The Water Temple: Lake Hylia

Playable Characters Impa Sheik Darunia Heart Container Darunia Piece of Heart Sheik Gold Skulltula 1,000 KOs Hard Mode Gold Skulltula Impa’s Giant Blade—Defeat King Dodongo within three minutes of his arrival while keeping Sheik from retreating. Unlockables Sheik’s Typhoon Harp Victory Conditions Defeat Zelda. Defeat Conditions If Sheik/Darunia or Ruto Flees.

The Underwater Sanctuary

Sheik and Impa finally catch a break on the whereabouts of Princess Zelda, but the news is not nearly as positive as they were hoping. Rumor has it that Princess Zelda is actually leading a regiment of Cia’s monster army and she’s used it to take over the Water Temple at the bottom of Lake Hylia! Princess Zelda definitely wouldn’t join Cia willfully, so we’ll need to reach her to get to the bottom of this.

A Brief Reprieve

This Scenario offers a nice reprieve from what you dealt with at Death Mountain, though there are still some tricks and challenges coming your way, especially if you’re looking to get the Hard Gold Skulltula on this map. Hang in there and we’ll give you the best strategies for handling this Scenario and getting all it has to offer.

Ambush the Enemy!

You start the scenario inside the Mine Keep with a mission to ambush the opposing force. To do that, you must get the drop on them. Literally. Take a right out of the Mine Keep and run to the end of the path. There is a ledge you can—and should—jump from. When you take the plunge, it catches the enemies within the mines off guard, dropping their morale. Clear out the enemies in the mines and then head outside.

Rescue and Escort Ruto

Your next mission is to help the Zora Princess, Ruto, who’s had her hands full with Zelda’s army since before you and your allies arrived. Head toward the flag icon on the minimap to find Ruto, then defeat the two glowing Lizalfos attacking her to rescue her.

Once she’s been rescued, Ruto asks you to escort her to the Lakeside Keep on the west side of the lake’s shore. Capture the Keep and then Ruto flips a switch that lowers the lake’s water level, revealing the Water Temple below.

Enter the Water Temple

Head into the Water Temple from the steps in the center of the map. A legion of Big Poe Captains will make their way up those very steps, which means you’ll be able to intercept them and prevent them from causing trouble for your allies who stay behind on the lake’s shore.

The Zora Princess Imprisoned!

Almost immediately after entering the Water Temple, Princess Ruto gets kidnapped by Zelda’s forces and taken to a room in the center of the temple. This is the trickiest part of the Scenario, because enemy Captains will continuously attack Ruto so long as she’s in that room and reaching her is no simple task. You need to hit two different switches in two different Keeps to reach her and the only way to hit the switches is to capture both Keeps.

The Keeps housing the switches are the SE and SW Room Keeps. Head over to the SE Room Keep first and capture it. This switch not only slightly lowers the currents blocking your access to the center of the Water Temple, it also lowers the water on west and east sides of the temple, giving you access to the West and East Room Keeps. Don’t bother going to either Keep just yet; saving Ruto should be your number one priority.

Gold Skulltula Opportunity Just up and to the left of Temple Face Keep; behind a Wall of Vines is the 1,000 KO Gold Skulltula. You’ll need to be prepared to get this one, since you’ll almost certainly be inside the Water Temple when the Skulltula appears on the field. Keep a close eye on your KO count to make sure you’re good and ready to race to the Skulltula. A Wall of Vines will be blocking your path, so you’ll need the Boomerang to open the way.

Head over to the SW Room Keep and capture it to lower the water in the central room.

You can now reach Princess Ruto via the central room’s south entrance, but first you need to take out the Gate Guard standing in front of the door. Once the Gate Guard’s been defeated, the door opens and you find Princess Ruto fighting for her life.

Defeat the Captains attacking Ruto to save her and complete the mission.

Heart Container Opportunity While playing as Darunia, as soon as you rescue Ruto, head through the Central Keep’s east gate and destroy the boulder in the corridor ahead to reveal a chest containing Darunia’s Heart Container for this Scenario.

Hard Gold Skulltula Opportunity If you’re going for the Hard Gold Skulltula, you’re going to have to save Sheik when she gets in trouble. You need to be swift about it and then you need to move on to the SW Room Keep to lower the water level. Focus only on defeating enemy Captains and any other enemies with health bars, and leave the lesser enemies to Sheik. Time is crucial for this part of the Scenario.

Piece of Heart Opportunity Before you enter Zelda’s Keep, head over to the East Keep and capture it to reveal Sheik’s Piece of Heart for this Scenario.

Defeat Zelda

Now that Ruto is safe, it’s time to get back to the main objective: stopping Zelda from hurting anyone else. Her Keep opens up after you free Ruto, which means it’s time to get to the bottom of this mystery. In classic villain form, as soon as you enter her Keep, Zelda summons King Dodongo to the center of the map. You must deal with Dodongo before you can face Zelda, or you’ll run the risk of letting it destroy the Allied Base, and your losing the fight.

Hard Gold Skulltula Opportunity Continued Defeating King Dodongo in three minutes after it appears on the battlefield is one of the most challenging things you’ll have to accomplish in Legend Mode. The second you step foot in Zelda’s Keep, you must immediately turn around and head north to Darunia’s location. This fight is brutal and, unfortunately, there isn’t any right way to defeat Dodongo. Press and save your progress on the Scenario Information screen, so that if you fail, you can reload from before you entered Zelda’s room. The fastest way to defeat King Dodongo is by making sure you have a full Focus Spirit Meter. While fighting the Giant Boss, if you activate Focus Spirit, then press ( in Zelda Style), you’ll end your Focus Spirit and perform an attack that will reveal King Dodongo’s Weak Point Mark. The Mark will stay up for a bit longer than when you throw Bombs in its mouth, so this is an excellent time to try to perform a Weak Point Smash. If you can’t pull off a Smash before the Mark disappears, you will have at least depleted some of the Mark; a Smash is almost guaranteed the next time its Mark appears. If you’re unable to accomplish this task, level Impa up, get her some newer, stronger weapons in Adventure Mode and then come back and try again. If you manage to beat King Dodongo, the Gold Skulltula will appear at the top of the map, north of the Mine Keep. It’s on top of the cliff you jumped from to ambush your enemies at the start of the Scenario.

Boss Fight: King Dodongo

Your second fight with King Dodongo is pretty much the same as the first, but this time the monstrous monitor is far less interested in opening its mouth for you. It’s also a good bit stronger than the first fight, but all of its moves are the same.

As a refresher, wait for King Dodongo to open its mouth to charge up a fireball attack, which often happens immediately after it breathes fire. King Dodongo’s mouth is bright orange while charging, so make sure to dump a boatload of Bombs in there as soon as you see it open.

Once you’ve thrown some Bombs in, Dodongo will collapse and its Weak Point Mark will be revealed. Beat up on King Dodongo to deplete its Mark and perform a Weak Point Smash. Repeat the process until it’s defeated.

NOW Finish Zelda

With King Dodongo out of the way, it’s time to go deal with Zelda once more. Defeat her the same way you did Darunia: Blocking her attacks and waiting for her Weak Point Mark to appear. Her Mark takes considerably longer to deplete than Darunia’s, so be prepared for this fight to test your patience.

Once you’ve defeated her, though, the battle will be over and you will have won the Scenario.