TOTK

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The Lightning Temple is one of the 4 main temples in Zelda: TOTK. This guide will cover everything you need to know, from top to bottom, to unveil and clear the Lightning Temple and everything in it.

[See the Wind Temple Walkthrough Here]

After making it through the scorching desert and assisting Gerudo Town with the impending Gibdo threat, some temporary stability now allows for time to solve the puzzling mural found underneath Gerudo Town. Solving this riddle will unveil the Lightning Temple hidden beneath the desert sands. Completion of this temple is a required part of the overall story, and the Riju of Gerudo Town questline. The following guide is a walkthrough of the temple's puzzles and its treasures.

Upon uncovering the Lightning Temple, players will need to fight their way through the front door. Gibdos nests are blocking the door and players will need to use Riju's lightning ability to break through. Destroying the massive gibdo cocoon in front of the door will initiate the Queen Gibdo fight.

Helpful strategies include using Riju's lightning in conjunction with our own arrows to cause major damage. The Queen will also turn white and vulnerable to physical damage after elemental attacks just like her brood. Beware of a sand jet-stream she creates from a distance – due to angling, the safe spot is underneath her as she's usually in the air when she does this. Finally, stay vigilant as she sends off a grouping of cyclones to clear the path before her — these will spread out and create safe spots between them to dodge through. Knocking the mothra-esque monster to half-health will prompt her to fly away to the top of the Lightning Temple. We’ll have to deal with her later.

Once we enter the temple, there's a treasure chest buried in a sand pile to the right. Using some kind of fan(store-bought or homemade) will clear the sand piles around the room. There are some Korok fans available in the room if players don't have a fan device or other method of cleanup. Clearing the sand pile in the middle of the room will unveil the button that opens the door leading further into the temple. Following the dark hallway will lead us to the Basement (B1).

We’re greeted with a couple of braziers and a narrow walkway within the dark. Follow the path to continue through the floor. The narrow walkways have drop-downs on either side that do have goodies at the bottom. Beware the dropdown furthest from the entry point has a gibdo laying down, but it's worth it to also find a treasure chest with a large Zonai charge. Towards the end of the walkway, in a connecting room, there is a pocket with moveable stones in front. Beware of the sleeping gibdo, but dispatching it gives access to a treasure chest and a Gerudo claymore under some stone slabs.

Continuing into the next room introduces us to the first of a few traps. Be wary of the floor, as it will sink if stepped upon. This can be avoided, but if players have interest in dropping down, there is a Gerudo Scimitar waiting down below for your troubles. Through to the next room and there is now a fire trap. Using the stones in the previous room can help create a blockade for fire – allowing us to move through.

Like all puzzles thus far, there are multiple solutions to resolving this. After you’re preferred scientific method, step on the button on the other side is the off switch, which will makes it safe for Riju to follow. This button also opens a gate into the next hallway. Here we encounter another trap featuring great rolling balls of fire down a narrow hallway. Using rewind, it can allow us to roll the flaming boulders back and create an opening to run down the hallway and into a room on the right. You’ll come to an off button that disables the trap and opens the gate to the next room. Beware a solitary gibdo and continue into the next room with a gibdo nest in the middle of a pit.

Using a set of stairs going down into the pit (or dropping down) initiates the nest and causes it to glow – making it possible to destroy now. A Gerudo bow can be found down here as well. Before going back up the stairs, look around in the pit to find entry into an alcove. This will lead us to a massive rotating spiked-wheel trap. A ledge sits behind the trap containing a treasure chest. However we get there, the chest offers a Mighty Zonite Shield.

Going back out, up the stairs and out of the room with a gibdo nest leads us to a ramp. Going up, we arrive at the Room of Hopeful Light. A beam of light juts from the middle of the floor and will be used to solve this room's puzzle. But first, dispatch the Soldier Construct in the room. Once clear, use a mirror buried in a sand pile to reflect light into the sensor to open the door. Be wary of the other sand pile, as a Soldier Construct hides within!

Before moving on, don't forget to check a crevice in the wall at the back of the room that contains a treasure chest. The seemingly innocent chest does rest upon an unsteady floor, so be aware it will sink when stepped upon. Once again, falling through does yield some extra treasures, like a Gerudo Spear hidden behind a fire trap. Block the flames to gain access to the spear. After solving the Room of Hopeful Light, the gate opens to 1F. This concludes B1.

Upon entering the Room of Ascension, we see a Zonai gate. Interacting with it will power the platform upon which it rests, however there is not enough power to lift all the way to the top. Some hints from the disembodied voice guiding us here tell us of four batteries that must be powered for the elevator to work. These four batteries are scattered throughout the temple.

The most immediate battery can be found on 1F and is right behind the elevator in an alcove hidden by moveable rocks. Using Riju's power, strike the battery to turn it on. Before moving on to upper floors, consider moving the boulder that blocks a vertical air stream. This duct allows for better travel between floors and will prove necessary for traversal later.

Moving to the second floor, there is the Room of Light and Flame immediately to the right at the top of the stairs. Beware: there are two Solider Constructs guarding the room. Once the room is clear, we can see the battery locked behind a gated room. Make a note to come back to this, as we cannot access this battery just yet. Coming back out of the Room of Light and Flame gives us a different vantage point where we can now see a light sensor that must be lit on 2F. Once again, we don't have the means to do this just yet, so move on to 3F and then continue to 4F, as there's not much to do on 3F right now.

Running along the walkway on 4F, we can find a light sensor tucked into a corner. Turning around shows us a blocked off area that we’ll need to reach. Using the air stream, we can position ourselves to glide across the temple and land on the other side. Beware when landing here, as there are Solider Constructs. After dispatching them, we can see a hallway with more massive rotating wheels, this time without spikes.

Move through this hall towards the end where there is a blockage within the wall. Removing the stones there will uncover a light source that can charge a sensor. Using rewind, or however, line up both gaps in the giant wheels, so that the light has an momentary, uninterrupted path that charges the sensor on the other side of the temple (4F). The fully charged sensor will reveal a button on the floor. Go back to that side and step on the newly revealed button. This will open a walkway down towards a spike wall trap. Use nearby rocks to jam the walls and create space for traversal. Press the button on the other side to deactivate the trap.

Within this room, there is another light sensor. Directly behind it is another battery locked behind a gate. There is another spiked ceiling trap located behind us. Jamming this and going through will lead us to the Room of Light and Shade. This room shows some light emitting from the floor in the middle, however there is a trap door keeping it from shining fully.

Clear the sand piles in the room to get a mirror that we’ll need to use later. There is a large crevice in the floor that allows for us to drop-down. Doing so will land us in a rotating room. The timing of rotation will line up where a light sensor will be revealed on the wall. Nearby stakes can help pin the wall so it doesn't rotate – allowing us to use a mirror to reflect light onto the sensor. Charging this sensor will now open the above trap door and allow light to shine through.

Returning to the room above, now use a mirror to reflect light down the hall onto the light sensor by the battery. Charging this sensor lowers the gate and grants access to the battery. Use Riju's help to charge it and move onto 5F.

At this point, there are no more stairs to go up, but there are still more floors. We will now need to ride the air stream from 4F. Going all the way up to 5F, be cautious of Soldier Constructs. The fifth floor wraps around the temple completely and also shows four mirrors attached to pillars on short tracks. We’ll come back to that in just a moment.

On one side of the floor (5F), there is a small alcove from which a stream of light emits. Ducking into the entrance within the wall, we come to the Room of Natural Light. This light is crucial to obtaining access to the next batteries. Using mirrors, reflect the light in ways to charge sensors we previously saw in the temple.

There are four mirrors on this floor, but they aren't to be used all at once. One combination of reflection unlocks a room on a lower floor by shining on the sensor we saw on 2F; and the other combination unlocks a room above by lighting a sensor on 6F. It doesn't matter the order in which this is done.

Angling down will hit the sensor we saw back on 2F. Powering this sensor reveals a button that opens the way to a hidden room on 3F: the Room of Offered Light. There are gibdo and constructs here, so deal with them accordingly. Once the coast is clear, find your way up to the ledge above a locked battery. Reflecting light onto a sensor in that higher space will unlock the gate holding the battery. Use Riju's power to charge it and head back out of the room. Now it's time to charge the final battery!

Regardless of the direction they went, head back up and re-adjust the mirrors on 5F in the opposite manner. Go back to 5F and angle the mirrors in the alternate manner. Since this guide went down to 2F first, now we angle so the light hits a sensor on 6F. This will move a statue to reveal a button. Pressing this unveils an alcove with a long drop down. Through fire traps, we will have to glide down to the battery we saw in the Room of Light and Flame on 2F.

From 6F we must drop down to 2F. Reaching the bottom shows us the battery we were unable to reach before. Press a button within the enclosed area to open the door and allow Riju into the room. After charging this last battery, the elevator will be fully operational. Go back to the Room of Ascension and ride the lift to the top to finish the Queen Gibdo encounter in the Room of Glorious Light.

Initiate the Queen Gibdo fight by destroying the same kind of gibdo cocoon we saw upon entering the temple. It's currently blocking access to a story artifact. Queen Gibdo comes back to settle the score and uses her usual attacks from round one, but she’ll now summon gibdo adds in this fight.

To keep their numbers under control, destroy the four gibdo nests around the arena to create pockets of sunlight that weaken and make them more vulnerable. Use Riju's lightning ability to crisp everything, and watch out for the Queen's rampages. Once she's beaten, enjoy the complimentary heart container and awesome story cutscene.

Before heading out after a glorious victory, make sure to climb up to the Lightning Temple roof outside! There is a hole in the roof of 7F where players can climb up, but a quick use of the Ascend skill from the alter in the room works just fine. The ceiling is too high in the main arena of the room, so head to where the story item was held. Once outside, climb to the very top of the temple to find resources. There a few Ore Deposits — with one of them being a Rare Ore Deposit– and a treasure chest containing three Zonai Mirror Devices. Congratulations, you’ve completed the Lightning Temple in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom!