The rise of the inflatables
Jonsau Shrine is a fun puzzle shrine in Tears of the Kingdom that combines the excellent physics mechanics of the game with real world experience that many people have. It’s a testament to the mechanics and ingenuity of the game that a shrine like this is even possible. We’ve covered everything you need to know to complete Jonsau Shrine below. But first, let’s take a look at how to find it.
How to find Jonsau Shrine in Tears of the Kingdom
Jonsau Shrine is located in the Lanayru Wetlands region of Hyrule. The shrine sits on the southern tip of Mercay Island. The wetlands area is equidistant between two fast travel towers. There’s Upland Zorana Skyview Tower to the east and Sahasra Slope Skyview Tower to the south. Either of these towers will be the closest fast travel point for most players. Alternatively, if you’ve unlocked Tukarok Shrine, that fast travel spot is closer still to the west of the shrine.
Whichever fast travel point you choose, finding Jonsau Shrine is relatively easy. Just head to the Lanayru Wetlands area to find Jonsau Shrine sitting on top of the biggest island. Check the screenshot above for the exact location of the shrine on the map.
How to complete Jonsau Shrine
When you enter Jonsau Shrine, you’ll find a ball, target, and pool of water. This setup looks pretty similar to a lot of others in the game, with one key difference. The ball here is not the same as the regular stone variety that is most often seen around Hyrule. That means you won’t be able to complete it in the same way you may have done so before. This is more of an inflatable ball. Think of an inflatable beach ball but bigger.
As a beach ball, it follows the physics that you’d expect from an inflatable. It floats on the water and, most importantly, when pushed under the water, it shoots back up. If you’ve ever tried holding a beach ball under the water of a pool, then you’ve inadvertently trained for Jonsau Shrine.
Use Ultrahand to pick up the ball, move it so that it is underneath the target, and push it all the way to the bottom of the pool by holding the right stick down. If you placed the ball correctly and pushed it down far enough, it will shoot out of the pool and hit the target. See the picture above to get an idea of how it should look in motion.
In the next room, around the first corner, is a construct. It will easily be defeated with a single arrow to the head from a 30 power bow. You may need a couple more shots if your bow is weaker. After killing it, turn around and use Ultrahand to spot a chest that’s decidedly not inflatable. It’s sitting at the bottom of the pool across from where the construct was. It contains a Strong Construct Bow.
After the construct and chest, we have essentially the same puzzle as before, except this time, the featured inflatable is a floating mattress or lilo if you speak the Queen’s English. Again, if you have experience holding one underwater, then you should have an idea of what to do here. Holding the platform under the water horizontally will result in a very dissatisfying level of thrust. To get it to hit the target, turn it vertically like in the picture above. This will give it enough momentum to get out of the water and activate the target.
The final room is a two part puzzle. At the top of the platform, there’s a basket that’s being held up by a wooden plank. To get the basket to drop, you’ll need to use the inflatable ball to knock the plank out of the way. Once again, position it under the object and push it under the water to fire it high.
As soon as the basket has fallen, go over to it and, after standing on it, use Recall to send it back up to the top platform. Note that the basket can’t hold itself at the top of the column, so once you’re at the top, you’ll need to jump out pretty quickly.
Glide on down to the shrine exit below to collect your Light of Blessing and complete the shrine.
