Water Temple walkthrough in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

By James On May 17, 2023

In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdomyour journey with Sidon will come to an end on the Water Templewhich you can access after Wellspring Island.

After launching yourself from Wellspring Island using the waterfall, you will be greeted with a rather small sky island, the Water Temple. Link and Sidon will talk a bit and you will be able to interact with the altar directly in front of you, unlocking the Water Temple as a fast travel location.

The temple itself is quite small, but the puzzles can be brain teasers and the boss is no joke. Here’s how to get the Water Temple dungeon and what you need to know before you start.

What you need to know before starting the Water Temple

Once you’ve unlocked the Water Temple as a fast travel location and you want to leave to grab more food and other supplies, you can do so freely without worrying about traversing another long island. We recommend having food, splash fruit, and arrows on hand.

You are tasked with opening four more water valves to flush out the sludge. Below we list the valves in order from left to right, but you don’t have to do them in any specific order.

Sidon will also join you again, so you’ll need to interact with him to use his water abilities, like you did during the Sludge Like battle.

How to get to the Water Temple

To reach the Water Temple, you must first complete the “Sidon of the Zora” quest from Zora’s Domain. You must first travel through Ancient Zora Waterworks to unclog them and then travel to Wellspring Island in the sky.

Water Temple Chests

Zora shield
Large zonaite
Strong zonaite longsword
5 arrows
Opal

Opening the first valve in the Water Temple

There’s only one visible way to go directly onto the upper platforms, so head southwest and jump onto the platforms that form a slightly broken bridge. Using the low gravity on the islands, Link should be able to jump and slide up.

Take out the three constructions waiting for you up there. Use a splashing fruit arrow to clear mud from a clogged waterfall floating in the sky to the south. Swim up the waterfall to grab a Zora Shield from a chest.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

A water bubble maker will be aimed at the top platforms, but it will be covered in mud. Use Sidon’s trusty water power to clean it.

Sidon, a shark-man hybrid, stands next to a bluestone platform with a water spout covered in thick mud. Players must clean the mud to make a water bubble appear from the spout.

Use Ultrahand to take the glowing ball in the water and place it in a water bubble so that it goes to the higher platform. Jump into a bubble to meet him there.

Place the ball over the glowing hole with Ultrahand. It doesn’t go in, but floats over it nicely.

Then use Ultrahand on the nearby floating platforms and attach it to the top of the lock door. Hit the platform to activate it and use Ultrahand to raise the floodgate. The water will drain, allowing the ball to fall into the hole. This will open the cage, giving you access to the wheel that operates a valve.

Link uses his Ultrahand power on a tall wooden gate, covering it with a green, glowing light.

Use Sidon’s water ability to hit the valve and turn it on. Go back to the main area of the Water Temple when you’re done.

Opening the second valve in the Water Temple

The next valve is actually in the Water Temple on a lower floor. From the broken bridge you took to the first valve, jump down and follow this path to go under the temple:

An aerial view of a stone bridge separated in the middle. Link is on the near side, and an arrow on top tells him to jump down and continue to the left around the bridge to continue.

Use Sidon’s water shield ability to run through the flames blocking the entrance. Once you’re in, you’ll need to transport a glowing ball from one side of a spike pit to the entrance. Use Ultrahand on the floating platforms to build a bridge over the spikes and advance the ball. You can attach the ball to the platforms with Ultrahand to keep a closer eye on it.

Remember that you have to hit the platforms (with a weapon, arrow, etc.) to make them float.

Fire an arrow at the floating platform with the chest to make it fall from the sky to get a big zonaite.

A camera below Link points to the ceiling, where some green, glowing symbols indicate where he can use his Ascend power to fly through the ceiling.

Once you get to the wall, you can either use the platforms to build stairs back up, or you can use Ascend on a floating platform to quickly climb up.

Attach the ball to the center of a floating platform using Ultrahand, hit the platform and rotate it, and use it to put the ball into the hole.

Link uses Ultrahand to surround a small floating platform in a glowing, green aura. A semi-sphere line bisecting the platform shows how the player can rotate it to manipulate the platform and the ball sitting on it.

Use another platform to press the square switch near the door to allow Sidon to join you.

Link lifts a small platform above a fiery floor, surrounded by light from his Ultrahand ability.

Use Sidon’s ability to hit the now opened water wheel and return to the main area of the Water Temple.

Opening the third valve in the Water Temple

At this point, a construction may have appeared in the central part of the Water Temple, along with some chuchus, so take them out if you need to.

Fire an arrow with a splash fruit upwards at this hidden waterfall in the northeast:

Link stands in front of a large stone pillar in the middle of a stone courtyard. At the top of the pillar, mud blocks a waterway from which a waterfall is supposed to emerge.

Swim up the waterfall and take out the fire-like enemy seen on the right. The chest he drops rewards a strong zonaite longsword. Ignore that area for now and keep going this way:

Link runs across an open area to a pile of mud with a rock and a spout sticking out of it. In the distance, a water bubble pushes up a platform.

Use Sidon’s water ability on the mud pile in the photo above to clean a chest of five arrows.

Climb onto the rubble and use Recall on a water bubble to float to the higher platforms.

Use Ultrahand to attach the square pieces to the waterwheel, then spin the waterwheel so that it gains enough momentum to keep turning.

A large waterfall divides the screen and Link uses his Ultrahand ability to place a large water wheel with extended spokes to the right of it.

Grab the water bubble with Ultrahand and use it to connect the two electrical lines.

A large water orb floats above a red circle and glows green from the light of Link's Ultrahand ability. Electrical cables just in from the left and right sides.

Use Sidon’s ability to activate the water wheel and jump back to where you fought the fire as an enemy.

Opening the fourth water valve

Use Ascend to jump through the floor where the fire used to be. Take out the constructions and chuchus waiting for you up there.

After taking them out, use the water bubbles to remove the silt from the spinning structure.

Use the objects around it to build yourself a high platform near the revolving structure. From there, slide out and grab your bow and aim for the switch in the building. Time will slow down, allowing you to successfully hit the switch without too much fuss.

Link in the Zoroa armor stands in front of a spinning tall structure device built with Zonai platforms and a stone slate in Tears of the Kingdom

Grab the chest on the north side of the now drained pool to get an Opal.

As soon as you press the switch, the water drains and you gain access to the water wheel. You know the drill: use Sidon’s ability to hit the wheel and turn on the last valve.

How to defeat Mucktorok, boss of the Water Temple

Once you get back to the central area of the temple you can now interact with the altar and the water will wash away the mud. A disgusting little creature called a Mucktorok pops out of the mud and you have to get it out to actually stop the mud.

A purple squid-like monster with a bulbous head and a yellow protruding eyeball on either side, along with a month with pointed teeth and scales. Text reads

The Mucktorok’s fighting patterns aren’t too frantic. It takes the form of a muddy shark for most of the fight, which you must clean up using Sidon’s water ability. In his shark form, he fires different types of attacks with beams and waves that are low to the ground. Since the gravity is low, you can jump over both attacks without too much effort.

Once it’s free of mud, you get a few blows and it starts running. If you hit him while he is running, he will be temporarily stunned. We recommend locking onto it and firing arrows to stun it. Repeat these steps until the boss is about half healthy.

The real problem affects the halfway throughbecause it will spit mud everywhere. Admittedly, he spat out mud faster than we could keep up with cleaning it up with Sidon’s skill, which is why we recommended bringing extra splash fruit.

You can clean up excess mud with Sidon’s skills and fruit splatter – in fact you should – as too much mud will make it difficult to navigate the arena.

Now if you wash off the shark’s muddy exterior, the Mucktorok will jump from mud pit to mud pit, making it harder to hit with your arrows.

The creature of the purple squid Mucktorok retreats into the air in front of Link, who has raised his bow to fire an arrow at it. The battle takes place on an open stone platform under a night sky, and the Mucktorork has 1⁄3 of its health.

We ended up using Keese Eyes on our arrows, landing our arrows on the Mucktorok when it was out of its shark form, stunning it and letting us get some good hits. After repeating this process a few times, the Mucktorok died. .

After defeating the boss, a heart container will fall from the sky and you can complete the “Sidon of the Zora” questline. Well done!

Once you’re done, it’s time to continue the Regional Phenomena quest, assuming you have other locations to complete.