You’ve probably been there. You’re standing on top of a Sheikah Tower, staring at the horizon until your eyes bleed, trying to find that one orange glow against the massive backdrop of Hyrule. It’s exhausting. There are 120 of these things in the base game, and honestly, finding every breath of the wild shrine location feels less like a fun scavenger hunt and more like a second job after about hour sixty.
The map is too big.
It’s just too big.
Link wakes up in the Shrine of Resurrection, looks out over the Great Plateau, and you think, "Okay, four shrines, I got this." But then the world opens up. You realize there are shrines hidden behind waterfalls, shrines buried under literal tons of rock, and shrines that won't even appear unless you shoot an arrow at the sun while standing on a specific pedestal at 3:00 PM. It’s a lot to keep track of, especially when the Sheikah Sensor starts beeping and you realize the shrine is actually three hundred feet directly beneath your boots in a cave you missed.
The Frustration of the Hidden Breath of the Wild Shrine Location
Most players hit a wall around shrine 110. You’ve cleared the easy ones. You’ve done the Major Tests of Strength until you can parry a Guardian Scout in your sleep. But then you realize there are vast "dead zones" on your map where it looks like nothing exists. Usually, that’s because Nintendo got clever with the geography.
Take the Hebra Mountains. It’s a frozen nightmare. Visibility is zero half the time because of the snowstorms. You’re chugging spicy elixirs just to stay alive, and the breath of the wild shrine location you’re looking for is actually inside a massive cavern accessible only by rolling a snowball down a specific hill to bash open a door. If you don't know that snowball trick, you could spend three hours circling the peak and never find it. It's brilliant game design, but it’s also incredibly mean.
Then you have the "Shrine Quests." These are the real killers.
🔗 Read more: Why the 20 Questions Card Game Still Wins in a World of Screens
Some shrines aren't even on the map until you talk to a specific NPC or read a dusty diary in a ruined shack. Kass, the accordion-playing Rito, is basically the gatekeeper for some of the most obscure locations in the game. If you hear that accordion music, stop everything. You’re near a shrine, even if the sensor is silent. He’s usually hinting at a puzzle that involves the environment, like the "Under a Red Moon" quest where you have to stand on a pedestal naked during a Blood Moon. It’s weird. It’s specific. It’s Zelda.
Why Some Regions are Harder Than Others
The Gerudo Desert is a flat expanse of sand that looks like it should be easy to navigate. It isn't. The sandstorms mess with your mini-map, making it almost impossible to pinpoint a breath of the wild shrine location without a guide or a very good sense of direction. There’s one shrine—the Suma Sahma Shrine—that requires you to cast a shadow on a specific spot on a cliffside using a large snowball at a specific time of day. How is anyone supposed to figure that out naturally without stumbling around for hours?
Compare that to the Dueling Peaks.
That area is a playground.
The shrines there are mostly visible or involve simple climbing. But even there, Nintendo hides things in plain sight. Most people miss the Toto Sah shrine because it's tucked behind a breakable wall near the river, just far enough off the main path to be ignored by players rushing toward Kakariko Village.
The Difference Between Discovery and Checklists
There’s a tension in how people play this game. Some want the pure "discovery" experience where they find every breath of the wild shrine location organically. That’s noble. It’s also how you end up playing for 300 hours and still missing three shrines. Others use interactive maps from day one. I think the sweet spot is somewhere in the middle. You explore until you’re frustrated, then you look for the hint that gets you over the hump.
💡 You might also like: FC 26 Web App: How to Master the Market Before the Game Even Launches
One of the most commonly missed spots is the Joloo Nah Shrine. It’s in the North Necluda region, but it’s hidden behind a "Test of Will." You have to stand between two rings of fire and endure the heat. It’s not a puzzle in the traditional sense; it’s a resource check. If you don't have the right armor or enough food, you’re not getting in. This is a recurring theme: the game gatekeeps these locations based on your progression and your willingness to experiment with the physics engine.
The Architecture of Secrecy
The developers at Nintendo, led by Hidemaro Fujibayashi, used a "triangle" design philosophy for Hyrule. They wanted to hide things behind hills and mountains so that every time you crested a ridge, you saw something new. This works perfectly for the breath of the wild shrine location hunt. You see a mountain, you climb it, and as you look down the other side, you spot a glow.
But what about the ones that don't glow?
- Shrines in the Dark: The Thyphlo Ruins are pitch black. You have to carry a torch and follow bird-shaped statues. It’s atmospheric as hell, but if you drop your torch or go the wrong way, you’re lost.
- Shrines in the Labyrinths: There are three major Labyrinths (Lomei Labyrinth Island, North Lomei Labyrinth, and South Lomei Labyrinth). These are classic Zelda. You get to the end, you find the shrine.
- Shrines in the Water: Some, like the one in the middle of Lake Hylia, require you to navigate whirlpools or fly from high distances.
The variety is what keeps it from being boring. If every breath of the wild shrine location was just sitting in a field, nobody would still be talking about this game years later. It’s the fact that you have to earn them—through combat, through puzzles, or just through sheer stubbornness—that makes the Spirit Orbs feel valuable.
Dealing With the Sheikah Sensor
The Sensor is your best friend and your worst enemy. It’s a binary tool. It tells you "it's here" but not "how to get there." Sometimes, the sensor will go off near a sheer cliff face. You’ll climb for ten minutes only to realize the shrine is in a tunnel at the base of the cliff.
Pro tip: if the sensor is going crazy but you see nothing, look for water or look for cracked rocks. The breath of the wild shrine location is almost certainly behind a destructible wall or at the end of a long, dark swim. Also, keep an eye out for birds. In the game’s logic, birds often circle over points of interest, including shrines that haven't emerged from the ground yet.
📖 Related: Mass Effect Andromeda Gameplay: Why It’s Actually the Best Combat in the Series
The Final Push for 120
When you get down to those last five shrines, you have to be methodical. You can't just wander. You need to check your map against a completed one and look for the gaps. Look at the "Hero’s Path" mode if you have the DLC. It shows you everywhere you’ve walked. If there’s a giant green-free spot on your map, guess what? There’s probably a breath of the wild shrine location waiting for you right there.
Don't forget the DLC shrines if you have the Champions' Ballad. They add a whole other layer of complexity, but they don't count toward the base 120. Completing the 120 gives you the "Of the Wild" armor set, which makes Link look like the classic version of himself. Is it worth it? For the stats, maybe not. For the bragging rights? Absolutely.
Actionable Steps for Completing Your Map
To wrap this up and get you back into the game, here is exactly how you should approach the hunt if you're stuck.
First, finish all the stable quests. Stable NPCs are notorious for giving hints about nearby shrines that are hidden or require a specific trigger. Second, fly over the edge of the map. Several shrines are tucked into the very corners of the world, like the ones on the cliffs overlooking the sea or the deep canyons in the Tanagar Canyon. Third, use your Stasis+ tool while wandering. It highlights interactable objects in yellow, which often reveals hidden pressure plates or boulders blocking a breath of the wild shrine location.
Finally, if you’re at 119 and losing your mind, check the "hidden" ones first:
- The one behind the waterfall in the Faron region (Shoda Sah).
- The one in the middle of the spiral "Rist Peninsula" in Akkala.
- The "Twin Memories" shrines on top of the Dueling Peaks (you have to solve one to get the code for the other).
Get those done, grab your armor from the Forgotten Temple, and finally put this quest to bed. Hyrule is a big place, but it's manageable once you stop looking at the map as a whole and start looking at the gaps in your own journey.