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| The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds owned by Nintendo. Images used for educational purposes only. |
- Make your way to Lorule Castle and activate the weather vane out front, if you haven't already. Check the right side of the front gate for a Maiamai, as well as a tree to the east, near a screen transition, where another Maiamai hides.
- Approach the gate and watch the cut scene. Thanks, Hilda! In we go!
Lorule Castle 1F
- Make your way north through the first room. Oooo, fancy new guards to beat up.
- In the northern room is a guard with a flaming spiked ball and chain. Huh. Stun him, then back him into a corner and wail away. Retreat if he recovers, stun again, and repeat until he's dead. This will open the northern door.
Lorule Castle 2F
- Battle your way south, up the stairs. Take your first right into a small room with a guard. Check the chest in here for 20 rupees. If you go south you'll see a chasm; puzzle your way across its invisible path to find 100 rupees.
- Merge with the wall on the west side of the main chamber and go north to find a Monster Horn in a chest.
- Continue south in the main hallway to the stairs.
Lorule Castle 3F
- Push the two gargoyles in the north down onto the pit below. Drop down with them to find a chest containing a Small Key.
- Tromp back up the stairs. Hit the orb switch by the gargoyle statues to activate a warp point leading back to the entrance.
- Head northeast and hit the switch in front of the room you find. Go through. In here, in the north, you'll find platforms that appear and disappear into the lava. Make your way east until you find an iron ball you can't get past. Go north and push the gargoyle out of the way of another iron ball, then run south, creating platforms for the moving ball to follow. It will push the stationary ball out of the way and allow you to continue.
- In the south is a doorway. Go through and floor tiles will try to assault you. Put up your shield facing the left wall and walk south. You'll raise platforms to block the eastern shots. Wait them out and stairs will appear to your right.
- Head north in the large room. At the midpoint of the appearing-and-disappearing platforms you'll find another iron ball to remove. Continue north to find a source of balls, then run north, triggering platforms for them to cross. Don't bother trying to dodge around the columns on the way, just merge with them and continue south. This will allow the platforms to continue popping up. Take the path that's been unblocked north and check the chest beside the passage that's dropping the balls to find a Small Key.
- Go south a short ways, then west. Unlock the door in the northwest corner and go down the stairs.
- Waiting in this room is a large, purple jellyfish, floating over lava and moving platforms. Only hit it with the sword if you're confident you'll hit a wall on the rebound. Otherwise, use a ranged weapon to strike it, and its eventual spawn, from afar. Beating it will unlock a teleporter pad returning you to 3F, as well as lighting up a curious rune on the big door to the north. Hmmmm.
- Go through the northwest door in this room next. Pull out your Bombs and make your way north. A short ways to the north, past some dangers, is a locked door. Go through and down the stairs.
- At the bottom is a battle with Moldorm Redux. There are no pits, but the walls will periodically open and close. Still, at your level, it's a relatively easy fight. Step on the pad to return to 3F, then reenter the maze.
- This area's fairly self-explanatory. The only thing you really need to know is that you must use Bombs. If you get stuck, the solution is to throw a Bomb at a switch. This includes throwing a Bomb at the Bomb Flower so you can gain access to other Bomb Flowers, usable by merging with a nearby wall and crawling over. Drag a Bomb Flower north, hitting orb switches and killing enemies as you go, and use it on the giant rock in the north. Behind it is a Small Key. (You can also get a 20 rupee chest in this area rather easily, but it seems so paltry at this point in the game.)
- Leave this room once you have the Key and use it on the locked door in the previous room.
Lorule Castle 4F
- East of where you come out is a chest containing the dungeon's Compass.
- Backtrack and go through the door in the west. Pull out your Lamp in advance.
- In this next area, similar to Dark Palace, you're facing invisible platforms that disappear in the light. To advance you have to light the area via braziers and walk across the platforms more or less blindly, as barriers come out when the lights are out. Memorize the path as best you can and inch along until you make it to a chest in the north containing a Small Key. Backtrack to the previous brazier and go through the door nearby.
- Beyond is a soldier with a blazing ball and chain. There's a slight invisible maze to weave through, but nothing ridiculous. (And no pits.) Beat him up good and use the teleporter to flee back to the third floor.
- One more room. Pull out the Hookshot it open 'er up.
- Hookshots and evil hands from above. Hide when the hand comes out, Hookshot east, north, and west when it's away elsewhere. You can find 50 rupees in a chest on your way to the door in the north.
- Next up is some Hookshot suring. Hop on the raft and use the walls to pull yourself along as you head north through the lava. Hide under platforms from the hand as necessary, and use it to push a button along the way.
- In the northwest corner you'll find three buttons. Pull a nearby gargoyle statue onto one, lure the hand into slamming down onto the second, and stand on the third yourself. This opens a path south.
- Beyond is an ornamental eyeball. Lure the hand into slapping it down, then put it on the raft and Hookshot back to the two eye pedestals in the south. Be careful, as it's way too easy to accidentally Hookshot onto the eyeball. Throw it in the pedestal.
- Now that the hard part's done, look southwest of the platform you're on. The second eye's on another destructable floor which you can merge to reach. Lure another hand into doing its thing, then throw the eye to the moving platform to your right. Move back to the north and grab the eye from the platform. Throw it in place to reveal a chest with a Small Key. Head on through.
- Arrghus! Yep, he makes a repeat visit. The same Hookshot and slash strategy works again in this battle. Wallop 'im good and step on the teleporter.
- The doorway to the north is now open. Step through... and you're back in the study, where you first came through to Lorule. Huh. (Go through the crack in here again and you'll find Fairies in the study on Hyrule's side.)
- Only one way to go. Head right out of the study and tormp onward to destiny. Final battle time!
Yuga
The big finale! Yuga is quite an opponent. Now a fan of brute strength, he will spend the beginning of the battle swiping at you with his trident, either with long thrusts or quicker, short range sweeps. If he glows red, he's going for an especially-long thrust. Avoid these strikes by remaining on your toes constantly and swiping at his unprotected side (no trident, in other words). You can block the normal strikes with your shield, but not the powered thrust. If you fear his thrusts, Fire Rod strikes work reasonably well. Yuga teleports occasionally, so don't expect to catch him in one spot.
Once Yuga begins to flash red he'll bring out two new tactics. First, he'll throw his trident. Avoid it as best you can as it whips around the room. Second, he'll disappear and rain energy bolts down on your head. Run until they stop. He's faster and meaner in this phase, but your tactics won't change a whole lot.
After a quick cut scene... well, the fight ain't over yet, needless to say.
Yuga
Tennis time, Zelda style! Yuga's second battle comes with some very Ganondorfy tactics. He'll float out of reach, firing large, slow-moving projectiles at you. If these hit the wall they'll fire outward in several directions. Smack these purple projectiles back at Yuga and you'll have a bit of increasingly-fast back and forth. Eventually, if you time your sword swings properly, you'll smack the ball into Yuga and do damage.
Once that happens, Yuga will flee into the walls. Zelda will then give you the Bow of Light, a weapon that only works while merged. Follow Yuga into the wall, fire an arrow or two at him, then unmerge and run behind him. Merge again and shoot his back while he's still warding off the first arrows. This will drive him out of the wall. Smack at him while he's down. After Yuga recovers and vanishes, the room will fill with deadly energy; dodge around them until the storm ends. (Cucco dodging has finally paid off.)
The second round of this will go largely as the first, though Yuga's swiping back and forth will be faster. Once he retreats he'll charge at Link in painting form; quickly unmerge, wait for Yuga to rush by, remerge, and shoot at his back to drive him out.
One last round. Yuga will fire two balls at Link rather than one. Reflect with greater ferocity and bring Yuga down. Once he flees into the painting he'll rebuff all advances... but he can't escape two-dimensional, circular space. Rather than shooting at Yuga's front, turn around and shoot behind you. The arrow will streak around the walls and hit Yuga. Swipe at him one last time once he's out to finish the battle. Then free Zelda and watch dat sweet ending. Woo! Game complete!
Not done with Hyrule and Lorule? Now that you've beaten the game you can now access Hero Mode, which increases the difficulty level of the game by increasing damage done by enemies. Start over and you've got a whole new adventure of you.
(Not really. But, hey, it's still a fun game.)