Gotta go fast
I was about 235 hours into Tears of the Kingdom when I decided that it was time to kick Ganondorf’s butt, and I don’t regret one minute of it. Other players have taken on a different approach and have been speedrunning to see who can lay waste to Ganondorf the fastest. Through glitches, clever strategies, and a deep understanding of the game’s mechanics, fanatics have been able to complete the game in under an hour, with the current Any% world record sitting at 46 minutes and 25 seconds.
If you want to try your hand at beating Tears of the Kingdom in less than an hour, this guide will explain some of the strategies you need to know. It’s non-stop spoilers from this point onwards.
Running glitches in Tears of the Kingdom
Wherever there are games with stamina meters, there will be strategies to try to eke out as much energy as possible. In Tears of the Kingdom, this comes in the form of running glitches that allow Link to maintain top speed without draining too much of his stamina wheel.
There is some debate within the speedrunning community regarding which method is the best, though the Crouch Throw Toggle Sprint (CTTS) method has found some popularity. The following steps need to be completed in quick succession to perform a CTTS:
- Crouch
- Press B to start sprinting
- Press R to start throwing a weapon
- Press B again to cancel the animation
- Repeat
This method has been seen in several sub-one-hour speedruns, including Zdi6923’s and gymnast86’s.
Forget about the paraglider
One of the most useful items Link receives is the paraglider. Although it is essential for exploration, it is not needed to get to Ganondorf. If you need to leap from heights, just carry some fairies instead. When Link hits the ground, the fairies will replenish his health, essentially canceling all fall damage.
The fairies can be collected from the West Necluda Sky Archipelago at these coordinates: 0946, -2104, 0556. Though there are only a few floating around, these can be multiplied via the duplication glitch. This trick is only possible on copies of the game that haven’t been upgraded to v.1.1.2.
To get to the island, a Zonai wing is required. Link will need a few of these if he plans on defeating Ganondorf in less than an hour. They disintegrate after a while, but you can double the length of your journey by bringing along a second Zonai wing and not fusing it to the first one. When the first Zonai wing starts blinking to signal that it’s about to disintegrate, simply leap onto the next Zonai wing.
Zuggling in Tears of the Kingdom
After racing through the shrines on the Great Sky Island, Link will be ready to take on the rest of Hyrule. Using two Zonai wings, it’s possible to glide directly to Hyrule Castle. Now Link has to deal with enemies while having the absolute minimum number of hearts.
To get past this problem, a trick known as “zuggling” is necessary. With this glitch, players can duplicate weapons and stack them onto one another, resulting in a single weapon that strikes with the force of a dozen. With this trick, slaying monsters becomes trivial.
To perform the glitch, have Link stand with his back to a wall with his weapon drawn. Go to his inventory and drop all the bows. Following this, drop the equipped weapon, then equip the weapon you want to stack onto the previous one. Lastly, pause and unpause quickly. The entire sequence needs to be done fast, and it’s only possible on pre-v.1.1.2 copies of the game. With his zuggled weapon, Link can take on anyone, even Ganondorf.
Glitching through Hyrule Castle
Zuggling is an essential element to the perfect Any% speedrun. In addition to giving Link an overpowered weapon, it also consumes much of the game’s memory, making even more glitches necessary.
After heading over to Hyrule Castle, you’ll want to get to the room at the following coordinates: -0235, 0794, 0072. Here, lay down a Zonai steering stick and stand on it. If you’ve zuggled enough, the game will glitch, causing Link to fall through the ground, eventually landing in an arena containing a Lynel.
With a zuggled weapon, it should be a piece of cake to take down the monster. Once you have done that, use the steering stick glitch to fall through the ground again, entirely skipping the battle with the monster bosses associated with each of the Sages!
Cheesing Ganondorf in Tears of the Kingdom
Finally, it’s time to deal with the big bad demon king. The current world record holder manages to get to this point in about 41 minutes. Ganondorf’s part is one of the shortest because he’s easy to take down. Perfect dodges coupled with flurry rushes are sufficient to deal with the first two stages of the epic boss battle.
The final battle takes place in the skies, and a cutscene will have Link automatically receive the Master Sword from Zelda who is in her dragon form. A few strategies have been used by speedrunners to shorten this section.
One option is to slash one’s of dragon Ganon’s eyes, then use arrows fused to Rubies (acquired via duplication glitch) to take out the next one immediately. Alternatively, drop a Zonai wing and glide to the next eye instead of waiting for Zelda.
Once the demon king has been blown to smithereens, dive to grab Zelda’s hand. As soon as they touch, consider your speedrun done! If everything has been performed correctly, you’ll have Hyrule saved in less than an hour.
