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Some of the quests inThe Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomare required to unlock certain shrines, bringing the tasks and puzzles you’d usually take on inside them to the overworld. One such quest is The High Spring and the Light Rings, which gives you a riddle to solve before you can tackle the shrine it’s associated with.
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After solving the riddle and unlocking the shrine through some daring deeds, you’ll then have to deal with one of the more frustrating Proving Grounds challenges that the game has to offer, involving some climbing, gliding, and combat with annoying Soldier Constructs.
How To Complete The High Spring And The Light Rings
The High Spring and the Light Ringsis a shrine quest that you’ll likely come across naturally as you scour the world for Skyview Towers. Nazbi, the NPC who gives you this quest, is encountered right outside the Mount Lanayru Skyview Tower.
The riddle mentions a ‘spring high in the heavens’ and some ‘rings of light.’ To complete this quest, first of all,launch yourself up into the air using the Skyview Tower. At the apex of the launch, look around underneath you for asky island with a large pondon it - it’ll be very close. Land on this island.
Here, you’ll find a Zonai Pedestal - interact with it, and you’ll be shown thefirst light ringthat you have to pass through, at the bottom of a steep slope. The goal of this quest is to shield slide down this slope, dive down to Mount Lanayru, and go sledging down a complex course of twists and turns.
Before you attempt this, look to the sides of the sky island you’re on, near the pedestal. You’ll be able to find aZonai Shield with aSledattached - this is the perfect shield for this quest as it won’t take significant damage from the ride.
Equip the Sled Shieldandshield slidedown the slope and through the first ring of light to begin. To shield slide, hold the ZL button to guard, hop into the air with X as you’re walking, and press A while midair. It’s basically amidair Parry.
As soon as you pass through the green ring, you’ll see alight flying toward the ground- this is what you’ll need to follow, as it’s on its way to the next ring of light that you’ll have to enter.
You’ll be falling through the air at quite some speed - you’ll need toopen your paraglider momentarilyas you hit the ground to avoid dying on impact.
The actual sequence of rings of light on the mountain isn’t too difficult to navigate through - just try totake turns as tightly as possible, as the sled gains quite a bit of speed. After passing through a handful of rings, you’ll be rewarded with a cutscene revealingZakusu Shrine.
If you fail by taking too long or missing a ring, fast travel back to the Skyview Tower and launch yourself back up to the sky island. You’ll need to interact with the pedestal again to retry.
How To Complete Zakusu Shrine: The Proving Ground - Ascension
As with the other Proving Ground shrines, you’ll bestripped of all your items when you enter this shrine. You’ll only have your powers, your hearts, and your stamina. At the entrance of the shrine, you are also provided with aLong Stick, aWooden Stick, anOld Wooden Shield, anOld Wooden Bow, and some Arrows.
The goal of this shrine is todestroy all of the Soldier Constructsinside, using their weapons and parts to get stronger. There are multiple Soldier Constructs to beat, with the easiest one on the bottom level and the hardest one on the top. The best way to tackle this shrine is to go level by level.
Enter the shrine proper, and you’ll see arailthat glides down from the top of the shrine. On it, a hooked platform will periodically travel down and off the rail into a pit. Ignore this for now and travel to theback of the shrine. There’s a weak Soldier Construct here with only a bow - use one of your wooden weapons to destroy it.
Pick up the droppedConstruct BowandFuse theSoldier Construct Hornto your Wooden Stickto create a Reaper.
Head to the box-shaped construction in the middle of the shrine with red lasers blocking the windows. Climb up to the platform, butdon’t cross through the lasers. Instead, Fuse one of theRocketsinside to your shield.
If you cross the red laser, aTime Bombwill drop on top of you, likely dealing a lot of damage.
Hold ZL to block, and the Rocket will activate, boosting you into the sky. Drop on top of the building you just retrieved the Rocket from and destroy the Soldier Construct here - it’s another very weak one with little health. From this platform,shoot at the patrolling Construct just a little above you- get a headshot and you should push it off the platform it’s on, dealing damage and getting it on an easier level to fight it on.
This Construct will drop a handySpiky Bat, which is a good weapon, so go get it.
From here, the best way to get to the top of the area is with theplatform on the rail. UseRecallon it when it’s at the bottom of the rail to reverse its trajectory and get on top of it to ride it to the ceiling. You’ll be across from a Soldier Construct and near someFire Fruit.
Twocritical hits with Fire Fruit arrowsfrom the Construct Bow will destroy this Construct.
Be wary on this level of the shrine - theConstruct guarding the door to the exit will shoot electricity arrows at you. These will force you to drop your weapon and will do a lot of damage to boot.
As soon as you reach the top, be ready toshoot a Fire Fruit arrow at the Construct near you. Setting it on fire will stun it for a bit, allowing you to shave off the remainder of its health with some physical strikes. TheSpiky Batis the best bet, here.
Now, look up and to the left of the shrine - theelectricity-shooting Construct is here. Use ranged attacks to take it down, but be wary of the other Construct who will be firing at you.
Fighting the Construct at the exit in melee range isn’t recommended - it’s hard to stagger with the weapons you have available to you and will constantly shoot outjets of firewith itsFlame Emitter.Damage it from afar first.
It’s possible to jump over the fire it spits out, but it’s some difficult timing.
The best way to deal with the super strong Construct is tobash it off the ledge with the Spiky Bat. It’ll take a large amount of fall damage, and you’ll be able to fight it in the widest space in the shrine.
Once the Construct is defeated, you’re able to get to the exit. Before you get the Blessing of Light, you’re also rewarded with a chest that contains a niceSoldier III Spear.
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