Differences between Basic and Advanced item placement
(Updated: v31.2.1)
Note: Bosses are listed with their normal dungeons. Certain modes (such as swordless or inverted) may interact with Basic and add/remove requirements, this is not an attempt to document every possible combination of modes.
Pedestal: Basic expects you to have the Book of Mudora to know what's on the pedestal before pulling it, while Advanced may require a blind pedestal pull.
Blacksmith: Basic will always expect you to have the Magic Mirror to return the dwarf, while Advanced may expect you to save+quit with the dwarf to return him.
Note: Advanced may also expect you to save+quit to return the purple chest.
Dark Cross Room: In Open mode, Basic will always expect you to have the lamp to navigate through the Dark Cross room and the rooms leading to it, but Advanced may expect you to light the torches in those rooms using the Fire Rod to access the Dark Cross chest.
In Open mode, Basic may expect you to enter the Sewers from Hyrule Castle and use the lamp to navigate through the dark rooms on the way to the Secret Wall room. Advanced may expect you to perform that navigation without the lamp, by using the Fire Rod to light a torch in each dark room on the path.
Note: Standard mode provides a permanent light cone in Escape even after rescuing Zelda, so the lamp is not required to check Dark Cross or the Secret Wall room even in Basic.
Basic expects you to have the lamp to reach the boss, but Advanced may expect you to light the torches in the dark Eyegore/Popo room on the way to the boss with the fire rod.
No changes.
Bumper Cave: Basic expects hookshot to cross the gap in Bumper Cave, but Advanced may require you to sneak around the pit instead.
Hookshot Cave: Basic expects hookshot to reach the bottom chest in Hookshot Cave, but Advanced may require you to bonk across the gaps.
Basic expects at least a sword, 7 total hearts and a bottle before entering PoD.
Basic expects you to have the lamp to access the two chests in the dark basement U-shaped room, but advanced expects you to be willing to light the torches in that room to access those chests.
Basic expects you to have either two or more Progressive Swords (Master or better) or bow to defeat Helmasaur King, while Advanced may expect you to defeat Helmasaur King with just Fighter’s sword or bow. Both logical modes have the same requirement to break the mask - either Bombs or Hammer.
Basic expects at least a sword, 7 total hearts and a bottle before entering Swamp.
Basic expects you to have two Progressive Swords (Master) or better to defeat Arrghus.
Basic expects at least a sword, 7 total hearts and a bottle before entering Skull Woods.
In Basic item placement, the chest in the trap room (“Pinball Room”) with gibdos and bumpers will always be a small key to ensure that if you fall into that room, you can exit via the key door to the north. In Advanced, that chest is treated as a normal dungeon chest and may have other contents.
Basic expects you to have one of the following to defeat Mothula:
Basic expects at least a sword, 7 total hearts and a bottle before entering Thieves Town.
Basic expects you to have a sword and either the Magic Cape or Cane of Byrna to defeat Blind.
Basic expects at least two Progressive Swords (Master or better), 12 total hearts and either two bottles or an armor upgrade before entering Ice Palace.
Basic expects you to get keys and complete the dungeon by solving the block drop puzzle. Advanced may require you to use a Somaria block on the basement switch instead, which may allow a small key to be on Kholdstare as access to the switch room in the basement is not strictly required to reach the boss.
Basic expects you to have one of the following to defeat Kholdstare:
Basic expects at least two Progressive Swords (Master or better), 12 total hearts and either two bottles or an armor upgrade before entering Misery Mire.
Basic expects you to have the Hookshot to enter Mire, while Advanced may expect you to bonk across the gap with Pegasus Boots or have the Hookshot.
Basic expects you to have one of the following to defeat Vitreous:
Basic expects at least two Progressive Swords (Master or better), 12 total hearts and either two bottles or an armor upgrade before entering Turtle Rock.
Basic expects you to have either the Magic Cape, Cane of Byrna or three Progressive Shield upgrades (Mirror Shield) to access the laser bridge chests, while Advanced expects you to be able to access those chests without any particular safety items.
Basic expects you to have one of the following to defeat Trinexx:
Basic expects at least two Progressive Swords (Master or higher), 12 total hearts and either two bottles or an armor upgrade before entering GT.
Basic expects you to use the hookshot to cross the pit room on the west side of the basement to reach the map chest room with two firebars. Advanced may require you to bonk across several of the pits to reach that room. The Four Stalfos Room to the north is not accessible via bonking and always requires the hookshot.
Basic expects you to use either the Fire Rod to light the torch or the Ether medallion to temporarily reveal the floor in order to traverse the large basement meetup room with invisible floor tiles. Advanced assumes you know how to navigate the invisible floor tiles without any visibility assistance. Bonking across against one of the skulls is free if you have boots!
Basic expects you to have access to three Progressive Swords (Tempered or better) and two bows (Bow and Silver Arrows) when you fight Ganon. Advanced expects access to two Progressive Swords (Master Sword) and does not require a bow, but those requirements can only restrict the available items when Beatable accessibility is selected.
Note: This change in Advanced item placement, when combined with Beatable accessibility, may require you to learn and perform the Silverless Ganon technique to complete an Advanced+Beatable seed. Basic will never require this technique, even when Beatable accessibility is selected.
If anything in this doc is outdated or wrong, please contact otherTom (username: othertom) on Discord, either via DM or on the official ALTTPR Discord server.
Initial version
2020-07: v31.0.6, fighting Helma King with Fighter Sword in Advanced, Fire Rod giving access to back of escape in Advanced
2020-12: v31.0.7, no logic changes
2021-03: Clarified Helmasaur King requirements - bow is sufficient for the second phase no matter the placement setting.
2021-03: v31.0.8, no logic changes
2021-07: v31.0.9, no logic changes
2021-09: v31.0.10, no logic changes
2022-03: v31.0.11, no logic changes
2022-03: Add Basic sword requirement for Blind, not just Thieves Town entry.
2023-10: v31.2 updates, GT invisible floor maze now requires usable Ether or Fire Rod, no v31.2.1 changes.