The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild has many unique sidequests and shrine quests scattered throughout the game. The shrine quests lead to players gaining more spirit orbs, which are required to extend Link's stamina and hearts during gameplay. Many of these quests involve navigating challenging mazes, fighting precarious foes, and solving riddles to get to the endpoint of each shrine.
However, there were some shrine quests that stumped players to the point that they had no choice but to find walkthrough videos or written guides to successfully complete them.
10 The Sign Of The Shadow Caused A Lot Of Randomly-Fired Arrows
This quest first required players to speak with Kass at the top of Gerudo Tower, only to hear his song: "As light shines from northwest skies, From the tower's shadow an arrow flies. Pierce the heaven's light to reveal the prize." Players had to look to the south of the tower to see a Sheikah platform and glide down to it with their paraglider. Once they were on top of the platform, they had to draw their bow and fire an arrow at the sun as if they were one of the best archers to exist.
Unfortunately, some players had difficulty figuring out the right time to shoot the arrow. This forced players to consult guides to find the right timing, or else they would end up waiting on the platform and firing arrows randomly, which isn't the best strategy for a game where arrows aren't unlimited.
9 A Song Of Storms Kept Getting Players Electrocuted
To begin this shrine quest, players first had to speak to Kass at Calora Lake. After that, they needed to make lightning strike on top of a pile of rocks shaped like a shrine. Players realized that they could do this by wearing the thunder helm while standing on the rocks, standing with a weapon on a shield made of metal, or dropping a metal weapon or shield on top of the rocks.
However, they soon realized that when lightning struck them, it often killed them, thus forcing them to repeat the quest. After several attempts to complete the quest without accidentally dying, players had no choice but to consult a guide for death-defying ways to complete the quest.
8 The Two Rings Quest Was Much More Complicated Than It Sounded
On the way to Rito Village, players had the opportunity to run into Kass and learn about a specific shrine quest. In order to access the shrine, players had to shoot a single arrow through two ring-shaped rock formations. This quest sounded like a fairly simple sidequest compared to other shrine quests.
However, players soon realized that there were numerous ring-shaped rock formations placed in varying positions. This made it incredibly difficult for players to figure out which two rock formations they were supposed to shoot arrows through, leading to time and arrows wasted trying out every combination of ring-shaped rocks possible.
7 The Crowned Beast Had Many Players Mistakenly Trying To Mount Skeletal Horses
In order to access this quest, the player must speak to Kass in Rabia Plain. Kass will share the following riddle through his song: “A beast that wears a crown of bone, prancing through the lush green. Mount the beast upon its throne, for only then the shrine is seen.” Some players were thrown off by the riddle and attempted mounting the actual skeletal beasts during the night.
However, some players figured out it was a buck that they had to tame, but had difficulty finding one nearby or even figuring out how to tame the buck in the first place. This led to them consulting guides and videos for guidance as fast as they could to complete this quest.
6 Players Stranded On Eventide Island Had A Hilariously Difficult Time
The Eventide Island shrine quest is an iconic sidequest for many players. This quest required bringing several orbs to their designated places on the island. The catch, however, was that the players automatically lost all of their clothing, items, and weapons and had to scrounge around on the island for any useful materials while avoiding and fighting monsters to get what they needed, much like survival games.
This quest resulted in some hilarious outcomes with players running around trying not to get killed by monsters before they found and placed all three orbs in the right places. However, there were some that grew frustrated due to the difficulty of finding the orbs and consulted the guides to complete the island quest faster.
5 The Lomei Labyrinth Shrine Quest Was A Maze Of Epic Proportions
The Lomei Labyrinth shrine quest was one of the most difficult quests for some players. This was because the labyrinth itself was tricky to navigate. Many players got lost in the maze without ever finding the shrine, and it forced them to start over from the beginning due to the sheer frustration of continuously getting lost.
Players were forced to find a guide or walkthrough to figure out how to get to the shrine, hoping to do so more quickly than the many hours it would take to best the maze organically.
4 The Trial Of Thunder Felt Like A Shocking Game Of Trial & Error
The Trial Of Thunder involved players trying to place four orbs in front of four statues in the middle of the area. This didn't seem so hard until players realized they were doing so in a monster-infested, continuously stormy area. In fact, the storms wouldn't stop until after the player unlocked the shrine and went in, meaning that while fighting monsters and finding orbs, they had to risk being shocked by lightning.
The rainy environment also made it difficult to find all the orbs and put them in their places. This eventually forced players to consult guides for strategies on placing the orbs in the right positions.
3 The Spring Of Power Forced Players To Find The Elusive Dinraal
The Spring Of Power was one of the harder shrine quests in the game. This was because it forced players to find Dinraal. For those that hadn't met Dinraal prior to unlocking this quest, they had no choice but to search the entire land of Hyrule (or find a guide) in order to do so.
Additionally, it took players multiple tries to successfully shoot Dinraal and make one of its scales fall off, wasting many arrows and bows in the process. This forced them to find guides on how to successfully find and shoot Dinraal to get the scale they needed.
2 The Test Of Wood Led To A Lot Of Broken Tools (& Possibly Controllers)
The test of wood is one of the hardest shrine quests. It forces the player to use wooden tools the Koroks give them while trying to reach their destination. Along the way, players either have to dodge opponents or carefully beat them. However, there's a catch: If the player breaks the wooden tools or drops them at any point, they have to start over from the beginning of the pathway.
Many players, who were already accustomed to weapons breaking midway through gameplay, found themselves struggling to finish the mission and had to repeat this quest multiple times before finally consulting guides for help.
1 The Secret Of The Snowy Peaks Stood Between A Lot Of Players & Full Shrine Completion
Many players were stumped when trying to finish the Secret Of The Snowy Peaks shrine quest. This required players to first find the journal in the Mountain Peak Log Cabin between Mount Granajh and Daval Peak. Then, the player had to roll one of the small snowballs until it is larger up the snowy area and hold it to cast a shadow on the pedestal to reveal the Suma Sahma Shrine nearby.
Players did not only just have a hard time rolling the snowball, but also found out that the pedestal was only active between 16:30 and 17:30 in-game. This quest was one of the most frustrating for players to achieve, even with following the guides and explanations.