How to do the Skywalker Saga child ladder speedrun tech

Child ladder is the newest technique for speedrunning LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, but it’s not for the faint of heart.

LEGO Star Wars has always been a fun game to speedrun. The familiar story retold through the world of LEGO is full of glitches and oddities to exploit, but the newest game may have the weirdest strategy yet. Skywalker Saga speedrunners have discovered a new technique dubbed “child ladder” where players reach high areas by infinitely comboing child NPCs. 

The technique takes advantage of Skywalker Saga’s advanced combo system. After launching an enemy, players can jump during the attack sequence to start an air combo. In this state, players rise with their opponents while attacking them. Enemies tend to have low health, so it’s hard to get very high. However, a wise decision by the developers has the unintentional side effect of creating a very effective speedrun strategy that shaves minutes off any timer.

Children NPCs are unable to be killed by the player in Skywalker Saga. While invulnerable, the player character can still hit them with a lightsaber, staff, or other melee weapons. When initiating an air combo against them, the player can continue it forever and rise with every strike. Skywalker Saga speedrunners are using the child ladder to reach mission objectives way faster than the game intends.

How to child ladder in Skywalker Saga

While primarily a technique for speedrunning, even the average Skywalker Saga player can get some use out of child ladder to reach high areas early.

Alongside being extremely useful, this technique is actually very easy to perform. Simply locate a child NPC and push them to the location you want to rise from. From there, start comboing them and initiate an air combo using a launcher. Attack once, then jump cancel right at the end of the attack to rise higher. Since children have infinite HP, the combo lasts as long as the player wants.

The exact timing for the technique varies based on character. In the example above from RedOrbTV, Ben Kenobi’s double air attack requires a jump cancel right after the second hit. The timing is fairly lenient but still requires a bit of practice. The player also revolves around the child during the technique, so account for the rotation during your ascent.