Zelda Ocarina of Time Gerudo Fortress guide and walkthrough
The Gerudo Fortress in OoT has four carpenters held prisoner who you need to find
The Gerudo Fortress in Zelda Ocarina of Time Remake is as much of a maze as the original, a forced stealth section in which Link must find four imprisoned carpenters that the Gerudo have taken hostage and free them from their respective jails. To do this, you have to sneak around all the guards, as being spotted instantly fails you and returns you to your cell on the North side of the Fortress. Fortunately, I'll show you how to find all the carpenters and what you need to need about this key location in our guide and walkthrough.
Once this is complete, you'll need the Lenses of Truth for the next section of the desert. If you haven't found them yet, our guide will help!
How to complete Gerudo Fortress in Zelda Ocarina of Time
To complete Gerudo Fortress in OoT, you simply need to find all four prisoners. They're at different locations in the Fortress, but our map and guide below will show you where to enter and where to go. Keep in mind that you can do these in any order.
- Ground Level East-facing door. Enter and follow the corridor right to find the first cell.
- Middle level North-facing door. From the central rooftop/plaza, take the North doorway, then follow it down the stairs and around to a basement with another cell inside.
- Upper level South-facing door. From the central rooftop, take the ladder to the South and go through the doorway ahead of you to find another cell in front of you.
- Middle level East-facing door. After jumping out of the cell, drop down the middle rooftop on your left and go through the door. There'll be a large dining room with Gerudo guards to sneak through, but past them is another cell.
Sneaking around guards is simply a matter of not getting into their eyelines and not doing anything to create noise. Don't bother attacking them either, as it serves no benefit.
If you're careful, you can use the torchlight to see if they're close to corners. From that point on, use alcoves and obstacles to block their line of sight. The guards generally have small, predictable patterns, so keep an eye on them and you should understand their routes pretty quickly.
Gerudo Thief boss fights
Each time you enter a cell, you'll have a boss fight with a Gerudo Thief for the key. Here's a few things to keep in mind:
- Her attacks leave her vulnerable afterwards to counterattack.
- If you see her blades glint, start backflipping away. This marks an instant-kill attack she's about to perform, but three backflips should leave you clear of it.
- Deku Nuts can stun her effectively, leaving you the chance to do major damage.
How to escape the Gerudo Fortress prison cell
If you get caught by the guards or defeated by the Gerudo Thief, you'll be sent to a cell yourself in the North side of the Fortress. To escape, all you need to do is use your hookshot on the mesh on the ceiling, as shown above, to access a ledge overlooking the whole fort. From here, you can either drop down to ground level (next to entrance 1) or to the middle level (next to entrance 4).
At this point in the game, have you made sure you have the Zelda Ocarina of Time Golden Scale? Or if you want some even bigger upgrades, make sure you have all the Zelda Ocarina of Time Great Fairy Fountains you can get so far!
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Joel Franey is a writer, journalist, podcaster and Very Tired Man with a BA from Brunel University, a Masters from Sussex University and a decade working in games journalism, often focused on guides coverage but also in reviews, features and news. His love of games is strongest when it comes to groundbreaking narratives like Disco Elysium, UnderTale and Baldur's Gate 3, as well as innovative or refined gameplay experiences like XCOM, Sifu, Arkham Asylum or Slay the Spire. He is a firm believer that the vast majority of games would be improved by adding a grappling hook, and if they already have one, they should probably add another just to be safe. You can find old work of his at Eurogamer, Gfinity, USgamer, SFX Magazine, RPS, Dicebreaker, VG247, and more.
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