Every Zelda Water Dungeon Ranked By Difficulty

“The Legend of Zelda: Tri Force Heroes” (2015)

In “Tri Force Heroes,” each section is divided into levels. The final part of each section, the dungeon, is a fair bit shorter and easier when compared to other games. Also, since this game’s Water Temple is only the second dungeon, it’s by far the easiest on our list. Most of what you’ll be doing is stacking Links on top of each other to hit switches that change the water level. But one of them also uses the Water Rod to create geysers that act as platforms so the group can progress. It can be a little tedious, especially when playing solo, but it really isn’t all that challenging. Neither is the boss, Arrghus, who surrounds itself with eyeballs that can be pulled off with the Gripshot and easily dealt with.

“The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom” (2023)

Some players were disappointed by the Water Temple in “Tears of the Kingdom,” and we can see why. Its underwhelming design aside, it’s also the shortest and easiest. It’s essentially only four puzzles connected by sky islands, two of which involve using Ultrahand to move different sized orbs to the right location. We love any island that uses the low gravity effect, but that also does make solving its puzzles, and dealing with its enemies, easier as well. Only one of its puzzles, involving a switch Link must hit in the middle of a quick-spinning chamber, might give you pause. Before you know it, it’ll be time for the boss, Mucktorok. It’s certainly trickier than other bosses on our list, but not challenging enough to bump this Water Temple any higher.

“The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening” (1993)

The first half of Angler’s Tunnel mostly takes place on solid ground, since Link can’t swim until getting the dungeon’s item, the Flippers. But that actually makes figuring out what to do and where to go fairly easy: there are only so many options to choose from. It’s pretty standard dungeon stuff, although some rooms of enemies can be a bit irritating. However, when you do get the Flippers, you’ll have to go backwards, taking paths you couldn’t before. That’s when the difficulty goes up a notch, but still not to a level to truly overwhelm you. Plus, the dungeon’s boss, the Angler Fish, is embarrassingly easy to kill.

“The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom” (2024)

Most of Jabul Ruins centers around a central room’s geyser. In doors on either side, Zelda must solve puzzles and survive combat encounters to reach a switch, each of which causes the geyser to rise towards the boss. You can actually skip a lot of this, depending on which Echoes you’ve unlocked, since many of them can be used to move upward without the need of the geyser. Even still, most of what’s in these rooms should be easy to manage. A few of the underwater fights can be annoying at first, but the Chompfin echo can pretty much deal with anything the dungeon throws at you. The puzzles aren’t bad, they just aren’t hard to figure out either. And once again, a water dungeon ends with an easy boss, Vocavor, who doesn’t have a lot of attacks and whose weak point can easily be swarmed with the right Echoes.

“The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword” (2011)

Although it’s lower on the list, the Ancient Cistern is one of the best dungeons across the whole series. But we’re focusing on difficulty today. With the newly acquired Water Dragon’s Scale, swimming through the dungeon’s pools is a breeze thanks to some of the smoother underwater navigation in the franchise. You’ll also use its item, the Whip, to activate geysers, flip over giant lily pads, and open up new paths to swim through and reach new areas. Part of what makes it so enjoyable is that it doesn’t overdo it on the water elements. That and its supreme design, with a pristine, golden aesthetic on top and a creepy, zombie-filled cavern underneath. However, its enemies, like the well-balanced, endlessly fun boss, Koloktos, will give you more trouble than its puzzles, layout, or traversal.

“The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” (2017)

Of the four Divine Beasts in “Breath of the Wild,” Vah Ruta is definitely the easiest. Like the others, Link must find and activate five terminals to reach the boss. While two are done with his Sheikah Slate abilities, the others require changing the position of Vah Ruta’s trunk, which is constantly spraying water. Not only do these require a little outside of the box thinking, but also a decent amount of trial and error, since you won’t know if you’ve selected the right position until after the trunk has moved. These puzzles might stump you for a moment, but they’re still manageable without causing too much frustration. Also similar to other Divine Beasts, there aren’t many enemies to be found. Waterblight Ganon can be a bit of a nuisance in its second phase, though, since most of the floor becomes water.

“The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds” (2013)

Here’s where we start to see the confusion water dungeons can truly cause. While the Swamp Palace is by no means the most difficult dungeon in “A Link Between Worlds,” it does have some infamous staples, like changing water levels and currents. Much of the gameplay revolves around the Hookshot, which Link uses to either pull himself across pools or activate switches to flood rooms with water. Because of the dungeon’s layers and directional currents that he rides to different places, it’s possible to go the wrong direction and get turned around. It’s not an unforgiving level of difficulty, but there are many moving parts to take into account. Arrghus acts as the boss here as well, but the small arena makes this fight a bit harder than its appearance in “Tri Force Heroes.”

“The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past” (1992)

It may sound like a cop out to say the Swamp Palace of “A Link to the Past” is harder than its successor because it’s in an older game. But it’s still true. The first water dungeon in the series doesn’t feature as heavy a focus on water-centric traversal as later ones would. Many of its puzzles revolve around activating switches to fill pits with water that allows Link to swim to new areas. The challenge lies with all the enemies and traps that lie in between. It can be frustrating when enemies swarm you, especially while swimming when you can't defend yourself. There’s also the challenge of knowing which direction you’re meant to go in, something that’s a bit more obscure in the older games. Arrghus makes its first appearance as this dungeon’s boss, though it thankfully isn’t much harder than in other games.

“The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess” (2006)

Taking a page out of “Ocarina of Time’s” book is the Lakebed Temple from “Twilight Princess.” Like the Water Temple in that game, this temple features a central room with many offshoots. In this room is a staircase, which must be turned to reach new areas. Link has to track down specific rooms to cause water currents to flow. But they have different effects in different rooms, adding more spinning plates for you to balance, so to speak. As you can probably tell, that makes it easy to get turned around and have to backtrack. However, while the dungeon’s layout is intimidating, traversal is at least never a problem here, since Link can freely move about underwater, and several puzzles make good use of the Clawshot. The boss, Morpheel, is also one of the easiest in the game.

“The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time” (1998)

And so, we’ve come to the dungeon whose placement everyone was likely most curious about. The Water Temple in “Ocarina of Time” has a reputation for being utterly confusing, and the hardest in the game. The layout and the need to change between water levels caused many players to get lost here. And if you missed something, you had to backtrack to specific spots to change the water level back. This was amplified by every path leading away from the central room looking exactly the same, and having to pause every time you needed to equip or unequip the iron boots so that Link would sink or float. It also didn’t help that underwater movement was much slower, or that you could really only use the Hookshot to deal with enemies. In hindsight, a big part of the challenge came from frustrating mechanics, and the dungeon was made much more manageable in the 3DS remake. Morpha continues the trend of easy water dungeon bosses, and is far less interesting than the mini-boss, Dark Link.

“The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages” (2001)

“Oracle of Ages” is one of the harder “Zelda” games, so you can bet this water dungeon is going to be a pain. The biggest source of frustration is that Link must travel back and forth between two points in time to progress through it. The problem is that you don’t do it in the dungeon: you have to step outside in order to do so. Naturally, having to exit makes it harder when trying to keep track of what you’re doing and where you’re going. There are also tough enemies like Wizzrobes and Bubbles swarming about. And swimming plays a big part in traversal, especially once you get the dungeon’s item, the Mermaid Suit. The boss, Octogon, is another one that isn’t too bad, though does require shooting it underwater to deal damage.

“The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask” (2000)

Zora Link has incredible movement mechanics, gliding along at great speeds and leaping through the air like a dolphin. That being said, the Great Bay Temple from “Majora’s Mask” is still a baffling puzzle to overcome. It combines two of the most frustrating elements of water dungeons: a confusing layout and the need to change the flow of water. There are multiple tunnels leading to and from its main room. While underwater, it’s too hard to tell which tunnels you’ve already gone down until it’s too late, forcing you to go through rooms you’ve already been in. Oh, and changing the dungeon’s water flow opens up certain paths from this room while closing others. So if you missed something before changing the flow, that just means more backtracking to fix it. All this confusion on top of the game’s three-day time limit, which just adds to your stress. Gyorg is a fine enough boss fight, but the dungeon overall is easily the worst in the game.

“The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages” (2001)

Unfortunately for everyone, “Oracle of Ages” has two water dungeons. And, annoyingly enough, they’re encountered back-to-back. After the Mermaid’s Cave, you have to deal with Jabu-Jabu’s Belly. Since you just got the Mermaid Suit, there’s a lot more swimming around here than in the previous dungeon, the controls of which are maddening. From the start, it’s confusing what you’re meant to do. This is increased tenfold by a single room, which houses three switches that change the water levels. You’ll get very comfortable seeing this room, as you’ll have to backtrack to it over and over again while trying to figure out where to go next. Although not as popular as “Ocarina of Time,” those who have played “Oracle of Ages” recognize this as one of the toughest dungeons in the series, and by no means in a fun or rewarding way. It’s a demanding, tedious hassle. And wouldn’t you know it? This time you get an actual hard boss fight in Plasmarine, which is fought underwater and electrocutes you just to make you angrier.

What water dungeon makes you dread entering it? Share your thoughts in the comments, and if you haven’t already, be sure to subscribe for more great gaming videos every day!