Level 3 - Death Mountain

Death Mountain Foothills (3-1)

Bow Skip

Discovered by Zmaster91

Enter the cave on the left side. Move up to the edge and have the other Links close to you.

  1. Position the Links next to the wall on the left side
  2. Tap* C-Up and Up on the control stick (-You need to hold both for a very short amount of time, just "tapping" them won't be long enough)
  3. Change the direction of the control stick from Up to Right and don't stop moving
  4. Move to the very right until you are next to the ledge (you cannot drop down by just walking against it)
  5. Roll to the right and hold c-right until the links cross over the ground.

Video

Switch-less Medallion

Discovered by Yadra121

On the GBA screen with the chest that contains the Medallion, select one Link and walk off the ledge, towards the chest. When in midair, press R to roll and then mash A to open the chest (or do a precise A input if you feel like it).

Video

Vortex Skip

Discovered by Zmaster91

Killing all cyclops and getting through the GBA section can be completely skipped by using GBA OoB. Enter the cave in C-Right formation and perform GBA OoB. Exit, switch to purple and reunite. To be safe, separate the Links again and then walk against the diagonal to perform the Super Jump. Simply walk up afterwards.

Video

The Mountain Path (3-2)

Once you get to the last fire you must extinguish, you need to stand about throwing distance away from the fire before you throw the last water jug to make sure enough fire is gone so you can pass through. Standing too close causes not enough fire to be extinguished.

Freeze Clip Timesaver

Discovered by Yadra121

On the second screen, you can skip a short part by Freeze Clipping through a wall. In combination with taking additional water pots, this results in the old water pot method to extinguish all fires without the need of refill. To do so:

  1. Enter the GBA screen and pick up four water pots, then exit with Green and extinguish the flames to the left.
  2. Position Green next to the grass, and reunite with C-Down.
  3. Hold the analog stick down and switch to red, and make sure all Links are still on the same vertical tile (so they are "stacked" on top of each other).
  4. Throw the pot downwards and reunite with C-Down. While the fire extinguishes, the game freezes for a short moment, allowing Purple to clip down to the cave entrance.
  5. Keep holding down the control stick and switch to Red again. Purple should be down in front of the cave entrance.
  6. Now you can get another Water Pot with Red and then switch to Purple and continue.

Note: The video differs from this description, but shows the basic idea.

Video

Hammer Skip

Discovered by Yadra121

To enter the cave where the Firepots are stored, you typically need to hit the pegs outside using the Hammer. However, by doing a spin attack while in a C-Left formation right next to them, you can somewhat clip into the ledge, forcing Green Link to jump down. You still need* a Hammer for the boss fight, but both GBA screens there have one.

*Note: You can actually damage Helmaroc's Mask with Bombs too, but from a Speedrunner's perspective, using the bombs on the TV screen takes too long, or even getting Bombs on A.

Video

Early Transition

Discovered by Yadra121

By using FLG with an item you can access the transition early by going over the warp actor on one of the two cave entrances near the top of the screen. Simply get FLG, walk "into" the cave and throw the item. (If you have low enough FLG, you can transition without letting go of the item).

Video

One Cycle Helmorac King

Discovered by Zmaster91

During Helmorac King's second phase, you can deal enough damage to defeat him without the need of a second bomb. This seems to be very precise and is usually easier if he falls near a wall so you can jumpslash in the same direction each time.

Obsoleted Tricks

Key Skip

Discovered By Derek Kisman (???)

Note: This belongs to an ancient route and is no longer relevant in its form.
Using water jugs wisely, one can skip a key later in the level that normally is needed to obtain other water jugs. To do this, when going to the screen with the first dark link go into the first cave right in front of you. Grab three water jugs from this room and follow the video on the usage of them.

The Tower of Flames (3-3)

Skip the Majority of the Flame Maze

Discovered by Zmaster91

On the floor with the maze of flame jets and the boomerangs just to the right of the entrance from the previous floor, it is possible to roll past the flame jets. To do so, get into a C-right formation, roll right, and immediately press X. Purple should dim in the middle of the rolling animation and just make it past the flame jet. From here you can grab a boomerang and proceed.

Video

Roc's Feather Skip

Discovered by Yadra121

When you enter 3F, do not step on the moving platform, but walk to the right edge instead. Perform a Wall-less Gap Skip, switch to Purple and enter the next floor.

Switch Skip

You want to position Green below or above the gap that surrounds the key door, then place a Link on the other side. Switch to Green and reunite so all other Links will float towards him. When the desired Link crossed the first gap, press X to interrupt the reuniting effect.

Obsoleted Tricks

Early Cycle Platforms

Discovered by Zmaster91

(You need Roc's feather to do this)
Entering the screen before the Shadow Link Fightt, you can quickly switch to Red and jump throw Blue to the platform moving away from you. Then you can quickly switch to him and jump over to the second platform, ultimately getting to the exit of the room one cycle earlier. Note: It is suggested to enter this screen using green. This is because entering with a different Link will cause them to get called on top of one another, making this early cycle very difficult to do.

Last updated 07/24/2019 – Zmaster91