A rebellion against the looming oligarchy of the Conglomerate makes up the somewhat flimsy narrative of Mirror’s Edge Catalyst, but a far greater priority is winning a race or two. The Dash side-activities dotting the sprawling rooftops of the clinically clean city of Glass are great opportunities for both harnessing Faith’s exhilarating agility and tightening up reflexes—not to mention the modest prestige of adding your clocked time to the global runner leaderboard.
This guide describes an ideal route for the first handful of Dashes found in the Concord Plaza, Centurian Yards, and Triumvirate Drive districts. As of writing, the recorded times for each Dash were placed in the top 2-4 percent of rankings. By no means are these routes the perfect, end-all path—the best part of Catalyst is wielding your skills (with plenty of practice) to constantly discover and refine better and faster tracks. To make the most of your efforts, purchase the Skill Roll and Coil movement upgrades; they’re both indispensable for conserving momentum and sailing over jumps without eating concrete.
Birdman’s Route
Best time: 29.63
Maximum 3-star time: 40.00
First, position to the left edge of the starting rooftop. This prepares a slightly better angle for the initial leg of the run.
Jump down with a Skill Roll landing. Ignore the Echo arrows urging you to the right and sprint up the staircase ahead.
Launch into a springboard jump using the double air ducts onto the rooftop ledge straight above. If you’re sprinting at a good clip, you can vault the edge instead of climbing over, shaving off a couple seconds.
Beeline for the skybridge at the rooftop’s far end. You can either drop down with a Skill Roll or, with careful timing, skip off the small fan housing (visible at the bottom of the above screenshot) for an extra burst of momentum.
Veer right and jump across this gap to the adjacent rooftop. Nothing fancy; just a simple jump will do.
Coil across the top of this air duct. You’ll barely clear it, but it’ll keep more speed than a slide beneath it.
Drop to this lower area shortly after passing the duct. Try angling your fall so it lines up with the small staircase ahead.
Rocket up the staircase and sprint straight for the far railing. Springboard across and up to the next rooftop.
Speed up the staircase. At the top, immediately snap right and springboard off the railing across to the orange and white structure where the finish marker awaits.
High Roller Avenue
Best time: 43.09
Maximum 3-star time: 45.00
Position yourself to the right of the starting line so that the staircase lies straight ahead.
Follow the Echo arrows and drop down each section of this large rooftop to its lowest area. Be sure to Skill Roll on impact to prevent any jarring mishaps. Avoid breaking your fall with the yellow tarp on the left as the recovery animation is cripplingly long.
Head up the makeshift ramp and use the pile of paneling to springboard onto the scaffolding. Run straight into the interior corridor filled with construction materials.
Coil over the panel pile in the middle of the hallway. Break on through to the other side of the door at the end.
Run across this enclosed area and Coil out of the exit—you’ll stumble if you don’t. Curl into another Coil over the air duct slightly ahead of the exit.
Instead of turning right as the Echo arrow suggests, use the cylindrical steam vent on the left edge ahead to springboard atop the nearby wall. It’s a tricky, precise jump that’ll probably need a few practice runs to pull off correctly.
Here comes another stylish springboard. Angle right and use the small piece of railing to launch up to the higher section of parallel rooftop. Again, spend some time practicing this one—it’s easy to mess up and overshoot the landing or pinball off the wall if you’re too low. If you make it, jump across to the next roof section straight ahead.
Skill Roll onto the gravel path below. As you run, angle to a slight left so you drop once more to the level where the Echo arrow points to a doorway and head in.
From here, stick to the Echo arrows and make a sharp left to a skybridge. The finish marker rests at its end.
