Walkthrough

How Areas, Levels and stages work

The Drablands are split into eight Areas, and every Area holds four Levels. You choose a Level from the Area map before you leave the castle, and the other players can vote for a different one. The fourth Level of each Area is a temple or fortress that ends in a boss, and the second Level usually ends in a mini-boss. You may play the four Levels of an Area in any order, but only the boss decides whether the next Areas open.

Every Level has four stages. In most Levels, Stage 1 starts with pedestals that hand each Link a tool such as the Bow, the Bomb or the Gripshot, and you keep those tools for the rest of the Level (the Sky Temple lets you choose and swap them). Each stage ends at a glowing Triforce gateway, and some stages only let you through once every enemy is defeated. The last stage is often a boss arena.

The three Links share a single pool of hearts. When it runs dry, a Fairy revives the party and you restart the stage you are on, and you begin each Level with three Fairies. If you lose the last one, the Level is failed and you leave empty-handed. Every Fairy you still hold when you clear the Level turns into 30 Rupees, so three Fairies are worth 90. When you play alone, skipping a stage costs a Fairy and lowers the quality of your reward.

After the fourth stage you walk into a room with three Treasure Chests, and each Link opens one. Two of them hold the same material and the third a rarer one, and the contents drive your outfit list, so see the Materials page for what drops where. Finishing a Level also adds the Rupees you picked up to your wallet.

The unlock order

The Woodlands are open from the start. Beating Margoma in the Forest Temple opens Riverside, Volcano and Ice Cavern, which you can play in any order. When you have cleared the Water Temple, the Fire Temple and the Ice Temple, the Fortress unlocks. Beating The Lady’s Pets at the end of The Lady’s Lair opens The Dunes and The Ruins, and once you have cleared both the Desert Temple and the Grim Temple the Sky Realm opens. The Sky Temple holds the final boss, Lady Maud.

The eight Areas

The list shows each Area with its four Levels, the items it hands out, its mini-boss and its boss. Click an Area to read the full walkthrough.

• Hytopia and the Woodlands: Meet King Tuft, then clear Deku Forest, Buzz Blob Cave, Moblin Base and Forest Temple.
• Riverside: Secret Fortress, Abyss of Agony, Cove of Transition and the Water Temple, with Water Rod and Gripshot puzzles.
• Volcano: Blazing Trail, Hinox Mine, Den of Flames and Fire Temple, with every stage, the Hinox Brothers and Moldorm.
• Ice Cavern: Frozen Plateau, Snowball Ravine, Silver Shrine and the Ice Temple, with the Freezlord and Blizzagia fights.
• Fortress: Sealed Gateway, Bomb Storage, Training Ground and The Lady’s Lair, with every puzzle, chest and boss.
• The Dunes: Infinity Dunes, Stone Corridors, Gibdo Mausoleum and Desert Temple, with Vulture Vizier and Stalchampion tips.
• The Ruins: Illusory Mansion, Palace Noir, Lone Labyrinth and Grim Temple, with Grim Repoe and Prismantus.
• Sky Realm: Floating Garden, Deception Castle, Dragon Citadel and Sky Temple, with Gigaleon, Lady Maud and the ending.

What each Area is built around

A long lesson in Totems with the Bow and the Bomb, plus the opening in Hytopia where you get your tunic and your Doppels. Read the Woodlands walkthrough.

Water pillars from the Water Rod and long reaches with the Gripshot, which can even pull another Link towards you. Read the Riverside walkthrough.

Lava crossings, mine carts and flame walls, solved with the Boomerang and the Gust Jar. Read the Volcano walkthrough.

Slippery ice melted by the Fire Gloves and cracked open by the Magic Hammer. Read the Ice Cavern walkthrough.

Lady Maud’s castle, with Soldiers, Bomb Flowers and Armos, and tighter team puzzles that reuse five items you already know. Read the Fortress walkthrough.

A desert of quicksand and tilting stone that borrows six earlier items. Read The Dunes walkthrough.

A haunted palace of ghosts and pits, where platforms in your Link’s colour carry you and grey ones fade away. Read The Ruins walkthrough.

A castle on floating islands with wind, Cuccos and tilting platforms, which ends in the final fight against Lady Maud. Read the Sky Realm walkthrough.

After the story

Beating the boss of an Area adds three harder challenges to each of its Levels, 96 in all. See the Drablands Challenges.

After you have cleared nine Levels or challenges, a free extra Level of 40 floors opens, in 8 Zones. See the Den of Trials guide.

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