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Kass – everyone’s favorite Rito bard, holds many of Hyrule‘s secrets. Whether he knows it or not, many of his ancient songs contain riddles that can be solved to unlock several of Breath of the Wild’s 120 Shrines. One of those riddles is the key to the Sign of the Shadow Shrine quest that unlocks the Sasa Kai Shrine.
Riddles are intentionally made to be confusing, so we are going to make this one easy for you by giving you everything you need to know to solve Kass’s riddle and unlock the Sasa Kai Shrine in the Gerudo Valley.
Key Notes Up Front
The Sign of the Shadow Shrine quest is a side quest in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild that unlocks the Sasa Kai Shrine. It is relatively easy to solve, especially if you have an affinity towards riddles. But even if you don’t, it isn’t too hard to decipher.
There are many Kass clones around Hyrule. But the one you need for the Sign of the Shadow side quest is on top of the Gerudo Tower. The Sasa Kai Shrine is just north of the spot where Kass is perched on the tower. The riddle can only be solved at a certain time of the day, and you will need at least one arrow to solve the riddle.
Making it to the Top of the Gerudo Tower and Finding Kass
Every tower in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild comes with its own unique challenges. Because it can’t be as easy as just climbing the tower, right? Where’s the fun in that? The Gerudo Tower isn’t the hardest tower to ascend, but it is still a long and arduous journey that comes with its own puzzle of sorts at the end.
There are, as always in Breath of the Wild, one million and one ways to ascend the tower. Like everything in this game, you have unlimited freedom throughout your adventure.
So if you have a beefy stamina gauge and enough stamina boosting consumables, you could, in theory, just climb the tower from the bottom, use Revali’s Gale to get a boost and glide over from halfway up, or approach the tower from any other direction and glide to it from the top of the surrounding cliffs.
But while there are endless ways of doing things in Breath of the Wild, there is usually one method that has been set up by the developers as their intended way of you getting from point A to point B.
So while many people, myself included, will have found their own way to the top of the Gerudo Tower, today I will be showing you how to get there by following the road that leads you to it.
There is no right way and no wrong way in Breath of the Wild, but the following guide will show you the most direct route to reach the top of Gerudo Tower.
Getting to the Kara Kara Bazaar
The Gerudo Tower is somewhat hidden, nestled amongst the sheer cliff faces and mountains of the Gerudo Valley. It is so hidden, in fact, that I didn’t actually realize it was there until I had reached the Kara Kara Bazaar, so that is where we will begin our journey today.
It is also the closest settlement to the tower and is conveniently located directly in front of our intended route, so it is a great place to begin. Especially if you don’t have a lot of stamina to climb all the cliffs to take one of the many shortcuts around the area.
The Kara Kara Bazaar is a small oasis located about halfway between the Gerudo Desert Gateway and Gerudo Town. If you just follow the road from the Gerudo Desert Gateway, you will eventually find yourself there so you will be happy to know it is very difficult to get lost along the way.
The NPC that you have to interact with to get your hands on the Gerudo disguise is located in the Bazaar as well, so you definitely want to put that location on your travel agenda. You cannot enter Gerudo Town without this disguise, so it is absolutely essential to your quest and you might as well pick it up while you’re there.
To get to the Bazaar, you must enter the Gerudo Desert. This place takes no prisoners and requires some serious preparation on your behalf to enter safely. The Gerudo Desert is extremely hot during the day and extremely cold during the night.
So you will need outfits or elixirs to suit both of those elements before you can even attempt to make it to the Bazaar without sustaining hefty amounts of damage.
Thankfully the Warm Doublet that you get at the beginning of the game is enough to brave the cold of the desert nights, so you only have to concern yourself with the heat resistance outfits and elixirs to get you through the hot desert days.
The type of heat that you will experience in the Gerudo Desert is unlike the fiery heat of the volcanic region of Eldin. So, sadly, you cannot reuse your Flame Breaker Armor to peruse the desert. You are going to need a specialized outfit for this journey, the Desert Voe outfit.
Unfortunately, you will have to brave the desert heat and sneak your way into Gerudo Town before you get the chance to lay your hands on the Desert Voe outfit. So if you’re heading to the Kara Kara Bazaar during the day, you have a few options.
Your first option is you just risk it for the biscuit and sprint to the Bazaar. You can’t take a horse into the desert, so you will have to brave the journey on your own. If you have enough hearts, you can theoretically make the trip, but it seems like a safer option to use an elixir, right?
You can make yourself an heat resistance Elixir by combining a Winterwing Butterly or a Cold Darner with a monster part. And boom! You are now temporarily immune to the heat of the desert and free to journey to the Kara Kara Bazaar and beyond in peace.
Alternatively, you could also build a fire at the Gerudo Desert Gateway and wait until night time to reach the Bazaar in the comfort of your Warm Doublet.
Getting the Gerudo Outfit
You do have the option of crafting bulk Chilly Elixirs to make the trip to the tower. Once you reach the valley, you don’t need heat resistance anymore so it could be an easy way out for you.
But if you’re low on ingredients, you might rather just get the heat resistance clothing. To do this, climb to the very top of the boulder-like building in the center of the Kara Kara Bazaar, where you will find an NPC named Vilia.
Follow the text prompts and make sure you compliment Vilia on their beautiful appearance. Flattery gets you everywhere, after all, and once you compliment Vilia, you will be able to purchase a version of their outfit for 600 Rupees.
Don your incredible new outfit to disguise yourself as a vai so they let you into Gerudo Town without throwing you back into the desert like the voe you truly are.
Getting the Desert Voe Outfit
Once you’re in Gerudo Town, you are one step closer to getting your hands on the much-needed Desert Voe outfit. But, unfortunately, there is still a little more sneaking around you have to do first to complete The Secret Club’s Secret side quest.
The aim of the quest is to get the verbal password needed to gain entry into the Secret Club, where you can then purchase your Desert Voe armor. You can overhear the secret password by spying on two Gerudo speaking in the Noble Canteen.
Since it is a secret password, they aren’t just going to spill the beans to you easily. You are going to need to eavesdrop on them to pick up your intel.
To do this, you have to sneak around the back of the Noble Canteen, where you will find a window. Crouch down there, and you can hear the two Gerudo ladies discussing the password, which is GSC Diamond, by the way.
Or, you could skip all that since I just told you the secret password. But it is a fun quest, so I do recommend seeing it through.
Once you have the password, use it to get into the Secret Club, where you can purchase the Desert Voe armor. The set contains three items, although you only need two to achieve the heat resistance you need to make it through the desert safely.
- Desert Voe Headband: 450 Rupees
- Desert Voe Spaulding: 1300 Rupees
- Desert Voe Trousers: 650 Rupees
Getting to the Gerudo Tower
Now that you are equipped to handle the harsh temperatures of the desert, you are ready to set off toward the Gerudo Tower. Head back to the Kara Kara Bazaar.
You will be able to see the entrance to the road you need to travel to get to the Tower to the northwest of the oasis. Stocking up with bomb arrows before you head out will prove useful to you in the valley, so consider picking some up before you head back into the desert.
As you approach the entrance to the valley, you will see stone pillars sticking up from the sand almost acting like a gate of sorts. There are a lot of enemies of all kinds along the road to the tower, ranging from Lizalfos to Bokoblins to Octorocks. Many of them are carrying fire arrows as well, which are undeniably annoying.
You can either run straight past the monsters or take them on, whichever you would prefer. Keep following the road up and around the corner. You will begin to see large bombable boulders. Some contain bomb arrows within them, so all is not lost if you forgot to stock up before you left.
The easiest way to clear out the enemies is by blowing up all the bombable boulders you can find along the road. Blowing them up with your bomb arrows releases giant boulders, which begin to roll down the hill and easily take out the enemies. It’s also rather fun bowling Bokoblins, so I definitely recommend giving it a go.
The road you will travel goes up and circles around the cliffs surrounding the tower, so you are constantly moving closer to the top. Many of the towers in Breath of the Wild have platforms you can climb up to.
The Gerudo Tower only has these platforms near the very top, however, which is why you need to traverse the winding path up the cliff until you get high enough to glide over to them.
Once you reach the end of the path, you will find some mining platforms that scale the cliff face. This is your puzzle. Make sure you have magnesis at the ready, and approach the platforms.
Several of the platforms have metal boxes on them. You can use these platforms like scales to elevate yourself to the top by distributing the weight of the metal boxes.
You can do this until you reach the very top of the mining platforms, or just until you get close enough to scale the cliff the rest of the way if you’d prefer.
Once you reach the top of the cliff, head to the east, where you will find a gliding platform built onto the edge of the cliff. It looks almost like a diving board, and points straight towards the tower.
That platform is the absolute best location to glide over to the tower. Glide to one of the tower’s platforms and begin your traversal up the side of the structure until you get to the top.
Place your Sheikah Slate into the pedestal at the top of the Gerudo Tower to activate it, and talk to Kass to begin the Sign of the Shadow quest.
The Sign of the Shadow Side Quest
You can find Kass perched on the edge of the tower playing his familiar song to the southeast of the pedestal. Head over there and talk to him to activate the quest.
He will tell you about a song he was taught by his teacher many moons ago as he ponders over its meaning. Kass can’t manage to figure out the riddle, but Link is the Hero, after all, so the riddle was made for him. And you also have us to tell you the answer! Kass’s song reads as follows:
“As light shines from the northwest skies, from the tower’s shadow an arrow flies. Pierce the Heaven’s light to reveal the prize.”
Directly in front of Kass on one of the cliffs below, you will find a Shrine platform. Glide down to it. This is where you will wait until the perfect moment to solve the riddle and unlock the Shrine.
This riddle can only be solved at a certain time of day, so you might want to consider making a fire here to pass the time depending on the time of day you reach the platform.
At exactly 2.55 pm, the platform you are standing on will glow orange. It will continue to glow until around 4.00 pm, at which point you will have to build another fire and wait until the next afternoon to try again.
Between the hours of 2.55 pm and 4.00 pm, take out your bow, and face towards the tower. The sun should be almost directly behind the tower itself if you have the timing right.
Shoot an arrow toward the sun to complete the quest. The Sasa Kai Shrine will begin to rise to your right, and you can head into it to complete another one of Breath of the Wild’s 120 Shrines.
The Sasa Kai Shrine
The Sasa Kai Shrine is a Modest Test of Strength challenge. There are several of these types of Shrine challenges dotted across Hyrule that are made to test your combat abilities.
There are three different Tests of Strength, each being harder than the next. You have Minor Tests of Strength, Modest Tests of Strength, and Major Tests of Strength.
Thankfully, this one is only modest, so it shouldn’t give you too much trouble. Inside the Sasa Kai Shrine, you will find a Guardian Scout III that you have to face. The Guardian Scout will hit you with a few different moves and has three phases that it transitions to depending on the amount of HP it has left.
In the first phase, the Guardian Scout III cycles through three attack sequences. It will come at you with melee attacks using the Guardian Spear+ and Guardian Sword+ it is equipped with, hit you with a short blast of beam shots, and finally, confront you with a spinning weapon charge.
In the second phase, the Guardian Scout III will attack you with all of the above techniques, as well as a spinning beam charge where it blasts its laser while spinning around in circles.
In the third phase, the Guardian Scout III uses all of the attack sequences from the first phase, but instead of the stationary spinning beam attack, it will launch four consecutive laser beams at you.
The Guardian Scout III shouldn’t give you too much trouble at all, but if you do find yourself having some difficulty with it, try parrying its beams back towards it or just head in with a Guardian Arrow and one-shot it. You can pick up Guardian Arrows from the Ancient Tech Lab in Akkala.
Once you’ve defeated the Guardian Scout III, pick up all the Ancient Screws and other loot it drops, as well as the Guardian Sword+ and Guardian Spear+ that it was using to fight you. Then head for the unlocked door where you can find the Monk.
Just through the door, you will find a chest containing a Frostblade. This is a pretty good item, so make sure you pick it up before interacting with the Monk and leaving the Shrine.
Rewards for Completing the Sign of the Shadow Shrine Quest
The journey to complete this quest is a long one, but you end up with many rewards by the end of it. Firstly, you will have collected your Gerudo Outfit and Desert Voe Outfit so you can face the harsh weather of the desert.
Secondly, you will have a brand-new Frostblade from the Sasa Kai Shrine, as well as ticking one more side quest, and one more Shrine off your to-do list. Since this quest involves activating the Gerudo Tower, you also have a whole new area on your map to explore.
Sign of the Shadow BOTW Guide: FAQs
Question: Do You Need the Heat and Cold Resistance Gear to Reach the Gerudo Tower?
Answer: If you approach the tower from the back, you don’t need the heat resistance. But then you miss out on all the cool magnesis platforms that are waiting for you on the road to the tower. If you do want to reach the tower by taking the road that takes you directly to it, you will need some protection to cross the desert.
Question: What Alternative Way is there to Get to the Gerudo Tower?
Answer: If you would like to get there by going around the back, the easiest way would be to fast-travel to the Sho Dantu Shrine and navigate the cliffs. If you climb up enough you should make it to a high enough spot to glide to the tower’s platforms.
Question: Is the Guardian Scout III in the Sasa Kai Shrine Difficult to Defeat?
Answer: No. As long as you have any weapon stronger than, say, a stick, you shouldn’t have trouble with the Modest Test of Strength. You will most likely defeat the Guardian Scout III long before it has time to enter phase three of the battle.
Question: Is there Anywhere in Gerudo Town where You can Take off Your Disguise?
Answer: Yes, actually. You can take the vai outfit off inside the Secret Club shop, where you purchase the Desert Voe outfit. It is the only place in the town where you won’t get thrown out for revealing your true identity.
You are Now One Step Closer to Defeating Calamity Ganon
Kass’s riddles are some of the most interesting and fun Shrine quests to complete, in my opinion, and that is definitely true for this one.
There is something far more satisfying about solving a riddle to unlock a Shrine rather than just stumbling across it in the overworld. And everyone loves catching up with Kass, right?
Hopefully, this article has provided you with everything you need to make your way to the top of the Gerudo Tower and beyond to Sasa Kai Shrine.