Link’s Awakening guide: Face Shrine walkthrough (2024)

Our Link’s Awakening Face Shrine walkthrough shows you how to find the dungeon entrance, navigate every room, solve every puzzle, and beat every boss. We’ll also direct you to any useful items — like the compass, map, keys, chests, special items, and the instrument — along the way.

Finding the Face Key and the Face Shrine is a pretty linear process, so we’ll keep it together in the guide below. Before we start, complete the trading sequence to get the Boomerang — it’ll be invaluable through this dungeon (and just in general).

Table of contents

• Find the Face Key in the Ancient Ruins
• Fight the Armos Knight for the Face Key
• Find the Face Shrine entrance
• Face Shrine items and boss locations
• Find the Powerful Bracelet
• Find the Map, Stone Beak, and Compass
• Solve puzzles, collect rupees, return to the entrance
• Flying Tiles and the Owl Statue
• Hop on top of the crystals to move forward
• Get a Small Key and find a mini-boss
• Smasher mini-boss fight
• Solve another chess knight puzzle
• Defeat the Pols Voice with your Ocarina
• Solve the third chess puzzle
• Dodongo Snakes mini-boss fight
• Find the Nightmare Key
• Open the Nightmare Door
• Facade boss fight

Find the Face Key in the Ancient Ruins

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From Animal Village, loop up and to the right to find the Ancient Ruins.

There are Armos statues (that look a lot like Daleks) that block your progress. Approach them to activate them, back off, and then hit them twice with your new Boomerang — once to stun them, and again to kill them.

Continue left until you reach the temple on the other side.

Fight the Armos Knight for the Face Key

Update: As the comments below and a coworker pointed out, using spin attacks is a better way to handle the Armor Knight. We’ve updated this section to reflect that.

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Inside the temple in the Ancient Ruins, you’ll meet the Armos Knight.

The Knight will chase you around the room and jump. When it crashes down, the shock will knock Link down for a second. Jump every time he comes down to avoid getting stunned.

The easiest way to remove its armor and defeat it is with spin attacks. You’ll have to time it carefully to avoid its jump attacks, but you should only need to hit it four times. (We also had a lot of luck attacking with the Bow — the Boomerang should also work — from its right side.)

Pick up the Face Key.

In the room above, check the mural to read:

To the finder … The Isle of Koholint is but an illusion. Human, Monster, Sea, Sky … A scene on the lid of a sleeper’s eye … Awake the Dreamer and Koholint will vanish much like a bubble on a needle … Castaway … You should know the truth!

Find the Face Shrine entrance

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Go back up to the area above the ruins. Work through the maze lifting rocks to get to the top left.

Swim down to the tiny island with two Armos. Kill the one on the left to find some stairs.

Hookshot through the tunnel, and exit. The keyhole for Face Shrine is on the right.

Face Shrine items and boss locations

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The map above shows an overview of the Face Shrine dungeon. We’ve marked the locations of the important items like the Compass, Stone Beak, and Map, as well as the Hookshot. We’ve also marked the boss fights and the entrance and exit to any side-scrolling tunnels.

Find the Powerful Bracelet

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The numbers below correspond to the numbers on the map above.

1. From the entrance, go left and head up. (Boomerang the three Wizzrobes twice each because your sword does nothing. Take out the Spark with your Boomerang, which is a thing you can do now, for a Fairy.)
2. In this room, take out the Mask-Mimic and stand on the top right orange tile. Boomerang the crystal.
3. Bomb the wall on the right to enter the room with the stairs shown above. Defeat the four Zols and take the stairs that appear through the tunnel.
4. Go up, open the chest, and get the Powerful Bracelet.

It says you could lift an elephant, so do that. Go through the one-way door at the top.

Find the Map, Stone Beak, and Compass

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1. From the Mask-Mimic room, head up, smash the pots, and stand on the switch in the top left corner. Go left through the door you just opened.
2. Boomerang all the Wizzrobes (you can throw you Boomerang over the raised blue or orange tiles), and a chest will drop with the Face Shrine Map. Make sure the blue tiles are down, and go up.
3. Turn right. Open the chest in the next room for the Stone Beak.
4. Backtrack left, head up, and toss a pot at the door. Go right, and open the chest for the Compass.
5. Climb the stairs, and hit the crystal (which should turn blue). Follow the walkway into a room. Take out the enemies with your Boomerang. Pick up the Small Key, and backtrack all the way to the Compass room.

Solve puzzles, collect rupees, return to the entrance

At this point, we’re going to head back to the entrance and solve two puzzles along the way. Doing that will get you rupees, which you’ll use later to purchase a song.

From the Compass room, go left. Pick up an elephant statue and toss it at the door. Go up.

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1. Pick up the White Knight chess piece. Stand on the white tile just right of center along the bottom row of tiles, and throw it right.
2. Pick up the Black Knight piece. Stand on the black tiles just left of center along the bottom, and throw it left. That will unlock the door at the bottom.
3. Hit the crystal to lower the orange tile.
4. Go up the stairs and open the chest for 100 rupees.
5. Go up the stairs at the top, and open the chest at the top of the stairs for a Secret Seashell.

Return to the room where you got the Map. Handle the Wizzrobes, and use your boomerang to open the path right.

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Stand two squares to the left of the blue tiles, throw your boomerang, and immediately move right. You should be standing on the blue tiles when they rise. Go right.

Go up the stairs in the upper right and follow the path to the end to find an Owl Statue that tells you to Enter the space where the eyes have walls …

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In the Mask-Mimic room (where the arrow starts in the image above), and make sure the crystal is orange.

Pick up the elephant and toss it at the door on the right. Go through and open the chest for 100 rupees. In that room, thrown another elephant at another door. Go through. Move the next elephant and open the chest for 50 rupees.

Return to the entrance. (Remember that you can return to the entrance any time with Manbo’s Mambo.)

Flying Tiles and the Owl Statue

From the entrance, go right through the the Flying Tiles room (just hold your shield up and they’ll smash into you), and head up.

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1. Throw an elephant at the pot door on the right, and head right and down.
2. Talk to the Owl Statue to hear Hop on top of the crystals to move forward.

Hop on top of the crystals to move forward

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1. Climb the stairs in the bottom left.
2. Drop onto the orange tile.
3. Go up one square,
4. Jump to the right to another orange tile.
5. Climb the stairs and jump over the Blade Trap.
6. Go up.

Get a Small Key and find a mini-boss

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1. Open the chest for some Secret Medicine (this will heal you completely if your health drops to zero).
2. Drop off the walkway and follow the water up until you find a chest. Open it for a Small Key.
3. In the room with the two elephant statues, unlock the door at the top.
4. Bomb the wall at the top, and go up again.

Smasher mini-boss fight

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This mini-boss fight is very straightforward. All you’re doing is dodging the giant ball when Smasher throws it, and then picking it up and throwing it back at him. He’ll rush the ball after you hit him with it, but if you’re quick, you can get in a couple hits in a row.

Just play a little dodgeball, and you’ll be done.

Solve another chess knight puzzle

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1. From the Smasher mini-boss, go up. Lift the lefthand elephant and go down the stairs. Go through the underground tunnel.
2. After the tunnel, survive another attack by Flying Tiles. When they’re done, pick up the Small Key that falls, and unlock the block in the upper right.
3. Elephant the door on the left and go through.

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1. Pick up the white knight, and stand below the left socket. Throw it to the right.
2. Pick up the black knight, and stand below the right socket. Throw it to the left.

Defeat the Pols Voice with your Ocarina

From the hallway chess puzzle, go left and down the stairs. Dash under the Thwomps to the right.

In the room with the three Pols Voices (Pols’ Voice?), equip your Ocarina and play Marin’s Ballad of the Wind Fish to defeat all three at once.

Solve the third chess puzzle

From the Pols Voice room, snake up through the next room. (Jump and throw your boomerang to collect the floating bombs.)

When you reach the next chess puzzle, hit the crystal, and go up the stairs on the left for 300 rupees.

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1. Drop off the right side of the platform and hit the crystal again.
2. Pick up the white knight. Stand four tiles from the left, second tile up, and throw it left.
3. Pick up the black knight. Stand on the bottom left corner blue tile, and throw it right.

Go down until you reach the Dodongo mini-boss fight.

Dodongo Snakes mini-boss fight

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Handle these Dodongo Snakes the same way you did in Key Cavern. Place, and then pick up a bomb, and throw it right in front of them. You’ve got the added danger of the holes in the floor, but those holes also make the snakes a little more predictable. Feed each of them a few bombs to defeat them.

Find the Nightmare Key

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1. From the Dodongo Snakes mini-boss fight, go left. Hookshot across the water. Unlock the block and go up.
2. Hit the chest with a pot to open it and get the Nightmare Key.

Open the Nightmare Door

1. Go back to the Smasher room. (You can play Manbo’s Mambo to return to the entrance and then portal to the room.) Go up and then down the stairs.
2. Go through the tunnel, and then exit to the bottom right. Loop around the room with the Vacuum Mouth to take out all the Green Zols and unlock the door. Go right.
3. Jump the gap up, kill the Wizzrobe, push the block right, and go up. (Just watch out for the Beamos.)
4. There are two Sparks here that you can turn into Fairies with your Boomerang. Open the Nightmare Door.

Facade boss fight

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For the first phase of this fight, just run around and block all of the Flying Tiles.

After they’re all gone, Facade will start moving around the room. Run close to him, and drop a bomb on or near his face. Run away to avoid the holes that open in the floor.

Repeat the bomb-on-the-face a few times to defeat him.

Pick up your Heart Container, and go up to find the Coral Triangle instrument.

Back outside, Owl will tell you to go to the Mountain Tower.