Hey kids, it's Landon Rivers!
I don't know what a hitbox is,
but if you've got friends coming over,
they have to prove themselves in the arena first
you know, just like grandma does.
alright this is The Ancestors
let's chug right along!
Welcome to Meckelon
home of the Ancestors.
this Romanesque society
has separated itself from the mainland for centuries
and now they're just happy to have a guest like you.
Their homeland must not be too much of a secret though,
because they're being raided by the Dreg'atar right when you land.
They're pretty eager to leave for some reason.
Meckelon is ruled by a Caesar wannabe
named Alecto.
the bad kind of caesar too
like, "Hi, Welcome to our City...
...now go fight in the arena!"
that kind of caesar.
This level has a smooth opening and ending but the middle portion, especially in the arena
could give you some trouble on time.
Luckily I've played through this damn level so many times
I'll show you my tricks to not leave you foaming at the mouth.
For equipment on this level,
because we will be fighting things,
we need to equip the highest level axe for the Halfling.
The axe is the preferred weapon of the Halfling and  equipping a sword or hammer
will do less damage.
Press the right arrow on the weapon slot
until you reach the 'War Axe'
and that's all you need to do to prepare.
For those running the level individually
Here is a list of all the available characters
and the highest level equipment available
based on when the level is unlocked.
And here is the recommended speedrun loadout.
The Halfling is the fastest character so she is the clear choice.
'The Ancestors' can be completed using this route in less than 3 minutes.
We start the level skipping the cutscene
running off the docks and up towards the main gate.
There are some goblins on the beach
but they never get in your way, so you don't need to worry about them.
Sometimes they might shoot you with a crossbow bolt
and the boost could help.
Turn in short bursts, and head up towards the door.
Head in through the right door
and stick to the right path.
Guards will welcome you and tell you to enter the arena.
We can't progress any further until we finish the arena fight.
Head on in and let's get ready to rumble.
Before we begin the fight,
I want to talk about hitboxes in this game.
They're one of the more frustrating things to get a handle on.
When you swing, you'll see an arc left by the weapon
and it's meant for the hitbox to be in this arc
but sometimes it's hard to make the connection
especially if you're fighting a small guy
or sometimes the hit box just hates you altogether.
After playing through this extensively,
I found the quickest, most powerful, and most reliable method
for killing things with an axe
is to position yourself to the left of your target,
look down,
and imagine a targeting reticle a little bit to the top right of your character.
Now just do the running combo and especially on the final slash
this target area has the highest potential to hit.
Where you hit is important.
It determines the damage, or if their shield activates.
and could make the difference between killing a guy
in 8 hits, or in just 1.
This of course is easier said than done.
Practice makes less pain.
Back to the arena!
The door behind you locks and we jump in the center of the pool.
The first round starts.
Three Nightcrawlers will appear from the gate.
The big one has 150 hit points, and the little ones have 100 hit points.
Skip the cutscene and head towards the right-most one.
Try to get your first hit of your dash combo on him
to do a little damage and then head towards the center guy
and finish the combo on him.
This is important because your Finishing Blow
does the most damage
possibly killing him in one hit
and can cause splash damage
to hurt all three Nightcrawlers at once.
If you get lucky you'll kill the middle guy
and the right guy
at once, and then you'll only need to worry about the
final little guy who is easy to dispose of.
When a round in the arena finishes,
four prizes will appear for you to choose from.
pick the closest prize
and then go to the center of the pool again.
Round 2 begins, which is the easiest of the three.
The Ancestor Footman has 400 hit points
and you can take him out in even one running combo.
You'll notice that actually he will be in a fixed walking motion
until he is hit, or reaches a set position.
then he will automatically engage.
We want to exploit this by hitting him with our final blow
while he is still walking.
because he won't be running around
so he'll pretty much give us a free hit on him.
Guide him towards the pool
as you kill him so you'll be closest to the prizes
when he's dead.
Again, the prizes don't matter,
pick the closest
and jump into the center again.
Now we get to the trouble round.
the Ancestor Commander
he has 600 hit points
and the biggest shield in the game.
approach him from the left, and as he walks towards the pool
have your first attack on him be a finishing blow to his non-shield side.
If you hit the right spot it could do 300 damage
and really set you ahead.
As soon as he engages he will be a pain
because his shield could absorb so many of your hits.
The key to beating him is doing that running combo to his non-shield side.
Executing him quickly will take some practice
and he won't always behave the way you expect.
As soon as you kill the commander, a key will appear
along with some money
grab the key and the green gem.
For the single segment speedrun
This is one of the three times you actually need to pick up money.
Head to the exit and right click the door to open it.
As we make our way back we are going to attempt a tricky wall glide to save ourselves 3 precious seconds.
Right at this spot we want to angle ourselves
as we approach the wall
and then make a leap as soon as you brush up against the side of the column.
A reminder to not turn at all before making the jump to ensure you jump with max height.
If you miss the jump once,
don't try it again
cut your losses and run around to the left.
Now we head up the stairs
past the guards, and through the doors to meet the leader Alecto.
He says some words about destroying a fortress
by befriending a wizard
and then the Dreg'Atar sends out a main attack force!
We have to use the Ancestors' airship to get to the wizard
but first we've got to get some gas for the ship.
Skip this entire cutscene by spamming 
and then turn around quickly to head out the door.
Oh, fun fact, you can pull mobs into this room and they can
kill the guards and Alecto
and then the mission still continues.
Hey, live like Caesar, die like Caesar, am I right?
Head out this door,
and to the left.
Then open this door,
and go to the right.
Jump through this little opening, and head up right up towards this door
where we retrieve the gas canister.
this part is RNG on whether it wants to be nice to you.
The footman carrying the canister
needs to be killed to drop it.
either the goblins, with stormtrooper-like accuracy
need to kill him
or he walks far enough and dies of an aneurysm.
Sometimes I like to block his path and give the goblins another chance
and a closer target to hit.
Doesn't always work!
Let the RNG gods guide your path
on this one and pick up the canister.
Now we need to jump into the Arena again.
As we do so we want to hug the column while jumping down
It's a steep drop so we could die from fall damage.
I find this to be a good place to heal up.
Head back up through the arena exit and go through the hall.
We enter a garden and have to use this
Environmentally friendly device to fill up our canister.
Run towards the ladder head on
and jump to avoid any climbing animation.
Spam  on the device to place the canister and fill it up.
Get on the right side of it and hold forward.
When it finishes filling up,
we'll automatically grab the canister
and run forward.
Jump up the incline and head into the room with two pools.
Jump over the right pool and head towards the door.
There's a Brute that can run and block you in this room
but don't engage.
Just dodge around him if it happens.
Head through the door and to the left
again, an orc might block you so dodge him
and now we make our way up the ramp
and to the airship.
As soon as you pass the guard, leap onto the bed of the airship, and the screen fades to black
Split!
That's 'The Ancestors' in a nutshell.
There's a few cutscenes that follow this level so keep spamming enter if you're doing a single-segment run.
Now we travel to The Sanctuary
where the great wizard Zale resides.
I'm sure nothing bad will happen!
This is Landon Rivers
and I'll see you next time.
