Fairy Fountains and Grottos

See the Alternate Exit page for more information and a map of the grotto scene.

─── Grottos ───

Swamp Gossips grotto alternate exit to back Deku Palace grotto

As this alternate exit is one of the most useful in speedruns, there are many variations on the way the trick is performed. The trick can be broken down into the root hover and the hover to the alternate exit.

This tutorial shows a straightforward setup for both parts of the trick.

More root hover options

Peahat grotto alternate exit to Deku Palace bean grotto

Day

This setup involves the heart piece chest and thus is suitable for 100%. The setup is extremely precise.

  1. Get ISG while opening the chest (if failed, use a bomb afterwards)
  2. Target the front of the chest (moving left or right does not matter)
  3. Backwalk for at least 5 frames, then roll forward and bonk (z-pos 0x441D3800 hex/628.875 float); bonking from too close to the chest will not put Link in the right position
  4. Turn left (tap left for 1-3 frames or ESS turn)
  5. Begin holding target (hold to step 8)
  6. Hold up to run towards the wall (must have been targeting for 5+ frames before holding up to go straight) (see notes below)
  7. Roll to bonk the wall (x-pos 0x45934F00 hex/4713.88 float)
  8. Release target and turn left (ESS recommended, as tap would need to be exactly 1f)
  9. 1 ESS turn left (facing angle 0x709 or 0x708)
  10. Begin holding target (hold to step 14)
  11. Input up + shield + bomb on the same frame (shown buffered in video)
  12. Release shield after 3+ frames to successfully shield drop bomb
  13. 14 frames after the first bomb press, press bomb again and release the control stick to neutral (shown buffered in video using Link's boots as visual cue)
  14. Only release target after 4+ frames so Link has fully stopped moving first
  15. Turn left (ESS recommended) and begin holding target (hold through end of trick)
  16. Pause buffer to the first frame of the first fast red bomb flash (the frame after the red square on this chart) - this is after four slow red flashes and is distinguishable because the two frames preceding it are full red -> full blue
  17. In the unpause lag, input down + A + shield to backflip and hover off the first bomb; down must be held for 5+ frames to get a full backflip, and shield must be held for 6+ frames to avoid taking damage from the first bomb
  18. Release shield and hold up of up-left to make Link walk up-left (up-right also works, it doesn't matter)
  19. Release the control stick to neutral for 2 frames to make Link stand facing straight (pause buffered in video)
  20. Hold down to make Link turn around (pause buffered in video)
  21. Input left + shield + bomb on the second explosion frame of the second bomb or either of the two frames following that (3 frame window; shown pause buffered in video)
  22. Continue holding left until landing in the bean grotto
  23. Exit the bean grotto by sidehopping right 9 times and backwalking

Notes:

  • Steps 4-6 can be combined by holding left out of bonk in step 3 and pressing A to roll within the first 3 frames after Link turns left. To be able to hold up after that roll without Link moving side to side, start holding target early in the roll.

Original video by Imbued showing position and angle data, as well as some other minor frame data notes

Night

At night, the peahat is asleep, so the chest cannot be used for a setup. The video below demonstrates the setup (see video description for written instructions), and this tutorial walks through the setup step by step.

This faster strategy follows the same steps but skips using an extra bomb for ISG, instead getting ISG off the second bomb used for the ground clip.
This backup strategy is useful for retrying the night setup without leaving and re-entering the grotto. See video description for instructions.

Dodongo grotto alternate exit to back Deku Palace grotto

There is a wall in the left side of the grotto which forms an acute angle with the floor, so it can be clipped through if approached with enough speed at a good angle. This is possible with a megaflip from a hover.

after killing dodongos

For lots of additional detailed frame data, see this video by Imbued.

  1. Get ISG opening the chest
  2. Turn 180 (faster alternative to steps 2-4 is to gainer onto the chest after the heart piece text, but this can affect Link's position)
  3. Backflip onto the chest and backwalk to the back edge (stop backwalking shortly after reaching the edge, as continuing to backwalk for around a second after reaching the edge will affect Link's position)
  4. Turn 180 and backwalk to the front edge of the chest
  5. Backflip and buffer to the frame shown in the video below
  6. Bombchu hover in unpause lag
  7. Bombchu hover 5 more times (aim for max height or 1f off on every hover - see video linked above for detailed frame data)
  8. Unlock the camera on the final hover
  9. Pull a bomb and turn directly right
  10. Megaflip (sometimes still works even if you hold down for an extra frame on the mega)
  11. Pull a bomb midair (not too soon or the previous bomb's explosion will catch it; can wait to do this until on the ground for safety if desired)
  12. Begin holding right around when Link's head crosses the corner made by the wall and floor in the background (see video linked above for detailed frame data)
  13. Stop holding right after Link lands, walks right, and is stopped by ISG
  14. Target, then turn right and target again
  15. Long jump off the held bomb (begin to hold up after the bomb explodes)
  16. Jumpslash after a moment to make sure Link gets to the grotto
  17. Move forward a little bit and then sidehop to the load zone

without killing dodongos (3b7c)

The dodongo's presence can make the clip impossible, so this setup waits until the dodongo starts moving forwards so that the hover kills it. This alternative does not wait, so it is riskier.

  1. Target slash
  2. Turn right
  3. Wait for the left dodongo to start moving forwards
  4. Place a bomb, get ISG, and target while picking the bomb up (see step 4 notes below)
  5. Target walk left
  6. Hover straight back with the bomb (can backflip down-left to get farther into the grotto if getting ISG was slow)
  7. Bombchu hover straight back and unlock the camera (same as above about backflipping down-left)
  8. Bombchu hover 6 more times holding down (see step 6 notes below)
  9. Retarget and megaflip
  10. Pull another bomb midair (this can be done after landing for safety if desired)
  11. Begin holding right shortly before Link lands to clip
  12. After Link turns right, target
  13. Turn left in place
  14. Place the bomb
  15. Crouch to get rid of ISG
  16. Recoil flip to reach the Deku Palace grotto; it can be helpful to react to the angle Link has after clipping and potentially curve the recoil flip slightly right for certain angles

Notes:

  • Step 4: The sequence of placing bomb, stabbing, and targeting has to be pretty fast, or else the dodongo will be too close and stay loaded too long. You can tell if this happens because you'll hear it walking around. Just reset the grotto in this case. It would be easier to target shortly after the dodongo starts moving but before pulling the bomb, but then you either have to delay the bomb pull or do the hovers from nearer to the entrance, which means it's harder to kill the dodongo as quickly.
  • Step 6: The hovers must not be as fast as possible because they need to damage the dodongo, and going too fast will mean the dodongo has i-frames during the explosions. The 6th bombchu hover should kill the dodongo, which causes hit stun, so delay the final bombchu hover even longer to avoid pulling the final bombchu too early and getting knocked down.

Generic grotto alternate exit to Lens cave

This version is 3b12c. See video description on YouTube for detailed instructions. There are also another 3b12c version and a 4b12c version that don't rely on any diagonal notches.

Biobaba grotto

Strat demo:

Bean grotto megaclip

See video for visual cues. This is useful for storing a song.

─── Fairy Fountains ───

Great Fairy cutscene skips

It is possible to skip the cutscenes for receiving Great Fairy Mask, Great Spin, and Great Fairy Sword by clipping out of bounds and hitting the cutscene trigger while voiding out. If done correctly, black bars will appear at the top and bottom of the screen just before the screen goes black. This clip works the same way in all fairy fountains, but the cutscenes for Double Magic and Double Defense can't be skipped the reward is put in the inventory partway through the cutscene instead of at the beginning.

  1. (The spin attack is not part of the setup - it just demonstrates that Link does not have Great Spin yet)
  2. Superslide roughly towards the dark corner of the doorframe; this is not very precise
  3. Once stuck in the corner, hold ESS left to begin an extended superslide
  4. On the last frame before Link clips or the 1st frame after he clips (both shown in video), hold right out of the unpause lag and then switch to holding up-right right after the unpause lag ends (3f window)
  • Alternative that holds down-right out of unpause lag to eliminate the tight window for switching from right to up-right (~30f slower); for this method, if you pause on the 2nd frame after the clip, begin by holding down-right and then switch to down
  • Alternative with a slow HESS instead of a superslide

Woodfall fairy fountain alternate exit to Snowhead fairy fountain

with Zora and megaflips (3b4c)

This method can only be used if the great fairy cutscene is not triggerable.

  1. Keep entrance angle (if lost, target wall and turn at right angles to find it again)
  2. Walk forward into corner, slash fins, then jumpslash onto ledge
  3. C-up to aim, then press up and A on the same frame to jump and grab
  4. Zora slash once to the right, transform human, and slash once down
  5. Turn up, use a bomb to get ISG, and hover once
  6. 3 chu hovers and unlock the camera, turn just up of right, and retarget
  7. 2 megaflips with a chu to stop the first one
  8. Sidehop or backwalk right to load zone

with Zora and sidehop hovers (1b8c)

This method is good if you can spend chus and want to preserve bombs. It can only be used if the great fairy cutscene is not triggerable.

  1. Keep entrance angle (if lost, target wall and turn at right angles to find it again)
  2. Walk forward into corner, slash fins, then jumpslash onto ledge
  3. C-up to aim, then press up and A on the same frame to jump and grab
  4. Zora slash once to the right, transform human, and slash once down
  5. Turn up, use a bomb to get ISG, and hover once back-left
  6. 3 chu hovers back-left
  7. 5 chu sidehop hovers up-left
  8. Sidehop once into the Snowhead fairy fountain and then once more to clear the obstacles
  9. Backwalk to the exit

with a long hover and megaflips (4b9c)

This method doesn't get close enough to the center of the fairy fountain to trigger the Great Fairy cutscene.

  1. Get ISG and do the first hover from just past the beginning of the tiled floor
  2. 7 chu hover and unlock; bending rightward isn't required but does make the alternate exit more lenient
  3. Turn left, then hover once more with 1 bomb and 1 chu (unlock and retarget to prevent weird camera)
  4. 2 megaflips with a chu hover in between
  5. Back up a little bit and then sidehop to the load zone

with a long hover and megaflips (4b9c with staircase)

Original video

Snowhead fairy fountain alternate exit to Woodfall fairy fountain

with Zora and megaflips (3b4c)

  1. Keep entrance angle (if lost, target wall and turn at right angles to find it again)
  2. Walk forward into corner, slash fins, then jumpslash onto ledge
  3. C-up to aim around the left edge of the pillar
  4. Press up and A on the same frame and then hold right to jump and grab
  5. Transform human
  6. Get ISG
  7. Turn left and backwalk to edge of platform (if Link steps down to the very corner, an extra hover is needed in step 11)
  8. Hover off of the bomb and 3 chus; aim for all four hovers to be 1-2f past max height
  9. Unlock the camera on the final chu and retarget (helps manage the camera, but is not always needed)
  10. If needed or desired for safety, add another hover straight back here; this extra hover is needed if the hovers in step 9 were max height or didn't get enough height, or if Link stepped down into the corner in step 8
  11. Megaflip and hold left during the megaflip
  12. Stop the megaflip with a chu hover and camera unlock
  13. Turn a little left (perpendicular to the fairy fountain entrance passages) and megaflip to the Woodfall fairy fountain
  14. Sidehop or backwalk left to load zone

Zora jump to right pillar

The setups above that involve jumping to a pillar as Zora always use the left pillar, as it's easier to grab. This video demonstrates a way to get on top of the right pillar.

  1. Roll into corner
  2. Triple punch
  3. Jumpslash
  4. Line up as shown in video
  5. Press A and hold up
  6. Tap target and hold shield on the frame that Link is first rubbing against the pillar.
Last updated 12/23/2025 – Exodus