Dungeons

Hyrule in Tears of the Kingdom is stacked three deep, and the shrines are the clearest proof of it. There are 152 Shrines of Light, and 120 of them stand on the surface with a Lightroot planted directly underneath in the Depths. The other 32 float on sky islands with nothing below them but open air and, eventually, the ground. Our Lightroots guide states the rule outright, and laying its list of roots against our 152 shrine pages confirms something the game never tells you: each Lightroot's name is its shrine's name spelled backwards. Sonapan Shrine sits above Napanos Lightroot, Tadarok above Koradat, Jochi-ihiga above Agihi-Ihcoj, and so on down the whole surface.

That is why this guide sorts shrines by what sits beneath them instead of drawing another regional map. If you want the map, our all-shrines location map and the twelve regional roundups linked in each section below already do that job. The tables here tell you which root is under your feet when you stand at a shrine door, which means the moment you clear one shrine you also know exactly where to find one fast-travel point in the dark. Each shrine name links to its own walkthrough.

The rule under every surface shrine

A Lightroot in the Depths does three things: it lights the area around it, it fills in that patch of the Depths map, and it becomes a warp point. Because each one is planted under a shrine, the 120 surface shrines double as a map of the Depths before you ever go down. Find the shrine, and the root is at the same map position one layer lower. The reverse also works, which is how players who explore the Depths first discover shrines they have not seen from above. Four Lights, from any four shrines, buy either a Heart Container or one more fifth of a stamina wheel at a Goddess Statue; the Lightroots pay in map and light instead, so the two halves of each pair reward different things.

The tables below group the surface shrines by the Depths area their root belongs to, which lines up with the surface region above it. Of the 120 pairs, 118 appear on both of our lists; our Lightroots page does not yet name the roots under Jiotak Shrine and Rutafu-um Shrine, so those two rows say so.

Akkala: 10 shrines, 10 roots

Akkala's shrines split across the highlands, the sea coast and the deep north, and the Akkala shrine roundup walks them as a route. Two of them are combat trials: Rasitakiwak is a Proving Grounds and Sinatanika teaches the sneakstrike.

Central Hyrule: 19 shrines around the castle

The densest cluster on the surface rings Lookout Landing and the ruined castle, and it holds the two combat tutorials nearest the start of the game: Kyononis for flurry rushes and parries, Teniten for throwing weapons. The Hyrule Field roundup covers this group on foot.

Great Hyrule Forest, Hyrule Ridge and Lake Hylia: 14 shrines

Seven shrines hide under the canopy of the Great Hyrule Forest, and two of them, Ninjis and Pupunke, are blessings you earn by finding your way to the door rather than by solving anything inside. The Hyrule Ridge roundup covers the seven west of the castle, including Sonapan Shrine in the Satori Mountain orchard, the only one of the 152 our shrine pages had not written up until now. En-oma below Lake Hylia only appears once you finish the Lake Hylia Crystal quest.

Eldin: 13 shrines over the hottest Depths

Eldin's roots sit under Death Mountain and its canyon, the same stretch of the Depths that hides the Fire Temple. Three of these shrines are crystal deliveries you can read about in our items guides, Momosik through the Death Caldera Crystal, Moshapin through the Lake Intenoch Cave Crystal, and Isisim is a Proving Grounds against five foes with none of your gear. The Eldin roundup has the surface routes.

Faron: 3 shrines, and one of them needs a horse

Faron has the smallest surface count of any region on our pages, three shrines over the Faron Grasslands Depths. Ishokin is the odd one out: it only opens after the Ride the Giant Horse shrine quest, so the trial is taming the Horse God's mount, not anything behind the door. The Faron roundup lists the sky shrines above the region too.

Gerudo: 16 shrines in sand and highland

Eight roots lie under the desert and eight under the highlands. Suariwak will not open until you have passed the Yiga Clan Exam and arrive in the full Yiga outfit; Rakakudaj is the Gerudo Canyon Crystal delivery; Miryotanog and Kimayat, the latter in Eldin, are both Proving Grounds. The Gerudo roundup orders them for a desert crossing.

Hebra and Tabantha: 18 shrines in the cold

Ten roots run under the Hebra Mountains and eight under the Tabantha Frontier. Three of these shrines are the ability tutorials the game hands out after the sky: Sahirow for Ascend through laser traps, Tauyosipun for Recall, and Oromuwak for Zonai devices. Two are crystal quests, Sisuran through the North Hebra Mountain Crystal and Ikatak through the Gisa Crater Crystal, and Rutafu-um through the Northwest Hebra Cave Crystal. Eutoum, Nouda and Otak are Proving Grounds. The Hebra roundup and the Tabantha Frontier roundup split them the same way.

Lanayru: 14 shrines from the spring to the mountain

Lanayru's roots are spread under the Great Spring, the wetlands and the mountain. O-ogim is revealed by the Lanayru Road Crystal, Yomizuk opens at the end of the True Treasure quest, and Zakusu hides behind a shield-surfing run through light rings before its Proving Grounds begins. The Lanayru roundup lists all 17 the region holds when the sky is counted.

Necluda: 13 shrines, one of them under Zelda's house

East and West Necluda share the roots with the Necluda Sea, where Marari-in waits on Eventide Island. Anedamimik is the only shrine on our pages whose root the Lightroots list had misspelled, which the name-reversal rule caught: the root under Deepback Bay Cave is Kimimadena. Tokiy comes from the Oakle's Navel Cave Crystal quest, and Sifumim is a Proving Grounds fought in water. Start with the Necluda roundup for the surface order.

The 32 sky shrines: nothing beneath but the surface

A sky shrine has no Lightroot, and it usually has no direct approach either, which is why so many of them are the reward for a green-crystal delivery: the crystal is carried across the archipelago and set in the altar before the shrine will even open. The four on the Great Sky Island are the game's opening lesson, one per arm ability, in the order the abilities guide gives them: Ukouh for Ultrahand, In-isa for Fuse, Gutanbac for Ascend and Nachoyah for Recall. The table gives the island group and the region of Hyrule you would land in if you stepped off the edge.

Eleven of these 32 are crystal quests, and each has its own page in our items section: the East Hebra Sky Crystal for Taninoud, the North Necluda Sky Crystal for Josiu, the Sky Mine Crystal for Gikaku, the South Lanayru Sky Crystal for Mayanas, the North Hyrule Sky Crystal for Mayam, the Sokkala Sky Crystal for Natak, the South Hyrule Sky Crystal for Jinodok, the West Necluda Sky Island Crystal for Ukoojisi, plus the Kumamayn crystal guarded by a Flux Construct III and Ganos's crystal in the Tabantha sky. A crystal quest on the surface works the same way; the Ralis Channel Crystal is the one that has you build a boat.

What waits inside, in three sizes

Our 152 shrine walkthroughs sort into three kinds of interior. Fifty-one are Rauru's Blessings, where the room holds a chest and the altar and nothing else, because the test was the cave, the crystal or the quest that got you to the door. Thirteen are Proving Grounds, which take every weapon and piece of armor off you at the entrance and hand you Constructs to fight with what lies on the floor; Kamizun is the beginner version south of Hyrule Field and Kimayat asks you to fuse spiked balls before the fight. The remaining 88 are the puzzle rooms the game is famous for, and almost all of them lend you Zonai devices for the duration: fans at Ishodag and Kisinona, a Wing at Apogek, hover stones at Ihen-a, springs at Morok, a sled at Mayatat, mirrors at Rakashog. Whatever you build inside stays inside; only the chest's contents come out with you, which is why our pages note the reward in each chest.

The temples

Our temple locations page makes the same three-layer point the shrines do: the Wind and Water Temples are in the sky, the Fire Temple is the only one in the Depths, and the Lightning Temple is the only one on the surface. Each is reached through its sage's main quest, Tulin's for Wind, Sidon's for Water, Yunobo's for Fire and Riju's for Lightning, and each has a lock puzzle with its own page in our mechanics section: the five Wind Temple locks, the four Water Temple faucets, the five Fire Temple padlocks and the four Lightning Temple batteries. The bosses at the end, Colgera, Mucktorok, Marbled Gohma and Queen Gibdo, are ranked with everything else in the bosses guide, and two of them can be fought again in the Depths after every Blood Moon.

The Temple of Time is the fifth entry in this bucket and the first building you enter in the game, at 0452, -0860, 1450 on the Great Sky Island during Find Princess Zelda. It has no boss and no sage, but it does have a locked second door that trades four Lights for one Heart Container, the same exchange rate as a Goddess Statue. The Spirit Temple, where the fifth sage waits, is covered through the Guidance from Ages Past quest and the four depot pages in our locations guide.

Frequently asked questions

How many shrines are in Tears of the Kingdom?

152: 120 on the surface and 32 in the sky. Each gives one Light of Blessing, and four Lights buy a Heart Container or a stamina fifth, so the whole set is worth 38 upgrades. Our health and stamina guide works through the arithmetic, and the Shrine Explorer quest hands out the Ancient Hero's Aspect once all 152 are done.

Does every shrine have a Lightroot under it?

Every surface shrine does, and the root carries the shrine's name reversed. Sky shrines have none, because there is no Depths directly under a floating island in the sense the game uses; there is only the surface far below. That is why the Depths map fills to 120 roots and not 152.

Which shrines should I do first?

The four Great Sky Island shrines are compulsory and teach the abilities everything else assumes. After that, the two combat tutorials in Central Hyrule, Kyononis and Teniten, are a few minutes' walk from Lookout Landing and cost nothing to fail. The Tears of the Kingdom hub lays out what each layer of the map pays you in, which is the better way to decide where to spend your first evening.