Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild: Divine Beast Vah Medoh Guide

Take to the unfriendly skies to defeat one of Zelda: Breath of the Wild's four Divine Beasts.

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Zelda: Breath of the Wild grants you the freedom to go right from the Shrine of Awakening to Hyrule Castle and a final showdown with Ganon, even in your skivvies. There's a price to pay for cutting in line, however: you'll have to fight Ganon in his four Divine Beast forms before you challenge his final form, to make up for skipping the game's four main dungeons.

Taking down Divine Beast Vah Medoh is no small feat, but you're better off getting it over with now. Not only will Ganon assume fewer forms at the end of the game, you'll have plenty of opportunities to amass a staggering supply of weapons.

Step 1: Go to Rito Village

The Rito are an avian race introduced in 2011's Skyward Sword. They're present and accounted for in Breath of the Wild as well, and keep a village in the northwest quadrant of your map. Make your way there and climbing the ascending platforms until you find Kaneli, the Rito elder. He explains that Divine Beast Vah Medoh has become hostile and is terrorizing the skies above the village.

Step 2: Finding the Flight Range

Check the hut next to the elder's and speak to Saki, wife of Temba, a Rito hero. Saki admits that Temba isn't home; he's gone to a place called the Flight Range. This conversation should trigger one of Link's memories.

You'll have to depart Rito Village to make your way to the Flight Range. Before you do, stock up on cold-resistant gear and supplies. If this is your first time in Rito Village, you'll find the Snowquill Headdress, Tunic, and Trousers, all of which bolster your resistance to icy weather.

When you're ready to leave, go down the village steps to Revali's Landing, position Link so he faces north, and take a flying leap out into open air. Your next stop is Hebra Mountains, where all the anti-cold gear you purchase will come in handy. Keep heading north, but beware of the tough enemies in your path. Near the Flight Range you'll come across Sha Warvo Shrine. Head inside and solve it to add its warp point to your map.

Step 3: Conquering the Flight Range Trial

At the Flight Range, enter the nearby building and talk to Temba. Agree to help and submit to his test of your abilities: riding updrafts to eliminate five targets using your bow. Sounds easy, but you've only got three minutes to pull it off.

The trial isn't so hard if you've upgraded your stamina wheel, and/or carry stamina-regeneration items. Begin the challenge, drift around using your paraglider until you spot a target, then get a bead on it and fire an arrow in slow motion (hold the right trigger). Be careful, though: triggering slow-mo drains your stamina much faster than drifting.

Temba expresses his awe at your paragliding prowess by gifting you 20 bomb arrows and a Falcon Bow. You'll need it: the time has come to take the fight to Divine Beast Vah Medoh. Let Temba know when you're ready and he'll accompany you to the dungeon's front door.

Step 4: Accessing Divine Beast Vah Medoh

Your goal is to blow up four cannons positioned at each end of Divine Beast Vah Medoh. You'll do this by—you guessed it—firing bomb arrows. Shooting the cannons works similarly to shooting targets at the Flight Range. The difference is that the cannons lock on to you, much like Guardians and their Cyclopean eyes. Shoot as soon as you can, but wait to freefall until a split second after a cannon fires then open your paraglider again. Your stamina wheel recharges every time you close and then reopen your paraglider, so don't sweat using it too often.

Once you've destroyed all the cannons, Temba takes off, leaving you to enter the dungeon alone.

Step 5: Solving Divine Beast Vah Medoh

Stopping Divine Beast Vah Medoh's reign of terror calls for you to find a map and operate terminals within the beast. You might be tempted to head inside right away, but before you do, turn and find a gate of Malice (all the black-and-purple goo) and shoot its eye to clear it away. You'll reveal a chest and, upon opening, a sapphire.

Head inside and look to the right to locate another Malice gate. Shoot the eye and enter a hall containing a giant wind turbine. Cross to the other side by using your Magnesis rune to pull over a slab on one of the rails. Once across, switch to Stasis, fire it on the slab you're on, and smack it to knock it along a wall so it's near a ladder. Climb the ladder and behold a chest that holds an Ancient Core.

Hop back down and position the metal slab so you can hop from the stone to the metal platform to the other side. Defeat the Guardian Scout and retrieve the dungeon map it leaves behind.

Possessing the map gives you the ability to adjust Divine Beast Vah Medoh's position by opening the map and operating its controls. All five terminals you need to engage are located on the beast's wings. Go to the middle of the ship and move the middle stone slab. Climb atop it, then tilt the Divine Beast to the right using your map. The first terminal is locked behind a sealed gate. Opening it takes a few steps: hit the orange switch, tilt the Divine Beast to the left, and wield Magnesis to hold the second windmill in place. This domino-like effect should cause one stone to slam into a receptacle and cause the gate to open. Interact with the first terminal.

Make sure the beast is still leaning to the left. Glide back to the center room and look for a gate of Malice. Shoot the eye and proceed into the room that opens as a result of the gate's demise. Glide across the room to find a chest holding a sword, then drop down one floor and shoot another eye to clear away more Malice. Tilt the beast right to climb the slope, then swing it back to the left and glide to the second terminal.

Make your way to the locked gate ahead and look for a small hole—small, but just big enough to roll ball bombs through. Drop a bomb and watch as it clears away some, but not all of the stones in your path. Drop another bomb then quickly hit the nearby switch to trigger a gust of air that changes the bomb's direction. Once the rubble clears, you should see a metallic boulder. Hit the switch to turn off the air current, then tilt the beast to roll the boulder toward you. Use Magnesis to guide it to the right, then tilt the beast again to send the boulder caroming into a switch. Head through the gate and enable the third terminal.

Open the beast's controls and orient it flat. Go back into the central room and drop to the bottom floor. Head through the right door to go outside and follow the path until you spot a Malice eye. Shoot it, then dispense of a second eye to wipe away all the gunk jamming up a turbine. Tilt the beast to the left and glide down to the fourth terminal.

From the fourth terminal, swing the beast in the opposite direction to glide back. Go to the underside of its wings and board the carousel. Tilt the beast to move the carousel. You'll come to another icky gate. Even out the beast using your controls; the carousel will move at a gentle speed, just slow enough for you to pop off an arrow at the eye. Maneuver the beast to ride the carousel the rest of the way to the other side and follow the path to the fifth and final terminal.

All five terminals should be active. Tilt the beast so it's flat, run up to the balcony, and ride the currents produced by wind turbines. Ride air to get to the control unit.

Step 6: Defeating Windblight Ganon

Ganon morphs himself into a canon-firing monstrosity that drifts to and fro around the stage. Use wind turbines to boost yourself into the sky and fire bomb arrows into his ugly mug. If Ganon floats low, get close and smack him around using your best melee weapon.

Whittling Ganon down to half health causes him to spawn a platoon of turrets. Once again, get airborne and rain bomb arrows on them to eliminate them. You don't have to clear them out, but getting rid of them will make it easier for you to concentrate on Ganon. Defeat him, and a heart container and new ability—soar up from the ground via a gust of wind—are yours for the taking.

Need more tips and strategies? Consult our Zelda: Breath of the Wild guides.

Long Reads Editor

David L. Craddock writes fiction, nonfiction, and grocery lists. He is the author of the Stay Awhile and Listen series, and the Gairden Chronicles series of fantasy novels for young adults. Outside of writing, he enjoys playing Mario, Zelda, and Dark Souls games, and will be happy to discuss at length the myriad reasons why Dark Souls 2 is the best in the series. Follow him online at davidlcraddock.com and @davidlcraddock.

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