Zora's Domain

Unfreeze King Zora without Blue Fire

With this trick, you can get the Zora Tunic and complete the trading sequence without obtaining a bottle or entering ice cavern.

Trade Item Method

1. Face away from the steps and backwalk up the steps until a little past half way
   • The ceiling becomes visibly very dark at this point, which is a good visual cue
2. Use the trade item
3. Check to see if King Zora is loaded (he should still be frozen). If not, turn around and back up the steps further before using the trade item.

At this point, King Zora will be unfrozen as soon as he is reloaded. The fastest way is just to walk a bit down the stairs so he unloads again, then go back up.

Sign Method

The following setup will not work if King Zora has already been moved by using the Ruto Letter.

1. At the bottom of the hallway to King Zora (while he's unloaded), start sidehopping along the wall up to the top.
2. Scoot left so you can barely read the sign (this position is actually very loose).
3. Read the sign.
4. Unload and reload King Zora to unfreeze him.

Collect the Eyeball Frog Early

Discovered by Jarvitz

This trick allows you to skip most of the Adult trading sequence. This trick is commonly known as "Hold R Lol". This trick only works on versions 1.0 and 1.1. It is particularly useful in 100% and Ganonless. There are multiple ways to do this. One way is to target the wall on the right and sidewalk left until you can barely read the sign. Read the sign and then reload the area and King Zora will be unfrozen. Then when you talk to him hold R and he will give you the Eyeball Frog instead of the Zora Tunic.
Another method uses an Adult trade item to unfreeze him:

Ladder Clip

In Zora's Domain, you can clip out of bounds using the ladder next to Zora River entrance. As an Adult, this clip can be used to reach both the Lake Hylia shortcut and the Zora Shop.

from above

This clip is possible with a sidehop or backwalking, but the position required is fairly precise.

Original video (see 0:35)

from below with hookshot

1. Hookshot the top-right side of the ladder and hold neutral (Link should automatically grab the ledge and clip)
2. Wait a small bit for Link to be fully inside the wall
3. Press A to drop down, and immediately press B to jumpslash to the ice floor below
4. Make your way to the shortcut exit (see tutorial below)

Tutorial by Arthur

Older video with hover boots

Enter the Lake Hylia Shortcut As An Adult

Using the Lake Hylia Shortcut greatly cuts out the time spent delivering the frozen Eyeball Frog portion of the trading sequence.

Perform the Ladder Clip, then once out of bounds you'll need to get beneath the ice in order to reach the shortcut.

• If you have the Iron Boots, you can simply walk off the ice into an invisible water box, then use them to stay underneath the ice so that you can swim back in bounds or into the loading zone.
• If you lack Iron Boots but have the Golden Scale, you can jump into the invisible water then dive under and into the loading zone.
• If you don't have either, you can instead fall OoBs for a bit, then clip back into the water box. To reduce the distance you fall (and thus have to float back up to), you can use the Hoverboots to walk outside of the water box, then quickly turn back and jumpslash to clip back into the water box.

Enter the Zora Shop without Blue Fire

• Perform the Ladder Clip
• Once out of bounds, jump into the invisible water just past the edge of the ice
• Turn to face where the Zora Shop entrance is and swim along the edge of the ice and underneath the pathway in front of you.
• Once you swim past the pathway, turn left to clip back on top of the ice
• Make your way toward the entrance of the Zora Shop to further clip back in bounds, then enter the shop.

Diving minigame

──── King Zora skip ────

There are several methods that can be used to head to and from Zora's Fountain without talking to and moving King Zora, allowing you to skip the Ruto Bottle.

Adult - Jumpslash clip KZ skip

Using an acute angle clip, you can skip past King Zora as adult using only the Master Sword. Hold right once you clip to stay out of bounds, then hold up-left to jump into the water and swim up behind him.

Child - Ledge Cancel KZ Skip

Ledge cancel can be performed with a bombchu or bomb, then you can simply walk through him. You must sidehop or backflip off the small ledge near King Zora because ledge cancel will be cancelled if you jump normally.

Child - Shield bombchu KZ skip

Discovered by Kazooie

By crouching and shielding an explosion, Link gets pushed backwards a bit. By setting this up so that you are at the acute angle in Zora's Domain, you will be pushed through it and end up in Out of Bounds water. From here you can simply swim past King Zora and head to the Fountain.

Reverse King Zora skips

Adult Blue Fire method

Discovered by Pokey

As Adult, if you have blue fire and he is still frozen, it is possible to clip through him as he is melting. There is a short time window when you can just walk right through King Zora and return to the front.

Other King Zora skip methods

These are essentially obsolete. They are listed here for posterity.

Mega Sidehop Clip

Discovered by JetlagJad

It's possible to stand on the very corner of the platform in front of King Zora and do a mega-sidehop (similar to a Megaflip) to clip out of bounds and swim past King Zora. You will need to jumpslash immediately after you clip so that you don't just keep going backwards out of bounds.

Hover Over King Zora

Discovered by Acryte

By setting up a Bomb Hover, you can hover over King Zora in about 5 explosives. Note that this method is slower than the others and requires more explosives, so it is rarely used.