The Minish Cap 100% Completion Walkthrough19 chapters
- 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 Large 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.
| Covers | The Fortress of Winds in the Wind Ruins, from the entrance to Mazaal, then the Wind Tribe tablet |
|---|---|
| Dungeon | Fortress of Winds (Dungeon 3): Mole Mitts, boss Mazaal; no Element is awarded here, the Wind Element stays out of reach until the Palace of Winds |
| Rewards | Compass, Dungeon Map, 4 Small Keys, Big Key, Mole Mitts, Heart Container, 1 Piece of Heart (Minish drop), Ocarina of Wind, 3 Kinstone pieces (blue, blue, red), 80 Mysterious Shells, 100 rupees in a chest; no Tiger Scrolls, bottles or Kinstone fusions |
The Fortress of Winds is the third dungeon, a sandstone fortress hidden inside the cliffs of the Wind Ruins. You clear it with the Bow you already own, collect the Compass and the Dungeon Map early, win the Mole Mitts from a chest behind a cracked wall, and use them to dig up Kinstone pieces, keys and the final stretch of the boss fight. After you beat Mazaal and take the Heart Container, you read a tablet and receive the Ocarina of Wind, which lets you warp between Wind Crests.
Table of Contents
Reaching the Fortress of Winds
The fortress opens once the three Mysterious Statues in the Castor Wilds have been fused with Gold Kinstones, which reveals the ruins hidden within the cliff. Walk up the sandy path to the entrance, with a statue on either side of the doorway, and head inside. Make sure you carry the Bow with plenty of arrows, because many rooms here are solved by shooting eye switches or statues.
Dungeon: Fortress of Winds (Dungeon 3)
Entry room and the pit rooms
Step into the entry room, which has a skull statue in one corner, and go through to the next hall, where rows of breakable skulls line the walls and two levers sit near the bottom of the room. Break the skulls for hearts and keep clear of the fire sparks that bounce around the room.
Climb the ladder that leads out onto an open sand ledge, then go back inside through the doors. Pick up the blue rupee worth 5 Rupees on the way. In the pit rooms that follow, pink eye switches in the walls guard the doors, so shoot them with the Bow, and walk around the open holes in the floor rather than across them.
The heart tile and the first Small Key
Pull the lever in the room with the central hole. Ezlo wonders whether something just fell, and it did: a Small Key drops into the room below. Fall through the hole to reach that lower room, where two skull statues stand beside a glowing floor pattern and the key is waiting.
Before you take the key, visit the room with the stepping-stone pyramid. A heart-marked tile on the left wall refills your hearts when you touch it, so come back to it whenever you are hurt. Then go back down and pick up the first Small Key.
Ledge, four Stalfos and the dark block rooms
Leave by the south door onto the outside ledge, then go back in through the room with a stone pit and on along a skull corridor. The next room holds four Stalfos: swing your sword to knock them back and defeat all of them to open the south door.
Take the sand ledge outside, then enter the dark rooms where ice blocks float over pits. Cross from block to block with care, and use the Bow where arrows are called for.
Compass: the two-statue room
In the room with two stone statues and colour-changing floor tiles, charge your sword and step on the glowing tiles so that a second Link appears and the two of you can press both round switches at once. The statues wake up: shoot each one with the Bow, about three arrows apiece, until they fall. A chest then appears and holds the Compass.
Snake room and the second Small Key
Go through the dark block room and enter the snake room, which has green snakes, skulls and large stone blocks. Break the skulls on the purple tiles and push the large blocks into place, using the second Link from the glowing tiles to push from both sides. This clears the way to a lever.
Grab the lever and pull it. A second Small Key falls to the floor below, so drop down the hole and pick it up. Each Small Key in this dungeon opens one locked door, so spend them as you reach doors.
Dungeon Map
Pass through the skull statue room and onto the next outdoor ledge, then enter the room with the raised platform. Stalfos attack from the sides as you walk up the stairs to the big chest in the middle of the platform. It holds the Dungeon Map, which shows each floor on your map screen.
Eye bridge, locked door and the Darknut
Cross the ice-block room, where a locked door on the way takes one of your Small Keys, and go on into the large pit room whose west wall has two red eye switches. Shoot both eyes with arrows so that a bridge extends over the pit. A Wallmaster shadow can appear while you cross, so keep moving and slash the hand when it drops.
The next room holds a Darknut, an armoured knight. Block its attacks with your shield to stun it, then hit it from behind until it falls. A Kinstone piece (blue) appears for you to collect, and a blue warp tile opens in the floor afterward.
Mole Mitts and the 100 rupees
Follow the dark corridor to a stretch of wall marked with three matching tiles. Equip bombs and blow open the cracked wall. In the sand room behind it, open the big blue chest to receive the Mole Mitts. They let you dig through soft sand and rock.
Equip the Mole Mitts and dig along the top of the room to a ledge chest in the corner. It holds 100 rupees. You will need the Mitts again for a key, two outside chests and the boss.
Spike rollers and the third Small Key
Return to the central rooms and open a locked door with a Small Key. Pull the lever on the platform and use the Pegasus Boots to dash across the extended bridge before it drops. In the next hall, spiked rollers sweep back and forth with holes between them: wait inside a hole as a roller passes, then run for the next one.
Beyond the rollers is a room with statues and glowing tiles. Push the statues onto the floor switches and use the second Link to press the remaining switches. Doing so drops the third Small Key into the room.
Floor Masters, the sand rooms and the fourth Small Key
Go back through the roller hall to the room where blue Floor Masters grab at you from the walls. Beat all of them to uncover a Minish Portal. Step on it to shrink, take the small passage and return to full size at the portal in the sand room on the other side.
In the sand room, hit the switch so that a Small Key falls into a hole under the sand. Dig down to it with the Mole Mitts, keeping to the lower edge of the room to avoid the creatures hiding in the holes. Take the fourth Small Key, shrink again on the same portal and go back through the small passage to the Floor Master room. At Minish size, a Piece of Heart lies in the passage on the way, so take it before you return to full size.
Big Key
Take the ladder up and go on to the room of skulls and skeletons, then unlock the locked door with the fourth key. In the next room two holes open in the floor: jump into the right-hand one, not the left. You land in a room with green floor tiles and a big chest at the top. Open it for the Big Key, which unlocks the boss door.
Kinstone pieces and the 80 Mysterious Shells
Go back out of the dungeon to the sand ledge by the entrance. Dig along the soil to the chest at the left edge and open it for a Kinstone piece (blue). Check your Kinstone bag for pairs you can fuse.
Return inside and enter the arena with four flame statues in the corners. Fire shoots at you from the walls while two Wizzrobes teleport around the room and cast spells. Slash each one as it appears. When they are gone a chest rises in the center and holds 80 Mysterious Shells.
Make your way through the skull corridors and up the ladder to a second sand ledge outside. Dig along it to a chest at the left end and take the Kinstone piece (red) inside.
The rooms to the boss door
Work through the rooms of skull statues, floor switches and ladders that lead toward the boss. The room with four skull statues has a blue pad in the center of its floor. In the last room before the boss, fire orbs drift among rows of skulls; avoid them, use the Big Key on the boss door and go in.
Mazaal boss strategy
Mazaal is a stone idol with two floating hands. Each hand has an eye in its palm, so shoot the eye of the resting hand with an arrow, then slash it until the hand stops moving. Dodge the other hand as it smashes down or grabs. When both hands are down, the head falls to the floor.
Step on the Minish Portal in the upper corner of the room to shrink. Walk into the head through its mouth and attack the glowing statue with an eye inside. After a few hits you are pulled out. Grow back to normal size and shoot the hands again; they move more often than before.
On the second entry, the pillars are buried under sand, so use the Mole Mitts to dig until the flashing pillar appears, then slash it. Back outside, Mazaal also fires a beam that can shrink or shock you: stay a little to one side of the head to avoid it. Shoot both hands again and enter a third time, dig out the last eye pillar and destroy it. Mazaal explodes and the fight is over.
Heart Container and the Ocarina of Wind
A Heart Container appears in the boss room: take it for a full extra heart. Then walk through the door behind the idol and up the north stairs to a large green stone tablet.
The tablet tells you that the Wind Tribe mastered the winds and left, and a bird drops the Ocarina of Wind at your feet. Pick it up: it lets you warp to Wind Crests you have activated. Ezlo explains that the Tribe has gone to the heavens with its element, so the Wind Element is out of reach for now, and you leave the dungeon.
Chapter checklist
| Type | Item | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Small Key | First Small Key | Drops after pulling the lever in the pit room, room below |
| Dungeon item | Compass | Chest after waking and beating the two statues with the Bow |
| Small Key | Second Small Key | Snake room lever |
| Dungeon item | Dungeon Map | Big chest on the raised platform guarded by Stalfos |
 Kinstone piece | Blue piece | Awarded after the Darknut mini-boss |
| Key item | Mole Mitts | Big blue chest behind the cracked wall |
| Rupees | 100 rupees | Ledge chest reached by digging |
| Small Key | Third Small Key | Statue and switch puzzle past the spike rollers |
| Small Key | Fourth Small Key | Dig it out of the sand room |
| Big Key | Big Key | Big chest on the green-tile platform |
| Kinstone piece | Blue piece | Chest on the outside sand ledge near the entrance |
| Mysterious Shells | 80 shells | Chest in the four-flame arena after the Wizzrobes |
| Kinstone piece | Red piece | Chest on the second sand ledge |
| Minish Portals | 3 portals used to shrink | Floor Master room; the sand room with the key; the boss room corner (Mazaal‘s head) |
| Boss |  Mazaal |  Heart Container |
| Key item |  Ocarina of Wind | Wind Tribe tablet after the boss |
