Inside the Deku Tree

Dungeon Map

There are a few Deku Babas in the first room of the Deku Tree. You can defeat them for extra Deku Sticks or some Deku Nuts. Make your way towards the ladder to the left of the entrance, or the vines directly ahead so you can begin climbing up the inside of the tree. Follow the ledge around to the right and you’ll encounter a large chest on the way. Open this for the Dungeon Map. Ignore the vines behind the chest for now and continue around the ledge until you reach a door. Head on through.

Fairy Slingshot

In here you’ll need to use your shield to bounce the deku nut the Deku Scrub shoots at you back to him. Once it’s hit him, you can move on top of the flower patch he bounced out of and talk to him to open the door on the other side. He’ll also give you some helpful information about falling. If you hold your circle pad forward from some heights you can roll when landing and avoid injury.

Head on through the door and you’ll find another large chest across the way. Use the floating platform to jump across and open it for the Fairy Slingshot. If you fall you can use the vines to either side to climb up and reach it as well. There are some more vines up here that you can climb to find a chest with a recovery heart if needed. With the slingshot in hand you can target the ladder Navi will fly to and shoot it down to exit the room.

Compass

Once back in the entrance chamber you’ll want to make your way back to the chest where you found the map. Now you can use your slingshot to shoot down the Skullwalltulas on the vines and safely climb up them. Once at the top, drop down on either side over the ledge and make your way to the door up here. If you aren’t interested in the compass or the gold skulltulas objectives you can proceed to killing one of the Big Skulltulas instead and jumping to the basement now.

To make things easier in here you may want to jump down in the lowered area before doing anything else. Here you can safely deal with the Big Skulltula and Deku Baba before worrying about the switch and raised platforms. If you target the Big Skulltula and wait for it to turn around you can hit its belly to defeat it. A jump slash will work, but they sometimes will spin when you try and hurt you instead. You can also use two sword slashes to defeat them, or even two shots from your slingshot if you want to play it safe.

With the enemies cleared out you can safely climb the vines back towards where you entered. Stepping on the switch here will raise three platforms in the room. Use these to cross and open the big chest to get the compass. If you don’t have any deku sticks, kill the deku baba here for one so you can leave the room later.

[optional a=”compass-skulltula” id=”compass-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

Step on the switch in the compass room to activate the platforms again. Instead of going to the compass chest though, go to the small alcove to the side. Here you’ll find a Gold Skulltula low enough on the wall that you can defeat it and collect the token. There’s a chest here with a recovery heart too!

With that you can return to the main chamber by lighting a deku stick on the flaming torch and using it to light the unlit one. You can quickly put away a flaming stick by swinging your sword so it doesn’t burn down. Once back in the main chamber you’ll want to take down one of the Big Skulltulas over one of the sections not blocked by webbing. Once you’ve done that you can jump off from the platform to break through the web below. If you don’t touch the circle pad after jumping the game will automatically center you over the web! This makes it almost guaranteed to break if you’re having any trouble.

Basement 1

[optional a=”vine-skulltula” id=”vine-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

There’s a Gold Skulltula hanging out on the vines leading up from the basement in the Deku Tree. Use your slingshot to kill it safely and climb the vines to grab the token.

[optional a=”grate-skulltula” id=”grate-gs” name=”Optional: Gold Skulltula”]

You can use your slingshot to defeat the Gold Skulltula on the grate in the basement. Once defeated, use the raised platform to jump over and grab the token.

Now that you’ve landed in the basement you can start making your way to the dungeon boss. You should notice a raised platform with a switch here. Step on it to light the torch behind the webs and burn them down in the process. You can open the chest here for a recovery heart if you need it. Next you may want to consider taking down the deku baba down here so it’s not in your way. When you’re ready, light a deku stick with the torch and use the platform in the water to make the jump across so you can burn down the web blocking the door there.

In the next room you’ll encounter another deku scrub. Bounce the deku nut back at him and he’ll reveal to you that Twenty-three is number one! This is important to be able to reach the boss room later. For now, use your slingshot and shoot the eye switch above the doorway to unlock it.

Jump into the water here and swim over to the left side where you’ll see another floor switch. Dive by pressing A to reach it and the water will lower. Now you’ll want to quickly make your way back to where you jumped in and jump to the moving platform when you can. Ride it across with the water lowered and jump off on the other side. Once across you’ll encounter another Big Skulltula. Defeat it so you can move the block near it to the door (Press and hold A to drag it). You can actually make the jump without moving the block at all if you want as well.

There’s just a couple deku babas in here and some torches. Defeat the enemies if you wish and light the torches with a stick to open the path forward.

Use your slingshot to safely dispatch the Big Skulltula before it even drops down on you. Before walking all the way out into the room you’ll want to get out your slingshot again and look up at the ceiling. You’ll notice some eggs here. If you shoot them before they drop down on you you can eliminate the threat of Gohma Larva before they even hatch and save yourself some trouble. If they do drop on you just hold your shield up until they charge and get a jump slash in when they’re stunned.

Now that you can safely navigate the room you’ll notice another lit torch here and some more webs. You can’t do anything in the area with the deku baba, so instead light another stick on fire and head directly across the room to the other web. When it’s burned down you’ll be able to access another crawlspace and return to where you originally fell into the basement.

Now you’re on the upper area of where you first fell into the basement. Defeat the deku babas around here if you feel they’ll be a problem for you and then push the block off the edge to the lower area. Now you’ll want to jump down and head to the lit torch once more. Light another stick and quickly make your way back across, using the block you just pushed down to reach the upper area again. Now you can burn the web here by either rolling, crouching with R, or jump slashing with the stick to make it touch the web. Drop into the hole it opens.

Basement 2

Collect any hearts you may be missing in the water here and swim to the land. Here you’ll see three deku scrubs and you must defeat them in the proper order to open the door to the boss room. Fortunately for us, the fourth brother was one we tackled earlier and revealed to us that the proper order is 2 3 1. Defeat the middle one first, then the one on the right, and finally the one on the left. Cover his plant and target him again to have him open the doorway leading to Gohma.

Dungeon Boss: Gohma

Inside Gohma’s room you’ll need to look up at the giant eye on the ceiling to provoke her into coming down. Once she’s down and the battle begins, you’ll find she’s nearly invincible. You will need to stun her in order to cause damage to her first. Her eye will be orange most of the time, but it will occasionally turn red when she’s attacking or shortly after. At this point you can either hit her with a shot from your slingshot, or throw a deku nut to stun her. The slingshot stuns her for a bit longer so it is recommended to use that.

Once she’s stunned you can use your sword to slash away and deal some damage to her. While possible to one-cycle, it’s tricky and requires knowing the timing of sword slashes. Chances are she’ll regain her composure and head towards one of the walls or pillars to climb to the ceiling. If she does this she will prepare to lay eggs from above and you’ll need to either break them or deal with the Gohma Larva that hatch. Alternatively, you can shoot her down from the ceiling with your slingshot once her eye turns red again and get some more hits in with your sword.

There isn’t much more when it comes to this boss. If you run out of slingshot ammo you can cut the grass around the outside of the arena to refill. Repeat the process of dropping her from the ceiling and stunning her and you’ll have Gohma down in no time. Collect the heart container she drops and step into the blue warp that appears to exit the dungeon. The Deku Tree will speak with you and give you the Kokiri’s Emerald before you go. Congratulations! You just completed the first dungeon in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time!