How to get through the Lost Woods in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom

If you played The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, you might remember how the Lost Woods had a special method to successfully navigate its mysterious depths. Tears of the Kingdom has a very similar problem for the aptly named Great Hyrule Forest that will make players take an entirely new approach to enter the home of the Koroks.

Unlike in BotW, players won’t be able to approach the Lost Woods on foot—or at least not initially. That is because the developers have shuffled around Hyrule’s map with layers that make use of TotK’s new mechanics for traversal. 

There are a number of reasons you need to make it into the Lost Woods, whether you are looking for the Great Deku Tree or you’re just trying to finish some quests. You could also be looking for the Master Sword after what happened on the Great Sky Island. 

If you are confused about just what to do, like I was initially, here is how you can navigate the Great Hyrule Forest and get to the Lost Woods in Tears of the Kingdom and avoid wasting time wandering aimlessly.

Where is the Lost Woods in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom?

The Lost Woods in Tears of the Kingdom is within the Great Hyrule Forest—which has a few different sections. The area players are trying to get to specifically is called the Korok Forest which houses the Great Deku Tree. 

Depending on when you arrive at the entrance to the Lost Woods, you will always be teleported back to the entrance by fog regardless of what you might try. Because of this, you will need to backtrack slightly and think about how the TotK map is structured. 

Instead of approaching from the surface like in BotW, you will want to head to the Minshi Woods Chasm to the southwest. Jumping inside will take you into the Depths under the forest and a dark area full of Poes and Gloom. 

Navigate the area using the trees to avoid the Gloom until you arrive at a large tree with faces on it that you can pass through. From there, find the Rikonasum Lightroot (around 0405, 2134, -0592.) Nearby should be a temple-like structure with a flat ceiling on the inside—use Ascend in this spot to rise into the Korok Forest. 

How to get to Korok Forest and the Great Deku Tree in Tears of the Kingdom

As soon as you use Ascend from the Minshi Woods Chasm’s path near Korok Grove, you should pop out of the ground in the Korok Forest and near the Great Deku Tree. The entire area will be corrupted by Gloom, which is why the normal method of entry did not work and why I spent way too long running around with no clue what to do.

Related: Does Zelda die in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom?

With the corruption spreading, you will need to heal the Deku Tree by entering its trunk and falling into another Chasm. Your goal is to cleanse whatever is causing the Gloom from the tree’s systems in order to progress. 

This next section will contain spoilers, so if you don’t want specifics, enter the depths at your own pace. 

How to heal the Great Deku Tree in Tears of the Kingdom

Once you drop into the Deku Tree Chasm, you will encounter several monsters. Gloom Spawn or Gloom Hands will be your initial concern, especially if you haven’t encountered them yet and they scare you like in my experience. You can clean Gloom Hands out fairly quickly if you know what you are doing, but the main event is just beginning. 

Unprepared players might have some trouble with the next part of the quest, as a Phantom Ganon made up of pure Gloom will appear to battle Link. This can be tricky since Gloom inflicts a status condition to weaken the player—so try to have armor or items on hand that can help you deal with that, such as food cooked with Sundelions. 

This fight is mostly centered around swordplay, so get up close and prepare to dodge or parry the phantom’s blade so you can deal some good damage. Just be aware, it hits like a truck and if you are bad at parrying and dodging, like me, you might want to bring a lot of food or good shields to the battle.

Defeating Phantom Ganon will clear the Gloom out of the Deku Tree and allow you to move on to your next objective. And that might just involve reclaiming a full-power Master Sword.