Zelda Breath of the Wild: Combat Tips for Beginners

Pick Up All the Weapons

Combat Tips for Beginners – Zelda Breath of the Wild

Weapon degradation is a pretty big deal in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. During the early hours of the game, a lot of the basic weapons you pick up will quickly break in five or six hits. This means that you need to constantly be on the lookout for new weapons to pick up, or repair your originals. However, it’s a lot more cost-efficient for you to simply look for new weapons when you’re just starting out.

Tree Branches will get you through the first half hour or so, and as you defeat more enemies, you’ll be able to pick up all sorts of melee items too. If you’re diligent enough, you can also unlock secret chests found in Shrines to get a slightly more powerful weapon. Should you run out of inventory space for weapons, always drop your weakest one and pick up the more valuable weapon. Try to keep at least one axe on you, though. While axes aren’t that great for combat, they’re very useful for chopping trees and obtaining healing items.

Also, pro-tip: the final strike of a weapon right before it breaks will always be a critical hit, so use that to your advantage.

Get a Bow

Combat Tips for Beginners – Zelda Breath of the Wild

 Bows and arrows may seem pretty rare at first, but with a bit of luck, you’ll be able to pick them off from bokoblins around the Great Plateau. While the bows don’t do a lot of damage compared to a melee weapon, they’re invaluable for getting critical hits on unsuspecting enemies.

By aiming your bow at an enemy’s head, you can fire off an arrow to land a headshot. This will stagger the enemy for a short while, allowing you to get in a few hits. If the enemy is weak enough, the critical hit could even kill it instantly. Let’s say you’re trying to wipe out a bokoblin camp, you’re gonna want to use your bow to try to take out the guard standing on top of the watchtowers. Taking him out will prevent him from alerting the other enemies, allowing you to sneak up on the rest of them.

Defend Yourself With a Shield

Combat Tips for Beginners – Zelda Breath of the Wild

Link starts out with only three hearts, and while this is largely enough to tank hits from lower level enemies, there’s always the risk of you running into much tougher enemies when you’re not expecting it. In particular, enemies with spears seem to do a lot more damage because of how quickly they can attack, and getting hit by them can be extremely dangerous if you don’t have enough health to survive their onslaught.

To give yourself some extra survivability, you’re going to want to get a shield to defend yourself. You’ll get your first shield very early on in the game, after meeting with the Old Man outside the Shrine of Resurrection. By blocking with a shield, you can tank more hits from enemies, and wait for openings for you to strike. If you time it right, you can also parry attacks with the shield and get a critical hit. Shields will break over time, but it’s always safer to keep it up to protect yourself.

Sneak Attacks

Combat Tips for Beginners – Zelda Breath of the Wild

By pressing in the left analog stick, Link can crouch in Breath of the Wild and sneak up on his enemies. You’ll usually only be able to sneak attack a couple of enemies before the rest of the pack notices you and starts converging on your location. However, by sneaking, you’ll actually have a better chance of executing a charge attack.

By holding down the Y button, Link will start charging his attack, and you’ll see a flash to indicate that it’s ready. A charge attack does consume stamina, but it also deals a lot of damage, allowing you to make good and efficient use of a weapon before it eventually breaks. Sneaking up on a really strong enemy and using a charge attack to try to finish it off quickly is often a good strategy for thinning out enemy packs.

Hunt and Cook

Combat Tips for Beginners – Zelda Breath of the Wild

 Hyrule is full of animals and wildlife, meaning you can get meat and other ingredients for cooking. Generally, you’ll want to hunt the larger animals like boars, as they give you a pretty good amount of meat. Taking down boars isn’t too hard, and you’ll usually be able to kill them quickly by landing a critical hit with the bow. By gathering meat and cooking them, you’ll amass a good supply of healing items that you can fall back on whenever you’re engaged in a prolonged battle.

In addition to that, mixing your ingredients can sometimes provide you with new dishes that enhance your abilities. It’s always wise to stock up on these booster items to give you that extra edge in combat. If you run into any tough enemies, and push comes to shove, you can always rely on your food items to turn the tables on them. Experiment freely with your ingredients – the results are almost always well worth it.