Legend Of Zelda: Skyward Sword Walkthrough Part 18 – Lanayru Mining Facility

Time for a dungeon. Be sure to take some time to upgrade to the Wooden Shield to the highest level to ensure it will survive the whole thing. Once inside you have a new enemy type, the Aracha. While weak and very easy to kill, they like to attack in groups. This makes them harder to kill if only because of numbers.

Deal with all Aracha that are nearby then line up with the Bomb Flower. Use the Hook Beetle to bomb the statues around the room for treasure but the ones over the sand will help you move forward. Be sure to bomb the Electro Spumes as well to make sure you can cross the sands safely. Pull the levers on both sides of the chamber nearby the exit of the room. The one in the Northwest will clear the way forward while the one in the Northeast will clear the way to a chest with 20 rupees. Head on through the door now.

In this room you will find two Staldryas, one on each side. Kill them but you will notice that both of the doors are barred in a fashion. The one to the west is barred while the one to the east is padlocked. Head forward to the other end of the room, kill off the Aracha in the northwest and push one of the boxes over to the wall. Run up it and head through the door there.

Head over to the save statue then turn and look to the right. Back up a little and pull out the Hook Beetle. Use it to grab the bomb flower on top of the pedastel and blast the boxes that are blocking the way to the ladder to the east. You will encounter another new enemy here, Thunder Keese. They can crackle with Electricity so be wary when attacking them. After that, climb the ladder and open the chest nearby to collect a small key. Head back into the previous room and go to the locked door to the east.

Inside this room, deal with the floating fish using the Beetle or the slingshot from a distance as they explode. Head for the webbing along the southern wall and climb up. Now use the Hook Beetle to grab the Bomb Flower to your right and drop it on the box at the top of the ladder in front of Link. Now, at the top, turn and launch the beetle at the time-stone in the middle of the ceiling while you are standing on the pressure plate. Head on down the ladder but be ready, Beamos, a dangerous enemy, are now active in the room. These can only be killed by slashing the body then delivering a quick thrust to the eye camera. You can easily run past the first one to the conveyer belt beyond the initial pair of Beamos. Beyond that conveyer belt is a ladder. Use that to reach the switch that will open the door in the northern part of the room. Now you need to get to the other side of the room with a conveyer belt that runs the opposite way. Start dashing across, grabbing the fruit when it appears on the belt but be careful of the spiked mounds that also come down the conveyer belt on the left, middle or center. At the top of the ladder, guarded by a Beamos which you likely had to kill, is a chest with 20 rupees. Now head to the other side of the platform and go up the staircase. You will encounter another conveyer belt you need to climb up by dashing. Again, dodge ore and collect the fruits to keep Link running. At the top you will find a Double High Beamos, so you need to slash twice before thrusting its eye, guarding a lever. Pull it to open the door to the next room to the north.

Inside this room you need to once again face the exploding things, introduced as Froaks, as you navigate this maze. Shoot the Froaks with your Slingshot to make them explode to clear away debris and rubble, opening up your path ahead. They only explode when they come into contact with something. Be warned as that could be Link. Head to the eastern wall and clear a path to the back of the room along there. Go up the ladder you find there to get the Gust Bellows. This allows you blow away piles of dust or sand as well as light enemies like the arachas and the Froaks. Head down then to the west, toward the left side of the room. Be sure to grab the treasure chest below to get its random crafting item (which maybe a Goddess Plume, the rarest crafting item in the game). If you fall to the floor just head back to the platform that lead to the Gust Bellows. Now keep going to the west until you reach the ladder. Head to the left of the ladder and push the metal box down to create an easy route over here. Now climb the ladder and blow all the sand away so you can move forward through the door.

In this room you will want to the metal in front of you to the left to clear the ladder, thus opening up another path. For now you are in the room that you collected the small key in, head through the door to the south and back into the room where you fought the Staldras. With the Gust Bellows though you can open the other door. Head to the north east part of the room and use the Gust Bellows to clear away the sand from around the box and the second pile just beyond it. Now push the metal box onto the pressure plate that was revealed to open the door to the west.

In this room you want to head forward, after you deal with the Froak. You will be moving from landing to landing to reach the far side of the room. First though you need to make it to the southeast corner of the room. So head left on the platforms to the barred archway then turn left. Now head forward and blow away the dust pile to reveal a time-stone. Hit it to take this room back to the past.

Head onto the nearby platform and use the Gust Bellows to push it forward. Now head to the platform on the right and blow it over to you, then ride it to the pillar on your left to collect a treasure chest. Now head back to the barred archway. Look above and you will notice a pinwheel. Use the Gust Bellows to blow it open. Now head through, beat the Beamos, and down the ladder. You will encounter a new enemy a Sentrobe. To defeat it you need to shield bash two missiles it launches at you. It will, between missiles, launch two probes at you that will explode. If you slice them along the glowing line in their body though they will just puff away harmlessly. Now use the Gust Bellows to push the platform over to the ledge that is to your right so you can get on it. After that, push it back against the wall it came from using the Gust Bellows and cross over to the opposite side of the room. Now head up the ladder, deal with the Beamos, then use the Gust Bellows on the pinwheel to the left of the door. That opens up the path into the next room.

Of course it is no walk in the park here. Two Staldras await you in there. Quickly defeat them and head for the far side of the room. Blow the sand off the track over there and from around the metal box. Now pull the metal box forward and to the left to the other side of the track. Dash up it to reach the higher part of the room. Now use the Gust Bellows on the dust inside the barred room with the treasure chest. The one on the left has a time-stone hidden underneath it. Use your slingshot to nail the stone and shift the room back in time. Now head back down to the floor. You have a new enemy again, an Armos. This are different from past Zelda forms. You need to use the Gust Bellows on the magnets on its head to force open its mouth. This reveals its power cores. If you are fast and accurate enough you can take out both in one go. Thrusting with the sword is the best way to destroy the core. After that, just repeat for the other side. This opens up the barred room with the chest you can retrieve the dungeon map and opens the way to the next room, through the door the Armos was guarding.

This area looks impassable but just like outside, there are submerged walkways. Be sure to step on the pressure plate on the right, creating a shortcut to the save statue as well as the rest of the dungeon. Move forward and head for the first one on your left. Use your map, zoomed in, to ensure safe passage over to the first platform.

Once there, throw a bomb at the Electro Spume to stop it from harassing you further. Now head over the smaller platform to your left, blow away the sand, and head through the opening revealed. Take the second left and head straight from there to reach a treasure chest. Head on back to the main room after that. Now follow the submerged path to where it rejoins the wall farther on in the room. Deal with the Spumes, arachas, and the Chuchu. Blow away the sand pile to reveal another crawl space. Head into it make your way into the next room using it. Just head left initial and make a right when you come to a T-intersection and you will be finished with this easily enough.

This room is interesting. Most of it is covered in thick sand and you want to get to the other side. The catch is there are spikes that will appear from underneath the sand. To get through, head forward, then right when the spikes emerge. Make your way around the spikes, looping to the left. Head forward until you get to another spike wall then head to the right, toward the corner of the room (there is a Froak floating there to make things easier). From the corner go to the left and head over to the base of the stairs. Pull out the Gust Bellows  and turn to the left, facing the same side you came in. Use the Bellows to blow away the sand and reveal the pressure plate needed to raise the gate blocking the door ahead of you. You can blow away all of the sand in the room, it does take a while, but will also show where you need to go to get through. After you step on the pressure plate, make for the door above you and head through.

This room you start by blowing away the huge pile of sand in front of you. This reveals a cart loaded full of Time-stone. Thrust the Goddess Sword at it to activate both the cart and the stone. It will move forward to the first gate and stop there until you raise it using the Gust Bellows. Unfortunately this also activates a Sentrobe you want to beat to clear your path. Once that is broken and you have opened the gate, go on the right-hand side of the cart. There is a Beamos on the left of this track and it will start shooting at you as soon as the time-stone allows it. Run ahead to the front edge of the field after that as there is another Beamos there that you need to defeat. After that get on the left-hand side of the track to ensure that the next pair of Beamos cannot hit you as well. Once the cart stops, use the  Gust Bellows to raise the gate in front of you. Head to the left from where the cart stopped. You will find another huge sand pile containing another cart with a time-stone in it. Active the stone the same way as the last one and follow it along. About the midpoint this cart will activate a Beamos. To make things easier in the future, close in on it and beat it. When you need to get through the gate it was guarding this just makes it infinitely easier. Now keep an eye on the wall to the right after the Beamos. There is a Pinwheel that will be active as the cart passes by. Get set up and start blowing on it with the Bellows. This will raise the gate that the Beamos was guarding, clearing your way forward. Once the cart stops, deactivate the Time-stone with another strike then reactivate it so you can get to the door you opened.

You emerge into another area filled with conveyer belts. For now, head to the left and forward. Time to start climbing the wall. This is not as easy as it looks as there are periodically gust of steam that can knock Link off the wall and into the pit below. There are also Arachas climbing around on the wall so be on guard for them as well. Weave your way up and to the right, to the opening in the spiked wall. When you get to the parts where the steam blast are, you want to use Link's leap ability to quickly cross the space and avoid getting blown off. When you make it to the top, two Thunder Keese will come at you so be on guard. Now head to the right and pull out your bombs. You want to throw them into the cradle of the statue's arms. This lets you make a path to the big pile of sand on the far side of the room. Blow it away to reveal a Time-stone which you will want to strike and then retrace your steps back.

Now you need to quick beat the Beamos then dash across the conveyer belts. Dash across them at an angle to make it across easily. Just time it so the ore has just gone by to ensure that you have the best chance you could get. Now pull the lever to summon the platform over to you. Use the Gust Bellows to ride the platform over to the other side. Here you need to fight another Sentrobe. Once that is out of the way, throw bombs into the statues to some pictures behind them. This is a clue you will need to know shortly, 2-3-1. Now turn around and use the Gust Bellows to push the vane platform over to the right. Hop onto the one you just rode over here and use it to reach the one you just moved. Now use the Gust Bellows to push it to the other side of the room. Head over to the metal box and push it over a little to create a shortcut for future use. Head all the way over now to reach the next vane platform. Start pushing it out to the first statue with the Gust Bellows. When you get close to it, pull out a bomb and throw it over at the statue to reveal a Red Gem. Repeat this for the two statues after it. With all that revealed you can set to work on the puzzle before you. Pull out the hook beetle so you can easily reach all three of the red gems and hop over to the platform that is just behind the vane platform you rode over on. Hit the red gem on the left first, then the one on the right and finally the one in the middle. Ride the vane platform back to the ledge you departed from and head through the gate you opened.

This room has two Armos in it. Be careful to engage only one at time so pay attention to the circles on the floor. They work as a guide to the range of the Armos. Again use the Bust Bellows to open their mouths and the sword to take them out. Once defeated the gate will rise, letting you get the Ancient Circuit that will allow you access to the Boss Chamber.

Start on your way back using the ladder to lower yourself down. Defeat the Beamos in your way and head over to the conveyer belt. Run across it, dodging the steam and ore while collecting the stamina fruits, to reach the door out. From there head up to the save statue and activate the mining cart by it. Dash over to the vane platform and when it activates, use the Gust Bellows to cross over to the boss door. From there, align the ancient circuit and you are moving in for the next boss fight.

Moldarach
If you wandered what happens when the little Arachas reached maturity, this is the answer to that question. A very big and armored scorpion. While this can be a very hard fight at times, you need to know where to hit the blasted thing. It has three eyes and they are the only weak points. This boss fight has two clear phases at least.

Phase 1
Moldarach comes at you with its pincers to crush the life from you. The eyes can only be hit by you swinging your sword between the two claws at the appropriate angle. It will also periodically take a swing at you with its tail so be ready to hop out of the way when it comes. Just keep swinging to take out its claws and force it into the next phase of the fight. Each of the claws takes about six hits.

Phase 2
It changes up its pattern a good bit. It will use a charging headbutt attack most of the time. Another attacks is to bring its tail over its head and sweep it forward. It will also dive into the sand and try to attack you from below. When it dives, pull out the Gust Bellows and start blowing it at the raised area of sand. This will periodically unearth Arachas but do not worry about them much. It takes about six thrusts to kill it.

Once you collect the Heart Container, head through the door in front of you. Look up and you will see hanging above you. Fire off the Hook Beetle to activate the Time-stone that will make it so you can ride the cart all the way over to the other side of the room.

Once you emerge from the Mining Facility you will find Zelda and the Demon Lord will make his appearance as well. Zelda's helper, Impa, will hold off the Demon Lord. You get a dialogue choice with Impa when the Demon Lord breaks through the shield she has been holding. Zelda will gift you the Goddess's Harp as she and Impa escape through the portal they have summoned.