Before you can free the Divine Beast Vah Medoh, you must first prime the pump – or in this case, the bellows. Here we discuss the necessary preparations to board the flying beast, which resembles a mechanical eagle (or perhaps a chicken) circling the skies over northwestern Hyrule.
As with the other divine beasts, this journey begins after speaking with a village elder. If you’ve not yet visited the home to the colorful, birdlike Rito, you may be coming overland from Ridgeland Tower and traveling west to the Rito Stable. Alternatively, if you’ve opened Tabantha Tower, you can paraglide north and east from there to get on the main road toward the stable, where you’ll cross a bridge to the west that spans a deep gorge.
Rito Village
Our destination, Rito Village, is a vertical settlement – dizzingly and confusingly vertical. Wind your way up to near the top, where you’ll see the Akh Va’quot shrine. Activate it as a fast-travel point; then – unless you want to retrieve the shrine’s orb that very moment – continue to the top of the village, where the local elder, Kaneli, is waiting to unload on Link about the terrors of the flying beast Vah Medoh. Kaneli mentions that Teba went to confront the beast, but Teba is now missing; would Link please have a look at the situation?
Teba’s purple-feathered, pink-haired wife, Saki, advises Link to seek out Teba at the Flying Range, north of Rito Village. She’ll point out Revali’s Landing, just below where they’re chatting, as the place to begin. Thereafter, a cutscene will reveal another of Link’s missing memories, this one of the valiant but now deceased Rito hero, Revali. (Meaning no disrespect to Revali, but he is more than a little sarcastic and disparaging of Link in this memory. Where’s sweet Mipha when you need her?)
Zelder Tip #1: It’s very cold on the road to the range and also in the skies. You could don the Warm Doublet and prepare some cold-resistant meals or elixirs, but why risk hypothermia and frostbite? Buy yourself the Snowquill armor set at the Brazen Beak shop in Rito. Shoot, the Snowquill tunic alone offers better defense than the Warm Doublet. All three pieces, when upgraded twice and worn together, make Link impervious to freezing. If you intend to explore the Hebra region, the Snowquill set is a must and a bargain at 2150 rupees!
Zelder Tip #2: We further recommend a relaxing stay at the Swallow’s Roost, the Rito Village inn, before seeking out Teba. For just 80 rupees, Link can sleep in a special down bed. He’ll awake refreshed with three extra hearts and a temporary stamina wheel, ready to make the trek to the Flight Range.
Teba and the Flight Range
Leap off from Revali’s Landing and, after a pivot in the appropriate direction (probably left), begin your paraglide. Stop midway on a stone tower to replenish your stamina, then continue onward. Then start walking.
Your journey will take you near the Sha Worvo shrine, which offers a second warp point for the area.
Before long, you’ll find the missing Rito warrior at the Flight Range, bemoaning his failures with Vah Medoh. Teba, who rivals Revali for rudeness and arrogance, doesn’t have much faith in Link’s aerial archery abilities, but he’s willing to give our hero a shot.
You’ll need to hit a number of aerial targets within a specific amount of time. The time limit is generous so the task is easy enough; but some extra stamina wheels wouldn’t hurt here (and in the battle to come).
Once you’ve proven yourself, Teba agrees to help you get aboard the Divine Beast. He also gives you a Falcon Bow and 20 bomb arrows, a clue of stressful things to come.
Fighting cannons with cannon (aka bomb) fire
Vah Medoh is protected by four cannons. Teba will give Link a ride on his back toward the flying divine one. He’ll warn that Vah Medoh is encased in a protective pink shield, which you can’t penetrate with arrows; what’s more, it will do Link damage if you get too close.
At an appropriate moment, hop off Teba, and deploy your paraglider to slow time and get a shot at the cannons. If you ponied up for a down bed at the Swallow’s Roost, the extra stamina wheel will prove useful to keeping Link aloft while he takes aim.
Hit a cannon twice with a bomb arrow to take it out of commission. Theoretically, then, it takes only eight bomb arrows to gain access to the flying beast.
Abashed Zelder Tip #3: A cannon is destroyed when it’s smoking and no longer shooting laser beams at you. We know this because we wasted a few arrows on an already dead cannon. But it was RIGHT THERE, you see, begging to be shot….
(Here Demelza would like to note how expensive bomb arrows are, and Link’s budget is tight, and thus it would be preferable if Itzal were not to waste any arrows, so that one could preserve the remaining unused bomb arrows that Teba provides. Regrettably, however, Itzal not only failed to bank any bomb arrows, he went through some of our existing inventory to boot.)
Really Abashed Zelder Tip #4: When Teba warns you to steer clear of that pink stuff surrounding Vah Medoh, he’s not kidding, as our video to the right memorializes…
Realistic Zelder Tip #5: If you can afford them, buy more bomb arrows before beginning. Twenty is sufficient if you’re a good shot who doesn’t rattle easily while trying to watch your stamina, avoid laser beams, et cetera. If that doesn’t describe you, a few more arrows might be needed. One could also create a save point just before the battle and return to that point if the bomb arrows run out.
Indignant Itzal offers Indignant Zelder Tip #6: Unless you get quite close to the cannons, you’ll waste your arrows. (Here Demelza would like to point out that many bomb arrows were wasted before Itzal arrived at this tip.) (And here Itzal might add that yelling “You’re not doing very well” isn’t so much advice as snarkiness.)
Oh! Lest we forget. Does Vah Medoh hover patiently while you take out his cannons? Why, no, he does not. You’ll know when the beast has you in his laser beam sights: nice, menacing sound effects. To avoid a hit, use your paraglider to rise up, or put it away to drop down.
Teba the rude redeemed himself somewhat by occasionally drawing the Divine Beast’s fire away from Link. Regrettably, his efforts result in an injury, so he flies away with a cheery, “Good luck, it’s all on you, Link.” It’s a theme we’ve noticed….
Speaking of cannons…
With all four cannons defused, Link is free to board the beast and interact with the first terminal, so that Vah Medoh can be boarded and deboarded with impunity. Which brings us to our recommended cocktail for today’s adventure: the French 75. This classic cocktail owes its name to the French 75mm field gun, a cannon which reportedly packed a punch similar to those of Vah Medoh’s.