Dodongo Cavern Dungeon Walkthrough - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake Guide - IGN

Welcome to IGN's Guide to The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake. After 28 years, Ocarina of Time has been fully remade, and while much of it remains the same, there's plenty of new differences to be found while exploring Hyrule. Tasked by the leader of the Gorons on Death Mountain, Link must defeat the ancient beasts lurking within Dodongo Cavern to earn the Spiritual Stone of Fire.

Located on the slopes of Death Mountain, Link must re-open the cavern by using a Bomb Flower from above, and then delve into the fiery lair of the Dodongos to seek out the creature terrorizing the Gorons and halting their food supply.

Entering the large cave, you can spot a cracked wall on the far end, and a Bomb Flower just to the left. Grab it and toss at the wall to open the true entrance to Dodongo Cavern, where the giant skull of a terrible beast looms large over the chamber.

A large plaque can be found at the front of the room, which reads "May this colossal and long-dead Dodongo serve as a guide to the hidden path". It seems like the way to the boss is guarded by this giant skull, but to unlock its secrets, you'll need to do a bit of exploring.

Start by moving down to jump to a small platform surrounded by lava. The lava is actually shallow, but it will constantly burn away at you if you fall in!

Ride the platform up to jump to the large central platform, where you'll run into a Beamos. This guardian watches over the area with a rotating eye, and will emit a laser at you if you wander into its line of sight. For the moment, just try to avoid it and jump to the rising platform on the left, and over to the west side.

On this side of the room is another Beamos, but there's also a Bomb Flower just to the north. Pick it up and toss it close by the Beamos by pressing R, and it will explode the enemy -- watch for its head falling to the ground, which will also explode as it dies!

The central door here is sealed, but there are two smaller alcoves covered by broken rock. Take another Bomb Flower and bomb the southern alcove to reveal a Treasure Chest with a Blue Rupee.

Next, bomb the northern alcove, where you'll find a much larger Treasure Chest holding the Dungeon Map!

Since you've done all you can on this side, wait for the small platform over the lava to begin rising up again, and grab a Bomb Flower before leaping over to the larger central platform. Quickly toss your bomb to eliminate the Beamos, and then continue to the other far side on the east.

This part of the room similarly has one inaccessible doorway, and two cracked walls, as well as a Beamos and another Bomb Flower, which you can use to destroy it. Take the Bomb Flower and destroy the northern alcove wall first to reveal a Sheikah Stone (not that you can do much with it), and then bomb the southern alcove to reveal a new doorway leading out.

In the new hallway, you be ambushed by small Baby Dodongos. While they may look adorable, they'll skitter forward and lunge at you, and even slashing them will cause them to explode after a short moment, so be sure to keep your distance.

As you head up the path dealing with another wave, you can spot a high alcove out of reach. You'll have to wait until a lot later to come back here, unfortunately.

Near the end of the hallway is a shorter ledge, with three more Baby Dodongo that appear. Before you slice them, look to the right for a large cracked wall. Lure the Baby Dodongos over and defeat one when its close to the wall, and it will explode like a bomb to break apart the wall, revealing a Gold Skulltula to defeat and grab its token!

Climb up the ledge at the end of the hall to find a sealed door, a pressure plate, and two large statues. The plate will open the door, but only until you step off, so you'll want to pull one of the statues around to sit on the plate instead so you can head through.

Watch out for the Keese hiding in the walls of the next short hallway, and move through to a large arena. It's here you'll be locked into battle against two new opponents: Lizalfos.

These cagey fighters are a lot like the Wolfos in a way -- they're extremely evasive, and can be hard to read, but luckily only attack one at a time. Wait for one to join you on one of the circular platforms above the lava, and watch as it skitters around looking for an opening.

Unlike the Wolfos, they don't have a good defense, so instead shield up and hunker down until they get greedy and try to strike, then retaliate quickly when they get knocked off balance. Their most notable move is the ability to leap high over your head, which they'll try to follow up with a strike from behind as they land. Luckily, hunkering down with the shield protects against all angles, so as long as you remain still, you'll be able to block their attack.

After a few hits, one of the Lizalfos will usually beat a hasty retreat a few platforms over. Resist the urge to give chase, and instead turn your attention to the other Lizalfos to prepare for their ambush. If you take damage, be sure to check the platforms near the back for pots with some Recovery Hearts.

After the battle is won, a Treasure Chest will appear holding a Red Rupee, and you can also look for a thin ledge on the eastern side leading behind a lava fall to find several pots holding some Blue Rupees and a Fairy if you need more recovery!

Exit through the door to the northwest, where you'll find another sealed door, and to the left will be a Bomb Flower. Use it to punch a hole in the doorway, and on the other side is a Business Scrub. Reflect his projectile, and he'll offer to sell hearts or Deku Sticks -- and you'll need sticks for this next part.

The room around the corner is long and filled with much more intimidating fully grown Dodongos. They stony lizards are impervious to frontal assaults, and will try to breathe fire on you if you aren't strafing constantly.

Use this to your advantage by baiting one into taking a deep breath, then quickly run around to slash or jump attack on their exposed tail, which isn't armored. Just be sure to quickly back off, as they'll do a quick spinning swipe to reorient themselves. Keep repeating the baiting maneuver until they go down, and explode shortly after.

Once all three are defeated, turn your attention to the single lit torch, and look carefully for three unlit braziers around the room. You'll need to light a Deku Stick, and quickly race through all the other three braziers. Take too long, and they'll start to go out, and you'll need to start over.

Once the puzzle is complete, a door will open leading back to the main entry hall, where you can step on a switch to open the door on the far side.

Now on the western side of the cavern, enter the newly unlocked room to find a large stairway to the north, and a cracked wall to the south. Take the south path first by blowing it open with a nearby Bomb Flower. Inside, you'll find an arena with three large stone statues like the one you pushed onto a pressure plate.

This time, the statue at the far end will come to life, revealing itself as an Armos. This monster is rock hard and can't be damaged with your sword. Instead, look for a Bomb Flower near the entrance to this room and lure the Armos into it.

It will go crazy after being damaged, so run away until it explodes, and then climb the far ladder to find a Treasure Chest holding the Dungeon Compass!

Now armed with both Map and Compass, make your way north to an area with a large raised staircase high above you. There are Bomb Flowers all around its base, with a small gap near the front. Look for a separate Bomb Flower away from the rest, and place it in the small gap so you can unleash one continuous explosion setting off all the bombs in a chain around the stairs.

This will erode the structure, causing it to sink into the ground, and make the large staircase accessible to climb up. There's a ladder at the top you can climb to find another cracked wall, but without any Bomb Flowers around there's not much you can do with it.

Head up from the large stairs to the higher level on the south side of the room, but be sure to turn around before you reach the exit. There's a large mesh wall here, with a Gold Skulltula hanging from the side among some Skullwalltulas. Hit them with slingshots, then climb up the mesh to grab your token.

Heading into the southern room on the second floor, you'll find a recessed area below you with a high central platform, with statues all around it, and Fire Keese darting around from above. Be sure you have your Hylian Shield equipped from here on out, or you risk getting your Kokiri Shield burned away!

Snipe the Keese with your Slingshot (or use your Hylian Shield to block their attack and douse their flames), then drop down to investigate the central platform. Each of the statues is actually an Armos in disguise -- all except the one on the south side, which stands before the only intact ladder. You can lob Bomb Flowers at the Armos before they awaken to solve the problem prematurely, then pull out the statue so you can climb up and step on the switch to open the eastern door.

Head across the upper level of the main entry room with the giant skull, and leap across the hole in the bridge to the far side. This leads to a large room full of raised platforms, and several indestructible moving spike traps roving between them down below.

On the far east side of the room is a cracked wall on a high ledge with part of a ladder below it. Carefully dart past the spike traps to reach it, then look right for a square stone you can pull down just below the ladder.

Hop from the ladder onto the raised platforms nearby, where you'll find a Bomb Flower and a Treasure Chest with some Deku Seeds inside. Grab the Bomb Flower, and toss it to the high ledge above the ladder so you can destroy the cracked wall.

The hallway beyond has a platform on fire, but there's an eye switch on the wall on the far side. Hit it with your Slingshot to douse the flames, then cross to the next hall, where several Baby Dodongos will try ambushing you from the lava.

When you reach the next room, you'll have one more fight against a pair of Lizalfos. Use the same tactics as before to focus only on the one currently engaging you. Stay defensive and shielded up to let them get reckless before you retaliate quickly and go back to defending.

Once they've been defeated, the other door back to the west will open, and a small chest will also appear along a narrow path to the north, high over the first arena you fought Lizalfos in. Carefully make your way over to the platform to open the Treasure Chest and get a Business Scrub Seed. You can think of these things like an emergency shop. Low on health? Missing some vital slingshot ammo or sticks to light? Scrubs got you covered, and you can throw one down almost anywhere to summon one!

Taking the path back alongside the way you came, there's another set of flaming platform. You can hit another eye to douse the first platform, but a second one is still ablaze, and the first won't be doused for long. Jump across and quickly pivot and aim left, through a small window to a second eye switch to douse the second platform, and quickly jump across before the fire returns.

Finally, you'll return to the room with the moving spike traps and high platforms, putting you in front of a large Treasure Chest holding a Bomb Bag, complete with Bombs! Now you don't need to have Bomb Flowers on hand when you can plant or toss bombs anywhere!

Unlocking the Dodongo Skull's Secret Path

Test out your new bombs by placing one at the cracked wall behind the chest, and it will open a path back to the big entry room with the giant skull. There's a switch dead ahead, and stepping on it will unlock a shortcut by way of one of the rising platforms below rising all the way up to the second floor like an elevator!

At the far northeast corner of this area by the giant skull, there's another cracked wall you can detonate with a bomb. This will reveal a room with two Dodongos pacing around a large rock in the middle of the room, and on the other side you'll find a Gold Skulltula hiding (which can be killed by a detonating Dodongo!).

Head across the bridge that crosses over the giant skull, and be sure to read the plaque here. It reads: "When this long-dead Dodongo sees red, a new path will be opened."

In order to make him see red, he's going to need your help. The bridge has two tiny broken sections, which just so happen to be placed above the skull's eye sockets. Stand above each of these gaps and drop a bomb into each eye socket, and soon the skull will be seeing red! This will cause the jaw of the skull to lower down, opening a new path to the boss.

Before leaving, be sure to bomb the far wall on the other side of the bridge to find a Treasure Chest with a Blue Rupee inside.

Once you take the lift back down to the base of the giant skull, be sure to return back to the first floor room on the west side with the large staircase you detonated. Climb up again, and go up the ladder back to the cracked wall at the top, which you can now blow open with your bombs. On the other side is one last Treasure Chest holding a second Business Scrub Seed.

Entering the new chamber through the skull's mouth, you'll find a slope leading down to an area with a hole in the middle, and a stone block up on a high ledge you can't quite reach. Watch for Fire Keese flying around above that they don't ambush you, and keep heading north.

The path will curve into a room made up of narrow pathway with high platforms separating them -- and more Fire Keese to harass you. There are several movable stone blocks, including one at the very end blocking your exit.

There's a stone block on the raised narrow platform, but you need room to move it to the floor below. This can be done by pulling the nearby stone block so that it's just under the raised one, giving you a spot to climb up and then push the other block down.

After pushing the block down to the lower level, be sure and push the fallen block all the way to the far wall, where there's a ledge with a large cracked wall. Toss a bomb on top of the stone block to blast apart the wall, then climb up to find a small room. There are several Baby Dodongos waiting to ambush you, and near the back you'll find a Gold Skulltula hiding behind an Armos statue, which you can also toss a bomb at to detonate them both (or lure the Baby Dodongos into)!

To exit the area, push the fallen stone block so that it's underneath the block by the southern exit, and you can climb up over both of the blocks. Head down the path to find one more stone block perched over the area you were in previously, and push it down and into the hole in the floor to unlock the nearby door leading to the boss room.

When you're ready, head through the door, and bomb the cracked floor to create a hole to drop down into the lair of an ancient beast...

Dropping down onto the edge of a circular lava pit, Link will find himself face to face with King Dodongo, a gigantic and fearsome beast that has taken control of the cavern. The giant behemoth is as powerful as it is sturdy.

Much like the other Dodongos, King Dodongo is covered in a rock-like hide, making traditional head-on assaults worthless. His fearsome jaws will open to ready a giant fireball blast, and there's not a lot of room to maneuver, so you'll need to think quickly.

That explosive mouth of his paints a perfect target for the one part of his body not covered in hardened scales. You can either pull out a bomb to throw, or look for Bomb Flowers that have sprouted up along each of the four paths ringing the lava -- one should be just to your left.

Toss the bomb before he finishes readying his fire blast, and it will detonate inside his mouth, stunning King Dodongo. This will be your chance to press your assault on his vulnerable tongue while it hangs open. Get in some quick stabs or a jump attack until he wakes up and readies his next move.

After taking damage, King Dodongo will respond by rolling into a ball and careening forward along the narrow paths like an unstoppable rolling death machine. The path is too narrow for you to sidestep around him without stepping into the lava, so instead you'll want to start retreating back. You'll find that each corner of the room has some extra space out by the lava, and you can let King Dodongo slam into a wall and turn down the next path while you wait on the inside of the corner turn.

Don't be too hasty rushing in with a bomb after King Dodongo slams into a wall and begins to right himself. The act will usually summon a small horde of Baby Dodongos, and you'll want to quickly slice them apart and backpedal back to the nearest Bomb Flower, or wait to get some space before readying your next bomb.

Repeat the process three times of waiting for him to open his mouth so you can lob a bomb in, then follow up with a flurry of attacks. After the third assault, King Dodongo will roll into the lava, which will harden while his body decays half submerged.

The battle is won, and your reward is a full Heart Container!

Head into the blue light once you've claimed your health upgrade, and you'll be transported outside. Darunia will personally congratulate Like with a hearty pat on the head. Darunia will explain how a certain Gerudo King was responsible for trying to get the Spiritual Stone of Fire, which Darunia will now entrust to you, as a true Sworn Brother!

Before escaping the Goron Celebrations, Darunia will mention that you should seek out the Great Fairy atop Death Mountain, and that's not a bad idea, but there's plenty more to do now that you have your own Bomb Bag.

Start by heading down the trail back toward Kakariko Village, and look for a cracked stone wall by the Red Tektites. You can blow up the wall, and even if it's not nightfall, a Gold Skulltula can be found on the other side for you to defeat.

You should also return to Goron City to do a much-needed bit of demolition. On the entrance tier, head along to the upper left side and blast through the boulders to find a room full of brown and gray rocks, as well as strange black obelisks.

You can't destroy the gray or black ones, but you can bomb a path through the cracked boulders heading right, then left, then straight to find two Treasure Chests with a Bluee Rupee apiece, and a crate hiding a Gold Skulltula!

Head to the next level down where a Goron does laps rolling around this ring of the city, and look for a sign in the tunnel part of the ring that challenges you to stop the Goron at this spot. You'll need a bit of lead time to have the bomb detonate at the right time (it won't hurt him), so stand by the tunnel entrance and look across to the other side.

Plant it as soon as you see him enter the opposite side to catch him as he rolls past. He'll be so impressed with your work that he'll reward you with a Bigger Bomb Bag, allowing you to hold 30 Bombs at maximum!

Finally, drop down until you're on the level above the giant spinning pot, and look for a plank that puts you close to the top of the pot. You'll want to toss a bomb into the spinning pot, ideally when the "Happy" face is facing you. The pot will spin wildly, and depending on the face it stop spinning on, you can earn different prizes. If it lands on the "Happy" face, you'll get a Piece of Heart! If you've been following our guide, this should be your second full Heart Container!

Leave Goron City and head back out onto the trail, this time heading past the tunnel entrance and to the far western side. Where the Goron was rolling in circles, you can also find a cracked wall to detonate, and on the other side is a chest with a Business Scrub Seed.

Head up the steep path in the northwest to find a series of cracked boulders blocking ledges, and toss bombs at them to clear a path. At the top, you'll find another boulder with a strange noise coming from it, and blasting it apart will reveal a grotto entrance with... a cow?

Ever tried playing Epona's Song for a cow? They love being reminded of the open pasture, and the song will get their milk flowing, allowing you to take some Lon Lon Milk if you have an empty bottle (Might want to pasturerize that first, Link...).

As you draw close to the summit, a large eruption will trigger from Death Mountain. Fiery rocks will rain down from above, and you'll want to be quick and careful making a sprint to the far wall. Use your Hylian Shield to take cover like a turtle if you see rocks coming your way.

Once you reach the wall at the end, the eruption will stop. Take out your slingshot to deal with the Skullwalltulas along the mesh before climbing up to the top.

Now that you've reached the summit, you can spy Kaepora Gaebora waiting for you, but hold off on talking to him for the moment. To his left is a large cracked wall, and you can bomb it to reveal the entrance to a strange yet elegant fountain.

Stand on the triforce symbol, and play Zelda's Lullaby to officially announce yourself. A voice will emanate from within the fountain, asking for an offering of 25 Rupees if its power you seek. Do so, and the Great Fairy will reveal herself to you. As promised, the Great Fairy of Magic will imbue you with a new power: Din's Fire. This will unleash Link's magic power, filling a new green magic meter under your hearts.

You'll now be able to use Din's Fire to expend magic power by unleashing a fiery blast that targets all enemies (or flammable objects) around you!

As you leave, the Great Fairy will suggest you seek out her other five sisters, starting with one located near Hyrule Castle, who can grant you a new sword technique. Before we do that however, it's time to brave a very hot place.

While not for the faint of heart, there's a few valuable items hiding inside Death Mountain Crater itself, but you will need to move quickly! Luckily, we have the locations you should beeline to before retreating back out.

While the original N64 game would give you a timer before the heat overwhelms Link, in the Remake, you'll start taking damage fairly fast, and it will slowly eat away at your life force the more you linger.

There's a secret to how the crater handles the extreme heat. As soon as you enter, Link will begin smoldering with small flames, and after 4 seconds, there will be a flare, and you'll start taking a quarter-heart health damage every few moments. However, if you heal yourself from any source, the timer will be reset, giving you another 4 seconds of grace before the damage starts ticking again. With this in mind, you can look for nearby pots and rocks to destroy and find Recovery Hearts to stall the incoming damage, or use Lon Lon Milk from the cow found in the grotto at the base of the trail.

Since you'll want to move quickly here, focus on running forward and look for two wooden crates by a pot on the left side. Roll into the furthest crate to find a Gold Skulltula hiding inside.

Next, quickly dash to the right between two large rocks, and look for some mesh along the ground leading to a wall you can climb down the face of the inner volcano. Just below these two mesh spots is a Piece of Heart hiding in an alcove (which will also reset the time it takes to start taking damage), just be sure to quickly leap back up the mesh after claiming it!

Finally, after climbing up the mesh wall, run to the northwest for another low platform, near a broken bridge with a large grey rock in the way making it impossible to cross. What you can do from this side is find a Business Deku Scrub here -- of all places! He'll sell you another Piece of Heart for 100 Rupees. It's a steep price, but well worth it (and will reset the time until you start taking damage).

There's not much else here worth burning for, other than a large brown rock in the western corner above the Deku Business Scrub with a grotto that serves as a temporary safe spot from the heat, and contains a Treasure Chest with a Business Scrub Seed.

Now that you're finally done with this hot place, step back out onto the summit exterior, and speak to Kaepora Gaebora the Owl. He'll offer to give you a ride down to Kakariko Village, which you should accept and enjoy the flight!

Kaepora Gaebora will drop you off on top of Impa's House of all places, but don't jump off just yet. Carefully move to the back of the rooftop, and look down for a small cow pen that's been hidden behind sealed gates. On the roof of the pen is a Piece of Heart that can't be accessed except from this roof, so hop down onto the lower roof of the cow pen and claim your prize!

By now, if you've been following our guide, you should have well over 20 Gold Skulltulas from your trip through Dodongo Cavern. This means another one of the family cursed by spiders has been freed, so head back into the Cursed Spider House, and the father will have a new reward for you: The Echo Gem. This item can be equipped and affixed to the front of Link's tunic. Whenever you enter an area where a Gold Skulltula is hiding near, both the gem and the icon on your HUD will begin to flash. When you get close to the spot where its hiding (even if it hasn't appeared yet due to the time of day, soft soil, or stuck in a tree), the gem will flash more frequently, making it a useful tool!

With your newly minted bag of bombs, there's also new secrets to uncover all across Hyrule. If you've notices strange cracked rocks along the ground in certain areas, like the one just around the corner of the Cursed Spider House, you can now use bombs to open up secret Grottos. They often have interesting items inside, like a bunch of beehives you can burn away with Din's Fire to earn a ton of Rupees!

Just outside Lon Lon Ranch in the tall dry grass (Fairy Fountain)

Lost Woods next to the Goron City shortcut (Bugs)

Lost Woods next to the Sacred Grove Entrance (Business Scrubs)

Southeast corner of Lon Lon Ranch's race track (Business Scrubs)

A circle of stones outside the entrance to Gerudo Valley (Cow, Rupees)

Along the moat east of the entrance to Castle Town (Business Scrub)

Western Hyrule Field by a campsite north of Kokiri Forest (Rupees)

Southeast Hyrule Field Wetlands by a Large Peahat

In particular, be sure to look for a Grotto entrance in the wooded area south of Lon Lon Ranch by a large Peahat. Inside the Grotto, you can find another Gold Skulltula to defeat.

You should also check out the large cracked boulder in the Lost Woods that's right by the entrance to the Sacred Grove. One of the Deku Business Scrubs inside will offer to sell you an inventory upgrade for your Deku Nuts for just 40 Rupees!

The last thing on our list is following the Great Fairy's advice to search for her sisters, starting with one by the Castle. First however, our bombs have opened up some other new possibilities. This includes access to the Bombchu Shop along the alleyway. Bombchus are a special type of bomb that will rapidly crawl forward when planted, and can even climb up walls and over ceiling before detonating. Though they are hard to control, they can provide effective ranged demolition.

Speaking of which, you can now access the Bombchu Bowling Alley near the center of town. For the cost of 10 Rupees, you can try your hand at navigating Bombchus into a target on a far wall, avoiding obstacles and banking them off walls to reach 3 goals with 10 Bombchus. It'll take a bit of practice and angling, but there are some wonderful prizes to earn as you unlock harder courses:

For the harder courses, we recommend looking for way to angle the Bombchus off the wall at angles to reach the back, or look for the small gaps between obstacles to drive a straight path through threading anything in the way -- timing is crucial!

Finally, if you sold that Skull Mask to the kid in the Lost Woods, you can now rent out a Scary Mask for the going price of 30 Rupees.

We know of someone that wants to look scary like their idol, Dampe -- the Graveyard Kid! Take the mask back to Kakariko and show it to the kid during the day, he'll drop down a whopping 50 Rupees to purchase it, netting you a profit of 20 when you pay the Happy Mask Salesman back!

This also means you can now rent out the Bunny Hood from the Happy Mask Shop next, but it'll be a little bit until you can find a potential buyer.

Following the Great Fairy's advice, return up to Hyrule Castle, and while you can no longer use the drain to sneak into visit Princess Zelda, you may notice a large cracked wall just past the gatehouse off the path to the east.

Blow up the wall with a bomb to find another Great Fairy's Fountain. As before, even playing Zelda's Lullaby won't be enough to earn you an audience, as you'll need to make an offering. This time, it will cost you 50 Rupees.

Agree to pay the offering, and the Great Fairy of Power will bestow a new gift to you: The Spin Attack. While before you can only perform a short twirl by holding the attack button, you can now imbue your sword with magic to hold down the charge to unleash a devastating spin attack. The longer you charge, the more effective and longer-reaching the spin attack is, but it will leave you vulnerable while you charge up.

There are still four more Great Fairies to find, and you can locate the next one soon at Zora's Fountain.

Speaking of which, leaving the Great Fairy Fountain, you'll run into Impa again, Princess Zelda's shadowy attendant. She'll inform you that the remaining stone, the Spiritual Stone of Water, is safeguarded by the Zora, a race of aquatic people who make their home at Hyrule's water source.

Now that we have our next heading, we can continue to the journey to Zora's Domain!

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