Let me paint the picture: you are deep in the cold canyons of the Tabantha Frontier, your stamina is fine but your hearts are ticking down from the chill, and a cave at the bottom of the canyon hides a freezing lake with a shrine on the far shore.
That is Nouda Shrine. Getting to the door is a small ice puzzle, and the shrine itself is a Proving Grounds: Intermediate combat trial that takes away all your gear. Here’s how to handle both halves.
Nouda Shrine at a Glance
| Detail | Answer |
|---|---|
| Region | Tabantha Frontier, Hebra (Surface) |
| Where | End of Kopeeki Drifts Cave, entrance on the canyon’s south side |
| Shrine type | Proving Grounds: Intermediate (combat) |
| Starting gear | Wooden Stick, Thick Stick, Old Wooden Bow, 10 Arrows |
| Enemies | Six Soldier Construct I and one Captain Construct II |
| Rewards | Treasure chest (Hearty Elixir), Light of Blessing, your gear back |
| Best launch point | Pikida Stonegrove Skyview Tower |
How to Reach Kopeeki Drifts Cave
Activate Pikida Stonegrove Skyview Tower if you haven’t, launch, and glide down to Kopeeki Drifts, the big snowy canyon below. The cave entrance sits at the bottom of a slope on the canyon’s south side.
- Cold protection: the canyon and cave are freezing. Eat a spicy meal, drink a Spicy Elixir or wear cold resistant armor before you go.
- Look for the cave marker: once you are inside the canyon, the cave name pops up as you get close.
- Don’t skip the map pin: drop one on the canyon from the tower so you glide the right way.
Crossing the Freezing Pond
Inside, a wide pond of icy water blocks the way to the shrine. Swimming in it drains your hearts fast, so you need a path across. This is where it gets WILD: the cave hands you an ice factory.
The Ice Like Method
- Take the passage on the right from the main chamber into a smaller cavern.
- Find the Ice Like sitting by a small pool. When it attacks, its frost hits the water and creates blocks of ice.
- Leave it alive. As long as it keeps attacking, it keeps making ice.
- Grab the blocks with Ultrahand and carry them back to the main pond, staying out of the Like Like’s range.
- Build your path: line up enough blocks to cross, or leapfrog with two blocks by moving the rear one to the front each time.
Other Ways Across
- Ice items: anything ice empowered, like a thrown Ice Fruit, freezes water into a platform.
- Zonai devices: a quick fan powered raft gets you over in seconds if you carry the capsules.
- Mix and match: a straight row of blocks plus a short jump at the end is often faster than a perfect bridge.
Look, I get it, fiddly Ultrahand bridges are nobody’s favorite. A straight line works. Do not bother curving around the ice pillars.
Nouda Shrine Walkthrough: Proving Grounds
Step through the door and your weapons, shields, bows, armor and food are taken away. You get everything back at the end.
- Grab the starter kit on the right before you enter the main room: Wooden Stick, Thick Stick, Old Wooden Bow and 10 Arrows.
- Look right into the arena. A Construct stands on a raised platform. Shoot it first, while it can’t reach you.
- Work around the platforms counterclockwise, picking off Constructs one or two at a time.
- Loot every drop. Constructs drop the weapons they carry and Construct parts, which beat your sticks easily. Fuse the better parts onto what you have.
- Save the Captain for last. The Captain Construct II hits harder than the rest, so face it with your best scavenged weapon.
- Destroy all seven Constructs to end the trial.
The key to Proving Grounds is patience. Arrows to open, melee once you have something decent, and never charge into the middle of the room with a stick.
Rewards
When the last Construct falls, your gear returns and a gate opens. Here’s what you walk away with:
- Treasure chest: behind the gate that opens after the fight; it holds a Hearty Elixir. Nouda’s Depths counterpart is the Aduon Lightroot.
- Light of Blessing: from the altar at the end. Four of these buy a Heart Container or Stamina Vessel at a Goddess Statue.
- Fast travel point: Nouda becomes a warp spot in a very cold corner of the map, which is handy for Hebra exploring.
Pro Tips
- Bring a cold buff that lasts: the pond puzzle can take a few minutes, so do not let your buff run out midway.
- Practice your Fuse: Construct horns fused onto the Thick Stick make it far more useful.
- Use the high ground: the platforms in the arena let you shoot down at Constructs before they climb up to you.
- Hold an arrow or two: you only get 10, so don’t spray them at targets that are out of range.
If you are playing the newer version, our Tears of the Kingdom Switch 2 Edition review covers how it handles busy combat rooms like this one. New to the series? Our guide on whether to play BOTW or TOTK first helps you decide, and the Tears of the Kingdom hub has the rest of our shrine coverage.
Nouda Shrine FAQ
Where is Nouda Shrine in Tears of the Kingdom?
At the far end of Kopeeki Drifts Cave in the Tabantha Frontier. The cave entrance is on the south side of the Kopeeki Drifts canyon, below Pikida Stonegrove Skyview Tower.
How do you cross the water to Nouda Shrine?
Use the Ice Like in the cavern to the right to make ice blocks, then move them with Ultrahand to build a path. Ice Fruit or a Zonai raft also works.
What weapons do you get in Nouda Shrine?
A Wooden Stick, a Thick Stick, an Old Wooden Bow and 10 Arrows. Everything else comes from defeated Constructs.
How many Constructs are in Nouda Shrine?
Seven: six Soldier Construct I and one Captain Construct II.
The Chill Take: Nouda is two small challenges stacked together, and neither is hard once you know the trick. Let the Like Like do the building, let the bow do the opening work, and enjoy getting your full inventory back at the end. Anyway, that warm fast travel point is all yours now.
