Honestly, it’s been years since the game launched, but tracking down every single one of the zelda breath of the wild shrine locations still feels like a full-time job. You think you’ve cleared an area. You’ve climbed the highest peak in Hebra, scanned the horizon with your slate, and pinned every glowing orange light in sight. Then you look at your map and realize you’re still sitting at 118 out of 120. It’s maddening.
That’s the beauty of Hyrule.
Nintendo didn’t just scatter these things at random. They baked them into the geography. Some are sitting right in the open, beckoning you from a cliffside. Others? They’re buried under three tons of rock or hidden behind a waterfall that you walked past ten times because you were too busy chasing a restless cricket. If you're trying to max out your stamina or finally get that Master Sword to stop glowing and just stay powered up, you need a plan.
The sheer scale of zelda breath of the wild shrine locations
There are 120 base-game shrines. If you have the DLC, that number jumps, but for the sake of the "A Link to the Past" outfit or the basic completionist itch, 120 is the magic number. They are unevenly distributed. Central Hyrule is dense. The edges of the map, like the Gerudo Highlands or the deep reaches of the Akkala Wilds, make you work for every single fast-travel point you unlock.
Most players hit a wall around the 100-shrine mark.
This is where the game stops being about exploration and starts being about detective work. You’ve likely got the "easy" ones—the ones the Sheikah Sensor pings every thirty seconds. But the sensor is a blunt instrument. It doesn't tell you that a shrine is 500 feet below your boots in a sea cave. It just beeps. You run in circles. You get frustrated. We've all been there.
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Hidden in plain sight: The blessing shrines
A huge chunk of the total zelda breath of the wild shrine locations aren't actually puzzles once you get inside. They are "Rauru’s Blessing" (wait, wrong game, that's Tears—here it's just Monk's Blessings). The puzzle is finding the entrance.
Take the "Thieves' Hideout" near Gerudo Town. You can't just walk in. You have to navigate a stealth mission, fight a boss, and then—only then—does the shrine reveal itself. Or the Shai Yota shrine. You have to wait for a specific wind cycle and use a paraglider to trigger a pedestal. These aren't just waypoints; they are rewards for interacting with the world’s physics.
Why the Sheikah Sensor fails you
I’ve seen people complain that their sensor is broken. It’s not. The sensor works on a 3D sphere, not a 2D plane. If you’re standing on the Bridge of Hylia and it’s screaming at you, the shrine might be directly underneath the masonry, tucked into a nook in the bridge pillars.
Look for birds. Seriously.
In Breath of the Wild, circling birds often indicate something of interest. Sometimes it’s a shrine quest NPC like Kass (the accordion-playing Rito we all miss), and other times it’s a physical entrance. If you see a flock of birds circling a random patch of forest in the Faron region, drop everything and go there.
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The misery of the Hebra Mountains
Hebra is the worst. I say that with love, but it’s the truth. The verticality is exhausting, and the snowstorms kill your visibility. Several zelda breath of the wild shrine locations in this region are hidden behind "destructible" doors. You know the ones. You see a giant pair of stone doors at the bottom of a hill and have to roll a snowball down the slope, hoping it grows big enough to smash the entrance open.
If you're missing shrines in Hebra, check the "secret" icy tunnels. There's one tucked behind a wall of ice that you have to melt with fire arrows or a flameblade. It’s not intuitive. It’s just mean. But that’s why finding all 120 is a badge of honor.
Shrine Quests: The 42 hurdles
You can't find every shrine by just walking around. Forty-two of them are tied to specific quests. These are the ones that don't even exist in the world until you do something specific.
- The Blood Moon: Under a Blood Moon, stand on a specific pedestal without clothes on. Sounds like a prank. It’s not. It’s the Mijah Rokee Shrine.
- Shadow Sign: Shooting an arrow toward the sun from a specific tower.
- The Three Giant Brothers: Hunting Hinoxes in the Faron region to steal their "keys" (orbs).
If your map looks empty but your sensor is silent, check your quest log. You might have talked to an NPC at a stable who mentioned a "legend" or a "strange occurrences." Those aren't flavor text. They are GPS coordinates in disguise.
The forgotten corners: Eventide and Thyphlo
You haven't truly played this game until you've landed on Eventide Island.
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It’s one of the most iconic zelda breath of the wild shrine locations because it strips you of everything. No armor. No weapons. No food. You have to scavenge like a caveman to place three orbs on pedestals. It’s a test of pure game knowledge. Then there’s the Thyphlo Ruins, north of the Lost Woods. It’s pitch black. You have to navigate using torches and the glowing eyes of statues.
Most players put these off. Don't. They are some of the most memorable moments in the entire Zelda franchise.
Navigating the final stretch
When you get down to those last two or three shrines, the game changes. You start looking at online maps. You compare your icons to a completed 100% map. It’s tedious.
Pro tip: Look at the "Great Hyrule Forest." There are several shrines hidden within the Lost Woods that require you to follow specific paths or use Magnesis to find iron balls in the mouths of trees. If you just try to run through, the fog resets you.
Also, check the peaks of the Dueling Peaks. There are two shrines that "mirror" each other. The solution to one is the layout of the other. If you solved one and walked away, you missed the twin.
Actionable steps for the 120-shrine hunt
If you are stuck, stop wandering aimlessly. Use these specific tactics to narrow down the search:
- Toggle the Hero’s Path: If you have the DLC, turn on the Hero’s Path mode on your map. Look for "blank" spots where you haven't walked in 200 hours of gameplay. If there’s a massive gap in your walking lines, there’s a 90% chance a shrine is hiding there.
- Stable Talk: Visit every single stable. Talk to everyone with a red exclamation point. They trigger the Shrine Quests that make the hidden ones appear.
- Check the Periphery: Walk the very edge of the map. Several shrines are tucked into the cliffsides overlooking the "void" at the borders of the world.
- Elevation Matters: If the sensor is going off but you see nothing, climb. If you’re high up and it’s going off, look for a cave entrance below you.
- The Master Works: Once you hit 120, head to the "Hidden Temple" in the Tanagar Canyon (the giant crack in the earth). Your reward is the Tunic of the Wild set. It’s the classic green look, and it’s the only way to get it without an Amiibo.
Finding all the zelda breath of the wild shrine locations is less about combat and more about observation. Slow down. Look for patterns in the rocks. Listen for Kass’s accordion. The game wants you to find them, but it wants you to earn it. Use the map's stamps to mark locations that look suspicious so you can return with better gear or more stamina later. The satisfaction of seeing that "120" on your loading screen is worth the headache of every mountain you had to climb in the rain.