Ascent to Mount Crenel Walkthrough

The Minish Cap 100% Completion Walkthrough19 chapters

Walkthrough overview

• The Picori Festival and the Minish WoodsGet the Small Shield and Smith’s Sword, meet Ezlo, shrink and reach Minish Village.
• Deepwood Shrine (Dungeon 1)All four small keys, Dungeon Map, Compass, Madderpillar, Gust Jar, Big Key, Heart Pieces and Big Green Chuchu.
• Ascent to Mount CrenelBomb Bag, Kinstone Bag, Big Wallet, bottle, Grip Ring, Great Fairy, Heart Pieces and Melari’s Mines.
• Cave of Flames (Dungeon 2)Every key, chest and mine cart, the Cane of Pacci, the Big Key, Gleerok boss tactics and the Fire Element.
• Infusing the Picori BladeMelari’s White Sword, the Elemental Sanctuary, a Heart Piece and a Kinstone piece on the way.
• Getting the Pegasus BootsSyrup’s Wake-Up Mushroom, Lon Lon Ranch, eight Kinstone fusions, three Heart Pieces and Swiftblade.
• Castor Wilds and the Wind RuinsThree Gold Kinstones, the Bow, the Mysterious Statue fusions and the road to the Fortress of Winds.
• Fortress of Winds (Dungeon 3)Every key, Compass, Map, Mole Mitts, Big Key, Mazaal boss tactics, Heart Container and Ocarina of Wind.
• The Library Books and the FlippersReturn the three overdue books in Hyrule Town, win the Power Bracelets and get the Flippers.
• Hyrule Town Side Quests and Kinstone FusionsAnju’s Cucco Roundup, Simon’s Simulation, Kinstone fusions, heart pieces and the Magical Boomerang.
• Collectibles Sweep Before the Temple of DropletsKinstone fusions, 10 Pieces of Heart, Roll Attack and Peril Beam dojos and the Bigger Quiver.
• Temple of Droplets (Dungeon 4)Every key, Map, Compass, Big Key, Flame Lantern, Big Blue Chuchu, Big Octorok and the Water Element.
• Royal Valley and the Royal CryptWater Element, Sword Beam, Remote Bombs, Graveyard Key, Great Fairy and King Gustaf’s Gold Kinstone
• Veil Falls and the Cloud TopsHeart Pieces, Splitblade’s dojo, Source of the Flow and five Mysterious Cloud fusions.
• Palace of Winds (Dungeon 5)Roc’s Cape, four Small Keys, Big Key, Compass, Map, Heart Piece, Gyorg Pair boss and Wind Element.
• Collecting the Upgrades Before the Four SwordDown Thrust, Great Spin Attack, seven Kinstone fusions, seven Heart Pieces and the Goron Cave bottle.
• Dark Hyrule Castle (Final Dungeon)King’s cell, Map, Compass, six Small Keys, Big Key, Darknut rooms and the Darknut trio before Vaati.
• Vaati Final Boss and EndingBeat Vaati Reborn, Transfigured and Wrath, free Zelda, escape the castle, then save after the credits.
• Postgame Collectibles and 100% CompletionLast Kinstone fusions, Biggoron’s Mirror Shield, Heart Pieces, Heart Container, Tingle Trophy and all 136 figurines.

This chapter takes you from the Minish Village, where the Elder points you at Mt. Crenel, to Melari’s Mines at the top of the mountain. On the way you collect the Bomb Bag, learn Kinstone fusion, learn the Spin Attack, buy a Big Wallet and your first bottle, grow a beanstalk with hot spring water, buy the Grip Ring, earn the Big Bomb Bag from the Great Fairy and leave the Picori Blade with Melari.

Minish Village and the Bomb Bag

Talk to the Elder

After the Deepwood Shrine, walk back to the Minish Village at Minish size and visit the Elder, Gentari, in the yellow-roofed house. He congratulates you on the Earth Element, tells you to find a Minish named Melari at Mt. Crenel to reforge the broken Picori Blade, and says he will send word ahead. He then opens a doorway in the wall of his house that leads out of the village.

Get the Bomb Bag from Belari

Outside, walk west through the Minish Woods to the small orange house and talk to Belari, the Minish inventor. He gives you the Bomb Bag with 10 bombs already inside. Bombs are now a permanent item that you can equip, and you will need them for almost every cracked wall and boulder from here to Melari. Belari also warns you that debris is blocking the way back to town.

Grow back to normal size and check the first Wind Crest

Leave Belari’s house and step onto the tree stump nearby. It is a Minish Portal, so press R on it to return to normal size. Just north of Belari’s house stands a stone marker. Check it and it crumbles, leaving a wind symbol on the ground. This is the first of the Wind Crests, a warp point you can use once you own the Ocarina of Wind, so activate every one you meet.

Leaving the Minish Woods

Bomb the boulders at the western bridge

Cross the narrow bridge to the west. Three cracked boulders block the exit from the woods. Set a bomb beside them to clear the way, then walk out into the Eastern Hills.

Optional: the Mysterious Shell cave

Just outside the woods, near the stairs, a cracked wall hides a small cave. Bomb it and open the chest inside for 20 Mysterious Shells. You do not need this to progress, but shells are used later at the Carlov figurine shop.

South Hyrule Field Wind Crest

Follow the path west into South Hyrule Field. Your own house stands in the middle of the field, and the second Wind Crest stone is just north of it. Check the stone to reveal its symbol before you head north to Hyrule Town.

Hyrule Town: the Kinstone Bag and the first fusion

Get the Kinstone Bag from the Hurdy-Gurdy Man

Enter Hyrule Town through its gate and walk up to the plaza, where the Hurdy-Gurdy Man is surrounded by kids and shouting about Kinstones. Talk to him and he gives you the Kinstone Bag for free, along with your first Kinstone piece, a blue S-shaped half. The bag stores every Kinstone piece you find.

Fuse with the Hurdy-Gurdy Man (first Kinstone fusion)

Whenever a person shows a heart bubble over their head, they have a matching Kinstone half and are ready to fuse. Stand in front of the Hurdy-Gurdy Man, press L, pick your piece in the Kinstone Fusion menu and confirm. The two halves fit together, and a short cutscene shows the effect: the thorny vines around a hollow tree in South Hyrule Field wither away and open its entrance. Fusions always change something elsewhere in the world, so make a habit of fusing with everyone who shows a bubble.

Collect the Heart Piece in the hollow tree

The tree opened by this fusion stands in South Hyrule Field, a short walk from your house. Walk inside to find a Piece of Heart. Collect this Heart Piece now or on a later trip through the field.

Learn the Spin Attack from Swiftblade

Swiftblade’s dojo is the log cabin just west of the town entrance. Answer yes when he offers to train you. He teaches the technique in three steps: hold the sword button, keep holding until your power builds up, then release it. After a demonstration you try it yourself. He gives you the Spin Attack Tiger Scroll, your first, so you can reread the technique from the pause menu any time. You must know the Spin Attack to pass the guard at the northwest exit.

Catch Anju’s Cuccos

In the southeast corner of town, Anju asks you to catch her escaped Cuccos in a minigame. The first round gives you 25 seconds to bring back 2 Cuccos. Pick them up with R, and roll to chase them down faster than you can walk. Round 1 pays 10 Mysterious Shells, and Anju adds Rupees for the Cuccos you return: a gold Cucco is worth more than a white one, and catching gold ones can fill a wallet that holds only 100 Rupees. The last rounds cannot be won with your current gear, so come back later.

Buy the Big Wallet

Stockwell’s shop, the building with a giant Rupee on its roof, sells a Big Wallet for 80 Rupees. It raises your wallet limit from 100 to 300 Rupees, which matters for the expensive items later. Buy it right after the Cucco round while your wallet is full. Stockwell then offers a Boomerang for 300 Rupees, which you cannot afford yet.

Optional: more in Hyrule Town

Two quick stops are worth making while you are in town. Check the stone to the right of the north exit to activate the Hyrule Town Wind Crest. Then go through the east door of Mayor Hagen’s house and climb down the ladder to a chest holding a red Kinstone piece. Neither is needed to reach Mt. Crenel, but both save a trip later.

Show the Spin Attack to the guard

Walk to the northwest exit of town, where a soldier blocks the road to Trilby Highlands. He says the road is still dangerous but that you may be able to handle it, and he wants to see a sword technique. Perform the Spin Attack in front of him by holding the sword button until you glow and releasing. He steps aside. Keep 20 Rupees for the bottle you buy next.

Trilby Highlands: the first bottle

Buy an Empty Bottle from the Business Scrub

In Trilby Highlands, go southwest to a ladder and climb down into a small cave. A cracked wall on the right side hides a Business Scrub: bomb it open. Hold up your shield to bounce the seeds he shoots back at him. He then sells you an Empty Bottle for 20 Rupees. This is the first of the four bottles and you need it right away to carry water for the Mt. Crenel beanstalk.

Mt. Crenel Base

Reach the foot of the mountain

Climb back out of the cave, head north until you can turn west, and cross the short bridge. Keep going west into the rocky foothills. The area name Mt. Crenel Base appears on screen when you arrive.

Optional: Rupees, fairies and bombs

Three small detours are on offer here. Climb the leftmost vine for a chest with 20 Rupees. Bomb the cracked wall to the west for a small fairy spring and 15 Rupees; a fairy heals you if you walk into it. A Business Scrub in a cave on the far west side sells 10 bombs for 30 Rupees if you run low.

Water the first vine

Fill your Empty Bottle with plain water at the pond at the water’s edge, then pour it on the dry sprout beside the pond. A vine shoots up the cliff, and you can climb it to the ledge above. Blue Crenel beans grow with plain water, while green ones need the hot spring water that you will find next.

Cross the ledge and the ladder cave

On the upper ledge, red Tektites hop around in the open, so let them land before you slash. Go south and then east to the sign and bomb the wall between the two fence pieces beside it. Defeat the red Chuchus that drop from the ceiling and climb the ladder at the north end of the cave to emerge on a higher plateau.

Collect Crenel Hot Spring Water at Minish size

Bomb the cracked rock beside the large stone there to find a Minish Portal. Press R on the stone to shrink, and follow the Minish path east, using the leaf to cross the gap. At the end of the path a spring of green water bubbles up. Scoop it with your now-empty bottle to get Crenel Hot Spring Water, which is piping hot. Some versions call it Mineral Water, and it is the water green beans need. Walk back to the stone and press R to grow.

Mt. Crenel Base: whirlwinds and the Heart Piece cave

Mushroom cave and Helmasaurs

Back at normal size, jump down the ledge to the left of the ladder and go southwest. Bomb the wall near the leftmost whirlwind to open a cave. Inside, grab the stretchy mushroom with R, pull it away from the gap and release the D-pad to be launched across, then climb the stairs. Helmasaurs guard the next room: use the Gust Jar to suck off their iron masks, or hit them from behind. Take the east door to leave.

Float across with the whirlwinds

Outside, Ezlo suggests jumping into the whirlwind over the chasm. Jump in and Ezlo opens like a parachute, carrying you up and across. Drift into the second whirlwind and keep floating west to the cliff top, then press R to stop floating. The same trick returns later on the mountain.

Piece of Heart, Kinstone piece and 50 Rupees

Walk west past the ladder, then north, and bomb the wall between the two tree stumps. Inside the cave, bomb the three rocks to uncover three chests. The left chest holds a blue Kinstone piece, the right chest holds 50 Rupees, and the north chest holds a Piece of Heart.

Mt. Crenel Base: the green beanstalk

Clear the dust and find the portal

Return south and east to the tall ladder and climb it to the plateau covered in dust. Use the Gust Jar to suck up the dust piles. This uncovers a crack in the ground and, a little further south, a second Minish Portal stone. Pestos buzz around the plateau, so keep your sword ready.

Optional: two Kinstone chests at Minish size

Shrink at the new stone and drop into the crack north of the dust piles. A chest inside holds a red Kinstone piece. Back on the plateau, walk east along the Minish path, climb the small vine and open the chest at the end of the cave for a blue Kinstone piece. Neither chest is needed for the beanstalk.

Carry the bean and grow the vine

While Minish-sized, lift the huge green bean sprout beside the path with R and carry it east to the circular hole in the soil, then throw it in. Walk back to the stone and grow. Pour your Crenel Hot Spring Water on the sprout and a tall vine rises up the cliff. Climb it to leave the base and reach Mt. Crenel proper.

Mt. Crenel: the Grip Ring

Lift the yellow rocks and cross the plank bridge

At the top of the vine the area name Mt. Crenel appears. Lift a yellow rock near the cliff to find 5 bombs. Then walk east along the narrow plank bridge across the pit and bomb the cracked wall at the end to open a cave. Spiked Beetles roam the ledges here, so watch your footing.

Kinstone chest and the block room

In the first cave room, lift or throw the pots and open the chest for a blue Kinstone piece. Take the north stairs to a room of pink blocks and a rolling spiked ball. Bomb the cracked pink block, push the right-hand block north, then push the top block north to unseal the exit and leave by the south door. Black Chuchus take bomb damage, or sword hits while their spikes are down.

Buy the Grip Ring

Outside, float west on the whirlwinds to the ledge, go north and climb the ladder. East of the sign, bomb the cracked wall and enter a small cave where a Business Scrub is hiding. Hold up your shield to bounce his shots back, then buy the Grip Ring for 40 Rupees. Equip it and you can climb the rough cliff walls of Crenel Wall. It is a permanent item and the main item of this chapter.

Piece of Heart in the fairy spring

From the Grip Ring cave, head west, climb the ladder to the north wall and bomb between the two rocks to the right of the rock wall. Inside is a small fairy spring: walking into a fairy heals you, and a Piece of Heart waits beside the water.

Climb Crenel Wall to the Great Fairy

Climb the rough red wall using the Grip Ring and dodge the boulders that roll down at intervals. At the small ledge with a sign reading No bomb throwing, set a bomb against the wall to open a cave. Throw a bomb into the fountain and the Great Fairy asks if you dropped the golden bomb or the silver one: choose Neither. She rewards your honesty with the Big Bomb Bag, which holds 30 bombs and comes full. See the Great Fairy page for the other two.

Reach the summit and the chasm

Climb the rest of Crenel Wall and cross the ledges at the top. At the chasm, pull the stretchy mushroom on one side and release the D-pad to be thrown across. Dark clouds roll in and a heavy rain starts as you land. Optional: the Crenel Hermit, who trades Kinstone fusions, lives west of here.

Mt. Crenel in the rain

Shrink and cross the raindrop tunnel

Step onto the sparkling stone and press R to shrink, then go south into the Minish path. At Minish size, falling raindrops are like boulders of water, and Ezlo warns you that one hit does serious damage. Run between the drops and keep moving. At the far end, take the exit and go northeast to a stone that returns you to normal size.

Boulder puzzle on the rainy slope

The rain-soaked slope has several pits and round boulders. Push the boulders into the pits one at a time until the way to the wooden ladder is clear, then climb down. Plan each push, because boulders cannot be pulled back.

Block rooms and the bomb bridge

Below the ladder, slide the floor blocks along their grooves to open the passages through the block room. In the next room, use the Gust Jar on the pots, pull the mushroom and cross. Down the stairs, a purple bridge is controlled by a switch: break the pots for a bomb, set a bomb on the switch and the bridge extends. Cross it and take the south exit.

Second boulder cave and the Kinstone chest

Outside, step into the next cave on your left. Push the round boulder along its path until it drops into the last pit, which lets you push the totem aside and descend. In the block room below, shove the blocks aside until the chest on the torch-lit ledge opens. It holds a blue Kinstone piece. Leave by the southeast door.

Shrink again and enter the Minish path

Outside there is another shrink stone. Press R on it and take the narrow valley on the left. Follow the Minish path west to the door at the end. This leads to Melari’s Mines.

Melari’s Mines

Meet Melari and hand over the Picori Blade

Inside the mines, walk down every staircase to the bottom floor, where Melari works at his anvil. He agrees to reforge the Picori Blade into a new sacred blade, then tells you to find the missing elements while he works. It takes a while, so go and take on the Cave of Flames. Other Minish in the mines may have Kinstone halves to fuse.

Leave the mines, check the Wind Crest and head to the Cave of Flames

Leave through the west door past the guard Minish. Press R on the nearby stone to grow back to normal size, then check the Wind Crest outside: it is the Mt. Crenel crest and it sits just south of the Cave of Flames entrance. Climb the ladder to start Dungeon 2, where the Fire Element and the Cane of Pacci are waiting.

Chapter checklist