Death Sword

To begin the fight quickly in all cases except Death Sword Skip with Jumpstrike, press B to pull the sword as soon as possible after entering the room and jump attack from where Link is standing, then skip the cutscene. Transform into wolf, turn on senses, approach Death Sword, wait until it swings its sword, and then finish the first phase of the fight by biting repeatedly with A or with 5 timed B attacks. To prevent the B attacks from missing Death Sword, space them so that the last 3 are part of a separate combo from the first 2. Note that it is possible to softlock by bonking into Death Sword's sword on the final B attack.

One Cycle

Discovered by Zelkys, Strat by Dragonbane0

Death Sword's stun timer begins when it is hit for the first time, but the third part of a sword combo will reset its timer. Repeatedly resetting the timer makes it possible to finish the fight in one cycle. Note that the first and second slashes of a combo do not reset the timer, and finishing a 4-part combo will always end the timer.

With Ball & Chain

Hit Death Sword with the Clawshot or Boomerang to make it fly around the room, then charge a spin attack. Release the spin attack when Death Sword is flying by to knock it to the ground. Swing the Ball & Chain to hit Death Sword 3 times, then chain together 3 sword slashes in a combo, but hesitate to avoid finishing the combo. Repeat this for a total of 3 3-part combos, then complete a full 4-part 4th combo to end the fight.

It is faster to hit Death Sword 4 or 5 times with the Ball & Chain before beginning sword combos, but this makes it more difficult to reset the timer with a 3-part sword combo before the timer runs out. This method is slower than skipping Death Sword.

The following "setup" by SVA is the fastest known way to kill Death Sword. The timings on this method are strict.

Without Ball & Chain

Hit Death Sword with the Clawshot or Boomerang to make it fly around the room, then charge a spin attack. Release the spin attack when Death Sword is flying by to knock it to the ground. Chain together 3 sword slashes in a combo, but hesitate to avoid finishing the combo. Repeat this for a total of 5 3-part combos, then complete a full 4-part 6th combo to end the fight. This is slower than using the Ball & Chain or skipping Death Sword.

Two Cycle (outdated)

Discovered by LogitechSDAZ

Hit Death Sword with the Clawshot or Boomerang to make it fly around the room. Pull out and begin twirling the Ball & Chain while Death Sword moves around the room. When it flies close and gets hit, move a bit closer to it so the Ball & Chain will continue to hit it on the ground. Hit Death Sword with the Ball & Chain 5 times, then repeat the entire process once more to finish the fight. This is slower than skipping Death Sword and both methods of 1-cycling Death Sword.

Death Sword Skip

Discovered by Pheenoh

With a precise wolf Super Jump, it is possible to skip the entire Death Sword fight. This saves about 15 seconds over the 1-cycle with Ball & Chain.

Slash method

Setup by Samura1man
  1. Hit Death Sword with the clawshot or boomerang to make it fly around the room
  2. Roll into the corner by the left side of the gate, orient the camera to be perpendicular to the wall, and wait for Death Sword to land nearby
  3. If Death Sword lands nearby and prepares to swing its sword, continue with the next step. If Death Sword gets stuck flying in place near the gate, either use the backup shown below or hit Death Sword with the clawshot twice and try again.
  4. Once Death Sword begins to swing, roll down once, press B to slash, then transform immediately
  5. Press C-Down multiple times to pan the camera down during the transformation
  6. Shortly before Death Sword begins rising again, hold B to start charging and walk down 9 steps to the position seen in the video
  7. Depending on position, there are between 0 and 5 frames to release the charge and successfully superjump on top of the ledge

No-slash method

Setup by Kejsmaster

Skipping the slash in the setup described above saves about 3 seconds at the cost of having less time to adjust the camera after transforming.

Stuck backup

Setup by Zach

If Death Sword gets stuck flying in place after circling the room, it is still possible to get it to land and attempt the superjump.

  1. Make sure the camera is facing the wall perpendicularly
  2. Roll left once from a standstill
  3. Orient the camera to be perpendicular to the wall Link is now standing by
  4. Roll down once from a standstill and curve the roll right and up after a brief hesitation
  5. As Death Sword begins to swing, get back into the corner and proceed from step 4 above as normal

Troubleshooting

  • The camera will only stay in its original orientation during the transformation if you press A to transform on the first possible frame. As a result, it is common to need to adjust the camera horizontally while walking with the Midna charge attack and/or to need to walk a direction other than directly down on the control stick.
  • Assuming a standing position that can work for the superjump,
    • Very early B release: Link bonks on Death Sword's sword
    • Early B release: Link bonks to the left of the spot on the ledge he should land (see videos above)
    • Late B release: Link bonks to the right of the spot on the ledge he should land (see videos above)
    • Very late B release: Link slides to the right along the ledge/wall and lands near the pot

Death Sword Skip with Jumpstrike

Discovered by Anorakkis and Pokemongenius

It is possible to skip the fight before it has begun with a Jumpstrike LJA. This requires precise positioning and a fairly precise angle but has the following setup:

  1. Stand with Link's left foot lined up with the third vertical line from the right on the ledge behind.
  2. Pull the Boomerang and aim at the top right of the first pillar on the other side of the arena. This pushes Link away from the wall slightly.
  3. Target five times, with at least the fifth target above the higher platform.
  4. Aim the Boomerang just left of the thick vertical line on the wall ahead to set the angle.
  5. Release Boomerang and charge a jumpstrike.
  6. Release jumpstrike when the Boomerang is over the higher platform
  7. Hold up-left during the jumpstrike to land on the platform.

Background on Death Sword mechanics

Death Sword has two conditions that cause it to fly away after being knocked to the ground, and only one of them has to be true for it to fly away.

  • The first is a timer that starts counting down once it is hit for the first time. (There is also a longer timer that will cause him to fly away if he has not been hit at all, but that is not relevant to speedruns.)
  • The second condition is a damage threshold: dealing 2 critical moves such as a jump attack, spin attack, roll stab, or the 3rd and 4th hit of a combo.

The 1-cycle abuses the fact that the timer doesn't run down as long as Link is slashing his sword, regardless of whether he is hitting Death Sword or not.

Last updated 06/14/2023 – bewildebeest