There’s no shortage of animals and mythical creatures across the lands of Hyrule. If you’re the type of person who is looking to fill your Hyrule Compendium or complete every side quest to be found in the game, you’ve likely encountered or are in search of a strange new creature that the travelers in the stables have been whispering about. But Dondons are more than just a fun little addition to your compendium; they’re also a surprise resource when it comes to farming gems! For that reason alone, it’s worth taking the time to follow this side quest and get introduced to these chonky bois.
You’ll want to start by triggering the side quest “Potential Princess Sightings!” from Traysi, the editor at the Lucky Clover Gazette, Hyrule’s premier news publication. You can find their headquarters east of Rito Village, in what used to be a stable. Talk to Traysi and she will pair you up with Penn, a Rito journalist looking into various reports of Zelda sightings across Hyrule. From there, you can travel to virtually any stable and you’ll find Penn digging into a story.
To trigger the Dondon sidequest, you’ll want to find Penn at Lakeside Stable. He will tell you about some reports he’s heard about Princess Zelda riding around on a mysterious, large tusked creature not far off, and it’s up to you to get to the bottom of these rumors. The travelers within the stable will be whispering about “monster sightings” and other scary rumors, so you’ll need to kick off your search quickly.
There’s no shortage of animals and mythical creatures across the lands of Hyrule. If you’re the type of person who is looking to fill your Hyrule Compendium or complete every side quest to be found in the game, you’ve likely encountered or are in search of a strange new creature that the travelers in the stables have been whispering about.You won’t have to search far; just across the lake from where the stable is located, you’ll find a small field and a herd of Dondons grazing lazily. There, Cima, the keeper, explains that this is a sanctuary created at Zelda’s direction with the goal of caring for and protecting Dondons, and that they are docile, harmless creatures. Penn will catch up with you and Cima and that should wrap up the side quest. You now have your official introduction to Dondons!
Dondons will mostly ignore you when you approach; unless you come with tasty treats (in this case, Luminous Stones). If you drop them on the ground in front of a Dondon, they will eat them up completely. I noticed that they weren’t as interested in eating it out of my hand, and they often ignored or completely missed stones if I dropped too many of them at once, so try dropping them one at a time. A Dondon can eat up to 5 Luminous Stones at once. After that, wait a few in-game days and return to the sanctuary. If you want a quick turnaround time, you can go rest at the nearby campfire for a couple of in-game days to speed up the process. From there, return to the spot that you fed the Dondon, and you should find a gem or other precious stone in its place!
Every 5 Luminous Stones will yield one of the following:
- 4 Zonaite
- 3 Amber
- 2 Rubies
- 1 Sapphire
- 1 Diamond
Rinse and repeat, and you should find yourself with a solid return on precious stones! This is a great way to farm these items to use for upgrading your armor or selling to a merchant for a nice chunk of rupees.
