The Zonaite Armor in Tears of the Kingdom is pretty hard to get. We'll help you with that!
Collecting armor sets in Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom alone can fill hours of the game. Whether that's through quests like Misko's Treasure or just stumbling across them while exploring one of the many caves in TotK.
Some of these armors are pretty good and can be gathered early on in the game. That's also the case for the Zonaite Armor. Although it's quite challenging and easier to get later in the game, you probably should collect it as early as you can.
How To Get The Zonaite Armor in TotK
The Zonaite Armor consists of the Zonaite Helm, Zonaite Waistguard and the Zonaite Shin Guards. They all improve your energy capacity, so you can use your devices longer. That's the reason why it's best to get them early on, especially if you haven't upgraded your batteries yet.
Gathering the pieces is possible in any order, but starting with the Shin Guards is recommended since they're the easiest to reach.
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Zonaite Shin Guard
You'll need to visit the Sky Mine to get the leg piece, and for that you'll need the Ulri Mountain Skyview Tower, located in Akkala. Don't get confused as Akkala has two Sky Mines, with the Sokkala Sky Mine being closest to Ulri Mountain Skyview Tower, but you need the one that's just called "Sky Mine". This one is located a little bit further to the east, just above the Rist Peninsula.
So you could either use your Zonai devices and build a balloon or something like that and just go straight up from the Rist Peninsula, or you go the longer way. For that, shoot yourself into the air from Ulri Mountain Skyview Tower and land on the Sokkala Sky Archipelago.
If you want to, destroy the Flux Construct on it or just ignore it. You need the smaller part of the island anyway to continue onward.
Here you'll find a fan platform with some batteries attached to it. If you only have one energy cell, just attach all batteries around it and go with the four fans already attached.
Arriving at the lowest level of the Sky Mine, make sure to activate the Zonai Ring, to get the "launch pads" pushing. Follow these ramps and let them shoot you to the highest level, where you'll notice one of these giant floating spheres that kinda look like the Death Star.
Similar to the Death Star, you need to be precise and hit the one entrance to get inside. But before you launch yourself into the sphere, adjust the angle of the launch pad and use Ultrahand to put one of the stone blocks on it. You'll need at least one of those inside the sphere.
If your aiming is superb, the sphere will start spinning. If not, you'll have to get yourself up there and position the stone block on the plate in the middle. Use ascend to get on top of the sphere and glide down again. You'll need good timing, but if you watch the sphere carefully, you can use your paraglider to smoothly enter the lower half of the sphere. It's no problem if your aiming is as bad as mine, you can still do some climbing to enter.
Inside, you'll find a chest with the Zonaite Shin Guard, which provide +4 defense and reduces the energy Zonai devices consume. And this will come in very handy for the next parts of the armor.
Zonaite Waistguard
- You'll need a hydrant device
- You should wear the Zonaite Shin Guards to improve your battery capacity
For the Zonaite Waistguard you need to reach the Zonai Forge Island, but make sure your stamina is boosted up to two wheels, or you have enough potions with you.
You'll need to travel to the West Necluda Sky Archipelago first. You could either start from the Sahasra Slope Skyview Tower or the Popla Foothills Skyview Tower. I personally think it's easiest if you travel to the Gutanbac Shrine and glide down from there – if you for some reason already unlocked the Ukoojisi Shrine, just travel there.
If you don't have a hydrant device on you, check out the Zonai Device Dispenser and put some Zonai charges into it to get one.
At this part of the island you will find a floating platform with two rockets on it and several spare rockets next to it. Get the spare rockets on the platform, but don't attach them yet! For me, it worked best to attach them to one another, to keep them from falling off the platform. The Zonai Forge Island is so high, you'll need every single rocket to get there. You should probably save at this point, in case something goes wrong.
Get the one attached rocket started and put the next one in place as soon as the platform stops moving up. Proceed until there's only one rocket left. Put the last rocket on your platform to move towards the island and don't get startled – as you get closer, the platform will eventually start to blink and vanish. You should be high enough to just hop off and glide to the island and use Ascend and your climbing skills to get here:
Again you have to activate the Zonai Ring to turn the fans inside the "chimneys" on and use your Paraglider to get up to the top. You need to get there, just to get down again. If you'd like, you can use Ascend to check out the platform above and collect the few items and the hidden Korok on top of the big tree in the center. You'll need to dive down the center of the island, against the resistance of the fan. And through the lasers.
The worst thing that happens if you should cross one of the laser beams is the gate at the bottom will close, and you'd have to wait for it to open again. You also probably need to hold the dive button, since the fan provides so much resistance that you'll not really move down. At the bottom, you can activate the Yansamin Shrine which will give you a taste of the zones with lower gravity you'll have to visit for the helmet.
Next to the Yansamin Shrine there's a little lava lake, and now you'll need your hydrant device. Use it to forge some platforms until you can get directly to the engraved wall and then use Ascend to enter the room with the chest containing the Zonaite Waistguard, which again gives you +4 defense and again reduces your energy consumption.
Zonaite Helm
- You'll need at least 2 spicy sautéed pepper dishes, made out of 5 peppers each
- If you don't have at least 2 stamina wheels, you'll need energy elixirs
- 3 rockets, 1 fan and 1 control stick
- The Zora Armor Chestpiece
You need to get to Lightcast Island, way up in the sky, south of Rito Village. Getting there is a real pain in the *** if you don't happen to have several energy cells, batteries, Zonai charges and really good Autobuild schematics.
If you do have them, you'll easily find your way to Lightcast Island. For example you could launch yourself into the air at Lindor's Beow Skyview Tower, glide to Courage Island and build some kind of flying device and head straight to Lightcast Island.
If you can't do that, there is an alternative route. Start from Rospro Pass Skyview Tower and head towards the small cluster of islands, the start point is marked on the map above. There, you'll find some constructs to defeat and, more important, a floating platform.
Best save your game and eat a meal that gives you cold-resistance. You should wear your Zonaite Armor pieces to improve your energy efficiency. Hop onto the floating platform and activate the balloon. You need to get as high up as possible until the balloon dissolves.
If you're equipped with enough Zonai charges or have at least one full energy cell and two portions of a second one (this is what I had, and it worked) you can already attach a fan to the platform and try to not only go up but also head as close towards the waterfall as you can get. It took me nearly three discharges to get high enough.
As you get closer to the waterfall, the platform will eventually dissolve. Equip the Zora Armor Chestpiece and glide towards the waterfall.
With two Stamina Wheels you'll probably be fine, if you've got less stamina be sure to drink your elixirs! Once you made it to North Tabantha Sky Archipelago, make sure to save your game. You'll find a mine cart track leading up to another island and some devices scattered around. Put the rockets into the mine cart (don't attach them) and use a fan to get to the next island.
Here are more devices to be found, including two wings. Attach three fans to the wing as well as all the rockets you have or use Autobuild to create a plane. You could use the rockets on the second mine cart to reach the other island to gather a Sage's Will, but that's another story. Best save again as soon as you're here and place the plane near the end of the slope and angle the wing upwards to Lightcast Island.
With one battery, two charges for the second one and a few Zonai charges you'll be able to reach a point at Lightcast Island from where on you can use Ascend and climb up your way. If not, aim for the island south of it, directly above the Thabantha Sky Archipelago lettering on the map above. There you'll find another floating platform and several batteries, so you can repeat the procedure from the Akkala Sky Mine and head towards Lightcast Island from there.
Save as soon as you arrive at Lightcast Island! There's no fast travel point (as long as you don't use the Travel Medallion) for you to get back if you should fall down. Just like the Yansamin Shrine, Lightcast Island is a place of low gravity, so be careful to not jump too far. Again, you need to activate the Zonai Ring and then follow the light beam inside the cave.
Inside it, you'll need to adjust the mirrors, leading the light beam through the cave. Be attentive, and you'll notice the weak shimmering of the mirrors in the dark or just use some Brightbloom Seeds to light up the cave, but you'll need to adjust the mirrors anyway as you'll need the light beam at the end. The last mirror will cast the beam downwards, that's the point where you want to go.
Don't jump right down, as there's a construct waiting in the dark. I recommend shooting down a Brightbloom Seed and then taking out the construct from above. You can just glide down to the chest and collect the final piece of the Zonaite Armor! After that, you can use the mirror shield the construct had to point the light beam at the orange hexagon, which will turn green, and the chamber will ascend from the grounds, making it easier to leave.
The Helm again has a +4 defense and also an Energy Up effect. So the Zonaite Armor Set offers +12 defense! That's pretty strong for non-upgraded armor.
Zonaite Armor Upgrade
The Zonaite Armor is pretty strong even without buffs and upgrades and get's even stronger if you visit a Great Fairy Fountain and bring plenty of construct materials.
| Stars | Materials | Rupees |
|---|---|---|
| 1-Star (+7 defense) | 5 Soldier Construc horns | 10 rupees |
| 2-Star (+12 defense) |
| 50 rupees |
| 3-Star (+18 defense) |
| 200 rupees |
| 4-Star (+28 defense) |
| 500 rupees |
So you'll need a total of 15 of each type of Soldier Construct horn, 15 of each Captain Construct horn I-III, 15 zonaite and 45 large zonaite and on top 2,280 rupees.
If you've managed to collect all pieces of the Zonaite Armor, it shouldn't be that hard to beat a Gleeok, should it?
