‘Regional Phenomena’ best order in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

“Regional Phenomena” is one of the missions in the main story that you must complete The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Purah will task you to see what’s going on around the allied cities in Hyrule: Rito villagethe Zora’s domain, Goron CityAnd Gerudo village. Who played for Breath of the Wildrecognize these as the homes of the unique races around Hyrule, as well as the companions and Divine Beasts from the last games.

You will have to go to each one individually to acquire new skills, but which area should you go to first? While there is no correct order, there are some areas that are easier to beat than others, making them more early game friendly.

Below we list the areas to visit in Regional Phenomena based on difficulty, along with our explanation of why. We’ll also let you know what skills you’ll get when you complete each area.

If you want to know other things to prioritize at the start of the game, our beginner’s guide to what to do first can also help.

Regional phenomena best order

Our recommended best order to complete the Regional Phenomena quest at a glance Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is:

1. Rito village (North West)
2. Zora’s domain (southeast)
3. Goron City (northeast)
4. Gerudo town (southwest)

Rito Village’s respective quest is the most straightforward and you can approach it with the cold resistance pants you got from the Great Sky Island tutorial area, making it pretty easy to brave even without piles of materials. On the other hand, Gerudo Desert requires both heat resistance and cold resistance depending on the time of day and has more difficult combat that requires more materials.

Here are our detailed thoughts on what you’ll find in each region, if you prefer to do things in your own preferred order:

1. Rito Village

Purah actually hints that you should first go to Rito Village. Although the area is locked in a cold blizzard, you should already have some cold-resistant pants from the opening scene in the Great Sky Islands. You’ll need another level of cold resistance to finish the area, but you already have a foot in the door.

In general, the combat and the paths you take to get to the Wind Temple are simple, leaving little room for error. It’s a pretty good beginner’s area, where you don’t have to worry too much about preparing a lot of supplies.

Once you defeat the Wind Temple, you’ll unlock Tulin’s ability to blow a horizontal gust of wind in whatever direction the link points, allowing you to glide to other areas. This is great for early exploration and making huge jumps that you normally don’t have the stamina to do.

2. Zora’s domain

There’s no weird gimmick to go to Zora’s Domain as it is Breath of the Wildso it’s a straight shot without worrying about slippery cliffs or anything like that.

That said, there’s quite a bit of puzzling it takes to get to different areas. The boss fight for the Water Temple can actually be quite difficult if you don’t have the right items to fuse for it, so we recommend doing a bit of exploring and building up an arsenal before heading there.

Once you defeat the Water Temple, you gain Sidon’s ability to have a water shield that takes a hit, as well as the ability to send a blast of water forward. This ability isn’t very useful – we use it the least, but it’s nice to have some security and a way to pull off an easy ranged attack when you need it.

This one is actually interchangeable with #3, but I personally found this questline easier than Yunobo’s in Goron City.

3. Goron City

Death Mountain is still home to extreme heat, which means you should carry some fire resistance (known as refractory) with you. While you can craft elixirs for free using lizards and critters found around the mountain, it’s much more convenient to buy an armor set. However, the cheapest piece is still 700 rupees, which means you need to build up some wealth before embarking on this journey.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Yunobo’s dungeon is tedious and you have to travel in the depths for a while. If you haven’t done any of the Depths before you get to this point, it shouldn’t be a problem, but you’re better off getting some experience beforehand with the Camera Work in the Depths quest, for example.

After the Fire Temple, unlock Yunobo’s charge ability, which launches him straight ahead into a ball. This is great for breaking rock walls in caves and you can use its ability while piloting vehicles you’ve crafted from Zonai devices, giving you an extra explosive attack.

4. Gerudo City

Riju’s bit is perhaps the most confusing and painstaking, but it’s also not impossible to clear this first, if you really want to. (We did it second, for reference.)

You must survive the sandstorm to get to Gerudo Town, enter the underground bunker where the Gerudo people reside, and from there start the “Riju of Gerudo Town” quest.

Riju’s gimmick is that you have to go through a horde mode of gameplay to defend her against Gibdo. Gibdo needs to take damage from elemental attacks before you can deal damage with physical damage, so it’s best if you come prepared with several elemental fruits or Chuchu jelly.

Once you complete the Lightning Temple, you’ll unlock Riju’s Thunderbolt, which allows you to fire a large bolt of lightning where you shoot an arrow. While useful for taking down things like Gloom Spawn and groups of enemies, it takes a while to recharge and isn’t as useful as it could be.

That said, you should do them in whatever order you want. If you really love Sidon, go straight to him! (Ahem. That’s what I did.) If you want to be able to blast enemies with lightning right away, head over to Riju!

There’s no right or wrong way to go and if you’re having trouble with something you can always pause and come back later. And when you’re done, head out to complete the Crisis at Hyrule Castle quest.