The Champions’ Ballad, in the second half of the DLC expansion pack, offers more shrines and new adventures. In many respects, the titular quest reminds us of a condensed version of the main game: One starts in the Shrine of Resurrection and must first activate and solve four shrines on the Great Plateau. After doing so, four pedestals appear on the mapscreen. Each pedestal is surrounded by three pillars, which offer clues to new shrines.
When a given region’s shrines are solved, Link faces a repeat fight with that area’s blight, and when the blight is defeated, the associated Champion’s gift (Mipha’s Grace, Revali’s Gale, et cetera) is enhanced with a shorter recharge period. Finally, after all four blights are trounced, there’s a final Divine Beast “dungeon” and boss fight – albeit not with Ganon.
Upon successful completion of the main quest, the player earns a Divine Beast of Link’s very own. Yes, like Mipha with her elephant and Daruk and his salamander, Link, too, as a champion, can operate a mechanical marvel: the Master Cycle Zero.
Of course, there’s considerable work to be done before Link can tool around on his Divine Motorcycle. Let’s get to it. We’ll start on the Great Plateau with those first four shrines…
Mission and (Lack of) Resources
Remember the first time you woke up in the Shrine of Resurrection? You didn’t have much; Link was in his underwear with no weapons and but three hearts. This time, you’ll be fully clothed and start with a weapon, and it’s a doozy, called the One-Hit Obliterator. As the name implies, this weapon will defeat an enemy in a single strike.
Naturally, the odds can’t be entirely in Link’s favor, right? So let’s take away the use of all other melee weapons. You still have shields – but a fat lot of good those do in most instances, since you don’t have three but instead only one–quarter heart. That’s right: as long as you carry the Obliterator, you won’t have even a full heart. What’s more, you can’t eat your way to a full complement of hearts (we know, we tried). Thus, it’s a given that it will take only one hit from an enemy – or a bee sting or a stubbed toe – to obliterate Link, too.
The first goal is to activate the four shrines, which are, naturally, surrounded by enemy encampments. Fortunately, Link retains the use of bows and arrows, and that brings us to –
Zelder Tip #1: Use a bow whenever possible to strike an enemy from a distance rather than engage in hand-to-hand combat.
Zelder Tip #2: Save the game frequently, so that if you do get obliterated, you can try again from whatever place of advancement you’ve achieved.
Zelder Tip #3: Although you can’t eat your way to more hearts, you can consume meals to get a stealth effect, and you can also wear stealth armor. The armor won’t protect against an attack, but it will enable sneaking around while using your bow and, more judiciously, the One-Hit Obliterator.
Zelder Tip #4 (albeit personally unverified): According to others, wearing Majora’s Mask provides another advantage in that enemies will not recognize Link as a threat, enabling their defeat at a closer range before they realize what’s happening.
When all enemies surrounding a shrine are vanquished, enter and begin a new trial. You still have but one-quarter heart, and you can’t simply drop the Obliterator to replenish your health. It’s with you for the duration, for good and (mostly) ill.
Yowaka Ita Shrine
Although Link doesn’t have the use of melee weapons other than the Obliterator, he does retain the always-useful runes. In Yowaka Ita shrine, you’ll use Magnesis to move a large and eventually a small orb into position to open the gate to the monk. There are some treasure chests in this shrine, but having a considerable amount of everything in inventory, we mostly (okay, ENTIRELY) ignored the chests, much to Demelza’s chagrin.
Ruvo Korbah Shrine
Ruvo Korbah features Guardian Scouts and a Guardian Scout IV. The Champion’s Tunic was helpful here; although it didn’t protect Link as such (See: ONE-QUARTER HEART, ARE THEY KIDDING?), the hovering health points it reveals alerted us to the presence of enemies. Think of it as enabling one to see around a corner. Link’s shields are also available, although personally we’ve always preferred to shoot first, ask questions and raise shields later. Cryonis is in play with this shrine; Link will need to raise blocks of ice. Oh! That comment about skipping treasure chests? There’s a notable exception in the Ruvo Korbah shrine: one chest contains a Giant Ancient Core. The regular reader knows that Demelza will not allow a Giant Ancient Core to go unclaimed, no matter how focused Itzal’s Eye is on the Prize.
Etsu Korima Shrine
If it’s not enough to be reduced to a quarter-heart, let’s add to that a darkened shrine where danger lurks in the shadows. And for additional fun, how about laser beams, spikes, and pillars of flame? Yep, all this and more is yours for the taking in the Etsu Korima Shrine, winding up with a big finish of three Guardian Scouts. Frankly, we are amazed this shrine didn’t give us more trouble than it did. Perhaps it’s because the Nintendo gods were saving up for . . .
Rohtah Chigah Shrine
We once wrote about the Worst of the Wild: worst quest, worst Korok seed, worst Divine Beast task. That list is hereby preempted by the WORST OF EVERYTHING: the Rohta Chigah shrine. We loathed this shrine with every fiber of our beings.
In Rohta Chigah, there are four sections – let’s call them rooms – in which one can, and most assuredly will, die. And unlike certain shrines in which dying does not mean a complete restart, in this case, it does. What’s more, there are no cheats, as with the Yiga Clan Hideout or Eventide Island. There is only suffering.
Spoiler alert: Eventually we solved all four plateau shrines, causing the One-hit Obliterator to split into four parts and form the aforementioned pedestals that begin the individual Champions’ Songs. But that’s for later. First we need to wallow in the misery that is the Rohta Chigah shrine. Stay tuned.