If you’ve been following the recommended order for going through Tears of the Kingdom, then the Lightning Temple is the last temple on your list to conquer. The swirling sands are hiding an immense amount of danger, but with our help, you’ll succeed.
By now, you should have finished the Wind Temple, Fire Temple, and Water Temple, all in that order, giving you the abilities of three sages and giving you constant companions to fight by your side in battle.
How to prepare for the Lightning Temple
In addition to putting at least four upgrades into health and stamina before embarking on this quest, you should also make sure your gear has been blessed by a Great Fairy at least once, ideally twice. The boss and enemies in this temple hit extremely hard and just having a lot of Hearts won’t be enough to keep you alive. Also, make sure you have a large number of arrows (over 70) as you’ll be using a lot of them.
Finally, you should have some good quality weapons (at least 20 damage or above) as well as some food that increases attack or defense. Kick things off by hitting the purple blob blocking the entrance with Riju’s Power of Lightning, and you’ll get a nasty surprise.
Queen Gibdo Boss Fight Tips
Yes, that’s a boss fight, right at the start of the temple. While you won’t be killing Queen Gibdo here, it provides a preview of what’s coming later. This massive creature can deal gnarly damage with a sudden charge attack, and it’s invulnerable until you hit it with Riju’s Power of Lightning.
At this point, it turns white and can take damage, but it’ll still attack rapidly, sending tornadoes toward you with very little warning. Once you take out about 25% of its health, it flees, allowing you to enter the Lightning Temple.
Entering the Lightning Temple
Entering the temple, use Korok Fronds to clear away piles of sand, revealing a button that opens the door. Make your way down, minding the occasional Gibdo and sections of the floor that slowly fall. Eventually, you’ll reach a point where you see fire coming from the walls. Carefully time yourself running through, stopping in the middle, and then continuing on. You’ll find a switch at the end that turns off the fire and opens the path forward.
Up ahead, you’ll see fiery boulders rolling down a hall. Use Rewind frequently to keep the path clear. Past this tunnel, you’ll enter a room where you can optionally destroy a Gibdo nest and grab a Gerudo Bow from a tomb. Eventually, you’ll reach the Room of Hopeful Light. Destroy the Zonaite Constructs in the room. Clear out the sand piles and you’ll find a mirror device. Use it to reflect light onto the crystal above the gate to unlock the next room.
The Room of Ascension is so named because it takes you up. Or at least it would, if the elevator was powered on. It’s out of energy right now, so you’ll have to work with Riju to power up the four batteries.
TOTK Lightning Temple Battery 1
The first battery is easy to find. It’s in the same room as the elevator in the Room of Ascension. Simply move the blocks to the right side of the gate barring access to the battery, and then use Riju’s Power of Lightning on the battery.
TOTK Lightning Temple Battery 2
Head upstairs until you reach the end of the stairs. Look across the way and you’ll see a small torchlight opposite you on the floor above you. Climb up, defeat the Zonaite Construct, and move through some rotating blocks. Move some blocks out of the way of the light source. Use Rewind on the rotating blocks to line them up, then wait as the light activates two different mirror devices. After it activates the second one, make your way over to it and head through.
After the way opens up, you’ll be faced with two crushing walls with spikes. Use Ultrahand on a nearby block to put it between the spike walls, making it safe to go through. Pull two blocks out of the wall, then use them to block a crushing spiked ceiling. Making your way down the hall, you’ll destroy some constructs, then jump down in the room to find the light source.
Uncovering a mirror device, you can use Ultrahand on some green pillars to stop the rotating wall, then use the mirror to shine light onto a specific crystal in the wall, which opens up the light to pour through into the room above. Use Ascend to get back up to the previous floor. Use Ultrahand on a mirror device in the beam of light to hit and activate a crystal back past the hall with the spiked ceiling, opening up the locked door. Now you can hit the second battery with Riju’s Power of Lightning.
TOTK Lightning Temple Battery 3
Go back to the ground floor of the Room of Ascension, and pull a rock loose to get an air current going. Ride the air current all the way up until you reach an area with statues that have mirrors on them that you can move around. Climb up between the area with two torches, and you’ll be in a small room called the Room of Natural Light, with a pillar of light in the middle.
Using Ultrahand, attach the mirror to a large rock and put it in the light, so it’s sending a beam of light out into the main hall. Go back out, and move the statues around so the statue on the far side of the beam is intercepting the beam of light, reflecting it onto another statue on your left, which in turn shoots the beam of light upward, activating a panel.
Climb up to the panel, go inside the room, and very carefully glide down, avoiding fire shooting all over the place. When you reach the ground floor, step on a switch to open the door, then wait for Riju to catch up with you. Once she’s there, hit the battery with her Power of Lightning.
TOTK Lightning Temple Battery 4
Head back to the Room of Natural Light, grab another mirror device (not the one attached to the rock), and take it with you out into the main room. Carefully use this mirror to intercept the beam of light, bouncing it onto the statue with a mirror on your left (facing toward the Room of Natural Light) bouncing the light down to activate a panel much lower in the room. Once it activates, go down to the activated panel and step on a switch, entering a room with Zonaite Constructs and a Gibdo nest.
Destroy all the enemies, then attach a balloon to one of the panels lying around, creating a small platform. Grab a mirror device and place it on the platform, then carefully place a lit torch on the platform near the balloon, making it rise into the air. Using Ultrahand, angle the mirror to bounce light onto the crystal, opening the door and allowing you to use Riju’s Power of Lightning on the final battery. Now, go back to the Room of Ascension, ready yourself, and activate the lift.
Queen Gibdo Boss Fight Tips (Round 2)
Now it’s time to squash this massive bug for good. Queen Gibdo is just as dangerous as she was in the first fight, and you’ll need to stay extremely mobile in order to succeed. The most dangerous attacks to watch out for are the sudden charge and when she spits out a beam of sand.
Keep hitting her with Riju’s Power of Lightning to make her vulnerable, but try to approach from the side or she’ll attack by sending tornadoes forward, which are almost impossible to escape at close range.
Once you have her health down halfway, she’ll summon Gibdos from the four nests around the arena. While it’s not required, it’s highly recommended that you take these nests out, as it slows the rate at which additional Gibdos can be summoned. If you don’t destroy the nests, the fight becomes practically unmanageable. Each nest destroyed also creates a pillar of light that stops enemies in their tracks, which can create a bit of breathing room around the large arena.
Once you succeed, congratulate yourself! You’ll have beaten all four temples. By now, you know the drill: Make sure to grab the heart container reward, then settle in for some discussion of the main plot. The Sand Shroud dissipates from the land, and you’ll be able to summon the spirit of Riju with the Vow of Riju, Sage of Lightning.
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- Why Zelda Speedrunners Plan to Take It Slow With Tears of the Kingdom
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