Ranking EVERY 3D Zelda Dungeon

[Music] zelda creator shigeru miyamoto grew up in rural japan playing in the hillsides and rice fields one day he found a hole in the ground and inside a cave with tunnels and passageways leading out from it miyamoto's childhood adventures eventually inspired the legend of zelda and the cave he discovered became its dungeons the contrast between bright overworlds and dark dangerous dungeons is at the center of the series zelda dungeons are a huge part of what makes the series so successful but which zelda dungeons are the best today let's run through every dungeon in a 3d zelda game and rank them from d tier all the way through to s as a side note i'll only be ranking main dungeons from 3d zelda games proper dungeons with a boss where link either obtains a heart container or finishes the game not counting mini dungeons like ocarina of time's bottom of the well or ice cavern or the wind waker's fire mountain and of course here's the mandatory opinion warning it's quite difficult to rank these because all of the 3d zelda dungeons are good there's something to like about every dungeon in these games even the ones i like less than others so this video is completely based on my own opinions and my own experiences with the 3d zelda dungeons let me know if you agree or disagree with my picks or what your own rankings are in the comments let's start with ocarina of time on the 3d zelda dungeon tier list [Music] ocarina of times tutorial had a massive job to do not only introduced the player to this game and this world but to the concept of zelda in 3d link explores the peaceful kakiri forest to find the sword and shield then is immediately thrust into the game's first dungeon inside the deku tree the guardian of the forest had been cursed by ganondorf in an attempt to extort the kakiri emeralds so in order to rid it of its parasites link explores the trunk of the forest deity through tunnels and corridors presumably carved into its great branches and eventually down into the depths of its root system compared to the bright happy kakiri forest just outside stepping into the deku tree sets the tone for the entire game it makes you feel isolated forced to turn away from the comfort of childhood and rely only on your courage to succeed throughout the dungeon a slow ambient song plays with low notes sounding like they're echoing around the cavernous interior of the giant tree in my opinion it's one of the most atmospheric dungeons in the game and though the puzzles and enemies are for the most part very simple as you'd expect for a tutorial dungeon there are a few that require the player to really think about how link can influence his new 3d environment like jumping from the top to break through the central spider web its boss gomer is suitably creepy and again highlights this new 3d world by clinging to the ceiling it's a fantastic beginner dungeon and a great tutorial to the game putting it up in a tier my first ever playthrough of ocarina of time back when i was a kid ended at dodongo's cavern walking in seeing the huge skull and hearing that music was enough to send me right back to mario kart it's the second dungeon in the game right after link meets with zelda and sets out to collect the rest of the spiritual stones it's an ancient goron cave built around the skeletons of long dead dodongos and focuses more on combat than puzzles except for a cool central puzzle where link opens the mouth of the giant dodongo skull by bombing its eyes to reach the boss king dadongo while its design is awesome king dodongo is one of the easiest boss fights in any zelda game and is an anticlimactic end to a somewhat forgettable dungeon that's overall somewhere in seat here being swallowed by a big fish would be confusing and gross and that's exactly what inside jabu-jabu's belly is you explore the insides of the zora's guardian deity squirming through fleshy caverns and tunnels fighting off the parasites that have infested him in search of princess ruto who must be carried through various parts of the dungeon and used in a couple of puzzles it's not a terrible dungeon but its design and layout make it confusing to navigate especially for first-time playthroughs its boss baronade can be pretty tough and the fight makes good use of the boomerang but isn't enough to rank this dungeon higher than d-tier miyamoto's discovery of a cave near his house might have inspired the earliest zelda dungeons but none captured a feeling of mystery and discovery quite like ocarina of time's forest temple it's found deep in the lost woods in the secret sacred forest meadow where link goes to meet saria a giant stone ruins slowly being eaten away by the woodland it can't be explored however until link has found the hook shot which allows him to enter the ruins proper and discover the remains of an ancient comfortable manor house haunted by ghosts and infested with the creatures of the forest the dungeon involves exploring the stone halls and hunting down the four post-sisters who have stolen the flames which work the lift to the bottom floor where the forest temple's boss phantom ganon is fought it's a solid mix of puzzle solving and combat and features some pretty cool mechanics like twisting corridors which change which way link explores certain areas i've talked before about just how much i love this dungeon it's atmosphere is incredible it's isolating and eerie perfectly capturing the feeling of exploring mysterious ruins in a forest it's my favorite dungeon in the series so i'll put the forest temple in s tier the fire temple is built into the very peak of death mountain an ancient palace built for unknown reasons long ago now used as a prison where gorons are fed to the lava dragon volvagia it's one of the most atmospheric dungeons in the game and like dodongo's cavern focuses more on combat than puzzle solving its item is the megaton hammer which lets link smash enemies blockades and eventually the boss's skull letting it down though is the somewhat repetitive central mechanic of unlocking gorons from cells which is pretty tedious but it's still strong enough for bt the ever feared water temple is a multi-leveled labyrinth at the bottom of lake hylia it's full of winding passageways rooms with multiple exits and entrances and many locked doors and small keys the dungeon is explored by manipulating the water which blocks off some rooms and opens up others depending on the water level this mechanic is why the water temple is so infamous changing the water completely changes a lot of the dungeon and requires the player to remember the layouts but it's incredibly satisfying when you do get it to work repeatedly opening the menu to equip and unequip the iron boots is incredibly tedious though this was fixed in the 3ds version its boss isn't particularly tough and nor are its enemies though it does have perhaps the most iconic mini boss in the series dark link bt the sheikah tribe are perhaps the most mysterious race in zelda the shadows of the royal family employed to protect the crown at any cost during the civil war shortly before ocarina of time the sheikah were responsible for committing atrocities in the name of the royal family evidenced by the shadow temple the dungeon is an execution and torture chamber deep underground with blade traps cages and guillotines littering its dark halls as you'd expect it's inhabited by the undead gibdos stalfos even dead hand lurk in the shadows its boss bongo bongo is a giant unsettlingly human body hanging upside down with severed hands and a single red eye in place of a head it's one of the most famous zelda dungeons for a reason it's fun to play through and for its incredibly unsettling atmosphere i'll put the shadow temple in a tier the spirit temple is somehow the only dungeon in ocarina of time that makes use of the time travel mechanic unless you count the bottom of the well as a child link extension of the shadow temple when link first arrives he'll find that he can't progress at all he needs to return as child link in order to squeeze through a crawl space and eventually find the silver gauntlets then come back as adult link for the second half nabooru's storyline is directly involved in this we see her captured as child link then come back seven years later as an adult to find her brainwashed in the armor of an iron knuckle it's a relatively difficult dungeon with puzzles involving light and multiple fights against iron knuckles topped off with an awesome battle against one of the game's best bosses twin rover a-tier ganon's castle is a recap at the end of the game at first there are six sections one for each of the sages each with a themed mini dungeon based around the elements then as link ascends the tower he's locked into rooms with various mini boss fights it's a great final challenge that makes use of a huge number of lynx items and of course ends in two of the most iconic boss fights in the series ganondorf and then his demon form ganon however because it's themed after the previous dungeons it does feel like it lacks its own identity somewhat and i can't rank it higher than most of the actual dungeons on the list c2 so that's ocarina of time ranked obviously it had to set the standards for 3d zelda dungeons with some really solidly designed temples with great designs and my favorite dungeon in the series let's move on to the hero of time's next adventure majora's mask majora's mask isn't as dungeon focused as other games featuring only four main dungeons before the game's final challenge the first three all heavily focus on one particular mask transformation starting with the deku mask in woodfall temple it's a cursed ancient stone ruin poisoning the swamp around it being the game's first dungeon it's not difficult nor lengthy but has a great atmosphere and theme music its boss is the masked jungle warrior adolwer and the fight against him is pretty open-ended in the original though he's not much of a challenge link can opt to use just about anything to bring him down in the remake it's very different just like with all of the main dungeon's bosses and odolwa has a giant eye weak spot on his head it's a decent beginner dungeon but isn't one of the best placing it in sea tier for me snow head temple achieved the impossible by being an ice dungeon that isn't completely infuriating it's a tower inside a frozen mountain peak that link climbs mainly as goron link with a decent mix of combats puzzle solving and rolling around as a spiky ball which is always good its boss is in my opinion the most fun in the whole game goat a giant mech that link chases around a race track while it throws lightning and boulders at you a solid dungeon that i'll put in b majora's mask's great bay temple is on a first run through one of the most intimidating dungeons in the series it's the insides of a giant mechanical fish and is similar to ocarina of times water temple in that link needs to open valves to move water around the dungeon which can be confusing and take a lot of time and a lot of backtracking to work out the 3ds version changes some things some positively like how zora link is easier to control but also negatively like how the ice arrows can only be used to freeze specific bits of water its boss georg is like most of the game's bosses drastically different between versions though neither are a particularly fun fight the difficulty does make it one of the more rewarding 3d dungeons when it clicks and there's a lot of cool stuff here like a mini boss battle against wart a 3d version of the argus boss from a link to the past but overall it's not one i look forward to getting through whenever i play through the game so i'll put it in seat here perched on a mountain top overlooking the barren haunted wasteland that is the akana region the stone tower temple is majora's mask's longest and most ambitious dungeon instead of being themed after one specific mask link needs to use all of his different forms to progress through the dungeon the temple's main theme is light which always makes for great puzzles but also heavily uses the elegy of emptiness where link can create statues of his various forms to weigh down switches the temple has a few great mini boss fights a garrow master rewarding link with a light arrows and gomes giving up the big key of course this dungeon literally has a twist link can shoot switches with a light arrow to invert the entire dungeon turning everything upside down this is such a cool mechanic it completely changes the entire temple to the point where the sky itself becomes a hazard that link can fall into its boss is twinmold link enters a mysterious giant desert and battles two colossal flying worms but he can use the giant's mask which allows him to grow to a massive size again there are huge differences between the versions in the original the giant's mask turns the boss into a joke just like the fierce deity's mask against the final boss in the remake however link doesn't obtain the giant's mask until halfway through the fight so he has to fight one of the worms at his regular size until he can power up to take on the second in theory this should be great the giant mask now gives link wrestling moves and he can pick up and throw the stone ruins around him but the mask is nowhere near as powerful and the fight can drag on for far far too long still the stone tower temple is by far my favorite dungeon in majora's mask placing it solidly up in a tier like ganon's castle majora's mask's final challenge is more like a collection of mini dungeons inside the moon however it's optional link can instead skip the whole section and initiate the final fight against majora the actual challenges are started by talking to the four moon children who will each transport link to a mini dungeon based around link's four forms deku link zorolink goron link and well link the mini dungeons are relatively fun and eventually reward link with the fierce deities mask a hilariously overpowered item that allows him to curb stomp the game's final boss but overall it is just a group of mini challenges leading up to the main boss fight it's not really a proper dungeon at all but needs to be included if ganon's castle is so i'll put it in d majora's mask isn't really about the dungeons it's more about its worlds and its characters but even still the few dungeons it does have are all unique and interesting most being showcases for the game's masks next up the wind waker dragon roost cavern is the volcanic shrine to value a rite of passage for rito children who have not yet earned their wings in recent times though this hasn't happened value is enraged and the cavern is too dangerous medley sets off to the top so that she can talk to the sky spirits and link enters in pursuit it's a really good beginner dungeon some interesting puzzles fun combat and a great design especially when link exits to climb the volcano from the outside which gives a good sense of scale the dungeon's mini boss fight involves rescuing medley and after defeating the bokoblins a moblin is air-dropped onto you its boss gomer is a fun battle designed around the grappling hook overall i'd give it a spot in b the forbidden woods is the wind waker's second dungeon making use of the deku leaf and rewarding him with the boomerang its design is fantastic it's an abandoned and overgrown kakiri village infested with the parasitic calais deimos there are a lot of wind themed puzzles here and of course more reigning moblins which is always a plus the boss is relatively fun and makes great use of the boomerang so i'll put the dungeon in b the tower of the gods is an ancient trial for potential heroes with the goddess pearls link calls it from the depths and enters to prove his worth to the gods the bottom floor is great it's a dungeon where you can use the king of red lions something i wish the game had done more with eventually link works his way up through the tower making use of the command melody to take control of statues there's a fantastic mini boss fight with a single dark nerds the first one encountered in the game at this point and a brilliant boss fight with godam arbiter of the gods the dungeon ends with link ringing the bell on its roof calling out for the gods to acknowledge him and calling for me to put the dungeon in a the forsaken fortress is unique in that link visits it twice on his quest the first time link has no items and loses his sword when catapulted there by the pirates with no weapons he must sneak through the fortress hiding in barrels to avoid the guards and deactivating the searchlights he eventually reaches the top and finds his sword defeats the green bakoblin miniboss and enters the room where his sister is imprisoned only to be snatched and thrown away by the helmerock king so by the time that link returns with the master sword in hand it's personal there's a great mini boss fight against phantom ganon rewarding link with a skull hammer then he's off he retraces his steps cutting through anything that stands in his way this includes the helmerock king again the bird swoops down to stop link but by smashing its beak with the skull hammer link defeats his sister's kidnapper while the forsaken fortress isn't quite a main dungeon like the others it does have a proper boss give link a new item and does progress the story and the fact that you visit the first time with no weapons makes the second time round incredibly satisfying beetier the earth temple is a subterranean crypt crawling with undead enemies like stalfos pose floor masters and re-deads it's dark and gloomy and its theme music is weird but incredibly eerie and tense it's similar to the spirit and stone tower temples in that it's focused heavily on light which can be reflected both by medley's harp and the dungeon item the mirror shield light is used to dispel poison fog to fight enemies and solve puzzles where it can be bounced multiple times around the room its boss is jalhala leader of the pose or rather a bunch of pose crammed together into one giant monster it's a pretty fun fight especially if link has the hurricane spin to clear up the individual ghosts it's not the most creative dungeon but it's got a great theme great enemies and great puzzles so it's got to be 80. the wind temple is a strange mix of natural forests and woodlands and industrial fans it's explored alongside makkar the sage of wind who link can control at various points to fly around and plant trees link can latch onto with the dungeon item the hook shot the dungeon has interesting puzzles and some fun enemies like stalfos and amos but it always felt somewhat tedious to me its boss helps make up for this though mulgora a giant worm living in a pit of sand which is a great fight where link hookshots the boss's tongue out of its mouth see tear just like ganon's castle at the end of ocarina of time ganon's tower is explored right at the end of the wind waker and features separate areas based on previous dungeons there are four areas based on dragon roost cavern the forbidden woods the wind temple and the earth temple with each ending with a repeat fight against that dungeon's boss which just like in ocarina of time means that ganon's tower doesn't have much character of its own the dungeon gets more interesting when link begins climbing the actual tower he travels up the carpeted staircase until he encounters phantom ganon for a final showdown then further up to face off against puppet gannon and ganondorf himself it's basically a boss rush leading up to the game's final battles which is fun but as a dungeon i'd have to rank it in d that's wind waker ranked up with more dungeons than majora's mask but significantly less than the next game on the list twilight princess twilight princess's first dungeon is the forest temple a dungeon carved into the trunks of great trees in the farron woods it was the home of the monkeys until the fused shadow's corruption spread poisoning their leader ook and turning him into a feral monster the monkeys must be rescued from cages around the temple eventually allowing link to swing across a broken bridge to claim the dungeon's item the gale boomerang by defeating ook the monkey leader is not done yet though he appears to help link during the boss fight against the true evil in the dungeon dayababa a mutated deku baba changed by the influence of the fused shadow it's a good first dungeon with fantastic design and music and the gimmick of using monkeys to access new areas works really well so i'll put it in beta twilight princess's second dungeon is the mostly abandoned mine of the gorons on death mountain which link must venture through to find the goron elders and piece together the key used to lock up darbus their leader who was corrupted by the fused shadow the patriarch is eventually fought as firus the dungeon's boss it's a relatively straightforward dungeon but there's a fun use of magnets which link can stick to by wearing the iron boots to move around it's a solid dungeon just short and not particularly memorable so i'll put it in sea the lake bed temple is a sacred place to the zora found at the very bottom of lake hylia just like the water and great bay temples the main focus here is moving water between rooms it feels old and claustrophobic and its boss morpheel is one of the most terrifying in the series despite it not being too difficult its central room is a grand rotating staircase which is used to access new areas like hogwarts it's a decent enough dungeon but not enough for anything above seat here after the first three dungeons twilight princess steps it up now that the fused shadow is complete link sets out in search of the twilight mirror beginning with the arbiter's grounds a prison and execution facility found deep in the gerudo desert it's a ruin haunted by the tortured dead like gibdos stalfos and pose four of whom steal the flames from four torches and close off entry into the deeper parts of the ruin very much like ocarina of time's forest temple imprisoned within a dark chamber is the dungeon's mini-boss death sword which could almost be a main boss in its own right and who guards the dungeon's item the spinner admittedly the spinner isn't used as much as it should be in the game but that doesn't stop it being any less cool link can surf his way through the rest of the dungeon until he takes on its boss twilight fossil stallord which is in my opinion one of the best boss fights in the whole series the arbiter's grounds is just a great dungeon it checks every box the design backstory music enemies puzzles and bosses are all incredible putting it up in s-tier right on the heels of the arbiter's grounds twilight princess throws link into yet another incredible dungeon the snow peak ruins the hero search for the shards of the mirror of twilight sends him to the frozen summit of hyrule's tallest peak where the abandoned ruins of a fortified manor house cling to icy cliffs the original inhabitants of the mansion are long gone and the game only gives very vague hints at who they were opulent red carpets cover the floors paintings and coats of arms decorate the walls and mysteriously enough armor and weaponry to arm an entire legion of soldiers can be found crammed into storerooms by the time that link arrives the mansion is occupied by a yeti couple yeto and his wife yeta yeto had found and gifted toyeta the shard of the mirror of twilight and its dark powers have caused the mansion to become infested with monsters link explores the ruins following yeta's unreliable directions towards the key that opens the bedroom where the mirror shard is kept there are a lot of sliding ice puzzles which can be a little annoying but there's a lot of cool stuff here too like destroying frieza's with cannons and a fantastic miniboss encounter with dark hammer an armored dinosaur wielding the powerful ball and chain the mansion's boss is yeta herself who becomes corrupted by the twilight mirror and transforms into the behemoth blizzetta which is one of the game's better boss fights overall snow peak ruins is a fun dungeon with an incredible design and atmosphere there's a mystery to it much like ocarina of time's forest temple the design music and location build a sense of oppressive unsettling calmness it feels like something terrible has happened here but we're never told what it's one of my favorite dungeons in the series well worthy of s tier deep in the sacred grove of farron woods link discovers the master sword resting in its pedestal in the broken ruins of the temple of time by this point the temple is even more derelict than its appearance in breath of the wild but by passing through the doors at the front link can step into the past a time long ago before the temple was eaten away by the forest he travels through the main hall and into the master swords chamber where a staircase made of light takes him to the dungeon proper a strange tower hidden just out of sight perhaps situated in the sacred realm itself the temple of time is a lot like the wind waker's tower of the gods both are ancient stone towers featuring advanced technology both requiring to take control of statues to solve puzzles and both have an incredible miniboss encounter with the game's first dark nut the temple of time is quite simple and very linear link climbs the tower to retrieve the dominion rod then makes his way all the way back down in order to progress to the boss armagoma which is admittedly a pretty fun if easy fight overall i'd place the temple of time somewhere in b thematically the city in the sky is one of the coolest dungeons in the zelda series link fires himself with a cannon into the clouds where he finds the mythical floating city of the occur strange buildings supported by propellers the whole dungeon is weird the music architecture and of course the ocar themselves are incredibly eerie despite how much i love the concept the city in the sky has always been the dungeon i've enjoyed the least in twilight princess there's a lot of very slowly moving around with oka or the double claw shots and tight platforming above bottomless pits and the dungeon feels like it goes on for way longer than it should its boss is admittedly brilliant agar rock is a giant armored dragon that flies around destroying parts of the dungeon as you explore who's then fought using the double claw shots it's definitely better than d-tier so i'll slot it in c alongside the game's second and third dungeons towards the end of twilight princess link finally ventures into the twilight realm itself where the game's eighth dungeon the palace of twilight lies it's a fortress of alien black stone clinging to islands floating in an endless void the place in which the twilight were imprisoned and trapped for centuries it's a really cool dungeon link needs to collect the two souls from each end in order to give light to the master sword throughout the whole dungeon you can feel zant's presence hanging over you phantom zanz must be fought twice link needs to fight giant animated versions of his crown and avoid the absolutely terrifying zant hands that chase him as you'd expect zant is the final boss here midna is finally able to confront the usurper king and together with link end his reign of the twilight realm there's not much to complain about here it's a fun dungeon with an awesome design beat it the final dungeons of the last three games all functioned as collections of mini challenges themed after things link has already accomplished dungeons he's beaten bosses he's slain masks he's mastered but twilight princess's final challenge hyrule castle itself is much larger first link explores the courtyard there's a great final showdown against one of the game's recurring bosses king bulblin before he enters the castle itself inside its abandoned halls there are some small puzzles and multiple fights against dark nuts which is always a good thing the resistance show up to come to link's rescue later on and eventually he finds himself in the castle's tower where just like ocarina of time he makes his way up to ganondorf at the top for the game's incredible final boss sequence twilight princess's hyrule castle isn't quite as big as the game's main dungeons but it's by far the largest final dungeon so far in a 3d game beat it that's all for twilight princess which ties with ocarina of time for the most dungeons in a 3d game with nine next up skyward sword skyview temple is skyward sword's first dungeon and is thematically perhaps the most basic standard dungeon out of the 3d games link leaves the bright vibrant fahren woods and steps down into an ancient ruin tangled in spiderwebs it's exactly what a first dungeon should be the atmosphere is eerie and mysterious it's the remains of some abandoned shrine deep in the forest and link explores the broken stonework between the trees there are puzzles involving water enemies like sculpture and stealth hydra a fun mini boss battle against astalphos and a great item in the beetle its boss is the first of many showdowns against girohim i'd have preferred to see a unique boss themed around the dungeon like a giant forest spider or something but the fight is solid and i'll put skyview temple in bt skyward sword's second dungeon is the earth temple a fiery palace on the slopes of elden volcano there's a big focus on platforming here link jumps across rocks floating in lava or rolls around on the giant stone eyes of a statue eventually earning the bomb bag and taking on scaldera a pretty underwhelming boss the music's good and the design is cool but the earth temple is one of the most forgettable dungeons in the game for me putting it in sea tier one of my favorite mechanics in skyward sword is the time shift stones purple crystals which when hit create a bubble of the lenairu region's technologically advanced distant past around it this is a central mechanic of the lenairu mining facility which link explores both as a dusty ruin and in its prime when robots guarded conveyor belts and machinery designed to refine time-shift stones the dungeon's item is the gust bellows allowing link to blow away piles of sand and spin turbines which is also used to uncover the dungeon's boss thousand-year arachnid moldarak it's the adult version of the little araka enemy that infests the dungeon said to live for a thousand years and never stop growing suggesting that this one survives all the way up until the present day it's a simple but fun boss fight and the dungeon overall ends up somewhere in b after a forest themed in a fire themed dungeon skyward sword sends link into the game's equivalent of a water temple but it's so much more than that the ancient system is my favorite dungeon in the game by far it's found behind the floria waterfall and is a colossal shrine with buddhist themes in iconography most of the puzzles in this section are to do with water like using gases to reach new levels but that's only half of the dungeon the calm peaceful temple is built directly on top of a hellish underworld with pools of poison water giant skulls and chains and cursed undead bokoblins which at one point chase link as he desperately climbs a thread to escape throughout the dungeon link can move the central statue up and down between the floors and eventually right up into the ceiling where the ancient system's boss is fought koloktos one of my absolute favorite bosses in the whole series the dungeon's item is the whip which isn't particularly memorable but has some cool uses in puzzles like one that took me an embarrassingly long time to work out where you steal of a cobbling guard's key through the metal bars it's always a blast to play through and the contrast between the serene top level and the nightmarish caves below is a stroke of genius the ancient system is an easy s-tier time shift stones are great in the mining facility but they're also at play in a better dungeon the sand ship this vessel once sailed the ancient la neru sea captained by skipper tasked with defending nehru's flame however the ship was attacked by robot pirates led by scurvo and link boards to take them on it's a really unique dungeon there's a central time shift stone embedded in the ship's mast which is used to switch the entire dungeon between the distant past and the present there's a fantastic mini boss fight with scurvo along a gangplank rewarding link with the bow who can then move through the ship and eventually rescue the imprisoned crew after reaching the captain's quarters huge tentacles tear through the hull the sandship is attacked by a leviathan from the depths of the ancient sea tentalus i've said before that i just can't take this boss's design seriously which is still true but the fight itself is still pretty fun overall the sandship is one of the most creative 3d zelda dungeons and ends up in 8. the penultimate dungeon in skyward sword is found at the summit of eldon volcano an ancient palace built into the rocks and across lakes of lava i can't help but feel that this is what the earth temple should have been it's relatively difficult and works in many ways like a traditional water dungeon rather than fire link can manipulate the flow of lava instead of water to navigate throughout the dungeon the dungeon is filled with treasure-hunting mogmas one of whom gives link the magma mitts which allow him to dig underground in these cool little top down sections where link can solve puzzles to open doors and even takes on a moldor near the very beginning of the temple you're given a riddle which ends up in a leap of faith right at the end link must jump from a high platform seemingly towards a fiery death unless he jumps towards the sleeping statue where he's saved by a magical platform the fire sanctuary's boss is girohim and again i'd have preferred to see a unique boss that fits the dungeon's theme but gyro hymn fights are always fun and this one's no exception so the fire sanctuary ends up in b-tier link's search for the triforce eventually brings him right back home to skyloft where by placing the stone of trials in the eye socket of a statue he uncovers sky keep a dungeon built into the floating island supporting the statue of the goddess the premise of this dungeon is really cool there are eight different rooms and their placements can be changed by operating a sliding puzzle allowing the player to switch around the dungeon's layout some rooms only have entrances and exits in certain places so link needs to explore the different areas and move them into different places to eventually collect the three triforce pieces allowing for the dungeon to be completed in multiple different ways while this idea is great sky keep again suffers from what many of the 3d zelda's final dungeons suffer from six of the eight rooms here repeat the designs and themes of the game's previous dungeons meaning sky kid misses out on an identity of its own even the mini boss dreadfuse is basically a rematch against the sandship's miniboss which is a shame i'd have liked to see a more unique theme for a temple built to house and defend the triforce rather than a mishmash of previous dungeons so despite the clever sliding puzzle mechanic i'll put skykeep in c skyward swords on the board with a pretty solid group of well-themed dungeons some interesting puzzles and central mechanics and it marks sort of the end of traditional zelda dungeons next up is the zelda convention busting breath of the wild breath of the wild doesn't really have traditional dungeons instead there are the four divine beasts and the shrines over a hundred mini dungeons ranging from a single mini boss fight to motion control puzzles so because there are so many of them and because they're mini dungeons i won't rank any of the shrines on this list though i might do in a separate video later on the divine beasts are somewhat difficult to rank too they all have an identical theme similar puzzles enemies and bosses each dungeon is reached by teaming up with someone from its respective race deactivating some sort of defense mechanism and then explored by activating terminals on the inside until the blight gannon can be awakened from the central control units they're not particularly challenging dungeons nor are they very long and the fact that they're so repetitive definitely means that they can get a bit boring towards the end of the game or on subsequent playthroughs varuta is the first divine beast that the game nudges you towards and it's definitely got the most fleshed out quest surrounding it the actual dungeon has a fun way of controlling the beast by moving its trunk and the endless supply of water which is used to douse flames and spin gears rudani is a very simple dungeon though it has the cool twist of having link explore it in complete darkness at first other than that it's probably the most forgettable of the divine beasts varmados probably the simplest and easiest divine beast and makes a lot of use of the paraglider and tilting the beast to access different areas thematically a dungeon within a mechanical bird flying far above hyrule is awesome and is probably the coolest divine beast dungeon when it comes to visuals vana boris is the toughest divine beast its controls move rings in its barrel-like central body which could be somewhat confusing compared to the mechanisms of the other beasts it functions a bit like the water temple with how link is required to repeatedly change the layouts to open and shut access to different parts of the dungeon there's a lot of puzzles here that focus on electricity and the dungeon's boss thunderblight ganon is by far the most difficult of the blights who attacks fast with high damage while being relatively hard to hit back so the divine beasts really just feel like four parts of the same big dungeon some are better than others but there really aren't enough differences to justify ranking them on entirely different tiers so i'll place them all together in sea tear from the moment the player leaves the shrine of resurrection they can set eyes on hyrule castle where their journey ends where ganon lurks so expectations are high by the time we sneak through the decimated castle town and arrive at the old seat of the royal family similarly to twilight princess breath of the wild's final dungeon is hyrule castle under the control of ganon as dungeons go it's incredibly non-linear there are no small keys or locked doors no items required for progression the player is completely free to explore it in whatever way they want this does mean that it's possible to just skip the entire dungeon with rivali's gale and head straight for ganon but this would be missing one of the best parts of the game hyrule castle is intricately designed there are multiple angles from which to attack it and the dungeon encourages the player to explore its hidden depths there are secret boss fights tidbits of lore like zelda and the king's journals and gate houses that trap link in a tiny room with a lionel it's somewhat of a shame that it is so easy to skip past hyrule castle it's one part of the game i felt could have benefited from being a bit more linear and making the player feel less free still it's a solid enough dungeon to end up in a tier the final dungeon of the champions ballad dlc is a huge divine beast engine deep below the shrine of resurrection on the great plateau it's the longest and most difficult divine beast dungeon it has four sections representing each element with some pretty satisfying puzzles and ends with one of the best boss battles in the entire series a showdown against the ancient sheikah monk maz koshia in a one-on-one jewel let down only by still being relatively short and again reusing the monotonous sheikha theme the final divine beast ends up in b so there it is every 3d zelda dungeon ranked like i said at the beginning this whole list is based on my opinions and my experiences so your take might be completely different let me know what you agree on or bully me for what you disagree on in the comments thanks so much for watching this video it took a huge amount of time to put together so if you enjoy it leave a like or subscribe if you haven't already for more zelda content cheers guys and i'll see you next time [Music] you

Channel: Zeltik

Views: 1,059,431

Keywords: Zelda

Id: sW99Bjv9piU

Length: 43min 45sec (2625 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 13 2022