As previously noted, each Divine Beast quest has a prerequisite phase before the battle to free the beast begins. Now listen to us, Zelder grasshoppers: Save Vah Naboris for last. You’re really, really going to hate this beast’s prerequisite: the Yiga Clan Hideout.
In fact, it’s so bad that we’re not going to make anybody wait until the end of this post, as is our custom, for a drink suggestion. Nope, you’re gonna want your cocktail lined up from the get-go. And in keeping with today’s theme (you’ll see), we recommend a Chocolate Banana Martini.
Ready with your cocktail, Zelders? And awaaaaaay we go, with detailed, step-by-step instructions below. Who says Zelda for Elders doesn’t do walkthroughs – or in this case, cheat-throughs? We are so gonna walk damn-straight through!
Walkthrough
Purchase the Stealth armor set in Kakariko Village and call on the Great Fairies to upgrade it to the max. Next, visit Lurelin Village to collect some Mighty Bananas on the village’s eastern coast. Feel smug about careful, deliberate preparations.
Don the harem set to stride boldly into Gerudo Town, the misandrous enclave in the desert. Find Lady Riju, the town’s leader. She asks you to rescue Barta, one of her soldiers, from the Yiga Clan hideout and oh, while you’re at it, please find and return the tribe’s ancestral Thunder Helm. The helm was stolen by the thieving Yigas, and naturally no one other than Link is capable of bringing it back. To retrieve the stolen headgear, Link need only sneak through the clan’s hideout to find and defeat Master Kohga, the Yiga leader.
Does Link ever say no? Of course not! Agree to help the lady out.
Outside the city walls, protect yourself with heat- or cold-resistant gear, depending on the time of day in the desert. Rent a sandseal and ski across the desert, finding the Yiga Clan hideout easily.[1] This is fun!
Encounter a few Yiga foot soldiers near the hideout’s entrance. Make short work of them, then dispatch some keese at the entrance to the clan’s lair. Go up the stairs to the hideout. This is easy!
Next, switch from temperature-protecting gear into shiny new Stealth armor and, in a belt-and-suspenders move, also consume a high-level stealth potion or meal. You’re going to be oh-so-sneaky; those Yiga won’t ever guess you’re there!
Chat with a morose Barta in her cell. She’ll advise you to be very quiet in the hideout if you’re to recover the Thunder Helm.
Also, she notes that the Yiga really like bananas. This seems incongruous, like Genghis Khan enjoying ice cream, but hey. It’s the story line.
Nod sagely. Assure Barta that you will retrieve the Thunder Helm with no problem. (Be wrong about this.)
Now, confidently begin to sneak through the hideout to find Master Kohga. You’ve done your homework; you’re prepared to creep and crouch through multiple rooms guarded by Yiga Blademasters, occasionally throwing Mighty Bananas in the guards’ path to distract them while you tiptoe by. This is exciting! Shoot, we’ll be done so quickly, we’ll probably try a speedrun to the castle next, and – uh, oh.
Unfortunately, a Blademaster spots you in the very first room; he whistles for reinforcements, and they all attack. You are annihilated within seconds and dumped unceremoniously outside the hideout.
Well, that didn’t go the way we expected, but what does on the first attempt? No matter.
Have another martini. Try again.
Find Barta, check. Be reminded again that the hideout’s denizens like bananas. Oh, right, that must have been what went wrong before. We’ll be sure to throw some bananas to distract them. Start your creeping. Head down the stairs – argh, you can’t see behind that wall, but you think that’s where the Yiga guy was before, and perhaps if you throw a banana –oh, dear, the bananas landed right next to us – WHAM. Find yourself once again kicked to the curb at the entrance.
And, repeat.
This time, you get a little further, making it to an area with lots of patrolling Blademasters that you can’t see, as they walk behind barriers in the middle of room. Oh, joy. But wait! There’s a barrel in this room. Be reminded of an earlier Zelda game in which Link escaped detection by hiding in a barrel. Try it on. It works! No one can see you! Shuffle around the room, stopping whenever a Yiga glances in the direction of you and your barrel.
Remove barrel in order to ascend stairs. And – wham. Spotted again.
Direct murderous glance at your hapless sidekick on the sofa, who hastily consults various online sites for tips and tricks.
Try again, but this time, cleverly decide to SAVE after each room, so that at least some progress is made.
(Discover that one cannot SAVE in the Yiga Clan Hideout. Direct still more murderous glare at sidekick.)
Fail again.
Begin to seriously dislike the Yiga Clan hideout. Realize that the Stealth gear, the potions, all your creeping and your crouching, the stupid bananas that never land where you need them to – none of this matters in the slightest, because you will ALWAYS be caught and obliterated by the Yiga and dumped outside before you can say Jack Robinson, or s—t, or anything else. And you can’t even save what pitiful progress you make.
Attempt several more times, as urged by your sidekick who, say it with you, NEVER DOES ANYTHING BUT SHOUT UNHELPFUL INSTRUCTIONS. Throw down the controller in disgust and vow you will never return; the damned Divine Beast will have to remain unliberated. Have another cocktail. Hate game.
(Days pass, during which you hunt Korok seeds and complete shrines and recover your confidence. Hey, how many walkthroughs include an intermission? We’re unique.)
Be cajoled into attempting the hideout again after promises that this time it will be easier, because we are going to play this game not like teenagers but like the Elders we are. In short, we’re going kill them Yiga sumb–ches with a well-placed Ancient Arrow to the head. It’s true that using an Ancient Arrow means sacrificing the items the Blademasters drop if one defeats them in hand-to-hand combat, but are you ever going to get those goodies going through the hideout the “real” way? Huh. NOT. And besides, do you know what the Yiga mostly drop? Bananas.
(Old-fashioned sound of record rewinding.)
If you are not already hoarding Ancient Arrows in your inventory, purchase a goodly number of them, at least 10, from the Akkala Ancient Tech lab. You won’t need them all, but damned if you’re going to go down in the Yiga hideout yet again for want of a single Ancient Arrow.
Arrive at the hideout. With perhaps more vigor than is necessary, thrash the lowly foot soldiers outside and slash the stupid keese in the foyer. If you’ve got a Lynel bow or the Great Eagle Bow, anything that shoots multiple arrows for the price of one, equip it now. There’s nothing like a little overkill to make you feel better.
With grim determination, defiantly don the Champion’s Tunic (obtained from Impa in Kakariko Village after recovering a memory). Wearing the tunic alerts one to the presence of enemies in the vicinity by displaying health points over the enemy’s head or location. Indeed, the Yiga Blademasters’ health points will show even behind walls, whether you can see the enemy or not; the HP number will appear bouncing around in the air, showing the direction the Yiga is walking and how close he is. And you want to know exactly where these guys are.
What about the Stealth gear, you ask nervously? Shouldn’t you be wearing your Stealth gear, so as to be sneaky and sly?’
HAVE YOU BEEN PAYING ATTENTION TO WHAT WE’RE SAYING HERE?
You’re not a teenager; there’s no way you’re sneaking past these guys. Put on your Champion’s Tunic and be done with it.
Find the whining Barta yet again. Yeah, yeah. We get it. The Yiga like bananas. Well, they’re not going to get any bananas from us today. We got us some Ancient Arrows instead. Let’s see how they like THEM bananas!
With the Champion’s Tunic as your guide, defeat the first Blademaster with an Ancient Arrow. POOF. Aaaaannnd, he’s gone. Mime blowing dust off knuckles. Next?
Continue through the hideout in similar manner. If at first you can’t see an enemy, watch for the Yiga’s hovering health points as a guide to when and where to be prepared to shoot. You’ll already know your way around the place pretty damned well, courtesy of the previous 328 times you visited in the useless Stealth gear.
Defeat the final Blademaster! You never made it this far before! Take that, all you stealthy 12-year-olds! This is how an Elder does it! We have more money and more insurance! (Bonus points if you get the movie reference.)
Jump around in glee, high-five the sidekick, whose helpful research made this victory possible, clink cocktail glasses together.
Suddenly realize that you still have to fight Master Kohga, the Yiga leader. Immediately fear that failing to defeat Kohga will result in having to clear the Yiga Clan hideout once again.
Glare accusingly at sidekick, who lowers eyes and quickly begins searching Internet for answer to that question.
Fortunately, you ignore more conventional walkthroughs’ guidance to use Stasis and instead use arrows and strategic Magnesis to defeat the Master Yiga. Hurrah! The sidekick’s life is spared.
Return to Gerudo Town with the Thunder Helm. Clink martini glasses together one more time for good measure. And that’s how it’s done.
[1] You could also fly from Gerudo Tower or start from Sho Dantu shrine, if you’ve opened it; but as we’re offering perhaps our one and only walkthrough, we’re playing by the book here.