How to complete ‘Crisis at Hyrule Castle’ in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
We're going up against some formidable foes at Hyrule Castle...
After having completed all four of the Regional Phenomena that Purah sent Link off to investigate in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, you’ll have wound up with four shiny new summons to aid you across Hyrule. You’ll also now need to visit Purah once more to see where Link should be headed next.
Purah will ultimately send Link off to do more dangerous things, and this time, she wants him to pay a second visit to Hyrule Castle. So, without further ado, here’s how to complete the ‘Crisis at Hyrule Castle’ in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
In this guide, we’re looking at part two of the quest which occurs after completing all four Regional Phenomena; not the initial quest at the beginning of Tears of the Kingdom, where you attain the paraglider.
How to complete ‘Crisis at Hyrule Castle’ in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
You’ll find Purah near where we first met her, at the very top of Lookout Landing. With all four regions visited, Purah will next task Link with heading over to Hyrule Castle to investigate further. This kicks off the second part of the ‘Crisis at Hyrule Castle’ quest, which means we’re travelling over to the floating castle itself.
I recommend heading up the Lookout Landing Skyview Tower and gliding over to the castle. You’ll then want to make your way toward the marker on your map.
Once you arrive at Hyrule Castle, you’ll hear Zelda’s voice, and be given a map. A new marker will appear on the map, marking the Hyrule Castle’s second gatehouse on B1; head on over there to meet Zelda… Except, it isn’t really Zelda. It’s a horde of monsters that Link needs to kill.
These foes aren’t too hard to take on, considering they’re pretty clumsy. Yunobo’s charge ability will do a hefty amount of damage to them, too. You’ll also get a bunch of Boss Bokoblin Fangs, and a Royal Guard’s Shield, for your efforts.
With them killed, there’ll be a new marker on our map now on B3 of the castle; this is Hyrule Castle’s library. You’ll notice that Hyrule Castle’s floors actually go downward, and not upward, so you’ll want to do some gliding and diving to reach B3.
Exit the second gatehouse via the east, and glide across the water. Enter the castle again, where you’ll find a chest with a Royal Shield inside.
Head northeast to reach a platform with a Soldier’s Spear on it; be careful though, as the edge of this platform will break off once Link stands on it. From this platform, glide to the north and onto the path ahead.
You’ll be on B2 of Hyrule Castle now, and may need to fight some Moblin here. From where the Moblin are, head north and jump down. Jump down once more onto the castle roof, and you’ll see an opening leading to the inside of the castle at -0143, 1097, 0264. Jump in here.
You’ll now be in the library! Prepare for another boss fight. The boss fight in here will be up against a Hinox and a few Chu Chu. So, again, the fight won’t be too bad as our enemies are clumsy.
The Hinox is a bit of a tank, but I found there are plenty of arrows in here. Taking the Hinox on using arrows with fused Chu Chu Jelly works well, but I found that Riju’s lightning ability did the job even better, without me needing to use any resources.
You can also ascend the stairs in the room to take out the Hinox from a height, and if you're lucky, his projectiles will hit a wall before they hit Link!
When the Hinox is dead, a new marker will appear, showing us the location of Zelda’s room. Exit the library via the north and head on over to the marker, preparing for some Gibdo along the way. Use Chu Chu Jelly or Riju’s lightning to melt their armor before attacking.
Continue on after the Gibdo, and there’ll be a cave of Horroblin’s ahead. They’ll throw rocks at you as you press on through, so sprint ahead or take them out first. It's worth noting that these guys will respawn, so don't waste too much time on them. Again, Riju’s lightning is really useful here, as these guys will often cling to the ceiling.
Press ahead, where we’ll now run into an Ice Like. We don’t actually want to go past it. Take the stairs to your right and clear the enemies. Then, follow the stairs to the left.
You’ll ultimately come to a blockage, shown below.
Use the Ascend ability to go above the room. You’ll then be able to jump down into it, where you’ll see Zelda again. Of course, it’s not Zelda, and we’re to tackle even more Monster Forces. This time, it’s just a few Lizalfos’, so they’re no problem.
Now, there’s another new marker on B3 of our map; we want to head west and descend the cliffs. There’ll be an entrance on the cliffside that we can go through.
As ever, Zelda will vanish into a mob of Monster Forces. This time, we’ll have a few Ice Keeses and one abominable Moblin to take on.
Up until this point, these minibosses didn’t pose much of an issue for me and my measly armor; this Moblin, however, kept repeatedly one-shotting me at the beginning of the battle.
It turns out you can hop off the ledge to the left of this room to take him on using arrows from afar; I recommend firing arrows with White Chu Chu Jelly attached to freeze the Moblin, then climb up and attack him.
When the Moblin is dead, a new marker will appear on our map again. Go to the end of the room (where we fought the Moblin); there is a passage blocked by a mound of dirt. Ascend up from here.
We can now continue south. If you didn’t kill the Ice Like from earlier, you’ll need to kill it now to proceed. There’s also a nasty Fire Like up ahead, but we don’t need to fight them.
From where Link is stood in the below image, facing the Fire Like, there is a staircase directly to the right. We want to head down there!
Down the stairs, take a left and approach Zelda. You’ll now be presented with three Shock Likes to take on! Good luck, and remember, Bomb Fruit is your friend, here.
You can avoid the electric orbs they spit out by moving to either side of the hall, but you’ll need a spear and some arrows to actually reach these horrible fellas.
With those guys dead, we want to head up to the Sanctum on 1F; this is the main, central room that is just beside the second gatehouse. So, head on up from B3 to that floor.
You can Ascend up through the hallway to reach the area with the Fire Like from earlier. From here, head north through the cave of Horriblins again. You’ll be spat out by Serutabomac Shrine.
Continue north and past the camp of Moblins. Soon enough, there’ll be a pillar that we can Ascend up, shown below. If you ignore the pillar and press ahead, there’s also a small brick puzzle that’ll give you a Korok Seed.
You’ll now be on 1F, and the route to the Sanctum is linear. Follow the path southwest, and then head north into the Sanctum; the route is shown on the map below.
Approach Zelda once more, and following the brief cutscene, we’ll be facing off against a ghostly foe.
How to beat Phantom Ganon in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Of course, the apparitions we have seen of Zelda thus far have been acting out of character. Following the cutscene, it will be revealed that Ganon is using Zelda as his puppet to lure Link into his trap.
Now, it’s time for us to fight with Phantom Ganon. It’s best here to maintain distance from Ganon where possible, as he is tough. Use what arrows you have to fire at the foe when at range, and don’t forget to fuse materials to your arrows to make them stronger. His attacks are sharp and swift, so you'll want to try your best to dodge attacks in a timely manner, and hopefully land some Flurry Rush attacks as a result.
In this instance, Bomb Fruit is the best to use considering Ganon will summon other versions of himself, but you might not have very many. Alternatively, you should have plenty of Chu Chu Jelly to utilise, or even the likes of Fire Fruit and Shock Fruit. All in all, however, you're going to have to take these ghosts down one at a time.
You can also use Link’s summons in this fight, and make sure you do, unless your Link is as tough as nails. Our summons will turn this 5v1 into a 5v5, and hopefully they can take a little heat off Link. Try to focus on taking down one Phantom Ganon at a time, rather than lowering the HP of them all at once; it’s much better to reduce the number of enemies we’re up against than the overall HP bar up top.
Riju’s lightning and Yunobo’s charge can be used to attack enemies from a distance, and we can use Sidon’s shield to protect us from any devastating hits when up close and personal with Phantom Ganon. That said, they’re quite difficult to pull off when you’ve this many ghostly Ganons on your tail, so focus on dodging attacks, getting some Flurry Rush attacks in, and using your bow.
When you defeat a Phantom Ganon, they’ll drop a pretty powerful Gloom Sword. These are great for swiftly attacking Phantom Ganon if you don't have anything as powerful in your arsenal, but they will crack your hearts! Be careful when using them, and prepare some meals to cure cracked hearts in advance if this is troubling you.
Once you defeat the first round of Phantom Ganons, a second phase will begin. We’ll have to fight all five of them again, and this time the arena will be slowly filling with gloom. We want to avoid this as best as possible, so we can preserve our hearts; if we lose them and don't have any meals to heal them, we won't be getting them back. Use the staircases around the room to escape it, and fire arrows at the Ganon spreading gloom to force him to stop. When you're on the final Ganon, this will take a few extra arrows. He'll be stunned, and you can then continue to roam the arena, dodge attacks, and then squeeze in your own.
After having defeated Phantom Ganon, make your way back to Lookout Landing and speak with Purah again. This will kick off our next quest in the Zelda: Tars of the Kingdom’s story, ‘Find the Fifth Sage,' in which we then need to go off and find the 'Secret of the Ring Ruins'.
To continue our story walkthrough of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, check out where to find the Secret of the Ring Ruins next.
For more on Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, take a look at how to use your Bubbul gems. While you’re at it, make sure to upgrade your armor with the Great Fairy fountains where you can, and help Addison with their signs while you’re in central Hyrule.