How to get the Climbing Gear set in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

The Climbing Gear set is one of the most agile armor sets in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. Similarly to the Barbarian Armor, the set makes a comeback from Breath of the Wild — although the steps to find all three pieces are vastly different. Still, if you want to make the act of climbing as fast as possible, this is your best option.

Bear in mind that you’re likely to hear about the armor naturally during your travels. An NPC shared a hint about one of the pieces, for example, and you may come across treasure maps related to this armor set as well. That said, you can skip the busywork; you don’t need to find such info in-game to open the chests containing the Climbing Gear.

This guide explains where to find the Climbing Gear, Climber’s Bandana, and Climbing Boots in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom so you can get up to (the highest possible) speed.

Climbing Gear location

You can find the Climbing Gear inside the North Hyrule Plain Cave at the coordinates (-1188, 0646, 0072), which is northwest of Lookout Landing, in between the main road that converges from Carok Bridge to North Hyrule Plain. If you’re heading to New Serenne Stable, take a detour to the right to find the entrance on the side of a hill.

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As soon as you hop inside, you’ll be greeted by two Like Likes. Yikes! After you defeat them, you’ll have to climb up. I found the left wall to be a much more approachable — if you get into the water you’ll slip, so you’ll have to rely on your jumps or find a way to dry Link’s clothes (making a campfire can help if you’re really struggling).

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

The key is to keep heading upward until you stumble upon two waterfalls. You’ll find a Horriblin — you know what to do. You’ll then end up on a path to the right side of the cave. There are two waterfalls to your left, one at the bottom and one above it.

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Jump into the water and swim across the waterfall that's on the top (in the screenshot above), as the chest room is on the other side of it. You can use Ultrahand to scan the environment, too, and you’ll be able to spot the chest.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Once on the other side, go ahead and open it to grab the Climbing Gear. This armor piece has +3 defense, and increases your climbing speed.

Climbing Boots location

You can find the Climbing Boots inside Upland Zorana Byroad at the coordinates (2858, 0354, 0227), which is a cave located west of the Zora’s Domain, north of Ralis Pond and east of the Zora River on the map.

This cave can be fairly confusing at first, but here’s the main route toward the armor (you’re then free to explore the rest on your own!). The first large room, which has a small pool of water, converges into two paths.

The one on the left has a Like Like covered in rocks, guarding a passage while hanging from the left wall. The one on the right, which is where we’re heading, has another Like Like covered in rocks, and there’s a gap in the wall from which you can get to it.

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Either take the enemy down or continue marching on. You’re going to end up in a path down below with a vine wall on the other end.

If you have any sharp weapon with you, like a sword or an axe, you can just cut your way through. If not, a bomb flower will be of help — if you don’t have any, I spotted a few around the cave. (As mentioned in our beginner’s tips guide, you can use Ultrahand to scan the environment for them!)

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Next, you’ll see a flooded room with statues and ruins. It may seem daunting, but the task here is fairly straightforward. Make your way across, either by swimming or by hopping on the ruin structures to stay afloat, and get to the other end.

There, you’ll see a door. Use Ultrahand to grab it, and then slide it upwards.

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Doing so will empty the room from most of the water. Unlike other similar contraptions in other caves, you don’t need to use Recall in order for the door to stay fixed in place. Hold it upward until the water is gone. You’re free to drop it down again afterward.

From here, you’re free to explore the room and loot whatever you might have missed. There are new doors that you can access now without the flood, and the one with the Climbing Boots chest inside is underneath the staircase to the right side of the door you just lifted.

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Go through the entrance and into the room, where you’ll find the chest with the Climbing Boots inside. This armor piece has +3 defense, and increases your climbing speed.

Climber’s Bandana location

You can find the Climber’s Bandana head piece inside Ploymus Mountain Cave at the coordinates (3663, 0539, 0272), which is east of the Zora’s Domain. As you’re climbing toward Mipha Court at the peak, you’ll naturally come across Lulu Lake.

This cave’s layout is simple, but navigating it is quite cumbersome. You’ll have to climb on the multiple surfaces in front of you to get to the other end. Similarly to the caves above, since it’s likely that you’ll be wet from either the rain or the lake nearby, you’re prone to slip during climbing.

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As such, I recommend that you leave this head piece for last, as you’ll greatly benefit from have the double boost to climb speed from the Climbing Boots and Climbing Gear. Once you’re equipped with both, it’s a matter of patience.

I recommend starting on the left side of the cave, grabbing onto walls, climbing for a bit, and immediately jumping to the side of the next ledge. There are a few times where you’ll see a rock that you can stand on in between ledges. If one of the ledges seems far away, try the one on the opposite side, which is a rule of thumb that saved me a few times in this cave.

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When you can, move to the right side of the cave, and then paraglide to the left side once more. As you’re approaching the farther end, you’ll see a larger ledge than usual. You can climb to the wall that’s to the left of it, and then jump to the ledge from there.

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After the last climb, you’ll be on high ground. All that is left to do is to get through an open passage to your right, which leads straight into the treasure room. The chest inside has the Climber’s Bandana. This armor piece has +3 defense, and increases your climbing speed. That’s the entire Climbing Armor set!

Climbing Gear upgrade costs, effect, and set bonus

Each piece of the Climbing Gear set gives you some climb speed up, which does exactly what it says — it makes you climb cliffs faster. When you have all three upgraded to two-star or higher and equipped, you get Climbing Jump Stamina Up set bonus, which reduces the amount of stamina it takes to jump while you climb cliffs.

You’ll be able to upgrade the Climbing Gear set at a Great Fairy using the following:

• 1-star (5 defense): 3 Keese wings, 3 rushrooms, 10 rupees
• 2-star (8 defense): 5 Electric Keese wings, 5 hightail lizards, 50 rupees
• 3-star (12 defense): 8 Ice Keese wings, 10 hot-footed frogs, 200 rupees
• 4-star (20 defense): 10 Fire Keese wings, 20 swift violets, 500 rupees

In total, to upgrade all three pieces of Climbing Gear, you’ll need 9 rushrooms, 15 hightail lizards, 30 hot-footed frogs, 60 swift violets, 9 Keese wings, 15 Electric Keese wings, 24 Ice Keese wings, 30 Fire Keese wings, and 2,280 rupees.

Once you’ve found all three pieces of the Climbing Gear Armor, consult our list of all armor sets and set bonuses to see what to find next, or check out our recommendations for the best armor.