Zelda Echoes of Wisdom walkthrough for the story, best region order

The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is a fairly linear game, with the quest marker instructing you where to go next constantly, like a glowing yellow beacon in a fog. That said, there are some split paths in the game where you have to decide which region to tackle first.

The specific choices you make at each fork in the road have little major bearing on the game, as you will eventually visit every location anyway, but for those stumped on what to do first, we have your back.

Below, we give a brief overview of the full main story walkthrough in Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, noting narrative beats you may get tripped up by along the way, as well as the best order to take when you’re prompted with a choice of multiple options.

Over the course of Echoes of Wisdom, you’ll start in the Suthorn Forest. You’ll then tackle the Gerudo Desert and the Jabul Waters (with a choice of which to hit first). You’ll go back to Hyrule Castle before another fork: Faron Wetlands, Eldin Volcano, or Hebra Mountains. Once you complete all three, your journey leads you to the Eternal Forest before culminating in the point of no return, Null’s Body.

That’s the birds-eye view. For a deeper rundown — including details on what these sections entail and what upgrades or unlocks you can expect to get from each — read on. We also offer our advice for which regions to tackle first at the two split paths in Echoes of Wisdom.

The beginning of your journey is brief, but sudden. Once you make it out of the beginning cavern and you report back to Hyrule Castle about link and these void rifts, another rift opens up, and you land yourself in jail. There are a few segments to this opening portion:

After you get that rift closed up, you’ll be able to head to Lueburry’s workshop, where you’ll discuss a gameplan with him and the official you rescued from the Ruins. Tri will point out that they can see a few huge rifts, pointing you in two directions…

After the opening segment, you’ll need to make a choice between helping the Gerudo people in the Gerudo Desert or helping the Zora in Jabul Waters. Don’t fret, as you will need to do both to complete the story, but which one should you do first?

The Gerudo segment of the game unlocks an extremely helpful echo that allows you to quickly travel over gaps and pits horizontally. You’ll also unlock the Bow of Might, allowing you to use a bow and arrow when in Swordfighter form. To complete the Gerudo portion, you’ll need to do the following:

The Zora segment in the Jabul Waters will unlock another very helpful echo that allows you to travel up cliffs vertically with ease (no need for those beds anymore). You’ll also encounter an echo that will allow you to use bombs, so you can grab things behind cracked walls and blow up baddies. To complete the Jabul Waters portion, you’ll need to do the following:

That said, we personally found the bow and arrow more helpful, so doing the Gerudo segment first helped us complete the Zora segment easier. However, it’s up to you as both of the dungeons will give you useful tools that will help you finish the other one.

Once you close up those two giant rifts, you’ll be tasked with heading back to Hyrule Castle. It’s finally time to save the king and sort some stuff out. This part is extremely linear once you get there, as you’ll need to get through a stilled version of Hyrule Castle, which is effectively another dungeon.

After saving the king, Tri will notice three more gigantic rifts open up across the map in three key locations: the Faron Wetlands, Eldin Volcano, and the Hebra Mountains.

Before you head off to these locations, now is a great time to fully explore the map more. Between the Water Block Echo you got from the Zora and the Flying Tile Echo you got from the Gerudo, you have the tools to pretty much wander the whole map. You should take some time to explore and do some side quests. Power yourself up a little bit by finding Pieces of Heart and Might Crystals to upgrade your weapons. Enemies will start hitting a bit harder, so you’ll want to be able to take them on with no issues.

Again, you’ll be at a crossroads, but the order in which you do the dungeons doesn’t really matter. You will get different tools from different dungeons, though.

The Eldin Volcano is expectedly home to the Goron people and fire-based monsters. You will get full access to bombs in this segment of the game (not just bomb-like echoes), which are usable in your Swordfighter form. The Eldin Volcano portion goes as follows:

The Faron Wetlands is home to the Deku Scrubs and electric-based monsters (and their echoes, of course). The dungeon here focuses on spider-like enemies that help you scale up walls both in the 2D-platforming sections and the 3D overworld parts. The Faron Wetlands portion is as follows:

The Hebra Mountains is the home of yeti-like creatures and ice-based monsters. This area did feel notably a bit harder than the others and didn’t offer us much to add to our arsenal of skills (but that’s just our opinion). The Hebra Mountain segment follows this path:

Based on this, we would recommend going to the Eldin Volcano first, as having bombs on hand is just a nice perk to have. From there, you can head to the Faron Wetlands next and then the Hebra Mountains once you’ve powered yourself up a bit.

[Ed. note: We discuss spoilers to the ending portion of The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom below. Make sure you’re actually at this point of the game before scrolling below the comically long image or risk being spoiled.]

After the above part, you’ll be sent back to Hyrule Castle and you’ll be on the last portion of the game. Head to the Eternal Forest, which is the only part of the map you may have not been to. It’s directly north of Hyrule Castle, and though your minimap will be obscured while you’re inside, it’s not as deep of a labyrinth as it is in other Legend of Zelda games.

After solving a short puzzle and watching a few cutscenes, you’ll end up in the Stilled Ancient Ruins, a somewhat linear platforming area, where you’ll just need to make it from the south of the map to the northern portion. Using tools like Water Block and Flying Tile Echoes should make quick work of any problems you have, though there’s nothing wrong with needing to summon a couple beds if need be. By this point of the game, you should be able to summon quite a number of items.

Once you make it north, you’ll be tasked with a short battle against the Null version of Zelda, and then you’ll free Link from his crystal prison.

You now have the option to actually continue on to the final part of the game. Tri will warn you that if you continue, you cannot turn back, so it’s best to get your affairs in order before you go. Backtrack any Pieces of Heart you may want, complete any side quests that you left hanging, and of course, make a bunch of health-restoring smoothies.

Together with Link, you’ll venture through the last dungeon of the game, Null’s Body. The dungeon portion is actually quite short — but the boss fight is lengthy. After that, that’s it. You’ll unlock a few collection perks after beating the game, but that’s really it!

Time to now mop up anything you’ve missed — including remaining echoes, heart pieces, fairy bottles, and incomplete side quests.