How to get sunset fireflies in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

As you adventure through The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, you may find yourself in need of a certain elusive creature: the sunset firefly. These lightning bugs are instrumental in a series of quests related to the Great Fairy Fountains, namely Pyper’s “The Flute Player’s Plan” side quest.

Sunset fireflies can be found throughout Hyrule, but only at nighttime, only in certain areas, and during temperate conditions (they won’t spawn in cold areas, or while it’s raining). Finding them can be tricky, and catching them can be even trickier. But there are good farming locations for sunset fireflies and Beedle the merchant will even sell you a few.

Here’s where to find sunset fireflies across Hyrule.

Sunset firefly locations

Sunset fireflies can be found only at night, primarily in areas with wetlands, lakes, ponds, and trees. In the early game, you can find a few sunset fireflies near ponds in East Castle Town. Elsewhere, you can find clusters of sunset fireflies on the Tears of the Kingdom map at:

• Faron Woods and Pagos Woods, in the Faron region
• Rutile Lake, southwest of Satori Mountain
• Hopper Pond, west of the Forest of Spirits
• Keya Pond, north of Dunsel Plateau

Make sure to rest at a campfire until nighttime if you’re going sunset firefly hunting!

How to catch sunset fireflies

Image: Nintendo EPD/Nintendo via Polygon

Sunset fireflies will fly away if you approach them too quickly, so walk slowly and steadily toward them if you see one. Crouch by pressing in on the L stick to sneak up on them. Groups of sunset fireflies will bely their actual quantity; you may see what appear to be a dozen or more fireflies at a location, but only catch two or three of them.

Where to buy sunset fireflies

Beedle the merchant will sell you sunset fireflies. You can find him at Highland Stable — conveniently near Pyper’s side quest and the Faron region, where sunset fireflies are abundant — but he’ll only sell three at a time. They cost 10 rupees each. Rest at an inn if you want to purchase more fireflies from Beedle, who restocks his goods every 24 hours of in-game time.