Perhaps the only item more iconic to the Legend of Zelda series than the Master Sword is the Hylian Shield, a grand piece of equipment bearing the bold crest of the royal family of Hyrule in blue and red. One of the stronger items in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it can be found in the prison cellar of Hyrule Castle, through a secret entrance to the Lockup area.
Sadly, unlike the Master Sword, it is not unbreakable. It’s only good for about 800 uses. Thus, you may want to mount the Hylian Shield at your home in Hateno Village rather than take the risk of losing it forever.
The shield and sword make a handsome duo, so you should have Link sneak into the castle and get his hands on it as early in the game as you can. Here’s how.
Holly Green is the assistant editor of Paste Games and a reporter and semiprofessional photographer. She is also the author of Fry Scores: An Unofficial Guide To Video Game Grub. You can find her work at Gamasutra, Polygon, Unwinnable, and other videogame news publications.
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Find the secret west entrance to Hyrule Castle
By now you've probably heard from a citizen of Hyrule that there's a safer, "secret" entrance to the castle on the west side. This is true. There's a shrine just outside the walls that you can fast travel to, the Katah Chuki shrine (alternately, you can travel northeast from the Noha Neya shrine).
As you can see from the map icons, you'll need to reach the Castle Town Prison, cross the channel (marked by the red stamp), and get to the basement entrance [ ].
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Keep going north
From there, climb over the wall north of the shrine and continue heading north. You'll pass a Korok seed shrine along the way.
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Swim across the water to the tunnel
The gap isn't wide, but you'll want to wear your Zora Armor anyway, to move fast and keep out of sight of the roving Guardian Skywatchers.
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It's dim and hard to see, but it's there
Look for the mine cart track and keep swimming forward. You'll be able to pull yourself up on the ledge easily.
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Check the map
You are here.
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Find the mine cart
When you reach the end of the tunnel, you'll find a secret passage that can be opened with a bomb on the right, and a mine cart on the left. Hop in.
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Using Statsis+ and a melee weapon, ride the mine cart to the end of the track, which will take you to the castle dungeon, in the basement.
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Check the map again
Here's where you'll be when the mine cart track ends. From this point on, you'll mostly be following a path of lefts.
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Start making your way through the dungeon
The path is fairly linear. In this room is a Korok shrine; drop some eggs into the hot water to complete the puzzle and gain a seed. Then take the hill to your left leading up.
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Check the map again again
Once you reach this point, turn left.