Speed-running OoT

Speed-running The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is a staggeringly broad and complex field of study. The game takes around 24 hours play to complete for the first time and slightly less than 5 to beat at top speed.

There is a vast number of major and minor tricks to be employed. Note that it is assumed in this guide - as throughout this Wiki - that you know the bare bones of the game well enough to paint in the gaps where there are no tricks of note to make use of.

Pre-game tactics and general notes

First, read all of the following:

There are only a few places where you absolutely need sound turned on, but it's worth doing, since there are some useful audio cues.

You should know the whole game inside-out, including the optional bonuses which won't necessarily form a part of your run, what's stocked in all the shops, and ideally also the contents of the various fixed-contents pots you'll find. This is so that when you find yourself short of some vital commodity e.g. money, bombs, you know where to get them at short notice while losing minimal time.

Know your route inside-out. You should never have to stop and think about your next objective, you should be automatically running in the right direction already.

You'll be skipping a significant number of important items for speed purposes. See Minimal runs of OoT for information about doing without these.

Pull out bombs before you reach the thing you're planning to bomb, to save some time waiting for the fuse to go down. When bombing walls, try to put the bomb at one side of the wall and wait at the other side, so you can run straight through instead of waiting for the blast to clear.

You can use the Hookshot or Longshot to zip to the top of - or a least a long way up - most of the ladders, vines and climbable walls you find.

Kokiri Forest

Backflip over the first fence instead of descending the ladder. Back-walk to the first corner.

Your first task is to collect the Kokiri Sword and then buy a Deku Shield en route to Mido and the Great Deku tree. You need 40 rupees to buy the shield, and there are rupees hidden all over Kokiri Forest. An awful lot of work has been put into finding the optimal route to collect them. I won't bother to explain a route to you: I'll tell you where the rupees are and you can collect whichever ones you want:

There are three green rupees in the grass on the way to the Kokiri training ground.
Climb the last fence in the training ground before the little hole, and jump off it towards the hole, as far as you can. You'll collect a green rupee and a blue one.
After the small tunnel towards the rolling rock area, there's a brief period where the camera is frozen but you are not. Start running before camera catches up.
There are two green rupees in the long grass in the rolling rock area, but you can't see them, so learn where they are.
You can slash the bush behind and to the right of the chest with the sword in, to get another HYR1.
There are two blue rupees in this area too. The bush behind the blue rupee nearest the hole has a green rupee in it too, but you'll need the sword to get it, so consider collecting these on the way back from the sword.
Do a backflip in the training area right after going through the hole the second time, and you'll get another HYR1.
Slash the furthest sign on the right on your way out from the training ground for another five rupees.
Enter the house directly facing the little tunnel to find four chests. Open the far two for ten more rupees.
You'll find HYR5 behind that same house.
There're three more rupees in the grass between that house and the stepping stones.
You get HYR5 for jumping the river stepping stones accurately on your way to the shop.
There are HYR5 hidden in the far corner of the shop.

Don't jump into the water on your way towards Mido. Go further to the left and jump the gap cleanly where it's narrower, or go to the right and jump onto the stepping stones.

Deku Sticks are astoundingly useful because they are the most powerful weapon young Link can use. These Deku Babas are not, however, the only place you'll be able to collect them. You can only hold 10, but my advice is to just kill them all once to get three Deku Sticks, and not hang around waiting for them to respawn.

Dungeon guide: Inside the Deku Tree

There is the option of doubling back to get more Deku Sticks from the Deku Babas at this point.

Hyrule Castle and Death Mountain

Back-walk all the way to Hyrule Castle and you can make it into the Castle before the drawbridge closes, saving a lonely night fighting off Stalchildren in Hyrule Field.

Talk to Malon in the Market. Enter the Hyrule Castle area, leave it, then enter again to cause Malon to move to the place you want her to be. Talk to her again for the Weird Egg.

You only need to drag the first block and push it right to the very edge BEFORE it drops down into the gap below - then you can do a running jump and then jump-attack to make it across to the far side. Move the block as far as you can before the egg hatches if you have time.

Apparently, in the courtyard section, if you roll against the bottom wall and speed along to the far side, you can remain unseen all the way to the end hedge section, even if the guards are looking right at you. TSA's 4:57 video demonstrates this.

After the Zelda scenes, you have the option of collecting a second Bottle from Lon Lon Ranch. Currently, the advice is not to do this; the time it saves you in the Ice Cavern doesn't add up. It's better just to convert your Deku Nuts to a bottle when the time comes.

Head up the left-hand side of the steps leading to Kakariko Village. It's tempting to go diagonally but the next-area trigger plane runs all the way across the top.

Do Death Mountain, Goron City, etc.

Keep left while rolling through Darunia's throne room to avoid speaking to Darunia by accident... Also, don't be tempted to try to roll across that bit of carpet at the entrance!

Get the flame from Darunia's throne room and move it all the way to the Lost Woods bombs, one torch at a time. Usually you do this in four stages, but if you're really quick and back-walk, you can skip the first torch on the left after the throne room entrance and just go straight for the far torch on the right. The pot on the left on the stairs behind this torch has a Deku Stick in it: worth collecting (BEFORE you get hold of the flame and take it on up those stairs!).

In the Lost Woods (whose layout you should commit to memory) you'll find copious opportunity to back-walk and side-step at high speed.

Try to ignore the Deku Scrubs and keep rolling/running in the Sacred Forest Meadow.

It's reckoned that after the Sacred Forest Meadow, it's quicker to purposefully leave and re-enter the Lost Woods than to run directly to the Goron City entrance.

After talking to Darunia, you can collect that Deku Stick from the first pot on the left again.

After bombing Dodongo's Cavern open, it's faster to backflip over the small fence rather than going to the left and jumping off that ledge. Don't worry about falling damage as the destroyed rocks below you leave hearts behind which you can collect on your way in.

Dungeon guide: Dodongo's Cavern

Climb Death Mountain. Collect a red rupee from one of the bombable rocks en route. Note that your Bomb Bag bombs have a different timing from the plants.

Backwalk along the route where the rocks fall on you, and you will never get hit!

Just shoot the lowest of the three Skullwalltulas.

Get the spin attack, then use the Owl shortcut back to Kakariko Village and head for Zora's River, ignoring the Stalchildren in Hyrule Field (which is in darkness by now).

Zora's Domain and Hyrule Castle again

Depending on your chosen route, you may or may not find it economical to buy and plant a Magic Bean at the base of Zora's River. If so, you will need HYR10 to pay him!

Ignore the chicken - go to the diagonal bend in the river and you can jump across that section cleanly. TSA uses the chicken but it's not clear that this saves any time.

About halfway up there is a right-angled right turn where you climb up a small ledge, turn right, cross the stream, then turn left and carry on up the river. Don't climb the ledge - jump diagonally at the stream instead.

The first pot on the right in Zora's Domain always has a Deku Stick. Smash this on your way up. There are two more just below the shop containing 5 rupees, collect these if you need them to...

Pay HYR20 for the diving game. This is mainly luck-based and there are no rankings for it (unlike the other sub-games). Then get the Bottle.

Deliver the letter to King Zora, then go back down the waterfall to get a fish.

The pots reappear but their contents won't. However, if you enter and exit the nearby shop, they will. So you can collect another Deku Stick from that pot on the way back up. Also take this opportunity to collect a Deku Nut from the neighboring pot if you don't have Deku Nuts in your inventory yet - you'll be wanting them for the Ice Cavern.

Drop the fish on the nearest corner of Jabu-Jabu's platform to save time running towards the middle.

Dungeon guide: Inside Jabu-Jabu's Belly

GET FARORE'S WIND. Farore's Wind - sometimes misspelled "Fayore's Wind" by people who aren't paying attention - enables you to warp inside temples and is used to save time in every single one of them. It is absolutely worth the extra time. It can, in fact, be used to warp from any dungeon straight to the warp point, crossing the map instantly, although no practical use has been found for this yet.

In Zora's Fountain, go for the land bar instead of swimming all the way to the Great Fairy Fountain and back.

Run straight backwards after the Farore's Wind sequence.

Take the stairs down through Zora's Domain and nab another Deku Stick from that famous pot. You need exactly one Deku Stick for the Spirit Temple and there aren't going to be any other chances.

The fastest way down Zora's River is to ride the river itself.

Do not stop off to get Din's Fire - you will be coming back to being young Link later and it is quicker to get this spell then. Just go direct to the Temple of Time to get the Master Sword.

Guide: Routes through OoT

The route used for this guide is:

Graveyard for Hookshot
Fire Temple
Forest Temple
Ice Cavern for Iron Boots
Water Temple
Gerudo's Valley, Gerudo's Fortress, Haunted Wasteland, Desert Colossus, Requiem of Spirit
Nocturne of Shadow
Prelude of Light
Spirit Temple (young Link)
Shadow Temple
Spirit Temple (adult Link)
Ganon's Castle

Adult Link

You can get the Hylian Shield from the Graveyard while en route to get the Hookshot, at the expense of about thirty seconds. A shield is necessary to use Power Crouch Stabs, so this might be worth the detour. Otherwise you would just have to be hardcore in order to survive as far as the Mirror Shield without dying.

Get the Goron Tunic. See the Goron Tunic entry under Minimal runs of OoT for why it is faster to get this item than to skip it.

The Fire Temple is almost completely without bombs. You'll need to use them inside, though, so if you don't have a good supply, buy some in the Goron Shop before entering Death Mountain Crater. The Goron Shop is the second of the two doors that Link-the-Goron opens for you on the bottom floor.

Dungeon guide: Fire Temple

The shortest route to Forest Temple is through the Goron City/Lost Woods shortcut. Use the Hookshot to climb the railings on the right to get to the next floor quicker.

In the Sacred Forest Meadow, remember you can use the Hookshot to level the big Moblins - from in front OR behind - if they're being troublesome. This is a tough section to do fast. Remember also that it's possible to just dodge them and run behind them, the old-fashioned way. The last Moblin (with the hammer) is worth HYR60 if you kill him once you pass him.

Dungeon guide: Forest Temple

Use the Hookshot on a fence in Kokiri Forest to get up to the Lost Woods entrance. Take Lost Woods shortcut to Zora's River and head through to the Fountain. Just swim to the far ice floe on the left and do a jump attack when it tries to tip you off to get onto it. Then leap up to the Ice Cavern itself.

Dungeon guide: Ice Cavern

Right after getting the Iron Boots, play the Serenade of Water to warp to Lake Hylia. The fact that you warp straight out of the Ice Cavern instead of tediously running all the way back through Zora's Domain is one of the reasons why this route is so efficient...

Dungeon guide: Water Temple

If you really want the Lens of Truth, at least while practicing, head to the Bottom of the Well page.

Run all the way to Gerudo Fortress. Longshoot across the broken bridge.

The most efficient carpenter route:

Go straight in the far left door of the Thieves' Hideout. Run fast and nobody will see you.
Rescue the first carpenter. The Gerudo guards with two scimitars can instantly send you to prison if they hit you, but only if you get hit with one specific attack: the one where they lean back, and then lunge forwards, swirling them around. If you dodge these attacks, any other attack will merely deal you damage. Carry on through.
Turn left after you re-emerge into the light to immediately re-enter the Hideout. Take two right turns to climb a floor and go outside again - ignore the far patrolling Gerudo in the corridor, who won't see you if you move quickly. Go forwards once outside, and again ignore the far Gerudo - you can just nip into the next door on your left with ease.
Rescue the second carpenter and head on through. Go through the door on your right once you emerge outside again to end up overlooking a large room with a cooking pot. Longshot the furthest beam to get all the way across and outside again. Drop to your right enter the door.
There's a Gerudo in this corridor patrolling. Stand behind the box, aiming an arrow down the corridor at where she's coming from, and fire to stun her permanently. Run through, free the carpenter, run out the way you came (if you're fast you may end up beating the carpenter to the exit!).
Lastly drop to your right and go right again into the final door to rescue the last carpenter. Keep on through to reach the exit.

Longshoot to the top of the ladder to the drawbridge operator. Drop back to the bottom afterwards.

The Haunted Wasteland: Longshoot the middle crate. The flags are easy, the ghost bit is harder, but it can be done. There are few geographical features in the area, but play the game, watch all of the videos, and try to learn exactly where you're going, and you will learn the way eventually. If you play the game enough times you will learn the route. It's just about practice.

Backwalk fast enough and you can avoid the Leevers en route to the Spirit Temple. Learn the Requiem of Spirit.

Warp to Death Mountain Crater.

Climb out of Goron City. This is much easier with the Longshot: stand near the end of the bottom floor and look up, and you can Longshot the target with the rope attached to it. This will put you right on top of the rope (a sort of glitch). Descend Death Mountain.

Re-enter Kakariko Village by the west exit to trigger the Nocturne of Shadow cutscene.

Run away, back to the Temple Of Time, to get the Prelude of Light.

Return to being child Link. Go to Hyrule Castle and get Din's Fire. From there, warp to the Desert Colossus.

Dungeon guide: Spirit Temple (young Link)

Right after getting the Silver Gauntlets, warp to the Temple of Time. Change back to adult Link and warp to the Graveyard to enter the Shadow Temple.

Dungeon guide: Shadow Temple

Warp to the Desert Colossus straight from the Graveyard. Head in...

Dungeon guide: Spirit Temple (adult Link)

Warp to the Temple of Time and go to Ganon's Castle for the final bit.

Guide: Ganon's Castle