incoming fighter jets. Simply wait until they are close enough and tether them together 2 at a time.

After a few minutes, you’ll receive a prompt. This is your cue to drive the truck out of the back of the plane, bringing the mission to a close.

The Watcher on the Wall

As we’re approaching the end of the game now, you have to deal with a small army in this defense mission. The Jet Pack makes this much easier, as you can take the fight to the skies and fight the Helicopters without them being able to rain missiles down on you. As long as you stay a little forward of the wall, your objectives should only take minor damage.

For the last scene of this mission, you’re supposed to chase a Helicopter on a motorbike, but it’s far easier and quicker to dismount and chase it with the Jet Pack. As with most air support, the Jet Pack weapons tear the target to shreds, and you’ll destroy the target in mere seconds.

Just Cause 3 Speedrun statue
Image by Anthony Yates

Bavarium Blackout

This is the final Pipeline Mission and is similar to the previous two. I feel like a broken record at this point, but I can’t stress enough how much time the Jet Pack saves, as this mission starts with a long ascent to the base entrance.

The Shatterer of Worlds

This is the game’s final ‘War’ mission and can be completed at the 2nd area instead of heading to the 3rd. Enemy spawns are a little random, but if you stumble across any hostiles on your way to the 2nd area, destroying them will count toward your quota.

Once you’ve destroyed enough enemies, reload the last checkpoint, and you’ll spawn in a base with a free plane to get to the final destination. Oddly enough, this part of the mission is just a long flight. There are no enemies, so fly to the marker to finish the quest.

Son of Medici

Just Cause 3 Speedrun di ravello end
Image by Anthony Yates

There’s a spectacular climax to this mission but not before the 9km flight to the top of the volcano! When you reach the top, you must destroy Di Ravello’s invincible Helicopter. The fastest way to do this is to use a beacon to drop a plane on top of Di Ravello.

This isn’t as hard as it sounds, but it’s inconsistent. For this strategy, place a beacon and try to kite Di Ravello toward it. If this doesn’t work, keep trying to tether one of the Helicopters wings to the rock columns around the area. Tethering by the wing can cause Di Ravello’s vehicle to flip, which does a lot of damage.

Both of these strategies are unreliable, but you can keep attempting to tether, and eventually, you’ll destroy the Helicopter. If you’re timing your run, stop the clock the moment you pull the trigger on Di Ravello during the final cutscene.

Frequently Asked Questions

Just Cause 3 Speedrun machine gun

Question: Why is the leaderboard for Just Cause 3 dominated by PC players?

Answer: The main reason is that video proof is required for submissions. Even the fastest Any% runs are over 2 hours long and can’t be recorded on a console without external hardware and a PC. At that point, many players just use their computers.

Question: Is the Jet Pack overpowered?

Answer: Yes, definitely! As the Jet Pack is part of a DLC pack, it’s evident that the base game wasn’t balanced with the equipment in mind. This entire Speedrun is quite doable without the Jet Pack but demonstrably slower and more challenging.

Question: What’s the best way to start learning Any%?

Answer: If you take away any one thing from this guide, it should be the order of the Liberations and Missions. Even if you’re a little slow at doing each activity, you’ll beat the game faster than ever by following this route.

Useful Resources

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Scroll to Top