The Zelda Tears of the Kingdom dragon locations and paths are all over - and under - Hyrule, with the Light Dragon, Farosh, Dinraal and Naydra moving around the realm on set paths, but exactly where they are along those paths is a little harder to predict. Consequently, knowing the dragon's routes in TOTK is essential, as you can then trace along them until you encounter the dragon itself - then harvest scales, claws, fangs and horns for Zelda Tears of the Kingdom armor upgrades, or just to empower your weapons temporarily. We'll cover all the TOTK dragon paths in this guide, as well as what you need to know about each dragon specifically.
All dragon locations and paths in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom
- The Light Dragon (all of Hyrule/Sky realm)
- Dinraal the Fire Dragon (Eldin and Akkala regions)
- Naydra the Ice Dragon (Necluda and Lanayru regions)
- Farosh the Lightning Dragon (Gerudo and Faron regions)
All Zelda Tears of the Kingdom dragon locations and paths
There are four dragons in The Legend of Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, with their rough paths laid out in the map above. You might have also noticed that some sections of the dragons' routes are faded - well, that's where they go underground. You'll need to know how to handle the Depths in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom, being the most dangerous map area in the whole game.
Dragons will dive through specific Chasms on the Surface and emerge from others, but you can still encounter them moving along that route beneath the earth! The only one that doesn't do this at all is the Light Dragon, which moves only above ground at a higher altitude than any of the others.
There's also no set times the dragons appear at specific points in their route. While they don't despawn, they will always be somewhere on that path. This differs from Breath of the Wild since their routes don't perfectly sync up with the 24 hour clock, so you can't predict an exact location depending on the in-game time of day.
The Light Dragon
A new addition to the Dragons, The Light Dragon is the only one that doesn't try to hurt Link as he gets close. This dragon takes a huge, weaving route across all of Hyrule's sky, and you'll basically have to use the Skyview Towers to reach it, or fast travel up to a Sky Realm shrine and leap onto it from there.
Dinraal
Dinraal is a dragon of fire, whose route has it leave the East Akkala Plains Chasm, meander North of Death Mountain, and hug the map's North edge before dropping down the Drenan Highlands Chasm to the west of The Lost Woods, taking a roughly straight route through the Depths back towards Akkala.
Dinraal shoots fireballs whenever you get close, and superheats the air around them, meaning you'll have to either have elixirs prepared, buy some Flame Guard armor from Goron City, or just be quick enough grabbing the loot not to burn to death.
Naydra
Naydra the Ice Dragon is one you might see more often, as it has a slightly larger route that takes it close to the towns of Kakariko and Hateno. It leaves the Lanayru Snowfield Chasm at the top of Mount Lanayru, then heads South to loop around Necluda and up towards Kakariko and drop into the East Hill Chasm, heading back through the depths towards its starting point.
Naydra freezes the air around it, and launches balls of ice at those who get close. Knowing how to deal with cold in Zelda Tears of the Kingdom is essential, so wrap up warm if you plan to shave it for parts.
Farosh
Farosh the Lightning Dragon is the one you'll probably see the least, as its route takes it away from most major settlements. It leaves the East Gerudo Chasm in the desert, heads North over the Canyon and over Lake Hylia before descending through the Hills of Baumer Chasm.
Farosh fires lightning at those who come close, as well as keeping the air around it in a permanent storm. Immediately stow all your metal weapons before approaching, or get a nasty shock!
How to get up to the Dragons
Assuming you encounter them outside, the only way to get to the Dragons is to either use one of the Zelda Tears of the Kingdom Skyview Towers, firing yourself into the air to glide down towards them, or using vehicles and climbing high things to leap down onto their backs. They usually have upward wind currents when you get close, meaning it's easier to glide around them.
And yes, you can climb on the dragons. All of them except the Light Dragon will try and launch projectiles to knock you off, as mentioned above, but it's still entirely possible. Speaking of which, let's talk about why you'd want to do this:
Dragon rewards, scales and more
When you encounter a dragon, hitting it with an arrow knocks off a piece of it to become a reward. Depending on where you hit it changes what kind of reward you get (though you'll need to dive down to the ground to grab it where it lands).
- Body: (Dragon's) Scale
- Mouth: Shard of (Dragon's) Fang
- Horns: (Dragon's) Horn
- Feet/Hands: (Dragon's) Claw
You can only knock off one piece of a dragon per encounter - the first arrow that lands will be the last one of any use. We're not sure what the cooldown is before farming another piece, but it's at least twenty-four hours in-game.
There's also Shards of the Dragon's Spikes on every dragon's back, little resources you can pick up in large numbers. It's definitely worth doing - they're basically really good Fuse materials for your weapons, and don't count towards the "one per encounter" materials you get above!
The materials you take from dragons have multiple uses, including fusions and elixirs, but are best used for the different Zelda Tears of the Kingdom armor upgrades. Many armor upgrades need materials harvested from dragons, forcing you to find them if you want to improve the clothing you're wearing.
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