How to activate the Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Unlocking the full map in any open-world game makes your playthrough much easier. If you’re like us, you’ve probably made clearing all the Skyview Towers your No. 1 priority in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before advancing through the main story. But by the time you’ve reached the Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower, you’ll realize this goal may not be as easy as you thought.

Skyview Towers have replaced the Sheikah Towers from Breath of the Wild, and we have to admit, they’re a lot more fun than scaling the old structures. When Link scans his Purah Pad on them, they’ll launch him high up into the sky, allowing him to surveil the surrounding area and unlock that region’s map.

The Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower is one of the northernmost towers in Hyrule and can be found north of where you can find the Lost Woods and all of its Koroks. It’s malfunctioning, however, so you won’t be able to walk up to it for a quick flight like you can with the other towers.

Here’s how you can activate the Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower in TotK.

Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower exact location and coordinates

The Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower is a bit hidden in comparison to all of the other towers. It’s in the middle of the map, north of the Lost Woods, and might take scaling a mountain or two to reach. We’ve circled it on the map below to help you find it.

When you approach the tower to scan your Purah Pad, you’ll encounter a Rito who will tell you the tower doesn’t seem to be functioning properly. At first, it’s not clear what’s wrong with it, but as you circle around the tower from the outside and look up, you’ll notice a platform blocking the top. You’ll need to find a way to move the platform before you can use the tower’s sky-launching ability and scan the surrounding area.

How to fix the Thyphlo Ruins Skyview Tower

Floating around the tower are movable stone platforms. You can climb a nearby wall to reach the lowest one. After you do, you’ll notice a couple of rockets sitting atop the platform. Affix one of these rockets to the stone block using the Ultrahand ability, as shown in the video below, and point it in the direction you want to go. Once it’s attached, hit the platform with one of your weapons, which will then activate the rocket. The block will launch upwards, and once you’ve gotten high enough, you can strike the platform a second time to turn the rocket off.

You can glide down to the other platforms using your paraglider to get more rockets, but keep your eyes peeled: There are hostile constructs on the other platforms that will attack you if you get too close. Kill them, grab the rockets that are on those platforms, and drop them onto the platform that’s blocking the top of the tower.

Related: How to get inside Sahasra Slope Skyview Tower in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

Once you’ve landed on the platform atop the tower, repeat the same process with the rocket, and it will remove the block that’s disabling the tower. You can also carefully jump off the platform and land right under it, on the top of the tower, and use your Ultrahand to move the platform away.

From there, glide back down to solid ground with your paraglider and you’ll be able to use the tower like normal.

How to solve the puzzle the lazy and easy way

While I appreciate the hard work of my fellow writer, I didn’t have the patience it took to do the whole rocket-punching thing or whatever. I just brute-forced it and climbed the tower with base stamina as any bored person would do.

I learned early into TOTK that you can climb up any of these towers with base stamina if you find good spots to take a break and recover it. And for this tower, doing so is an actual viable solution, as I show in the video below.

As shown above, you just need to move the block with your Ultrahand once you’re there, and a short cinematic will trigger. Just drop down and activate the tower to scan the area and you’re done.