ALBW Pouch Vs. Pouchless Analysis

Pouch Vs. Pouchless with new rupee route

Pouchless pros
- 30s from village to getting the pouch
----------Total
30 Seconds

Pouchlessless(pouch) pros
-Fast bomb/arrow at dark-1s
-Fast skull fight at Hog-2s
-Quick 1st Phase of margomill 2 seconds (Spawn him with bomb on top, then use another bomb)
-Fast Margomill-2-6 secs
-Faster Key at Dark-2 secs
-Bow switch at Hera-1s
-Bow switch in swamp-1s
*Theoretically you wont be saving more than this but better equips at dark could also bring more secs~maybe 5 or something

------Total
11-15 seconds(+5s)

Here are the total eq's in detail for each segment
Pouch-
Eastern Palace 1-eq for bow, then pouch
FishSkip-1-eq for bomb+T-rod
None in HoG
Death Mountain- 1-Eq Hammer+Bow
Tower Of Hera- 1-Eq Bomb+T-Rod
-1-Eq Hammer + bow
Master Sword
1- Eq T-Rod, HookShot
1_ Eq Fire Rod
-Total Equips-7(16.5s total) (5 are double equips so .5 is added)

Now for Pouchless
Eastern Palace-1-Eq for bow,
FishSkip- 1-Eq Bomb
-1-Eq T-Rod
House Of Gales
1-Eq bomb For switch
1-Eq T-rod
---Boss Fight----
1-Eq Bomb
1-Eq T-rod
1-Eq Bomb
1-Eq T-Rod
or
1-Eq Bomb (this is much harder to do but it saves quite a lot of time for pouchless margomill)
Death Mountain 1-eq Hammer
Tower Of Hera
1-Eq Bomb
1-Eq T-Rod
1-Eq Hammer
1-Eq Bow
1-Eq Hammer
1-Eq Bow
Master Sword
1-Eq T-Rod
Enter Lorule
1-Eq Hookshot
1-Eq Fire Rod



-Total Equips-18/14(36/28 seconds)

If you are a pro at bomb only margomill then pouch saves 28-16.5= 11.5 seconds from equips however pouch also loses about 30 seconds in the cutscene to get the pouch + movement.

This means so far pouchless would appear to be 30-11.5= 18.5 seconds faster.

However we need to take into account the small timesavers with pouch. It is estimated that you can save 11-15 seconds with timesavers from pouch. This means that pouch is estimated to be 3.5 to 7.5 seconds slower if you execute both perfectly. It is hard to say if you can save time in dark palace from equips with having pouch but it certainly makes it easier to do which is why it technically is not counted for saving time, but if you are not perfectly optimal in dark palace you are probably going to break even. If you do not do bomb only margomill you are definitely breaking about even or even saving time by using pouch. If you do not get the bomb rod in ToH 1st try you will also break about even, but is not counted for obvious reasons.

Conclusion:
Pouch is estimated to lose somewhere around 5.5 seconds. If you do not execute every fastest pouchless strat completely perfectly you will probably be about the same speed as getting the pouch. What it comes down to is preference at that point.