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Since their introduction in Breath of the Wild, Shrines continue to be a part of the series in its sequel, Tears of the Kingdom. Generally, these Shrines involve solving a puzzle, completing a challenge, or emerging victorious in combat. Link can find the Shrines hidden around Tears of the Kingdom’s map, with 152 to find in total. While some of these Shrines can be easy, others, like Tears of the Kingdom’s Sifumim and Zakusu Shrines, present some of the hardest challenges the game has to offer. Here is a ranking of the top 10 hardest Tears of the Kingdom Shrines.
10. Zanmik Shrine
First up for the hardest Shrines in Tears of the Kingdom is the Zanmik Shrine, located in the Hateno Village Region. This Shrine is going to take some creativity with the Ultrahand, so any player who is subpar with the skill may find this Shrine extremely challenging. In the end, the easiest way to cheese this shrine involves attaching the ball to the wheel, ascending to the top floor, and finally receiving the ball and placing it in its destination yourself.
9. Orochium Shrine
The labyrinth layout of the Orochium Shrine helps place it as one of the hardest Shrines in Tears of the Kingdom. Players can get lost very easily in this maze, which is only the first level of frustration this Ancient Shrine offers. Even after the maze is done, navigating the ball at the end to its destination will make some players want to skip this Shrine completely.
8. Igoshon Shrine
The Igoshon Shrine earns its place as one of the hardest due to its challenging mechanic. In this Shrine, Link must travel by balancing in water bubbles that carry him over long gaps. While this is challenging enough, players must then construct a ramp to angle themselves properly to make it to the end. While this may seem easy, Tears of the Kingdom players are bound to miss many times and play a frustrating game of trial and error.
7. Ishodag Shrine
While the Ishodag Shrine isn’t the most complex in the game, the finicky nature of fans makes it one of the hardest in Tears of the Kingdom. In this challenge, players must solve a series of fan-based challenges, including building a boat and creating an elevator. In the end, the difficulty of this Shrine comes down to how well the player knows how to deal with fans and whether or not the wind will carry them in the right direction.
6. Mayausiy Shrine
Next, the Mayausiy Shrine is one of the hardest due to how unintuitive it can be. To complete this Shrine, players must place blocks to complete patterns, allowing them to progress. What’s difficult about this Shrine, however, is that it isn’t necessarily obvious that this is what you need to do for the Shrine. Once you figure out the gimmick, it’s a lot easier, but if you don’t, you can end up spending hours sitting in the first room of the Shrine.
5. Riogok Shrine
The Riogok Shrine is one of the hardest Shrines in Tears of the Kingdom and involves some serious engineering skills to tackle the challenge. Players will need to balance out the force of turning cogs and motors using constructed contraptions. While this isn’t a physically demanding task, it’s going to take a lot of creative flexibility. However, looking up a guide for this one may be a good strategy.
4. Mayaotaki Shrine
The Mayaotaki Shrine can be difficult since it’s hidden in the middle of a large labyrinth. Once in the labyrinth, players must navigate the deadly, trap-filled maze while finding their way. Honestly, the best way to get through this maze is to look up a guide. If players are up for the challenge, they should stock up on as many resources as possible.
3. Mayachideg Shrine
The Proving Grounds Shrines are the hardest that Tears of the Kingdom have to offer. In these challenges, Link will be stripped of his gear and forced to fight enemies with minimal resources. In the Mayachideg Shrine specifically, players will be able to create some constructs that will help take out the enemies scattered around the arena. The key in this Shrine is patience, as waiting for the constructs to do most of the work will be a major help.
2. Zakusu Shrine
Just getting to the Zakusu Shrine in Tears of the Kingdom makes it one of the game’s hardest challenges. To get there, players must find their way to a floating island in the sky and snowboard down a massive mountain to reach the Shrine. Once there, the Zakusu Shrine is another Proving Ground. Here, players will need to fight off constructs with only sticks and their skills, making Tears of the Kingdom’s Zakusu Shrine very hard.
1. Sifumim Shrine
Finally, the last and hardest Shrine of Tears of the Kingdom is the Sifumim Shrine. Once again, this is another Proving Ground, meaning that Link will lose all his equipment for this challenge. Here, players must slay multiple constructs that are riding boats around a few moats. Between the many lightning-based attacks near the water and Link’s lack of equipment, this challenge becomes extremely frustrating to complete. Overall, players should look for a strategy online to cheese Tears of the Kingdom’s Sifumim Shrine, as it will save them hours of pain.
