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The Legend of Zelda series doesn't have the best track record when it comes to water dungeons, leading many players to approach the Water Temple in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom with a certain sense of dread. Thankfully, however, this is one of the better-designed dungeons in the Zelda franchise's long history, with well-thought-out puzzles, satisfying mechanics, and a surprisingly enjoyable boss fight to boot.
Completing the Tears of the Kingdom water temple will be essential for those hoping to finish off the Regional Phenomena story quest and is the final step in the Sidon of the Zora subquest. For those who know what they're doing, the whole thing can be finished in under half an hour, which bodes well given that there are plenty of other dungeons for players to complete in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
How to Turn on the First Faucet
Upon their arrival at the water temple, players will need to interact with the green gateway. Doing so will result in a short cutscene, during which they'll learn that they need to turn on four faucets in order to wash away the sludge. To find the valve needed to turn on the first faucet, they should look for a broken pathway on the west side of the main island. Rather than following this upward, though, they'll instead want to drop down and look for a doorway protected by a wall of flames at coordinates 3328, 0749, 1712.
To get past the flames, players can simply activate Sidon's water shield ability and walk right through them. They'll then be able to grab one of the green platforms using Link's Ultrahand ability and drop it onto the floor tile near the doorway to deactivate the flames and allow Sidon inside. Next, they should jump and glide to the far side of the room and pick up the ball. Thanks to the low gravity, they can simply throw this back the way they just came. While they're here, they should shoot down the green platform above them with an arrow to get a chest containing a Large Zonaite and use Ultrahand to grab the Captain II Reaper from the bed of spikes below them.
Once they've finished looting the area, players should jump and glide back over the spikes and attach the ball to the nearby green platform. They'll then want to activate the platform, raise it up as high as they can using Ultrahand, and then climb up to the top of the ledge. From here, they can grab the floating platform again and rotate it sideways, allowing them to push the ball into the wall and hold it in place. With access to the valve now granted, players should speak with Sidon to get the water shield and then perform a melee attack so that the jet of water hits the valve, which will cause it to turn and activate the first faucet.
How to Turn on the Second Faucet
Next, players should make their way up to the broken pathway and follow it to the floating islands off to the west. After dealing with the three Soldier Constructs here, they'll want to use Sidon's water shield ability together with a melee attack to clean the sludge off of the water orb dispenser over on the right side of the island and then throw the nearby ball into one of the orbs that comes out of it. They can also use a Splash Fruit arrow to unlock a waterfall over to their left, which will enable them to swim up the waterfall and find a chest with a Zora Shield in it. Players can also get to this chest by swimming up the waterfall in the next area and gliding back though, thus saving themselves both an arrow and a splash fruit.
Whenever they're ready, players can jump into one of the water orbs and ride it up to a new area. Here, they'll want to activate one of the green platforms, attach it to the top of the floodgate, and lift it up into the air to drain the water. This should lead to the ball falling into the hole in the ground and opening up a gate over to the right. They'll then be able to use Sidon's water shield ability together with a melee attack to turn the second valve and turn on another faucet.
How to Turn on the Third Faucet
Once players reach the halfway point, a Soldier Construct will spawn in the central area, where players will need to use a Splash Fruit arrow to unclog a waterfall which they can then swim up to reach the floating islands to the east. However, it's actually possible to climb along the giant faucets and then glide over to these islands, so those who are short on arrows may want to adopt this strategy instead.
Regardless of which method they choose, players will want to deal with the Fire Like Like here first, which will reward them with a chest containing a Strong Zonaite Sword. They can then turn around and look for a chest covered in sludge on the ground to their right. Cleaning off the sludge using Sidon's water shield ability and a melee attack will allow them to open up the chest and claim five arrows, which will come in very useful a little later on. For now, though, they should use Link's Recall ability on the nearby water orb and ride it up to the next island.
In this next area, players will need to use Link's Ultrahand ability to attach the two planks onto the waterwheel so that it begins to spin. Once it does, they'll want to grab the nearby water orb, again, using Ultrahand, and move it into the gap between the powerlines. This will open up a doorway to the left, allowing players to head inside and activate the third valve. As with the previous two, they'll need to have Sidon's water shield active and then use a melee attack to hit the valve with a blast of water to make it spin.
How to Turn on the Fourth Faucet
The valve for the final faucet is on the last remaining island. Players can either float up in the water orb near the waterwheel and then glide their way over there using Link's Paraglider or use Ascend beneath the platform where the Fire Like Like they fought earlier was. Either way, they'll want to defeat all of the enemies upon their arrival on this new island, after which, they can turn their attention toward the giant spinning device.
The aim here is to clean away the sludge inside the spinning cube and then hit a switch inside with an arrow. To do so, players should stand on top of the water orb launcher and then fire a Splash Fruit arrow into the opening. The splash radius is pretty large, so precision isn't too important here. The second shot is a lot more tricky though, so players should jump, activate the glider, then quickly pull out the bow to slow down time, thus making the shot a whole lot easier.
Those who are running low on arrows may wish to save before attempting these two shots. That way, if they miss and run out of arrows, they can simply reload their save file and try again.
Hitting the switch will drain the water from the island, granting access to the final valve. After activating it with another blast of water, players will need to return to the central area and interact with the green gateway once again. Before doing so, however, they may want to take a moment to heal up and fuse a few weapons together, as interacting with the gateway will trigger the water temple boss fight, which is with Mucktorok: Scourge of the Water Temple.
How to Beat Mucktorok: Scourge of the Water Temple (Boss Guide)
Mucktorok can seem like an intimidating boss fight at first due to the giant shark that it rides around on, but it's actually a relatively simple battle once players figure out the boss' patterns. It only has two main attacks: a wave attack that radiates out from its current position and a beam attack that moves from right to left. Thanks to the low gravity at the water temple, players can simply jump and glide over both of these attacks. This means that all they'll really need to worry about is making sure that they don't get hit by the giant shark's charges, but this is fairly easy to avoid providing players steer clear of sludge.
To damage Mucktorok, players will first need to hit the giant sludge shark that it's riding on with a water beam attack. They can do this at any time, but it's easiest to do so immediately after dodging one of Mucktorok's two main attacks. This means canceling out of glide, speaking with Sidon, and then firing off a melee attack as quickly as possible after passing over Mucktorok's attack. Once the shark has gone, players will simply need to lay a hit on Mucktorok as it tries to flee, which will stun the boss and allow players to dish out some decent damage.
At the halfway point of the battle, things will get a little trickier, as Muckotorok will gain a new attack that sees it spit copious amounts of sludge up into the air. This won't damage Link if it hits him, but it will destroy his water shield and can make navigating the area a little trickier. The boss will also jump around after losing its shark mount rather than running, making it much harder to hit. Keese Eye arrows can come in useful here as they can track enemy movement, although, with good timing and anticipation, players shouldn't have too much trouble landing a regular attack.
Once Mucktorok has been defeated, players will receive a heart container, which will increase Link's maximum health by one heart. They'll then need to go and speak with Sidon, which will trigger a few rather lengthy cutscenes. When they finally end, Link will have gained the Vow of Sidon, Sage of Water and the Sidon of the Zora main story quest will be marked as complete, thus allowing players to move on to the next part of the Regional Phenomena mission.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is available for the Nintendo Switch.
