Zelda Breath of the Wild guide: How to find and upgrade the Zora armor set
Any time you have to swim anywhere in Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you probably want to wear at least one piece of the Zora set. It increases your swim speed and lets you swim straight up waterfalls. You’ll pick up your first piece of this set during a main story mission, but the other two pieces — and the associated set bonus they grant — take a little more work.
Zora armor
When you reach Zora’s Domain and embark on the Divine Beast Vah Ruta quest, King Dorephan will give you the first piece of this set, the Zora armor. Even just this one piece will increase your swim speed and allow you to swim up waterfalls.
How to get the Zora helm
The second piece of the Zora set is close by, and you can get right away. From Zora’s Domain, head north-northeast toward Toto Lake. The quickest way to get there is just to equip the Zora armor and swim up the two waterfalls between here and there.
When you get to Toto Lake, swim out into the ruins, and head for the far left corner in the northwest. Turn back toward the center of the ruined building and activate magnesis to find a chest at the bottom of the lake. Pull it up and open it for the Zora helm. (If you have any trouble finding it, check the gallery above.) The helm allows you to perform a spin attack while swimming, which is a corkscrewing lunge forward through the water.
How to get the Zora greaves (‘Lynel Safari’ side quest)
You’ll get the final piece of the Zora set by completing the ‘Lynel Safari’ side quest. Look for Laflat on the eastern side of the middle level of Zora’s Domain. When you talk to her, she’ll ask you to show her a picture of a red-maned lynel. Conveniently, you have to go confront/avoid a red-maned lynel to gather shock arrows during the Divine Beast Vah Rota.
Take the photo back and show her, and she’ll reward you with the Zora greaves.
Upgrading the Zora set
Wearing any piece of the Zora set will increase your swim speed. The Zora helm gives you a spin attack while swimming, and the armor lets you swim up waterfalls. After the second upgrade, wearing the entire outfit give you a set bonus that increases your swim dash stamina — or, more accurately, dashing while swimming consumes less stamina.
Upgrading the Zora set
| Upgrade | Zora Helm | Zora Armor | Zora Greaves |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upgrade | Zora Helm | Zora Armor | Zora Greaves |
| Level 1 | 3 lizalfos horn | 3 lizalfos horn | 3 lizalfos horn |
| Level 2 | 5 lizalfos horn, 5 hyrule bass | 5 lizalfos horn, 5 hyrule bass | 5 lizalfos horn, 5 hyrule bass |
| Level 3 | 5 lizalfos tail, 5 hearty bass | 5 lizalfos tail, 5 hearty bass | 5 lizalfos tail, 5 hearty bass |
| Level 4 | 10 lizalfos tail, 15 opal | 10 lizalfos tail, 15 opal | 10 lizalfos tail, 15 opal |
Upgrading this set at a Great Fairy fountain is fairly easy — the requirements are all relatively common.
You just need a lot of them:
- Lizalfos horns and tails are basically everywhere in Hyrule. Hyrule bass are also easy to come by in most bodies of water — try the river south of Riverside Stable (which is near Wahgo Katta shrine) or the river in the canyon near Ree Dahee shrine.
- Hearty bass are more common at the bases of waterfalls, so watch for them in the areas around Zora’s Domain and down the Zora River from there.
- Opals are a bit trickier because they’re a random drop. Your best approach is to mine every chunk of ore you can find around Death Mountain. You should also fight any talus you find (here’s the short version of how to fight a talus: Climb up on it, and hit the shiny rock with your weapon). Stone, igneo and frost taloses all have a chance to drop opals.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild walkthrough — Reaching Zora’s Domain & Boarding Vah Ruta
It’s time to befriend the fish people — but to do that you need to get to the secretive Zora’s Domain.
One of the four races of Hyrule you need to visit in order to talk about their divine beast is the Zora. Once you’ve visited Impa in Kakariko Village in the early stages of Zelda: Breath of the Wild you’ll be able to tackle any of the four divine beast quests. Here we explain how to reach Zora’s Domain and kick off this part of the main quest.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Walkthrough — Main Quest: Reach Zora’s Domain
In another Zelda, we’d call this the road to the Water Temple or Dungeon… but things are a little more open-ended in Breath of the Wild. Let’s get started.
If you want even more assistance with your adventure, check out our full and detailed The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild walkthrough and guide.
- Previous: Divine Beast Vah Rudania Dungeon
- Next: Divine Beast Vah Ruta Dungeon
Meeting Sidon, Prince of the Zora
To kick this quest off you’ll need to meet Sidon, Prince of the Zora, on Inogo Bridge. As soon as you get close to this area you’ll begin to bump into Zora who’ll point you in the right direction — there are a number of them out exploring the nearby lands, and every one will tell you the same thing: the prince is searching for a Hylian. The closest tower to this is Lanayru Tower. The bridge crosses — unsurprisingly — Zora River. This should be easy to find on your map.
After a cutscene and a chat Sidon will task you with making your way up the river towards Zora’s Domain on foot — you’re not strong enough to swim. There are a range of enemies here, and many attack with electricity. Keep in mind you can make elixir potions that you can take in order to lower the damage taken from electricity, and regardless you should take plenty of supplies as this is a decently long journey.
The path should be clear to you. While it’s not an obvious paved road, the entire route to Zora’s Domain is littered with blue signposts and blue lamps. Keep following them.
Watch out for the Octoroks and don’t be tempted to jump in the river after their loot; the current will sweep it (and you!) away downriver and you’ll have to start again. Their loot is valuable, but it’s not that valuable, and there are certainly better places in Hyrule to farm it.
As you continue moving up the river Sidon will interrupt you a few times — and the further you go, the more challenging it becomes.
When you reach a cave that’s covered in thorns, you can climb around it by heading left. If you have access to a fire rod or fire arrows however, set the thorns on fire to get to the chest within and clear the path.
The first big encounter features a shed load of enemies with shock arrows. Try to pick them off at a distance — if you rush in close you’re asking for trouble.
Remember that headshots are critical hits — with good bows this should one-shot enemies, and even with less brilliant bows it’ll knock the enemy down.
When you reach Zora’s Domain, explore and definitely at least activate if not complete the Shrine (Ne’ez Yoma Shrine) nearby so you have a fast travel point to get back here at ease. Once that’s done, go meet the king! Story stuff abound.
Main Quest: Divine Beast Vah Ruta — Taking out the Lynel
Your first task in this objective is to go down to the main square of Zora’s Domain and talk to the guys down there. You’ll learn you need shock arrows, and you’ll learn that there’s a beast nearby who keeps a stockpile of them — a Lynel, half man, half lion. He’s deadly. These enemies date back to the first Zelda on the NES.
The first thing you’ll want to do is head to a cooking spot (there’s one in Zora Domain’s inn) and prepare yourself some food. Prepare stuff that’ll give you attack and defence boosts if you can, plus health-restoring meals.
Anyway, follow the waypoint and make your way towards the Lynel’s lair by swimming up the waterfalls — remember, you’ll need the Zora Armor equipped in order to use that skill.
Once you reach the top, don’t forget to swap out the Zora Armor — either for your best stealth or best combat gear. Which you go for is going to be largely determined by the choice below…
Getting Shock Arrows from the Lynel
You have a choice with the Lynel — you can either go in geared up and prepared for combat or you can stealth around the arena.
Consider this a mini-boss — he hits hard, has 2000 HP and some very good attacks. Up-close he smashes fiercely so you’ll want a high quality shield, while at range he’ll breathe fire and charge you. Basically: be careful.
I found the best way to tackle him was to stay relatively close and near his hind legs at all times, and to use weapons I could attack quickly with so I could quickly get my shield back up.
If you go the stealth route, sneak around the combat area without Lynel noticing you. You’ll find shock arrows he’s presumably been using for target practice slammed into most of the trees around the area. You can get the 20 you need to continue this way easily enough.
If you fight, however, there’ll be decent loot in it for you plus even more shock arrows since after the fight you can pick up all those all around the arena and Lynel drops a bundle. Do what you have to.
When you’re done, go meet Sidon at the waypoint near where Vah Ruta is resting. It’s time to execute your plan — even if it’s all a bit crazy-sounding.
Boarding Divine Beast Vah Ruta
Zora Prince Sidon has built a plan, and though it’s risky to storm the gigantic robot elephant on its own turf, Link is always up for the challenge. You should’ve picked up the lightning arrows from the Lynel nearby as part of the previous quest, and now it’s time for a full assault.
You’ll need your Zora Armor equipped for this mission, and consider upgrading it at a fairy fountain before you go further. You should also stock up on any supplies and prepare any food you think you’ll need: this leads directly into the dungeon.
Boss Battle: Boarding Vah Ruta
This boss is explained pretty well in the game, but allow me to reiterate also: your task here is to ride Sidon’s back and protect him as the two of you push forwards to get close to Vah Ruta.
Vah Ruta isn’t going to take that sitting down, however — and the beast will deploy ice in an attempt to stop you. First this takes the form of giant cubes of ice that he’ll hurl at you. You’ll want to switch to regular arrows and shoot at them — the arrows will shatter the ice so it can’t hit or hurt the two of you.
On later phases Ruta will also send spiked balls of ice after you. Unlike the blocks that are thrown at you these will hit the water and follow behind you, homing in on you, so keep an eye out for them.
In the final phase you’ll have to contend with both at once, so be careful and turn the camera a lot to keep track. Generally speaking the two threats will alternate — first a block, then a spiked ball, and so on and so forth.
Through all of the phases of the fight, once Sidon can get you close enough you’ll approach the waterfalls that lead up Vah Ruta’s body. Hit A as soon as you reach the waterfall to swim up it. When you hit the top, you’ll naturally pull into a glide with your paraglider. Pull the right trigger and make sure you’re switched to shock arrows.
Time will slow for a while here, governed by your stamina meter. This is classic boss fight stuff: hit the bright glowing red weak point with shock arrows. Put the arrows into their target and then move on to the next.
You’ll have to do this four times, because this is a Nintendo game and those old rules die hard. When you’re done, there’ll be a cutscene and you’ll finally be on Vah Ruta proper.
It’s time… for a dungeon. A real, proper one — or as close as Breath of the Wild gets.
Where to Find All Zora Stone Monuments
Open World in Zelda: Breath of the Wild is large and full of unique discoveries. Hyrule has many attractions, including the Zora Stone Monuments, which are small landmarks that are exclusive to the area surrounding Zora’s Domain.
You can meet a quest in Zora’s Domain to track down all of Zora’s stone monuments, and it’s difficult if you don’t know the exact location of each one. The following locations include all of the Zora Stone monuments in Breath Of The Wild, as well as information on how to get to them.
1 Monument 1
2 Monument Second
3 Monument Third
4 Monument Four
5 Monument Five
6 Monument sixth
7 Monument seventh
8 Monument eight
9
What can you do at the Zora stone monuments?
You need to open all Zora stone monuments to complete side quest .
You receive this quest from Jahto in Zora’s Domain . Jiahto is next to the monument under the city’s throne room. To complete the mission, you need to interact with each of the ten unique stone monuments in the area. Each monument also has several lines of text to read.
Once you interact with each monument, you can talk to Jiahto one more time to receive a reward. The reward is Diamond . If you interact with any of Zora’s stone monuments prior to talking to Jiahto, they still count toward completing this side mission.
Location of each Zora Stone monument
Here are all ten locations of monuments.
Monument 1
The first Zora Monument you can encounter is north of Divine Beast Vah Rut, on a small cliff. This monument is easy to find because it is on a dangerous path that you need to take to get to Zora’s Domain for the first time.
Second Monument
The second monument to Zora is near the bridge, north-northwest of Wah Rut.
Monument Third
You can meet the third monument in Zora’s Domain by the water. If you need a point of reference to find it, you should look from the Great Dawn Bridge to get a good view.
Fourth monument
This monument to Zora is easy to find because it is located at the foot of the waterfall. The waterfall you need to find is located south of the Luto Junction, so you don’t have to travel far from that location to encounter the monument.
Monument fifth
The Fifth Monument of Zor is another monument that is easy to find because it is directly northwest of the Wah Ruta mountainous area. Finding this monument is not difficult because it is located in an area with few objects.
Sixth monument
The sixth monument to Zora is located west of Rutala Dam and is easy to see if you are on high ground. You may need to climb to get to this monument, depending on your starting point.
Seventh monument
This monument to Zora is located on the right bank of Lake Ruto.
You can go down to the seventh monument from the side of Wah Rut.
Eighth monument
You can climb the two waterfalls southeast of Zora’s domain and descend back to the cliff below to meet the eighth Zora monument.
Monument Nine
Zora’s penultimate monument is north of Mount Ruto, so you can get there on foot or by glider.
Monument Ten
West of Mount Ploimus, you can find the last Zora monument near the cliff.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild unbreakable weapons and high-strength tridents
If you play this adventure for a while, you will soon start dreaming about finding the unbreakable weapons of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Almost every weapon and shield in the game has a durability stat, which means that they will break and cannot be repaired once you have smashed enough enemies. That’s why so many people go looking for Zelda: Breath of the Wild Master Sword.
Continue reading for the location of Zelda: Breath of the Wild Master Sword, as well as information on the Hylian Shield, Ceremonial Trident, and Lightscale Trident.
This highly durable Breath of the Wild weapon is an essential piece of equipment for Link, especially when you start attacking Hyrule Castle towards the end of the game.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild Master Sword location
The
Master Sword is unique in that it is the only indestructible weapon in the game. Its durability decreases with use, but after a few minutes of recharging in your inventory, it is ready to go again.
Worth finding the sword, as it deals double damage to Ganon and his minions.
Select a map to view full size
The main sword is hidden in the middle of the Korok Forest, north of the castle.
Select a map to view full size
If you haven’t yet visited the forest for Korok Seeds or the shrines located there, you’ll have to make your way through the Lost Forest on the southeast side of Korok Forest.
From the ruins at the forest entrance, follow the path of the torches until they run out, then head west to find a pair of torches next to a large tree with a chest inside.
Pick up a torch from the ground and light it. Watch the direction of the falling coals and use them to get the rest of the way.
You will be prompted to pull the sword out of the stone and when you do so your heart rate gauge will deplete but refill immediately after. It is worth noting that you will need at least 13 hearts to pull it out.
If you’re wondering how to get the Master Sword without 13 hearts, the answer is: you can’t… at least not that easy. Luckily, it’s easy enough to raise the required amount by filling the shrines for spiritual realms and defeating divine beasts.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild Hylian Shield Location
The Hylian Shield is technically unbreakable, but it has a very high durability of 800 units.
If you haven’t mastered the Perfect Guard technique, I wouldn’t use it against the Sentinel’s laser beams, as they can destroy almost any shield in one shot. While the Hylian Shield might take a little longer to wear down, it’s not worth it when you can sacrifice a stack of low-level shields instead.
The shield is in the storage room of Hyrule Castle, but it’s very easy to get to. You can avoid all the encounters along the way, but stock up on arrows and various health and speed potions for the inevitable fight at the end to get this.
Select map to view full size
From the northwest side of the castle, where the green pin is located, you can see the entrance to the docks, which looks like a large cave with a moat running into it.
Paragliding down the path next to it, but be careful of the active but immobile Guardian at the top.
Sneak past it to what looks like a mine entrance on the right. There are three ore deposits glimmering outside, so you won’t be able to miss them.
The gate will block your path, but you can use an ice block to lift it up.
The next obstacle is Ganon’s purple mass. Shoot the eyeball visible in the chamber on the left to clear the hallway.
There are some strong moblins in the cages here, but you can easily avoid them if you have enough stealth and stamina by climbing in and around the cages like a yellow belly.
Follow the corridor to the right and you will see a very suspicious pile of bones in the chamber behind it.
This is Stalnox, and yes, the door will close behind you, locking you in with him. Shoot him in the eye and follow with a sonic boom. He will try to throw his various appendages at you, but they are easy to avoid. Take your time, keep your cool, and you’ll die before you know.
It will drop some pretty fancy gear, but the treasure you’re looking for is in a chest.
Any armor, weapons and shields you have acquired, lost or broken will appear in Grant’s inventory in Tarry Town, but they are very expensive and you will need to complete a bunch of quests to unlock his services.
So when your Hylian Shield finally dies, you can pick up another one from Grante.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild Location Ceremonial Trident
The Ceremonial Trident is basically a Fake Lightscale Trident, but can be reforged by Dento in Zora’s Domain, where you can find it.
Select map to view full size
Zora’s domain is located east of Central Hyrule.
From the Mytha statue, go up the stairs to the left.
Go to the bridge leading to the western gate of Zora’s domain.
You need to jump off the right side of the bridge and go down to the lowest level of the outer ring.
It was possible to swim there, but not so fast.
Select map to view full size
Reach the location on the map above.
Turning away from Zora’s domain, use Magnesis to find the trident in the water.
Use ice blocks to get to him and switch to Magnesis to lift him to solid ground.
If you break or lose your trident, bring Dento the Spear of Zora and five pieces of flint and he will make you a shiny new one.
Zelda: Breath of the Wild Lightscale Trident
Lightscale Trident is the only other weapon that can be reforged if lost or broken in Zora’s domain.
You need to refine Divine Beast Vah Ruta to get it.
