Survivor: Breath of the Wild Edition – A Guide to Eventide Island
Eventide Island in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild provides one of the best tests of your survival skills. Here’s how to unlock the Shrine hidden there.
Have you visited Eventide Island yet? It’s the location of one of The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild’s many hidden Shrines, but in order to access the Shrine, you’ll need to do more than just waltz up to the front door. Eventide Island is almost like a microcosm of the game itself–you’re stripped of everything in your inventory when you arrive and are tasked with transporting three orbs scattered across the island to three receiving platforms to make the Shrine appear. Simple, right?
Wrong. The island is crawling with monsters, riddled with constant thunderstorms, and you have no equipment, food, or arrows to help you. All you have are your Runes, your Divine Beast abilities, and your wits. But Eventide Island is very doable if you are careful, slow, and take on each task one at a time.
It’s impossible to walk you through every exact scenario you might encounter on Eventide Island, but here’s a basic walkthrough to help you make it through one of the game’s toughest challenges. Remember, if you die, you reset the entire island and are sent back outside with all your stuff, so take it slow!
Getting to Eventide
Eventide Island is located in the southeast corner of the map, just east of Lurelin Village. The absolute best way to get there is to paraglide from Muwo Jeem Shrine, which is on Cape Cales on the edge of the cliff. If you glide from there, you’ll land on the beach, which is the recommended place to start from. Try to aim for the far left or far right side of the beach, as there’s a camp of enemies in the center that you want to wait to deal with until you have at least one weapon.
As soon as you step onto the sand, a voice will address you and take away your items. There are three orbs located on the island, and three pedestals to receive them. But before you can get cracking on the orbs, you’ll need some equipment to deal with the multitude of enemies you’re about to face.
Survivor
Do not, do not just rush off without making preparations. Eventide Island is packed with enemies, fraught with storms, and you need a weapon. The weather cycle at Eventide should be three sunny periods, followed by three thunderstorms, then back to the sun. This means you have a limited amount of time before the heavens try to kill you.
Your first goal is to clear out the camp of enemies in the center of the beach, giving you access to a fire and a trove of weapons. You can do this one of two ways. There are some tree branches in the woods on the left-hand side of the shore (be careful, though, as there are also Fire Chuchus and Octoroks in there) that you can use for weapons or, if you started on the right, you should be able to pick up an oar and a shield from a chest. The other method, which I prefer, is to use Magnesis on the metal boxes near the enemy camp and just smash the box into them. Regardless of how you defeat them, loot their camp for some Boko Spears and the use of their fire.
Before the fire goes out, take some time to forage from the forest behind you for food. You can find Mighty Bananas in there, as well as Hylian Shrooms, Radishes, and Truffles. Gather all you can and chuck it into the fire for better health regeneration before the fire goes out.
Bow, arrows and the first orb
While you don’t need a bow and arrows to finish Eventide Island, it’s definitely easier with them than without. From the shoreline, head around the back of Eventide Island to the opposite shore. You can find a few goodies if you cruise along the coastline, such as a chest with a decent sword and an axe on an island in the middle of the swap, with a Magnesis chest stuck in the goo. Gather up what you can, then head for the enemy camp on the eastern shore of the island, beneath the enormous rock that is the high point.
At this point, you may be about to encounter your first thunderstorm here. You should have plenty of wooden equipment, but if you’re feeling nervous, take shelter under the outcroppings of rock near the camp and wait it out. You may want to use your metal weapons you’ve picked up for this camp, so waiting may be best.
Regardless, this camp shouldn’t be too tough. There are only three enemies, and if you have a decent health pool from adventuring or are decent at dodging, it should be cake to dispatch them even with Boko Spears and a Traveler’s Shield. Loot the camp, including all the bows and arrows you can salvage, and you’ll discover your first orb in their treehouse.
Don’t take it yet. The path to its pedestal is blocked by a monstrous Hinox, and we’re going to deal with him later. Leave it safe atop the tower, cook in the cookpot if you need to, make sure there’s no storm on its way, and get climbing up that nearby cliff.
Stealth tactics and the second orb
Watch for Electric Chuchus as you climb, and when you reach the top, don’t go over just yet. Take a peek over the top and get your bearings, as there’s a huge enemy camp up here. There’s a Moblin stomping around, a camp of Bokoblins in the back, and two look-outs. Guess what your first goal is?
Use your newfound bow and arrows to take out the look-outs one at a time, using stealth to carefully sneak around the ruins up here. You don’t have a lot of arrows, so try to take each look-out down with only one arrow to the head. It’s much easier if you have three left so you can take out the Bokoblins around the fire as well.
If you run out of arrows, I recommend facing the Moblin before the Bokoblins, as you can draw him away without attracting the attention of the little dudes. By this late in the game you should know enough to dodge and counter the Moblin’s attacks, so break out your best sword and wail on this guy. Once he’s done, finish the remaining enemies, and claim their loot, including Orb #2. The pedestal for this one is right in front of you, so go ahead and drop it on in while you’re here.
It’s time to deal with the Hinox we mentioned earlier. Equip your best gear, get a good view of the sucker over the side of the cliff, and get ready.
Link v. Hinox and the final orb
You don’t have to wake up the Hinox to get his orb, though it’s pretty tough not to. If you’re insanely careful, and with luck (and perhaps rain) on your side, you can paraglide straight down to him, land on his belly, and steal the orb. If you are too nervous to do this, you may just want to glide down and start the fight ala Asylum Demon with an aerial attack right on his belly. But brace yourself for a fight if that’s your route.
The Hinox is the toughest enemy on the island, but he’s slow and easy to avoid. You can get in a few good hits under his legs if you get up close, but he’ll eventually sit down hard and produce a small shock wave, so be prepared to move. If you hang around in front of him, he’ll attempt to clap you into his hands, and if you’re far away, he may knock down trees.
The best way to deal with the Hinox is with the arrows you hopefully salvaged from the cliffside camp. He has a huge, obvious weak point in his eye, so shoot it once, then smash him up while he recovers. Rinse and repeat.
Once the Hinox is dead, you can claim the orb that was around his neck. The pedestal for this one is atop the other rock on the island, the one that isn’t quite as high. Take it up there and leave it in the bushes while you take down the Electric Chuchus and Bokoblins that live up there. You can blow up the Chuchus from a distance with arrows to damage the other enemies, but be careful if there’s a thunderstorm. Once these guys are down for the count, drop the orb in the pedestal.
The final pedestal and Shrine
Are we done? Nope. One orb to go. Remember the orb you left at the first big camp? Head back there. By now you’ve likely demolished most of the opposition on this island, so it should be a straight shot for you to run to the pedestal on a small rocky section just off the shore where you arrived. Use Cryonis to cross the water, and drop it in to receive your things back and unlock the Shrine.
Next: The Great Musical Nostalgia of Breath of the Wild
Fortunately, since you did your trial out here, the Sheikah inside will simply hand over the Spirit Orb along with a chest containing 300 Rupees. And, you’re done! You can return to the island with all your gear to tackle the Hinox if you stealthed past him the first time, and all the chests and items will have respawned if there was anything you’re interested in keeping. You can also find a Rito atop the cliff where the Shrine is who will let you do a paragliding course for 20 rupees.
That’s Eventide Island! Now, only 119 more Shrines to go. Whew.