Portal/Tips and advanced techniques

Basics

 * Not all of the steps listed in the walkthrough are necessary to complete a chamber; some parts of a chamber or level can be skipped.
 * Save your game after anything tricky or long, especially in the advanced chambers and challenges. The game automatically reloads when you die, but not if you don’t die, and not necessarily where you want it to.
 * Cameras are seemingly useless, but can really be very helpful. You can jump on them, hit pellets with them, or even knock out turrets.
 * Turn portal funnel on in the options, and look down when falling into floor portals. It is much easier to sail through this way.

Using the minimum number of portals

 * Make your portals as accessible as possible. You may be able to use them again later.
 * Fling. Use that momentum. It’s fun, and gets you places you couldn’t normally get to.
 * Experiment! Explore every possibility. If you can find a tiny corner of a surface to get a portal on, try it. If you can shoot a portal while falling where you can’t on solid ground, try it.
 * You are allowed to get shot. Just don’t die.

Using the minimum number of steps

 * Use lots of portals!
 * Alternating stepping and hopping, if done with the right timing, gets you farther per step on average than normal walking. You want to maximize the amount of time that you are on the ground in between jumps, while still only gaining 2 steps each time.
 * Don’t step on objects like cubes (unless absolutely necessary); you’ll rack up steps for no reason.
 * Place one of your first portals right in front of the elevator. A step and a hop can get you there in 2 steps. A trickier technique (see below) can get you there in only 1.
 * If you travel straight up through a floor portal, and then shoot that color portal elsewhere, you might not gain a step for landing if you are only traveling a small distance upwards (see below). Floor portals are the most useful way to get around without stepping.
 * Play around with angles. Momentum applied at an angle into a portal can get you a lot further and help you take fewer steps when steps seem necessary. This will take a lot of experimentation to get the correct angles, but can be really impressive when you get it.

Completing chambers quickly

 * Portals are the fastest way to travel. If you need to take more than a few steps to get somewhere, portals may be faster.
 * If you absolutely must walk, jumping constantly will get you there faster. Note that if you are constantly jumping, changing direction will be harder, so you may need to temporarily stop jumping.
 * Use alternate methods. If you discover another method while trying to do a different challenge, consider using it here, even if it uses more portals or steps than your best method.
 * Know ahead of time (or learn for next time) which way you need to move after you’ve gone through a portal so you don’t have to spend time reorienting yourself.
 * Practice, practice, practice. Get your hands used to exactly how far you need to move.

Cube throwing
Easy to try, difficult to master. The idea is that you want to get a cube (or other object) somewhere without actually going there yourself. While there is no button or key to specifically throw something, the concept can be achieved due to momentum being programmed into the game. All you have to do is move or turn, and while in the process, release the cube (or other object) you are holding. Turning is usually better for having to throw it a distance or upwards. Moving can be useful if you need to drop something into a portal that is not quite directly below it, and also to help create more speed while turning. You can practice this any time you have a cube. Go ahead and try it in chamber 00. Grab the cube and stand a little distance away from the button. Start facing diagonally away from the button. Rotate yourself towards the button and up, and while doing so, release the cube. If you get the timing right, the cube will begin to fly through the air. Try it from different locations and with different throwing methods to get used to it.
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 * Other useful locations
 * Getting the radio in chamber 9
 * Using only the first cube in chamber 13 for least portals
 * Tossing a turret or cube at another turret in chamber 16
 * Locations where you want to fling an object

Multi flinging
Sometimes falling into a portal once just isn’t enough speed, or may be applied at the wrong angle. Continuing to fly through portals can create the speed or angle you need. The concept is introduced in chamber 15, but can be applied further in numerous other locations. The best place to practice this is the turret ambush room in escape 02, because it is one of the biggest rooms in the game, full of portalable surfaces and two nice angled surfaces. After disposing of all the turrets, place an orange portal on the lower angled surface, and then a blue portal below you. As you come out, spot approximately where you are going to land. Just before you hit, place a blue portal below yourself. You can then continue doing this forever, until you mess up (or until the game messes your momentum up). This is a good way to get the Long Jump achievement.
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 * Other useful locations
 * Getting to the cube in advanced chamber 18
 * Getting up onto the high platform in the turret ambush room in escape 02

Angle flinging
Sometimes flinging is as easy as simply jumping and sailing through. Other times, you must be much more precise with how you fly through a portal. Not only is momentum conserved, but the angle of entry is as well. Another aspect to keep in mind is that the top or bottom (or sides) of a portal can stop your angle, causing you to only keep your speed applied perpendicularly to the portal. In the least portals challenge for chamber 13, it can be useful to reach the platform without using the pellet to make it start moving. In the main room, stand on the upper button, with one portal high up on the wall facing the second cube. If you place a portal on the floor directly below you and jump through, you will not make it onto the cube platform. Instead, place it further away, about halfway between the two platforms (maybe a little more towards the cube). You cannot jump any higher, so your perpendicular speed will not change, but since you have to run and jump to the portal, you will have speed that, when you come out the wall portal, will be applied upwards. Also note that with the wall portal placed the way it is, if you enter at the top, upward momentum will be stopped quickly by the ceiling. Instead, aim to fly through the portal towards the bottom of it. Your upward momentum will actually cause you to fly further than if you had come out at the top. You can easily reach the platform this way.
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 * Other useful locations
 * Double-flinging without the side room in chamber 15
 * Getting onto the two-dot platform in chamber 18
 * Least steps challenge for numerous chambers

Infinite fall flinging
Sometimes you just can’t get the momentum you need in the space you have. However, if there is a portalable ceiling directly above a portalable floor, you can fall indefinitely to gain lots of momentum, and then finally fling where you want to go. In advanced chamber 15, the first fling can make use of an infinite fall. In actuality, you only need to fall once for enough momentum, but you can fall as much as you want. First stand on the floor panel and look up as far as you can. Get yourself centered, and shoot a portal. Now, without turning, look straight down as far as you can (compare the grid lines to the edges of your screen for both to check that you haven’t turned). Shoot a portal, and you will start to fall. If you lined up your portals well, and if you don’t move, you will continue to fall and fall and fall. If you placed the portals this way (see the image with the orange portal on bottom), your view will be approximately the same every time you go through the portal, making it easy to line up your shot at the extended wall panel. If you miss, your portal is not likely to succeed, so you can just continue falling and try again. If you placed the portals differently, such as in the image with the blue portal on bottom, every time you come through, your view will change, making it much more difficult to get the correct shot in.
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 * Other Useful Locations
 * Gaining momentum to fling onto the raised exit lift in chamber 14 for least time
 * Terminal Velocity achievement - not that you need to fling, but if you just let yourself fall for a very long time (looking down helps keep centered if you have portal funnel on), you will eventually receive this achievement.