Leaf It Alone Speedrun Guide: Beat Need for Sweep Under 40

What Need for Sweep Actually Asks For

Need for Sweep is the one achievement in Leaf it Alone that stops a lot of cozy players cold. You have to finish the Hometown map in under 40 minutes. This Leaf it Alone speedrun guide covers the shortest route, the upgrade order that keeps your pickup speed climbing, and the fixes for the spots where most runs lose time.

You don't need all three maps. "Complete the game" means reaching the secret room on Hometown. You also don't need to clean every area. Skip anything that doesn't unlock the next step.

A few rules make the challenge easier than it looks:

• The timer starts when you get control after the opening cutscene fades.
• Pausing stops the timer. Pause whenever you need to check your next purchase.
• The run ends when you crawl through the basement vent and drop into the secret room.
• Custom Mode counts if you keep the default settings. In that mode cutscenes skip automatically and you can restart from the Pause Menu. Patch v1.1.7 lets achievements unlock in Custom Mode with default parameters even when Ranked Mode is off.

The Minimum Route

Each area unlocks the next one, and only these areas matter:

Image: Steam / Eternity

Area	Why you clean it
Porch	Bag tying ability (much faster than dumping leaves by hand)
Court or Driveway/Frontyard	Sprint (Court) or a movement speed bonus, needed to reach the garage
Basement	Leaf value bonus; a full clean unlocks the shed area
Shed	Full clean gives the grill key
Pool	50%: +0.25x leaf value; 100%: greenhouse access
Swings	Crouch ability
Greenhouse	Key to the secret room

Play the route in this order: Porch → speed area → garage run → Basement → Shed (roof) → Pool → Swings → Greenhouse → basement vent. Leave the grill, entrance, garage interior, court (if you took the driveway), and maze uncleaned.

Court vs. Driveway: Choose Your Difficulty

Your choice right after the porch decides how hard the garage run will be.

Image: Steam / Eternity

• Court (easy route): Gives sprint, so you reach the garage with time to spare. No jumping tricks needed. The court has a bin in the corner, so you can throw bags there and skip the long throw to the porch bin.
• Driveway (hard route): Gives only a small movement speed bonus, which is just barely enough to get under the closing door. In exchange the driveway packs roughly 3,000 leaves onto a small cobblestone patch, so every grab hits a full stack. You'll finish it with about $4.30–$4.50.
• Frontyard: Gives the same speed bonus as the driveway, but its leaves are more spread out, so each pickup is less efficient.

On your first attempts, take the court. Switch to the driveway once you can make the garage run consistently.

Upgrade and Purchase Order

Prioritize Greedy Grasp over Dexterity. Grabbing more leaves per click raises your leaves per second more than clicking faster does. Delay Fluid Picker ($0.40) until after the porch, or skip it entirely if your mouse can macro-click. The other hand upgrades matter far more early on.

Image: Steam / Eternity

Stage	Buy, in order
Start	Repair the free inlet right of the porch stairs (+$0.22), then Greedy Grasp 1 ($0.10)
Porch	Greedy Grasp 2 ($0.50) after two bags → Dexterity 1 ($0.25) → Medium Leaf Bag ($0.75, 200 leaves) → Dexterity 2 ($0.75) → Greedy Grasp 3 ($1.75)
Driveway	Dexterity 3 ($1.50) → Greedy Grasp 4 ($3.50) → Dexterity 4 ($2.75) → Large Leaf Bag ($3.49, 500 leaves)
Basement	Greedy Grasp 5 ($5.75) → Dexterity 5 ($4.50), then hold your money
Shed	Rake ($7.49) once the roof is clean
Pool	Pool inlet ($15) → Sweep Radius 1 ($4) → Sweep Radius 2 ($6.75) → Handle Length 1 ($3.50) → Leaf Stickiness 1 ($5) → Sweep Radius 3–5 ($9.50, $12.25, $14) → Handle Length 2 ($6) → Leaf Stickiness 2 ($6.50) → Handle Length 3 ($8.50) → Leaf Stickiness 3 ($8)
Swings	Swings inlet ($6) → Handle Length 4 ($11) and Leaf Stickness 4
Greenhouse	Leaf Blower ($49.99) → greenhouse inlet ($25) → Power 1 ($15) → Air Spread 1 ($10) → Power 2 ($20) → Power 3 ($24)

Showing up at an inlet without enough cash forces you to stop and collect extra leaves. Arrive at the pool with $15, at the swings with $6, and at the greenhouse with $25. Always buy the inlet first so you know what's left for upgrades.

Nailing the Garage Run

The shed button opens the garage only while you hold it. Once you let go, the door slowly closes. Here's how to make it on the first try:

1. Buy your Large Leaf Bag first, since you're already standing in the shed.
2. Stand inside the shed doorframe so the button is barely visible on your screen.
3. Hold the button until the TV shows the door fully open. The button then releases on its own. Many runners tap it a couple more times for safety.
4. Turn and run immediately. Hug the porch stairs and flower beds, cut sharply toward the rainwater pipe, then go right into the garage.

You don't need bunny hops on either route, though some players find jumping helps them keep momentum. If you miss on the driveway route, restart. Even one failed attempt often costs you the 40-minute mark.

Bag skip: Top runners stack two tied bags in the porch corner and launch over the porch railing toward the garage. It requires a near-perfect line, and you don't need it for the achievement.

Area-by-Area Tips

Porch and Speed Area

• Press V to gray out every leaf outside your current area. This prevents wasted grabs and helps you find stragglers.
• Start picking from the corner farthest from the handrail. Leave a line of leaves near the rail and sweep it up on your way out.
• Keep your cursor on the edges of piles. Grabbing single leaves in the middle of a hole wastes clicks. Avoid walking through uncollected leaves too. Leaf placement is identical every run, so you can memorize the dense spots.

Basement

• Run to the back of the room first and work toward the stairs. The bin sits at the top of the stairs, so you can throw and turn straight back to picking. You can also make the throw by aiming high from the base of the stairs.
• On the driveway route, circle the chairs collecting leaves before you head downstairs to bank a little extra cash for your next upgrade.

Shed Roof

• Skip the rake here. Pick leaves up by hand and throw the bags.
• Practice jump-throwing bags into the bin before a serious run.
• If you miss, miss short. A long miss costs much more time to retrieve.
• Clear the leaves in front of the door so it closes cleanly.

Pool

• Rake diagonally rather than straight, and step backward with each pull.
• Circle the deck counterclockwise. That side has more leaves, so you hit the 50% leaf-value bonus sooner and have more money for the second half.
• Scrape leaves sideways off the loungers. Hand-pick the few leaves the rake can't reach.
• Inside the pool, work in quarters. Rake about halfway down, step back, repeat, then pull everything into the inlet. Don't fall into the pool from the deck by accident.
• Handle Length lets you aim the rake farther. Sweep Radius widens it so you move more leaves at once.

Swings

• Clean this area with the rake, sweeping leaves toward the inlet.

Greenhouse

• Use the rake while crouching to pull leaves out from under chairs and out of corners first, then use the blower to move everything toward the inlet.
• Blow in straight lines and keep the pile tight. Check the corner of the chair where one leaf always gets stuck.
• Clear the inside of the greenhouse out toward the inlet before finishing the outdoor stragglers.
• Check the corner of the bench for the brown leaf everyone misses. One leftover leaf there will keep the secret room locked.

Practice Setup: Timers and Backup Saves

• Turn on the built-in game timer. Update 1.1 added it to the settings menu. It's off by default and can show your best Any% time. LiveSplit integration is also supported.
• Back up your save before the garage run. Save files (.bytes) are in C:\Users\<your_pc_name>\AppData\LocalLow\Eternity\Leaf it Alone\Saves, or you can open the folder from the Load Panel's folder icon. Copy the save right after finishing your speed area, practice the run as many times as you need, then restore the backup and play the real attempt.
• Drill your bag throws before a serious run. Every missed throw means walking over to retrieve the bag.

Ready to start? Grab Leaf it Alone on Steam and begin by repairing that free porch inlet.