You’ve finally made it. You crossed the Haunted Wasteland, survived the desert wind, and tricked your way into the Gerudo Fortress. You feel like a legend. But then you see it—that gated entrance near the back of the fortress. The Gerudo guard tells you it’s a trial of skill. You pay the fee, walk inside, and suddenly realize the Gerudo Training Ground oot experience is basically Nintendo’s way of testing whether you actually paid attention during the previous forty hours of gameplay.
It’s a gauntlet.
Most people remember this place for one thing: the Ice Arrows. Honestly, are the Ice Arrows even worth it? In a casual playthrough, probably not. They drain your magic like crazy and don’t do half the damage of a well-placed Light Arrow. But for completionists, or anyone who just wants to see that 100% on their save file, mastering the Gerudo Training Ground is a rite of passage. It is the only place in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time that forces you to use almost every single sub-item in your inventory, from the Megaton Hammer to the Lens of Truth.
The Key Problem: Don't Spend Them All at Once
If you go into this mini-dungeon blindly, you’re going to get stuck. It’s one of the few places in Zelda history where you can actually "waste" keys. There are nine small keys hidden throughout the complex, but you only need seven to reach the Ice Arrows if you take the correct path. If you start unlocking doors at random in the final hub, you might find yourself staring at a locked gate with zero keys left in your inventory, forced to backtrack through rooms you thought you’d cleared.
The layout is a circle. It’s a literal loop of pain.
You start in a central hub with locked doors. To get those keys, you have to complete rooms that test specific mechanics. One room might ask you to kill all enemies within a strict time limit—usually Dinolfos or those annoying Beamos. Another might require the Hookshot to navigate across platforms over a pit of lava. The variety is what makes the Gerudo Training Ground oot so unique compared to the more thematic temples like the Forest or Fire Temple. It’s a "best of" compilation of Link’s struggles.
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The Room with the Hidden Eye
There is one specific room that ruins everyone’s day. You know the one. It’s the room with the rotating statues and the silver rupees. You’re running around, trying to grab the coins, and the floor is moving, and everything feels chaotic. But the real trick is the hidden eye switch. If you don't have the Lens of Truth active, you’ll miss the fake wall. It’s a classic Nintendo move. They teach you a rule, then they hide the exception right under your nose.
Expert players usually recommend doing this after the Spirit Temple. Why? Because you need the Silver Gauntlets. There’s a massive gray block in one of the rooms that you simply cannot move without them. If you try to finish the training ground early, you’ll hit a literal wall. It sucks. You have to leave, finish a whole other dungeon, and come back. Save yourself the walk. Wait until you're nearly at the end of the game.
Navigating the Trials Without Losing Your Mind
Let’s talk about the underwater room. This is arguably the most frustrating part of the whole ordeal. You need the Iron Boots and the Zora Tunic. You jump into the water, sink to the bottom, and you have to collect silver rupees while fighting the current and a few persistent Shell Blades.
The physics in the original N64 version are... let's call them "charming." By which I mean heavy and clunky.
If you miss a rupee, you have to float back up, reset your position, and try again. It’s tedious. But it’s also a great example of how Ocarina of Time rewards precision. You can't just mash buttons. You have to time your movements perfectly. The Gerudo Training Ground oot doesn't care about your feelings; it cares about your execution.
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- The Wolfos Room: Fast. Aggressive. You need to be better at Z-targeting than you think.
- The Hammer Room: You’ll be smashing those rusted switches. It’s less about skill and more about having the right tool.
- The Statue Room: Arrows are your best friend here. Shoot the eyes. All of them. Even the ones that look like they're just decoration.
The beauty of this dungeon is that it’s optional. You don’t have to be here. That's why the difficulty spike feels so sharp. Since it's not required for the main quest, the developers felt free to make it a bit of a nightmare. They assumed that if you were looking for extra content, you were ready for the heat.
The Ice Arrow Prize: Is it Actually Useable?
So, you got all the keys. You navigated the hub. You opened the final chest. You have the Ice Arrows. Now what?
In the grand scheme of Ocarina of Time combat, the Ice Arrows are a niche tool. They freeze enemies in a block of ice, which is cool for about five seconds until you realize you could have just killed them with a sword jump-slash. However, there are a few specific spots where they shine. In the final climb of Ganon’s Castle, freezing a rogue Fire Keese or a Red Tektite can save you some health.
But mostly, they’re a trophy.
They represent the fact that you mastered the Gerudo Training Ground oot. You proved to the Gerudo—a culture built on strength and survival—that a kid from the woods could handle their deadliest obstacle course. That narrative payoff is honestly better than the item itself. It’s about the respect.
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Why People Still Struggle with the "Ninth Key"
There’s a long-standing myth/frustration about the "missing" ninth key. For years, players thought their game was glitched. In reality, one of the keys is hidden in a chest behind a fake ceiling that you can only see with the Lens of Truth. It’s in the room with the many locked doors. If you don't look up, you’ll never find it. Most people just give up and move on with eight keys, which is technically enough to get the arrows, but it leaves that nagging feeling of incompleteness.
Go get that ninth key. Don't let the 1998 game design win.
Practical Steps for Your Next Run
If you’re planning to dive back into the Gerudo Training Ground oot on the Switch Online service or your old 3DS, here is how you handle it like a pro.
First, check your inventory. Do you have the Longshot? If you only have the basic Hookshot, some of the targets are going to be out of reach. Do you have the Megaton Hammer? You need it for the switches. Do you have the Lens of Truth and at least one Magic Jar upgrade? You’re going to be burning through mana looking for those invisible chests.
Second, don't use your keys as soon as you get them. Collect as many as you can before you start unlocking the doors in the central room. Start from the left side of the hub. This path is generally considered more efficient and prevents you from getting "keyed out" of the prize.
Third, take a breath during the timer challenges. The timers in this dungeon are surprisingly generous if you don't panic. If you start flailing, you’ll fall into the lava or get knocked off a platform, and that is what kills your time, not the enemies themselves.
- Wait until after the Spirit Temple to ensure you have the Silver Gauntlets and the Mirror Shield.
- Carry a Blue Potion. There are no magic refills inside most of the trial rooms, and you’ll need it for the Lens of Truth.
- Use the Sun’s Song. If the Gibdos or Redeads in the earlier rooms are giving you trouble, freeze them in their tracks. It’s not cheating; it’s using your brain.
- Look at the ceiling. In the final room with the locked doors, use the Lens of Truth and look up. There’s a hole. Hookshot up there. That’s where the "hidden" key is.
The Gerudo Training Ground remains one of the most polarizing parts of the game. Some people love the concentrated challenge, while others find it a chore. Regardless of where you stand, it is a masterclass in how to use every mechanic a game has taught you in one final, cohesive test. Once you walk out of there with those Ice Arrows, you’ve officially conquered everything the Gerudo have to throw at you.