Tears of the Kingdom — Route

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Steps 1 through 21, grouped by where you physically are. Steps 1–10 are marked done — tap any of them to reopen. The early steps are written out in full so this works as a from-scratch guide on a replay.

Leg 00 · Step 1

Great Sky Island

The tutorial, and the only part of the game that's genuinely linear. You leave with all four abilities and the cold gear that carries you through the next ten steps.

01 Great Sky IslandTutorial · 4 abilities

Four shrines, four abilities, one heart container, then a dive to the surface. The order is fixed by the island's layout, but two things here are easy to walk past and both matter for hours afterwards.

The four shrines, in order

  • Ukouh — Ultrahand. West of the Temple of Time, up the stairs. Grab, rotate, glue. Everything you build for the rest of the game runs on it.
  • In-isa — Fuse. South, across the lake. Build a raft from the logs and sail — flip the sail so it sits perpendicular on top or you'll go nowhere. Inside, fuse a rock to the rusty claymore to make a hammer that smashes cracked stone.
  • Gutanbac — Ascend. On the cold plateau. Phase straight up through any ceiling directly above you.
  • Nachoyah — Recall. Reached from the Room of Awakening, not the surface path. Warp back there, and in the room of turning gears use Ascend on the right side of the wall wheels, then Recall to reverse them and reach the hidden passage.
Don't leave without the Archaic Warm Greaves. Coming out of Gutanbac, Ascend up the tree stump beside the shrine — the chest at the top holds them. That's your first level of cold resistance, and steps 4 through 11 are all cold country. Miss it and you're buying your way out of the problem later.

Temple of Time and out

  • Recall isn't from a shrine — it comes from the large Tear inside the Temple of Time. Ride the big wheels up by reversing them, then the smaller one.
  • Trade all four Lights of Blessing at the Goddess Statue for a Heart Container. You need the fourth heart to open the back door — this isn't optional.
  • After the cutscene, dive off the edge toward Hyrule. You have no paraglider yet; that comes from Purah at Lookout Landing.

Stock up before you drop

The island itself

Spicy Peppers grow all over and cook into cold resistance — carry a stack, because the Greaves alone are only level one. Feed Zonai charges into the device dispensers and hoard fans and wings; they're free transport for the whole early game.

Archaic Warm GreavesSpicy PepperFanWingOpal

The island is bigger than it looks. Optional chests sit on the outlying platforms, including three spare wings on the eastern island. Nothing here respawns once you leave for good, so sweep it before the dive.

Leg 01 · Steps 2–3

Arrival & Lookout Landing

The game hands you its whole structure here: paraglider, towers, the four Regional Phenomena, and the quest chains that everything downstream hangs off.

02 To Hyrule KingdomCentral Hyrule

The skydive down. You can aim anywhere, but aim at Lookout Landing — the tented camp with the tower, due south of Hyrule Castle. Everything you need is there and you're on foot until you arrive.

How

  • Steer by flattening out to glide further or diving to drop faster. You can't die from the fall.
  • Head straight for the marker. Fights on the way are avoidable and you have four hearts and no paraglider — there's nothing to prove here.
  • Purah gives you the Paraglider when you reach her. That's the real end of the tutorial.
03 Lookout Landing questsHub · Towers · Camera

The densest hub in the game. Four separate threads start here and three of them run for the next fifty steps.

What to pick up

  • Purah upstairs: Paraglider, then Crisis at Hyrule Castle, then Regional Phenomena — the four-temple spine of the game. You can't finish Crisis yet; that's step 42.
  • Activate the Lookout Landing Skyview Tower. Towers are how you get map data, and gliding out of one is how you find everything else. Light every one you pass from here on.
  • Josha and Robbie below Purah: Camera Work in the Depths. Worth doing now rather than later — the camera and Hyrule Compendium make several later steps trivial, and it's your controlled introduction to gloom.
  • Penn shows up once the tower is lit and points you at the Lucky Clover Gazette. That's step 7.

Camera Work in the Depths, if you do it here

  • Josha gives you Brightbloom Seeds and arrows. Head to the Hyrule Field Chasm south of town, near Jiosin Shrine — the circular hole ringed with gloom, with Daval standing at the lip.
  • Dive and paraglide the last stretch. Ponnick is at the campfire; Robbie went deeper.
  • Throw Brightbloom Seeds by hand as you walk rather than firing them — save the arrows. Light the big Lightroot by Robbie's fire.
  • Press L, photograph the statue when the marker appears, return to Josha. Rewards the camera, the Compendium and 5 Zonaite.
Gloom removes max hearts, it doesn't just damage you. Recover in a Lightroot's glow or on the surface. Sundelion dishes clear it instantly — Sundelions grow in the sky, so cook a few before any serious descent.
Come back to this town at step 16 with Poes and Crystallized Charge. The Bargainer Statue, the Goddess Statue and the Crystal Refinery all live here and all take things you don't have yet.

Shrines on this stretch

  • Kyononis-0205, 0451, 0021 — combat training (parry & flurry basics), in the castle town ruins just north of Lookout Landing. Worth doing for the tutorial alone.
  • Jiosin-0240, -0374, 0026 — Ultrahand shape puzzle, directly south of town by the Hyrule Field Chasm — bank it on the Camera Work trip.
Leg 02 · Steps 4–7

The road west

Central Hyrule out to Tabantha. Your first memory, your first cold wall, and the newspaper job that gates a surprising amount of the rest of the list.

04 Head towards Rito VillageHyrule Ridge

Long ride northwest. The point of doing it on the ground rather than warping is that you don't have warp points yet — so light everything.

How

  • Light Lindor's Brow Skyview Tower on the way. You'll be launching from it repeatedly — steps 9 and 11 both use it.
  • The cold ramps up as you go west: roughly one level of resistance near Tabantha Bridge, two by the time you're at Rito Village.
  • Catch and register a horse if you see a decent one. Stables let you swap later and it makes this leg far less tedious.

Shrines on this stretch

  • Ishodag-0877, 0423, 0049 — Zonai fan-and-wing puzzle, at Quarry Ruins right beside the bridge on the northwest road. Directly on the path.
05 Stop at New Serenne Stable, talk to ImpaMemory 1

Impa is parked outside with a hot-air balloon. Talking to her starts Impa and the Geoglyphs and by extension The Dragon's Tears — the memory hunt that runs the whole length of this list.

How

  • Ride the balloon up with her. From altitude the Rauru geoglyph resolves out of the ground — you cannot see these from the ground, which is the whole lesson.
  • The Dragon's Tear sits in the figure's left eye, toward the top-centre of the image. Tear at -1412, 0966, 0123.
  • That's Memory 1, "Where Am I?" Impa then heads for the Forgotten Temple, which is step 11.

Worth knowing

Sinakawak Shrine — -1413, 0756, 0089

Right at the stable — a hot-air-balloon puzzle, fittingly. Light it and you can warp straight back to this stretch of North Hyrule Plain later instead of riding out again.

06 Go south to Tabantha Bridge StableCold checkpoint

This is the last comfortable stop before the blizzard. Treat it as a supply run, not a quest stop.

How

  • Buy Spicy Elixirs here — around 80 rupees each. Cheaper than dying on the bridge, and they stack with the Archaic Warm Greaves to give you the second level of cold resistance you need at Rito.
  • Register your horse if you haven't. Stables share a single roster, so anything you register here you can pull anywhere.
  • Talk to Fera, the well enthusiast. She pays rupees for every well location you report, forever. Costs nothing to start.
Penn's quest here won't trigger yet. "White Goats Gone Missing" needs the Gazette first, which is step 7. Come back after — it's a five-minute ride and the goat trail is marked by pine cones scattered outside the stable.
Empty frame on the wall, same as every stable. Needs the camera. If you took Robbie's quest at step 3 you can do it now; otherwise it waits.

Shrines on this stretch

  • Makurukis-2846, 0630, 0233 — archery combat training, right at the stable.
  • Runakit-2530, 1169, 0178 — build-a-carrier puzzle on Upland Lindor, a hill-climb northeast. Optional — only if you're cutting overland anyway.
07 Stop at the Lucky Clover GazetteGates a lot

A converted stable at -3256, 1764, 0119, southeast of Lake Totori by Rito Village's broken bridge. Small stop, disproportionate consequences.

Why it matters this early

  • Talk to Traysi and Penn to start Potential Princess Sightings — twelve stable investigations paid in rupees (50 each for the first six, 100 for the last six — 900 total) and the Froggy armour set (no slipping on wet rock, which is transformative for climbing).
  • This is the gate on Zelda's Golden Horse at step 10 and Serenade to a Great Fairy at step 18. Skip the Gazette and both of those simply don't exist yet.
  • Penn then appears at stables across Hyrule. You don't hunt him — he turns up where you're already going.
Leg 03 · Steps 8–9

Rito Village & the Wind Temple

Your first temple. Doing it first is the right call: Tulin's gust is the most broadly useful sage power in the game, and clearing it lifts the blizzard over the whole northwest.

08 Rito story arc — Tulin of Rito VillageWind Temple · Colgera

Rito Village is snowed in and run by children while the adults scavenge. Tulin has gone to investigate the storm. The quest is a long vertical climb into the sky, ending on the Stormwind Ark.

Two levels of cold resistance, minimum. Archaic Warm Greaves plus spicy food, or buy Snowquill from the Brazen Beak in the village. The blizzard on the approach does constant damage without it.

Getting to the temple

  • Find Tulin at Revali's Landing arguing with Teba and Saki, then go north to Harth's lodge at -3581, 2252, 0141 — two big bonfires outside — to sort out his bow.
  • The climb up the Rising Island Chain is Ascend plus Tulin's gust, over and over. If you lose him, warp back to Mayaumekis Shrine and he'll be waiting at the first ship trampoline.
  • Light Kahatanaum Shrine partway up — it's the checkpoint if the climb goes wrong.
  • Bounce between the floating ships to get above the cloud layer, then dive into the hole at the top.

Inside

  • Five locks. Each one is a wind turbine: position the fan, hit it with Tulin's gust to spin it up.
  • Carry fire-fruit fused arrows for frozen mechanisms and icy enemies. Ten is not too many.
  • Colgera: it swoops with three ice joints exposed. Dive into it and shoot the joints as you fall through — the paraglider controls your descent speed so you can aim. Second phase adds a spin; ride it out and shoot on the recovery.
  • Reward: Tulin's Vow, and the blizzard lifts across Hebra.
Everything that needed clear weather now works — including the Snowfield Stable photo at step 10, which is impossible while it's snowing.

Shrines on this stretch

  • Oromuwak-3079, 1617, 0243 — rocket-launch puzzle on the stone arch over the road in, southeast of the village. Ascend up from the road.
  • Gatakis-3652, 1806, 0168 — paraglider updraft puzzle in Rito Village itself, below the main outcrop on the west side.
  • Sahirow-3352, 2384, 0360 — laser-dodge trial on Corvash Peak, easiest gliding in on the temple approach. Cold country.
  • Wao-os-4059, 1990, 0183 — across Lake Totori west of the village; revealed by the village quest The White Bird's Guidance.
  • Ikatak-3950, 1138, 0112 — blessing atop Gisa Crater to the south, but it's a crystal-carry shrine quest. Optional; skip unless the crater's on your line.
09 Grab memory 2, visible from the roadTabantha Hills

The geoglyph on the southern side of Tabantha Hills, drawn as Hyrule Castle. Now that the blizzard's gone you can actually see it.

How

  • Launch from Lindor's Brow Skyview Tower and glide in from the northeast. Height is what makes the shape readable.
  • Dragon's Tear at -2551, 1888, 0319.
  • The general rule for every tear: a geoglyph is full of teardrop shapes and they're all hollow outlines except one. Find the single solid, filled-in teardrop and land on it.
  • This is Memory 2, "An Unfamiliar World."
Leg 04 · Steps 10–11

Hebra & Tanagar Canyon

Cold country. You come away with the best early horse in the game and, more importantly, the map that makes every later memory findable.

10 Head northeast, get Snowfield StableTabantha Tundra

A freezing-climate stable, so it's a gear check as much as a waypoint. It also pays out one of the best horses in the game — but only because you stopped at the Gazette in step 7.

Getting there

  • Stable at -1640, 2573, 0233, northeast of Rito Village, southeast of Pikida Stonegrove Skyview Tower.
  • Fastest line: light Pikida Stonegrove Skyview Tower, launch, glide southeast.
  • Touch Orochium Shrine just north of the stable first — warp anchor for this whole corner.
You want two levels of cold resistance here, not one. Archaic Warm Greaves plus a spicy pepper dish, or the Snowquill set from Rito Village.

Zelda's Golden Horse

  • Penn and Harlow are by the horses on the east side. Press Harlow for detail and she hands you an Energizing Elixir.
  • Horse is north at -1818, 3380, 0236, among ruins with ordinary horses.
  • A Frost Gleeok patrols the way north. Ride past it.
  • Glide down onto the horse from the broken structures or approach from directly behind. Soothing takes about 1½ stamina wheels — that's what the elixir is for.
  • Ride back to Harlow: you keep the horse plus Royal Bridle and Royal Saddle. Register it with the stable owner, Varke.

A Picture for Snowfield Stable

  • Examine the empty frame inside and Varke asks for a picture of "the giant bird with wings stretched wide." It isn't a bird — it's Biron Snowshelf seen from a distance, an optical illusion.
  • Warp to Rospro Pass Skyview Tower, launch, glide northeast to Talonto Peak. Face northwest and raise the camera; it flags when the bird is framed.
  • Needs clear weather — sit at a fire until morning if it's snowing. Only possible at all because the Wind Temple lifted the permanent blizzard.
  • Reward: 1 Pony Point and Spicy Meat Stew. Pony Points buy the Towing Harness you need at step 18, so this is worth doing on the spot rather than saving for the fairy trip at step 52.

Stock up nearby

Mount Drena Foothill Cave — -1372, 2861, 0199

Don't just walk in — talk to the campers outside the stable first, who turn this into a proper side quest. The cave is on the road at the base of the mountain and has no enemies. Bubbulfrog hides behind breakable rocks high on the left wall; use a Bomb Flower from inside the cave.

FairyBomb FlowerAmberChillshroomBrightcap
Kopeeki Drifts Cave — -2397, 2278, 0172

South of Pikida Stonegrove tower at the bottom of the snow trenches. Nouda Shrine is inside, so it's a warp point as well as a supply run. One Ice Like. This is your bomb and light resupply before step 11.

Nouda ShrineGiant Brightbloom SeedBomb FlowerFlintHearty Truffle

Don't cook the Chillshrooms. Everything growing in this snow — Chillshroom, Cool Safflina — makes heat resistance, not cold. You'll want it in Eldin at step 19 and the desert at step 37. Bank it.

Still waiting: the Great Fairy fountain northeast of the stable. Needs the full musical troupe, which is step 52.
11 Drop to the Forgotten Temple, talk to ImpaTanagar Canyon

The most important step in this stretch. It puts every remaining geoglyph on your map and fixes the order the memories are meant to be watched in — which is what steps 21, 29, 40, 52, 53, 54 and 57 are all keyed to.

Getting in

  • Northeast end of Tanagar Canyon, marked by the Dragon's Tears quest. From Orochium Shrine head south and glide down; from Lindor's Brow, launch and glide north into the canyon.
  • The first entrance you land at is blocked by rubble. This is where people get stuck. Don't Ultrahand it, don't bomb it — keep descending to the base of the valley.
  • Real entrance is on the south side at the canyon floor, with Cado and the balloon parked to its left.

Inside

  • Dark, with monsters between you and Impa. Fuse Brightbloom Seeds to arrows and shoot the ceiling as you advance.
  • Activate Mayausiy Shrine partway through — warp point, and "Building Blocks" is just Ultrahand-matching the shapes shown.
  • Impa is on the stone slab by the shrine. Follow her to the toppled Goddess Statue; the Zonai door behind it is open now.
  • Drop into the lower chamber. The floor map marks every remaining geoglyph and the mural shows them left to right in memory order.
  • Photograph the map while you're standing there. Two minutes now against a lot of hunting later.

Stock up nearby

Before you descend

A dozen Brightbloom Seeds and at least one Giant. If you skipped Kopeeki Drifts, this is where it costs you — the monsters see you before you see them.

Brightcap Cave — -3003, 1638, 0201

On the rim path south, at the base of the hill east of Oromuwak Shrine. Two campers outside give the side quest Cave Mushrooms That Glow. Deep inside, a thorn-ringed altar hides a chest with the Frostbite Shirt — burn the thorns with fire fruit. Bubbulfrog is on a ledge at the very end; Ascend gets past the thorns around it. One Black Horriblin.

Frostbite ShirtBubbulfrogBomb FlowerGiant Brightbloom SeedRock SaltSticky Lizard
Tanagar Canyon West Cave — -3312, 0788, -0101

Same canyon, west end past Piper Ridge — the entrance is on the canyon floor, so glide down from the rim. Worth it because Iun-orok Shrine is buried at the far end — one you'd otherwise never find. Ice Like, Shock Like and a Stone Pebblit guard the passages. Bubbulfrog hides behind the big blue rock wall at -3484, 0727.

Iun-orok ShrineSapphireTopazBrightbloom SeedLuminous StoneBrightcap

Learn the rubble colours here. Red sediment breaks to one Bomb Flower. Blue is a tougher grade, not bomb-proof — two Bomb Flowers break it (corrected 08.22 after the old "physical only" line cost two rock hammers). Melee alternative: a Talus Heart fused to a two-hander far outlasts flint hammers. From step 20, Yunobo breaks any of it free.

Leg 05 · Steps 12–16

Lookout Landing & the Depths

The biggest capability jump in the list — Autobuild, the Depths map, your first Kohga fight. Shorter than it looks if you already ran Robbie's quest back at step 3.

12 Back to Snowfield Stable, east, then south to Lookout LandingHebra → Central

Straight talk: transit step, nothing gated behind it. Lookout Landing has been a warp point since step 3, so the only reason to ride it is to bank map coverage.

If you're riding it

  • Pull your horse, then take the road east along the Hilltop High Road, then south through Hyrule Ridge into North Hyrule Plain.
  • Touch every green shrine light. Warp point plus a Light of Blessing each — bank hearts before Death Mountain at step 20.

Shrines on this stretch

  • Kiuyoyou-1106, 2089, 0104 — fire-and-ice puzzle on Rowan Plain, the canyon's east rim ~500m south of the Forgotten Temple. Right on the southbound line.
  • Taki-ihaban-1830, 1149, 0147 — blessing at the end of a short crawl through Lindor's Brow Cave, as the route swings south.
  • The road home re-passes Sinakawak (step 5) and Ishodag (step 4) if either is still unlit.

Stock up nearby

The road down

Ore deposits along the ridges either side. Hit them with a rock-fused weapon — you need 700 rupees by step 20, so gems are worth taking.

FlintAmberLuminous StoneCool Safflina
The tundra stretch — hunt as you ride

Buffalo, moose, wolves and foxes on this snowfield drop prime and gourmet meat. 5x Raw Gourmet Meat cooked plain sells for 315 — the best steady earner in the game, and this is its best ground. Details on the Wallet card.

Raw Gourmet MeatRaw Prime Meat

If you're short on time

  • Warp to Lookout Landing and go straight to step 13. You lose nothing on the critical path.
13 Report to Purah, talk to JoshaLookout Landing

Reporting the Rito temple to Purah advances Regional Phenomena. Then Josha sets up the Depths run.

How

  • Purah is upstairs. Report the Wind Temple, take the cutscene.
  • Josha is below her. With one temple cleared and Camera Work in the Depths behind you, she'll offer A Mystery in the Depths — that's step 14.
If you haven't done Camera Work yet, do it now before Josha's follow-up — she won't offer it otherwise. The full walkthrough is in step 3.
14 Follow the statues in the DepthsThe Depths · Autobuild

This is A Mystery in the Depths, and it's the highest-value step in the list so far. It ends with Autobuild, your first Kohga fight, and the Forge Construct that turns raw Zonaite into battery charges.

Shortcut if the trail feels long

  • The mine sits at -0822, -1940, and the Great Plateau North Chasm (-0665, -1510 on the surface) drops you a short hop northeast of it, past Nogukoyk Lightroot — faster than riding the whole statue line if you lose the thread.

Following the trail

  • Talk to Josha at the mural by the double doors. She gives 10 Giant Brightbloom Seeds and 10 arrows.
  • Warp down to the Lightroot where you found Robbie. The first statue stands nearby.
  • Each statue's face and raised hand point at the next one. That's the entire navigation system. Throw a Giant seed at each statue so you can see back the way you came.
  • Light every Lightroot you pass heading south — each one permanently shrinks the dark.
  • Collect the blue flames: Poes. The bigger purple ones are Grand Poes, worth 20 each.
A Frox patrols part of the route and eats any Brightbloom Seeds planted near it. Don't fight it — you're underlevelled and it drops nothing you need.

Great Abandoned Central Mine

  • Examine the glowing mark to wake the Steward Construct and unlock Autobuild. Creates a warp point too.
  • Round pedestal: Ultrahand the missing wheel back on, which registers the finished vehicle. Square pedestal: Autobuild the copy.
  • The two "researchers" are Yiga. Master Kohga traps you in an arena — you can't Ultrahand his machine apart.
  • Step sideways out of the charge lane, shoot him off the vehicle, close in while he's down. He bolts more parts on as his health drops.
  • After he flees: chest with a Huge Crystallized Charge, and the Steward Construct nearby gives the Fanplane Schema Stone. Build it and fly to the Lightroot in the distance.

Stock up nearby

The Forge Construct — inside the mine

Trades Zonaite for Crystallized and Zonai Charges. This is the pipeline that grows your battery for the rest of the game, so mine deposits on the way in rather than walking past them.

ZonaiteHuge Crystallized ChargePoeGrand PoeDeep Firefly

Poes only spend at Bargainer Statues, and the biggest one in the game is directly below this mine — from the schema-stone construct, face the main structure and take the stairway down underneath. Worth a look while standing here; otherwise the excavated head at Lookout Landing serves the same purpose at step 16. Trade zonaite at the Forge (3 → 1 charge) but keep ~20-30 raw — Autobuild spends zonaite to conjure missing parts.

15 Speak to Josha, help RobbieLookout Landing

Short wrap-up. Tell Josha about Autobuild, she hands you a second Schema Stone, you use it on the spot.

How

  • The reward is the Hot-Air Balloon schema. Step outside, aim Autobuild at Robbie's wrecked balloon and build from the blueprint — you don't need to have built one before, that's what a schema stone is for.
  • This sends Robbie back to Hateno Village, which is what turns his lab into an upgrade shop.
Purah Pad upgrades live in Hateno now — Sensor+ and the rest. That's step 28, so don't chase him east yet.
16 Talk to travelers in the centre of Lookout LandingUpgrades

The list is vague here, so here's what's actually worth your time. Lookout Landing is a bank of upgrade services and you're walking in holding exactly the currencies they take.

Spend what you brought back

  • Crystal Refinery, just outside the north exit — Crystallized Charge permanently extends your energy cell. Spend Kohga's Huge charge here.
  • Bargainer Statue in the central tent — Poes buy the Dark armour set, and it marks the other statues for you.
  • Goddess Statue in the underground shelter — four Lights of Blessing per heart or stamina segment. Take stamina if you're still on one wheel; Death Mountain is climbing-heavy.
  • Horned Statue, also below — swaps hearts for stamina and back, for a fee.

Quest worth grabbing

  • The Incomplete Stable opens now that you've cleared a temple. One Ultrahand board on the unfinished frame, and Lookout Landing becomes a working stable — meaning you can pull the Golden Horse here instead of trekking to Hebra.
Leg 06 · Steps 17–18

Woodland Stable

Two steps, but the second opens two long-running chains: the Great Fairies and the Bubbul Gem trade. Both pay off for the next forty steps.

17 Head northeast to Woodland StableForest edge

Short ride north out of Lookout Landing. Bring a horse — you need one at the stable and towing is easier if it's already registered.

The road

  • Take the road north. At the fork where Yamiyo Shrine sits, go north and light the shrine as you pass.
  • Cross Helmhead Bridge, continue straight, stable is ahead.
  • Activate Ekochiu Shrine next to the stable first — you'll be warping back here during the Great Fairy chain.

Stock up nearby

Crenel Hills Cave — 0494, 0731, 0041

Right beside the road, and it holds the Barbarian Armor (chest piece — attack up). Inside, the chest is behind the second elevated stack of luminous rock on the right — one bomb arrow opens it. First of three: the helm waits near Kakariko (~step 24) and the leg wraps by Hateno (step 28).

Barbarian ArmorLuminous StoneBrightbloom Seed
18 Woodland Stable quests — Trotters, Penn, the balloonGreat Fairies

Penn's stop here is Serenade to a Great Fairy, gateway to all four fairies — the only armour upgrade path in the game. The balloon behind the stable is something else entirely, and it's why your Bubbul Gems stop being dead weight.

Serenade to a Great Fairy

  • Penn is talking with Mastro and Violynne of the Stable Trotters. Their wagon, Breezer, is wrecked and their horse bolted.
  • Two wheels lie nearby — Ultrahand them onto the wagon.
  • You need a registered horse fitted with a Towing Harness, bought at the stable counter with Pony Points. The Golden Horse does the job, and the Pony Point from the Snowfield photo helps here.
  • Hitch the harness bar and tow the troupe up the northwest hill to the fountain — the pink plume visible from the stable.
  • Tera only needs the violin, so no band-hunting yet. She upgrades armour one level and marks her three sisters on your map. Penn pays 50 rupees.
Upgrade your cold and heat gear at Tera before step 20. One level sounds trivial but the Death Mountain interior punishes base defence.

The balloon behind the stable

  • That's Kilton. Talking to him starts The Hunt for Bubbul Gems!, which makes the gems from your cave clears spendable through his brother Koltin.
  • Worth doing now precisely because you've already cleared several Bubbulfrogs in Hebra.

Stock up nearby

Around the stable

Horses graze in the paddock west of the stable if you arrived without one. A hot spring in the area restores hearts free — cheaper than eating through your food before a temple run.

Towing HarnessHylian ShroomStamella Shroom

Koltin trades at night and moves around. Don't hunt him mid-quest; he turns up at stables you're already visiting.

Leg 07 · Steps 19–21

Eldin & Death Mountain

Your second temple, and the only step in this build with a hard cash requirement — roughly 700 rupees for fireproof armour. Don't arrive broke.

19 Follow the road northeast to Death MountainEldin Canyon

The approach matters more than usual, because two things gate the region: heat and money.

On the way

  • Light the Eldin Canyon Skyview Tower. Three fire-type enemies guard the base — clear them with ice arrows or a frost-fused weapon first.
  • Ambient heat starts on the approach road. This is where the Chillshrooms and Cool Safflina from step 10 cash in — cook them at any pot before you climb.
  • Check your wallet. You want 700 rupees spare by Goron City. If you're short, sell meat skewers and surplus rubies/sapphires/topaz — hold your amber, opal, flint and luminous stones (armor upgrades eat those by the hundreds; the Wallet card has the full list).
  • At Bedrock Bistro on this road: do Meat for Meat, which unlocks Gomo's flint trade — 100 flint containing a "ripened" one pays 1,000 rupees, repeatable.

Shrines on this stretch

  • Timawak1798, 1635, 0311 — lava-flow puzzle just north of Bedrock Bistro, directly on the Death Mountain West Trail.

Stock up nearby

Eldin Canyon

Fire-region critters cook into fireproof elixirs for short stretches. Ore is unusually dense on the mountain — rubies fuse into fire damage, so hold a few back rather than selling the lot.

Fireproof LizardSmotherwing ButterflyRubyAmberFlint

Elixirs won't substitute for the armour. The Gorons check for fireproof gear before letting you into the storage area, and the underground stretch runs long enough that timed elixirs lapse mid-route.

20 Do the Goron story arcGoron City · Fire Temple

Yunobo of Goron City, start to finish: a boss fight against a friend, a minecart run under the mountain, and the Fire Temple. Longest step in this build by a wide margin.

Goron City

  • Quest marker around 1649, 2447, 0381. Bludo is scolding a Goron flat on the ground who's eaten Marbled Rock Roast. President Yunobo turns up, denies everything, leaves for YunoboCo HQ.
  • Buy the Flamebreaker Armour — roughly 700 rupees. Non-negotiable for everything that follows.
  • Find Ramella in the city — the game's only premium gem buyer. She takes batches of 10 above list price (amber at double, diamond 550 each) and rotates what she wants. Start banking 10-packs; sell surplus through her, never a shop.
  • Head north to YunoboCo HQ. Slergo and Offrak at the storage entrance won't pass you without fireproof gear.

Fighting Yunobo

  • He balls up and charges in a straight line. Dodge sideways and let him hit the wall — he's stunned and open.
  • Hit the mask, not the Goron. Each connection cracks it further.

Into the mountain

  • Dive into the crater to the lowest level of the Death Mountain Chasm — mind the lava lake. Activate Mustis Lightroot and talk to Yunobo.
  • His charge is yours to aim now. Red rocks break to it — this is the ability the blue sediment from step 11 was waiting for.
  • Build a cart on the minecart rails and attach a fan to drive it. Ride to the end of the line; that's the Fire Temple.

Fire Temple & Marbled Gohma

  • The temple is a rail network more than a room puzzle. Locks open by aiming Yunobo at them, not by hitting them yourself.
  • Gohma has marbled rock on its legs. Launch Yunobo at the glowing sections to shatter them; each break staggers it and drops the eye into reach.
  • Phase two it climbs to the ceiling — Yunobo can still knock it down, aimed at the core eye when it pauses.
  • Phase three it drops boulders. Move laterally out of the shadow, then resume launching.
  • Reward: the Vow of Yunobo, Sage of Fire.

Shrines on this stretch

  • Marakuguc1761, 2508, 0437 — vehicle puzzle right beside Goron City.
  • Isisim1841, 2841, 0363 — Proving Grounds combat gauntlet (gear stripped) at Goron Hot Springs, a short walk north of the city.
  • Sitsum2358, 2602 — near the summit east of the city. Optional; more a summit-trip pickup than a road detour.
21 Head south of the Skyview Tower for memory 3Dragon's Tear

The geoglyph sits directly south of Eldin Canyon Skyview Tower, wedged between the roads to Goron City and Zora's Domain. The shape drawn on the ground is the Purah Pad.

How

  • Warp to Eldin Canyon Skyview Tower, launch, glide due south.
  • Dragon's Tear at 1828, 0737, 0089.
  • Same rule as always: find the single solid, filled-in teardrop among the hollow outlines and land on it.
  • This is Mineru's Counsel. Watching it in sequence is why step 11 mattered.
Field guide

Foes — the cheap way

Every fight here is written cheapest-first. The theme: almost nothing needs a bomb flower. Bank them — they're cave currency.

Like Like — stop spending bombs on itCave walls & ceilings

The stun never needed an explosive. Any hit on the exposed tongue — a plain arrow, or even a melee strike — stuns it for several seconds.

The loop

  • Stand at mid range. Too close and it swallows you and chews your gear.
  • Wait for the mouth to open just before it lunges, then put one plain arrow (or a sword hit) into the tongue.
  • It drops stunned — wail on it, step back, repeat. Melee-only works too: sidestep the lunge, strike the tongue.
  • Mounted too high to reach? Stay ranged: after the first stun, keep putting plain arrows into the hanging tongue — every hit damages and re-stuns it. An elemental arrow is only ever needed once, to open the variant up. It still pays back 5 arrows on death.

Variants — one cheap counter each

  • Fire Like → anything ice (ice fruit, white chuchu jelly). Ice Like → anything fire. Instant stun.
  • Shock Like → stay out of blast range, fire-fruit arrow.
  • Rock LikeRecall its own boulder back into its mouth — free — or a blunt rock-fused weapon. The one variant where a bomb is defensible.

Why it's worth fighting

Every kill drops a Like Like Stone plus 5 arrows — the fight is arrow-positive if you skip the bomb. Wall and ceiling ones usually cough up a weapon chest too.

Treasure chest5 arrowsLike Like Stone
Stone Talus — Ascend is the whole trickCaves & rare-ore hunts

Zero ammo needed: run underneath, Ascend through its body onto its back, and melee the glowing ore deposit.

The loop

  • Two full combos fit before it shakes you — hop off, repeat. Blunt or rock-fused weapons hit the ore hardest; don't linger underneath (stomp).
  • Free stun: Recall its thrown boulders back at it.
  • Igneo (fire): douse with a splash- or ice-fruit arrow first — it falls stunned. Frost: fire arrow to melt the ice.
  • Battle Talus (Bokoblins riding it): ignore the riders, one arrow to the ore staggers it, then climb as normal.

Why it's worth fighting

A regular one drops ruby/amber/opal/flint. A Rare Talus drops sapphire, topaz, ruby and diamond — one of the best early rupee sources in the game, and you need 700 rupees by step 20. The Talus Heart itself is a strong hammer fusion.

Diamond (rare)RubySapphireFlint
Horriblin — one arrow to the headCave ceilings

The loop

  • One plain arrow to the head: critical hit, knocks it off the ceiling, and it sits clutching itself while you melee it. Weak ones die to the headshot outright.
  • Free option: Recall its thrown rocks back at it — same knockdown.
  • A pack on the ceiling: one thrown Dazzlefruit drops all of them at once.
  • Low ceilings: a spear out-ranges them without the arrow.

Drops

Horriblin Horn is a decent early fuse. Kill them when they block a cave; not worth hunting.

Horriblin HornHorriblin Claw
Evermean — the tree that wigglesRoadsides & woods

The loop

  • Spot it before it springs: it's the one tree wiggling slightly among still ones.
  • Fire does the whole job — fire-fruit arrow, red chuchu, or just torch contact. Occasionally needs a second hit if it shakes the flame off.
  • Melee: swords and axes only — spears and clubs bounce off wood. Bait the slow trunk-slam, step aside, chop during its long recovery.
  • Drops ordinary wood — fight it for safety, not profit.
Gloom Hands — run now, farm laterSurface · fixed spawns

At your current gear level the answer is run: climb anything — they have almost no vertical mobility and despawn if you stay out of reach. Pin the spot on the map and come back.

When you do fight (~8+ hearts, gloom-resist food)

  • High ground they can't reach, then bomb-flower arrows — a multi-shot bow triples the value per arrow, and the blast hits several hands at once. This is the one fight where bomb flowers ARE the right spend: the hands regenerate faster than plain-arrow chip damage.
  • Plain arrows go in the eye in each palm if that's all you have, but expect to lose the regeneration race.
  • Never melee standing in the gloom pools — contact drains max hearts.
The hands are round one. Kill them and Phantom Ganon spawns immediately — a dodge-and-flurry duel that's actually easier than the hands. Flee him and the hands reset.

Why it's worth it eventually

Phantom Ganon drops a Gloom weapon — fusing one is roughly a +30-attack jump, transformative at this stage.

Gloom weaponDark Clump
Bubbulfrog — one sneak arrowOne per cave

The loop

  • Sneak into range and put one plain arrow in before it aggros — it flees at about 15m and warps away ~5 seconds later.
  • Arrow type is irrelevant. Never spend an elemental or bomb arrow on it.
Field guide

Wallet — steady rupees

Normal mechanics only, ranked by what they actually pay. TotK's economy runs on meat and gems; almost everything else that looks sellable is secretly an armor-upgrade ingredient.

The earners, rankedRupees per hour, honestly

1 · Gourmet-meat skewers — the workhorse

  • Cook 5x Raw Gourmet Meat, nothing else → a skewer that sells for 315 (the raw meat is worth 175). 5x Prime Meat → 135.
  • Don't season sale dishes. Spice fills a slot a fifth meat uses better — there's no seasoning bonus on sale price.
  • Best hunting ground: the Hebra/Tabantha snowfields you already know — buffalo, moose, wolves, foxes and bears all drop prime/gourmet meat.

2 · Talus gems → Ramella's batches

  • Ramella in Goron City (from step 20) buys gems in batches of 10 above list price — diamond 550, sapphire 170, ruby 130, topaz 100, and amber at double (20). She rotates what she wants; check when passing.
  • A Rare Talus pays ~800–1,000 at her rates per kill, and Taluses respawn every blood moon. The Foes card has the free kill loop.

3 · Income that rides the route free

  • Penn's stable quests (started at step 7): 50 each for the first six, 100 for the last six — 900 total plus the Froggy set, all at stables you're visiting anyway.
  • Gomo at Bedrock Bistro (on the step-19 road, after Meat for Meat): turn in 100 flint containing a "ripened" one → 1,000 rupees, repeatable. Doubles flint's face value.
  • Fera's wells (step 6): 10 per well, 58 wells — never route for one, always report the ones you fall into.
  • Dondons at Lakeside Stable (step ~46): fed a Luminous Stone (shop value 20), each excretes a random gem — up to diamond — 10 real-time minutes later. Passive only: dump surplus stones when passing, never wait around.
The don't-sell listUpgrade ingredients in disguise

The Great Fairy armor tiers eat gems by the hundreds. Selling the wrong pile early is the classic trap.

Hold these

  • Amber, Opal, Flint, Luminous Stone, Zonaite — the five bulk armor-upgrade ores. Amber especially. (Flint routed through Gomo's turn-in is the exception once you're stocked.)
  • Diamonds — every one eventually feeds a 4★ upgrade or a Zora weapon rebuild. Sell only real surplus, late.
  • Star Fragments (sell 200, but don't) — legacy armor and circlet tiers eat them.
  • Zonaite goes to the forge, never the shop — a Large Zonaite sells for a comedy 6 rupees.

Sell guilt-free

  • Cooked meat skewers — that's what they're for.
  • Rubies, sapphires, topaz beyond a reserve of ~10–15 each (Snowquill, Desert Voe and rubber gear take some) — surplus goes to Ramella's batches.
  • Duplicate dragon parts (300 each).