TotK Depths Guide: Getting Down, Gloom, Lightroots and What to Find

The Depths are a whole underground world right beneath the surface of Hyrule. A game tip says: “The surface and Depths are intricately connected. Someplace special on the surface may be mirrored by something in the Depths as well, and vice versa.” This page is the starting point; the full lists live on their own pages.

How do you get down to the Depths?

Jump into a chasm. The game tip: “The Upheaval created chasms throughout Hyrule that reach far down to the Depths.” There are 36, each ringed with red-black gloom, so they are easy to spot.

• Get the paraglider first. The drop is long; open the paraglider near the bottom before you land.
• Follow the quest the first time. Robbie and Josha at Lookout Landing give you Camera Work in the Depths, which takes you down a nearby chasm and shows you Brightbloom Seeds and gloom.
• Try another chasm. Rivers and lakes on the surface are walls in the Depths that reach the ceiling, and you cannot cross them. A tip says so too: “On rare occasions in the Depths, you will find areas surrounded by high walls stretching up to the ceiling. These may be connected to a chasm on the surface.” When a wall blocks you, come down a chasm on its other side.

Mountains on the surface turn into hollows in the Depths. When you lose your bearings, the surface map is a good guide.

How do you see in the dark?

There is no light down there, and the map starts out black. Three ways to see:

1. Brightbloom Seeds. The tip: “Brightbloom seeds blossom into flowers when struck, lighting up their surroundings.” Throw them, or “Fuse a brightbloom seed to an arrow, and you can light up an area from a safe distance.” There are also Giant Brightbloom Seeds. They grow in patches in surface caves and wells, so stock up before you go down.
2. Lightroots. Huge glowing roots. Touch one and it lights up its surroundings and that part of the map, and becomes a fast travel point. Each one sits directly under a surface shrine, and its name is the shrine’s name spelled backwards, so the shrine map tells you where to look. See Lightroots.
3. Glow yourself. Food or elixirs with the bright effect make Link glow and light up what is close to him.

What does gloom do, and how do you heal it?

The red-black ooze on the ground is gloom. A tip warns: “The gloom that covers the ground cannot be dispersed—not by a weapon, nor by fire, water, wind, nor any other method.”

Standing in gloom, or being hit by an enemy wreathed in it, does not just take health: it lowers your maximum hearts. The tip: “If you get attacked by an enemy covered in gloom, your maximum hearts will be reduced until the gloom is purified.” Many monsters in the Depths are wreathed in gloom.

The ways the game tips give to recover:

• “If you suffer the effects of gloom, you can return to the surface or visit a lightroot to recover from it.”
• “If you suffer the effects of gloom, you can recover by eating a dish with gloom-purifying properties.” That means sunny food made with Sundelions or Sun Pumpkins. For where to pick Sundelions, see Sundelion farming.

Moving patches of gloom are Gloom Spawn. A tip reports that “some have claimed to see something strange and fearsome within them.” Beating one reportedly brings out Phantom Ganon, so be ready before you go near.

What is worth getting in the Depths?

• Mines and zonaite. Most big surface towns have an abandoned mine right below them. Forge Constructs there trade zonaite for Crystallized Charges, which add battery at a Crystal Refinery. See battery upgrades. Zonaite deposits are richest in the mines and the hollows under mountains, and Frox carry it on their backs.
• Autobuild. Found at the Great Abandoned Central Mine. See Autobuild.
• Poes and Bargainer Statues. Glowing Poes are everywhere. Trade them at Bargainer Statues for the Depths set, the Dark set and materials. See Bargainer Statues.
• The Yiga Clan. The Yiga have bases in the Depths, and all 34 Yiga Schematics are down there. See schematics and the Yiga Clan.
• Treasure and weapons. Old Maps found on sky islands mark treasure in the Depths, much of it armor from earlier games; see the armor sets from earlier games. A tip adds: “You can sometimes find weapons that haven’t decayed around the Depths.”
• Materials. Muddle Buds, Puffshrooms and Bomb Flowers are plentiful.

See also

Chasm locations, Lightroot locations, Bargainer Statues, Autobuild, all enemies.