Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Trail of the Master Sword Walkthrough

Trail of the Master Sword is a Main Quest in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (TotK). This walkthrough will guide you through all objectives of the Trail of the Master Sword story mission.

Requirement: Finished Main Quest: Find the Fifth Sage
Reward: Unlocks Memory “The Master Sword’s Power” in Adventure Log
Quest Info: Where even the sages of old could not defeat the Demon King, the darkness-sealing Master Sword wounded him. According to Mineru, Princess Zelda said to speak to the Deku Tree about the Master Sword.

Objectives:

• Speak to Deku Tree
• Defeat Phantom Boss inside Deku Tree
• Speak to Purified Deku Tree

Starting Location: Trail of the Master Sword

This quest automatically triggers after Main Quest: Find the Fifth Sage, in Lookout Landing from Purah. It’s an unmissable story quest.

Speak to Deku Tree

The Deku Tree is found in the center of Great Hyrule Forest to the north of Lookout Landing. Problem is, the Hyrule Forest is shrouded in a thick cloud and cannot be entered from the surface, it will always teleport you back to where you try to enter it. Instead, we must go through from below, through The Depths.

Start by dropping down the red crater in Minshi Woods (Minshi Woods Chasm):

Land at the white lights. There are some little flying guys with propeller arms, one of them will point you in the right direction. From where you landed head north-west, where you see lots of blue Poe flames leading to a Lightroot. Always follow those blue flames. You will see the fog of Hyrule Forest overhead at the ceiling, that’s where you want to go. You can also look at the surface map and then click and put a marker at roughly the middle of Hyrule Forest (but in Depths map).

When you reach an area with a red floor (gloom), use Mineru’s Vow from the key items menu and ride on top of Mineru to not take damage. You will see a Lighroot on a hill straight ahead, past the red floor. Go there. It’s at coordinates 0407, 2132, -0592 (Rikonasaum Lightroot).

In front of this Lighroot you can Ascend through the ceiling to enter Hyrule Forest.

You will come out in front of the Deku Tree. Also unlock Musanokir Shrine here to create a fast travel point.

Neither the characters, nor the Deku Tree will want to talk to you here because they are affected by red gloom. You have to go inside the Deku Tree and drop down the hole where the gloom is. This brings you to the Deku Tree Chasm where an enemy encounter takes place to rid the Deku Tree of the gloom.

Defeat Phantom Ganon Boss inside Deku Tree

After landing in the Deku Tree Chasm, defeat the 4 red arms. You can ride on Mineru and strike them with melee attacks. While riding Mineru you won’t take damage from the gloom on the floor. Call all sages to help.

After the 4 arms are defeated, a Phantom Ganon will spawn. He has more health than the ones you previously encountered. Dismount Mineru and stay in the middle of the arena where there’s no gloom on the floor. Use a shield to block his attacks with (must select a one-handed weapon to use shield), then immediately counter-attack. Rinse and repeat. With a strong shield like Royal Guard’s Shield and a good one-handed weapon like Gloom Sword it won’t take very long.

If you take gloom damage (reduced total health), heal back with meals containing Sundelion (a flower that grows mostly on sky islands at high altitudes). Having a bunch of meals will help a lot here, so if you find this too difficult travel away and do some ingredient gathering and cooking first.

After the fight teleport back up to Musanokir Shrine in front of the Deku Tree.

Speak to Purified Deku Tree

Now that you removed the gloom from the belly of the Deku Tree you can talk to it. From the shrine, go up the tree’s roots. In front of the tree’s face, stand on the tree stump that has a small branch with 3 green leaves, here press to talk to Deku Tree.

After some dialogue and a cutscene the quest will be completed and it starts Main Quest Recovering the Hero’s Sword.

Next Quest: Recovering the Hero’s Sword

This finishes Trail of the Master Sword Main Quest in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.

For all other Quests refer to The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Walkthrough.