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InThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, the four non-Hyrulean settlements are suffering. They are blighted by environmental disasters that make life a living hell for all who make their homes there. Simply put, it’s not a good time.
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Instructed by Purah, Link journeys to these settlements to find out what’s going on. When he reaches Zora Domain, home to Link’s ‘best pal’ Prince Sidon, he discovers it covered in sludge. So begins a quest to find Prince Sidon and aid him in eradicating the toxic waste from his kingdom.
Zora’s Domain And The Sludge-Covered Statue
Zora Domain is one of the four areas you’ll have to explore on your journey to completeRegional Phenomena, the Main Quest given to you by Purah at the beginning of the game. This quest involves you ridding the Zora of their sludge problem, which makes them sick and makes the water in Zora Domain dangerous.
When you first reach Zora Domain, which is the grand settlement built over the lake to the east of Hyrule, you’ll notice agroup of Zora huddled around a statuein the center of town. Talk to the green Zora, Yona - she will tell you the basic gist of what’s happening in the area.
The first stage to this long quest is to clean off the statue, and this serves as a short tutorial on how to clean up the sludge that plagues the domain. Sludge is cleaned with water, and there are two easily-acquired items you can use to do this:
Simplythrow or shoot either of these itemsat the statue to clean it and then speak to Yona again to complete this first quest. This is when you’ll acquire the main quest of this region: Sidon of the Zora.
Yona will tell you that Sidon is currently atMipha Court, which is high upon the mountain to the east of Zora Domain. You can easily spot it by the very tall statue of Mipha (who appeared in the previous game) at the top.
Finding Sidon
The best way to make the journey up to Mipha Court easier is toglide from the Upland Zorana Skyview Tower. This way, you can get to a high location easily rather than climb up steep cliffs. However you get there, be sure to grab the fast travel point at the nearby shrine to make return journeys (of which there will be a few) quicker.
If you want a guide on completingIhen-a Shrine,click here.
As you make your way up to Mipha Court, be sure topick up any Splash Fruit you see. You’ll want lots of ways to deal with sludge.
When you reach Mipha Court,talk to Sidonto reunite with him. He will tell you more about the situation in Zora Domain and give you hints as to where to proceed.He’ll tell you to find Jiahto, who is investigating some ruins nearToto Lake.
Before you leave Mipha Court,climb the stairs up to the statue of Mipha. There’s a small pond underneath it, withAncient Arowanainside. Be sure to grab at least one of these, you’ll need it for later.
How To Complete The Broken Slate
Make your way toToto Lakenow. It’s the small lake that you’re able to findjust to the north of Zora Domain, still on top of the mountain ridge that surrounds it.
When you get there, you’ll find a Zora namedJiahtostanding by a ruined mural. Talk to him to start this part of the quest.
The solution to this quest is simple - just over to the right of the mural is the missing piece. It’s currentlyburied in sludge- use a Splash Fruit or Chuchu Jelly to clean it up.
Use Ultrahand to pick up and thenrotate the stone so that it fits back into the gap in the mural. Slot it in and a cutscene will play, with Jiahto telling you what’s written on the slate.
If you now return to Sidon with the information you’ve just gathered, he will ask you tofind his father, King Dorephan. Before we do this, though, we have a detour to handle.
How To Get The Zora Armor
Return to Zora Domainfor now. Head up to the second level andfind Yuno again, who is healing her fellow Zora in the infirmary pools. She’ll tell you that she’s been working on fixing Link’sZora Armor, which allows him to swim up waterfalls like a Zora.
The only thing she needs is anAncient Arowana, the fish you should have acquired underneath the statue of Mipha earlier. Hand it over, and you’ll get theZora Armor.
How To Find King Dorephan
King Dorephan is located inside an area called thePristine Sanctum, which is hiddenbehind some waterfalls near Zora Domain. The hint to this location is acquired by listening to the children at play in the throne room.
The Pristine Sanctum is located just to thenortheast of Zora Domain- there’s a handy bridge that takes you near them. Once you’re there, simplyswim through the waterfallto reach a cave behind it, and useAscendto reach the second level.
Here, you’ll find King Dorephan.Talk to him to learn of his situation, and getfiveKing’s Scales, which are the ‘mark of a king’ that you need to solve the riddle from the slate.
With the information and the King’s Scales in hand,return to Sidon and talk to him.
How To Complete Clues To The Sky
Now it’s time to finally solve the riddle. Firstly,open your map and take a look at the Sky level. Directly above Mipha Court, you’ll see a collection of islands - the one to the right namedFloating Scales Islandis the one you need to reach.
Walk over in the island’s direction, and you should spy some materials on the ground near a ledge. The ones you need at themetal grate and theBalloon. Attach the Balloon to the grate and then build a campfire on the grate while you’re standing on it.
To build acampfire, place someWooddown with a piece ofFlintand then strike the Flint. If you’re struggling to get both to stay on the grate, you can Attach them to it with Ultrahand. You can also set fire to the Wood using a fiery arrow.
Use the Balloon, which should now be inflating with hot air, torise up into the air above Floating Scales Island. Once you’re high enough to do so safely,glideover to it.
Floating Scales Island is covered in sludge, but you don’t really have to worry about this. Make your way to thetop of the staircase in the center of the island- this is where you’ll find the tear-shaped rock from the riddle.
Look over the side of the island- at a certain angle, the floating stones will converge together to form ateardrop. You’ll need to be facingsouthwestfor this to happen.
Once you’ve located the rocks that form the teardrop,shoot an Arrow with one of the King’s Scales fused to it through the gap in the middle. A cutscene will play, summoning a pillar of light in the lake ahead of you.
Return to Sidonto tell him what you learned, but be prepared for a mini-boss battle when you do so.
How To Defeat The Sludge Like
The Sludge Like is a pretty simple battle that serves to teach you about Sidon’s ability, thePower of Water. Interact with Sidon and he’ll summon a protective bubble of water around you - if you then swing your melee weapon, you’ll shoot a blade of water ahead of you. This canclear up multiple patches of sludgeat once and also damage the Sludge Like.
The Sludge Like will begin the battle covered in sludge, which serves as armor. To remove this sludge, eitheruse Sidon’s ability and shoot a wave of water at it, or use Splash Fruit/Chuchu Jelly. Once the sludge is off, the Sludge Like behaves like a regular Like Like, which you may have encountered in caves.
The Sludge Like will begin a grab attack by showing you its purple weak spot - immediatelyshoot an arrow at this weak spot to stunit, causing it to fall to the ground. Smack the weak spot around as much as you can.
When the Sludge Like recovers from the stun, it willdive into the ground and pop up in a nearby location, again covered in sludge. Remove the sludge however you like and repeat the attack process, targeting its weak spot and dealing as much damage as it’s down.
Three or four cycles should be enough to take this boss down. When you beat it, a cutscene will play, and you’ll get your next objective - the pillar of light in the lake.
Don’t forget to open the chest left behind by the Sludge Like - it contains aRoyal Claymore.
The Ancient Zora Waterworks
Make your way to the pillar of light and talk to Sidon, who is standing on a rock in the lake near it. He’ll create awhirlpoolaround the pillar -jump insidethis to access the Ancient Zora Waterworks.
We recommend that you bring a good number ofBomb Fruitto this area - you’ll need to deal with lots of breakable rocks.
This mini-dungeon is very simple. Simply make your way through the waterworks until you come tolarge pipes with rocks blocking them. Use a rock-breaker weapon or a Bomb Fruit to destroy the rocks - this will let water flow through the pipe, raising the water level in the current area. This allows you to reach higher levels and proceed.
You cannot easily bypass these puzzles as the cave’s walls arewet.
Eventually, you’ll reach avery large room with multiple blocked pipes. The route here is very intuitive - there will always be a blocked pipe on the same level as the water; you just need to find it andunblock it with a bomb.
Be sure to grab the chest that floats in the water after unblocking the second pipe in this room - it contains aZora Shield, which is a nice piece of equipment.
Eventually, the only pipe left will be a very large one that you can easily walk through. It’s filled withKeese and Chuchus, so be ready for a fight. Make your way through the simple maze until you reach the final blockage - use abomb to destroy it.
When we played through this dungeon, we destroyed the blockage fromunderneath. This meant we ended up stuck swimming in the vertical pipe and had to drown to be placed back on dry land. The intended solution is likely to useAscend to be placed above the blockageand destroy it from a safer location.
Once you destroy the final blockage, you’ll be able to reach and interact with aZonai Pedestalin the central room. Do so, and you’ll unlock the final stretch toward the Water Temple. You’ll automatically move outside with Sidon.
Wellspring Island
After the cutscene,make sure you have the Zora Armor equippedand head into the waterfall that leads all the way up to the sky. When you reach the top, you’ll be on Wellspring Island, which is actually a chain of sky islands that lead to the Water Temple.
There are two things you’ll notice quickly aboutWellspring Island:
Proceed through Wellspring Island, using the water orbs to progress. Note thatthey won’t spawn from their spawners if you are currently standing on them.
Eventually, you’ll reach a platform with twoConstructson it. Deal with these, and then check out the stairs on the east side of this island. There’s a small hole that you can get into that contains a chest with anOld Mapinside it. Old Maps will mark a location on your Underground map that you should check out later.
Further ahead in the chain of islands, you’ll encounter a lot of sludge with aHydrantnearby. Use the Hydrant toclear up the sludgewithout much fuss - holding it with Ultrahand is an easy way to manage the low gravity here.
You’ll soon remove sludge from a fish mouth, allowing it to spew out awaterfall. ensure you have your Zora Armor equipped here, and fly into it, ready to swim up.
This begins a sequence of platforming challenges in which you mustglide to the next waterfall to gain more height. This is where having more stamina and Tulin’s ability from the Wind Temple quest comes in very handy, but you shouldn’t need them to complete this area.
In the middle of this gauntlet is another chest on top of one of the waterfall platforms. It contains another Old Map.
Halfway through this sequence, you’ll encounterIgoshon Shrine, which serves as a handy fast travel point in case you need to head somewhere else momentarily. If you need a guide for Igoshon Shrine,click here.
The final challenges that Wellspring Island provides involve eithermanipulating the path of the water orbs with rampsto use them as platforms orusingWingdevices to cross huge gaps.
These puzzles are largely intuitive, apart from the final one that launches you to the final island. Here, you’ll need toattach a Wing device to the top of aCart, and then placetwoFanson top of itto provide momentum. With a long-enough run up to the ramp, you’ll easily have enough driving force to reach the final island.
On the final island, you’llteam up with Sidon to defeat a Construct. Once that’s dealt with, you’ll be prompted to swim up afinal, huge waterfall. This is how you get to the Water Temple.
The Water Temple
For a completeguide to the Water Templeand its puzzles,click here.
For a completeguide to the Water Temple’s boss fight, the Mucktorok,click here.
