Portal/Chamber 13

Chamber 13 makes the puzzle more complex by having the solution be a two-step process; you have to press (and keep pressed) two buttons, both of which are ordinarily inaccessible. At the end of the chamber, you gain a little more insight into what GLaDOS has planned for you once you finish all twenty chambers.

First room


"Now that you are in control of both portals, this next test could take a very, very long time. If you become light headed with thirst, feel free to pass out. An intubation associate will be dispatched to revive you with peptic salve and adrenaline."

- GLaDOS

This first room has only a small puzzle, requiring you to fetch a cube to put on a button. Place one end of a portal on the wall above the walkway, and the other end on a wall accessible to you. Go through the portal and pick up the cube, then fall back down to the button, and leave the cube there. Now that the door's open, you can go back through the portal, through the door and into the main room.

Main room
Solving the main room requires the use of several different portals, so that two cubes can press the two buttons, opening the exit door so you can walk through.

To begin with, the energy pellet needs directing into the receiver so that the platform holding this room's cube can start moving. Place one end of a portal on the energy pellet's scorch mark on the wall, and the other where the receiver is projecting a red spot onto the ceiling. The energy pellet will go into the receiver, and the platform will start moving.

Next, you need to get the cube off the platform, and onto the first button. Place one end of a portal on the ceiling above the middle of the platform's track, and the other end of the portal on an accessible wall. When the platform's below the exit portal, fall through onto the platform, pick up the cube and walk back down onto the floor with it.

To get the cube onto the button, you need to move one end of the portal you just used to above the platform holding the button — aim for the one-dot symbol on the roof. Now, go through the portal with the cube and deposit it on the button. Alternately, simply place the other portal under the cube. If placed correctly, the cube will quite possibly fall onto the button without you needing to adjust it.

Where can you find another cube? Well there is another cube currently holding the first door open, however if you have portals connecting the two rooms, you do not need that door anymore. So shoot a portal into the initial room, and walk through into it. Shoot another portal (the same color as the one already in the room) that you can reach from ground level, and bring the cube off of the button and into the main room.

Now place a portal on the two-dot symbol and bring the cube through to this button (or drop the cube onto the button like before). Both buttons are now pressed, and the door will open. You can jump from the button to the ledge, place portals to get yourself onto the ledge, or place a portal onto the wall of the exit room, and exit.

Alternatively you can skip using the second cube by standing on the second button and firing a portal through the exit door. Even though the door closes you will be able to get to the other side using the other portal.

"As part of a previously-mentioned required test protocol we can no longer lie to you. When the testing is over, you will be "missed"."

- GLaDOS

Advanced chamber
In the advanced chamber, the first room has no box, and the button is a lot closer to the entrance. In the main room, almost all of the floor is replaced by goo.

The reason the button is closer to the entrance is so that while standing on it, you are able to shoot a portal at the white tile in the next room marked with one dot (through the floor grating). If you remember from the original chamber, this is located directly above the higher button, so pass through another created portal accessible to you and land on the button.

Get the pellet to the receiver as you normally would, and use portals on the wall near you and above the platform’s path to land on the box as the lift passes. Holding the cube, leap to the exit platform, and then to the lower button. Leave the cube here, and then get yourself onto the top button with a portal above it and on a wall you can jump into. A portal in the exit room and one on the wall gets you through to the exit.

Portals

 * Bronze at 9 portals
 * 1) Blue portal in entrance room, lower level.
 * 2) Orange portal in entrance room, upper level. Grab cube, put on button, walk to door.
 * 3) Orange portal on one dot symbol. Grab cube, walk through, place on upper button.
 * 4) Blue portal above pellet receiver.
 * 5) Orange portal on scorch mark on wall. Platform starts moving.
 * 6) Blue portal on ceiling above platform’s path.
 * 7) Orange portal on ground-level wall. Grab cube off of platform.
 * 8) Blue portal on two dot symbol. Use existing orange portal to drop cube onto button.
 * 9) Blue portal through exit door. Use existing orange portal to walk through.


 * Silver at 5 portals
 * 1) Blue portal in entrance room, lower level.
 * 2) Orange portal in entrance room, upper level. Grab cube, put on button, walk to door.
 * 3) Orange portal on one dot symbol. Grab cube, walk through, place on upper button. Jump to lower button, making sure to avoid the pellet. If you miss the jump, simply place portal 5 now, and try again.
 * 4) Orange portal through exit door while standing on button.
 * 5) Blue portal anywhere reachable.

Solution 1:
 * Gold at 4 portals
 * 1) Blue portal in entrance room, lower level.
 * 2) Orange portal in entrance room, upper level. Grab cube, put on button, walk to door.
 * 3) Orange portal on highest point of the wall next to the button. Grab cube, walk through, jump with cube to lower button, place cube there.
 * 4) Blue portal on floor between upper button and second cube. Having the portal placed just on the second cube’s side of the blue wire from the pellet receiver to the platform should work. Come through to the upper button, then jump and fling yourself to the potentially-moving platform (see Angle Flinging for tips on making this fling successful). Once you have the cube, go through the portal again, leave it on the upper button, and you are able to jump to the lower button, and then to the exit platform. This solution has the benefit of not needing to start over if you mess up anything after placing the 4th portal.

Solution 2:
 * 1) Blue portal in entrance room, lower level.
 * 2) Orange portal in entrance room, upper level. Grab cube, put on button, walk to door.
 * 3) Orange portal on wall next to upper red button, within jumping height. Carry cube through, and throw it onto the lower button (you stay on the top button platform).
 * 4) Blue portal through the exit door. If the cube hits the button, shoot this right away, just in case the cube doesn’t stay on the button. Hop back through the existing orange portal.

Solution 3:
 * 1) Blue portal in first room, lower level on wall near button.
 * 2) Orange portal in first room, upper level behind cube. Grab cube, put on button, walk to door.
 * 3) Orange portal on wall next to upper red button. Carry cube through to upper button platform. Crouch on edge of platform opposite your wall portal and try to use the cube to deflect an energy pellet into the receiver. If the pellet starts to bounce around the room haphazardly(very likely), use the cube as a shield. Once it explodes, try again with the next one. Very difficult to pull off, but not impossible. Once successful, place cube on upper red button.
 * 4) Blue portal on ceiling above middle of moving platform track. Go through your upper wall portal to land on moving platform and pick up second cube. Ride to platform by exit door and jump to it with cube. Then jump with cube to the lower red button platform and place cube on button. Door opens. Jump back to door platform and proceed to exit.

Steps
See Portal/Tips and advanced techniques for some general pointers on reducing your step count. On this level, use ceiling portals to put cubes on buttons so you don’t have to go there yourself.
 * Bronze at 30 steps
 * Silver at 20 steps
 * Gold at 10 steps

Time
Bronze at 40 seconds : This challenge can be met by executing the normal method quickly. Use a close portal to grab the first cube, placing it on the button and shooting a portal on the 1-dot symbol. Come through quickly with the cube and leave it on the high button. If the pellet disintegrates about now, you are on the right track. Shoot portals to get the pellet in its receiver, and portal onto the platform when it moves below the ceiling. Quickly shoot a portal on the two-dot symbol, drop the cube through, and then portal onto the exit platform or into the exit room. On the other hand, why not try for the silver medal, see below?

Silver at 30 seconds : It is easy to shave off ten seconds and get the silver medal for this challenge by disregarding the second cube. After bringing the first cube to the high button, as for Bronze, get the pellet to its receiver just to get it out of the way. Jump from the high platform to the lower one and stand on the button to open the exit door. Shoot one portal into the room behind the door, drop down, place the other portal nearby and walk through and to the exit chamberlock.

Gold at 19 seconds : For the gold medal, you won't have time to dispose of the energy pellet. Instead, you'll have to keep out of it's way. Follow the speedrun instructions, below, taking greater risks with the pellet than you would in an actual speedrun.

No Cheating SpeedRun in One Segment for Mere Mortals
(For background on this section, refer to the Portal speedrunning overview page.)

This is the first of the six chambers that have associated speed challenges. Figuring out how you will speedrun these chambers is similar to getting the best time on the speed challenges, but there are two differences. First, don't stop when you beat the challenge. If you think you can shave a bit more time off, keep trying. Second, remember that you're going to speedrun the chamber in a continuous playthrough of the game (i.e. one segment). As a result, don't plan on anything that might fail and cause a lot of delay. You can try risky stuff when playing the challenge because if things go badly you can just try the chamber again. But if things go badly in a single segment speedrun, you either get a bad time or you have to start again at the very beginning. In this chamber, for example, be careful of any path that puts you in the way of the energy pellet. In the challenge, you can play again and again until the pellet misses you. But in the speedrun if it hits you then at best you have to load a quicksave that you made before you started the risky part. If you can't reliably keep out of the way of the energy pellet, consider looking for a different path that avoids it.

The method described here does take you dangerously close to the pellet but will get you from the opening of the entry chamberlock into the exit chamberlock in nineteen seconds, the gold challenge time. As soon as the chamberlock opens sufficiently, shoot a portal towards the most distant wall, slightly to the right of the support of the grill platform (you don't want to bump into this when you come through). You should already be moving forwards, so place the other portal on the floor just ahead and jump into it. When you come through, turn 45 degrees to your right and move a portal to the wall just to the right of the corner. Turn more and move the other portal behind the cube. Turn back towards the first portal and grab the cube through it. Now, back up, swinging the cube to the right, so that you can place the cube on the button as you come to face its original position. Back up a little more and turn until you have a line-of-sight through the open door above the grill platform to the ceiling over the higher button, where the one-dot symbol is. Move the portal that was behind the cube to this position. Reverse the movement that pulled the cube through the portals and placed it on the button, advancing and turning left to pick up the cube and carry it back to the portal nearby on the wall. Go through and land on the button platform.

Where you put the portal on the ceiling is important as it will affect where you land on the platform. For the best time, you need to land on the corner closest to the entry room as you can then cleanly put the cube on the button and move on to the next step. If you land anywhere else, you'll need to turn and/or jiggle around before you can get the cube set and continue. Practice until you know where this spot is and can hit it.

With the cube in place, pull back and position yourself to move along the right-hand edge of the pedestal. You're going to jump onto the lower pedestal. If you've made good time, you will see the energy pellet pass over the button on that pedestal and towards the emitter. Jump as soon as it is safe and then move to the left edge to get out of the way of the pellet after it bounces on the closed emitter. If you've not made good time, well, the pellet could be anywhere. If it's behind you, you're probably going to have to turn to look and judge when it is safe to jump. If you can jump onto the very edge of the lower platform, then you may be able to keep out of the pellet's way like that. Getting killed at this point in a speedrun is frustrating (but not as frustrating as getting killed by the turrets in Escape 02). When you're on the platform, check again that the pellet is not going to hit you and step onto the button, turning about 60 degrees to the right and sighting through the exit door, which will now open. Shoot either portal through the door, drop down from the pedestal, put the other portal in the floor or wall, go through, turn sharp right and go into the exit chamberlock. For the challenge, where the penalty for failure is just having to try again, you can cut it close with the pellet and you should be able to get the gold medal. For a speedrun, you should probably play it safe and accept twenty or twenty one seconds between the entry chamberlock opening and your arrival in the exit chamberlock.