Earth Temple

Camera Manipulation for Lava Platforms

When you first enter Earth Temple, turn and face the entrance and press ZL so that the camera is facing the stairway exiting the temple. Then run away from the entrance towards the camera. Since the rising lava platforms are off camera, they won't move until you are close enough to them. This allows you to skip the first lava platform and jump directly to the second, and from there quickly get to the drawbridge gate.

Drawbridge Cutscene Skips

Discovered by Venick

After reaching the first drawbridge, it is possible to use Skyward Strikes to break the ropes on the ground, then jump over a small gap before the strike hits. This causes Link to be airborne when the cutscene showing the drawbridge lowering would trigger, skipping it. You can do this for both ropes on the ground; since the last drawbridge lowering cutscene is longest, it is faster to use the Beetle to break the second rope, and do the CS skip on the last one.

Keese Skyward Strike

Discovered by Venick, Setup by sva

By angling a skyward strike using a random flying keese, it is possible to cut the highest rope of the first drawbridge without the Beetle. This allows for skipping the Beetle in a fast manner in full game runs.

Rock Explosion Cutscene Skip

When using the bomb flower to explode the rocks leading to the Bomb Bag, it is possible to skip the cutscene showing the rocks exploding by entering the small crawlspace when the cutscene would trigger. Although the cutscene does not trigger, if the bomb is close enough to the rocks, they will still explode

Lizalfos Intro Skip

It is possible to skip the cutscene at the start of the Dual Lizalfos fight by using the Slingshot to hit one of the two Lizalfos before jumping to the central platform. This immediately triggers the fight, thus skipping the cutscene.

Camera Manipulation for Lava Spout

In the boulder rolling segment, there is a lava spout which sometimes blocks the way forward after the Beetle gate. It is possible to target the fire keese in the segment leading up to the gate, turning the camera away from the spout and delaying its cycle to a good position.

This works because the lava spout's cycle doesn't activate until it is visible, so the manipulation delays its start until the right moment.

Peg Skip

Discovered by CloudMax

Peg skip is a way to avoid pushing in the second peg to raise the bridge platforms in Earth Temple. While pushing in the first peg, target at the correct angle (using the freecam can help with this). As the peg is about to get pushed in, perform a front hop, and for insurance add a jumpslash. If your angle and timing was correct, you should land on the very corner of the third platform as it rises, allowing you to proceed into the temple. This saves about 25 seconds.

If you miss that jump, when you push in the second peg, you can do a similar jump onto the middle platform to skip going around.

Stutter Sprint up Second Slope

Discovered by Aleckermit

Sprint partway up the slope to trigger both waves of rocks, then go back down and stand in the corner on the left side of the slope to avoid the boulders (let your stamina refill as this happens). When the rocks fall into the lava, immediately start Stutter Sprinting up the slope. You should have just enough stamina to make it all the way up; if you find you are short on stamina, try ending with a roll to reach the top.

If the boulders respawn as you're Stutter Sprinting, you took too long to start up the slope the second time.

Three-Cycle Scaldera

When playing in Hero Mode, it is possible to kill Scaldera in only three cycles of vulnerability using the upgraded Skyward Strike. There are 2 main methods for doing so. The goal of these methods is to kill Scaldera before he enters his "Rage Phase" (where his legs grow longer and he walks over Link to the top of the arena).

Method 1

This method is fastest and can always be performed regardless of how Scalerda's eye moves. However the positioning and timing for a lot of these steps is tricky and can take a while to learn.

  • Use the first bomb to knock Scaldera backwards.
  • Throw the second bomb into Scaldera's mouth to stun him, and immediately begin charging a Skyward Strike.

Cycle 1

  • Release the Skyward Strike with an untargeted stabbing motion into Scaldera's eye (but don't be too close, otherwise your sword will make contact before the skyward strike and the skyward strike will do nothing).
  • Pull out a third bomb and place it in front of Scaldera's eye while targeting Scaldera. While holding target, perform the inputs for an overhead spin attack to both hit Scaldera's eye and blow up the bomb.
  • Throw a fourth bomb into its mouth and immediately begin charging a Skyward Strike.

Cycle 2

  • Release the Skyward Strike into Scaldera with a vertical slash motion (be careful not to be too close).
  • Charge another Skyward Strike and release it into Scaldera with a vertical slash motion (be careful not to be too close).
  • Get closer and slash the eye one time with a directional slash
  • Pull out a fifth bomb and blow it up (either with your sword or slingshot) without hitting the eye again.
  • Throw a sixth bomb into its mouth and immediately begin charging a Skyward Strike

Cycle 3

  • Release the Skyward Strike (any direction can work, but a stabbing motion will typically be most consistent) into Scaldera's eye (be careful not to be too close)
  • Slash the eye once, then immediately follow it up with an overhead quickspin.

Note: in this video, the fifth bomb was blown up with the slingshot due to low health. A sword slash is typically easier to blow up the bomb with.

Method 2

This method is easier, but also slightly slower and requires having Scaldera's eye move around in a convenient way to work.

  • Use a bomb to knock Scaldera backwards.
  • As Scaldera is climbing to its feet, place a bomb nearby on one side.
  • Throw a third bomb into its mouth.
  • Cycle 1: Slash Scaldera's eye once.
  • Let the placed bomb explode and knock Scaldera backwards.
  • Throw a fourth bomb into Scaldera's mouth, then charge a Skyward Strike.
  • Cycle 2: Two Skyward Strikes, then a spin attack.
  • Run away from Scaldera while it gathers itself. This should cause it to immediately start its fireball attack.
  • Run back down and throw a fifth bomb into Scaldera's mouth, then charge a Skyward Strike.
  • Cycle 3: Skyward Strike, spin attack, then a final Skyward Strike.

The last Skyward Strike has to "double-hit"; that is, you should hit with both the strike and the sword itself. This requires being a specific distance away from the eye. The eye will mvoe around before you get to land the last Skyward Strike. If the eye never moves to a vulnerable position again, then you got bad RNG and will need to fight Scaldera's Rage Phase.

Segmented or TAS Tricks

Skip most of the boulder section

Discovered by Venick and Tenderhearted

After obtaining the Bomb Bag, it is possible to skip the boulder rolling section by using a cutscene to do a Lava Hop to a platform. First, save at the statue on the central island in the lava. Clear the lava spumes out of the way, then place the boulder at the very edge of the range where you can blow up the rocks leading to the lava passage. Throw the first bomb, then as you throw the second bomb, turn and sidehop off the boulder.

Done correctly, the cutscene where the rock wall explodes will play. As the cutscene ends, it is possible to Lava Hop by doing a front hop. If you have a good angle and perform a jumpslash at the height of this forward hop, you can land on the platform with the Lizalfos on the other end of the lava passage. Use the Lizalfos to deathwarp; when you respawn on the center island, the boulder will have spawned at the end of the lava passage, skipping the entire section. You can then proceed directly to Peg Skip.

The setup is as follows:

  • Save at the statue on the center platform.
  • Get the boulder lodged in the corner between the wall and the sunken statue piece, with Link centered on top of the boulder.
  • C-up to a precise angle. (see video above for image)
  • Holding Z and left, swing the sword fourteen times to get Link offset onto the side of the boulder.
  • Move the boulder forward to a precise position. (see video above for image)
  • Pull a bomb and throw it at the wall. You should be close enough for it to blow up the wall and trigger the cutscene.
  • While Link is still in the animation of throwing the bomb, start holding down-left on the control stick. You should still be holding Z from the sword-swinging step above.
  • After the bomb is about half a second out of Link's hands, release Z for about two frames (still holding down-left all the while). This re-orientates you to the angle you need.
  • Quickly press A (still holding down-left) to get the sidehop off the boulder.
  • During the cutscene, hold Z and up-left while attempting the sidehop.
  • Press A on the third to last frame of the cutscene to get the fronthop.
  • Jumpslash at the height of Link's jump. It is not frame perfect, but it is not lenient, either. It is normal to buffer the jumpslash with the home menu, especially if you used mashing to get the hop.
  • You should be on the platform with the lizalfos now.
  • You need to be on the far half of the platform when you die in order for the trick to work. In other words, you need to be closer to the rupee chest than to the boulder you just jumped from.

As there is no presently known way of consistently timing the frame-perfect hop, this trick is generally considered segmented or TAS only.

Unused Strategies

Two timesavers at the first platform

When you reach the first rising lava platform, you can charge a Skyward Strike and use it to hit the rope controlling the gate on the right side. Once that platform rises, you can jump straight from there to the solid platform, skipping the second rising platform.

This is not used because it is slower than the camera manipulation strategy.

Skip Ledd's First Text

By using the nearby Lava Spume to get extra height, it is possible to hop off the boulder onto the wall next to Ledd, and then jump over his text trigger and continue to get the Bomb Bag. While you don't have to use the Lava Spume to do this, the extra height makes it easier.

This trick does not save time since Ledd's text is very short.

Last updated 07/23/2021 – gymnast86