Any% (Forest) (ELH)

This is the Wii Any% Forest (ELH) route for NA 1.0, PAL, and JP Wii versions of Twilight Princess. It is the fastest non-BiTE route. It is around 40 seconds faster than its sister route.

The fastest route, Any% (Faron Escape), is faster by several minutes (12+) but has a more difficult early game.

If you are inconsistent at Morpheel or Zant without Zora Armor, then you might want to consider a Zora Armor route.

This version of the route has been modified from its predecessor to implement Empty Lake Hylia instead of doing Midna Dive and the RNG-based Helmasaur LJA. It is also an estimated 40+ seconds faster than this route.

Runs should start with a blank file in slots 1, 2, and 3 as multiple files are used during the run. The route below specifies which slot to use for each save, but other variations can be equally fast so long as all blank slots are used by the end of the run.

This route is intended for NA Wii 1.0, but is also possible on other versions; see Addenda for notes

Runs that use this route:

Note that these runs existed prior to Poe Gate Skip being discovered. See the leaderboard for runs that do the trick.

Ordon

Faron Province

  • S. Faron warp portal
  • Faron Vessel
  • Kill first two bugs (leave tears)
  • Bug outside Coro's house
  • Bugs inside Coro's house
  • Dig under gate, kill bugs, enter loading zone after bugs explode (leave tears)
  • Tunnel
  • Bugs on left wall (leave tears)
  • Bugs in tree trunk
  • Ignore bugs that dig
  • EMS
  • Enter Sacred Grove
  • Skull Kid chase 1
  • Skull Kid fight 1 (8R+)
    🠋 Master Sword puzzle (RD UUU LL DDD RU)
  • Warp S. Faron
  • Collect missed tears on the way to the tunnel
  • Collect missed tears in mist area
  • Cross purple mist with lantern
  • Transform and kill bugs before they dig
  • While waiting for tears, dig behind sign and jump attack to collect a yellow rupee (18R+)
  • N. Faron warp portal
  • Kill last two bugs
  • Turn senses off, transform, burn web, and collect tears
  • Vessel complete
  • Warp North Faron with Midna
  • Ending Blow
  • Enter Forest Temple

Forest Temple

  • Kill one or both walltulas with deku baba nuts (19R+)
    • Alternatively, try to climb past one or both walltulas (requires good RNG)
  • Defeat skulltula and light torches
  • Go outside, skip CS, go back
    • After CS, 1 frame window to roll downwards to save a few frames
  • Monkey swing to west door
  • Burn webs, go outside and enter the room with the indoor bridge
  • Small key chest, backtrack to west room
  • Jump around skulltula and enter 2nd monkey room
  • Save 2nd Monkey
  • Back to center room
  • Navigate to east door and burn web (it's faster to jump to the right to skip the first monkey swing)
  • Up stairs, enter north door to go outside
  • Early Boomerang Via Bridges
  • Ook and Gale Boomerang
    • [Boomerang (B) / Iron Boots / Lantern]
  • Save “5th” monkey outside
    • Break the cage near the next set of bridges to avoid Midna text trigger
  • Deku Like Skip (Jump method OR Boomerang toss method)
  • Enter door behind boulder
  • Small key and light torches
  • Open door with key (Saves “3rd” monkey)
  • Head to Big Baba room (rang walltulas)
  • Quick Major Deku Baba Fight
  • Open door with key (Saves “4th” monkey)
  • Go back through Center room
  • Boss Key with fence hop
  • Head north to monkey room
  • Knock down walltulas with boomerang, climb vines
  • Deku Like Skip #2 for small key
  • Rescue 6th monkey with 1 bombling
  • Rescue 7th monkey
  • Rescue 8th monkey with tile worm boost
  • Complete monkey chain, go to Diababa
  • Diababa
    • Skip Heart Container
  • Exit Forest Temple

Eldin Transition

  • Mail Man skips (NA 1.0 only):
  • No Mail Man skips (Every other version, 10s slower):
    • Call Epona and ride to HFS
    • Hit mailman trigger then ride to Eldin (west)
  • Enter Eldin Twilight
  • Kakariko Gorge Portal
  • Warp S. Faron (forced warp to Faron)
    • All future warps should be done via map warping, as it's faster than calling Midna to warp
  • Dash back to Hyrule Field, then to east part of HFS
  • Lanayru Gate Clip
  • Skip bridge burning cutscene
  • Kargarok fight
  • Kargarok flight
  • Zora’s Domain warp portal
  • Warp to N. Faron, then warp bridge to Kakariko Gorge
    • 1-frame jump attack or B-attack to skip Midna text after warp
  • Avoid King Bulblin 1 trigger (dig under gate and hug the wall)
  • Kakariko Village warp portal

Eldin Twilight

Lanayru Vessel

  • Warp Death Mountain
  • Transform in the corner
  • Warp rock to Zora's Domain as human
  • Sidehop left to skip text (1-frame window)
  • Rutela skip
  • Enter Lanayru Shrine

Lanayru Twilight

  • Lanayru Vessel
  • Bug outside Lanayru spring
  • Lake Hylia warp portal
  • Stepping stones for bug (27R+)
  • Warp Zora's Domain
  • Wall bug and Rutela skip
  • Waterfall Sidehop or drop down right wall to bug (30R+)
    • If you fail waterfall sidehop by not sidehopping at all, savewarp
    • If you fail waterfall sidehop by falling to the lower level, use Midna jumps to climb back up
  • 2 lilypad bugs (Try your best to keep them dry on NA 1.0)
  • Bug on cliff with RNG rupees in grass patches and boxes (34R+)
  • Swim to Upper Zora's River (UZR)
  • Listen to Iza for bug (35R+)
  • Down the river
  • Dash to Castle Town
  • Castle Town warp portal
  • Dash cancel through Castle Town
  • Castle Town bug
  • Warp Lake Hylia
  • Bug behind Fyer's hut (Keep it dry on NA 1.0)
  • Howl at grass
  • 4 Kargarok bugs, bonk, and press B to say 'No' to Midna
  • Last small bug
  • Boss Bug
  • Vessel Complete

Getting to Lakebed Temple

  • Warp Zora's Domain
  • Take 2 hearts of damage jumping down in outer Zora's Domain (avoid yellow rupee)
  • Head to UZR on land
  • Transform human behind sign, then talk to Iza
  • Steal and Duplicate Lent Bomb Bag as wolf
    • If you accidentally trigger the fight as human and are trapped, savewarp to try again
    • Do not need to talk to Iza at the end to fill the duped bag
  • Warp Lake Hylia
  • Empty Lake Hylia
    • Skip Plumm cutscene and howl to start Plumm's minigame (watching the cutscene costs 6s)
    • Clip OoB and bonk to void out
    • If you entered with more than 1 heart and are still alive, JA to void until dead
    • This death fixes the inventory and fills the duped bomb bag with 30 normal bombs
  • Dash east and enter Lakebed Temple
    • [Bombs (B) / Lantern / Iron Boots / Boomerang]
    • Begin wasting normal bombs as you go, leaving at least 2 for Deku Toad
    • If you fail the bomb boost into Lakebed, deathwarp using bombs and try again; do not savewarp, as savewarping will refill the lake

Lakebed Temple

  • Savewarp
  • Pull lever in first room
  • Drop stalactites with bomb + boomerang
  • Out of bounds swim to west 2F
  • Enter outer cog room 2F
  • Drop stalactite with bomb + boomerang
  • Climb vines and enter left door
  • Ledge hang + JA to reach Deku Toad early
  • Clip through gate
  • 0-cycle Deku Toad
    • Leave 1 bomb in bag until fight is over in case you fail the sword combo; in this case, feed Deku Toad the bomb before it can spawn tadpoles
  • Clawshot
    • [Clawshot (B) / Boomerang / Iron Boots / Bombs]
  • Savewarp
  • Finish emptying bomb bag
  • Open chest for 10 WB
  • Backtrack to central staircase room
  • Bridge Clip (top of stairs north)
    • Alternatively, Vine Clip with clawshot or bombs (10-15s slower)
  • Morpheel with water bombs
    • [Clawshot (B) / Boomerang / Lantern / Water Bombs] for final regrab
    • Heart Container
    • Lantern to B on the way to the portal
    • See Addenda at the end of this page for bomb management notes
  • Exit Lakebed Temple

Midna's Desperate Hour

  • Transform wolf and dash to Castle Town
  • Dash cancel through Castle Town
  • Enter Telma's bar through the door and get kicked out
  • Louise Glitch (saves about 1.7s)
  • Push box once and dash jump to window
  • Ropes in bar or rope skip (risky, saves about 3s)
  • Poe
  • Enter sewers
  • Burn first web as wolf with the right stick
  • Transform at second web and use Lantern
    • [Clawshot (B) / Boomerang / Iron Boots / Water Bombs]
  • Dig into hole
  • Bulblin Archer
  • Exit tower
  • Early Wind Cycle
  • Zelda cutscene

Getting to Snowpeak Ruins

It's optimal to do Snowpeak Ruins before Arbiter's Grounds, but doing AG first replaces a hard trick in SPR with an easier one, and is only 9s slower; see Addenda for notes.

Snowpeak Ruins

Getting to Arbiter's Grounds

  • Warp Lake Hylia
  • Get Memo
  • Jump down without autoroll to take damage (2 hearts)
  • Dash down to Fyer
  • Boomerang red rupee from front of Fyer's cannon (280R+) if needed
    • [Auru's Memo (B) / Ball & Chain / Lantern / Clawshot]
  • Show Memo to Fyer
  • Ball & Chain to B while waiting for Fyer to move out of the way
  • Enter Desert Province
  • Transform wolf and dash northeast
  • Get hit by one moldorm in the desert (1.5 hearts)
  • Enter Bulblin Camp without a boar
  • Map Glitch to KB3
  • Defeat KB3
    • JA + autospin, JA x2, clockwise spin, JA, wait until he swings then JA + autospin
    • Dying with map glitch active is a softlock, so save in Bulblin Camp if worried about dying to fire arrows or King Bulblin
  • Enter Arbiter's Grounds as human
    • Clawshot to B before entering

Arbiter's Grounds

The route through the dungeon described below involves Poe Gate Skip, which saves up to 5 minutes on Wii. For notes on doing AG without Poe Gate Skip, see Addenda.

  • Human entrance
  • Pull chain
  • Small key
  • Torch room
    • [Boomerang (B) / Iron Boots / Clawshot / Ball & Chain] between lighting torch and door to automatically put lantern away
  • Poe door cutscene
  • Poe Gate Clip (285R+)
    • [Clawshot / Ball & Chain / Water Bombs / Boomerang (B)] for the Boots force unequip
  • Boss key early
    • If traversing next room as human, get boss key now; if using wolf, get boss key on the way to Stallord
  • Full human movement after boss key
    • or stay wolf (roughly 2s slower)
  • Triple Stalfos Skip with 3pcc or step clip (comparison)
  • 2R in pots in front of Death Sword's door if needed
  • Enter Death Sword
    🠋Skip or fight Death Sword (0.5 hearts)
    • Get hit by Death Sword as wolf during phase 1 to take 1 heart of damage (0.5 hearts)
    • Skipping Death Sword and deathwarping is 18s faster than killing Death Sword and exiting the room (comparison), not including time spent damaging down (~5s optimally)
    • If skipping Death Sword, put water bombs to B while waiting in the corner before transforming
  • Spinner
  • Deathwarp with water bomb and spinner
    • [Spinner (B) / Water Bombs / Clawshot / Boomerang]
    • Die to Death Sword if low on bombs or high on health
  • Spinner to door
  • Epic spinner room
  • Open boss key chest if you didn't already
  • Spinner to socket
    • Get blue rupee in the skull if needed - want 280R+ before warping the sky cannon
  • Enter boss room
  • Stallord
  • One-Cycle in phase 2
    • Jump Attack into clockwise autospin
    • Left slash, right slash, forward stab
    • Repeat three times
  • Heart Container optional
  • Spinner out to exit Arbiter's Grounds

Getting to City in the Sky

  • Mirror Chamber warp portal with a bomb
  • Warp Kakariko
    • Must zoom in to enable portals when warping from here on out
  • Early City in the Sky
  • Press Dpad Up to talk to Midna about cannon
    • Press B to say 'No' to Midna
    • Map warp to Lake Hylia
  • Boomerang red rupee from front of Fyer's cannon (300R) if needed
    • If you are short on rupees, Fyer has 60 that respawn every time you load Lake Hylia
    • [Boomerang (B) / Clawshot / Spinner / Iron Boots]
  • Pay Fyer 300R to fix cannon, enter cannon
    • If you have fewer than 2 water bombs left, open southeast underwater water bomb chest after cutscene

City in the Sky

Palace of Twilight

Hyrule Castle

Addenda

Version Considerations

NA Wii 1.0 is the optimal version for this route, but the route can work on PAL Wii or JP Wii too. Listed below are the relevant exclusivities that make NA 1.0 fastest:

  • Can reset before pressing A to save over new files (saves ~1s, only relevant for the first save)
  • Can jump attack over the mailman trigger in Hyrule Field South (saves ~10s over riding Epona to Eldin)
  • Can skip the cutscene right before the Aeralfos fight, if you get the 1 frame drop from the switch (saves ~8s)
  • Can skip the cutscene after entering the City in the Sky boss door, removing the need to clawshot the vines up to Argorok (saves ~13s)
  • Can jump attack over the mailman trigger outside of Castle Town (saves ~19s)

The route is practically identical on PAL Wii and JP Wii, except for the above listed not being possible, which makes these versions ~51s slower for this route. This doesn't consider text speed timings, which is comparably negligible.

Some additional notes:

  • English is the only available language for NA 1.0
  • With PAL Wii and NA 1.2, you can skip getting rupees altogether with the language set to French, which may save a few seconds
  • The route is not meant for NA 1.2 and KOR Wii due to techniques such as map glitch being patched. See this route, which accommodates every Wii version

  • The route works the same on the Wii U's vWii. Loading times are identical. The only difference is that since there's no console reset button, you must reset from pressing the home menu button on the Wiimote, which is slightly slower, and can make Back in Time more precise

    (⮤ return to route)

Bomb management

Ideally, bombs will be acquired and spent as follows in this route:

  • 30 normal bombs after emptying Lake Hylia
    • 1 entering Lakebed
    • 2 on stalactites
    • 2 for Pot Push
    • 1 for Deku Toad
    • 24 wasted
  • 10 water bombs after Clawshot
    • 1 Morpheel (required for route)
    • 1 Snowpeak Ruins bomb boost (required for route)
    • 1 Darkhammer (saves 2s over fight without bomb)
    • 1 deathwarp from spinner chest (saves 6.3s over deathwarping off of Death Sword's attack; only relevant if skipping poe gate)
    • 1 Mirror Chamber portal (saves 1.5s over fight without bomb)
    • 2 Zant (required for route)
    • 1 Hyrule barrier 1 (saves 5s over fight without bomb)
    • 1 Hyrule dynalfos (saves 4.5s over fight without bomb)
    • 1 extra bomb

The three relevant bomb backup chests post-Morpheel are:

  • AG stalfos room after poe 1 skip: 5 bombs (+7.5s; only relevant if not skipping poe gate; only water bombs if you have at least 1 water bomb)
  • AG epic spinner room: 10 bombs (+8.5s with poe gate skip; +10s without poe gate skip; only water bombs if you have at least 1 water bomb)
  • City entrance underwater: 15 bombs (+21s; always water bombs)

However, since most Morpheel fights use more than 1 bomb, and the Snowpeak Ruins bomb boost won't always be done first try, it's useful to plan bomb usage based on the number remaining after the Snowpeak Ruins bomb boost. Note that the timelosses estimated below do not include the time lost to Morpheel. This video compares bomb and bombless strats as well as getting bombs vs. not getting them for these scenarios.

Below describes the optimal bomb usage depending on the number of bombs remaining after the Snowpeak Ruins bomb boost:

  • 7+ bombs: all bomb strats, as listed above
  • 6 bombs: skip Mirror Chamber bomb strat (+1.5s)
  • 5 bombs: skip Mirror Chamber AND Darkhammer bomb strats (+3.5s)
  • 4 bombs: skip Mirror Chamber AND Darkhammer AND Hyrule dynalfos bomb strats (+8s total)
  • 3, 2, or 1 bomb: get AG 10 bomb chest (as wolf; get boss key after spinner) and do all bomb strats (+8.5s)

  • 0 bombs: skip Darkhammer bomb strat, get AG 10 bomb chest (normal bombs) and City underwater 15 bomb chest (water bombs) (+31.5s)

    (⮤ return to route)

Lakebed without Pot Push

  • EBF is set, Lakebed file has been loaded
  • Pull lever in first room
  • Drop stalactites with bomb + boomerang
  • Staircase room
    • Down stairs, around, pull south lever
    • Up stairs and pull right lever
    • Down stairs and enter hallway
  • Enter single cog 1F room
  • Drop stalactites with bomb + boomerang
  • Small Key Chest
  • Backtrack to staircase room
  • Up stairs, left, open 2F locked door
  • Drop stalactite with bomb + boomerang
  • Cross vines to single cog 2F room
  • Drop off ledge and midair jump slash
  • Early Deku Toad (EBF active)
  • 1 Cycle With Master Sword
  • Clawshot
    • [Clawshot (B) / Boomerang / Iron Boots / Bombs]
  • Savewarp
  • Finish emptying bomb bag
  • 10 WB chest
  • Backtrack to staircase room
  • Clawshot Vine Clip

  • Routes merge at Morpheel

    (⮤ return to route)

Arbiter's Grounds before Snowpeak

Going to Snowpeak Ruins after Arbiter's Grounds is about 9s slower, and allows for doing the easier spinner bomb boost in SPR instead of the moon boots bomb boost.

  • Same route up through Midna's Desperate Hour (4 hearts)
  • Warp Lake Hylia and get Auru's Memo
  • Don't damage down from the tower
  • Get hit by 1 moldorm in desert (3.5 hearts)
  • Use boar to get into bulblin camp
  • Map Glitch to KB3
  • Defeat KB3
    • JA + autospin, JA twice, clockwise spin, JA, get hit (0.5 hearts), then rollstab + clockwise spin
  • Same route through AG except don't take a hit from Death Sword
  • Mirror Chamber
  • Warp Zora's Domain
  • Same route getting to Snowpeak
  • Same route through SPR but with spinner bomb boost

  • Routes merge at warping to Kakariko after leaving SPR

    (⮤ return to route)

Damage routing

In preparation for deathwarping after Death Sword Skip, the damage route specified is:

  • 3 hearts after SPR savewarp
  • 2 hearts after Auru's Memo
  • 1.5 hearts after desert moldorms
  • 0.5 hearts after Death Sword phase 1

An alternative damage route that is about 1.7s slower is:

  • 3 hearts after SPR savewarp
  • 4 hearts after getting heart from pot outside SPR
  • 3.5 hearts after desert moldorms

  • 0.5 hearts after KB3

    (⮤ return to route)

Arbiter's Grounds without Poe Gate Skip

  • Pull Chain
  • Small Key
  • Enter east room
  • Poe #1 Skip
  • Cross sand as wolf
  • Push block 8 times then pull chain for chandelier
  • Stalfos with Ball & Chain
  • Light front and right torches
  • Poe #4
  • Poe Scent
    • If you forget the poe scent and realize in the next room, void out to respawn at the poe 4 room exit; if you realize later than that, kill poe 1 in the main room for the poe scent
  • Back to main room
  • Pull chain, enter downstairs door
  • Push rotary switch
  • Redead 1 with B&C or Midna Charge + sword slash
  • Small Key
    • Pick up red rupee from redead if needed (280R)
  • Poe 2
  • Return to main room
  • Enter left room
  • Climb the destroyed stairs past the large metal box
  • Cross upper floor of main room on chandelier
    • Drown in the sand if you accidentally fall down to respawn by the upper door
  • Enter ghost rat room backwards (don't get the key)
  • Poe 3 room backwards
    • Pick up red rupee from redead if needed (300R)
  • Back to main room, enter big door
  • Boss Key Early
  • Backwards spinner room as human or transform wolf (3s slower)
  • Skip the stalfos with a 3pcc or step clip
  • Death Sword
  • Spinner
    • [Lantern / Iron Boots / Water Bombs / Spinner (B)]
  • Enter Stallord
  • Stallord
  • One-Cycle in phase 2
    • Jump Attack into clockwise autospin
    • Left Slash, Right Slash, Forward Stab
    • Repeat three times
  • Heart Container

  • Spinner out to exit Arbiter's Grounds

    (⮤ return to route)

Other Route Alternatives

  • A similar route that steals the Goron Bomb Bag can be found here
  • If you care for neither bomb duping nor moonboots, there is also the Classic Wii Any% Route
  • If you prefer to fight Morpheel and Zant with Zora Armor, see the Wii Any% ZA route
  • If early game is too daunting, then the beginner route which does not do Sword and Shield Skip can be found here.
Last updated 03/15/2026 – bdamja