Inside the Deku Tree

Inside the Deku Tree is the first dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Here are all the tricks you can use to save time inside it:

At the first Deku Scrub, move towards him after he fires his Deku Nut at you, so you hit him with the rebound that little bit faster.

There used to be a school of thought which said that it was best to ignore the floating platform that separates you from the Fairy Slingshot and instead climb the vines to the left or right, using the platform to return. However, it turns out it's faster to use the platform on the way out, equip both your Slingshot and Deku Sticks simultaneously, and shoot the ladder. Why? Because you can run to bottom of the ladder during the brief cinematic when it falls! Cute, eh?

Skullwalltulas are interesting enemies. It is advisable to kill them, or at least the lowest-hanging ones, because they are easy to target and take no time at all to shoot. But you can get away without killing ANY of them. They are immobile, unless they see you. They can only see you if they're facing you, and you'll know when that happens because they freeze solid, look directly at you, and turn purple. If you don't freeze instantly, they will charge across the wall towards you. BUT, if you stay still, they turn back to their usual colour, and start to rotate away from you. Then you can keep climbing. They might see you again instantly: just freeze again. It's possible to climb an entire wall in plain sight of a Skullwalltula. It takes longer, though, than climbing straight up: this is the gamble you must take. Which loses more time, climbing carefully, or shooting the spiders beforehand?

Climb up the middle of the right-hand set of vines. Climb right, until you're over ground. Even if you can't see the ground, you know when you're safe to drop, because the camera suddenly jolts upwards a few degrees.

Go right at the top. A single jump-attack will take down the Big Skulltula. Try to hit the very middle of the web as you jump down for the best chance of breaking it. As you fall you'll land in water, but if you jump-attack forwards (hit A while falling) it's possible to land on the side instead, saving you the trouble of swimming and climbing out.

Deku Sticks are a precious commodity but they burn up if allowed to burn for too long. Slash your sword to put a burning Stick away again, returning its internal "burnedness" counter to zero, and enabling you to use it again and again.

The next room, with the Deku Scrub who shoots nuts at you and the eye switch, is all about timing. The room after this, with the moving floating platform and the spikes, has already loaded. If you quickly shoot the eye switch, as soon as you arrive in this room, you'll get to the next room with the platform in an optimal position. (Ignore the Deku Scrub.)

Don't hit the underwater switch. Just jump out and hurt yourself on the spike bar intentionally - then you can pass through it while invincible. Keep left as it arrives at the far side to save time. (It is also possible to back-flip over the spike bar but this should be practiced prior to a speedrun)

You don't need to push the block or kill the Skulltula. Climb on top of the block and jump at an angle - CAREFULLY.

There's a room with two torches you need to light. If you're really fast, you can pull out a fresh Deku Stick after lighting them and carry it through to the next room and the web on the right. This saves you a detour to that room's permanent flame on the left.

Push the block three times. Climb on top and turn left a little to face the torch. Jump out at it, and pull out a Deku Stick just as you reach it (do NOT perform any kind of attack! Just pull it out). This should light the stick.

The hole you jump into after burning the web has vines on one side. Try to stay on the side furthest from the vines to be closest to the shore when you land in the the water below. A jump-attack while falling will move you still closer to the shor.

Hit the middle Scrub, the right Scrub, then the left one. If you are very skillful this can be done without waiting for more than a second at a time, but it's all good.

Boss guide: Gohma

Back to Speed-running OoT...