Movement Speeds

Information collected by RachelB and bewildebeest

There are many types of movement. Some movement types have an acceleration delay (e.g. running from a standstill), some can be influenced by control stick position (e.g. running speed), and most can be influenced by slopes; the speeds listed are the maximum speeds for all movement types except where noted and assume flat ground. All speeds are given in units/frame.

Human

Movement Type	Normal Speed	Dash Speed	Notes
Run/roll	23	32.9	See rolling section
Sidewalk/sidehop	13	28
Backwalk/backflip	13	24
Target walk forwards	~15.5	N/A	Oscillates between 14.7 and 16.3
Crawl	~4	N/A	Oscillates between 0 and ~8
IB walk/roll	~3.6	10	Walk oscillates between ~1.0 and ~5.2
IB sidewalk/sidehop	~2	28	Sidewalk oscillates between ~0.5 and ~3.4
IB backwalk/backhop	~2.5	25	Backwalk oscillates between ~0.3 and ~4.8
IB target walk forwards	~3.6	N/A	Same as untargeted walk
HC swim above water	8	13
HC swim underwater	8	2.6 max	Considering horizontal only
ZA swim above water	14	N/A
ZA swim underwater	14	22 max	See Zora Armor swimming speed graph
MA/IB swim underwater	1.28	N/A
Jump from ledge	21.6	N/A	First frame of jump maintains ground speed; air speed is maintained while holding forward but decreases otherwise
Jump attack (ground)	25	N/A
Jump attack (midair)	15	N/A
Targeted jump attack	36	72	See video on LJA speeds
Helm Splitter	*	*	See Long Helm Splitter page
Jump Strike	20	N/A
Targeted Jump Strike	28.7	57.4	Works the same as targeted jump attacks above

Wolf

Movement Type	Normal Speed	Dash Speed	Notes
Run/dash slow area	25	33 (35)	Dash begins at 35 and decelerates to 33
Run/dash fast area	25	45 (65)	Dash begins at 65 and decelerates to 45
Sidewalk/sidehop	22	33
Backwalk/backflip	12	30
Target walk forwards	22	N/A
Crawl	~8	N/A	Oscillates between ~1 and ~16
Swim	9	20
Jump from ledge	22.3	31.5	First frame of jump maintains ground speed; air speed is maintained while holding forward but decreases otherwise
Jump attack	26	N/A
Targeted jump attack	26	45 max	Increased speed when targeting enemy on higher ground and/or from far away
B attack	30	N/A

Special

Movement Type	Normal Speed	Dash Speed	Notes
Epona run/dash slow area	35	50
Epona run/dash fast area	42	73	57.5 at transition from Lanayru gate to GBoH
Boar	30	50?
Snowboard	70	N/A	70 usually only possible in the air
Kargarok flight	50	100
River boat	40	N/A	Must hold forward to reach 40
Spinner most areas	26	26	Attack does not increase speed; decelerates after a few seconds
Spinner Stallord's room	60	60	Deceleration takes longer to begin in this area; rails are 50
Spinner rails	*	*	Varies per rail; lowest known is 10 at the base of the pillar in the Arbiter's Grounds boss door room, and highest known is 82 at the beginning of the spinner HP rails in Hyrule Field North; initial speed after jumping off of rail is the same as rail speed
Clawshot	60	N/A

Rolling

Graph by Giradam

Continuous rolling is often the fastest form of movement as human Link for RTA speedruns. Every roll lasts 20 frames. Maximum roll speed is 32.9 units/frame (u/f), and maximum running speed is 23u/f. On flat ground, a roll from a standstill or very low speed will be at 25u/f, and, if chained frame perfectly, the following roll will be 29u/f, and then all following rolls at 32.9u/f. However, roll speed depends on running speed into the roll; a first roll from max running speed (23u/f) will already be at max roll speed (32.9u/f). It is possible to press A and get a max speed roll after

• 13f of holding forward from a standstill
• 9f of DF-walking (2f) + holding forward (7f) from a standstill
• 3f of holding forward after a 25u/f roll from a standstill
• 3f of holding forward after gaining control of Link when he exits a load zone running

Running or rolling up or down a slope will decrease Link's speed, and optimal roll chain timing depends on how the set of rolls begins.

• A roll entirely on a slope will have a lower max speed than 25u/f (from standstill/low running speed) or 32.9u/f (from max running speed). If rolling at the slope's normal max roll speed (from max running speed), delaying 2f between rolls (22f between A inputs) will preserve this max speed, whereas chaining rolls frame perfectly (20f between A inputs) will decrease each roll's speed until it reaches the speed of a roll from a standstill on that slope.

• A max speed roll from flat ground (32.9u/f) onto a slope will decrease in speed on the slope, but the speed will still exceed the max speed of any roll starting on the slope. It is possible to preserve this "boost" in max speed for rolls on a slope by chaining rolls frame perfectly (20f between A inputs); leaving extra frames between rolls will decrease the max speed for rolls on the slope to what it would normally be if the rolls had not begun on flat ground.

• A roll from flat ground, over a slope, and then onto flat ground again will have the same speed on both of the flat ground portions but a decreased speed on the slope.

• A max speed roll from a slope onto flat ground will increase in speed on the flat ground, but the speed will not be flat ground's max roll speed (32.9u/f). Delaying 2f (22f between A inputs) between the roll that reaches flat ground and the following roll will increase that following roll's speed to max (32.9u/f); chaining rolls frame perfectly instead (20f between A inputs) will result in speeds slightly below maximum, which then behave as normal for rolls on flat ground as described above.

• Crossing steps (staircases and small ledges that don't require climbing) that are totally vertical on the side and totally horizontal on top is treated the same as flat ground; movement speed is not reduced. However, some staircases' tops are sloped rather than totally horizontal, and those slopes do still affect speed.

When starting from a standstill, it is faster to roll > walk for 3 frames > then time frame perfect rolls than to simply chain rolls from the starting speed. As mentioned above, DF-walking for 2 frames before rolling is the fastest way to reach maximum speed from a standstill, but it is hard to execute well enough to save time RTA and is challenging or impossible when there are targetable objects/enemies nearby. The following graph compares some popular movement options. It is important to note that optimal movement choices depend largely on context, as it is very uncommon for the goal to be to reach a load zone with no door with no obstacles and on entirely flat ground.

When starting from running out of a load zone, running for 3 frames of control before beginning a roll will give the first roll maximum speed. However, running for only 2 frames reduces the first roll's speed by only 0.78u/f (32.12u/f), so this may be optimal to aim for.

Zora Armor Swimming Speed Graph

Graph by Giradam

Zora Armor swimming speed builds up quicker the faster you mash A until you hit the max speed of 22. The blue line represents an A input every 2 frames, while the orange represents an A input every 3 frames. Once at top speed, an A press every 14 frames or more often will maintain top speed, but an A press every 15 frames or less often will not.