‘Regional Phenomena’ best order in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

“Regional Phenomena” is one of the main story quests you’ll have to complete in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

Purah will task you with seeing what’s up around the allied cities in Hyrule: Rito Village, the Zora’s Domain, Goron City, and Gerudo Town. For those who played Breath of the Wild, you’ll recognize these as the homes to the unique races around Hyrule, as well as the companions and Divine Beasts from the last games.

You’ll have to go to each individual one to gain new abilities, but which area should you go to first? Though there is no correct order, but there are some areas that are easier to beat than others, making them more early-game friendly.

Below, we list the order of areas to go in “Regional Phenomena” based on difficulty, along with our explanations as to why. We’ll also let you know what abilities you get from completing each area.

If you want to know other things to prioritize at the start of the game, then our beginner’s guide for what to do first can also help.

‘Regional Phenomena’ best order

At a glance, our recommended best order to complete the “Regional Phenomena” quest in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is:

1. Rito Village (north-west)
2. Zora’s Domain (south-east)
3. Goron City (north-east)
4. Gerudo Town (south-west)

Rito Village’s respective quest is the most straightforward and you can approach it with the cold resistance pants you got from the tutorial area of Great Sky Island, making it pretty easy to brave, even without stacks of materials. On the flip side, Gerudo Desert requires both heat resistance and cold resistance depending on the time of day, and has more difficult fights that require more materials.

Here’s our detailed thoughts on what you’ll encounter in each region, if you prefer to tackle things in your own preferred order:

1. Rito Village

Purah actually hints that you should head to Rito Village first. Though the area is locked away in a cold blizzard, you should already have cold resistance pants from the opening sequence in the Great Sky Islands. You will still need another level of cold resistance to finish out the area, but you already have your foot in the door.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

In general, the combat and the paths you take to get to the Wind Temple is straightforward, leaving little room for error. It’s a pretty good beginner area, where you don’t have to worry too much about preparing a lot of supplies.

Once you beat the Wind Temple, you’ll unlock Tulin’s ability to blast a horizontal gust of wind in whatever direction link is facing, allowing you to reach further areas while gliding. This is great for early exploration and making huge leaps that you may not have the stamina to achieve normally.

2. Zora’s Domain

There isn’t a weird gimmick to getting to Zora’s Domain like how there is in Breath of the Wild, so it’s a straight shot without having to worry about slippery cliffs or anything like that.

That being said, there is quite a bit of puzzling you need to get to different areas. The boss fight for the Water Temple can actually be kind of hard if you don’t have the appropriate items to Fuse for it, so we recommend exploring a bit and building up an arsenal before you head up there.

Once you beat the Water Temple, you’ll get Sidon’s ability to have a water shield that tanks a hit, as well as an ability to send a slash of water forward. This ability isn’t particularly useful — we use it the least, but it’s nice to have some assurance and a way to hit an easy ranged attack when you need it.

This one is actually interchangeable with #3, but I personally found this quest line easier than Yunobo’s in Goron City.

3. Goron City

Death Mountain is still home to extreme heat, meaning you need to have some fire resistance (known as fireproof) on you. While you can craft elixirs for free using lizards and critters found around the mountain, it’s much more convenient to buy an armor set. However, the cheapest piece is still 700 rupees, meaning that you’ll should accrue some wealth before you start this journey.

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Yunobo’s dungeon is tedious and it requires you to travel in the Depths for a bit. If you haven’t done any of the Depths before you get to this point, it shouldn’t be a problem, but you’re better off having some experience beforehand from the likes of the “Camera Work in the Depths” quest.

After the Fire Temple, you’ll unlock Yunobo’s charge ability, which launches him in a ball straight forward. This is great for breaking walls of rocks in caves and you can use his ability while you ride vehicles you make out of Zonai devices, giving you an extra explosive attack.

4. Gerudo Town

Riju’s bit is arguably the most confusing and painstaking, but it’s also not impossible to clear this one first, if you really want. (We did it second, for reference.)

You’ll have to make it through the sandstorm to get to Gerudo Town, enter the underground bunker that the Gerudo people are staying in, and start the “Riju of Gerudo Town” quest from there.

Riju’s gimmick is that you have to go through a horde mode style of gameplay, defending her against Gibdo. Gibdo will need to take damage from elemental attacks before you can deal damage using physical damage, so it’s best if you come prepared with various elemental fruit or Chuchu jelly.

Once you finish the Lightning Temple, you’ll unlock Riju’s lightning strike, which allows you to fire a large lightning bolt where you shoot an arrow. While useful for taking out things like Gloom Spawn and groups of enemies, it takes a bit to charge up and isn’t as useful in a pinch as it could be.

That all being said, you should do them in whatever order you like. If you really love Sidon, head straight to him! (Ahem. That’s what I did.) If you want to be able to blast enemies with lightning right away, head over to Riju!

There’s no right or wrong way to go and if you have trouble at one, you can always pause and go back later. And, once you’re all done, then you’ll be off to finish the “Crisis at Hyrule Castle” quest.