Zelda Breath of the Wild Fairy Fountain Locations | Where to find all Great Fairies

A lot of Legend of Zelda traditions are absent or significantly different in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, but one that was probably never in danger of not making it is the classic Great Fairy Fountain. There's a number of Great Fairy Fountains across the game, in fact. Present since the first game in the series, these glamorous beings and their theme tune has graced pretty much every game in the series in some way or another.

In Breath of the Wild the Great Fairy Fountains are largely optional and easy to miss - one major quest will point you towards the first of the fairies, but beyond that finding them is absolutely up to you. They're scattered across the world, with basically one hidden in each of Hyrule's most major regions. In that sense, the hiding place of each of the Great Faeries matches up with the Divine Beasts.

If you plan to track down all of these powerful beings, it's best paired with some other quests. Ideally, you can do it at the same time you travel across Hyrule to visit all of the Memory Locations for the Captured Memories quest. While you're travelling to power up, this is also the ideal time to grab the BOTW version of the Hylian Shield, too. 

BOTW Great Fairy Fountain Armor Upgrades Explained

Unlike in other Zelda games, the primary function of the fairies isn't to heal you, nor to do anything related to your magic power. Instead, these new Great Fairy Fountain inhabitants ask for a down-payment in Rupees in exchange for the ability to upgrade your armor - and this will work for practically of the Zelda BOTW Armor sets featured in the game.

Each subsequent fairy you awaken raises the overall level that any one of them can upgrade your armor to - so if you want to boost your favorite armor to the maximum you need to join forces with all four. Here's how much each fairy costs to awaken:

• The first great fairy you meet will cost 100 rupees to awaken
• The second great fairy you meet will cost 500 rupees
• The third requires 1000 rupees to give you a hand
• The final requires 10,000 rupees to join your cause.

Once you've made this down payment the services of each fairy are free of charge - but each outfit has its own specific set of items and material that you must turn over to upgrade it.

It won't actually cost you any money to perform upgrades once they're unlocked - but farming the various materials needed to upgrade each of the different armors in the game from enemy mats and the like will take you quite a bit of time. We suggest you prioritize your favored or most useful gear.

Great Fairy Fountain Location 1: Cotera

Cotera is the Great Fairy you're most likely to naturally meet without any prompting, for you'll pick up the scent of her shrine in Kakariko Village relatively early on in your quest. While you can ignore that quest, the prompt is there, presumably, to introduce you to the very concept of the great fairies and their fountains.

At the top of Kakariko is the Ta'loh Naeg Shrine. Chances are you've probably already completed or unlocked this shrine to ensure you have a fast travel point to. Fast travel or otherwise head to that shrine and look up the hill, as indicated on the map. There's a small forest here and within this forest you'll find Cotera's Great Fairy Fountain. The first time you encounter it you might not know what it is - it'll look like a gigantic flower with a bright 'staircase' of flowers leading up to it. Go up those stairs and interact, and Cotera will request her money.

Great Fairy Fountain Location 2: Kaysa

Kaysa is the next Great Fairy we found, and her Great Fairy Fountain is found nestled into some mountains in the region of Western Hyrule marked as the Tabantha Frontier. If you find Mount Rhoam to the West of Hyrule Field, look across the huge gorge that Tabantha Great Bridge crosses - over there you'll find Nero Hill and Piper Ridge. The fountain is actually really close to Piper Ridge. 

Nero Hill is where you find the Tabantha Tower. Warp here or climb this tower for the first time to activate it. Once that's done, look south. You should very easily be able to spot the tell-tale bulbous cactus-meets-flower shape of Kaysa's Great Fairy Fountain happily sitting wedged into some mountains in a tiny little space. Paraglide on down there and wake her up to have her add her powers to any other fairies you've unlocked and get access to her services.

Great Fairy Fountain Location 3: Mija

Mija is the Great Fairy for the Akkala Region of Hyrule, the chunk of the map found in the far north-east (top right) of the map, pressed into the corner by the mass that is Death Mountain. The closest major landmark is the Dah Hesho Shrine, the second closest the Akkala Tower.

If you've unlocked the Dah Hesho Shrine (south of Lake Akkala and north of Ukuku Plains), warp there and then paraglide down to the east, down into the lower area where there's a forested area. It's only a small forest, but it hides Mija's Fairy Fountain. If you don't have Dah Hesho, warp to the Akkala Citadel Ruins and look East - you'll no doubt see the shrine on the other side of Lake Akkala and just beyond it the forest in question.

Great Fairy Fountain Location 4: Tera

Tera is most likely to be the last Great Fairy Fountain you find since she's right off into the corner of the map in a not very welcoming area. Being the last she was also the most expensive for us - we still haven't unlocked her, as 10,000 rupees is, well, a lot. Tera's flower is blossoming (somehow) out in the Gerudo Desert, far to the South West. 

If you zoom in on the map you'll see the Gerudo Great Skeleton - bones large enough to feature on the map itself. Drop a pin there, for that's not just the location of Tera's fountain but also the Hawa Koth Shrine (presumably to make teleporting back to the fairy easier). When you've got the cash, pay up and she'll join forces with you.