BotW Hyrule Castle Walkthrough: Entry Routes, Hylian Shield

Hyrule Castle is the last stop of Breath of the Wild, but it is also a full area worth exploring before the finale. This page covers how to get in, what to pick up in each room, and how to get ready for the fight in the Sanctum. The fight itself is on the Calamity Ganon page. What happens to your save afterwards is on the post-game page.

How do you get into Hyrule Castle?

There is one road in, but the moat, waterfalls and cliffs give you several other ways up.

The main road also has walls of Malice sealed by eyeballs, and two gatehouses that trap you with a Lynel. If you are not ready for Lynels, the Docks and West Passage routes keep you off the main road.

Video walkthrough

Hyrule Castle Walkthrough | Breath of the Wild — YouTube

How do you get the Hylian Shield?

1. Find the West Passage. From the moat west of the front gate, look for the tunnel entrance marked with Luminous Stone and follow it toward the Lockup.
2. Get into the Lockup. A Decayed Guardian watches the entrance. Raise the portcullis with a Cryonis block underneath, or slip in through the break in the Lockup wall.
3. Defeat the Stalnox. The skeletal Hinox guards the Lockup, and the chest in the back room only appears once it falls.

4. Open the chest in the back room. A metal chest appears once the Stalnox is gone. It holds the Hylian Shield.

The Lockup also holds the Royal Guard’s Claymore and a Blizzard Rod, so check the whole room before you leave.

What else is worth picking up in Hyrule Castle?

Two more stone chests on the north side of the castle hold a Naydra’s Scale (Show on map) and a Dinraal’s Scale (Show on map). With the three fang shards above, that makes five dragon parts, the only ones in any chest in the game; none of these chests refill.

A recovered memory is on the bridge between Princess Zelda’s Room and her Study. With the Champions’ Ballad DLC, the quest EX Royal Guard Rumors hides the Royal Guard set here: the cap on the second floor of the Sanctum, the uniform behind a bombable wall near the Dining Hall, and the boots on a wooden platform in the Guards’ Chamber. The all-armor list shows how that set compares.

How should you prepare for the final battle?

5. Clear the gatehouses for arrows. The portcullises close and a Lynel drops in at each gatehouse. Beating them gives 10 Bomb Arrows and 3 Ancient Arrows, both useful against Ganon.
6. Let your Champion abilities recharge. Inside the castle every ability recharges three times faster, so wait outside the Sanctum until they are all ready.
7. Pack your best food and weapons. There is no post-game and you cannot save once the fight starts, so bring hearty meals, elixirs and your strongest gear.
8. Walk into the Sanctum to start. Entering the first floor of the Sanctum triggers the final battle. Any Blight you have not beaten comes first, one after another, at 2,000 HP each.
9. Defeat Calamity Ganon, then Dark Beast Ganon. Calamity Ganon loses one-eighth of his 8,000 HP for each Divine Beast you freed. After him, Zelda gives you the Bow of Light for the horseback fight on Hyrule Field.

Freeing every Divine Beast is the most reliable way to shorten this sequence. The four walkthroughs are Vah Ruta, Vah Medoh, Vah Rudania and Vah Naboris. The Master Sword is permanently awakened inside the castle, so the Master Sword guide is worth finishing first too. Blight strategies are on the Blights page. For how the whole main story fits together, see main quest order.