Ocarina of Time

Bottom of the Well

Entering Bottom of the Well

Navi dive

This method can be done at night when the cuccos aren't present, doesn't require a shield, and it works the same with sword or deku stick. Navi's C-up text must be available, which is often a problem if you either used Navi to escape the forest or Navi expired while you were collecting Cuccos. You can die in Kakariko to get her back.

This is the fastest method, but somewhat tricky on the timing if you're a beginner. The video below shows two easier ones first.

Walk into the corner between the well and the wooden structure and target the wood
Sidehop left, then begin holding right midair so that Link moves less after slipping off the lip of the well
Mash or time stick/sword; there is a multiple frame window to jumpslash and land in a good place
After Link jumpslashes but before he fully stands back up, call Navi with c-up to dive (this can also be mashed)
Delay closing the text box until Link falls to the dungeon entrance
- You can cancel it several frames before Link reaches the ground

⁠Additional method - jump and jumpslash without ledge grab

Cucco cutscene dive

This is often useful if you don't have Navi text available, for whatever reason. Three methods are shown in the video below.

One method uses ISG (requires shield). Get ISG off a cucco (usually want to throw it first to make it bounce in place), then walk to the well (don't backwalk, it can anger the cucco early), align with it and shield drop + backflip into the well. The cutscene will start when you drop the cucco and you will dive through the water in the cutscene.

The other method uses Deku Nuts. Throw a Cucco down to the base of the stairs near the well, damage it with a Deku Nut, then quickly throw another and mash backflip into the well while the nut is being thrown, and you will cutscene dive. Mashing quickly is important, because if you get a low health Cucco spawn (they spawn with random HP between 5 and 8, and Nuts do 4), the Cucco will be angered quickly and you will only have 2 frames to backflip.

There is a third method which uses just a sword, shown in the video as well, but this is inconsistent and not recommended. Deal 4 slashes to the cucco beforehand, but note that the sword can hit the cucco twice or even three times per slash. Be sure to count closely. After this, throw the cucco so it is on the edge of the well. Climb to the opposite edge and jumpslash across the well to anger the cucco and fall through the water. If the cucco isn't angered, get it back on the edge of the well and try again.

Enter Well as Adult

A good reference video by 2DollarGargoyle showing two setups from the Windmill and the setup from on the Well's edge can be found ⁠here.

Windmill ledge clip

with Bomb

First video shows an initial and non-initial setup from the Windmill. The second video shows a setup coming from Graveyard.

with Bombchu

Megaflip from Archery

Uses Hover Boots and an explosive, as well as a Sword or Stick to jumpslash (hold full input for the jumpslash).

Initial position

Substitute a bombchu neutral megaflip after the two dry rolls if bombs aren't available.

Non-initial position

Well Grunz clip

Setup by Odie B

Uses Master Sword only, optionally a shield to make it easier.

Bypass crawlspace as Adult

Backshot

⁠Discovered by Jengerer

Backshot is a float-precise weirdshot that can connect with surfaces not facing the player. It can be used to hit the ladder beyond the entrance crawlspace of Bottom of the Well using the Hookshot/Longshot. This essentially obsoletes any other method of entering Bottom of the Well as Adult. Because of the precision required, the Weirdshot must be done with several frame-perfect inputs.

The setup below is by far the best known in all situations where Bombs are available. See next section for Bombchu setup. It only requires the minimum materials to perform a Weirdshot: shield, Bomb, and Hookshot/Longshot.

with Bombchu

Void warp

Enter Bottom of the Well, then set Farore's Wind. Perform the following FW void warp to void warp into Bottom of the Well.

The timing for the FW warp is pretty lenient, just use it when the arrow becomes fully bright for the 3rd time. After the void warp, hold up and jumpslash immediately and you should eventually land in the water. Make sure to let go of up once you are in the water. To not die from the air timer, just hold Z and swim down towards the edge of the water when the timer appears.

Early Bombchu chest

Skull Push method

AKA Corpse Push

Three methods

For all variations of skull push, it's important to understand that the skulltula's height fluctuates cyclically as it bobs up and down beginning upon scene load, in other words when you enter into Bottom of the Well, and the height at which you kill it affects precisely when you need to backflip (or backwalk, depending on the setup) to get the clip, due to the fact the skulltula may take an additional frame to hit the ground and spawn its bump collider. Additionally, due to a quirk when pausing the game, the range of positions the skulltula cycles between may become offset from those of its normal cycle, as while paused the skulltula's y velocity continues to cycle despite its position being frozen, causing a desync when the game resumes. (This is a separately useable technique known as ⁠Skulltula Raising.) This means that if you enter the skulltula's range at a random point in time and/or pause the game for an inexact amount of time during the setup, then there's essentially a 50% chance that the timing for the final step in the setup will need to be adjusted by a frame. (More than 1 frame is possible, but unlikely during a normal attempt.) This is manageable using the visual cues covered thoroughly in the tutorial for pause buffered skull push (see below), but importantly it makes doing the trick unbuffered essentially a coin flip unless you control your movement precisely enough to always kill the skulltula at a consistent height. This is possible if you enter the skulltula's range within 8 frames of perfectly optimal gameplay coming from the load zone and then begin the trick on the skulltula's first spin cycle, as shown in the unbuffered setup.

Deku Stick (unbuffered)

The A press for the sideroll into the skulltula's range in step 3 must be done during frames 210-218 of the global frame counter to make the initial high cycle (see explanation above), where the skulltula takes 9f to land after it's been killed. 219-220 can also work if you back up further before siderolling. See ⁠this video for additional information on the initial high cycle.

Target west wall between z pos 1144 and z pos 1107
Sidehop right x2
Downward sideroll (hold slightly down for at least 2f after landing before pressing A)
Walk up to wall
Backflip (release target to avoid sideroll)
Dry roll
Sidehop right
4x ESS turn right (facing angle 0xa3e0) and target
Hold up + target slash on the frame the skulltula jitters away from Link for the fourth time (see the tutorial in the buffered section below)
After initiating the first slash, hold right and release target
Slash again while still holding right on the second frame Link is facing right
After initiating the second slash, hold left
Begin holding target on the third frame Link is facing left
Switch from holding left to holding down within 4 frames (same frame target is pressed through 3 frames later)
Continue holding down and target to backwalk and clip

See the tutorial in the buffered section below for information on what to do after clipping.

Deku Stick (buffered, early cues)

"Tsundere skull push"

This position setup puts Link close enough to the skulltula that it's visible between the slashes and the backflip, making it possible to make the 50/50 height adjustment prior to the backflip and not need to pause after the backflip.

Initial setup detailed below, see the ⁠standard non-initial backup by TKC linked here.

Hold right notch from the crawlspace and target the wall (this does not put Link in the corner)
Sidehop right twice
Sidehop left
Sidehop right twice
Backflip
Dry roll while preserving Link's angle, in one of two ways:
- Hold-targeting only: Retarget+A after landing to roll, release Z quickly before Link turns
- Tap a stick input for 1 frame (shown in the video)
4x ESS turn right (facing angle 0xa3e0)
Hold up + slash on the frame the skulltula jitters away from Link for the fourth time (see the tutorial in the section below)
After initiating the first slash, hold right
Slash again while still holding right on the second frame Link is facing right
After initiating the second slash, hold left
Begin holding target on the first frame Link is facing left (see notes below)
5 or 6 frames later (depending on skulltula height), backflip and backwalk to clip
Alternatively, skip the backflip and begin a backwalk 3f later than you would have in step 14 (8 or 9 frames after step 13)

Notes:

In step 13, if you begin holding target on the second frame Link is facing left (when he stands up), hold target and down for 3 or 4 frames (depending on skulltula height) before backflipping and backwalking. See ⁠this video for cues.
For step 14, you can look at the second skulltula leg that falls across the screen to check when to backflip. In most cases, backflipping when the leg is at or below the top of Link's hat is correct; however, sometimes, on the correct frame, the leg will appear very thin and a little above the top of Link's hat.
The cues above for step 14 can sometimes be ambiguous. If the leg is close to the boundary between the two heights, you can backflip on the first frame and confirm on the landing frame (wait 1 frame after landing to backwalk if needed).
For step 15, the correct frame to backwalk if the skulltula is low is when the broken stick piece intersects Link's hat, as seen in ⁠this video. If the skulltula is high, it's the frame after that.

Deku Stick (buffered, late cues)

All three of the position setups below work with the visual cues shown in the tutorial for the part of the trick after the position setup. Because these setups keep Link too far away from the skulltula to see it and make the 50/50 height adjustment described above prior to backflipping, it involves pausing at one more point in the trick, making it slower than the cue set 1 setup.

» Faster position setup from crawlspace (click to expand)

1. Target west wall in south corner just past crawlspace
2. Sidehop right once
3. Turn left (facing crawlspace)
4. Backflip x2
5. Turn right
6. Backflip (release target to avoid sideroll)
7. Dry roll
8. Sidehop right
9. 4x ESS turn right (facing angle 0xa3e0)

» Slower position setup from crawlspace (click to expand)

1. Target west wall in south corner just past crawlspace
2. Sidehop right twice
3. Sidehop left + sideroll
4. Sidehop right + sideroll
5. Backflip (release target to avoid sideroll)
6. Dry roll
7. Sidehop right
8. 4x ESS turn right (facing angle 0xa3e0)
(See the video for demonstration)

» Backup position setup from lower area (click to expand)

1. Target south wall in west corner
2. Backflip twice
3. Sidehop right + sideroll
4. Backflip
5. Sidehop right + sideroll
6. Turn right (can target wall)
7. Backflip (release target to avoid sideroll)
8. Dry roll
9. Sidehop right
10. 4x ESS turn right (facing angle 0xa3e0)
(See the video for demonstration)

Sword skull push

Pot method

This is the hardest and slowest method of skull push, but as it needs no items, it is useful in some challenge runs (e.g. Low%).

Blank A method

Discovered by Fox

This glitch only works on version 1.0. Your B button must be blank.

Blank A can be used in two different ways to get bombchus early. The first method discovered is to backwalk over to a plank on the wall, then jump out of bounds to the unloaded basement, where you can swim up to the bombchus. A second method uses a precise jumpslash clip through a pile of rubble in the hallway near the entrance to get out of bounds to the unloaded basement, which is the method used in RTA speedruns.

Non-initial backup

If you lose the position or angle from the crawlspace, but still have Blank A, you can do this backup.

Get in left corner where the skeleton is
Target the skeleton
2+ sidehops left for the camera to adjust
Sidehop right
Wait for the camera to settle
Untarget and turn fully right
Hold target (this is the correct angle) and get in corner on the rubble
Backflip
Jumpslash twice to clip

Ocarina Dive

Discovered by Exodus

An Ocarina Dive is a form of cutscene diving which has many uses but in this case we will use the fact that during an Ocarina Dive Link does not trigger loading planes. Normally in a hover Link cannot use the ocarina. To enable link to do this we must hover at a specific spot which enables link snap to the edge nearby by walking towards it. We use inverted camera in order to to time the hover correctly. By interrupting this snapping to the ledge with an ocarina press you cause Link to fall with the ocarina out. This causes link to fall into the basement and keep the room above loaded because he will not trigger the loading plane for the next room while in the ocarina dive.

This is often preformed by holding left, starting to mash ocarina, and then rotating to up in order to avoid timing the ocarina press.

Now all you have to do is navigate the unloaded basement to the Bombchu chest.

Skulltula vine clip from Dead Hand

Vine Clip is an Out-of-Bounds clip performed on the vines near the Dead Hand mini-boss room that can be used to reach the Bombchu chest in the Bottom of the Well. Note that if you performed the Actor Glitch to enter this section of the dungeon, you'll need to enter Dead Hands room to reload the actors in the main room.

There are two methods of clipping, one with Deku Nuts and one without. The method without is the most common as it can easily be pause buffered and lands you in the high water, while the Deku Nut method is not normally buffered, but lands you in the low water.

Once clipped through, you land in invisible water - either "high" or "low" water. High water is far superior because it is possible to swim directly to the Bombchus without having to walk around out of bounds. If one lands in low water, one will fall to the ground and will have to navigate to a specific spot where it is then possible to float up to the Bombchus. This is harder and slower, so is not recommended.

Pause Buffered Vine Clip

Back walk off the very edge of the ledge
Pivot left to face the wall and center the camera, slash the wall with B and pivot left to face the Skulltula
Press B just as/just before the Skulltula reaches the top of his swing. The delay in the sword swing will mean you actually hit him at the bottom of his swing, which is what we want
Right after pressing B, turn around and back walk off the edge so that you start to climb down
Stop climbing down when Link's left hand starts moving down. Link's right hand should be above his left hand. Pausing here ensures you don't move down too far
At this point, attention shifts to the Skulltula's legs on the right. We want to skip forwards a few frames to find the frame where there are two small, skinny legs in the top right of the screen at approximately 00:24. Depending on the exact timing of the sword slash, the legs may be higher up or further left
The next frame will be a single, fat leg somewhere around your C down button
The next frame will be a single leg right at the top of the screen, possibly even off the screen. On this frame, pause buffer A + down
Buffer down on the control stick for the next frame
Hold up on the control stick on the next frame and you will clip through
Once you clip, release all buttons
When you land in the water, flick down-left and center the camera behind you to give you approximately the correct alignment
Above you, you will see the corridor with the water in it, swim forwards directly under the water to the Bombchu room, pressing B rapidly to swim faster
Fall out of the water to the right once you are next to the Bombchu room. It is safest to jump slash to give yourself some extra distance but if you fall from high enough, the jumpslash is rendered unnecessary

Deku Nuts Vine Clip

Using Deku Nuts, which can be found in a chest in the central area of the main room, one can stun the Skulltula and drop and re-grab the vines just as stun timer on the Skulltula wears off. Vines can be re-grabbed by pressing A, holding down, then Z while holding Up

Basement water swim after clipping

If you fall out of the water whilst swimming to the bombchus, it is still possible to float up in a column of invisible water just below the room containing the bombchu chest. Head over to the strange looking floor texture and locate the sharp point. Just at the tip of this point is a column of water which can be used to float up to the bombchus. Backflip into it, float up for a couple of seconds, then swim back-right whilst holding Z. If done correctly, Link will appear to jilt a little bit, which means you have clipped through the floor. From here, you can float up a little bit more before swimming forwards and jumpslashing out of the water and in to the room, which by now should be visible on the screen.

Often you will get pushed out of the water when you try to backflip in - just try backflipping in again. Sometimes Link will not clip through the floor, in which case just try adjusting the time at which you start swimming down-right and try again. If, once you clip through the floor, you wait too long, then you will float all the way back up to the main room and will have to start again from the Actor Glitch. If you walk too far on to the texture, it can damage you, so avoid doing that.

Miscellaneous

Actor Glitch

In the Bottom of the Well, it's possible to unload all the actors within the main room, excluding the doors, allowing you to reach the crawlspace leading to the Dead Hand room without needing to play Zelda's Lullaby. With this you can the Lens of Truth without Zelda's Lullaby, as well as perform an Out of Bounds clip to reach a Bombchu chest within the dungeon. The Actor Glitch is performed by exiting a different crawlspace in the main room and opening nearby door while the camera is still fixed on the spot Link exited from.

To start you will need a key, the door we need to open is locked, which can be found in the main room.

From the mini-dungeon entrance go through the invisible wall
Turn right and travel down the path until it bends left
Just after the turn on the left wall there is an invisible wall which hides a key chest

Once you have a key, continue down the hallway and you'll find the crawlspace at the end of the hallway. Enter the crawlspace and travel all the way through. On exiting the other side:

Hold the analogue stick in a position that is slightly down from down-left
Press A to roll a few frames after control is regained
Press or mash A to open the door.

When performed correctly, you will hear the door opening but you will remain in the same room as you started in, and the actors within the next room will be loaded. If you are too late, the camera will no longer be fixed on the crawlspace and you will simply go through the door normally.

Vine clip from Bombchu chest

with shield

Grab onto vines
Begin holding down and press A to drop
Pull a bombchu, and start holding up, target, and shield to clip

shieldless

This is more precise than clipping with a shield and is often pause buffered.

Grab onto vines
Begin holding down and press A to drop
After either 2 or 3 frames of holding down, input up, target, and bombchu on the same frame (shown pause buffered in video)

Void out after clipping

If intending to void out, swim slightly up of right after clipping.

You can also hold straight right for ~2 of Link's swimming "motions" then hold up

Like-Like Launcher

You can grab the Gold Skulltula in the room behind golden bars without the Boomerang. First, jumpslash it for the kill (you can stand on the chest to make this easier). Then, line yourself up in between the Like-Like and the token, and let the Like-Like eat you. If angled correctly, you will be tossed into the token and collect it.

Coffin Small Key Early

As the Boomerang returns to you, it can pass through any solid object. You can use this to obtain the small key in the coffin room without lighting the torches.

Shield swim

It is possible to clip into out of bounds water from either the Bombchu chest area or the Deadhand area, then swim into the Like-Like/Gold Skulltula cage where you can get both

from Bombchus

Done well, this normally saves about 20 seconds over getting the key and grabbing both shields without clipping. For getting the 3 Gold Skulltulas as Child, it saves much more time because it skips needing the coffin room key.

Swimming from the bombchu chest to the like-like cage is tricky because it's easy to leave the invisible water box and void out. First, vine clip and hold up-left until Link's angle changes, then steer to be parallel with the waterway above by holding up-left/up. Target once Link is aligned. Swim forwards, and at some point before Link reaches the surface and pops back in bounds, swim sideways out of the water box and then quickly fall back into it just to get more depth.

From here, it's possible to turn the corner ahead and swim directly to the cage. However, it's difficult to tell exactly where the water box ends, and popping back in bounds or falling to a room below can cost a lot of time. A safe method (shown in the video) is to turn around after falling back into the water, then swim backwards to the edge of the water box. Link won't fall down if he reaches the edge while swimming backwards. After he hits the edge, turn right and swim along the surface to the cage. To enter the cage, swim at a diagonal towards the corner of the grate.

⁠Similar alternative method

from Dead Hand

Swim from Bombchus to Dead Hand

Last updated October 6, 2026 by Blue