Breath of the Wild Guide: Divine Beast Vah Ruta

Our The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild guides will help you with every Divine Beast, which are basically this Zelda’s take on the classic dungeon. Here’s how to activate all the terminals in the Zora Divine Beast, Vah Ruta, and then take out the boss at the end.

For help with the other Divine Beasts, check out these guides:

Divine Beast Vah Rudania (Goron)
Divine Beast Vah Naboris (Gerudo)
Divine Beast Vah Medoh (Rito)

1 of 8 Map: Before you can really do anything else in any Divine Beast, you need to find the map. It'll let you manipulate the beast's layout. In Vah Ruta, a giant stone elephant standing in a lake, you can use the map to adjust the angle of the elephant's trunk. That spray of water is vital to accessing some of the terminals in this level, so getting the map should be the first thing you do. You'll find it in a room just off the main chamber, behind a gate that's jammed up with black goo. Shoot the eye in the goo with an arrow, use Cryonis to lift the gate, and then access the terminal inside for the map.

2 of 8 Terminal #1: After leaving the map terminal, look into the corner of the room to see a cog and a submerged terminal. Be careful as you approach as there may still be a guardian lurking near the device. Use your Magnesis rune to wind the mechanism upwards, raising the first terminal out of the water.

3 of 8 Terminal #2: Head outside and up the ramp towards the next floor, dispatching the guardian at the top. In order to activate the next terminal, which is inside the rotating waterwheel, you will need to use your Cryonis rune to plug the flowing water. Make sure to time it so that the terminal stops when it is at the lowest point of its rotation.

4 of 8 Terminal #3: Head outside and up the ramp towards the next floor, taking care of the evil eye and toxic sludge as you go. In order to access the third terminal, you will need to open your map and maneuver the trunk of the Divine Beast so that it is powering the wheel. Select the fourth highest point on the scale, and the wheel should start to turn counter-clockwise. Select your Stasis rune and wait for the large power orb to drop down onto the middle section, which will open the gate blocking the next terminal. Use Stasis on the ball just before it starts to slide back down the pole, and then enter the housing that contains the terminal when it comes back around before the Stasis rune wears off.

5 of 8 Terminal #4: Jump back down towards the smaller waterwheel, then turn around and jump onto the teeth of the larger waterwheel, riding it to the top before jumping through the water and onto the balcony on the far end of the room, taking care not to die to the guardian guarding the ledge. Once safe, open the map and lower the trunk back to its starting position, then continue towards the front of the elephant, where you should come to an opening above the stretched out trunk. Paraglide down from here, aiming for the tip of the trunk as your landing zone. Once you land, raise the trunk upwards (about eight points high) and then rotate around the flat base of the roof of the trunk until you can access the terminal, which should now be facing upright.

6 of 8 Terminal #5: Look over the edge of the trunk and you should see a small hole in the roof of the Divine Beast, directly underneath the trunk. Paraglide down into the hole, then shoot the evil eye on the roof. Swap to your Magnesis rune and wind the mechanism on the far side of the room, which will open the roof allowing you to douse the flames below with the water from the trunk. Once the flames have been extinguished, drop down and activate the fifth terminal.

7 of 8 Waterblight Ganon - Phase One: This phase is fairly straightforward. Stand at a medium-close range to the boss and aim for his eye with your arrows. If you can land a couple of successive hits, the boss will collapse onto the floor, allowing you to move in close and land a few melee attacks before backing out and repeating until he enters phase two. He has three main attacks whilst in this phase, including a large sweeping horizontal swipe, which can be dodged with a backflip, and a long range projectile attack that has him throw his spear, which you can dodge by sidestepping. His third attack has him slamming his spear into the ground, causing a large shockwave that is difficult to avoid, but he'll only do this if you get to close to him, so this shouldn't be too much of a problem if you stun him first with your bow at range.

8 of 8 Waterblight Ganon - Phase Two: During Phase two, the boss will summon a pool of deep water, limiting your movement to four pillars in the corners of the room. When the phase starts, select your Cryonis rune, and create a temporary stepping stop between two of the platforms, so you can quickly move out of the way when the boss attacks. The boss will continue to attack with his spear, as well as teleporting around the arena at regular intervals and summoning ice blocks to hurl at you, but you can now use your Cryonis rune to summon blocks of ice as a shield if you are unable to dodge out of his path, or to break the hostile ice blocks as they come towards you. Use the same strategy from the first phase, striking the eye with arrows before closing in for a volley of melee attacks, and the boss will eventually fall.