In Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, natural phenomena serve as four main mission areas. This takes the same approach as Breath of the Wild by giving us four missions to tackle in any order. Each phenomenon contains a mix of boss battles and dungeon puzzles, and you can make some that much easier to solve by tackling them in a certain order in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom.
With the phenomena spread out between the four corners of the map, you might be wondering where to even start. Lucky for you, we've got some suggestions when it comes to which natural phenomenon you should go to first in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. Here's a hint: start at Rito Village near Hebra.
All Zelda Tears of the Kingdom natural phenomena and where to go first
- Rito Village in Hebra (Sage of Wind)
- Goron City in Eldin (Sage of Fire)
- Zora's Domain in Lanayru (Sage of Water)
- Gerudo Town (Sage of Lightning)
Zelda Tears of the Kingdom natural phenomena order
In TOTK, you can visit the natural phenomena in any order, but we think Rito Village is the best place to start. Our suggested plan of attack is to do the missions moving clockwise from the starting point of the Rito Village in Hebra, which means that after Goron City you'd go to the Zora's domain before heading to Gerudo Town. If you find yourself stuck at the Orochium Shrine in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom on the way there, we have a guide to help you out.
The four locations will be marked on your map by Purah after she teaches you how to use Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Skyview Towers. This triggers the start of the Regional Phenomena main mission, and will help you keep track of each one on your travels. Your map will be mostly uncharted at this point, so if you're wondering where each of the locations are, we've labelled each on the map above.
We have a few reasons for choosing this order, but the main ones are Sages, incidental unlocks, and enemy strength. Going to the Rito Valley first is a necessity because on the way there, you'll come across another main mission called Impa and the Geoglyphs. This is a worthy incidental detour, being your first introduction to the Dragon Tears found in each of the Zelda Tears of the Kingdom geoglyph memory locations. These are found all across the map, so it's useful to know how to spot them before venturing to the other phenomena. Geoglyphs also just might be the key to getting your Zelda Tears of the Kingdom master sword restored, but that's a whole other guide.
If you follow our suggested natural phenomenon order, starting in Rito Village and moving across to Goron City, you'll find that the Zora domain is the next closest phenomenon to it and therefore makes the most sense to check out afterwards.
All Tears of the Kingdom natural phenomena sages
Another important reason to consider your Tears of the Kingdom phenomena order is that the Sages you unlock at each offer unique powers. Without spoiling anything, Sages are holographic companions that give you an attack advantage on top of your existing Zelda Tears of the Kingdom abilities, and you'll collect one per phenomenon. These companions can be summoned to assist during future battles once unlocked, and since certain Sages are more useful against certain enemy types, the order in which you collect them is important.
Here's each Sage power at each phenomenon, ordered as per our suggested route:
- Sage of Wind: Gust of wind to boost flight speed
- Sage of Fire: Fiery bomb-like cannon ball
- Sage of Water: Bubble shield
- Sage of Lightning: Damaging lightning storm
The heavy-duty cannonball you get from the Sage of Fire is useful for blasting through enemies and boulders, for example, and the Sage of Wind is a powerful utility Sage to give your Zelda Tears of the Kingdom paraglider a mid-air speed boost.
Gerudo Town and the Zora domain are the last two phenomena you should visit, and though you can do either one first, note that the enemies you'll find in the Gerudo Desert are a lot stronger and more resilient than many others. True, the Sage of Lightning's electrical attack is arguably a lot more powerful and useful in combat than the Sage of Water's one-hit water shield, but you'll need to keep a stash of powerful Zelda Tears of the Kingdom weapons at hand if you want to visit Gerudo before checking out the Zora phenomenon and get used to deflecting attacks.
Plus, the Sage of Water's bubble shield is very useful against foes that deal lightning damage, which could prove invaluable in the Desert. The weather around Gerudo Town fluctuates dramatically depending on the time of day, with daytimes being incredibly hot and dusk bringing with it a biting chill.
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