Sage Abilities Guide — All 5 Sages Ranked

After completing each regional temple, the corresponding sage becomes a permanent companion. Each sage has a unique ability activated by pressing A near their avatar during gameplay. This guide covers every sage ability in detail and ranks them by overall usefulness.

---

Sage Rankings (Best to Worst)

| Rank | Sage | Ability | Best For | |------|------|---------|----------| | 1 | Tulin (Wind) | Wind Gust | Exploration, paragliding, combat crowd control | | 2 | Riju (Lightning) | Lightning Strike | AoE combat damage, stunning groups | | 3 | Sidon (Water) | Water Shield | Defense, one free hit absorption | | 4 | Yunobo (Fire) | Rolling Charge | Ranged damage, ore breaking, specific puzzles | | 5 | Mineru (Spirit) | Mech Pilot | Specialized combat, Depths traversal |

---

Sage of Wind — Tulin

Unlocked: Complete the Wind Temple (Rito Village questline)

Ability: Tulin generates a powerful wind gust in the direction Link faces. This launches Link forward during paragliding, pushes enemies back, and disperses certain environmental hazards.

Best uses:

• Paraglider boost — activate mid-air to gain massive forward distance. This is the single most useful exploration ability in the game. Crossing canyons, reaching sky islands, and extending paraglider range all become trivial.
• Combat knockback — the gust pushes lightweight enemies (Bokoblins, Keese, Stal enemies) off ledges or into water.
• Sail power — activate near a raft sail to push the boat forward without needing a Korok Leaf.
• Fire suppression — the wind gust can blow out campfires and disperse fire-based hazards.

Cooldown: ~6 seconds

Why #1: Tulin's wind gust is used constantly during exploration. Every paraglider launch benefits from it. No other sage ability has this level of persistent, universal utility.

---

Sage of Lightning — Riju

Unlocked: Complete the Lightning Temple (Gerudo Town questline)

Ability: Riju creates a lightning field around Link. The next arrow Link shoots while inside the field triggers a massive lightning AoE strike at the point of impact.

Best uses:

• AoE damage — the lightning strike hits everything in a wide radius. Against enemy camps, one well-aimed arrow can damage or kill 3-5 enemies simultaneously.
• Elemental weakness exploitation — lightning is effective against water-based enemies and anyone standing in water or rain.
• Metal enemy disruption — enemies carrying metal weapons or wearing metal armor take bonus lightning damage and drop their weapons.
• Gibdo de-husking — one lightning strike strips the armor from multiple Gibdos at once, making them vulnerable to normal attacks.

Cooldown: ~12 seconds

Why #2: Riju provides the highest combat damage output of any sage. The AoE radius is generous enough to hit entire camps, and the lightning element has broad effectiveness. Only ranked below Tulin because it's combat-only.

---

Sage of Water — Sidon

Unlocked: Complete the Water Temple (Zora's Domain questline)

Ability: Sidon creates a water shield around Link that absorbs one hit of any kind — melee, ranged, elemental, or fall damage. After absorbing a hit, Link's next melee attack becomes a powerful water slash with extended range.

Best uses:

• Boss fights — the free hit absorption is most valuable against high-damage bosses (Lynels, Gleeoks, Phantom Ganon) where a single hit can cost 5+ hearts.
• Water slash follow-up — the empowered attack after absorption deals significant damage and has extended range, making it a reliable counter-attack.
• Fall damage prevention — the shield absorbs fatal fall damage, acting as a safety net during sky exploration.
• Gloom protection — absorbs one tick of Gloom damage, preserving your max hearts in the Depths.

Cooldown: ~10 seconds after the shield breaks

Why #3: Sidon is a reliable defensive tool, but passive defense is less impactful than Tulin's exploration utility or Riju's offensive power. The water slash is nice but not game-changing.

---

Sage of Fire — Yunobo

Unlocked: Complete the Fire Temple (Goron City questline)

Ability: Yunobo charges forward in a rolling ball, dealing fire damage to anything in his path. Can be aimed by facing a direction before activation.

Best uses:

• Ranged damage — Yunobo rolls forward at high speed and deals heavy fire damage on impact. Effective against distant targets you don't want to approach.
• Ore deposits — Yunobo's charge breaks ore deposits and rock walls without consuming weapon durability.
• Cracked walls — any cracked wall or floor section can be broken by Yunobo's charge, saving bomb arrows.
• Fire-weak enemies — effective against ice-element enemies and any foe vulnerable to fire.

Cooldown: ~8 seconds

Why #4: Yunobo's charge is useful but niche. The aiming is imprecise — Yunobo often veers off target or gets stuck on terrain. Against groups, Riju's lightning is superior. The ore-breaking utility is nice but rarely essential.

---

Sage of Spirit — Mineru

Unlocked: Complete the Spirit Temple (the final sage temple, unlocked after all 4 regional temples)

Ability: Mineru constructs a rideable mech suit. Link can pilot it for enhanced melee damage, attach Zonai devices to its arms, and traverse Gloom floors without taking heart damage.

Best uses:

• Depths Gloom traversal — piloting the mech lets you walk across Gloom pools without losing hearts. This is Mineru's most unique utility.
• Zonai weapon platform — attach cannons, beam emitters, or flame emitters to the mech's arms for ranged combat while piloting.
• Heavy combat — the mech's base melee attacks hit hard and have wide range, effective against groups.
• Underwater traversal — the mech can walk on lake and river floors, accessing areas Link can't swim to.

Cooldown: No cooldown — the mech persists until destroyed or dismissed. It has its own health bar.

Why #5: Mineru is powerful but clunky. The mech is slow, blocks your view in tight spaces, and can't use standard Link abilities (Ascend, paraglide). In most situations, you're better off on foot with the other sages active. The Depths Gloom traversal is the standout use case.

---

Sage Management Tips

• You can toggle sages on/off in the Key Items menu. Turn off sages you don't need to reduce accidental activations.
• Sages activate when you press A near them — this means they can interfere when you're trying to interact with objects, NPCs, or chests. Turn off unneeded sages before entering towns or doing precision work.
• In combat, keep Riju and Sidon active as your default pair — offense + defense.
• For exploration, keep Tulin active at all times. His wind gust is too useful to ever turn off.
• In the Depths, add Mineru for Gloom floor traversal.
• Sage avatars respawn if they fall behind or get stuck. Walk ~50 meters away and they'll teleport to you.

---

Upgrading Sage Abilities

After visiting the Goddess Statue at the Temple of Time on the Great Sky Island (return trip after all temples are complete), you can upgrade each sage ability. Upgrades require:

1. Complete the corresponding sage's temple
2. Find the sage's special quest item (varies by sage)
3. Pray at the correct Goddess Statue

Upgraded abilities have reduced cooldowns and enhanced effects.

---

Part of the Beginners Guide series — Tears of the Kingdom walkthroughs on Hyrule Archive.