You're standing on the edge of a cliff in the Hebra Mountains. It’s freezing. Your stamina is low, and that rhythmic pinging of the Sheikah Sensor is driving you absolutely up the wall because you can see the orange glow of a shrine exactly... nowhere. We've all been there. Tracking down all 120 Zelda Breath of the Wild shrine map locations is less of a "fun side quest" and more of a test of human patience. It’s a massive undertaking. 120 is a big number, especially when some of those shrines are buried under literal tons of rock or hidden behind riddles that feel like they were written by someone who hasn't slept in a week.
Hyrule is big. Like, "oops I spent three hours chasing a goat" big. While the main quest pushes you toward the Divine Beasts, the real meat of the game—the stuff that actually makes Link strong enough to take a hit from a Silver Lynel without evaporating—is tucked away in these shrines. Some are sitting right in the middle of a field. Others? Well, good luck finding the one hidden behind a destructible wall in a canyon that looks like every other canyon.
Why Some Shrines Simply Refuse to be Found
The game map is deceptive. When you look at a top-down view of the Zelda Breath of the Wild shrine map locations, it looks manageable. But the game has verticality. You might be standing right on top of a map icon, but the actual entrance is 200 feet below you in a sea cave.
Take the Dagah Keek Shrine. You won't find it by wandering. You have to initiate a specific quest in Zora’s Domain involving a ceremonial trident and a very specific pedestal under a waterfall. Or the Kee Dahnia Shrine? That one requires you to follow a trail of torches in the pitch black of the Thyphlo Ruins. If you aren't looking for the environmental cues, you'll walk right past them. The Sheikah Sensor is helpful, sure, but it’s also a blunt instrument. It tells you something is nearby, not how to get to it. Honestly, sometimes the sensor is more of a distraction than a help, especially when the shrine is tucked inside a mountain and the entrance is half a mile away.
The Problem With Regional Density
If you look at the Great Plateau, it's easy. Four shrines. They're practically tripping over each other. But then you head into the Ridgeland Tower region or the Wasteland near the Gerudo Desert, and things get weird. The density shifts.
In the Hebra region, there are a whopping 13 shrines. Most of them are buried in snow or hidden in ice caves that require fire arrows or a Great Flameblade to access. If you’re just looking at a flat map, you're going to miss the To Quomo Shrine, which is hidden behind massive stone doors at the back of a cave near the Hebra North Summit. You actually have to roll a giant snowball down a hill to knock the doors down. It’s physics-based frustration at its finest.
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Navigating the Zelda Breath of the Wild Shrine Map Locations by Region
Let's get practical. You probably have about 80 or 90 shrines by now and you're staring at the gaps on your screen.
The Central Hyrule area is actually one of the hardest places to finish. Why? Guardians. Everywhere. Shrines like Namika Ozz are tucked away in the ruins, and if you aren't careful, you'll be sniped by a laser before you even see the entrance. People often miss the shrines inside the actual Hyrule Castle docks. Yes, there is a shrine inside Ganon's front porch. You have to light a massive brazier to make the Saas Ko'sah Shrine appear. Most players skip the castle until the very end, missing out on a high-level "Major Test of Strength" that provides some of the best gear in the game.
The Dueling Peaks and Necluda Gaps
Dueling Peaks is usually the second area players visit. It has those twin shrines—Ree Dahee and its counterpart—where the solution to one is literally the map for the other. It’s clever. But further east, near the Hateno Lab, there are shrines like Tahno O'ah that are hidden behind breakable rocks on the side of a mountain.
- Twin Memories: Don't try to memorize these. Take a screenshot on your Switch. Seriously.
- The Spring of Wisdom: Up on Mount Lanayru. It’s a "Quest Shrine." You have to free a dragon from Malice first.
- Eventide Island: The Korgu Chideh Shrine. This is the one that strips you of all your gear. It’s a rite of passage. If you die at the very end because you stepped on a stray shock arrow, I’m sorry. It happens to the best of us.
Secret Entrances and the "Hidden" Mechanics
A lot of the Zelda Breath of the Wild shrine map locations aren't visible on the surface. These are the ones that drive completionists crazy. There are three primary ways the game hides these from your map:
- Shrine Quests: These won't trigger the Sheikah Sensor until the shrine actually erupts from the ground. Think of the "Under a Red Moon" quest at Washa’s Bluff. You have to stand on a pedestal naked during a Blood Moon. It’s weird, it’s specific, and you’ll never find it just by exploring.
- Destructible Walls: Look for cracked rocks that look slightly different from the surrounding cliffside. Use your bombs. Use a lot of them.
- The "Hidden in Plain Sight" Cave: These are the worst. The entrance might be a small hole in the ground covered by a heavy metal plate you need Magnesis to move.
The Gerudo Highlands is notorious for this. There’s a shrine tucked into a giant statue’s hands (the Seven Heroines), and another hidden behind a waterfall in the Yiga Clan Hideout area. If you haven't been meticulously checking behind every waterfall, you're missing at least three shrines globally. It’s a classic Zelda trope for a reason.
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The DLC Factor: Champions’ Ballad
If you have the DLC, your map just got more complicated. The Champions' Ballad adds 16 more shrines. These aren't like the base game ones; they are specifically tied to the trials of the four pilots of the Divine Beasts.
The One-Hit Obliterator section on the Great Plateau adds four shrines right at the start. These are arguably some of the most stressful experiences in the game because any damage—literally a bee sting—kills you. After that, you have to find three specific locations for each Champion. These don't show up on your map at all until you solve a riddle provided by Kass. For example, in the Eldin region, you might have to "stand on the lava" (using a metal box) to trigger a shrine near the volcano. It changes the way you look at the landscape. Suddenly, every weirdly shaped rock or ring of light is a potential map marker.
How to Effectively Clear Your Map
Don't just run around aimlessly. That’s how you get burnt out.
First, get the Climbing Gear. Finding the Zelda Breath of the Wild shrine map locations involves a massive amount of vertical movement. The set is split between the Chaas Qeta (Tenoko Island), Tahno O'ah (Mount Lanayru), and Ree Dahee (Dueling Peaks) shrines. Once you have the full set upgraded twice for the stamina jump bonus, the world becomes much smaller.
Second, use the Hero's Path mode if you have the DLC. It shows you exactly where you've walked for the last 200 hours. Look for the "blank spots" on your map. If there's a huge mountain range you haven't zig-zagged across, chances are there's a shrine hiding in a valley there.
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Third, talk to every NPC with a red "!" over their head. These are your Shrine Quests. There are 42 of them. If you're stuck at 118 shrines and can't find the last two, it's almost certainly because they are quest-locked. The Stranded on Eventide or The Desert Labyrinth are huge, obvious ones, but the smaller ones like The Bird in the Mountains in Hebra are much easier to miss.
Misconceptions About the 120 Reward
A lot of people think getting all the shrines gives you some game-breaking weapon. It doesn't. What it does give you is the Of the Wild set—the classic green tunic. It's cool, it's iconic, and it has great stats when upgraded, but the real reward is the journey. By the time you find all 120, you've seen every corner of Hyrule. You've seen the cherry blossoms on Satori Mountain and the forgotten ruins of the Lon Lon Ranch.
The final shrines are often the "Blessing" shrines. These are the ones where the "trial" was actually just finding the entrance. If you walk into a shrine and there's just a chest and a monk, pat yourself on the back. You did the hard part outside.
Actionable Steps for Completionists
If you're staring at a map with holes in it, here is exactly what you should do right now:
- Check the Labyrinths: There are three. North Lomei (Hebra), Lomei Island (Akkala), and South Lomei (Gerudo). They are big squares on the map. If you haven't done them, go. Now.
- The Shadow Riddle: Head to the Gerudo Tower. Talk to Kass. This is one of the easiest shrines to miss because it requires you to shoot an arrow at a specific pedestal when the sun is at a certain angle.
- Look for the Stables: Almost every stable in the game has a shrine within walking distance. They act as fast-travel points for traders. If you see a stable on your map without a blue icon nearby, start walking.
- The Hebra Peaks: Take some spicy food or Cold Resistance gear and literally walk the ridgeline. There are several shrines tucked into the "ribs" of the mountains that the sensor won't pick up from the valleys.
Finding every Zelda Breath of the Wild shrine map location is a grind, but it's the most rewarding kind of grind. It forces you to actually look at the world Nintendo built. Don't rush it. Use a map if you have to, but try to find the last ten on your own. That's where the real magic of the game is hidden. One day you're just wandering, and the next, you see a strange pattern of rocks on a cliffside, and everything clicks. That’s Breath of the Wild.