Which Temple Should You Complete First in Tears of the Kingdom?

One of the best things about The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is that you can pretty much go anywhere and do anything you want. Once you wrap up the first Great Sky Island quest and descend back into Hyrule, you’re free to scurry off in any direction.

That being said, there are quite a few things you should do in TotK first before getting too adventurous. And once you complete the first few quests, you’ll find yourself with 4 new map points as part of the Regional Phenomena questline that will direct you to each of the temples across Hyrule.

Although you can complete the temples in any order you choose, the story naturally pushes you toward The Wind Temple first. Here’s the order in which we recommend tackling the Tears of the Kingdom dungeons.

Start With the Wind Temple First

There are quite a few reasons why you should start with the Wind Temple before any of the other three. NPCs will naturally be pushing you in that direction after you begin the Regional Phenomena quest by mentioning Rito Village. This is largely because heading in this direction will naturally kick off a couple of important side quests along the way.

If you start heading down the road toward Rito Village from Lookout Landing, you will find Impa near the New Serenne Stable in Hyrule Ridge. By talking to her, you will begin the Impa and the Geoglyphs quest that is very similar to the Captured Memories side quest in Breath of the Wild. After that, if you continue up the road you should run into Hestu — who is cowering in fear of some seemingly harmless trees. After helping him out, you’ll be able to trade in your Korok Seeds for increased inventory space and he will move on to his second location.

After those two encounters, you can make your way to Rito Village. You’ll just need to complete the Tulin of Rito Village quest before you can head into the Wind Temple and take on the first Zelda dungeon of the game.

Take on the Fire Temple Second

Once you complete the Wind Temple, you’ll want to head back to Lookout Landing where you should find a Goron in the center who will mention Death Mountain and that you should head to Woodland Stable for an idea of where to go next. This should naturally lead you toward Goron City and the second part of the Regional Phenomena quest.

You’ll need to complete the Yunobo of Goron City quest before heading into the next dungeon, and you can take a look at our full Fire Temple walkthrough for tips on how to complete it.

Take on the Water Temple Third

After completing the Fire Temple, you’ll want to head back to Lookout Landing where there will be additional side quests to take on. If you speak to Purah, she will mention that there are monsters active in the South — which will naturally lead you to Zora’s Domain.

Once you reach Zora’s Domain, you’ll want to speak to Chroma, Kira, and the third villager who are standing near a statue and sludge-filled water. This will kick off the Sludge-Covered Statue quest that will lead to the Sidon of the Zora quest you’ll need to complete before heading into the Water Temple.

Take a look at our full Water Temple walkthrough for puzzle solutions and boss fighting tips.

Take on the Lightning Temple Last

If you’ve completed all of the other temples first, that leaves you with only one map point left in the Regional Phenomena quest. You’ll want to head toward Gerudo Town where you’ll find Riju and kick off the Riju of Gerudo Town quest. After that you’ll be able to head into the Lightning Temple.

You can take a look at our video above or go to our guide for a full Lightning Temple walkthrough.

Looking for more Tears of the Kingdom guides? Check out our larger TotK walkthrough for tips on how to complete all of the main story quests in order.