Lightning Temple Walkthrough: 4 Batteries, Chests (Tears of the Kingdom)

The Lightning Temple is the last part of the main quest Riju of Gerudo Town. It lies buried in the Gerudo Desert until you raise it, and inside it is a light puzzle from top to bottom: you move mirrors and blocks to send sunlight through the building, and Riju’s lightning charges the batteries.

Where is the Lightning Temple and what do you need?

Bring a weapon with a Korok Frond on it for blowing away sand, plenty of arrows, and elemental arrow materials such as Fire Fruit and Shock Fruit for the boss.

How do you get from Gerudo Town to the Lightning Temple?

1. Find the shelter. Gerudo Town is buried in a sandstorm and its people are hiding in the Gerudo Shelter beneath it. Go down and talk to Buliara, who says Riju is training at the North Gerudo Ruins.
2. Help Riju aim. At the ruins, shoot an arrow at one training dummy so her lightning follows it, then shoot between three dummies so one strike hits all of them.
3. Save Kara Kara Bazaar. Fight off the Gibdos at the bazaar and destroy their hive with Riju’s lightning.
4. Defend Gerudo Town. Back in town, hives appear outside the north, east and west gates. Talk to the soldiers to place your troops, then speak to Riju and destroy the three hives.
5. Read the mural. In the shelter, the mural tells you to look out from behind the throne and connect the red pillars in the distance with light.
6. Pillar one: free the light. Smash the cracked rock at the first red pillar to release a beam of light.
7. Pillar two: turn the crank. Turn the crank on top counter-clockwise so the beam points to the third pillar.
8. Pillar three: rebuild the crank. Carry the scattered pole pieces up, attach them to the crank, and turn it until the light goes back to the first pillar. The three beams form a triangle.
9. Raise the temple. A device rises in the centre of the triangle. Riju arrives on her sand seal Patricia; shoot the device so her lightning hits it, and the temple rises from the sand.
10. Survive the first Queen Gibdo fight. Hitting the hive over the door with Riju’s lightning draws out Queen Gibdo. You do not have to kill her: after you knock off part of her health she flies up to the top of the temple. Then destroy the hive sealing the door.
11. Reach the Room of Ascension. Blow the sand off the entrance with your Korok Frond weapon and head into the central room. Use the terminal: it asks for four charged batteries before the lift will take you to 7F.

How do you charge all four batteries?

Guides disagree on the numbering, so the batteries here are named by floor. In each case, reaching the battery is the puzzle; the finish is a Riju lightning strike on the battery itself.

Battery 1: behind the terminal on 1F

1. Move the sandstone. Behind and to the right of the terminal, pull the sandstone blocks out of the way with Ultrahand.
2. Charge the battery. Step in and hit the battery with Riju’s lightning.

Battery 2: the balloon mirror on 3F

1. Open the updraft. In a corner of 1F, wind blows up from under a sandstone brick. Pull the brick out and ride the updraft to 5F.
2. Light the Room of Natural Light. Enter through the gap in the 5F wall. Stand the stone block upright, attach the mirror from the wall to it, and aim the light through the hole into the central room.
3. Send the light down. Back in the central room, slide the mirror pillars along their rails so the light shines downward and opens a door on 3F.
4. Clear the Room of Offered Light. Destroy the hive with Riju’s lightning and defeat the Gibdos and constructs.
5. Float a mirror into the beam. Build a platform from the room’s Balloon and mirror, set it over the central light beam, and heat it with a torch lit from the candle stand. It rises and reflects the light onto the target, and the door below opens.
6. Charge the battery. Hit it with Riju’s lightning.

Battery 3: the fire shaft down to 2F

1. Point the light up. Back on 5F, move the pillars on the rails so the light shines upward and lights the device on 6F.
2. Get up to 6F. Climb or ride the updraft, and step on the switch to open the door.
3. Glide down the fire shaft. The door leads to a long shaft full of flames. Glide down and steer around the fire. Riju cannot follow you here.
4. Charge the battery. At the bottom, in a closed room on 2F, step on the switch to open the door, defeat the constructs and hit the battery with lightning.

Battery 4: the spinning room off 4F

1. Glide to the 4F gap. Ride the 1F updraft to 4F and glide to the gap in the wall at the north corner.
2. Line up the discs. Walk across the two rotating discs with gaps in them. At the end of the hallway, remove the bricks to uncover the light source, then use Recall on the discs so their gaps line up and the light reaches the central room.
3. Jam the trap hallway. Glide down to 3F. In the trap hallway, wedge sandstone blocks between the crushing walls and under the spiked ceiling, then step on the switch so Riju can follow.
4. Drop into the spinning room. In the Room of Light and Shade, defeat the construct and jump down the hole in the middle into the rotating room below.
5. Stop the room with a stake. Dig the mirror out of the sand and set it on the light source. When the green light shows, drive a stake into the wall so the room stops turning and the light shoots out to open the door.
6. Charge the battery. Use Ascend to get back up and hit the battery with lightning.

With all four charged, return to the terminal in the Room of Ascension and ride up to 7F.

Where are the Lightning Temple chests?

Guides do not agree on the total: one lists all seven, others list six or five.

How do you beat Queen Gibdo?

Riju’s lightning, or a fire or shock arrow, turns Queen Gibdo white. While she is white she takes damage, so hit her hard until she falls. In the second phase she summons Gibdo hives; destroy them with Riju’s lightning first. The full fight is on the temple bosses page.

You get a Heart Container and the Vow of Riju, Sage of Lightning.

What comes next?

The main quest order guide covers what opens after all four regions, including the Spirit Temple. Other temples: Wind, Fire and Water.