Breath of the Wild Hyrule Castle Walkthrough
You're finally ready for Breath of the Wild's concluding area: Hyrule Castle. The castle is no joke, but luckily we're here to help you through. There's treasures to be found and enemies to be fought, but with all the skills you've amassed up to now you'll succeed in making it through the Zelda Breath of the Wild Hyrule Castle. Read on to find out how to get your hands on the Hylian Shield.
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Breath of the Wild Hyrule Castle Walkthrough
Alright, now if your intention is solely to take on Calamity Ganon, then that's actually much easier than you might suspect. Using the Zora Armor from the Vah Ruta questline you can swim up waterfalls, and if you start with the waterfall just to the left of Hyrule Castle's main entrance – that's a bridge leading into the courtyard and Central Hyrule – you can actually follow that river all the way up to the sanctum. If you stock up on a couple of meals that restore stamina, it'll be breeze and you won't have too much trouble from enemies.
But Hyrule Castle is hiding many secrets, and there are a few more intimidating enemies to brawl with. Follow these instructions to find the best bits of Hyrule Castle, including Link's iconic Hylian Shield, which doubles as the best shield in the game.
Further to the left than the waterfall is the entrance we'll take – there's some luminous stone nearby, so it's easily visible during the night. Go inside and blow through a wall with your bombs. In the next room is a minecart powered by bombs – just drop them into the cage at the back and detonate, they won't do any damage.
After the minecart ride, go through the door with two torches on either side and follow the path. It'll eventually bring you to another wall to bomb through. Now we're in the Lockup. Follow the path left and bomb through the wall at the end.
You're in a cell now. Destroy the eye monster on the other side of the cell bars to destroy it. It'll reveal a switch that you can shoot with your arrows, opening up the cell – also freeing a bunch of monsters you'll need to take care of.
Hylian Shield Location
From your cell, take a left and go through some more bars – in front of you will be a room with a pile of bones in. This is the Stalnox, a tough beast to fight but he hides a lovely reward - the Hylian Shield, by far best shield in Breath of the Wild in terms of defense, and an essential part of any Hylian Hero cosplay you want to pull off in-game.
Leave the Lockup through the cell you entered via earlier, and take that turning you previously ignored, which will be on your left. In here there's a waterfall on the wall. You can use Cryonis to form ice pillars and scale the wall up to a ladder, from which you can climb up to a room where you can hit a switch to create an updraft to launch you even higher up.
Take the left path to delve further inside, shooting down any evil eyes you see to clear the way. On your right will be a room with an eye blocking the way. Shoot it to reveal a staircase. The staircase leads up to a small hub inside Hyrule Castle – watch out for Guardians. From here take a right past a staircase and over a small stream. The building on your right here has a fierce Lynel inside – those centaur beasts from earlier. It's tough, but worth fighting. If you don't fancy it, just keep going.
Go up the staircase on the building with the Lynel inside – there'll be a Guardian ahead you'll either want to sneak around or destroy. In the room up the staircase you'll find Princess Zelda's Study, where you'll find her diary which you can read.
Go back to where you fought (or ignored) the Lynel and follow the wider path on your map – when you're coming down the staircase it'll be directly ahead, and you'll need to shoot an eye to clear the way. Up ahead is the Second Gatehouse, with another Lynel inside ready for a beating.
Upon exiting the Second Gatehouse, climb the cliff and tower on your let. Get up the battlements, go inside the entrance, and jump across to the ladder. You'll see another eye up ahead needing to be shot.
You'll come under heavy Guardian fire if you continue on the path – the easiest route from here is the waterfall that'll be flowing down the right side of Hyrule Castle's Sanctum. Jump into the stream on your right and swim up with the Zora Armor – watch for all of the Guardian fire.
Once you're up, the entrance to the sanctum will be on your left – get inside and give Calamity Ganon a kicking! Now that you've found Calamity Ganon, are you prepared? If you're not sure, check our guides on how to find the Master Sword, how to cook, and boosting your health and stamina. After that, head over to our Calamity Ganon guide.
It's been a long and hard battle, but we're nearly through...
For more on Breath of the Wild be sure to check out Mike's review. Elsewhere there's our look at why we think Zelda may be the protagonist of the next game.