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General Tips
──── General Gameplay ────
Hardcoded button combos
Soft reset combo: Holding X + B + Start all at once will reset the game to the title screen after all three buttons are held for about half a second. This is never faster than using the reset button on the Wii or GameCube, but it can be equal in speed and is more ergonomic for players, so it's commonly used for savewarps in speedruns. The built-in delay of about half a second is helpful for timing Back in Time using the item wheel or pause button.
Controller reset combo: Holding X + Y + Start all at once for around one second will reset the controller as though it has just been plugged in. This means that the positions held on the analog sticks and L/R triggers will be set as the neutral positions, and the console will read any held buttons as having been pressed on the first frame after the controller reset combo is no longer held, which can be useful for Map Glitch. This combo is useful if you've accidentally plugged in your controller while holding an analog stick or L/R trigger and want to reset it while not holding them.
Combat
This video goes over important combat considerations and techniques such as running slashes, quickly charged spin attacks, and autospins.
Messenger fights to open portals
This video goes over strategies for all of the portal fights in the game. See video description for some additional notes.
Handling Analog Glitch
"Analog glitch" refers generally to any situation where holding the control stick (analog stick) in a direction makes Link move in a different direction relative to the camera. When the camera is locked (targeting, climbing a ladder, crossing a tightrope, etc.) and the control stick is held outside of neutral, Link's movement will continue to correspond to the direction the control stick is held relative to that locked camera angle even if the camera angle is changed (with the c-stick, getting off the ladder/rope, etc.) until the control stick is released to neutral again.
To try this yourself, hold up to run forwards, then tap target and continue holding up. Moving the camera with the c-stick now will not change Link's trajectory.
The best way not to be tripped up by analog glitch is to release the control stick to neutral after targeting, whenever getting off a ladder or tightrope, and in other places where analog glitch often occurs. These are some common problem areas:
- All ladders and tightropes
- Castle Town roads
- Hyrule Castle sewers tower
- Shops
──── Small Timesavers ────
Quick equips
The fastest way to equip an item from the item wheel is to double tap Y or X and then press B immediately (1f) afterward so that the item wheel closes as soon as possible. This saves 6 frames over only tapping Y or X once. Because the cursor can move while one item icon is moving to the HUD, it only saves time to double tap for the final equip of an item wheel pull. Double tapping does not have any effect when pairing bombs with the bow for bomb arrows, so when equipping bomb arrows and another item, it's theoretically fastest to equip bomb arrows first so that the second item can be double tapped; however, this is only practical when the other item being equipped is near the bombs on the item wheel.
Holding L while pressing the d-pad to open the item wheel allows the cursor to begin moving 2f sooner than it could without L held.
Using B, d-pad up, and d-pad down to close the item wheel are all the same speed; the only difference is in the item wheel's closing animation.
Rupee Text Skips
If you stand next to a Rupee and sidehop, backhop, or jump attack over it, you can collect the Rupee without seeing the text that normally pops up. Collecting a Rupee while in the air, swimming, or on Epona will also skip any Rupee text.
Faster Double Door Cutscenes
Link has different animations depending on whether you go through the left or right door at a set of double doors. The right door animation is faster than the left by about 20 frames, so it's generally better to go through double doors from the right side. This does not apply to some doors that go into a loading zone, such as those in Hyrule Castle, but does matter for others, such as the entrance to Snowpeak Ruins.
(Note: On Wii, this is reversed due to the entire game being mirrored, so opening left doors is preferred on Wii)
Quick Midna Jumps
When you press Z to call Midna for a Midna Jump, there's an animation of her flying towards the target spot. For certain jumps, there is 1 frame where you can input a jump before the animation starts and skip needing to watch it. This is used primarily in Castle Sewers.
Quick transform with C-up
This only saves time when calling Midna as wolf with Midna on back, which is the case during Twilights and anytime after beating Lakebed Temple. If you C-up before calling Midna, it will skip the mini cutscene of the camera panning and allow you to transform immediately, with the additional benefit of the camera continuing to face forwards. Done perfectly, this saves 7 frames over a transform without C-up. This technique is also beneficial when calling Midna to warp.
Shorter transform animation
When transforming from human to wolf, hold the control stick anywhere outside of the deadzone (ESS works) to finish the transform animation 11 frames sooner than if the stick is left neutral. This has no effect when transforming from wolf to human.
'DF' walking
DF walking refers to holding L and any direction on the control stick that gets Link to ~12 speed within two frames; any control stick direction will do this aside from directions near straight up or straight down. The fastest way to reach max running speed from a standstill is to DF walk for 2 frames, then release L and hold the direction you want Link to move, after which Link will reach max running speed in 7 frames (9 frames total including the DF walk) as opposed to simply holding up reaching max running speed in 13 frames. For more information, see the movement speeds page.
Optimal first person item usage
The fastest way to use a first person item is situational. These are the frame data for using the boomerang, clawshot(s), and dominion rod on GC without already being in 1st person in situations where aiming isn't necessary:
- Fastest: press X/Y with item already in Link's hand
- +2f: press c-up, then press X/Y two frames later (takes the same amount of time whether item is already in Link's hand or not)
- +5f: press X/Y with item not already in Link's hand
For example, the first option is usually optimal when it's possible to get the item into Link's hand in advance without losing time; the second option is usually optimal when you want to use one of these items immediately after opening a door that makes Link put items away; the third option may be optimal after such a door if you need to move Link slightly before using the item.
Because the bow and the slingshot only fire with an X/Y tap if Link is running, this frame data isn't directly relevant to their usage. It similarly takes 5 fewer frames after the X/Y press for the bow and slingshot to fire if they are already in Link's hand while running vs. empty hands.
Quick aiming
Using C-up followed by an aim item immediately afterwards lets you aim faster than any other method.
When you're stuck onto walls with double clawshots, you can get into first person aim quicker by pressing the clawshots button, then tapping L quickly.
Quick double clawshot aiming
To make Link pull out the second clawshot as soon as possible after reaching the first clawshot's destination, press and hold the double clawshots button while the clawshot is pulling Link. To then begin aiming as soon as possible, tap L. Another option is to double tap the double clawshots button after reaching the first clawshot's destination; this is slightly slower than tapping L in general, but is useful when tapping L would lock onto something and make aiming harder.
Doing nothing vs. tapping L (timing in frames)
Double tapping double clawshots button vs. tapping L (timing in frames)
Quick poe lure
Approaching poes that live high in the air with senses off will cause them to approach Link earlier than approaching with senses on. This is not useful for poes that live near the ground.
Auto slashing
Link will automatically slash his sword when pulling it out if you have an item in your hand prior.
Quick unfreezing
When frozen in place by an ice enemy or a redead scream, you can shorten the length of the freeze by spinning the control stick and/or pressing A, B, L, and/or R, with each press reducing the freeze length by a small amount. The fastest way to become unfrozen is to spin the control stick and alternate mashing both A + B and L + R simultaneously. This does not affect being frozen by shadow beast screams.
Easy golden bug grabbing from the ground
Normally when you walk near some golden bugs, they will fly away, but if you hold L and walk towards them they won't be scared off.
Easy golden bug grabbing from the boomerang
If the boomerang returns to Link while he's in the animation of putting another item away, he will skip the animation of catching the boomerang, giving more of an opportunity to catch flying bugs before they get away.
Make golden bugs land on the ground
Aiming the boomerang above a golden bug will get it caught lower in the boomerang's gale, making it land on the ground when the boomerang returns instead of flying away.
Camera angle when interacting with characters
When interacting with characters such as Bo, Ooccoo, cats, etc., the amount of time the camera takes to adjust or zoom in/out can impact how long it will take for the text prompt to appear.
Putting items away before doors
When Link has an item in his hand(s) and interacts with something that requires him to use his hands, he'll automatically put away the item before beginning the interaction. Having an item in hand costs time when opening most doors, pushing blocks, or picking objects up. It does not cost time when interacting with NPCs, opening chests, hitting cutscene triggers, or opening doors without Link's hands, such as boss key doors and doors in City in the Sky and Palace of Twilight. It also does not cost time when opening a door with a small key lock on it regardless of whether Link uses his hands to open the door afterwards.
Because of this, it is often optimal to put items away before reaching doors/blocks/objects. This can be done while running by releasing the control stick to neutral for minimum of one frame and pressing A on that frame, then resuming holding the control stick. The amount of time lost at a door in the Forest Temple when trying to open it with an item in hand is:
- 0f for ball & chain or fishing rod
- 6f for all other one-handed items (sword, boomerang, lantern, dominion rod, single clawshot, bow, bottle, slingshot)
- 7f for double clawshots
Area banner loads
When the game shows an area banner as Link loads into an area from a save, load zone, or warp, the area load takes longer than when an area banner isn't shown. Area banners pop up as long as Link isn't entering an area that uses the same banner as the area he was last in. For example, when loading the area west of Castle Town, the "Hyrule Field" area banner pops up when coming from inside Castle Town, from inside the helmasaur grotto, or warping from most areas, but the area banner does not pop up when entering from the load zones from Hyrule Field North or Great Bridge of Hylia, nor does it pop up if warping to the Castle Town warp portal from anywhere in Hyrule Field (including main fields, Kakariko Gorge, and all three areas outside Castle Town), nor if loading a save west of Castle Town after having soft reset the game in any of the aforementioned zones that count as Hyrule Field. The amount of time the area banner costs is variable, ranging at least from 25f to 42f.
──── Wii Specific Information ────
Wiimote/Nunchuk Usage
- The plus, minus and home buttons on the Wiimote won't work if the game detects a shake input. This can be avoid by mashing/pressing softly.
- To avoid accidentally throwing bombs while trying to drop them by taking out the sword, you can shake the nunchuk instead of Wiimote.
- Aiming with a first person item can be awkward if you have to aim somewhere above or below the screen. Many runners like to aim up or down with c-up first and then take out the item.
- A common issue runners have is spins not working when shaking the nunchuk. To avoid this, perform a single, wide, side to side movement with the nunchuk (Left then right is clockwise, right then left is counter clockwise).
Mashing
Below is a video demonstrating one of the mashing methods to mash quickly on the Wiimote for the A+B buttons.
──── Other Information ────
Burning Webs
Besides Lantern, you can also burn webs using the Ball & Chain, and by shooting Bomb Arrows at them.
Sidehop through steam without Iron Boots
You can sidehop through the steam jets on Death Mountain without needing boots on if you have a shield.
One-handed and two-handed grabs
When grabbing vines, grates, or ledges, Link can grab with two hands or grab with one hand and dangle before grabbing with his other hand. A one-handed grab is 32f slower than a two-handed grab. In most cases, grab handedness is RNG, but grab handedness on ledges can be affected by being close to a wall (?).
Quick air meter
If you resurface from underwater quickly and then try to sink again, the air meter will appear quicker than it normally does. This is usually a bad thing, as having a quick air meter can make tricks like Pillar Clip or the Morpheel backup impossible.
Spinner sockets
The spinner sockets across the game do not all work the same way.
- Lenient spinner sockets take the same amount of time to complete for any mash speed between one press every 2 frames (15 Hz) and one press every 8 frames (3.75 Hz), inclusive. Mashing slower than that will not ever complete the spinner socket. This is true for both sockets in the Arbiter's Grounds boss key room and both sockets in City in the Sky.
- Strict spinner sockets' completion times correlate directly with mash speed, so one press every 2 frames (15 Hz) is optimal. This is true for the socket that raises the mirror in the Mirror Chamber.
- The spinner socket in Stallord's arena does not have any obvious correlation between mash speed and completion time; it is unknown exactly how this one works.
Angle changes with item wheel buffering
Holding a full cardinal direction while in first person will change Link's horizontal or vertical angle by 512 units every frame. It is useful for some setups to ensure that an angle change is an exact multiple of 512 units. To do so:
- Enter first person with c-up or a first person item
- Pull up the item wheel
- Hold a cardinal direction
- Cancel the item wheel
- Pull up the item wheel again n frames later to get an angle change of 512*n units
The item wheel pulls ensure that there aren't any frames where the control stick isn't held all the way into the notch. To prevent the item wheel cursor from moving and causing the item wheel not to close, steps 3 and 4 can be done in the opposite order so long as the control stick is all the way in the notch by the time the item wheel finishes closing. Buffering angle changes like this is not helpful with diagonal notches, as they have inconsistent values. Because pulling up the item wheel takes 2 frames, this method can only yield angle changes of 1024 units or more per buffer; for example, to aim 512 units (1 frame) rightward, you'd need to buffer 2 frames leftward and then 3 frames rightward, or equivalent.
Vertical angle changes with c-up cancels
While in first person, tapping the A button while holding c-up causes the camera to momentarily exit first person and then re-enter it, which causes the vertical angle to approach 0 (horizontal) in a consistent way given a consistent starting angle. For most starting angles, one A tap will cut the vertical angle to exactly 3/4 of its previous value. This holds until around 1000 units, where A taps begin to cut a great proportion of the angle and eventually reach 0. For starting angles higher than 10,000, the cut is very slightly higher than 3/4 as well.
Tapping the L trigger while in first person aiming a first person item has the same effect. Holding c-up and tapping A while in first person aiming a first person item has the same effect as two cancels put together, i.e. cuts the angle to 9/16 its starting value; this only works if you begin to hold c-up while already in first person aiming a first person item.
Horizontal angle changes by turning around
Turning around is only exactly 180 degrees when Link is facing a cardinal direction on the map (angles 0, 16384, 32768, 49152). When he's not facing a cardinal direction, turning around will slightly adjust his angle towards the nearest cardinal direction. The exact angle change and how targeting and camera position interacts with this is not well understood.
Sometimes when trying to turn Link roughly 180 degrees, he'll turn a seemingly random amount. This is always avoidable by entering first person and then returning to third person before turning, but that option is usually not fast. The tips below are relevant to turning around after a backflip within the context of entering Lakebed from empty Lake Hylia; while they likely do not cover all possible fail cases and interactions, they are a useful starting point. When trying to turn around:
- If Link barely turns, you were still holding L (even just full analog press, not necessarily digital press) for one or more frames while control stick wasn't neutral
- If Link turns about 90deg, you held a different direction for one or more frames before holding down
- If Link turns most of the way but is off by roughly 100 to 500 angle units, you had left-to-right input on the stick on the first non-neutral frame (left-to-right inputs on later frames don't matter)
- If Link turns basically all the way but is off by 10-100 angle units, you released target 5 or more frames before Link's speed dropped to 0 after the backflip; this fail case also appears if you retarget to correct for this (see below) but only for 3f or less
- If Link's off by 1-10 angle units, you probably held the control stick down for 6 or more frames for the turn, which makes Link walk
How to turn around:
- Only move the control stick along the up-down axis; only the first non-neutral frame matters within the first 5 frames
- Don't hold the control stick outside neutral for 6 or more frames
- Keep the control stick neutral until at least the first frame after releasing the target press, including analog presses (no click); the black bars finish coming down 11f after releasing target, so you don't need to wait for that
- Hold target until at most 4 frames before the backflip lands (speed = 0); if you finish the backflip and suspect you released target too early, you can correct this by re-holding target for at least 4f before re-releasing and continuing
Horizontal angle changes by aiming the camera up
When Link is facing between angles 1 and 1024 (inclusive) on the map, aiming the camera upwards at all will adjust the horizontal angle gradually towards 0.
Item wheel item placement
As the item wheel fills up, items shift around to be roughly evenly spaced around the circle. The order the items will appear in is invariable, as each item has a set slot number that it goes in when acquired. Moving counterclockwise from the top, there are trade quest items/notes/Ooccoo, then bottles, then bomb bags, then the Hawkeye, then story progression/dungeon items from the fishing rod to the double clawshots arranged in the order they are meant to be acquired in a casual playthrough as the newest items are added to the top position on the wheel. The one exception is the Clawshot, which is removed from its original slot upon receiving the Double Clawshots, which only ever appear at the top of the item wheel as they are the final item meant to be acquired.
However, since speedruns often obtain these right-side items out of the intended order, it isn't uncommon for new items to appear in later positions on the wheel. For example, Any% gets the Ball and Chain when the top item is the Clawshot, so the Ball and Chain takes the top slot and moves the Clawshot to the right. But upon getting the Spinner later, the Ball and Chain will stay in the top slot because it is meant to be acquired after the Spinner.
A full item wheel:
Howling stone songs
Sacred Grove
Death Mountain
Upper Zora's River
Lake Hylia
Snowpeak
Hidden Village
──── Time of Day Info ────
- Morning starts at 6:00, while night starts at 19:00. Stalhounds and most poes will appear when night begins and disappear when morning starts. These poes are available at all times of day:
- Jovani's poe
- All dungeon poes, including Sacred Grove past poe (behind owl statue)
- Poes in grottos and caves
- Faron purple mist central tree stump poe
- Both Sacred Grove poes (past waterfall and Grove 1 fight arena), but not Master Sword pedestal poe
- First and second poes ascending Snowpeak (not third poe)
- Poe on hill outside Snowpeak Ruins
- Kakariko Village Malo Mart is open from 6:00 to 20:00 until it becomes open at all times after opening the Castle Town Malo Mart
- 1 in-game minute usually takes 21 frames to pass, but there are some exceptions, including the Fishing Pond (see below), Bulblin Camp (see below), areas after exiting twilights (see below), and Ordon Spring immediately after leaving the sewers.
- Time normally does not pass during warps, loads, menus, textboxes, or when an area name banner is up and covering the HUD; nor does it pass in caves (except the Snowpeak connection cave), grottos, indoor areas, villages, or dungeons, including Temple of Time (Grove area) and the entrance area before Arbiter's Grounds.
- In instances when time of day is sped up (see below), it can pass even during warps, textboxes, etc.
In the fishing pond, the speed at which time passes depends on the time of day.
| Time of Day | Frames per in-game minute |
| 13:00-20:00 | 21 (normal speed) |
| 20:00-04:00 | 7 (3x speed) |
| 4:00-10:00 | 21 (normal speed) |
| 10:00-13:00 | 11 (~2x speed) |
Likewise, speed is variable in Bulblin Camp before defeating King Bulblin 3.
| Time of Day | Frames per in-game minute |
| 05:00-03:59 | 8 (~3x speed) |
| 04:00-04:59 | time does not advance |
The wagon escort event that leads to the Zora Armor forces a few time of day changes.
| Section | Time of Day Behavior |
| Begin escort (before KB2) | Sets 17:00 and advances one in-game minute every 6 frames (3.5x speed) until reaching 21:00, at which point time of day stops progressing |
| KB2 fight | Locks the in-game time when hitting the cutscene trigger before the fight |
| From KB2 to Kakariko | Sets and locks 21:00 |
| Cutscene in Kakariko | Sets and locks 22:00 |
| Following Rutela | Sets and locks 4:00 |
| Rutela text presenting Zora Armor | From 4:00, advances one in-game minute every 6 frames (3.5x speed) until reaching 6:00 |
There are a few places that will automatically set the time of day to a certain time. For example, Palace of Twilight will change time to night, and City in the Sky will set time to noon. You can abuse this to set time to specific times you desire. Here is a list of events that set specific times.
| Area | Set Time of Day |
| During twilights / Palace of Twilight | 0:00 |
| After Forest Temple | 12:00 |
| After King Bulblin 1 | 17:00 |
| After Goron Mines | 12:00 |
| After Lanayru Twilight | 12:00 |
| After Lakebed Temple | 12:00 |
| During MDH | 21:00 |
| After MDH | 6:00 |
| Entering Stallord via AG | 21:00 |
| After Snowpeak Ruins | 12:00 |
| Entering Sacred Grove 2 | 5:00 |
| Finishing Sacred Grove 2 Skull Kid fight | 8:00 |
| After Temple of Time | 12:00 |
| After City in the Sky | 12:00 |
| Cave of Ordeals Floor 16 | 23:00 |
| Game Over in Zant fight | 18:00 |
Exiting an area in twilight before clearing the twilight (e.g. escaping Faron, or warping to get the bridge in Faron or the volcanic rock in Eldin) sets time of day to 15:00 and causes each in-game minute to last 127 frames. Savewarping in an area in twilight before exiting the area will leave time of day at midnight and moving at the normal speed, but visiting any main Hyrule Field area that's outside of twilight afterward will set 15:00 and 127f/min.
